Story here. The good news for Brady is that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act I don’t believe will cover a lawsuit against a gun classified agent, since they are not among the protected classe. But the bad news for Brady is that the First Amendment very likely does apply. Is anyone surprised they care about as much for the First Amendment as they do the Second? Especially when you consider fascist statements like this and this from their fellow travelers. When they can’t get what they want legislatively, they’ll try to go into court to have the courts legislate for them. What’s sad is that it’s a smart tactic, but that says a lot more about our court system and judges than it does about the Bradys.
Month: December 2012
Here Come the Editorials on the 7th Circuit Victory
John Richardson notes one from the Chicago Sun-Times, where Lisa Madigan speaks about “reviewing her options,” and with the post editorializing they should follow New York’s lead:
The Legislature might even be able to find a way to continue banning concealed carry while rewriting the law to satisfy the appeals court, which said the current law doesn’t rest on sufficient justification. Short of that, the Legislature could consider a narrowly crafted law, such as that in New York, which has concealed carry in theory but does not grant many permits.
This is a lot of ridiculous handwringing and a complete denial of what the political realities are. Governor Quinn’s veto or a pro-gun ammunition bill, and the subsequent override of that veto speaks volumes. The political reality in Illinois is that Todd Vandermyde (NRA’s lobbyist in Springfield) has had concealed carry a hair’s breath away from having enough votes to pass, even over the objection of the politicians from the Chicago area. This ruling does nothing but strengthen his hand, and it’s hard to imagine that this will not now convince a couple more legislators to come over and vote for a shall-issue bill.
The Court has set a deadline. After the deadline, the threat is that Illinois could become Arizona. That’s going to put fear into politicians that have previously been hostile, or lukewarm the shall-issue bill. Both sides have an incentive to compromise, but theirs is stronger. Our fear is that the courts will be unwilling to follow through on their deadline, and the threats are empty. Or that Madigan will appeal to the whole panel and Posner’s ruling will be stayed. Given the strength of Posner’s opinion, I’m not sure that’s a risk they are going to be willing to take. I think this gets us the votes for a shall-issue bill, and probably a stronger one than they would have faced before this case won.
Arrived This Morning: Bug-A-Salt
A new gun arrived this morning:
Yes, it’s the Bug-A-Salt gun, loaded up and ready to go. Due to the lack of targets currently available, I am unable to offer a proper review at this time of its intended function, but I can offer first impressions. After experiencing the blast on my hand, and checking out the pattern on some aluminum foil, I feel it shoots with enough force to kill a fly. The real test will come when one gets into the house.
The Bug-A-Salt feels like it’s pretty solidly built. It’s not at all flimsy, and the “magazine” or salt reservoir cap fits on tightly enough you won’t worry about it popping open and pouring salt everywhere.
Fit and finish leave a bit to be desired. The yellow part is painted, and somewhat unevenly, but it looks good enough, and if it gets the job done, that’s all that matters. The pop up sights are really only for fun, given you have both front and rear notches that don’t facilitate more than a crude aim, but given the pattern of the salt spread, and the distances it’s intended to be used at, I don’t think you really need sights. Trigger pull is heavy, and requires disengaging the safety first, which resets after every shot.
I will follow up later with function tests, on both flies and stinkbugs. Our office is infested with stinkbugs, so it may get quite a bit of testing there.
Knife Rights on HuffPo
According to an update from NRA board member Todd Rathner, he’s going to be on HuffPo Live today at 4:30 EST. He’s hoping to hear from Second Amendment supporters, so tune in if you can.
You Might Be a Gun Nut …
… if you keep your finger properly indexed, even on a toy gun. Doing some home improvement recently, it was noticed I was keeping my finger properly indexed when (not) using my drill. If you develop good habits, you’ll do them without thinking. On the drill this is not so much a concern. When I’ve been using the circular saw, looking to make sure everything is lined up correctly, keeping your booger hook off the “saw your finger off” switch is definitely a good habit to have developed in other contexts.
Why People Aren’t Having Kids
I tend to agree with Glenn Reynolds that it’s pretty much economics. For me, the economics are being quite late settling down, and no longer having the spare income to save for a kid’s college fund. Looking back, I’m kind of amazed by parents managed to raise two kids, a dog, and a cat, on a single income. My dad worked, and my mother was a stay at home mom. Given my current difficulty maintaining a childless household with a single income, I don’t honestly know how they did it. But when it comes to the benefits of parenting:
He’s clearly right about the economics. Children used to provide cheap labor, and retirement security, all in one. Now they’re pretty much all cost and no return, from a financial perspective.
My parents were believers in the cheap labor part. I think I had more to do as a kid, than kids growing up today. Not all of it was hard labor, but it sometimes it was dangerous by today’s standard. As a fairly young kid, under 13 for sure, I was out crawling around on our roof and scaffolding, helping my mom and dad put vinyl siding on the house. There was always a project in the works. I would often use power tools, though there were some I could not use without supervision, and some I could not use at all (and the ones I couldn’t use at all, I own now. Take that Dad!). As a fifteen year old, I was called on to rewire some outlets in my grandmother’s house. I could do that on my own by that age.
These days I’m pretty sure if you had your 11 or 12 year old kid crawling around on a roof or scaffolding doing manual labor, or working with electrical circuits, if they didn’t come after you for child abuse, the neighbors would certainly frown on you as a horrible parent. I hated having to help out as a kid, but now that I own my own home, it’s saved me a tremendous amount of money, because there’s not much I don’t know how to do in a house. Furnace stops working at 3AM? Thermocouple? Have a spare of those. Leaking auto vent? Keep them on hand too. Power head on the zone valve? Can get it in 24 hours from Amazon Prime. I will also never be one of these kids you see on the side of the road, with a roadside assistance guy changing their flat tire for them. There is a pride in not being dependent on someone else for every little thing that goes wrong in life. Which brings me back to Prof. Reynolds:
But in recent decades, a collection of parenting “experts” and safety-fascist types have extinguished some of the benefits while raising the costs, to the point where what’s amazing isn’t that people are having fewer kids, but that people are having kids at all.
It has crossed my mind that the the kind of expectations that existed for me are looked down upon these days as bad parenting. I agree with Glenn that society has made parenting seem unattractive. For us, it’s pretty much economic. Bitter being a the better part of a decade younger than me gives us a little more time. If our household economy turns around, maybe. As for the other problems? Well, I can’t get up on ladders anymore, and kids generally love that kind of thing, “So get up there boy, and clean out those gutters. I don’t care how much what’s in there is gross!”
But hey, if I decide to complete the transformation into my own father, the kid will get a sip of my beer when it’s all done (which he’ll promptly wince at). (Don’t worry Dad, I’m sure there’s a statute of limitations on that kind of thing).
Gun Pulled in AFP Tent Vandalism?
As you may or may not have heard, Michigan (Michigan!) passed a Right-to-Work law. Needless to say the Unions are, shall we say, a bit upset, and decided to storm an AFP tent and tear it down. Apparently they came at the tent with knives drawn (to tear the tent down, of course, not to intimidate or anything). One of them punched Steven Crowder. Am I hearing things here, or is one of the union thugs stating that someone has a gun, and then getting all tough guy?
Dana Loesch is raising funds to have the thug brought to justice. Glenn Reynolds has pledged 1000 dollars to the cause. I don’t know if there was really a gun in there but I would suggest any activist going up against unions be well armed, especially with less than lethal force. Don’t start anything, but I wouldn’t let them assault people and destroy property either. It should be noted that most defensive sprays contain a taggant, which helps police identify the perpetrator quickly. Most states laws are also pretty lenient when it comes to using force against unruly crowds.
It should also be noted that wise tactics suggest anyone coming at you with a drawn knife should soon find himself quickly in the unenviable position of realizing he’s just brought a knife to a gunfight. I’m wondering if that’s what happened here, and the arm person successfully got out of dodge (the wise move).
I agree with Glenn: “Zero tolernace for this crap.” Arm yourselves well.
How to Fix the Budget
Pretty much. The big four items are Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Defense. If you’re not talking about cutting any of those you’re not serious about balancing the budget. The solution is probably going to end up being younger workers paying into a system they will never collect from, in order to cover their parents checks and old age medical care.
The problem with that equation is that there are not enough jobs for young people, because the economy is hobbled by a massive government that is doing too much and has become unpredictable. I believe the current debts we’ve already run, including the debts not generally counted (in promises the government has made), will result in a reduced standard of living for the next several generations, as the rest of us pay off previous generations who did not save enough to enjoy the type of retirements they demand, nor have enough kids to make up for not saving.
My real fear is the burden will become substantial enough it will be impossible for younger people to save, and when they hit the point where they can no longer work, the government will be too broke to do anything about it. That will be called Generation-Screwed, and I’m not convinced it won’t be my generation. Hopefully when I get old and grumpy I can vote to kick that can down the road to the Millennials, who had a chance to put a stop to this shit, but decided they wanted eight years of hope and change.
Getting Your Insurrectionist On
Thirdpower is selling patches for all you CSGV-designated insurrectionists out there.
UPDATE: Whoops… Thirdpower writes: “I am not selling the patches, Kurt H. is.” They looked like similar crazy, anarchist, and traitorous patches he’s been selling. Pictures make brain turn off, no read good.
Shepherd v. Madigan Wins!!
The Illinois handgun carry ban has been struck down by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. From Alan Gura’s firm, From NRA, from Volokh. Looks like Posner was in the majority. One justice voted against. I guess Posner is coming around. More to follow.
UPDATE from Bitter: For those of you who can’t access the document for any reason, here are some choice quotes:
Both Heller and McDonald do say that “the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute†in the home, id. at 3036 (emphasis added); 554 U.S. at 628, but that doesn’t mean it is not acute outside the home. Heller repeatedly invokes a broader Second Amendment right than the right to have a gun in one’s home, as when it says that the amendment “guarantee[s] the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.†554 U.S. at 592. Confrontations are not limited to the home.
The Second Amendment states in its entirety that “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and
bear Arms, shall not be infringed†(emphasis added). The right to “bear†as distinct from the right to “keep†arms is unlikely to refer to the home. To speak of “bearing†arms within one’s home would at all times have been an awkward usage. A right to bear arms thus implies a right to carry a loaded gun outside the home.
For the anti-gunners who simply say that the right is outdated and irrelevant:
Twenty-first century Illinois has no hostile Indians. But a Chicagoan is a good deal more likely to be attacked on a sidewalk in a rough neighborhood than in his apartment on the 35th floor of the Park Tower. A woman who is being stalked or has obtained a protective order against a violent ex-husband is more vulnerable to being attacked while walking to or from her home than when inside. She has a stronger self-defense claim to be allowed to carry a gun in public than the resident of a fancy apartment building (complete with doorman) has a claim to sleep with a loaded gun under her mattress.
UPDATE: Dave Hardy: Astonishing ruling! What’s kind of sad is that it is astonishing. Dave notes that this ruling effectively sets up the circuit split that will likely lead to a carry case going before the Supreme Court.
UPDATE: Clayton Cramer: “One of the Chicago newspaper articles included a comment by a reader, warning that the streets of Illinois cities will run with blood. Â Perhaps…but how could you tell the difference?”
UPDATE: Kevin Baker: “And Then There Were None” Some might say that this is a bit premature, but the politics of this issue in Illinois has been teetering on the verge, and I think this court decision will make things get very real for a lot of the anti-gun folks in the Windy City. The politics of this will play very much in our favor, I think.