Sebastian – Page 87 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Did “Under the Gun” Also Violate Federal Law?

According to Ammoland, Stephanie Soechtig admitted in an interview with Lip TV that she sent a resident of Colorado to Arizona to buy firearms from a private seller. We had this issue come up before when Colin Goddard was working for Brady and was accused of the same thing. The crime is actually transporting the firearm back to your home state, not the purchase itself. The seller only commits a crime when the seller knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in his home state. For instance, if the guy pulls up and has Colorado tags, that could amount to such reasonable cause.

Colin Goddard claimed the firearm he purchased out-of-state was disposed of in that state, in which case there was no crime committed. Remember that a lot of the crimes that revolve around deception in a sale only apply if you deceive a licensee. If you tell a non-licensee that you’re from Arizona when you’re really from Colorado, that’s is not a crime. Until the person involved in the sale transports the firearms back to his home state, there is no crime.

That said, if the producers of this show did haveÂ the firearm transported back to Colorado, absolutely a federal crime was committed, and they should be forced to answer what happened to the firearms in question. Ammoland is correct that in that instance, the producers can be reached on conspiracy charges if they were involved in the plot, even if they did not bring the firearms back to Colorado themselves. So did they?

How To Use Your Billions to Win

I keep saying that our opponents are not against money in politics, they are just against your money in politics. To that end, Bloomberg has bought up all the free add space in the Las Vegas market from September up to October and through the election:

Nevadans for Background Checks made a huge ad buy today in Vegas, buying all of Sept. and Oct. and through election. pic.twitter.com/r8Qzz0SStE

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) May 27, 2016

This effectively prevents our side from being heard on Nevada’s Question 1. Bloomberg is using his billions to silence your voices. Our voices. We’re only going to win this with grassroots, folks. We simply do not have the money to play this game at Bloomberg’s level. We have to beat him with people on the ground. If we don’t, he’s going to come back again, and again, and again, and keep playing this game until we lose half a dozen more states like California, New York, and New Jersey are lost.

So what can you do if you’re a Nevada, or even I dare say a California gun owner?

Talk to people and make sure they understand this has nothing to do with background checks. They want the registry they can get out of all that 4473 data.
Make sure they know Bloomberg’s proposal means even temporary transfers are unlawful. It’s literally illegal to hand a friend a gun except under limited exception.
The proposed law is entirely unenforceable and will only result in widespread lawlessness.
Criminals have no trouble getting around background checks. California has all the laws these people want and more, and their violent crime rate is still higher than Nevada’s.

Also, make sure people know this is Mike Bloomberg meddling in their affairs. This is no grassroots movement of people. It’s a carefully crafted illusion that you can buy if you have enough money like he does. The entire gun control movement is funded by one megalomaniacal rich billionaire who can’t mind his own damned business. If they don’t believe that, then why won’t Everytown reveal what percentage of their funding comes from Mike Bloomberg.

All That Matters is the Narrative

Charles C.W. Cooke asks the relevant question about the UCLA murder-suicide:Â â€œWhat law â€” specifically â€” would have prevented yesterdayâ€™s shooting?â€

Typically, those who favor more gun control argue that Americaâ€™s â€œpatchwork quiltâ€ of rules and regulations help those who would do harm to slip through the net. Furthermore, they contend that adding further barriers would prevent young men with evil intent from getting hold of lethal weaponry in the first instance. But it is hard to see how such criticisms can apply here, in response to a crime that could have been carried out with a double-barreled shotgun from 1872.

Good thing California recently decided to ban guns on college campuses, or someone might have gotten hurt. Like many mass shooters, the gun was legally purchased by someone who had a clear background. Notice how the media dropped the mass shooting in Houston like a hot potato and then gravitated to the ULCA shooting? Probably because the Houston story quickly defied the preferred narrative, and the narrative is what’s most important to the gun control operatives with bylines.

The Wronged Are Coming Out of the Woodwork

Yellow Journalism Ahead Following up on the Katie Couric and HBO fiasco, yet another Second Amendment activist is accusing the media of warping their words. In this case, words were twisted by the New York Times to make it seem like said activist was pro-registration. Of course the Times piece in question is a great example of PropagandaÂ masquerading as journalism in and of itself. It’s worth noting that to whatever extent the National Firearms Act is “gun control that actually works,” it still lead to a ban 52 years later, so the New York Times can go to hell when it comes to their proposal to expand the NFA. If anything, we’re going to drive in the opposite direction.

Remember, the press has a narrative it’s trying to drive. If you don’t talk to them at all, which is what I recommend, you don’t risk becoming part of that narrative. If you do, against all better sense, decide to talk to Propagandists for the other side, record everything, and call them out when they twist your words. There’s plenty of friendly news outlets these days that will eat that stuff up.

NRA Seems to be Preparing a Serious Campaign Against Nevada Ballot Measure

Local news is reporting NRA has hired a campaign manager to run the campaign to stop Bloomberg’s Question 1 on the November ballot. A few days ago they were promoting a new infographic:

November will be here before you know it, take action NOW- Donâ€™t let @MikeBloomberg NYC your Gun Rights #2A #Nevada pic.twitter.com/GnfW91PRtI

— NRA (@NRA) May 31, 2016

The fight in Washington State seemed to be mired in strategy disputes, but hopefully we’ll have a unified front in Nevada and at the least trim Bloomberg’s margin if not outright beat him. Remember that Bloomberg also has a ballot measure up in Maine as well.

Ballot fights are hugely expensive, and while Bloomberg has the money to keep doing this, he might be reluctant to blow a lot of money on a risky proposition. We have to make these ballot measures risky for him. As long as it’s a sure thing, he’ll keep doing it. Bloomberg is already back in Washington State for another slice of the cake in 2016.

“Philadelphia Up To Its Old Tricks”

The quote in the title is from NRA Pennsylvania State Liaison John Hohenwarter, in an Inquirer article about Philadelphia’s new “gun safety” bills. Any time the media promotes the other side’s preferred terms like “gun safety” they cease to be journalists and instead make themselves propagandists. The bill in question is a “safe storage” law that is a middle finger raised directly at the Heller decision. But as we saw with the Jackson case, the Supreme Court is unwilling to enforce this provision of Heller, even while Justice Scalia was still alive.

John Hohenwarter is right though. The City can pass all the ordinances it would like, but it can’t enforce them. That would raise standing and allow us to defeat the ordinance. Eventually we’ll get enhanced preemption once again, where we don’t have to wait for enforcement. It may take another eight years, but eventually we’ll get it.

Man Bites Dog: New York Times Comes Out Against Gravity Knife Ban

This is honestly something I’d never thought I’d see:

But the modern knives sold in countless stores bear little resemblance to the knives that were the original subjects of the ban.Â Many people, including carpenters, construction workers and stagehands, have no idea that their knives can be made to open with a flick of a wrist â€” a skill many New York police officers have developed. Most donâ€™t know that simply possessing such a knife breaks the law.

The article goes on to note that a law office that handles such cases for defendents charged under this law says of the 254 of its clients, only four were charged with intent to use it unlawfully. How much do you want to bet of those four, they were arguable self-defense cases?

If even the New York Times agrees, it’s time for this stupid law to go. This is a good time to remind folks that Knife Rights is doing good work, and succeeding even in places no one would have argued success was achievable. But the fact is that gun rights today have far greater protections than those who choose to carry knives even for reasons unrelated to self-defense.

EPIX Pulling Fraudulent “Under the Gun?”

Bearing Arms is reporting the EPIX is showing the video isÂ no longer available. Here’s hoping this isn’t just a technical glitch. Couric earlier expressed “regret” for the editing, but didn’t offer an apology or to make things right by re-editing that segment. That tells me she’s looking to let off some of the pressure on her, which is honestly the time to dump even more on her. No quarter. Sadly Couric doesn’t have much of a career left to destroy, but I don’t see any reason to let off the pressure for her fraud.

Weekly Gun News – Edition 38

Back from the long weekend with lots o’ tabs that need a clearin’.

Apparently HBO is also doctoring interviews a ‘la Katie Couric. Starve the beast! Cut the cord!

The Onion couldn’t have come up with a better parody of the ridiculousness of British attitudes on weapons.

Charles C.W. Cooke is asking the left if Trump’s rise is giving them second thoughts about this gun control thing. It ought to.

Their ultimate goal with expanding prohibited persons: Man denied gun permit in NJ because of his bad driving record.

Gavin Newsom is finding out gun rights isn’t just an old fat white guy issue anymore.

Big Commonwealth Court decision on the privacy of LTCF records.

One of the architects of the SAFE Act convicted of corruption.

I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say this represents “trashing the Second Amendment,” but the Libertarian Party always seemed to be more of a debating society than a political movement.

I’m glad to see NRA denying media creds to outfits known to be hostile. The Louisville Eccentric Observer wrote a bunch of anti-NRA articles, with one talking about they wish the NRA would just disappear. After the convention theyÂ whine about not getting media creds. Smallest violin fellas, playing right here. All we ask for is a fair shake.

Joe Huffman: “Anti-gun people should voteÂ againstÂ Hillary to keep guns out of the hands of the American people.”

Joe also catches the Asbury Park Press in a moment of hypocrisy.

Our opponents are focusing on suicide prevention, and tugging on heart strings. Last night down at my local train station, about a mile from my house, a man threw himself in front of an oncoming freight train and quite effectively killed himself. This is becoming a bit of an epidemic around here, but you don’t see people blaming CSX and Amtrak. More ground prep for gun control from Vogue here.

Does anyone still watch The Daily Show?

Still trying to work out a deal to allow Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania.

Yahoo is doing its part to help get a Dem in the White House this fall: “Trump’s Gun Views in Spotlight Amid String of Accidental School Shootings.” If you say so.

Black Guns Matter!

Chicago Tribune writer Charles Madigan buys an NRA membership and thinks he’s infiltrated the organization. What a tool. I’m wondering if he’s related in some way to Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General.

Background check battle at PA state capitol. We already have background checks for handguns in PA. Long guns are very rarely used in crime, and the background check law doesn’t do much to keep gang members in Philly from shooting each other. But hey, lets double down on failure.

Eugene Volokh: “Trumpâ€™s potential Supreme Court justice list is actually very good”

It would seem repealing PLCAA has become a real goal of the gun control movement under Bloomberg.

Dave Kopel has an excellent backgrounder on the PLCAA and why it was necessary to pass it.

No, next question. “Should Pennsylvania require every firearm to be a ‘smart gun’? The fact that this question is even being asked is why there won’t be any smart guns on the market. There’s enough people out there clearly signaling their intention to make them mandatory, we’ll destroy any manufacturer that produces one.

John Richardson found that the NRA Trump endorsementÂ is actually pretty controversial based on an article he wrote. I fully expected they would endorse Trump, so it wasn’t a surprise to me. All that’s going to matter to them is having say on who gets to replace Scalia and any other future justice, and his list was pretty good.

Gunpocalypse continuing in California. I fear for California, der Krieg ist verloren. We’re only saving that state through exercising federal power under the 14th Amendment. Hang tight and hope the calvary comes.

OK, I’m starting to wonder if Townhall/Bearing Arms has an advertising agreement with SIG :) We are a house divided ourselves. Bitter is a SIG gal, whereas I am a Glock dude.

Thirdpower: “The only times â€˜gun controlâ€™ can win is when they dump millions of dollars into it and lie to the public.” Yeah, basically.

DC Circuit Court of Appeals suspends order requiring DC to issue permits. You might be about to find out the cost of Obama stocking the DC circuit with as many judges as he has.

Pennsylvania Firearms Law Seminar to be held on August 6th.

Miguel: “Apparently the Brady Campaign does not read the news.”

Something Must Be Done!

“Something must be done,” is the first step in the political process. Shouted by ignorant voters, who find some problem they don’t like. Not even considering complexity, nuance, grey areas, or unintended consequences, this low-information sentiment isÂ latched on to by politicians eager to assert their power: “This is something, so therefore it must be done!”

It is in this vein that the Sun Heard says, “Enough is enough, we must get guns under control!” The article starts off with examples of a criminal element out of control, and inevitably arrives here:

We don’t want to take firearms from responsible gun owners, but it’s hard to imagine any of these people fit that description.

Ah yes, it’s just that easy. The central premise of gun control is that criminals obey gun control laws. If only we had this law or that, none of these bad things would happen. If this were so, California would be a crime free paradise, rather than having a violent crime rate higher than the national average, and higher than it’s neighboring states that lack California’s strict gun control laws:

“What is alarming to the police is that they have no power to ascertain the potential criminal background of an armed individual until a crime is committed, and by then it is too late,” said Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, an advocacy group.

That’s typically how it works Ladd, even with permits, because the police can’t stop someone without reasonable suspicion the person is committing a crime. That’s the law. There is no earthly reason in this day in age when police have laptops in their cruisers, that theyÂ can’t determine whether someone is eligible to possess a firearm in a few minutes, if it comes to an actual stop. Permits are entirely unnecessary.