Bitter – Page 40 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Colorado’s MAIG Leader to Run for Senate Seat

In the district where voters just sent Sen. John Morse home for not only pulling gun control to the floor, but also complaining to the media that having his constituents call his office was toxic to the process of shoving legislation down their throats, the Democrats have a new candidate who, it would appear, may have similar views on how to treat those with whom he disagrees. Oh, and it is a man who was once employed by Bloomberg to push gun control – the other big argument against Morse’s continued tenure.

As the former head of MAIG in Colorado, a candidate for Sen. Morse’s old seat seemingly developed his views on religion and Hell around how he defines your political opposition to him. Based on a quote from an email that he admits to writing in the featured interview at the link, he declared that people who support private/charter schools or vouchers have “a special place in Hell…they deserve it.”

I wonder what level of Hell he believes is reserved for gun owners?

October [Not] Surprises

Well, according to the press, the world is supposed to end tomorrow if the Republicans don’t just give in and allow Obama to have everything he has ever wanted in policy demands that pertain to the budget. In the meantime, here are some other news bits about what gun owners should know for October:

NRA-ILA reports that they have heard from various folks worrying about whether we’ll be able to buy guns if the government shuts down. Yes, NICS will continue to operate. So, if you hear these concerns, you now have somewhere to point folks to for an explanation.

Also on the October agenda, if you’re near Denver, this is another reminder to attend NRA’s Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium on Saturday, October 12. You must pre-register, so get on it. They typically have very informative speakers, and it’s highly recommended. It’s free, and they give you food, so what’s not to like?

If you’re in Virginia, it’s now a great time to get involved with the elections if you haven’t been involved yet. Looking at the statewide ratings, you have A vs. F, AQ vs. D, and A vs. D choices this year. In other words, things are pretty clear on the gun issue.

Guns & Antique Bottles

This morning, Sebastian & I had a conversation about upcoming plans to attend a bottle collector show to look for a bottle made by his 4x great grandfather. We’ve been told by a collecting enthusiast that while the specific bottles do come to market with some regularity, they aren’t the most common. I told Sebastian that even if we can’t find one of his bottles at this particular show, I would like to see if I can learn more about his ancestor. This is where he thought I was crazy.

His response: “That would be like going into a gun show and asking some random dealer to tell you all about Samuel Colt. They’ll probably think you’re kind of crazy.”

I think he’s wrong. I think a better analogy would be going to an antiques-only gun show as a total newbie and asking an organizer or representative of a collector group if they know, or can point me in the direction of someone who knows, a more detailed history on someone like Christian Sharps because Sebastian is a recently discovered descendant of the man and would like to know more about his business history. Maybe I’m naÃ¯ve, but I’d like to think that I’d get at least a little assistance, and maybe even someone who is eager to bring new people into the culture, even if they will only ever be interested in one particular type of rifle. Ultimately, he did agree that this was a better example and somewhat less crazy.

Given that kind of context, I don’t think I’ll sound as odd as Sebastian first worried. But, who knows? That said, I’m willing to come off as a little foolish and dumb if it ultimately leads me to more answers in uncovering more information and resources about Sebastian’s ancestors.

Also, this kind of serves as a reminder to us gunnies that if we encounter total newbies asking seemingly odd questions, don’t be rude. You never know when they might have a motivation you don’t yet understand, and they would willing to become part of the culture.

That said, to the degree that we do learn more about antique bottle collecting, we will never get to the level of enthusiasm that exists for privy diggers. (No offense to any readers who might be privy diggers, but, yeah, no…no way that I’m doing that.)

US Officially Signs UN Arms Treaty

Say it with me now: Elections have consequences.

While the chance of Senate ratification is effectively nil at this point, gun control supporters can still cheer the victory of the first step of the treaty process here in the US. It also makes Senate seats a much more desirable target for both treaty purposes and domestic gun control efforts.

We all knew this was coming as soon as the treaty was agreed to and Obama was re-elected. Now, we have to make sure that there’s never a chance for the Senate to ratify it. The Senate could take it up at any time, as it doesn’t have to be ratified in this administration once it has been initially signed. International gun control groups would be happy to wait us out.

It’s All About Going After Gun Owners

From the sounds of this article about a Virginia gun club that needed approval to take on some construction projects, it appears as though anti-gun advocates were actually trying to end all gun owner activities rather than having any concern for actual firearms use on the range.

In July, they report that 13 people came out to oppose the club’s plans. Now, that might be expected if the club was looking to vastly expand the number and size of ranges or do something else that would greatly increase quality-of-life factors for residents around the club. But, no. They were opposing a new clubhouse, a picnic pavilion, and a driveway expansion. Opposition to those kinds of improvements is a direct opposition to gun owners meeting and organizing. That’s not about noise from a gun range or concerns over stray rounds. That’s just opposition to gun owners.

In September, the anti opposition had dropped to just one woman who appears to have made up concerns like a new clubhouse might mean that there’s a new sudden interest in trespassing, along with concerns about noises from non-gun activities.

I’m continually amazed at how so many anti-gun groups really want us to believe that they aren’t proposing going after gun owners when we see repeated assaults like this on even allowing gun owners to gather. At the national level, it’s been legislation that would effectively shut down gun shows. Here, it’s silly opposition to a freakin’ picnic pavilion.

h/t to VSSA, a great resource for Virginia gun owners

Buy Brian Aitken’s Book

Brian Aitken, the man that New Jersey authorities arrested & convicted for legally owning guns while moving, is writing a book, and he need people to pre-order to fund the many costs associated with it. Oh, and the profits will go to funding a Supreme Court appeal. Why is he going the route of writing a book to tell his story?

I don’t know about you guys, but my heart just breaks when Brian says, “My biggest goal with this book is just to put my story on paper so that one day my son can pick it up and read it, and know that I never stopped loving him. So that one day, he’ll know why I wasn’t around when he was young.” Excuse me, I might have something in my eye…

For a conviction that never should have happened and wasn’t violent or remotely to do with his ability to be a good influence on his son, Aitken has not seen his son in years and doesn’t even know the sound of his voice since the state of New Jersey took away his custody rights. He’s hoping that an appeal to the Supreme Court could change that.

His fundraiser serves as his pre-sale, and the e-book starts at $8 with hardcover copies going for $32. He has other donation gifts available, including dinner with him & possibly some of his legal team.

From a legal perspective, his case could be interesting. New Jersey is the outlier with the only conviction he has remaining – possessing the hollow-point ammunition while moving. Even though it’s a criminal case, it’s also the rare one with a completely sympathetic defendant.

Celebrating with Friends

Congratulations are in order for two readers who won guns in our drawing for the 5-gun raffle we promoted here over the summer! Sebastian took video of the raffle drawing last night, and I believe he’s going to post it so that you can see how these events are a really awesome gathering of pro-gun folks. Even as so many at the dinner either didn’t get tickets to the raffle, or simply didn’t win, we did have one winner who was there, and the crowd absolutely cheered for him.

In all, we ended up giving away 25 guns in raffles, games, and auctions. There were only about 134 people there, so that’s quite a few guns for not a really huge crowd! Two people received fantastic hunts in South Africa for steals. We even gave away a brick of .22 for a door prize, which got quite the reaction from the crowd. Needless to say, everyone perked up for that drawing.

Sebastian has a habit of putting all of his tickets into the winning the cheesiest prize available. Last year, he became the proud winner of a tobacco stick walking stick. This year, we now have the branding irons. Yes, we can have pro-gun steaks and chicken breasts from now on. No more plain and anti-gun meat for us!

Reader Adam might be a little sad he was out of the country this week since the NRA waffle maker went for a pretty low price this year. It’s a good thing that I was busy doing paperwork for the silent auction while that was up, or we would probably be eating pro-gun waffles with our pro-gun chicken.

All-in-all, the preliminary numbers show that we raised about 3x what we did last year. That’s three times as much money for the shooting sports and training new shooters as we had last year. Trust me, it will be put to good use in promoting the Second Amendment and our shooting sports culture.

We appreciate everyone who supported the banquet and the raffle, and we really cannot thank you enough. I hope you know that the folks who run the programs that ultimately promote and defend our rights also appreciate your support as well.

Celebrating Constitution Day

Happy Constitution Day!

Today, we’re celebrating with our Friends of NRA banquet. We get to send some lucky winner home tonight knowing that he/she can go pick up their KelTec KSG shotgun tomorrow morning. Or maybe the person who throws one of their stretch raffle tickets into the bucket for the Taurus handgun will be just as excited to go pick it up tomorrow.

Someone else might be going home with a week in Aruba timeshare scheduled next year knowing that the money donated will be used to help run new shooters through safety courses while they enjoy drinks by the pool and beach.

Yeah, it’s not a bad way to celebrate the Constitution if I do say so myself.

Bloomberg Eyes the West

Attention gun owners in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, and Minnesota: You’re likely the next targets for Bloomberg’s cash.

In Oregon, they want to target Sen. Betsy Johnson & will be trying to find Senate Republicans to break from the pack. If you live there, you need to get involved with these targets now. Don’t wait. Give them the incentive to hang up the phone when Bloomberg calls by being visible and involved right now.

For Minnesota, it sounds like they plan to hire more lobbyists to try and drown out constituents.

Nevada gun owners should make sure to step up for any lawmakers who stood against gun control, but might have had some tight races in recent years. Bloomberg is apparently going to fund some challengers. They also said they will get involved to try and keep Sen. Justin Jones if he faces recall.

In Washington, it looks like he’s going to focus on dropping money to turn out the vote on the ballot initiatives.

Their plans in New Mexico are even more vague, but it looks like they want to take aim at anyone who got in the way of gun control this session.

Illinois Supreme Court on Right to Carry

Following the result of the Seventh Circuit’s holding in Moore v. Madigan, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in People v. Aguilar agreeing with the results. From the opinion:

After reviewing these two lines of authorityâ€”the Illinois cases holding that section 24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A) is constitutional, and the Seventh Circuitâ€™s decision holding that it is notâ€”we are convinced that the Seventh Circuitâ€™s analysis is the correct one. As the Seventh Circuit correctly noted, neither Heller nor McDonald expressly limits the second amendmentâ€™s protections to the home. On the contrary, both decisions contain language strongly suggesting if not outright confirming that the second amendment right to keep and bear arms extends beyond the home. Moreover, if Heller means what it says, and â€œindividual self-defenseâ€ is indeed â€œthe central componentâ€ of the second amendment right to keep and bear arms (Heller, 554 U.S. at 599), then it would make little sense to restrict that right to the home, as â€œ[c]onfrontations are not limited to the home.â€ Moore, 702 F.3d at 935-36. Indeed, Heller itself recognizes as much when it states that â€œthe right to have arms *** was by the time of the founding understood to be an individual right protecting against both public and private violence.â€ (Emphasis added.) Heller, 554 U.S. at 593-94.
…
Accordingly, as the Seventh Circuit did in Moore, we here hold that, on its face, section 24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A) violates the right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by the second amendment to the United States Constitution. Defendantâ€™s conviction under that section therefore is reversed.