May 2013 – Page 10 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Just like the Encryption Fights

Those of you who were around tech circles in the 90s probably remember this t-shirt. See more background on that fight here. Well, it would seem that history repeats itself. What’s even more ironic is that some of the folks involved in the cryptography struggle are now involved in the gun rights battle too.

When you really boil it down, gun control is a form of information control, in that the knowledge of firearms has been with man for more than 500 years. You could confiscate every gun on the planet tomorrow, and mankind would just make more, because we have the knowledge to do so. You could only eradicate guns by eradicating the information that goes into making them, and that’s difficult if not impossible to do.

What 3D printing and CNC has accomplished is to make the link between information and firearms much more direct. With ITAR getting involved in trying to stop the spread of the plans, it’s hard to argue we aren’t in a world where guns and information aren’t roughly the same thing. It’s readily apparent in human history that information control is perhaps one of the greatest follies practiced by rulers and governments, and that’s now what gun control essentially is becoming.

Can MAIG Mayors Keep Their Pants On?

I don’t think it’s too much to ask, but apparently it is for Mayor Healey of Jersey City, New Jersey, a founding member of MAIG. This was a controversy back in the 2004 race, when a photo of him naked on his porch surfaced. He said he got a little too drunk, and didn’t remember how he got on his porch. Apparently now the story is changing:

Healy gave a fresh, and notably more bizarre, account in an interview with the Star-Ledger in which he claimed he had actually been drawn outside that night by a group of noisy Hispanic girls — who proceeded to rip off the towel he was wearing and do “filthy” things.

Well, OK then. It could probably be argued Healy’s problems are really nothing new, and that he is likely, as a founding member of MAIG, to be the original illegal mayor. But I thought this bizarre new twist on how he ended up naked on his porch was worth a mention.

The Texas “Nullifcation” Law

Jonathan Adler points out that the Texas law is not nullification at all, because all it does is prevent state officials from enforcing any federal gun laws passed after a certain date. A lot of states, including Pennsylvania (HB 357), have bills proposed that would make even the federal government enforcing federal laws subject to criminal sanctions. This would not hold up in Court in our current legal system, so Texas decided not to go that far.

In reality, if state officials can’t enforce federal law, for all practical purposes, enforcement would be impossible. The most likely scenario you’d likely be found to be violating the law would be at a traffic stop, and traffic laws are state laws. While it would not be “nullification” as we generally think of it, preventing state authorities from enforcing a federal law, for most practical purposes, renders that law null. There simply aren’t enough federal agents to enforce any law without the aid of state and local authorities.

I tend to think the current circumstances call for what Texas is doing, rather than what is being proposed in Pennsylvania. A real nullification bill might be warranted if gun bans are on the table, and state authorities, and state courts, are willing to go along with the whole idea, but I feel confident enough in how badly we beat the gun and magazine bans, and I have no faith that the state authorities or state courts would go along with any nullification scheme, especially under current circumstances.

Open Carry March in DC

When I first heard someone was planning an open carry march in DC, in an act of civil disobedience, my first thought was that it would not end well. This blogger does an excellent job pointing out some misconceptionsÂ about where the border between Virginia and DC actually is. I tend to think if there aren’t thousands of people willing to do this, the end result is just going to be everyone getting carted off to jail. Even with thousands, the end result might only end up being that the police blockade the bridge, and force everyone to turn back. I’m not against civil disobedience, per se, but it should have some purpose. I tend to think we’ll be able to fix the carry issue in DC at some point, without whatever “help” we’ll get from the media coverage of this event that’s bound to be spun against us.

Still Setting Records

John Richardson notes that this is the 35th record setting month when it comes to NICS transactions. Kevin Baker takes on the notion of declining gun ownership. I think what you’ve seen, in terms of polling, is that fewer people are willing to answer whether there’s a gun in the home. Years ago, it was nothing to be ashamed about, however now many people feel differently, or don’t want to answer because it’s just not anyone else’s business. There’s just no way, with all the anecdotal evidence we have, we’re not increasing actual ownership.

Who’s Buying Colorado?

Mayor Bloomberg, it seemsÂ (link fixed, sorry about that):

The group that is organizing to defend Senate President John Morse is semi-humorously named â€œA Whole Lot of People For John Morse.â€

Wanna guess which of the whole lotta people who like John Morse like him most?

Three wordsâ€¦Mayor. Bloom. Berg.

Read the whole report. Are Coloradans going to be OK with Mayor Bloomberg buying their legislature? I guess we’ll find out in 2014.

Hate Mail is Fun

We don’t often get hate mail. Actually, this is probably the first piece of hate mail I’ve ever received. This one actually comes to us courtesy of a manager at a major consumer products company in New Jersey:

From: Mr. Hater
To: Sebastian
Subject: Guns for Kids

HI:

A big â€œHiâ€ from NJ. I was hoping you could help me. I need a gun for my 4 year old and canâ€™t find a â€œwhere to buy guideâ€ on Cricketâ€™s web site. He really wants a gun and I figure it is his right to own one (and kill his sister – by mistake of course ) when we leave the gun loaded in the house ( or the double wide ) and then just leave â€œfor a minuteâ€. And the â€œparentsâ€ say â€“ oh what a horrible accident.

I can only hope your family goes through the same trauma as mine and maybe you will change your opinion on this matter. Guns are for losers â€“ and you my friend fit this description very nicely. No increased background checksâ€¦ No limit on the number of bullets in the gun â€“ no nothingâ€¦ You want to take over the government? Just try â€“ the US armed forces will kick your ass. Just a hint â€“ it is no longer the 1700â€™s â€“ it is 2013. Get it â€¦

Have a nice day,

Mr. Hater
Born and raised in NJ and Dam proud of it.

Let me just offer a piece of advice on hate mailin’. If you’re going to hate mail someone, don’t do it from your work e-mail and use your real name. I have redacted the name and employer, because I’m a softy, and don’t want to see anyone get in hot water or lose their job over what could have been a moment of poor judgement after hitting the sauce particularly hard.

There is no family trauma that would change my mind on this matter, because I don’t make a habit of placing blame on inanimate objects for bad things that happen. If a loved one were killed by a drunk driver, would you still drive? Would you abstain from all alcohol? If it were my negligence, I would blame myself. I might question whether I’m really responsible enough to own a gun. But I certainly wouldn’t blame the rest of you, and advocate for taking your guns.

TheÂ deodandÂ is certainly alive and well in our society, isn’t it? This kind of ancient and mystical thinking comes from someone who has the nerve to be condescending to the rest of us. The other side keeps wondering why there can be no dialog. This is why. I have nothing to say to a person like this. Nothing. The only thing we can do is work to politically destroy them to the greatest extent we are capable.

The Original Defense Distributed

As much attention as the downloadable plans for a 3-D printed gun are getting online, I chuckled when I read over the benefits to joining the Miniature Arms Society. One of the perks to membership is: “Access to a library of plans for making miniature arms.”

They have been around since 1973, so the idea of sharing plans for guns a serious hobbyist could make at home with the right equipment isn’t anything new. The previous versions are just…tinier.

Jeff Flake Stays with Us

With media rumors going around that Jeff Flake was going to switch his vote and support gun control, he is speaking out on the issue:

It was reported by some media outlets today that I am changing my vote on Manchin-Toomey, and that I am somehow linking this vote to a vote on the internet sales tax.

Neither is true. I am not changing my vote on Manchin-Toomey (I voted against it). I voted against the internet sales tax as well. There is no connection between these two votes.

Arizona gun owners should definitely let his office know that they appreciate his stance. (h/t Great Satan, Inc.)

OFA Gun Control Petition Plans

CSGV must be absolutely giddy for tomorrow. They are on the short list of groups selected by the President’s organization to present OFA’s gun control petitions to the Senate & House along with MAIG & Protect Minnesota. This is almost relevancy!

I think it’s quite funny that OFA spent quite a bit of time on their conference call with supporters tonight highlighting how many pieces of paper they plan to print and how many cars they plan to fill with these dead trees to drive in their pollution-generating cars to Capitol Hill to be delivered to all of those Senators who voted against them. Yet, CNN highlights how it is all a silly PR stunt.

Rules prevent the boxes of paper from being delivered directly to lawmakers, so names will be sent digitally…

According to the call leaders, their target states are New Hampshire, Arizona, and Nevada. They also touted the 1.4 million button clicks for the online petition were “unprecedented,” but oddly enough, didn’t let their supporters know that NRA now has 5 million dues-paying-members.

OFA’s only meetings that they announced for tomorrow are with California Democrats – Nancy Pelosi and Mike Thompson. But, you know, bipartisanship. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Republicans to take their calls, but I do think it makes their claims about being bipartisan just a tad false–a pretty common theme in tonight’s phone call.

OFA is claiming that Sen. Ayotte is a success story of their gun control push because she is supposedly being hit on the issue from both the left and the right. Do any New Hampshire readers have any evidence of the right attacking Ayotte for her gun control vote? I think that may be an outright lie. They also claim that Ayotte has changed her mind on the vote, which is not at all what I have seen.

In the greater scheme of things, their leading topic tonight was immigration. The other big topic was climate change. The first two questions were also about those issues. The single question on gun control was best paraphrased as, “Does all this organizing on gun control actually work or are we wasting our time?”