Thirdpower points out something that’s been bothering me too. The right wing machine is spinning these paranoid tales of Obama and Congress passing gun bans, so clearly we need to respond to these delusional lunatics by actually passing guns bans!
Month: April 2009
Sad Day for My Alma Mater
Drexel’s President has died.  This isn’t a good day for the school. Papadakis took over when I was a Junior, and in the intervening years turned the school from a regional engineering school into a nationally recognized university. Drexel added a medical school and law school under his watch. What he did with the school was incredible, and I suspect he’s irreplaceable.
Norton Caves on Gun Issue
I think the path is clearing for DC Voting rights to pass along with DC gun rights. If Elanor Norton is giving in, I don’t know what’s left stopping it:
Still, Norton has so far railed against keeping the amendment. But on Friday, she said the bill must pass — even if it means keeping a provision that, among other things, would allow residents to carry AK-47s without any registration.
So let’s pass this thing then.
Economically Sighting In
I guess when you collect safari guns, that run you 4 to 6 dollars per trigger pull, you learn a thing or two about how to sight in without going through a pile of ammunition.
More on the Mexican Gun Canard
The Firearms Blog takes a look at some of the hardware that’s ending up in Mexico. Looks like he’s been reading a lot of Mexican government web sites. It’s very thorough, and is quality blogging.
Post-Gazette Promoting a Double Standard
The Pittsburg Post-Gazette can’t seem to resist:
The person accused of the crimes, [redacted], appears to be another archetype loser who was all about rights but not responsibilities and whose mind had been poisoned by drinking deep of irrational anti-government conspiracies and gospels of hate.
His mind was poisoned, you see. He can’t be made to take any responsibility for his own actions. Someone else planted the seed of murder in his head, even though staunch gun rights supporters think murdering police officers is wrong, and won’t shed a tear for this guy when the state sticks a needle in his arm.
But I suppose I could buy the Post-Gazette’s assertion that it’s an “irrational anti-government conspiracy”, you know, about taking our firearms, if it weren’t for later in the article:
But there will be time enough to consider how lunatic it is that an AK-47 assault rifle can find its way into the hands of a seething fool, to weigh the culpability of politicians who resist sensible limits on guns and to take to task the radio talk show hosts who foment evil by banging drums of hatred.
Are they so blind that they don’t see the contradiction in what they just pointed out? You argue it’s an irrational conspiracy, and then go argue exactly the position that cause us to speak out in favor of our Second Amendment rights.
If the Post is going to argue that we, the gun rights community, are responsible for feeding the delusions of maniacs when we decry gun control, they also have to accept their responsibility by feeding the same delusions when they exploit a tragedy to make public proclamations in favor of it. If any of us are responsible, we’re both responsible. To argue otherwise is to say we are not free to advocate for our position, while the Post-Gazette is free to advocate for theirs. That’s not what free speech is about.
Good News for Gun Clubs
Some politicians in Pennsylvania are looking to exempt non-profit food preparation from our state’s onerous health laws:
A law that has been on the books in Pennsylvania since 1945 says food that is sold at fish fries, spaghetti dinners, bake sales or any other church or community organization fundraiser, has to be made in a commercial kitchen that passes federal inspection. None of the food for sale can be made in parishioners’ homes. According to Sen. Rich Kasunic, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture never enforced the rule until recently.
Being able to serve food is an important part of running a successful match. Competitors are there all day, and it’s good to be able to feed them. This is something clubs, and I would argue even NRA, should consider getting behind. Especially to make sure shooting clubs are exempted as well as churches. Many clubs in our state are taking a chance serving food to members. We shouldn’t have to worry about that.
A Beautiful Start to IHMSA Season
Today we had our first IHMSA shoot of the year, and it was a beautiful day.
Because I had a wedding to go to yesterday, I didn’t get to hand load for field pistol. Instead I shot smallbore twice, once standing, and once freestyle (creedmore position). Shot an 18 standing, which was disappointing (Only single A). I was hoping to do better. I need to practice more out at 75 and 100 yards, because that’s where I’m missing animals. The target area you’re aiming for is about the size of a DVD box at 100 yards. Shooting Creedmore, I managed 28, AA, and enjoyed shooting in that position, though I need to work on making it more stable. Shooting freestyle, you have to get a perfect score to shoot an International level score.
Then on to air pistol, where I shot in Ulimited Standing Iron Sights with an IZH-46 that our NRA air gun match director loaned to me to decide whether I wanted to buy one (to which the answer is a resounding yes). Shot a 30 with it, which for USIS in IHMSA is only AAA, but would ahve been a master score in NRA Outdoor Air Pistol. Shot production with my Crossman 2300S. It was like going back to driving a Volkswagon after driving a Rolls Royce around. Only 21 with that, but since it’s a production gun, I’m on the upper end of AA with that score.
I should note that the pistols the big bore shooters use fire rounds which would defeat soft body armor. Big bore silhouette might seem like a sport, using single shot pistols, would be fairly safe, but it could be under threat again if the “cop killer bullet” nonsense ever rears its ugly head again.
More Details, and They Aren’t Good
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
The report quoted Mrs. [No Publicity for Cop Killers] as saying her son, after being kicked out of the Marine Corps for assaulting his drill sergeant during basic training, had been “stockpiling guns and ammunition, buying and selling the weapons online, because he believed that as a result of the economic collapse, the police were no longer able to protect society.”
Assault your NCO is certainly a Court Martial offense, but did they go through with it and manage to discharge him dishonorably? Or did they just discharge him administratively and leave it at that? It also reports that he was buying and selling weapons online, which you can’t do legally without going though an FFL, unless it’s a long gun and it’s a private sale between residents of the same state. Pennsylvania has no private sales of handguns. Of course, if he was dishonorably discharged, all bets are off, and any transfer of a firearm to him is unlawful.
Quote of the Day
Once again the cable news programs are going wall to wall covering the latest mass shooting. All other programming is on hold. I’ve said this before. When the news shows do this they are guaranteeing the next atrocity. A twisted desire for fame and attention drives some of this.
And no sooner did she write this, and we had another guy go ape shit.