July 2008 – Page 7 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Could we please …

… not make gun owners look like lunatics in the media for all to see?Â Â You know what ends up happening when the majority of the people in this country who don’t own gun, and don’t care much about gun rights, start believing that gun owners are out to foment a civil war? Â They start agreeing to take our guns away.

Some may want an armed revolution, but I don’t want to see it come to that.Â It is not inevitable or necessary at this point in time.Â I’d prefer to solve this problem politically, and guys like this aren’t helping.Â We’re winning right now, both politically, and the hearts and minds.Â Could we please not do stupid shit like this to fuck it up?Â Thank you.

Airport Insecurity

Looks like a Mississippi Democratic Congressman is making a move to make all airports gun free zones.Â Joe wonders how they’d enforce this.Â Same way they enforce other gun free zones: the people like you and me obey the law, leaving the criminals and terrorists to do what they will.

Remember, it’s safe to stay home in 2008!Â The anti-gun democrats won’t do anything to us when they have the White House and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate.Â They promise!

Gun Control Not Public Health

The New England Journal of Medicine keeps saying guns are a public health issue.Â But do medical professionals really feel that way?Â Â This informal poll says a lot of them don’t:

The responses from physicians who are registered members of the site was remarkbly evenly divided. Just over half (52%) said Yes, that gun control is a public health issue.

But for readers as a whole, it was another story — with 83% of the 2,023 respondents saying No. And as a further measure of interest in gun control, there were 36 comments posted with the poll. Some posters weighed in more than once to further the conversation.

This is a health care related site, so most of the folks reading could be expected to be health care professionals.

Great Slogan For Your Shooting Team

“We’d still be holding the Alamo if the TSRA National Match Team had been there.”

Bad Idea

Looks like this company is trying to revive the Gyrojet.Â This is going to get people killed.Â It’s a stupendously bad idea to mix lethal and non-lethal capabilities in the same weapon.Â No one wants to be on the receiving end of “Ooops, I though I had it set to stun.”Â Let’s not even think about if the velocity is dependent on distance, what happens to someone behind your target.

Just because Star Trek came up with the idea, doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

Complain to Carrie McCarthy & Get Your Guns Seized

Authorities in Nassau County have seized the guns of a man who rubbed McCarthy’s office the wrong way:

An outspoken Long Island gun owner’s home was raided by Nassau County detectives, who seized two dozen weapons he lawfully owns just one day after Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s office made a 911 call about him.

Freeport resident Gabriel Razzano claims he was targeted in the spring raid for his “unpopular” political beliefs.

He’s now filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against the Nassau PD and McCarthy, charging they joined forces to strip him of his guns unconstitutionally.

I mean, if he threatened her, or made threats, I would imagine they can charge him with something.Â If not, this he might have some grounds to his suits.Â Tom King, President of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, is on Cam’s show right now saying this guy is outspoken, but not crazy, and definitely didn’t threaten anyone in McCarthy’s office.

More on Pat Wray for NRA Board

Looks like he’s having his say in Bitter’s comments.Â It looks like he’s distancing himself from previous comments.Â He’s still not getting my vote.

Clear Channel & Moms Against Guns

Bitter managed to talk to Clear Channel about the MAG advertising campaign.Â Seems they plead ignorance to the exact nature of Moms Against Guns:

So, ignorance is no excuse, right? I would agree with that to a point. We all have biases. What concerns me is how this got so far – 30+ freakinâ€™ billboards (which Clear Channel did acknowledge were mostly donated by them since Interstate is a smaller company) – without someone raising an alarm. That, they agreed, needed to be investigated internally. Thatâ€™s refreshing honesty.

But the real meat of it is this:

So the next step was for Clear Channelâ€™s rep to call the lead Mom who, it turns out, is self funding the group. Only that conversation lead her to discover that the group isnâ€™t registered as a charity at all. Itâ€™s registered as an LLC, and they have no intent of going for non-profit status.

This was a bit of a shock to them. Clear Channel was lead to believe they were doing a PSA for a charitable organization. Yet, instead, their donations have been used for political advocacy for essentially a business.Â There will no doubt be more to come of this, and I know I am on their call list when they get it resolved.

But, for kicks, hereâ€™s another layer to this huge legal misunderstanding, I do actually know of a group that has a huge ad campaign with Clear Channel right now, though in another market. I think Iâ€™ll save most of that news for tomorrow in case there are developments to that story.

Read the whole thing though.Â Bitter has done a fine job not only as an amateur journalist, but in wielding her influence and PR acumen skillfully.Â We’re very much hoping that Clear Channel Outdoors pulls their advertising campaign for Moms Against Guns.Â Getting pressure from the greater community certainly has helped in this case, so thanks to everyone who called or e-mailed.Â If you haven’t already, feel free to call your local Clear Channel Outdoors office and inform them that you are unhappy.Â Especially if you own a business that purchases outdoor advertising.Â Let’s make sure they do the right thing here.

A Living Constitution

Obama may not be old enough to be president.

h/t The Volokh Conspiracy

Quote of the Day

From the Mayor of San Francisco:

“[NRA is against] anything that restricts the opportunity for a guy who gets cut off in traffic from pulling out a hand gun and almost assassinating an entire family, as was the case a few days ago in San Francisco, where three people were gunned down. That somehow that is appropriate and wonderful and that person celebrated his freedom to carry a loaded pistol.”

It should be noted that the illegal immigrant who murdered the family had two prior felony convictions.Â But according to Mayor Newsom, it’s NRA’s fault.Â It’s not his fault, for running a city that’s incapable of controlling crime.Â It’s not the State of California’s fault, for making sure everyone except felons is appropriate disarmed from protecting themselves.Â It’s certainly not the federal government’s fault for a failed immigration policy.Â Nope, it your fault.Â It’s my fault.Â It’s anyone’s fault except for the people who’s fault it actually is.Â It’s like a two year old who blames his little brother for breaking the expensive china.