It’s not often that you come across a Civil War-era photo of your 3rd great grand uncle. Of course, if your reaction to seeing the photo is to shout “Finger!” at it, then you also know you’re a gun nut.
Author: Bitter
Update on Peruta Case
From the organizers of the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund National Firearms Law Seminar:
The deadline has passed for a judge to ask for en banc sua sponte. No judge called for it. The only possibilities for en banc review are AG Harris’ Motion to Intervene and a request from Yolo County in the Richardson case. The Yolo County Sheriff’s deadline is March 19th.
We will see what happens.
In the meantime, feel free to sign up for the Law Seminar if you plan to be in Indy for the NRA Annual Meeting and you’re interested in learning details about firearms law.
Insult to Injury
Not only did a Pennsylvania man have his home broken into by thieves who took off with several antique firearms from his collection, but then added insult to injury by drinking the homeowner’s beer while they were stealing his stuff.
However, the case gets interesting because it appears the state police don’t have a method for getting the word out about really old guns to other law enforcement.
[The stolen guns] included a [“pre-Civil War”] dueling pistol…a pair of blackpowder Derringer pistols and a circa-1914 shotgun, as well as three more modern rifles. …
Police usually file serial numbers to a database in case officers later find the weapons in criminals’ hands, but hunting rifles aren’t as likely as handguns to end up among criminals. …
It’s not clear whether a 19th-century blackpowder pistol could even be filed in the gun database, he noted.
Given the unique variety of historic guns stolen that would be largely ineffective and of no real value in the criminal world, I would think the best solution here would be to put out a description of the guns to all FFLs in the area, as well as any local law enforcement in the region just in case they find them ditched somewhere. But it’s interesting that their system of reporting stolen guns can’t even handle historic firearms.
(The photo shown isn’t one of the guns stolen. At least, I hope it isn’t because the fuller picture shows the price tag of $4,000. It’s a photo I snapped at an antique gun show that I thought was relevant since it was made in Pennsylvania by a Pennsylvanian.)
A Work of Art
I would seriously love to have a chess set like this around the house. Every gun nut needs one of these out on display. (h/t Robb Allen)
The PR War Between the Anti-Gun Groups
Moms Demand Illegal Mayors, or whatever the two merged groups are called these days, are declaring total victory in the Facebook/Instagram policy statement that any reported post featuring an offer to sell any regulated product privately will generate a reminder to sellers that they shouldn’t violate the law.
But the Brady Campaign swiftly sent out a letter to their supporters highlighting that the anti-gun groups didn’t get anything they demanded at all, and this is not in any way a victory. The thing is, the Brady Campaign is right on this, at least coming from a gun banner’s perspective.
Remember that what the Moms/Illegal Mayors were demanding was a total ban on any kind of speech/photo that might result in a gun sale. Here are a few screen caps from their campaign:
The Brady Campaign is clearly pretty pissed off that Facebook has actually spelled out that gun sales, even private transfers that may not require a background check, are okay by Facebook and that their supposed “allies” in this movement are calling the continued sale of firearms, now with guidance from corporate, a victory.
The Facebook & Instagram Gun Speech Ban Issue
Facebook has released their statement on the effort by anti-gun groups to ban speech & photos by gun owners. The other side is going to declare a win because they are recognized by Facebook for their efforts. In reality, the only impact is that if a post gets “reported” as being any kind of regulated product (not just firearms) for sale, the poster will be reminded that they should follow applicable laws.
That’s it. Facebook will pop up a message reminding you that you should follow the law if you post a gun for sale and someone complains to them about it. They won’t ban the speech. They won’t ban the images. They won’t even ban promotions of guns for sale at all.
The only speech-related restriction is that they say they will interpret phrases like “no background check required” as being a possible tip off that the seller may be willing to help others evade the law. They don’t require that private sellers agree to run a background check, just that they don’t make “no background check” a selling point of their firearm.
Under these rules, NRA can still do their gun contests, and local Friends committees can still promote the guns they’ll be giving away to FNRA dinner attendees. You can even still post that you’re going to sell a gun privately. The only thing is that Facebook can tell anyone who complains about the posts that they sent a reminder to follow the law.
If the anti-gunners had truly gotten what they wanted – a ban on firearm images or promotions of any kind – we would have completely pulled our personal and community Facebook accounts and no longer visited the site. I suspect that many of the millions of gun owners on the site would have done the same, and that’s not something Facebook can afford. It is, at best, a pyrrhic victory for the other side.
Guns in Film
Sig is having a little fun with their firearms used in various films with a “SIG SAUER in the Cinema” game that features categories such as Best Actor (Rifle). Yesterday’s vote was for Best Actor (Pistol).
This is a case where I would find it very hard to vote for the particular guns. Let’s face it, with the photos they are sharing, it’s more a case of who is the hottest with the gun. In the rifle category, I’d have to choose between Clive Owen with the SG 550 or Tom Hardy’s lips with the SG 552. How could a gun girl possibly decide?
Sadly, my Sig wasn’t in yesterday’s line up of Best Actor (Pistol). I guess Hollywood doesn’t like my gun. In fact, according to the Internet Movie Firearms Database, it doesn’t look like my Sig has ever been used in a movie. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
No New SCOTUS Cases
SCOTUS has denied, without comment, all firearms cases before them.
I know Sebastian will comment more on this later, but I would just point out that rather than trying to rely on courts, this is a great reminder that we need to make improvements politically in 2014.
USPS Now Backtracking on Heston Stamp
Now that gun rights supporters have shown interest, the USPS is now claiming that they haven’t made any final plans for the Charlton Heston stamp, and it only came out in the news because the WaPo supposedly reported from a leaked confidential document.
Except it’s a lie that the news was supposed to be kept secret. The USPS posted on their own website that the Heston stamp would be released this April, and that’s been up since January 14, according to a date at the bottom. The Hollywood Reporter, which reported the backtracking by USPS, also noted that this “confidential” claim is a little suspect since the USPS blogged about the stamp, providing the artwork sample, back on January 30.
The USPS is now saying they will take into account feedback from anti-gunners, even though the stamp is actually to recognize his epic Hollywood career, and may now opt to reject it before release.
Charlton Heston Gets a Stamp
In April, the USPS will release a stamp honoring former NRA president Charlton Heston. I initially found the news at Daily Caller, but they simply said the stamp would be released sometime in the year 2014. A look at the USPS website says that the release event is scheduled for a day to be determined in April.
If USPS is really interested in making some money, they would do it before the NRA meetings start on April 25 so that it’s a nifty little fact that stands a chance of getting mentioned to 70,000+ people who are more likely to have an interest in this particular actor.
Since it will be a standard First Class Forever stamp, it’s entirely possible that any mail sent in the next few years from our house may honor Mr. Heston. Think they’ll do a custom one of Charlton Heston in a Santa hat or holding some mistletoe for my Christmas cards? (h/t NYSRPA)