January 2011 – Page 19 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Maryland Court of Appeals Ruling on Carry

This is bad news for Maryland gun owners, but not unexpected:

Williams said Marylandâ€™s laws that prohibit wearing and carrying a handgun without a permit and outside the home infringed on his Second Amendment right as articulated by the Supreme Court inÂ 2008 andÂ 2010. Maryland argued the Supreme Court rulings meant states could not prevent citizens from having a gun in their homes for self-defense but could otherwise regulate and oversee firearm possession.

The ruling was unanimous in the state’s favor. The Court of Appeals is Maryland’s Supreme Court. The case is Williams v. State of Maryland. Guess what the next step would be from here? The Supreme Court of the United States. Did this case just jump way ahead of everyone else? I hope we have strong Second Amendment lawyers appealing this. We have to get this right. It’s not good that this is a criminal case, to begin with.

Victory for Free Speech in Pennsylvania

The State Police have agreed to stop issuing fines for disorderly conduct for people who swear. Most of them appear to have been issued for people cursing at officers.

Traver Must Face Confirmation Process

The time for Obama to recess appoint Traver is at an end. This means he has to be confirmed, which I don’t give much of a chance of happening easily given Democratic losses in the Senate.

More Police Die Due to Gun Violence

Before our opponents get all uppity, it is in China:

Three policemen were killed and six people wounded in a shootout with a pair of murder suspects in Ti’an city in eastern China a news report said Wednesday.

Gun crime is relatively rare in China owing to strict gun control laws in the communist state, which outlaw the manufacture, ownership, transport, renting or sale of guns and ammunition by private individuals or institutions.

I think gun crime is relatively rare in China because it’s a police state, and not because of the gun control. I doubt they compile realistic crime statistics anyway. The gun in question was a home made pistol and shotgun. This was a rampage shooter too, it looks like.

Where Are They Now?

Looks like Specter is getting a teaching job at Penn, teaching about the relationship between Congress and the Supreme Court, which no doubt will include how Congress’ power is unlimited. Given Specter’s treatment of Court nominees who dared suggest that Congress’ power might be limited and enumerated, you know, like the constitution says, I can’t imagine he’ll teach otherwise.

In the same Capitol Ideas post, we also find Governor Ed is appearing on Colbert to explain why we’re all wusses. It’s pretty clear Ed Rendell is through with politics, since insulting voters usually doesn’t work out well in the end for most politicians. Ed will, no doubt, be riding off into the sunset.

My displaced Congress Critter, Patrick Murphy, has taken a job with an area law firm with ties to DC. Probably helps that the Murphy Campaign finance chairman is a partner at that firm. This hints to me that Murphy may be Fitzpatrick’s next challenger in 2012. Murphy might be hoping this Tea Party thing is ephemeral, and the Democrats will once again be able to claim this district, which is rightly theirs.

History of Gun Demonization

Found this in my queue to blog from the weekend, but forgot about it:

While there is a long history of regulation of guns, and there are some examples of demonization of other categories of arms in the 19th century (such as Bowie knives), the earliest example that I can find of demonization of guns is a 1960 court decision from New York that compares a handgun to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, tempting the owner to misuse it.

He’s looking for further examples. If you know of any, head on over there and comment. This should be an interesting scholarly work. I’m not convinced that demonization of weapons has ever had so much to do with the weapons themselves, so much as hatred and fear of the types of people that elites believe carry them. In the past, it was hatred and fear of racial or ethnic minorities. We’ve advanced much as a civilization since then, however, and reserve that hate and fear now for cousin humping rednecks.

Sodding Efforts in Illinois

Thirdpower is skeptical of one Illinois gun control advocates attempt to get some real grassroots. Eventually this will switch from sodding to astroturfing. They’ve always been better at that anyway.

New Gun Show on The Discovery Channel

Our opponents can’t like this. It would seem Discovery Networks has discovered there’s money to be made with shows about guns, and is definitely taking them to a mainstream audience. This will continue to help demystify guns in the eyes of the general public, which is the worst thing in the world for gun control advocates. You can’t mislead people who know better.

Bitter and I just cut the cord from Comcast, however, so we’re not going to be able to see the show until Netflix picks it up.

Gun Blogs Going Commercial

Caleb is announcing a new partnership,Â Mr. C. is getting into e-commerce for gun stuff,Â and a few bloggers have scored writing gigs. I’m clearly not doing something right, since Snowflakes in Hell has been in the red for a number of years! Actually, I think it’s a case of many bloggers just being more ambitious about this than I am, and being much better at the whole marketing thing. I’m an engineer by training . Marketing is a scary word to engineers.

Monetizing this blog has always been something I have wrestled with, because I could make enough from it to make it worth my while, but I have, to date, not made the leap. Every time I think about it, something always changes my mind. Last time was Clayton getting sued. The fact that this blog not only doesn’t make money, but costs money, helps any fair use defense against copyright infringement. But really, that’s mostly a lame excuse. The truth is I’m too lazy to spend much thinking or doing anything about making money off this whole operation.

So I will say that we currently have no plans in the works to try to monetize, though I wish everyone who’s striking out into commercial ventures good luck. If our company goes TU and I lose my job, I may resort to begging you all for donations to help defray hosting costs. I may not be above that. I don’t actually pay for hosting, short of the juice to power the machine, but I do pay for the 25 megabit pipe that feeds my servers.

The Age of Charles Bronson has Ended

I know more than a few gun owners who loved the novelty of having a carry license from Florida with Charles Bronson‘s name on it. Alas, the era of Charles Bronson giving out gun permits is over. Now, you’ll have Adam Putnam’s name on it.

It may not have the novelty factor, but Florida is lucky to have a guy like Putnam in public service.