December 2007 – Page 19 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Pistol Packing Grandma Pinched at Disney

Looks like a Pennsylvania grandmother got herself in some hot water by trying to carry a .32 ACP Beretta Tomcat into Disney World. She is not in possession of a Pennsylvania LTCF, or any other license recognized by the State of Florida:

“I forget a lot of things. That might sound silly and stupid, but I did not remember that the pistol was down there,” Richardson told Eyewitness News after her released.

Other Disney World vacationers said they’re not buying Richardson’s story.

“I would know if there was a gun in mine. I know everything that’s in my purse. So I hope the law handles her in a good way so she’ll think twice before she does something like that again,” a Disney visitor told Eyewitness News.

Richardson doesn’t have a permit to carry the gun, but said she carries it for protection back home and she never had plans to hurt or scare anyone at the park.

Yeah, if you’re so old you’re forgetting a lot of things, including where you put your gun, you probably shouldn’t be carrying. Nontheless, I think some prosecutorial discretion is in order. I don’t think society has much to gain by throwing the book at this woman because she didn’t happen to realize that she needed to ask the government for permission before exercising a constitutional right.

New Jersey Votes to Abolish Death Penalty

The New Jersey senate voted today to be the first state to abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.Â I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the death penalty, but I don’t really buy the notion that it doesn’t deter crime.Â Even if it’s used as a lever to convince criminals to plea in exchange for dropping the death penalty, it has some value.Â It seems telling that New Jersey will go easy on criminals, while continuing to push for restrictions on the law abiding citizen’s ability to defend themselves, and keep and bear effective tools for doing so.

Rendell’s Protest

Pennlive has some coverage of the Governor’s dog and pony show.Â I see our friend Lynn Hoffman showed up to plug his book, which is a work of fiction where the protagonist engages in vandalism againstÂ rights supporters.

We’re Back

Thanks to a blown surge protector, we were down for a while.Â I have replaced it, and now we’re back in business.Â Sorry for the outage.

Criminals and Gun Shows

Maybe this is why criminals don’t tend to hang around gun shows.

Police arrested a man wantedÂ by the lawÂ at the Harrisburg gun show. He was trying to buy a firearm, but one dealer realized something was wrong. “He was wanted,” said show manager show manager Nick Jubinski. “State Police came over, picked him up and arrested him.”

A salesperson learned about the suspect’s wanted status on the phone through the PennsylvaniaÂ Insta-Check system.

Vendors like Jack Shuttleworth are required to dial before dealing. “We don’t dare sell any gun without doing a background check on it,” said Shuttleworth.

Read the whole thing.Â Kind of flies in the face of the Brady Campaign accusations that gun shows are unregulated bazaars of criminal mischief.

Roger Kimball on Gun Control

Insty linked to Uncle’s post here, but also to a post by Roger Kimball which I think is well worth reading. Sometimes it helps to have the perspective of someone not in the meat of this political battle we fight:

But behind the panoply of motivations there is, I suspect, this fundamental philosophical divide: On the one side are people who see that we live in a free society, understand that freedom is not freeâ€”that it can often be quite an expensive qualityâ€”and who understand further that preserve freedom requires that individuals stand up for themselves, physically as well as in other ways.On the other side of the divide are people who see that we live in a free society, who may also understand that freedom is not freeâ€”they, too, might admit that it can often be quite an expensive qualityâ€”but who wish to cede important parts of that responsibility to the state. The former are likely to be small-government, low-tax supporters of the Second Amendment. The latter are likely to be big government, high-tax critics of the Second Amendment.

That alludes to something I’ve long believed: this fight is about a whole lot more than just guns. Glenn Reynolds has alluded to this before as well, by saying that how you view this issue says a lot about how you view your fellow citizen. I agree with that. The right to bear arms is just one aspect of a free people, but it’s one of the hardest aspect to accept if you have contempt for your fellow citizen.

Reasoned Discourse, Part II

This blogger seems to think the mall shooting is the NRA’s fault. I have to wonder who’s fault they think the thwarted church massacre was? Or who’s fault this is? But Europe has a lower violent crime rate than we do, so it must be the guns! I pointed out that some countries with gun prohibitions have very high violent crime rates, and that others that have a lot of gun possession are relatively crime free.

The thing is, I don’t deny that cultural factors influence violent crime rates. The American criminal culture can be remarkably violent, especially in cities. But it’s hard for me to agree that it’s the guns when states like Vermont are awash with them, and jurisdictions like Washington D.C., in theory, are supposed to be gun free.

I fully believe if you flooded Germany or the UK with firearms, they’d still have murder rates lower than the US. Culturally, their criminals murder less often. I don’t know why that is, but I’m not betting it’s because they end up saying “Damn, I’d kill this guy if I had a gun, but I can’t get one, so I guess he lives today.”

If you comment there, be polite.

Castle Doctrine in Pennsylvania

Gun owners in this state showed that they can get the job done when it comes to defending their right to bear arms. Now the question is, can we move the ball forward?

“Castle Doctrine” legislation, House Bill 641, introduced by State Representative Steven Cappelli (R-83), will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, December 11 at 10:00 a.m. in Room G50 of the Irvis Office Building.

This critical legislation will ensure that law-abiding Pennsylvanians have the ability to defend themselves and their loved ones from violent attack without fear of criminal prosecution or civil action.

Letters will be going out tonight. Since this looks likely to pass, I will also make sure my state representative knows how I would like him to vote on this when it comes to the floor for a vote. I think we can put Castle Doctrine on Ed Rendell’s desk, and force him to make some serious choices in deciding whether or not to sign it. Regardless of what the Governor does, it’ll be a political victory for gun owners just to get it on his desk. Let’s get it done folks.

UPDATE: From Melody Zullinger of PA Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs:

Just got word that HB 641 has been pulled from Tuesday’s agenda and will not be considered. No further details at this time.

I’ll keep everyone updated on this one.

Colorado Church Shooting Stopped by CWP Holder

Ahab tells us that it’s quite likely this particular mass shooting was stopped by someone who had a Colorado Concealed Weapons Permit. It’ll be interesting to see this story, which I can promise you the media won’t tell, develop.

UPDATE: Dave Hardy says it was an armed woman.

UPDATE: Looks like Dave got that from Insty who got if from Michelle Malkin.

UPDATE: SayUncle has much much more.

UPDATE: Kurt Hofmann linked this story in the comment, which suggests lends some credence to Ahab’s theory.

UPDATE: Confirmed.Â The woman was a Colorado CWP holder.

Easton Shooting Debate

I’m not sure this is a debate really anywhere except among Pennsylvania journalists:

Â When it came to whether Robert Pierce Jr. was justified in shooting a would-be robber, Northampton Country District Attorney John Morganelli said the decision was “crystal clear.”

“We don’t expect our citizens to wait until they’re shot,” he said at a news conference this week.

He’s referring to the self-defense shooting case I blogged about here.Â But there are other sides to the story:

Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire NJ, a Newark-based organization devoted to reducing gun violence, said gun proliferation leads to more gun violence.

“It’s clear that the more guns you put on the street, in whoever’s hands, the more likely that there will be gun violence,” Miller said. “Allowing citizens to carry guns around does not make society safer.”

Miller said New Jersey has fewer gun-related incidents because the state does not allow permits to carry concealed guns.

To be sure New Jersey has fewer gun-related incidents like this, because New Jersey denies honest citizens the right to protect themselves.Â In New Jersey, Mr. Pierce would just be another statistic; just another murder victim.Â Â That would be just fine by Bryan Miller.Â It would also be just fine by Patricia McClain-Afford:

Patricia McClain-Afford, co-president of Guns Down, an Easton-based organization, said citizens carrying guns risk injuring themselves or becoming disarmed by a criminal, thus endangering themselves further.

“I just don’t agree with the idea that it’s right for people to get guns to defend themselves, because then the bad guys have guns, the good guys have guns and then everybody’s just shooting at each other,” she said.

Wow, I trembled before the intellectual veracity of that argument.Â The fact is that Mr. Pierce is alive because he lives in a state that allows honest citizens the right to have the means to defend themselves.Â The system works, even if some people don’t want to accept that.