May 2012 – Page 7 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Anti-Gun Myth vs. Reality

Our opponents view of things in the past month or so:

The reality of the last couple of months: 11 wins for gun ownersÂ federally, three in Florida, one in Georgia, two in Mississippi, andÂ three in Oklahoma including an omnibus bill that legalizes open carry, among other things. In addition, we are on our way to victories in Hawaii, Illinois, and we ousted a MAIG Mayor in Quantico. Meanwhile, back in the reality of anti-gun groups:

Sometimes, you see a wound that just begs to have salt poured on it.

Congratulations Ohio!

Bloomberg has put a target on the Buckeye State.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan coalition of more than 650 American mayors, announced today that 103 Ohio mayors have joined the coalition to fight crime in their communities by reducing the spread of illegal guns and preventing gun violence. The coalition believes much more can be done to keep guns out of the wrong hands…

Pennsylvania still has far more mayors than any other state, unfortunately. I believe we still have a perfect record of keeping his MAIG mayors from reaching higher office here in the Commonwealth. (I actually need to double check that now that the primary is over.) Looks like Ohio gun owners need to watch out for the same thing.

Obama’s VA Attacking Second Amendment Rights of Veterans

A bit of propaganda from the Veterans Administration, encouraging family members to take guns away from veterans who have served our country. It’s worth noting that the Brady Campaign is fully on board with disarming our country’s veterans of their firearms, some of which would be bring backs that were paid for in their blood, and the blood of their fellow soldiers.

To me this is much like the issue of pediatricians and guns with children in the house. I don’t, as a matter of absolute principle, think it’s wrong to have the discussion. It’s the way the discussion is framed that is problematic. Certainly a family who has a loved one suffering from severe Dementia, or that has mental difficulties that make him a danger to themselves or others, would be doing the responsible thing by removing firearms (and other dangerous objects) from the home. I also don’t have an issue with the VA advising families of this, along with a discussion of other dangers someone with Dementia can face. But here’s what your tax dollars are paying for:

The presence of firearms inÂ households has been linked toÂ increased risk of injury or deathÂ for everyone in or around theÂ home, usually as an impulsiveÂ act during some disagreement.Â This danger is increased whenÂ one of the persons in theÂ household has dementia.

Let me translate this:

Propaganda put forward by the gun ban lobby suggests that your veteran family member, who served his country with distinction and to whom we owe our continued freedom, is likely to murder you in an argument if there’s a gun in the home. Just, if he has Dementia, he is much more likely to murder you with a gun in the home.

It continues:

Family members do not alwaysÂ take appropriate action toÂ unload, secure, or removeÂ firearms in the home. TheseÂ actions should be takenÂ regardless of the severity ofÂ dementia or whether your lovedÂ one is suffering from aÂ behavioral problem orÂ depression.

Translation:

You family member, who served his country and was trusted with automatic weapons, grenades, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, can’t be trusted with firearms, regardless of whether your loved one is having issues or not.

The Obama anti-gun propaganda continues to suggest that love ones may be reluctant, believing in this quaint notion of Second Amendment rights, and the perceived independence that goes along with gun ownership. But don’t let that dissuade you: the veteran loved one needs to be disarmed for his own good. It’s the right thing.

If folks were wondering what Obama meant by “under the radar” this is it. This is why he has to go in November. Your tax dollars paid for this offensive nonsense, which encourages families to infantilize and disarm our nation’s veterans, regardless of the troubles they are having. This is grossly offensive to the service they rendered our country, and the Obama Administration ought to be ashamed of themselves for ever allowing anyone to put this to print.

UPDATE: Looks like I’m two months late to this issue! Oh well, I can’t notice everything.

Only in San Francisco or the UK

Guns made from Legos. Apparently this is a controversial issue:

This is all true, but U.K. father Jon Trew brings up another important point: Could these toy guns confuse children into thinking itâ€™s OK to play with real guns? â€œWhatever side of the argument you are on, no one in their right mind would want encourage children to play with realistic models just in case they came across a real one and thought they could play with it in the same way,â€ Trew says.

With several centuries of young kids playing with toy guns, it’s amazing the human race has survived! Maybe it’s not so much the barbarians at the gates that make civilization’s fall, but the civilized people inside them. Kids that learn proper use and respect for firearms eventually become people who can man the gates when barbarians come knocking. It’s the people who wish to beat every martial instinct out of humankind are the ones who fell civilizations.

Pacifist-Agressives

I am reminded of my late interaction with our opponents, of a paper written a few years ago by Dave Kopel, who borrows the term “Pacifist-Agressive” from Eugene Volokh. The paper examines, in length and in detail, of the roots of the pacifist movement, and offers some great examples of pacifisms successes and its failures. Also discussed a length are the intellectual failings underlying much of modern pacifism, which, whether CSGV wants to admit or not, form the intellectual basis of the many of the religious-left organizations that make up CSGV. I highly encourage folks to take some time to read it. It directly speaks on the matter of pacifisms failings on the “What would you do about Hitler?” question.

Second Amendment in D.C.

Still doesn’t exist. City Council has seen the writing on the wall, and are trying to improve matter in regards to gun rights in the District, and as Dave says, take them from insane, to merely being unreasonable and unconstitutional. But apparently Mayor Grey likes the crazy.

Latest in Zimmerman Case

From ABC News:

A medical report compiled by the family physician of accused Trayvon Martin murderer George Zimmerman and obtained exclusively by ABC News found that Zimmerman was diagnosed with a “closed fracture” of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he fatally shot Martin during an alleged altercation.

In addition, apparently Trayvon Martin had injuries to his knuckles. A clean case of self-defense would hinge on who the instigator was, but with this kind of evidence, it’s difficult to see how the prosecution still intends to support second degree murder. Even if Zimmerman was initially the aggressor, the most this would be is manslaughter.

But the angry mob had to be appeased, didn’t it? We should be ashamed of ourselves as a country for believing what the media said about this case, and more importantly the media should be triply ashamed for practically lying the country along the way to major urban riots.

Doing Some Good

Please excuse the very off topic post, but you all should know by now that I’m a bleeding heart libertarian. If you like the idea of teaching kids how to read so they can actually read and appreciate our founding documents, then literacy should be a concern. It’s not just a hooked on phonics kind of literacy, but teaching kids how to truly understand the stories they read. Reading with Pictures thinks that they can capture the interest and imagination of kids by using comics. Yup, comics.

Right now, Reading with Pictures is running a Kickstarter campaign to support their first graphic textbook. ~~They are a few hundred dollars short, and their campaign ends Thursday.~~ They just met their goal, but they are trying to raise more so they can expand their plans for the organization!

As a 501(c)3, it’s a deductible donation. They also have all sorts of crazy incentives for higher donations. You can get a custom action figure of yourself ($275), become a Revolutionary War-era sketch in your own copy of the textbook ($70), have a kid in your life drawn into a comic as a classmate of the main character ($75), original artwork & commissions (starting at $75), or a hard copy of the textbook ($25).

The War Against Stand Your Ground

I’ve been watching our opponents somewhat carefully, since they launched the Second Chance on Shoot First campaign. I thought it was curious to note that while Mayor Bloomberg put his weight behind this effort, it did not appear that MAIG was joining. But then I noticed one of MAIG’s campaigns released a mother day message from Sabryna Fulton, however, you will note that it mentions nothing about Stand Your Ground, nor will you find it linked anywhere on the Fix Gun Checks Campaign web site. Why would this be?

Probably because Bloomberg can read polling data as much well as anyone elseÂ (h/t Dave Hardy for the link). There is a gap in thinking between elites and ordinary Americans on matters of self-defense, and Bloomberg has made a concerted effort to keep MAIG’s message narrow, and focused on topics that poll well. While the other two gun control groups, CSGV and Brady, have become a P.T. Barnum quality freak show, MAIG is being very careful with its image and message. Bloomberg must be worried fighting Stand your Ground using his Mayors could backfire on him.

He’s right. MAIG already got a small taste of what a minor campaign by NRA against his mayors cost him in terms of membership. He would not want to do anything to wake up the grassroots to take the fight to his mayors on their own. I think we can expect MAIG to largely stay out of the fight on Stand Your Ground, while Bloomberg will run a parallel effort under his own name, rather than that of his Mayors organization.

Clayton Cramer Needs Help

He’s helping with an Amicus brief challenging discretionary permit issuance, and he needs every “the blood will run in the streets” quote you all can find. Doesn’t have to literally be that, but any quite predicting murder, mayhem, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!