Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire To Be Shown In California State Capitol Building

The movie Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire will be shown, in of all places, the California Capitol Building. Given the assaults on gun and civil rights that have taken place in both the California Senate and Assembly, I can’t think of a better place to show that movie. While I doubt that it will change any of the narrow minds of the gun prohibitionist politicians, the symbolism is enough.

From the release about the event by Cal-FFL along with details of this showing and another public one in Sacramento:

CAL-FFL, California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly to Co-Host Showing of Gun Rights Documentary Inside California Capitol Building

Aug. 28th public screening at the Crest Theatre follows private Capitol screening at noon; CAL-FFL giving away 100 free movie tickets and posters for the public screening.

SACRAMENTO, CA (August 22, 2013) — Second Amendment civil rights are under fire by the California Legislature, according to leading industry and consumer group California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees (CAL-FFL). To help underscore the point, civil rights advocates have taken their argument to the big screen — and are now bringing the big screen to the Capitol Building through the efforts of top-rated Assembly member Tim Donnelly (District 33 – Hesperia) and CAL-FFL.

In conjunction with CAL-FFL, Donnelly, who’s already declared his candidacy for the 2014 gubernatorial election, will host a private screening of the Second Amendment-focused documentary ‘Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire’ inside the State Capitol to educate members of the Legislature and staff about this historic civil rights struggle.

“We are honored that Assemblyman Donnelly chose to present our film on civil rights to his colleagues – the very elected members who are working hard to pass bills that would effectively end the Second Amendment in California for many years to come,” said Emmy Award-winning producer and writer Kris Koenig, the film’s writer and director. “Most of these bills aren’t even rationally related to actual crime data. Our research and film clearly shows that these bills won’t improve public safety. If they watch the film they will come to understand why.”

“I spent the last eighteen months of my life creating this film because I saw our rights being wholesaled off for political gain with no real benefit to public safety,” continued Koenig. “It’s like the NSA invading our privacy with no real connection to global terrorism.”

The Los Angeles Times called ‘Assaulted’, narrated by critically-acclaimed rapper and actor Ice-T, “a reasoned counter to Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling for Columbine’.” The film takes a step back from the public discourse on issues like banning assault rifles and restricting magazine capacity. Instead of heavy rhetoric, ‘Assaulted’ offers a unique historical and legal perspective on the Second Amendment’s significance over the years since America’s founding, taking a critical and objective look at current gun laws and their effect on civil rights and liberty. The film includes commentary by preeminent UCLA constitutional law professors Adam Winkler and Eugene Volokh as well as attorney Alan Gura, the lawyer who secured 2 major victories for gun owners in landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Interviews include Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, Margot Bennett, executive director of Women Against Gun Violence, and the advocate/entertainer Ted Nugent.

“California’s gun control movement has always been about keeping ‘those people’ from exercising their rights,” said Craig DeLuz, CAL-FFL’s Legislative Advocate. “In the 1800s, ‘those people’ were the Chinese and Native Americans. In the 1960s, it was the Black Panthers. Today, you and I are ‘those people’ – ‘Assaulted’ shows how we got here and why we have to avoid repeating the same gun control mistakes we’ve made in decades past that continue to cost innocent people their lives.”

“The opportunity to educate the members of the California Legislature and their staff about the civil rights aspect of the gun control bills they’re working to pass as we speak is just tremendous. We simply cannot thank Assemblyman Donnelly enough for his generosity and tireless efforts to defend our fundamental Second Amendment rights,” said Brandon Combs, President of CAL-FFL and Managing Director of the national Firearms Policy Coalition.

Continued Combs, “We hope that all public officials and senior staff of agencies like DOJ will watch the film and give real thought to the arguments made regardless of their personal views. When lawmakers make mistakes writing gun laws innocent people go to jail, period. Getting caught in the dangerous, confusing, and expanding gun control spider web is not a very pleasant future for millions of law-abiding California gun owners, visitors, and local businesses.”

CAL-FFL will be hosting a public screening of ‘Assaulted’ at the Crest Theatre, located at 1013 K St., at 6 p.m. that same evening. CAL-FFL is giving away free tickets to the first 100 people who RSVP and request tickets at http://www.calffl.org/assaultedtickets. All Crest attendees will receive an ‘Assaulted’ movie poster that can be signed by Koenig.

Government officials, staff, and members of the press can request a complementary ticket to the 6 p.m. screening at the Crest Theatre by emailing Craig DeLuz at cdeluz@calffl.org or by calling him at (916) 595-0264. Tickets may also be purchased for $12 from Tugg at http://www.tugg.com/events/5116.

Participants are invited to join Kris Koenig, Craig DeLuz, and Brandon Combs for discussion and Q&A about the film, gun control in California, and the status of Second Amendment litigation immediately following the 6 p.m. showing at the restaurant Pizza Rock, located at 1020 K St., just steps away from the Crest Theatre.

DETAILS

WHAT: Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire (Private Screening)
WHEN: August 28, 2013 – 12 Noon

WHERE: California State Capitol Building

WHAT: Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire (Public Screening)
WHEN: August 28, 2013 – 6 p.m.
WHERE: Crest Theatre (1013 K St., Sacramento, CA 95814)

I Know Where I’m Getting Coffee Tomorrow!

By now, you may have heard of the call by the gun prohibitionists to “Skip Starbucks Saturday” in response to the coffee chain’s determination to remain neutral in the gun debate and to allow carry in accordance with each state’s law. To those of the gun prohibitionists’ ilk, neutrality – while smart business – is an affront to their crusade to make everyone unsafe. While they would not consider a gun-free zone unsafe, those zones have become one of the favorite places for the mentally deranged to commit their heinous acts.

So, of course, I do plan to go to one of the local Starbucks on Saturday to have some nice frou-frou coffee drink that I might not otherwise buy. The Complementary Spouse has a couple of gift cards for Starbucks that we need to use and this seems like a good time to do it.

The good folks at Grass Roots North Carolina note that this is also an opportunity to reinforce the message that it is in all restaurants’ best interest to support the expanded carry provisions of HB 937.

No support is more clear than doing business with those who cooperate with us. We need to demonstrate, in a practical way, that standing behind North Carolina’s gun owners is a winning proposition for restaurants. Inducing failure of this anti-Second Amendment boycott will provide initial momentum for when HB 937 becomes effective in October.

Support Starbucks Saturday…

As you make weekend plans be sure to include a Saturday stop at your local Starbucks for a beverage and snack. Make sure to let your barrista know that you appreciate their respect for carry laws. Drive this message home by printing-out and handing your server the message below.

The alert isn’t up on their website yet so I’m posting their card below. I don’t know if other state-based gun rights groups are doing this but I’d suggest checking their websites for details.

This is certainly an easier way of the getting the message across than try to find a bank that has any $2 bills.

Jim Shepherd in The Shooting Wire also has some wise words about this counter campaign with which I tend to agree. I like his statement about it being a personal choice and not a political one.

I think a gun-neutral position is smart for the company, but it seems that some groups are determined to make guns a polarizing issue. That, I don’t like- no matter which side of an issue you fall on.

So….we may find it advantageous to show up at a Starbucks (or two) this weekend, order one of their innumerable combinations of coffee and simply say “I wanted to thank Starbucks for not taking a side in the gun debate. I think it is a personal choice, not a political one.”

Feel free to put that into your own words- but speak them if you have the opportunity.

Oh, The Mental Images

Checking my university email this morning, I found a security alert due to an off-campus stabbing in the vicinity of the campus. Read the alert below and see if it doesn’t conjure up an “interesting” mental image.

Jackson County Sheriff Department is reporting a stabbing at River Park Trailer Park. This is located off of Old Cullowhee Rd. approximately 1/2/ mile from the rear entrance. Suspect is described as a White Female, Blonde Hair, slender build, approximately 5’5″ tall, poor dental hygiene. No clothing description available. May be armed with a knife. Suspect was last seen on foot in the area of the trailer park. Due to the proximity to campus, the community should be aware of this event. There have been no sightings of the suspect on campus and officers are checking the area.

Stabbing. Trailer park. Poor dental hygiene.

Sometimes the stereotypes about the Southern Appalachians exist for a reason. This may be one of them.

TSA Needs Some “.347 SIG” Training Ammo

The Transportation Security Administration issued a solicitation on Friday for training ammunition. This solicitation is a Request for Proposal for the following:

3,454,000 rounds of .347 SIG Caliber Training Ammunition including shipping (See specifications attached.)

It seems that the TSA in addition to not catching any terrorists can’t catch typos either.

They do clarify in the next paragraph that they are seeking 115-130 grain .357 SIG training ammunition.

Given that the Federal Air Marshal program is under the auspices of the TSA, I presume this ammo is for them. I certainly hope the TSA doesn’t have any intention of arming the gropers at airport gates with anything more than nitrile gloves.

Not Just Famous For Country Music

Nashville, Tennessee is justly famous as being the center of country music. It is home to both the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. And, if the rumors being reported by The Tennessean are correct, the future home to a major Remington Arms manufacturing plant.

One of the nation’s largest gun manufacturers, Remington Arms, has looked at sites around Nashville for a potential corporate relocation or expansion that would likely include hundreds of manufacturing jobs.

The Madison, N.C.-based company, which is part of the nation’s largest firearms company and has its largest plant in Ilion, N.Y, has scouted sites near Nashville’s airport, Lebanon and in Clarksville, Tenn.

Why Nashville?

According to the story, a plant in Middle Tennessee would place it between their plants in Lonoke, AR and Mayfield, KY. Moreover, it would only be a 2 hour drive to their technical and research center in Elizabethton, KY. They also have a distribution center run by a third party in Memphis.

An expanded article in today’s Tennessean notes that owners of industrial locations are having their properties scouted.

Reports about Remington’s search for sites come as owners of large tracts of land and economic development officials said they’re seeing more corporate relocation and other prospects in Middle Tennessee. Within the past two months, local real estate investor and developer Bert Mathews has encountered unidentified prospects at his 180-acre Buchanan Point site near Nashville International Airport off Interstate 40.

They include a 50-acre user, a 10-acre user and other users that had sought space for a 250,000-square-foot building. “Everybody’s looking at Nashville,” said Mathews, also a past chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Local and regional economic development officials were mum when asked about Remington’s search. “It is the policy of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council to refrain from discussing business recruitment projects, whether they be rumored or real,” said spokeswoman Robin Burton.

If Remington chooses to relocate operations from New York, it would add to the list of companies doing or planning to do so in part to protest stricter gun laws.

I should emphasize that these are only rumors but I doubt The Tennessean would have run a story specifically naming Remington Arms unless they had a solid source confirming the visits by Remington.

On the face of it, Middle Tennesse makes sense. You have engineering programs at Vanderbilt and Tennessee State along with engineering programs at Tennessee Tech, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Memphis which are within easy driving distance. You have a transportation hub with the intersection of Interstates 24, 40, and 65 and a good airport. And you have a gun-friendly, business-friendly right-to-work state.

What’s not to like about all of that if you are in the firearms industry?

Clearing Out Some Tabs

Need a new Smith & Wesson revolver? Here is one for sale at auction.

This is not just any Smith & Wesson Revolver. It is No. 2 Old Model Army revolver owned by Wild Bill Hickok and carried by him when he was slain in Deadwood, SD. According to the auction company, Bonham’s, the provenance is proven and the revolver is expected to fetch somewhere between $300,000 and $500,00.

An appeals court in Florida has determined that the state’s stand your ground applies to middle school students in Florida. The case involved a male student in Broward County who had been attacked on a school bus by a female student, defended himself, and ended up charged with battery. The school bus driver corroborated the student’s story as being the one attacked. The  4th District Court of Appeals ruled that:

“In this case, T.P. (the male student) had the right to assert a defense under Stand Your Ground. He was not engaged in an unlawful activity, and he had the right to be on the bus going home from school. He had no duty to retreat and, despite the trial court’s misgivings, had the right to ‘meet force with force.’”

There is no word yet if the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton plan demonstrations nor has there been any comment from Attorney General Eric Holder that DOJ is looking at the case for violations of civil rights.

If you want to get a concealed carry permit in Maine, you better be prepared to wait. There is a 5 month delay in processing the requisite background checks. The Maine State Police are supposed to permit applications for those who have resided in the state for over 5 years within 30 days. It has gotten so bad that the legislature is planning hearings to discuss the matter.

The DoD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working on a nanotechnology  that can destroy guns.

The technological system, known as a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS), utilizes tiny devices that are implanted in guns and other weapons. These devices are more than chips; they are actual mechanical processes created by precision engineering that can affect the weapon’s operations. Media reports reveal the devices include miniature GPS systems designed to make guns easier to track and self-destruct systems that could cause them to explode if they receive a wireless signal.

MEMS is intended for weapons given to groups like the Syrian rebels in their fight against the Assad regime. That said, I’m sure the gun prohibitionists are studying this very closely.

Smith and Wesson employees pack Massachusetts hearing on proposed gun laws held by the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. You have to wonder if they will be listened to any more attentively than the Connecticut Legislature listened to the employees of Colt, Stag, Mossberg, and Ruger. While one would hope so, I’m not holding my breath.

Is This What They Mean By “Outside Interests”?

One of the false accusations that Colorado State Senators John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) have made against those calling for their recall is that it was instigated by out-of-state interests. Of course, by this, they mean the NRA and other gun rights organizations. This is rich coming from two politicians who are being financially backed by Mayor Bloomberg and who have done his bidding.

Pueblo Freedom and Rights takes this issue on headfirst in one of their two TV ads running. As Colorado Peak Politics notes:

The first spot pushes back against the lies coming from Giron’s campaign that her opponents are somehow out-of-state interests, or “extremists from Denver.” It features the three plumbers from Pueblo who initiated and ran the recall effort speaking direct to camera earnestly about their grassroots effort.

The ad has a charm about it — far from a slickly produced spot, it’s a raw, amateurish ad that underscores the grassroots nature of the recall effort. No political professionals are they, but everyday citizens fed up with their rights being violated by a Senator who won’t listen.

Look at the ad below. These three guys certainly don’t appear to be big money, out of state interests.

In their second ad, they ask Sen. Giron if she will protect the Second Amendment rights of her constituents. She replies that it isn’t a yes or no answer.

If you are a voter in either of the two Senators’ districts, you need to remember you must check “Yes” for recall as well as voting for the replacement. Jim Geraghty of National Review has a great guide to the recall here.

Behind My Sporadic Blogging

You may have noticed that my blogging has been a little less frequent and a bit sporadic lately.

Blame it on ObamaCare.

In the budget tightening that is going on throughout the healthcare world due to ObamaCare, the hospital at which the Complementary Spouse works cut her position. Or in the parlance used by her department’s director, they will not be funding her position in the new fiscal year that starts October 1st. Of course,

This means she has until the end of September to find a new position within the hospital or she is out after 25 years with the same organization.

Thanks, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and every other fucking idiot who voted to pass this abomination of a “tax” as Chief Justice Roberts has decreed it to be. Your efforts will not go unappreciated.

As you can imagine, the Complementary Spouse is grieving. She is grieving not only the loss of her nursing position but the negative impact on the patients and their outcomes as a result. She needs my support and attention during this trying time. Fortunately, we live frugally and are big savers so the financial impact will be minimal for the immediate future.

I wasn’t sure if I should share this or how much to share but decided to go ahead with it. I guess I just wanted you to know that I wasn’t getting tired of the blog or of you but that the Complementary Spouse needs me and my attention a bit more than you until the dust settles.