April 2012 – Page 9 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Our Money: As Good As Anyone’s

Local businesses are apparently quite excited to have the NRA in town this coming weekend in St. Louis.

That event, which drew 64,562 in 2007, stands as the convention center’s second-biggest ever. The expectation is for more gun enthusiasts this time, in big part because of presidential politics.

Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich all plan to pump their Second Amendment pedigrees during a forum Friday. Other speakers include NRA favorites Oliver North and Glenn Beck.

I’m guessing Santorum won’t be there now, but perhaps we will break some more records this year. My concern about topping the record would be gas prices being so high. But our people often surprise me.

I have no idea what I’ll be doing at Annual Meeting this year. I haven’t really thought that far ahead, and head is only a few days. Too much has been going on here to think much about it.

“With so many of our members within a four-hour drive, St. Louis is a target-rich environment for us,” Arulanandam said. “We had a very positive experience in St. Louis five years ago.”

St. Louis won that chance by default. The NRA had planned to meet that year in Columbus, Ohio, but the Columbus City Council voted to ban assault-type weapons. That’s also why it won’t patronize the home of the Cubs, the team the Cardinals are hosting this weekend at Busch Stadium.

I had forgotten about this. St. Louis was a last minute change of plans. It would be impossible to have the convention somewhere that banned “assault weapons” since the exhibit hall will be full of them. I’d like to make it a goal, in that case, to host the NRA Annual Meeting in Chicago. I want to hear Mayor Rahm say nice things about us because he wants our money, and there’s not anything he can do about our guns. It would be glorious. I’ll also make it a goal, before I shuffle off the old mortal coil, to attend an NRA Annual Meeting in New York City, because we’ve fixed enough laws to make it viable.

The Dreams of Bloomberg

He wants to build a rival to the NRA. Unfortunately, for that, you’d need actual grassroots, and I don’t mean a handful of mayors that have a higher rate of criminality than concealed carry permit holders. That said, MAIG is now the only gun control group out there who can give us a run for our money.

By way of illustration, a spokesman for the mayor sent over some examples of the group’s public lobbying efforts aimed at swingable officials, includingÂ a full-page adÂ in theÂ Cleveland Plain Dealer inwhich 50 Ohio mayors implored then-senator George Voinovich to fight a provision very similar to the concealed-carry reciprocity now under consideration in Congress.

Voinovich subsequently votedÂ against the amendment.

And Vionovich was forced into retirement because polls were showing he was going to lose. Was that all guns? No. But politics doesn’t work that way. As long as your coalition can swing close races then politicians will pay attention to you, because most races are close.

I’ve always been frustrated because our grassroots seem to be slow to wake up and slow to anger, but when something really hits a nerve, it leaves even me, who pays close attention to the issue, pretty surprised. On the issue of national reciprocity, the number of permit holders in the United States is roughly 5 to 6 million and climbing. There’s no politician in the world that wants to write off the votes of 5 to 6 million Americans out of the gate.

Florida Self-Defense Law

Should Florida Change its self-defense law? Yes and No. At least we have a paper willing to print both sides of the debate.

How the Zimmerman Case Could Affect SYG

From PBS News Hour:

Martin, who was black, was on his way to a convenience store in a mostly white gated community when George Zimmerman, who is white, shot and killed him after a disputed altercation. Martin, who was carrying only candy and a soft drink, was discovered by police lying face down in the grass. Zimmerman was briefly taken into custody, but has not been arrested.

That’s as far as I need to read to know they aren’t interested in reporting facts, only the myths generated in the wake of this.

Verizon Hiccup

Looks like Verizon had a regional outage with their FiOS Internet service, so if you couldn’t get to the blog early this morning that’s why.

The War on Chemistry

Apparently the iodine found in a water purification system could be used to make meth, and you know what that means.

No Grand Jury for Zimmerman

Apparently the Florida special prosecutor says it will not be needed. I don’t know if this means anything, but I would think that if prosecutors didn’t plan to prosecute, they’d want the political cover of having a jurors be the ones to decide that. So if I had to bet, I think we may see charges, in which case this goes to trial.

This could potentially bring Florida’s SYG/CD law into the case, since my understanding is that Zimmerman’s lawyer can motion for immunity, which is decided by a judge using the standard of preponderance of evidence.

Effects of Civil Unrest on Guns Laws

Generally speaking, civil unrest is good for opponents of the right to keep and bear arms. The National Firearms Act came largely as a result of a perception of increasing lawlessness, and the Gun Control Act of 1968 most definitely came about after some serious civil unrest.

But Uncle notes that permits are up, and we’re looking at ammo shortagesÂ amid new fears of civil unrest. This raises a question. Has the dynamic changed? Is the public response to threats of civil unrest going to result in more gun owners and fewer people calling for strict gun control? Has the civil unrest pendulum swung in the other direction from what it was in the late 1960s? If that is the case, I’d really like to understand the driving factor that created this change in attitudes.

Interesting Case in Illinois

Bunch of youths out looking for unlocked cars to break into. Youth approach property of homeowner. Homeowner goes outside with a .25 ACP pistol and fires three “warning” shots, one of which struck one of the youths killing him. Homeowner is facing manslaughter charges.

It’s worth noting Illinois law has no duty to retreat requirement, but that’s not at issue in this case. The homeowner’s attorney is concerned about the Martin case being in people’s minds. But I hadn’t heard about this case until someone sent it to me. Where’s the media? Why isn’t this kid’s death such a national tragedy?

Either way, his attorney should be worried, because this looks like manslaughter based on the facts that are already known.

Assault on Pennsylvania RKBA

The media has been in full force lately trying to foil our agenda here in Pennsylvania. This article in the Scranton Times Tribune speaks against preemption enforcement. The surprising thing is they don’t mention the Martin shooting at all. However, The Daily Pennsylvanian, the newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania manages to get things mostly right, with only a few aspects of the legal issues surrounding SYG misstated, which is a better track record than most of the media is doing in this case. They do, however, continue to propagate the myth that Zimmerman was not arrested.

An environmental group is suing a gun club over lead shot pollution in the Delaware River. They are also suing because they do pigeon shoots there, and dead pigeons end up polluting the river as well, alleges the suit. I’ve looked at that club’s layout, and I’m doubtful that much shot is ending up in the river. Pigeons I can’t speak to.

The Express-Times of Easton, PA things our SYG law needs to be reviewed. Not surprising, given they know nothing about the law and continue peddling ignorance to the public about self-defense laws. Meanwhile the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre runs an abysmal editorial that is very hateful of gun owners.

I’ll reiterate my call again to starve the beast!