Looks like a proposed ban on concealed carry in Lancaster County Parks is no more.
Month: February 2008
Superheroes At Risk
It’s not just Superman, but many others as well. Who will save America’s superheroes?
Gun Rights in an Urban Setting
With the leading Democratic candidate for president that believe “in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturer’s lobby,” it’s a very good thing we have guys like Pro-Gun Progressive on our side. Click on the link to his video. That’s about as favorable a report I’ve seen from media, especially local media, on a right to carry bill to date. And to think, it’s Baltimore local media. Will Obama reconsider his position on urban gun rights in light of guys like PGP? It will take more than courting Bill Richardson to convince us.
Quote of the Day
“If somebody approach me wrong, I’m going to cold cock them.” – Mayor Nagin of New Orleans.
He gave the order to take honest people’s guns after Katrina, because they might perpetrate violence, you know.
PSH in Virginia?
In a state where open carry isn’t all that uncommon, an entire university would appear to have gone into lockdown over what I’m guessing is someone open carrying:
There have been no reports of threats and no one on campus had been harmed, Hunt said at an afternoon news conference. Several men resembling the description of the man with the weapon were questioned but were not held, authorities said.
“No one has been hurt; no one is in a panic mode,” Braaten said.
All campus buildings had been searched by Tuesday evening and police said they still had no idea who the man with the gun is or whether he is a student.
It’s not illegal to carry a firearm, open or concealed, at a college or university in Virginia, so if the man was seen with a holstered pistol, this would appear to be an overreaction. Can’t be too safe these days though, I guess. At least that’s what the officials will say. Pretty soon we’re going to be panicking because a black cat was seen crossing someone’s path on campus. Surely a harbinger of doom.
Maryland Ammo Serialization Bill
Read the citizens’ reports on the testimony for MD’s proposed ammo serialization bill, HB517. You’re basically required to turn in all non compliant ammo (yeah, like that’s gonna fly) and only use the encoded, serialized stuff.
Turning in the unserialized ammunition sounds like a fine idea to me. Be sure to check out the background on the boneheads who are trying to cajole various state governments into buying this scam.
Amusing Video from ACLU
The ACLU has to be commended when they do right, and I have to admit, this video is pretty good.
Information technology is just getting too good, and we’re going to have to learn to live with other people knowing a lot about us, but we should be very fearful of a confluence of information technology in both public and private hands enabling a meddlesome government to be even more meddlesome. It will be very hard, and I’m not sure even a net public good, to prevent private entities from sharing information, but we must be very wary of government getting into the game, especially if they decide to declare themselves the only provider of health care.
Hat tip to Michael Bane.
DC Gets More Time
I originally saw this from Michael Bane, but didn’t get around to it until today. Looks like the Supreme Court granted a motion to allow the solicitor general to argue on the side of Washington DC for an addition 15 minutes over the time alloted for DC’s attorneys.  Dave Hardy weighs in on this too:
Hard to read much into it, beyond the fact that it gives a tactical advantage to DC. 45 minutes of argument for reversing D.C. Circuit, only 30 of argument for affirmance. DC can probably figure the SG won’t use a lot of time arguing for the individual right. The key to the SG getting where they want to go is standard of review, intermediate rather than strict scrutiny, so that’s where the SG will spend his time. DC can cut back on argument over standard of review — which might have occupied half their time, and more than half if they appeared to be losing on individual right — and use the time elsewhere.
So Bush’s Solictor General is not only going to file the brief, but he’s going to argue in front of the Supreme Court against gun owners! Am I surprised? No. Bush’s strategy has been to throw gun owners token gestures, but to do nothing, or actively screw us on stuff that really matters.
Do I regret voting for the bastard? No. Because if we had been stuck with 8 years of Al Gore, or Kerry, the outcome of this case would be a foredrawn conclusion, and that conclusion would be we’d flat out lose. The Socilitor General is offering The Court the option of handing us a win on the individual rights count, but handing DC a win in terms of getting the case remanded, and forcing us to go through this process all over again.
I fully believe if the case is remanded, the district court will uphold DC’s ban as a reasonable exercise of governmental power to limit the second amendment. We will have to appeal, possibly winning at the circuit court again, and the fight will continue. But the Supreme Court probably won’t touch another gun case for a while, letting the lower courts hash through the new precident. End result is nothing changes much, but it’s an individual right. The real danger is a strongly anti-gun president stacks the court with justices who would be willing to overturn or severely restrict the scope of the second amendment post Heller, and when the next case goes before The Supreme Court, we end up with a constitutional right that’s individual and not collective, but still doesn’t mean anything.
Media Credentials
Bloggers attending the Second Amendment Blog Bash in Louisville will be getting media credentials from the National Rifle Association, and access to the media room.  SayUncle notes we’ll get a peek into the secret lives of reporters, some of whom may end up wanting to report on you too!  So if you’re a blogger, and can make it, go register.
Cerberus Capital
SayUncle notes that George K. Kollitides, a managing director for Cerberus Capital (who own Remington, Bushmaster, and DPMS), is running for the NRA board of directors.