August 2012 – Page 13 – Shall Not Be Questioned

We Still Have a Lot of Work to Do

A new poll has some encouraging aspects, but this is not:

For this survey, respondents were shown three pictures of firearms and asked whether they should be available to every American who is eligible to own firearms, or only to the police and other authorized persons. These weapons were reportedly used in last monthâ€™s mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

A majority of respondents believe the .40-calibre Glock handgun (63%) and the Remington 870 shotgun (58%) should remain accessible to every American who is eligible to own firearms. However, 73 per cent of Americansâ€”including sizeable majorities of Republicans (66%) and gun owners (61%)â€”believe the AR-15 rifle should only be used by the police and other authorized persons.

This is the only poll I’m aware of that was done by picture. You can see the methodology here. The people were selected from among this pool of peopleÂ to get a representative sampling, but I’d also note that I don’t think most gun people would be the types that would sign up for something like this. Regardless of how representative the sample actually is or isn’t, there are pretty clearly a lot of gun owners we’re not reaching with facts. How many of them thought they were looking at a machine gun? If any were fooled, we’re clearly not doing our jobs.

Shocking Revelation: NRA Asks for Donations

Bloomberg notes that NRA sent out a fundraising letter three days after the shootings in Colorado. Those of us who are members will laugh at this, since three days is probably about par for the course with NRA mailings:

â€œThe future of your Second Amendment rights will be at stake,â€ the letter said. â€œAnd nothing less than the future of our country and our freedom will be at stake.â€

Sounds like a pretty typical fundraising e-mail to me.

The letter dated July 23, which was sent to NRA supporters including to people inÂ Colorado, doesnâ€™t mention the gunfire during the showing of the new Batman movie July 20 in Aurora, Colorado.

Probably because it was scheduled to go out long before the shooting.

The letter drew criticism from the Denver-based Colorado Ceasefire Capitol Fund, a gun-control advocacy group, whose president Eileen McCarron called it â€œvery insensitive.â€

â€œCouldnâ€™t they have waited at least a week, especially here? Peopleâ€™s souls are really wounded,â€ she said.

Given that NRA had exactly bupkis to do with mass shootings (last I checked, they don’t advocate such things), why is it insensitive? NRA is constantly sending this stuff out to members. This is just another case of anti-gunners playing the victim card, and trying to blame the tragedy on ordinary gun owners.

UPDATE: Extrano’s Alley notes that tragedy hasn’t stopped the anti-gun groups from fundraising. Yeah, we’ve seen that before too. They can get away with it, though. They are victims, and have absolute moral authority when it comes to this issue.

Digging in The Enemy’s Backyard

Every once in a while I like to know where my readers come from, so I take a look. Fortunately, Google tracks this for me quite well:

This is a map by city. If I go by largest metro areas, they are DC, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles, in that order. Surprisingly, Boston is in my top ten. We are reaching behind enemy lines here at SNBQ, and that thrills me to no end. I’d also like to report we’re reaching a small number of people in London and Tel Aviv. Welcome.

Weapon of Choice

After any shooting, you’ll inevitably have inane articles like this:

Semiautomatic handguns are the weapon of choice for mass murderers because they are light and easy to conceal, and adaptable to using high-capacity magazines, experts say.

Experts should also say they are the weapon of choice for everyone, police, military, and armed citizens too. Why? They are inordinately useful for self-defense compared to the alternatives.

“There is no valid reason for civilians to have assault rifles, semiautomatic handguns and high-capacity magazines,” he said. “We have to start ratcheting down the firepower in civilian hands in the United States.”

Then why do ordinary citizens and the police overwhelmingly choose these for self-defense purposes? I love the logic that in police hands, suddenly these weapons become useful, even necessary, for self-defense, but me as some ordinary citizen, that I should be hobbled with a revolver, or an unwieldy shotgun or hunting rifle. The scary part is, who Greg McCune, the article’s author, is:

“I provide training for journalists in the Americas ranging from classroom, to online, eLearning, tip sheets, and blogging. I also serve as coordinator within Americas editorial for diversity issues and I run the Americas summer internship program.”

Teaching other journalists how to make one-sided hit pieces on gun ownership while apparently knowing little about firearms or firearm ownership. No wonder journalism as a profession is circling the bowl.

Drinking the Night Before a Match?

Let me just get this out of the way first: there is no circumstance where handling guns while intoxicated is a good idea. But Caleb speaks of whether drinking the night before a match has a detrimental effect on performance. I haven’t been going to matches for about a year now, but when I was shooting Silhouette one or two times a week, I developed some experience with this topic — have a cookout with copious amounts of beer and liquor Saturday night, and at the butt crack of dawn Sunday, you’re out on the range.

Metallic Silhouette is not a run-and-gun game, but precision shooting, in my case with a semi-auto pistol (which of course have no sporting use). I tend to think shooting after having been drinking to excess the night before is highly detrimental to your game. For one, you’re unsteady. For two, your involuntary muscle movements are more erratic. I had difficulty hitting any of the animals, and I’d get impatient and fire when I really shouldn’t have.

That said, I’ve found the worst thing for my performance, even worse than drinking the night before, is showing up to a match having not eaten anything. When I’ve done that, I’ve noticed marked improvement in my scores after the match broke for lunch. I’ve shot an A score in the morning only to turn around and get in a Master score after lunch. I tend to agree with Caleb, that it’s best to follow your normal routine. But I’d add if your normal routine is skipping breakfast, which mine is, I’ve found that it’s important to have a bite before getting on the range.

Now to further this line of discussion, what do you think the effect of caffeine is? I’ve never found it to affect me all that much, but others think it does.

Esquire Article Seeking Feedback from Gun Owners

This Esquire article, which starts off saying the gun control debate is over and gun control lost, suggests the NRA is loony tunes for saying gun control is a threat, then proceeds to call for more gun control. It ends asking Â why gun owners haven’t seized their movement from the fanatical bastards at the NRA:

My question is: Where in the hell are all the “responsible” people today? Where were they two weeks ago? Make no mistake. Without them, this profound problem cannot be solved. If they are the majority â€” and god knows, I hope that’s the case â€” then why don’t they wrest control of their side of the issue, and of the NRA itself, from the crazy mountebanks who are only in it for the buck? I am quite sincere about this, and I’d like any gun owners who read this blog, and especially any members of the NRA, to provide me with an answer. Where are you people?

I suggest folks follow through, and provide him with an answer.

UPDATE: We can see how well a defense of lawful gun owners participating in the political process is taken. As sample so far:

Because it is pointless to engage a debate with someone as transparently nutters as yourself.

Now go do your little end zone dance because I refuse to treat you as an intelligent person worthy of baseline respect.

This came after the commenter discussed how easy it was to refute the arguments made, but refusing to actually refute anything when called out.

White House Statement after Temple Shooting

I’ll summarize this for you. The administration’s official position is that it wants the Assault Weapons Ban renewed. But the White House is not going to push for it in Congress. Too many other more important things. In the mean time, they’ll be improving the background checks, though they offer no specifics on how exactly they plan to do that.

Real Heroism

The President of the Sikh temple died a hero, in my eyes. He tried to knife the attacker with his ceremonial dagger:

â€¦The templeâ€™s president, 65-year-old Satwant Kaleka, was shot dead by the attacker after trying to fight back.

His son Amardeep said that the community leader had attempted to â€˜knife and tackle the shooterâ€™, but was unsuccessful and died of his wounds while trying to hide in the temple.

He died trying to save everyone else. It’s a tragedy he was not successful. The Sikh community is also raising money to help the victims.

Gun Control, North Korea Style

From an article appearing in English in the Korean media:

Institutions, businesses, groups and the public are prohibited from possessing or transacting firearms according to the law, which also banned lending, smuggling, destroying and self-producing firearms.

Those who violate the rules, resulting in “stern consequences,” are subject to administrative and criminal liabilities, the North says in the law.

Experts say the establishment of such acts is part of Kim Jong-il’s efforts to tighten control of the society and maintain strict order following his nomination of his third and youngest son Kim Jong-un to be his successor in early 2009.

“North Korea appeared to have tried to strictly regulate firearms under the circumstances where former leader Kim’s stroke in 2008 could lead to a chaos in the society,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

We’re constantly told how utterly useless small arms and personal weapons are against governments that have planes and tanks, but its amazing how eager pretty much every despot has been to control who has firearms and for what. Certainly the despots themselves feel they have something to be concerned about with firearms in civilian hands, or in this case, even in non-civilian hands.

Also note the mention of homemade (“self-producting” in the badly translated article) firearms. If it’s a problem enough to mention, you can bet it’s being done. And this is in a totalitarian country where the state controls all aspects of life.

How do our opponents think it’ll ever work here? And do we even want it?

Philly DA Shocked at AK-47 on Subway

Blames the NRA. In this case, the guy didn’t have a permit for a pistol he was carrying, and had drugs on him. But it’s perfectly legal to tote any rifle on SEPTA if you’re going shooting, to or from your place of business, or for any reason at all if you have a License to Carry. In fact, I have a friend that lives in Philly, doesn’t have a car, and has a registered M16. How does the DA think he transports it? Maybe Seth Williams should spend more time prosecuting actual criminals for misusing firearms, and spend less time fretting that certain activities are legal, there might be some crime reduction in that City. This guy had drugs and guns. That’s a no no, so nail him for that. But there are firearms like this on SEPTA all the time, and it’s legal. Get over it.