Current Events – Page 13 – Shall Not Be Questioned

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.

Looks Like Another Shooting at Fort Hood

Since nearly everything that comes out in the next several hours is likely to range from mildly wrong to grossly wrong, I’m not going to report on facts until facts are in. I’d note that our opponents have not had much success in exploiting mass shooting tragedies at military bases.

I Can’t Wait to Mail Letters Using My Charlton Heston Stamps

The pre-order page is now posted for the Charlton Heston stamp from the Post Office. It says that pre-orders will be available April 9, and the launch is set for April 11. You know I’m so going to get some when they come out. In fact, I think I’ll find excuses to mail some letters this summer just to have an excuse to use them.

If the Post Office is interested in making some money off of these, they should ask if NRA would put up promotional posters at the NRA convention in Indy and note that the post office downtown is only a 15 minute walk from the convention center. They might try to claim that it’s only honoring his Hollywood work, but they really need to look at the fact that they need to make money. This event happens to provide a very targeted audience – regardless of the motivation to buy.

The 64,000 Dollar Question

So with the Russia reasserting itself on the world stage, and rumors of Putin wanting to build a new Russian military base in Cuba, does that mean that the original Red Dawn is timely again? The bear is back, folks! Thank God we have sensible people in the White House who really get this Smart Diplomacy thing.

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)

Deaths in the Gun Movement

Most of the time that I spot an obituary in my Google alerts that reference a pro-gun organization, I almost always take a look at the site. I don’t know these people, but they stand out to me as someone I probably would have liked to know because they cared about the Second Amendment and did enough to stand up and defend their rights that their family thought that it deserved recognition in the few sentences granted to sum up an entire life of achievements. I respect that about those men and women.

I also think it’s important when membership in a pro-gun group is mentioned because it drives home a narrative that normal people are gun owners who will defend their rights. This isn’t about a bunch of unknown lobbyists in some far off corner of the country, it’s about real Americans who are your neighbors whether you live in New York or Arizona. People who don’t talk to many moderates who don’t really have strong opinions on the issue don’t realize how much that makes a difference.

I just thought about that final chance to send a positive message about gun ownership one last time with last night’s news that Dick Cabela died and also a google alert hit today for a father named Rick Daily. You’ve probably heard of one and haven’t heard of the other. Regardless, both men were clearly very big supporters of the cause.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you all have a happy and enjoyable Thanksgiving, and may your table be free of propagandists for the regime.

Obamacare & Gun Registries

The same company that built the nightmare that is Healthcare.gov is also responsible for the boondoggle that was the Canadian long gun registry. Mark Steyn does a great job at highlighting what their previous “success” means the American people can expect from just the website fiasco in Obamacare:

The registry was estimated to cost in total $119 million, which would be offset by $117 million in fees. Thatâ€™s a net cost of $2 million. Instead, by 2004 the CBC (Canadaâ€™s PBS) was reporting costs of some $2 billion â€” or a thousand times more expensive. …

That works out to almost $300 per gun â€” or somewhat higher than the original estimate for processing a firearm registration of $4.60. Of those $300 gun registrations, Canadaâ€™s auditor general reported to parliament that much of the information was either duplicated or wrong in respect to basic information such as names and addresses.

He continues to explain that there was supposed to be a helpful toll-free number to support the database, but it was never used or really useful. Then, the company said that they just needed to start over, so they were given an additional $81 million, on top of the $2 billion already lining their pockets, to build a second registry. About 4 years beyond their deadline for the new registry, they still didn’t have a functioning product.

Interestingly, the gun registry isn’t the only other high profile failure of this company. Apparently, the Ontario government gave up a diabetes registry that the company was contracted to do after not meeting deadlines and being over budget, but the taxpayers were still out $46 million for a database that was never used.

Steyn also points out that despite these very spectacular and very public failures, the company’s executive brags, â€œ[w]e continue to view U.S. federal government as a significant growth opportunity.â€ Your money, and now every detail of your healthcare decisions, are in the very best of hands…

Anyone want to bet that another “growth opportunity” they see for the federal government is another gun registry? It would be interesting to know if they have ever hired any lobbyists to push that type of legislation. If they could make more than $2 billion on the last attempt to simply register 7 million long guns in Canada, think about how much they would stand to make trying to register all of the guns in the U.S.

More Consequences of Gun Control

Parents who just lost a kid who shot and killed a teacher and himself at the Sparks Middle School may end up facing charges because he got the gun from home.

Under Nevada law, it is illegal to allow anyone under 18 to handle a gun without supervision. The offense rises to a felony if there was substantial risk the child would use the firearm to commit a violent act. However, the law doesn’t apply if the gun was stored securely or if the child obtained the weapon unlawfully.

Years ago, back when kids routinely took guns to school so they could go hunting afterwards, or because they were on the school rifle or trap team, these things didn’t seem to happen. Maybe this has more to do with how we raise kids in protective bubbles today, and have low expectations for them when it comes to maturity and self-reliance, than it has to do with easy access to guns. Kids have never had tougher access to guns in our country’s history, and what is it accomplishing? Will jailing the parents who just lost a kid really benefit society?

UPDATE: And the cops weren’t automatically in itchy trigger finger mode when they noticed kids with guns either.