Bitter – Page 26 – Shall Not Be Questioned

“Maybe it was the phony penises.”

That was not the first sentence I expected to read when I opened up an article about a gun club lawsuit in federal court. Regardless, it was the opening sentence, and it was an accurate description of one of the issues raised in a lawsuit filed by members of the Philadelphia Gun Club against animal rights activists who are accused of “stalking, harassment, trespass, intimidation, defamation, libel and privacy invasion.”

The club’s attorney says that the activists have researched personal lives of club members to leave fake reviews on Yelp and other sites when those people own small businesses. They also reportedly spy on these people even after they leave the club grounds. The guys who shoot at the club are not public figures, so there’s a pretty good case there. Not to mention, leaving a fake review online is an issue that’s gaining traction in courts around the country.

Creatively Expanding the Gun Culture

I was just telling Sebastian this morning that I have an idea to get people who otherwise might never even consider taking a shooting class or getting to the range out to try guns in a non-threatening manner that even has a bit of history involved. Because I think this idea is kind of awesome, I’m going to share it in hopes that readers here who have the right guns and the range access either try it or give feedback on it.

I had this idea of offering up a programming day at the range for DAR, SAR, & CAR chapters. Now, these groups are strictly non-political, but they are big into history. (In fact, this could be expanded to any sort of history-related group in your area.) So I thought a day at the range that gives these known descendants a chance to see & shoot the guns (or replicas) their ancestors used in the Revolution would be awesome. It’s history, it’s unique, and it’s relevant to the missions of the groups.

Then, if a hosting club wanted to step it up a notch and make it a more traditional range day, find people who have guns from other American wars and do the same – a bit of a demo and a chance to shoot them.

Thoughts? Would anyone ever consider making this offer to local history-related groups or does it seem like too much work? I was just trying to think creatively about ways to get people out to see that shooting can be a great time and that gun owners are generally pretty awesome and nice people.

Interestingly, Sebastian doesn’t think this a completely crazy idea…

The Mass Stabbing We Feared

While some gun control proponents say that you don’t see mass stabbings, only mass shootings, a Western Pennsylvania high school just proved them very wrong this morning. I’ve waited for a little more to unfold in the story before commenting because it’s not an issue of guns or no guns, knife control, or even metal detectors at every door, as it seems that some people are already pushing while students are still undergoing major surgeries since they are in critical condition.

A local paper featured a comment by a senior that I thought was very telling on how the issue of violence as a whole is very complicated and not easily solved by one policy that focuses on the instrument used:

â€œEverybody was just freaking out,â€ he said. â€œIt’s been a tough senior year. We’ve had a lot of fights in school â€” more than usual â€” and a suicide this year.â€

Mental health issues going unaddressed in the community? Check. Increased violent outbreaks as a whole? Check. Those won’t be fixed with gun control, knife control, or metal detectors. It sounds like there won’t be many easy answers for this community. Certainly, they are in our thoughts as this story continues to be investigated.

â€œI just donâ€™t see how people can grab a shotgun and rack it and stand on their front porch…”

Those words came from a New Jersey Police Chief who was appalled that, as his officers acted in a way that made a family believe their house was being broken into during a search of the surrounding property, a man grabbed his shotgun and went to check things out to make sure he and his parents weren’t in danger. Even though he never shot anyone, and he appears to have handled the situation reasonably when he believed the safety of his family was in danger, the police arrested him and wanted to put him away for 10 years.

Fortunately, a New Jersey jury acquitted him of the charges.

When someone linked this on Facebook, another person noted that this man was following the first few steps of our Vice President’s advice. He said you should grab your shotgun, load it, and go up to the door. The difference is that this man knew better to actually identify a threat rather than just shooting randomly, as the Vice President encourages people to do.

New York’s Softening Anti-Gun Views

Because I know that the NYC Mayor would hate to be considered a hypocrite who only serves his political allies when it comes to leniency, I’m quite confident that he will tell the NYPD to go easy the next time a tourist accidentally breaks one of the extreme gun laws. It would only be the right thing to do since he’s currently accusing India of having an “ulterior motive” as they enforce their strict gun/ammunition laws on a NYPD officer who was caught in illegal possession over there because he “forgot.”

And, I’m sure that Rep. Peter King who says that India’s desire to enforce their gun control laws is only a case that is “politically motivated” in order to extract retribution now understands the flaws in his gun control bill that would have given police the same incentives by banning anyone who is lawfully carrying from being pretty much on the same block as a government official.

Pennsylvania’s Candidates Speak Out on Gun Control

Based on their 100% scores from Ceasefire PA, it appears that Allyson Schwartz and Katie McGinty haven’t met a gun control proposal they didn’t like. The “lowest” scoring Democrat on the ballot Tom Wolf who agreed with the gun control group almost 80% of the time. This marks a stark change from 2010 when the “lowest” scoring Democrat was against about half of the group’s policies.

I downloaded the report and will do a more thorough post on the exact issues the gubernatorial candidates want to see become the law of the land in Pennsylvania shortly. One of the delays in getting up a post about the top of the ticket statewide races has been watching the fallout after petitions went in. There have already been changes to the primary ballot with people dropping out, so I wanted to see what the playing field really looked like. Based on the quick look of the summary, pro-gun Democrats in the central part of the state need to start raising their voices – loudly – and start voting their gun rights if they don’t want to line up to turn them in, a serious policy proposal from a suburban Democrat in this state. This isn’t a “Philly” issue anymore. The anti-gun extremism is clearly spreading in Pennsylvania.

Virginia’s Democratic Candidate Attacks on Gun Owners

In case Virginia gun owners didn’t get the loud and clear message from their governor using his first veto to target gun law clarifications, the Democratic candidate for the 7th District would like to speak his mind a little more bluntly:

Members of the @NRA have very low IQs. They have a trigger finger mentality.

— DickinsonForCongress (@VoteMike2014) April 5, 2014

The Virginia Shooting Sports Association has more from this guy – much more – that’s worth a read. Since he states clearly in other tweets that he doesn’t want any support from gun owners, I hope that the district’s gun owners will honor his wishes.

“50 Lady Sharpshooters at Your Disposal”

This is kind of awesome. It’s a letter from Annie Oakley to President William McKinley in 1898 offering the services of American women sharpshooters who could provide their own arms and ammunition to assist the US should war break out.

Letter from Annie Oakley to President McKinley, 1898

I saw this on the National Archives Tumbler which does a pretty good job of not only digitizing these holdings, but trying to share some of the interesting finds that Americans might enjoy seeing.

Otis McDonald Passes

He was a civil rights pioneer by being willing to be a face for the individual right to bear arms in a major Supreme Court case, so it is with a sad heart that I see Otis McDonald passed away at the age of 79.

Sebastian & I were fortunate to meet him and enjoy dinner with him, his wife, and many others involved in the landmark case the night before it was heard in the Supreme Court. I know that many who were close to him could use our thoughts and prayers.

CT Gun Control Groups Jump into Elections

It looks like Connecticut gun control groups are worried that enough gun owners may have been pissed off by their legislative package that they fear blowback at the polls. To try and keep that from happening, they are launching a new political action committee with the blessing of the Governor to back anti-gun lawmakers. They claim they spend most of their money on billboards and social media advertising.

To counter this, I would strongly suggest that CT gun owners, and any others who want to help them in their fight, open their wallets to the good opponents to make sure those candidates have the resources to buy up their own targeted messaging. Locally, gun owners also need to get involved in the campaigns in a big way. If you’re not the most social of folks, volunteer to put some signs together and deliver them to areas where they need them. If you’ve got a property along a very busy street, offer to put up the really big signs for candidates. If you’re the outgoing type, make some phone calls or do literature drops. These things will go farther than a social media ad.