Gun shop owners negotiate with anti-gun organizations at their own peril. These people are not interested in coming to an understanding — they want you out of business and your product banned. Give them nothing. Do not talk to them. We are your customers, and we’re just warning you if you want us to continue patronizing your businesses.
Month: December 2008
Obama’s Pick for Department of Interior
Sensibly Progressive talks about his record on guns.
Watch this Cow get hit by a Plane
Cows and planes don’t normally mix. Until Youtube brings us evidence that the rule is now officially out the window.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGYCnowBC2g[/youtube]
It’s extreme cow-tipping! And to think, I only thought that was a sport where I’m from in rural Oklahoma.
Chicago Gun Ban Upheld in District Court
SayUncle has the story. This is not unexpected, since there’s controlling higher court precedent that binds the lower court.
More on CMP and the M-14
A reader yesterday made a pretty good comment that I feel I should share as a post:
History Lesson
1994 – Clinton gets the gun ban through Congress. Issues an executive order directing the Army to cease transfer of surplus-to-needs weapons and ammunition to the Department of Civilian Marksmanship. Also orders the Army to dispose of stored M14’s by foreign sale or destruction, in order to prevent their future sale through DCM.
1995 – Clinton issues executive order shutting down DCM permanently.
1996 – A newly elected Republican controlled Congress (primarliy due to Clintons’ gun ban) gives Clinton “the finger†by resurrecting the DCM as a congressionally chartered private corporation; the CMP. For political reasons the CMP is not chartered to sell the thousands of 1911’s surplussed by the switch to the M9. Doesn’t have much practical impact, though, as the company in Anniston that had been bandsawing Garands and M14s, and crushing 1911’s, had been running 3 shifts for more than a year. There are, for all practical purposes, no 1911’s left. Destruction of Garands and M14’s is halted. Remaining rifles returned to storage.
2004(ish) Army notes desperate need for long range rifle system for designated marksman program. Remaining M14’s, including most of the guns used by the USN for linethrowing and security, are returned to the depot at Crane for overhaul and re-issue to the Army.
Clinton managed to get rid of nearly 750,000 M14’s through foreign sales (at a dollar apiece) or destruction.
The domestic supply of M1 Garands was exhausted about 3 years ago. Rifles sold through CMP since then are lend-lease returns from foreign governments. Once those are gone, or if re-import is halted, thats’ it. Get ‘em while you can!
The Army is still short of DM rifles, and certainly isn’t destroying any serviceable M14’s at this point. Rumor has it that attempts are being made to repurchase some of those that were dumped overseas.
Regulating Pools
Blackfork notes that after many years of suggesting that pools kill far more kids each year than guns do, the federal government has actually started to regulate pools. I think we need to stop giving them ideas.
Ohio Carry Permits Saved from Fee Hike
It looks like the cost of a concealed carry permit in Ohio was going to be increased without too much debate until NRA stepped in around 1am this morning.
A fee increase for concealed-carry licenses survived inside House Bill 450 through the entire day Wednesday and even into early Thursday morning. But it’s never too late for the National Rifle Association to make things happen.
The bill, which passed the Senate by an overwhelming margin several hours earlier in the evening, was called up for reconsideration just before 1 a.m. Thursday morning, after the NRA and others contacted Republican lawmakers and expressed concern about an amendment to the bill that would increase fees for concealed-carry permits.
The fee was stripped out because there seems to have been some major miscommunication on it. The hike was requested by the county sheriffs who lose money from their normal operating budgets every time they issue one. Some GOP lawmakers were told the increase was only about $3-5, but apparently it was worded so the fees could be hiked another $25.
The Pros and Cons of Being Everything to Everyone
There have been minor grumblings by some of the left about Obama’s cabinet picks and moderation on some issues post-election. But it’s rather quite shocking to see some of fury unleashed when he announced the man who will lead the Inauguration prayer. But it was Jim Geraghty’s comment that made me smile when thinking about Obama’s rhetoric and approach during the election versus the reality now.
Maybe this is a reflection of a disappointing second term for President Bush, but I’m more or less used to politicians disappointing me. The Right pushed hard to reelect the guy in 2004 because they didn’t want an economic liberal, and four years later we’re hearing, “I have abandoned free-market principles in order to save the free-market system.” Henry Paulson was supposed to be the most savvy treasury secretary in ages; now he seems to be making up the plan as he goes along. Two disastrous cycles for the GOP in Congress, and they keep the same leadership in both chambers. John McCain took only a few weeks to start complaining about unfair tactics from the RNC again. Every politician fails to live up to expectations in one form or another — even Reagan gave conservatives only one-and-a-half good Supreme Court justices out of three opportunities.
Yes, I do think that Bush has been responsible for quite a few conservatives being disappointed, disillusioned, or otherwise bitter about politicians. However, I also realize that Obama’s broad messages – not the few attempts at talking policy – were designed to allow voters to make of him what they wanted. They recoiled at our suggestion to look more closely at his background and actual votes because his message about hope and change was vague enough so that they could interpret it to match their views. It would be like telling them to question their own personal histories. In all honesty, even though he initially pledged not to run because he was too inexperienced, I really wonder if he didn’t have to run now in order to keep his record as short as possible so he could use such lofty ideals without being so easily called out on it.
But back to people being disappointed. They feel mislead. I would say it’s really their own fault, but I also view Obama’s message as similar to a very successful ad campaign. Since his base really hates that kind of stuff, they may just now be opening their eyes to see that while they weren’t actively lied to, they did buy into a message that left all the icky stuff out. And rather than hating themselves for not looking into it more closely, they’ll hate him for it. But I think most of them will get over it. I think we’ll see the farther left members of Congress do just enough to make them happy and they will forget about this affair. However, if Obama doesn’t come out as a strong advocate for their causes at some point (he was a community organizer, you know), then they may redirect their energy to the Congressional and state candidates who don’t leave them with less buyers remorse wondering, “Where’s the hopechange?”
Gun Industry Health
SayUncle has a pretty good summation of how the gun industry is doing. In short, hunting continues to decline, while the shooting sports and self-defense markets are running hot. I think the industry’s efforts to attempt to revive hunting are important, but agree with Uncle that they should recognize who’s driving their business right now.
My Kind of Politician, Part II
We’ve talked about Jerry Patterson, the Texas Land Comissioner, before. This time he’s taking a dim view of running for U.S. Senate if Kay Bailey Hutchinson runs for Governer:
“Just like Johnny Cash, I’d definitely take my guns to town,” Patterson said. “Living in D.C. would be tough only because of the lack of gun ranges and available ammunition.”
Paraphrasing his quote from a recent West Texas land controversy, Patterson added “No guns, no hunting, no Senate.”
That is perhaps the best reason I have ever heard from a politician for not running for an office. Read the whole thing. It’s a hoot.