May 2014 – Page 6 – Shall Not Be Questioned

How Many More Losses Will it Take?

By now most of you have probably heard the story of a Texas Open Carry incident involving long guns in a Jack-in-the-Box that reportedly came with an “enthusiastic” police response. It turns out the fact that employees were terrified and hid in the freezer appears to beÂ a lie by the Bloomberg gun control organization, but a lie can often get around the world before The Truth has a chance to get its pants on. (This goes double when you have an unquestioning media that likes a good story and is institutionally hostile to civilian gun ownership and the Second Amendment.)

The actions of this local group have apparently caused a rift in the movement. In truth, I think rifle OC is a bad idea generally, but I appreciate statewide group is at least sensitive to not causing panics by making it policy to notify police. But you have to choose tactics understanding the limitations of your people, and one problem I’ve long had with OC activism, is even while many people are smart about how they do it, it’s a tactic that is inherently attractive to attention whores, and it only takes a small number of bozos to ruin things for everybody.

As to be expected, Moms Demand Action began immediately pressuring Jack-in-the-Box to ban firearms in their restaurants. Â Yesterday, Jack-in-the-Box went full Starbucks, releasing a statement:

Creating a warm and inviting environment for all of our guests and employees is a top priority for Jack in the Box. The presence of guns inside a restaurant could create an uncomfortable situation for our guests and employees and lead to unintended consequences. While we respect the rights of all of our guests, we would prefer that guests not bring their guns inside our restaurants.

To be equally expected, Moms Demand Action quickly declared victory. Maybe it’s a good time to bring up my post from September of last year: “What Can Starbucks Teach Us as a Community?” Â So I’m now asking: how many more cracks and fissures in our gains in the culture wars are we going to see? How many more losses are we going to have to endure before these types of “activists” understand that they are only serving to erase gains we’ve made rather than build on them. I get that I’m one voice, on one blog, but I’m asking you rifle OCers, pretty please, with sugar on top, think before you act.

Saturday Gun News

There hasn’t honestly been much gun news this week, but since I was pretty much off the air yesterday, I’ll see if I can give it a go:

General Gun News:

This is an outright lie, but Bloomberg is putting up serious money to feed this stuff to an unquestioning media.

Ladd Everitt, Director of Communications for CSGV is a big comic book fan. I think we found his superhero.

Chuck Michel profiles Don Kates, who most scholars in this Â issue agree was the foundation of the movement to restore the Second Amendment.

Boomershoot 2014 private fireballs.

I once heard Bob Cottrol once remark that if one wanted to be a consistentÂ liberal, oneÂ would favor programs to help the poor afford firearms. Well, Professor, meet Democratic NH State Representative Timothy Horrigan.

The court case challenging Washington D.C.’s ban on carry, Palmer v. DC, is still awaiting a decision, after years.

Very cool video that shows how AK-47 magazine are made. I wouldn’t want to get my hand or fingers caught in any of those heavy presses.

Sort of Off Topic:

Only one percent of the population is politically active. That’s why it’s easy for a small group that is very motivated to make a big difference. Democracy works for those who show up.

Off Topic:

From the UK:Â Kids get lost on a field trip, then and now.

Tell me something I don’t know: Vast majority of people who claim gluten intolerance don’t actually have any gluten intolerance, study shows.

Pro-Gun Appropriations Do Well in House

President Obama can make new rules all he wants, but that doesn’t mean Congress has to fund implementation of them. Among the items is a rider preventing ATF from spending funds on reporting requirements for long guns, preventing implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty, and preventing ATF from requiring dealers to report their inventory. Additionally, it looks like a few anti-gun proposals were shot down, including denying people their Second Amendment rights due to their inclusion on a secret government list. This is a battle fought every year, because the White House can’t easily veto the whole budget, but he can more easily veto permanent legislative fixes.

Quote of the Day: Larry Correia

About the kidnappings that have been happening in Nigeria, and the celebrity left’s response:

I did a lot of research on human trafficking and modern slavery before Mike Kupari and I wrote Swords of Exodus. It is aÂ horrible, evil, and surprisinglyÂ giganticÂ thing. One thing Iâ€™m fairly sure of about the kind of people who do that sort of thing for a living, is that they really donâ€™t give a shit about a bunch of American movie stars taking pouty selfies of themselves holding up signs with hash tagÂ give our girls back. The disapproval of fat, soft, Americans on Facebook really doesnâ€™t move them. They care about getting paid or getting killed, thatâ€™s about it. The self-righteous pouting is useless …

Iraq and Afghanistan have made me skeptical of nation building, but I’m still generally in favor of going in to kill people who need killing (like slave traders).

Meet the New “Guns That Need to Be Banned”

They shoot a lot like the previous “Guns that Need to be Banned” that are now banned:

I especially like the Executive Director of New Yorkers Against Gun ~~Ergonomics~~ Violence. She says the pistol grip allows people to better control their rifle, because apparently having people firing bullets off wildly is somehow more desirable. In truth, it doesn’t matter worth a damn, it just makes the gun more comfortable to shoot.

Top Congressional Shooters…

It looks like Team Republican won yesterday’s Congressional Shoot-Out, but the Democrats have the best individual shooter in Minnesota’s Rep. Collin Peterson. Interestingly, the past VP candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan took home the award for best skeet shooting.

It would seem that either Pennsylvania’s Congressmen and Senator aren’t interested in shooting events or need some shooting lessons. Any local clubs want to make the offer to their Congressman to help him on his shooting scores? :)

Yogurt v. Guns

In New York, lawmakers thought it was more important to debate the merits of yogurt being considered the state snack than the potential outcomes that hurt law-abiding people in the massive gun control bill the passed last year.

The time they debated yogurt was 50% longer than the time they spent discussing gun control and the civil liberties of citizens. I guess New Yorkers can be proud of the priorities of their elected officials.

New Search Rule in Pennsylvania

A few people have sent this along, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has adopted new rules on vehicle searches. My first impression was that I had no idea Pennsylvania instituted a stricter standard on search than the feds. This ruling basically brings Pennsylvania in line with the federal standards, which is what most states follow. It’s frequent that state courts tend to defer to the Supreme Court view on such things. I’m not saying I agree with the ruling, since I generally disagree with the deference state courts give federal court rulings, but it’s not a disaster. The standard for getting a warrant is probable cause anyway, so you still have issues with police manufacturing probable cause (dogs are great for that) even under the old system, but without the requirement to formally obtain a warrant.

Wednesday News Links

It’s time to clear the tabs and RSS feed out again, so here’s the news:

Gun News:

Here’s the press coverage of the protest-counter-protest this past Monday. They weren’t evenly matched groups, but it was impossible to tell that because our side didn’t have a plan and they did. More here at Levittown Now, which has better coverage.

I have to agree with SayUncle, it’s not like we didn’t know Hillary was anti-gun. Her problem is that she has no legacy. Everything she’s tried has been a failure. The big problem the Dems face is they’ve burned up all their political talent, and political talent matters more than most other things.

2014 Boomershoot fireball!

Mostly wins in Florida for us this year.

Did the NRA convention cause a dip in teen crime?

Looks like the unity at the Bundy Ranch is falling apart. Here’s an article that talks about how close this situation came to a bloodbath.

Mass shooting averted? These never get much press. Not a high enough body count.

NRA’s statement on “Operation Choke Point.”

Dave Kopel talks about “Smart” guns, and how armed jews saved lives.

Jim Geraghty: The left’s war against the gun culture.

A 12-year-old girl successfully protects herself from a home invader with a .40 caliber Glock. Meanwhile, gun control groups would like to put parents like her’s in prison for allowing her access to a firearm. I’d also note if smart guns were mandated, she’d likely have been successfully kidnapped.

Miguel is also unhappy with Alan Gottlieb’s rehashing of Manchin-Toomey. One thing I would mention is that Coburn was kicked out of the negotiations with Schumer et al, meaning they rejected his amendment. No one really got behind his amendment because it wasn’t going to satisfy anyone.

Charles C.W. Cooke:Â The terminal vagueness of “Everytown”.

I don’t think too highly of firearms as a fashion statement, but this probably has enough Chicago establishment types in a fit I’ll give it a pass.

S.E. Cupp: Bloomberg’s Everytown will make more enemies than supporters.

Another anti-gun protester tries to stifle free expression.

Common sense calls for the repeal of the Second Amendment, according to Jerry Large of the Seattle Times.

Important cultural distinctions between the land culture of the east and west.

Gun safety moms hope to be 2014s soccer moms. Aren’t they already the same thing?

Legislative:

New Jersey’s magazine and gun ban continues to move forward, now in the Senate.

There’s a movement to impeach Attorney General Kathleen Kane. Given who’s heading up this, I’m not sure anyone takes it seriously.

Bozos in Gun News:

If you’re going to OC your AR-15, in your hands, I might add, and not slung, you should do us all a favor and not be drunk and belligerent.

Threatening local businesses is usually not a good way to gain sympathy for your cause. Neither operating checkpoints.

Journalism!:

The Augusta Chronicle thinks federal reciprocity is unlikely. Clearly they haven’t been paying attention to the vote tallies when this has come up.

Off Topic:

Not good results in the primaries yesterday for the tea party. “The North Carolina results are a strong indication that the GOP rank and file is undergoing a shift from prioritizing purity to prizing victory.” Purity doesn’t do you any good if you can’t get elected.

Looks like a lot of tea party groups are doing mostly nothing to actually advance the cause electorally. The worst thing the Tea Party could do is become subsumed by the DC money changers.

Thanks To All Who Commented on the Chair Bleg

Several days ago I had written a post asking for some advice on what to do about my beloved Aeron chair that had an arm break clean off. I got a lot of good advice, but the one that fixed it was the person who suggested looking on Fastenal. A pair of calipers and counting the thread density revealed the bolt was a 1/4″-28 X 2-5/8 black oxide bolt. I managed to find this bolt at Fastenal, which fixed the issue right up. The plastic part I thought I was missing it turned out was just hiding, so all parts were present. The new bolt put the chair right back together like nothing had happened.

Fixed Aeron Chair

As a person who spends an unhealthy amount of time, between working in IT and blogging in my spare time, with my ass planted in a chair I appreciate it. Now the only question is how long it will take the Glock 19 to finish wearing through the mesh on the (my) right side (which you can see in the pic if you look closely).