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About That Right To Choose

February 21, 2013 by 1 Comment

The commentators on TheBlaze’s Real News discussed whether liberal men are being hypocritical. While most of them support a woman’s right to choose an abortion, very few of them support a woman’s right to choose her method of self-defense. They termed this the New Leftist Patriarchy.

Will Cain started the discussion out speaking of how the gun control debate is being framed by the political elite and the media. He made a very astute point when he said that while gun prohibitionists (my words) question why you need a firearm (or a particular type of firearm), the real question in a free society is why you need to take it away. I think this a point that we in the gun rights community need to make more often.

The remainder of the clip deals with the fallout from Rep. Joe Salazar of Colorado’s absurd statements regarding the need for a gun to prevent rape.

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Sen. Kay Hagan Goes Wobbly On Background Checks

February 20, 2013 by 2 Comments

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) was interviewed by Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch on a number of issues. Among the issues was gun control and where she stood on President Obama’s proposals. NC Policy Watch is a project of the NC Justice Center which is a self-described “progressive” organization.

In her comments in the interview with Fitzsimon, Hagan appears to commit to supporting universal background checks without actually committing to them. In other words, she’s trying to play both sides of the debate. Her comments on gun control begin near the 5:30 mark and run for about a minute. It should be noted that Hagan is one of the most at-risk Democrat incumbents in the Senate.

Grass Roots North Carolina has called her out on her statements and issued an alert asking constituents to email and/or write Hagan.


Demonstrating poor judgment characteristic of an anti-freedom politician who earned only a GRNC 1-star evaluation, Senator Kay Hagan recently gave a radio interview with left-wing activist, Chris Fitzsimon, Director of NC Policy Watch, a “progressive” policy organization.

During this ranging interview, which turns to gun control at about six minutes, Hagan made clear her support of expanded background checks that are a key part of the Obama/Biden/Feinstein gun ban. Hagan claims such checks represent a “positive move” toward keeping “guns out of criminals’ hands”.

What “universal background checks” actually are is a mechanism for gun registration, the necessary prelude to confiscation. Usefulness of such checks in stopping crime is vanishingly rare. According to economist and social scientist John Lott, Jr., purchases prevented by the current NICS system are almost always false-positives, serving only to harass and hinder the law-abiding.

Sen. Hagan clearly needs to be reminded that NC gun owners will tolerate NO COMPROMISE with Obama’s gun ban.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

Call AND email Sen. Hagan: Tell her background checks only harass the law-abiding, and NO COMPROMISE is acceptable.

CONTACT INFO

Call Hagan’s Office: 202-224-6342

Email Hagan: Use her webform: http://www.hagan.senate.gov/contact/

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “No Compromise on Private Sales!”

Dear Senator Hagan:

You recently informed liberal activist Chris Fitzsimon that you believe “universal background checks” will effectively keep guns out of the wrong hands.

You should be aware that we already have an extensive background check system, “National Instant Background Check System” (NICS), which almost never results in identifying criminals attempting to purchase guns. Almost all NICS denials are false-positives and only serve to inconvenience and infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

Proposed expansion of background checks is nothing more than another “feel good” measure that will do nothing to prevent the type of violent crime perpetrated within “Gun Free Zones” that have been created by gun control extremists like Fitzsimon.

As my Senator you need to understand that NC gun owners and I will not tolerate any compromise on or cooperation with Obama’s misguided gun-ban agenda. I will be monitoring your actions via Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

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More On Women Owning Guns In America From NBC

February 20, 2013 by 2 Comments

NBC is actually presenting some relatively balanced reports on firearm ownership by women. This report aired on the NBC Nightly News on Sunday evening. The mandatory reports on shootings in Chicago – a city with extremely strict gun control – preface this report by Stephanie Gosk. According to a Gallup poll, firearm ownership among women has risen by a full 10 percentage points over the last eight years.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
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Hornady Steps Up

February 19, 2013 by 4 Comments

Like firearms manufacturers Ruger and Smith & Wesson, Hornady, makers of ammunition, components, and reloading equipment, has stepped up to the plate with their own gun rights letter generator. The letter is a bit different than the others but it still can be sent to Congress, the State House and Senate, and other state level officials. More importantly, unlike Ruger and Smith & Wesson, the message can be edited and you can add in your own verbiage.

I know this is not the same as a personal letter that is mailed or faxed. Nonetheless it helps build numbers and numbers are important. The Ruger letter has been sent over 4.9 million times.

Here is their basic message that you can customize as you see fit. The message is stronger and more to the point than either of the letters from Ruger and S&W.


As a voter who believes in the U.S. Constitution, I am writing to express my views on gun control legislation currently being discussed in every level of government. I am one of over 100 million law-abiding American citizens who responsibly owns firearms for target shooting, hunting, personal and home defense, and collecting. I care deeply about the Second Amendment, and I am closely monitoring legislation that would restrict my right to keep and bear arms.

I am saddened by the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut, but I believe that efforts to impose new restrictions on me, a lawful and responsible gun owner, are misguided and unwarranted. The so-called “Assault Weapons Ban,” which for a decade restricted the sale of semiautomatic rifles and limited magazine capacity to ten rounds, did not reduce crime, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice. And since the expiration of the ban in 2004, violent crime has declined.

Your focus should be on real solutions to the problem of misuse of firearms, such as strengthening mental health care and improving the quality of data supporting the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Do NOT pass more gun or magazine laws; instead, work to enforce the thousands of gun laws already on the books and help step up prosecution of criminals who commit violence and misuse firearms.

We need to be calling, faxing, and writing weekly to all of our elected representatives. We may not have the billions of Mayor Bloomberg to buy out of state congressional seats but I learned a long time ago that money, though important, isn’t everything in politics.

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Hornady Clears Up Some Rumors

February 19, 2013 by

On some of the reloading lists that I subscribe to I’ve seen a lot of rumors about ammo and ammo component manufacturers. While this response from Hornady certainly doesn’t cover other large scale ammo/ammo components manufacturers like Remington, Federal, and Winchester, it is still good info especially with some reassurance for reloaders.


A Word on Availability

The current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours. Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites – all fueled by rumors and conjecture – have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items.

If the information you hear doesn’t originate from Hornady Manufacturing, don’t believe it.

Here are some of rumors we’ve heard, and questions we’ve received:

  • Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?


    • Not at all.

  • Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?

    • Absolutely not.

  • Since we can’t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.

    • Nope, less than 5% of our sales are to government entities.

  • Why can’t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?

    • We’ve been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We’ve added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day. Several hundred Hornady employees work overtime every week to produce as much as safely possible. If there is any question about that – please take a tour of the factory. You’ll be amazed at what you see.

We are producing as much as we can; much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do.

We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience. We don’t know when the situation will improve, so please bear with us a little longer. And remember, when it comes to Hornady Manufacturing, if you don’t hear it from us, please don’t believe it.

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Mexico Wants A Registry Of US Border State Gun Owners?

February 19, 2013 by 5 Comments

When I first read the story in The Blaze saying that the Mexican government wants the United States to compile a registry of all firearms owned in the Southwest border states, I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t April 1st. The Mexicans believe such a registry will make it easier to track firearms found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The story originated at the website InSightCrime which track organized crime in the Americas. From their story published in January:

Mexico’s Congress voted to formally ask the United States Senate to create a registry of all commercialized firearms in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Although the motion will have little impact in the US, it shows the gun control issue continues to resonate on both sides of the border.

The measure was approved January 9 by Mexico’s Permanent Commission, the government body that meets when the Senate and the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, is in recess.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) senator who introduced the proposal said it was intended to make it easier to trace guns used in violent attacks, reports Mexican newspaper Informador.

KPHO – CBS 5 in Phoenix – followed up on this story and asked Arizonans what they thought of it. As you can well imagine, not much.

CBS 5 – KPHO

As to my opinion on the Mexican government’s request, I would suggest they track the firearm diversions from their own army as well as those coming from their southern border.

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Another Politician Named Joe

February 19, 2013 by

After watching the testimony of Colorado State Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) concerning concealed carry on campus and rape, I couldn’t help but think that the next thing out of his misogynist mouth would be, “and if it is gonna happen anyway, just lie there and enjoy it.”

Evidence and experience do not matter to these people. Colorado State University has had concealed carry on campus for years without problems. It is obvious that concealed carry on campus is only a problem when it impacts the flagship located in the People’s Republic of Boulder and not that “cow college” located on the Front Range.

H/T Firearms Policy Coalition

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Could You Slant The Poll Wording Just A Bit More?

February 18, 2013 by 6 Comments

The Colorado State House passed their standard capacity magazine ban by a vote of 33 to 31. Every Democrat save three voted for HB 1224.

This led the Denver Post to set up an on-line poll asking whether or not Magpul should follow through on their promise to leave the state if HB 1224 is enacted into law. It asks, “If Colorado passes legislation banning the possession of high-capacity gun magazines, should Colorado-based manufacturers of such magazines leave the state?”

Look at the language of the Yes vote:

Yes. Let them carry through with their recent threats to leave. Colorado doesn’t need them here.

Could you slant it any more than this?

Now look at the language of the No vote in the poll:

No. HB 1224 makes it clear they could still legally produce high-capacity magazines to sell elsewhere, and Colorado needs the jobs.

Now think about that – if the legislature really believes a product is so dangerous and so injurious to the public safety that it must be banned in the state, then why on Earth would you allow it to be produced and then put into interstate commerce?

As the Republican Minority Leader noted:

House Minority Leader Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, said it was “absolutely inconsistent” for Democrats to have added an amendment to the bill in an attempt to keep Erie -based gun magazine manufacturer Magpul from leaving the state. The amendment says manufacturers could still make high-capacity magazines for out-of-state sale.

“Apparently, they (high-capacity magazines) are not instruments of destruction when they’re purchased outside the borders of Colorado,” Waller said.

 Unless a few Democrats in the State Senate show some spine and defeat the bill, Magpul will be moving. If I were an industrial recruiter in another state, I’d be putting my package together right now. It really is a sad state of affairs in the Centennial State.

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Which Is Worse – Possessing Kiddie Porn Or A New 8-Round Magazine? (Corrected)

February 18, 2013 by 4 Comments

If you answered “Kiddie Porn” to the question posed in the headline, you are an objective, rational person. If you answered “an 8-round magazine”, you might be a member of the New York State Assembly or State Senate.

Arma Borealis has a very interesting post up that shows how New York State criminal statutes treat such crimes as possessing child pornography, arson, rape, riot, and negligent homicide. They all are classed as a lower-degree offense than the possession of a new greater than 7-round magazine produced after the enactment date of the NY SAFE law. That law treats the magazine possession as a Class D felony.

I just shake my head in disgust at the misplaced priorities of Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and the state legislators in New York.

CORRECTION: As much as I’d like to believe that the gun prohibitionists in the New York Assembly and State Senate made possession of a greater than 8-round magazine a Class D felony, that is incorrect. Miguel at the Gun Free Zone corrected me on that. It is either a Class B or Class A misdemeanor depending on whether it is a first or subsequent offense and whether it was possessed inside or outside the home. The section of the law in question is below.

I should take this as a reminder to check and double check something that is just too good to be true.

UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF A LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICE IS A
   40  CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
   41  S 265.37 UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF CERTAIN AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
   42    IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON TO KNOWINGLY POSSESS  AN  AMMUNITION
   43  FEEDING  DEVICE THAT SUCH PERSON LAWFULLY POSSESSED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE
   44  DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO  THOUSAND  THIRTEEN  WHICH  ADDED
   45  THIS SECTION, THAT HAS A CAPACITY OF, OR THAT CAN BE READILY RESTORED OR
   46  CONVERTED  TO ACCEPT MORE THAN SEVEN BUT LESS THAN TEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNI-
   47  TION, WHERE SUCH DEVICE CONTAINS MORE THAN SEVEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION.
   48    IF SUCH DEVICE CONTAINING MORE THAN  SEVEN  ROUNDS  OF  AMMUNITION  IS
   49  POSSESSED WITHIN THE HOME OF THE POSSESSOR, THE PERSON SO POSSESSING THE
   50  DEVICE  SHALL, FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF A VIOLATION AND SUBJECT
   51  TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS, AND FOR A SECOND OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF
   52  A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND A
   53  TERM OF UP TO THREE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT.
   54    IF SUCH DEVICE CONTAINING MORE THAN  SEVEN  ROUNDS  OF  AMMUNITION  IS
   55  POSSESSED  IN  ANY  LOCATION  OTHER  THAN THE HOME OF THE POSSESSOR, THE
   56  PERSON SO POSSESSING THE DEVICE SHALL, FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF
       S. 2230                            25                            A. 2388

    1  A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND A
    2  TERM OF UP TO SIX MONTHS IMPRISONMENT, AND  FOR  A  SECOND  OFFENSE,  BE
    3  GUILTY OF A CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.