Sorry for no posts this morning. I’m at my internist’s office for my annual physical.
Why is it that they expect you to be on time but they never are?
If she weren’t a good doctor, I’d have been gone half an hour ago.
Arghhh!
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The NSSF-adjusted NICS checks rebounded from their August doldrums to again post a 2.7% gain for this September over previous September.
The September 2013 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,034,701 is an increase of 2.7 percent compared to the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,007,259 in September 2012. For comparison, the unadjusted September 2013 NICS figure of 1,392,423 reflects a 4.0 percent decrease from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,450,737 in September 2012.
The beginning of the fall hunting season may have provided some of the stimulus for this growth as may the recent clamor for gun control after the recent Navy Yard shootings.
NICS checks are an indicator but not a direct correlation with firearms sales. Many states use the NICS checks for concealed carry background check purposes. Moreover, in many states such as North Carolina, the concealed carry permit itself substitutes for the NICS check.
According to a release sent out by the National Shooting Sports Foundation late yesterday afternoon, the BATFE’s e-Forms system will be down for the duration of the “shutdown”. More on that below:
NSSF has learned that the ATF e-Forms system is going offline and will be unavailable due to the ongoing federal shutdown. This service will remain offline during the duration of the shutdown.
As we reported Monday:
The FBI’s NICS Section is maintaining normal business hours.
The ATF Office of Enforcement Programs and Services (EPS), which includes the imports, firearms technology, NFA branches, the licensing center and firearms industry programs branch now processing marking variances, is effectively shut down, operating with minimal staff.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) is accepting licenses, but only acting on them in genuine emergency situations.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is no longer accepting export license applications, classification requests (CCATS), encryption reviews, encryption registrations or advisory opinion requests. Similarly, BIS will not be issuing any final determinations. All pending export license applications, commodity classification requests, encryption reviews, encryption registrations and advisory opinion requests will be held without action by BIS until the shutdown ends.
NSSF will continue to update the industry as additional details on the government shutdown become available
One of my favorite podcasts is the Gun Dudes which originates in Utah. It is a podcast done by a group of guys who all drive for UPS and who love guns and shooting. In addition, they are natural comedians. There are serious podcasts and there are fun podcasts. The Gun Dudes take a serious subject and make it fun.
One of their regular features is the Misfire Award. It usually involves a criminal doing something really stupid like returning to the scene of the crime and asking for their gun back after they dropped it.
Thus, when I read today that the National Security Agency is having severe electrical problems at their new Utah Data Center, I couldn’t help but think of the Gun Dudes and their Misfire Award.
Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency’s spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machinery and delayed the center’s opening for a year, according to project documents and current and former officials.
There have been 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months that have prevented the NSA from using computers at its new Utah data-storage center, slated to be the spy agency’s largest, according to project documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
One project official described the electrical troubles—so-called arc fault failures—as “a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box.” These failures create fiery explosions, melt metal and cause circuits to fail, the official said.
This new data center is costing taxpayers $1.4 billion which doesn’t include the cost of the Cray supercomputers. The capacity is thought to be even larger than that of Google. That is, if they can get beyond their electrical problems and actually open the facility. On second thought, given their data collection of all of my phone and email records, let’s hope they can’t.
Following the successful recall efforts against Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo), a renewed effort has started to recall Sen. Evie Hudak (D-Arvada). An earlier effort started soon after she voted for gun control fizzled out for lack of signatures.
The new effort is called Recall Evie, Too. Backers have 60 days to gather 18,900 valid signatures. Recall Evie, Too was certified by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office on Friday which started the clock.
Hudak, you may remember, achieved notoriety for her dismissive comments to rape survivor Amanda Collins who was testifying in favor of concealed carry on campus. Hudak told her that statistics were not on her side and that if Ms. Collins had a firearm it probably would have been used against her. You can see Hudak giving her lecture starting at about the 2:30 point in the video below.
With the Democrats holding a one vote majority in the Colorado State Senate, Hudak’s recall would shift the balance of power to the Republicans. Despite this, GOP State Chairman Ryan Call is against this recall effort saying it undermines their efforts for 2014. It should be remembered that neither the GOP nor major gun groups initially supported the successful recall efforts against Morse and Giron. They were grassroots efforts from the get-go.
Despite the much higher signature requirement for this district, if backers do get enough signatures they stand an even better chance of ousting Hudak according to the Washington Post.
But if recall organizers can collect enough signatures in Hudak’s district, they will have a strong chance of showing her the door. Despite outspending recall proponents by wide margins, and despite influxes of campaign cash from gun control advocates such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Morse and Giron both lost their bids to keep their seats.
And Hudak’s district is more conservative than either Morse’s or Giron’s. Hudak’s suburban Denver district gave President Obama 52 percent of the vote in 2012, according to a breakdown compiled by the liberal Daily Kos blog. Obama scored nearly 60 percent of the vote in the other two seats. Hudak won reelection over Republican Lang Sias by fewer than 600 votes of 80,000 cast in 2012, while a Libertarian Party candidate took more than 5,000 votes.
I will be keeping an eye on their efforts over the next two months. If you want to volunteer to help recall Hudak, you can get more information here as well as directions to the group’s office in Arvada.
The gun prohibitionists and their allies in the mainstream media like to portray gun rights activists as old, grumpy, and male. Its a stereotype that has less and less basis in reality.
Enter Matti Warren of Texas. She is cute, young (17 years old), female, shoots, and hunts. She has also lobbied the Texas Legislature on crossbows. Moreover, her career ambition is to be a lobbyist for the Second Amendment. She is a passionate advocate for the Second Amendment.
Young women like Matti are the gun prohibitionists’ worst nightmare because she breaks the stereotypes that they have so carefully crafted.
Davidson College which is located just outside of Charlotte plans to hold a panel discussion entitled, “Gun Rights, Responsibilities, and Regulations,” on Monday at 7pm. Among the topics will the current scope and status of the Second Amendment as well as whether there should be changes to guns laws in the state and nation.
The panel has a number of local police chiefs and Davidson College professors. What is missing is anyone representing a pro-Second Amendment perspective.
Grass Roots North Carolina asks that if you can be there, please do plan to attend.
From their alert:
Davidson College To Hold Public Gun Forum
GRNC has learned that Davidson College has invited the public to a panel discussion
on “Gun Rights,
Responsibilities, and Regulations,” on Monday evening, October 7 in the Lilly Family Gallery of Chambers Building.The
panel will
address questions such as: What are the trends in the use of guns in
murders and other violent crimes in the U.S.? What is the current status
and
scope of our Second Amendment rights? What does federal law require
regarding background checks prior to gun purchases? What concerns do
law-enforcement personnel have about illegally trafficked guns? Are
changes to current gun laws or regulations warranted, either at the
state or
federal level?The panel will include Chief Rodney Monroe of the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Chief Jeanne Miller of the
Davidson Police Department, Interim Acting Chief/Captain Carolyn
McMackin of Davidson College Public Safety, Lance Stell, Thatcher
Professor of
Philosophy and Director of Medical Humanities, and Andrew O’Geen,
Assistant Professor of Political Science. The event is being sponsored
by the
Vann Center for Ethics, and will be moderated by David Perry, Director
of the Vann Center and Professor of Applied Ethics.Lost
Invitations?Noticeably missing from the discussion
panel, of course, are any solid Pro-Second Amendment individuals.
Perhaps
their invitations were lost at some point? Here’s where you come in:
plan to attend the forum at Davidson College on Monday evening so that
all voices can be heard. Unless we are willing to participate in these types of forums, our voices may be swept by
the wayside so that only one side of the issue is heard. Although we can’t say for sure if that is the intention here, we
can make sure that our side is represented in the audience, at least.Important note
Those
planning to attend the event should note that guns are not allowed on
the Davidson College campus. Davidson College is a private
educational facility and does have a “no weapons/ firearms” policy.
Please do not bring firearms with you on Monday evening.
IMMEDIATE ACTION
REQUIRED!
- Plan To Attend: Make plans to attend the Davidson College public forum on Monday, October 7th.
- Support GRNC: GRNC needs your support to help combat the efforts against your rights as gun owners. Join or
renew your membership! http://www.grnc.org/join-grnc/join-grnc-online
This morning Brandon Combs of the Firearms Policy Coalition and Craig DeLuz of Cal-FFL delivered 65,000 letters to the office of Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) asking him to veto the 14 gun bills sitting on his desk. He has until October 14th to either sign or veto these bills. Bills that he doesn’t veto become law with or without his signature.
PHOTO:
Brandon Combs, managing director of the Firearms Policy Coalition,
left, and Craig DeLuz, legislative advocate for California Association
of Federal Firearms Licensees, deliver about 65,000 petitions urging the
governor’s veto of 14 gun bills. Credit: The Sacramento Bee/Christopher
Cadelago. Link to story.
From the Firearms Policy Coalition’s release which includes a link to send a letter to Gov. Brown:
SACRAMENTO, CA — Earlier this morning, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) Managing Director Brandon Combs, joined by California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees (CAL-FFL) Legislative Advocate Craig DeLuz, delivered 65,000 letters from individuals urging California Governor Jerry Brown to veto the 14 gun control bills currently on his desk.
The gun bills include SB 374, a massive new ban on common semi-automatic rifles authored by Senate President Darrell Steinberg, as well as laws that would ban firearm repair parts, handgun sales, lead ammunition for hunting, and exempt the City of Oakland from longstanding state laws that preempt dangerous localized gun registration schemes, among others.
“We sincerely appreciate the thousands of people who have voiced their concerns to the governor on these anti-gun measures. 65,000 letters sends a very loud-and-clear message: Californians just don’t want these horrible new laws,” said CAL-FFL’s DeLuz of the tremendous turnout by California gun owners.
FPC’s Brandon Combs said that that the fight is far from over and noted that people should keep calling and writing the Governor’s office every day. “We encourage all gun owners and Second Amendment supporters to send Governor Brown a letter through our fast, easy, and free gun rights activism tools at www.DemandRights.com.”
“We will keep printing, faxing, and emailing letters to Governor Brown until the very end,” continued Combs. “Gun owners simply must keep up the pressure for these final few days.”
Governor Brown has until October 14, 2013 to sign or veto the bills. Bills that are not vetoed will become state law. Governor Brown’s State Capitol office phone number is (916) 445-2841.
If stopping these bad bills isn’t enough, you will still have a chance to win a Benelli M4 shotgun that they are giving away to anyone who uses their site to send a message to Gov. Brown. That seems like a win-win to me.
As Colion Noir points out in his latest commentary for NRA News, the notion that the Second Amendment is “outdated” and should be replaced by 2A v.2.0 is laughable. Even if we don’t “need” to hunt for our food nowadays, there are still two-legged predators who stand ready to deprive you and me of both our property and our lives.
Rational, reasonable people know that the National Rifle Association has nothing in common with Syria, Iran, and North Korea. The NRA doesn’t shoot dissident members, it isn’t trying to develop a nuclear capacity, and it isn’t headed by an incompetent leader who got the job because Dad and Granddad had the same job before him.
That said, this hasn’t stopped the Editorial Board of the New York Times from lumping the NRA in with those rogue countries. Their reasoning is that since the NRA and those countries both oppose the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty, they are all pariahs.
In April, the 193-member General Assembly adopted it overwhelmingly by a vote of 154 to 3, clearing the way for individual states to sign and then ratify the pact. The states in opposition were familiar outliers in the international system: North Korea, Syria and Iran.
The National Rifle Association, like those nations, rejects this sensible international weapons regulation. It is opposed to the arms treaty even though the treaty has no impact on the American domestic market.
The group falsely claims the treaty will somehow infringe on Americans’ gun rights under the Second Amendment. In fact, as Secretary of State John Kerry stressed when he signed the treaty, the pact not only does not restrict Americans, it specifically “recognizes the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess and use arms for legitimate purposes.”
But the N.R.A., with its lucrative campaign coffers and fear-mongering, has long been extremely effective at keeping lawmakers in line with its pernicious agenda. Months before the Obama administration signed the treaty, one-third of the Senate introduced a resolution opposing ratification on Second Amendment grounds. That is a signal of the tough fight ahead whenever the Senate formally takes up the issue.
Lucrative campaign coffers. Fear-mongering. Pernicious agenda. Rejecting sensible regulation.
So much for civil discourse.
One could use all of those perjorative phrases to describe the behavior of the President, Mayor Bloomberg, and others of the so-called progressive bent. Bloomberg certainly has deeper pockets than the NRA. President Obama has repeatedly engaged in fear-mongering to further his agenda. Many of us consider the agenda of Democrats in Congress to be pernicious and they have consistently opposed any regulation of mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. I won’t even touch on their aversion to any regulation of abortion providers.
Say what you will but these rogue regimes and the Editorial Board of the New York Times agree on one thing: controlling their opponents.
by