The Two NRA’s

Dave Hardy relays a funny story about the National Rifle Association sharing the same building with the National Recovery Administration in the 30s.  Hilarity ensued.  I guess the folks in Fairfax won’t be leasing out any of their real estate to the National Restaurant Association any time soon.

The Brady’s Were Right, But Dishonest

Now that the Brady’s have chosen to mention at least one aspect of DC law that they were concerned about, it’s possible to actually evaluate their concerns without interference from all the hype and hysterics.

The Brady’s were actually correct to point out that the changes to the DC law would have allowed open carrying of long arms, but there’s a catch.  Technically speaking, it’s never been illegal to carry a long gun on or about your person in DC provided you had a trigger lock on it, and it was properly registered according to DC law.  So even before Heller, you could have slung your evil 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle and walked down Pennsylvania Ave with it, provided you had it properly registered and either taken the bolt out and put it in your pocket, or placed a trigger lock on it.

HR6691 would have repealed the registration requirement, the trigger lock law, and The District’s blanket ban on semi-automatic firearms.  When it repealed the ban on carrying firearms in the home, it did so this way:

SEC. 9. REMOVE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CARRYING A FIREARM IN ONE’S DWELLING OR OTHER PREMISES.

Section 4(a) of the Act of July 8, 1932 (47 Stat. 651; sec. 22-4504(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended–

(1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by striking `a pistol,’ and inserting the following: `except in his dwelling house or place of business or on other land possessed by that person, whether loaded or unloaded, a pistol,’; and

(2) by striking `except that:’ and all that follows through `(2) If the violation’ and inserting `except that if the violation’.

If you look at the section of the DC Official Code that’s being modified here, you would see that it only adds an exception for one’s home and place of business.  The amendment passed the other day, which was to HR6842 is modified thusly:

SEC. 9. REMOVE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CARRYING A FIREARM IN ONE’S DWELLING OR OTHER PREMISES.

(a) In General- Section 4(a) of the Act of July 8, 1932 (47 Stat. 651; sec. 22–4504(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended–

(1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by striking `a pistol,’ and inserting the following: `except in his dwelling house or place of business or on other land possessed by that person, whether loaded or unloaded, a firearm,’; and

(2) by striking `except that:’ and all that follows through `(2) If the violation’ and inserting `except that if the violation’.

(b) Conforming Amendment- Section 5 of such Act (47 Stat. 651; sec. 22–4505, D.C. Official Code) is amended–

(1) by striking `pistol’ each place it appears and inserting `firearm’; and

(2) by striking `pistols’ each place it appears and inserting `firearms’.

So the Brady claim that the bill would have allowed the open carrying of long guns was actually true, but what they failed to mention was this was always DC law.  Their claim that the eventual bill introduced on the house as an amendment to Norton’s bill fixed this “problem” is also true.  But that didn’t stop opponents of this bill from continuing to dishonestly claim all manner of hysterics.

Also not mentioned is that in most US states, it’s perfectly lawful to carry a long arm openly without any kind of license or registration.  I would challenge anyone from The Brady Campaign to attempt to openly carry a loaded AR-15 past the Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg, or any other state capital where it’s legal, and see if the police don’t stop to ask you a few questions.

Finally, It Is Revealed

In Helmke’s latest diatribe he finally reveals the NRA’s treachery in making sure terrorists can roam DC armed to the teeth:

Only just before the bill was introduced on the House floor did the NRA fix their “mistake” and amend the legislation to prohibit open-carrying of assault weapons. This shameless effort should have been the final nail in the coffin of whatever credibility the gun lobby had left.

Except that even after it was introduced onto the floor, you guys were still claiming it was allowing terrorists to openly carry all manner of military weaponry openly in public, even though it was apparently “fixed”.  I will look into this later, to see whether there is any merit to these claims at all.  It would be much easier to judge if the Brady Campaign would learn to speak in a language other than raving hysterics.

Machine Tools

The Arizona Rifleman is getting some experience with machine tools, and thinks about how easy it would be to manufacture naughty parts for guns.  It’s actually not that difficult to manufacture firearms if you have a reasonably well equipped machine shop.  The technology for modern firearms is a century old at this point, and you could fit the equipment necessary in a residential garage or basement.  You don’t see much of these types of operations today because of a lack of demand, since it’s easier for criminals to buy from existing black market stock.  But in the UK, it’s becoming common, and it would be common here too if guns are ever outlawed.

State GOP Can Go to Hell

Apparently the Pennsylvania GOP is unhappy that people will be able to wear whatever they want into the polling booth:

Officials from the state Republican Party Thursday morning criticized a decision from the Pennsylvania Department of State allowing voters to wear candidate T-shirts and buttons when they enter polling stations, saying the paraphernalia could sway voters and force polling officials to act as “fashion police.”

If the Pennsylvania State GOP were half as concerned about the fact that they have a ground game that’s utterly pathetic as they are about what people are wearing on election day, we might just be able to turn Pennsylvania for McCain this election cycle.  GOP Chairman Bob Gleason needs to get back to the basics and stop worrying that people out there might just decide to exercise free speech.

UPDATE: I’ve since been convinced that my position on this issue was not well thought out.  I tend to sympathize first with free expression, but for now I’ll agree that there’s value in a sterile polling area.

Ohio Preemption Upheld

The Supreme Court of Ohio apparently has thrown out a local ban on guns in city parks.  I hope Hazel Township is listening to what’s going on next door, and will take the hint.

UPDATE: I’d like to thank NRA for giving credit where credit was due in this press release.  Quite often NRA is criticized, often justly, for not giving credit to other groups when they do good work on behalf of gun rights.  This helps.

Financial Crisis Impact on New York City

Megan McArdle writes:

All of New York’s rebound has been paid for by the taxes on the financial industry–a few hundred thousand people in the industry pay the lion’s share of the taxes for the entire city.  Take them away, and the city will rapidly lurch back towards bankruptcy.

Of course, that’s not the sort of thing that happens overnight.  But the City and State of New York are remarkably business-unfriendly places; they usually end up ranked at the very bottom of the league tables in terms of the ease of doing business there.  That isn’t just taxes, though that’s part of it, but the massive, overgrown regulatory apparatus that can be perilous and expensive to negotiate.

Read the whole thing.  And after that, her post on rethinking regulation is quite worthwhile.