The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
I think I need to get one of these just for the sheer ridiculousness of it. A Picatinny railed mug that I can attach a standard AR carry handle to? I’m sold!
UPDATE: Considering the 200 dollar plus price tag, maybe I’m not sold. I’d be willing to pay 20 bucks for such a novelty, maybe even 30, or 40 on a good day. But no way over 100. Yet, I still think they will sell enough of these to make money.
Jim Geraghty reports on how the gun issue is playing in the New Jersey Governor’s race. Truth is that Christie isn’t really our guy, but it’s an improvement moving to someone who isn’t going to gun owners as a punching bag. Get some breathing room, then work on the legislature. I would encourage all Garden State gun owners to get out and vote for Christie. Volunteer for him if you can. Don’t expect miracles, but he’ll be an improvement over Corzine.
I am very pleased with your record on the Second Amendment. Really. I appreciate it. You’re a true leader on the issue, which is more than you can say for a lot of reps. But man, on other issues, you talk like you just escaped from the insane asylum.
Is it smart politics to be the only State Representative to vote against Domestic Violence Prevention month? Because of some imagined gay agenda? Is it smart politics to call veterans who don’t agree with you traitors? And then doubling down?
No, it isn’t, and it makes it much harder for Second Amendment advocates to defend you. Why give your political enemies this kind of ammunition to use against you? What constituency are you hoping to please with this nonsense?
Get serious. Otherwise we’re not going to be able to defend you next time you’re politically vulnerable. Which may be very soon if this crap keeps up.
Over at our other site, PA gun rights, we look into which counties have the highest numbers of LTCs issued, and the most gun shops. It would be interesting to see the numbers on a per-capita basis too.
Caleb improvises a bit, weapon wise, with a mugger. Another person I know who’s drawn a pistol yet hasn’t had to fire. Good thing for Caleb too, because I’m pretty sure the coffee he used has more stopping power than that .25ACP Jetfire he carries. But good show, regardless. Any incident that ends with the bad guy running away and you keeping your stuff is a good ending.
Two articles in the new rags about Militia resurgence. One in a Kentucky paper, and one in Maine. I don’t think there’s any “resurgence” but it’s odd that two papers report on this in a short period of time. I’m not sure they have it right about the Maine militia. Judging from the looks of that dude, I’m not sure he ever got the word that the Governor stood down the militia after we whopped those uppity rebs.
Dave Hardy reports that all hell is going to break loose in Sacramento because they issued 37 carry permits this year. Meanwhile Pennsylvania issues 600,000 of them to a population of 12 million people, and still has a violent crime rate that’s 20% lower than California’s.
Dave Markowitz is reporting on Langhorne Rod and Gun Club’s Annual Zombie Shoot. Any club that can put on a fun, popular and safe event, while charging 75 dollars and still having to turn people away is doing something right. Last winter I shot a few of the practical rifle matches at Langhorne, and thought they were pretty fun. I even took third place in their three gun match. This winter, while my club isn’t doing much outside, I might have to go back.
Gunpundit is reporting. I think his is a good candidacy, but there’s a questions I would have before I would consider endorsing him. But the Brownell family has certainly done a lot for the Second Amendment, and Brownells as a company is very supportive of NRA and new media. It’s shaping up to be a good election year.
Clayton has another article on open carry that’s sure to piss people off. I actually don’t think Clayton is as anti-open-carry as he seems in his articles. I’ve had e-mail conversations with him discussing when and it what contexts that type of activism can be effective, and I don’t think he believes it to always be a negative:
My article did not propose that open carry should be illegal. There are some unusual circumstances where it might be the best choice — and in some rare circumstances, in some states, it may be the only choice that you have. (Wisconsin, for example, completely prohibits concealed carry of handguns, but does allow open carry.) What I did argue is that gun owners should think long and hard about whether it serves our best interests to offend, disturb, or concern people that would prefer that we keep our guns as well hidden as our excretory organs.
I think Clayton also makes some good points in the comments:
I am mortally tired of being told that I shouldn’t do this or that because it will, or might, “offend†someone.
It depends on your goals. If you want to win political battles, you don’t offend unnecessarily. If you want to express yourself, and don’t mind losing, then go ahead, open carry even when you don’t need to; it’s more important to express yourself than to win political struggles.
Some of the comments are way over the top, however. Anyone who’s read this blog for any period of time knows that I have strong disagreements with Clayton Cramer, particularly on the topic of homosexuality. I think we even disagree a bit on certain specifics within the gun issue. But this?
Yet another cowardly politics-before-liberty article from Cramer. Big shock. Here’s a newsflash dummy – rights aren’t subject to focus groups.
Or accusing Clayton of bigotry? Cowardice? Look, whether I agree with Clayton on everything or not, he’s one of the few Second Amendment activists that can claim being cited in the opinion of a landmark Supreme Court case. This landmark Supreme Court case. I don’t question his dedication or contributions to the cause of the Second Amendment, and anyone who does needs to have their head examined. I don’t think that means you have to agree with Clayton, or me, on open carry, but this is pretty clearly a legitimate disagreement within our community.
UPDATE: Another good point by Clayton:
I exercise my 2nd amendment rights because if I don’t, I’ll lose them.
Odd. The Black Panthers said the same thing when they marched into the California State Senate, armed, in 1967. The bill under consideration–to ban open carry of loaded firearms in cities–was at that point controversial, and not certain of passage. But the Black Panthers decided to exercise their 2nd amendment rights–and the bill was passed immediately, and with an “urgency provision†so that it took effect immediately.
Please: consider the possibility that the Black Panthers are not exactly the best model of how to win friends and influence people.