Bitter – Page 32 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The New Way of Thinking about Law

I have to strongly recommend, as odd as it might sound, this post over at Free Range Kids for some interesting reading on the way one mother believes many Americans view the use of laws, specifically registry laws. The post has nothing to say about guns or gun laws, but I think it’s very insightful and applies to many of the ways that anti-gun advocates view gun laws, even when they know they won’t work to reduce crime. Here is a sample, but you should go read the whole thing:

I think what weâ€™re really seeing here is just our countryâ€™s punitive mindset. Itâ€™s like we cannot imagine any way to express to somebody that we donâ€™t like what they are doing except for calling it â€œabuseâ€ and putting them on a registry. …

The point of laws should be public safety, not public humiliation, but more and more of our laws and moving in the direction of seeming to be more about shaming and humiliating and branding people who made decisions we donâ€™t like rather than actually protecting the public from truly dangerous people.

I think the Connecticut gun owner registration picture we saw is a great example of how this works in our issue. Law enforcement officers know that the person who is going to use a firearm to rob or murder a person isn’t going to register it. They also know that they are unlikely to catch them with the unregistered firearm before (or during) the crime. But, this kind of perp line is designed to shame the gun owners who are not dangerous and pose no threat to society. Even better for the anti-gun advocate is the fact that creating such a scene makes it easier for them to judge and try to shame the non-threats over the simple fact that they disagree with the decision these men and women made to own guns in the first place.

If the oppressive laws keep you from buying more guns or send you packing out of the state, well, that’s just even better from their point of view. Now they can try and shame you without actually facing the consequences of such a decision or having people challenge them to what it means.

As I said, the letter at Free Range Kids has nothing to do with gun laws, but I think it does accurately represents the way that many voters now think about how they would like the force of law to work. The letter published there does a great job of highlighting ways that the slippery slope of this way of thinking could end up making you a criminal on a public humiliation registry for just about every common decision that someone somewhere might not like.

Beretta to Tennessee

Tennessee leaders are apparently excited to welcome a new investment from Beretta in their state that will apparently be in Gallatin, near Nashville. Considering you can’t drive 10 miles in that area without passing billboards for gun shops or gun ranges, I’d say that the 300 people they employee there will probably be among their best customers.

I find it amazing how quickly these blue, anti-gun states with leaders who claim to care about working class folks are so quick to dismiss the manufacturing jobs created by gun companies. The companies are clearly getting tired of it and moving.

Hope for Pennsylvania

Before the 2014 election season truly kicks into high gear in Pennsylvania, at least I have a little hope for the state with two little bits of information.

The big one is that Virginia just overcame the hardest vote to end the ban on Sunday hunting. There’s still a Senate vote to go, but it has passed in that chamber before. If Virginia can do it after years of arguing, then hopefully Pennsylvania can, too. Perhaps opponents will see that the sky won’t fall, just as it hasn’t in the vast majority of states that allow hunting on Sunday, and reason will prevail.

The second item is a bit of an election year kissing babies moment, but it was announced today that Gov. Tom Corbett is going to attend the NRA Friends dinner that will be held in conjunction with the new sportsman’s show in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania gun owners who appreciate our commonwealth’s laws over places like New York, Maryland, and Connecticut should really help out in a big, big way this year. Gov. Corbett came out firmly against gun bans when the press was pushing him hard to make a call for gun control, and he did it early enough that it shut down any major threat from the legislature.

UK Politicians Speaking Out Against the Handgun Ban

While he’s not proposing a system that American gun owners would tolerate, it is interesting to see a British politician arguing that banning handguns for the law-abiding is a terrible idea that was done as a senseless knee-jerk reaction.

Of course, his critics try to insult him by saying his positions are irresponsible and too much like America. To try and find middle ground, the handgun “advocate” also calls Americans crazy for allowing so many law-abiding citizens to own guns.

Welcoming Gun Owners to Indy

It seems that the Indianapolis Star has decided to roll out the welcome mat for the NRA convention later this year by effectively calling us delusional and announcing that they are against everything at the convention, but they’ll tolerate since it brings in money. Oh, and they also want to remind readers that we little lady gun owners are clearly only dependent upon our men to make all decisions regarding self-defense purchases.

For example, the columnist argues that Barack Obama’s gun control agenda may never have actually existed, so he’s not sure what NRA members are organizing against. Those executive orders the White House bragged about, clearly not evidence of a gun control agenda. Those press conferences calling for gun controls, clearly not evidence of a gun control agenda. Those questionnaires Obama filled out while running for lower offices that backed banning common guns, clearly not evidence of a gun control agenda. The current campaign arm of the Obama administration – OFA – sending out emails to organize a movement for more gun control laws, absolutely not evidence of any gun control agenda. According to the Indianapolis Star, all of these things are just figments of the imagination of NRA members.

Gun Control Movement Details & Spats

The Blaze is pulling highlights out of the emails sent between MAIG staff and city hall, noting just how dependent the organization really was in relying on taxpayer-funded staff to do their work.

One of the interesting sections is on how pissed off MAIG staff got when the Brady Campaign started reaching out to celebrities. Bloomberg clearly thought he should be the only gun control group allowed to “benefit” from the Newtown shooting, and it’s clear that they were absolutely pissed off that the Brady Campaign tried to do anything at all that might compete with MAIG.

There’s also talk of starting another new gun owner group to promote gun control, though MAIG actually dismisses the idea. However, the only reason they did is because of the man who wanted to lead the effort.

Gun Magazines Booming

In the wake of the Dick Metcalfe pity piece in the New York Times, Ad Age was struck by the claims about the editorial policies at gun magazines and decided to take a look at trends in the outdoor magazines. Not surprisingly, they are outperforming the rest of the industry.

According to their report, the Alliance for Audited Media says that InterMedia Outdoor’s Handguns saw a 16% boost in circulation while sales at the newsstand increased 34%. Circulation for Guns & Ammo increased 7%, even though newsstand sales declined slightly. (However, they still only declined a fraction of the industry average declines.) They also note that American Rifleman increased its circulation 14% and America’s 1st Freedom saw an 8% boost in circulation. All of these circulation increases happened as the numbers were falling for the magazine industry as a whole.

Local Gun Bans Still Illegal

There’s good news for Erie, PA gun owners this morning with the Commonwealth Court finding that an Erie trial court was in the wrong for not issuing an injunction against the city when the city’s solicitor threatened enforcement of their (illegal) ban on guns in city parks against gun owners looking to have a rally.

Local Sheriff Resignation

I forgot to blog this over the holidays, but a local sheriff resigned her position to accept a job at a local university. I’m sure the pay is comfortable, and she doesn’t have to run a re-election campaign. However, this is relevant to Montgomery County, PA gun owners because she did actually announce at public events that she “signed licenses,” something he predecessor did not do.

What kind of licenses did she mean while talking about the kind that her predecessor wouldn’t sign? Form 4.

The replacement sheriff has to be a Republican, according to this article, and will be appointed by the Governor. Hopefully, law abiding gun owners will be able to continue to count on the successor to keep the policy of approving Form 4s. Even local elections matter when it comes to your rights, though they are often overlooked by many voters.

Legal Victory Celebrations for Anti-Gunners

I had to take a look at the list of 13 “Victories” for the Brady Campaign of 2013, and I do find their standards of declaring victory to be somewhat entertaining.

In one case, they celebrate not being forced to own guns. In another situation, victory is filing a lawsuit. In several cited cases, it’s they didn’t file anything other an amicus brief. In another, they call a case they lost a victory because they are trying appeal.

While I won’t pretend that all of their victories aren’t actually victories for their cause, I will say that I hope we can make their 14 victories in 2014 look a little more like the examples I highlighted. “We showed up for work – Victory!” “The computer to type the fundraising email still works – Victory!” “We lost a case that can scare our supporters into giving money – Victory!”