Category: Gun Rights

We’ve done very well getting bipartisan cooperation on passing a suppressor hunting bill in Minnesota, only to draw a veto threat from Governor Mark Dayton, who notes:

“Nowhere in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution does it refer to the right to bear a silencer,” Dayton wrote in the letter. “To allow gunshots to be silenced increases the danger to law enforcement officers, and to innocent bystanders.”

It doesn’t refer to the right to bear pistols either, yet that was the key arm at issue in Heller. Can we give this stuff more than a soundbite’s worth of thought? Is that really too much to ask? The Governor also displays his ignorance of the subject. A silencer doesn’t silence: it takes a shot from being deafeningly loud to being kind of loud. Because rifle bullets used for hunting travel at supersonic speeds, even with an unsuppressed rifle, the target will be hit before the sound of the gunshot reaches it. Any public safety argument that revolves around the sound of gunfire being any kind of public safety benefit are ridiculous, as is the Governor if he vetoes this bill.

The linked article shows how we’re successfully driving this issue. Even thought the article is about Dayton’s veto threat, it still gets out all our key talking points in about suppressors to the general public. This is how you chip at the NFA: first, you build a constituency for getting suppressors de-listed, and hunting is one shooting activity where its benefits are apparent. Earplugs might save your hearing, but they also masks the sounds of wildlife, or more importantly, the sound of another person nearby you might have missed visually. It’s easier to get these talking points out in the context of hunting than anything else. Second, when you build that constituency enough, and the gun community becomes familiar with the applications and benefits of suppressors, push for having them delisted from the National Firearms Act. Five years ago I would have said getting anything delisted from NFA a pipe dream. Now, I think we have a realistic chance of delisting them in the next decade if the political winds keep blowing in the right direction.

Pew Research released a poll showing their highest documented support for gun rights, and 63% of their respondents said the best way to protect yourself against crime was with a gun. The survey also specifically says that Americans do not believe that more gun control will keep them safe.

Pew says that there’s a disconnect between perceptions of crime rates and actual crime rates. That’s not at all news for anyone who reads Free Range Kids and the kind of attitudes they are trying to battle with a little sanity and a lot of information. What I find interesting is that, in my experience, the serious gun owners I know do realize that crime is trending downward. It’s the people I know who either don’t own guns or who just have one locked away somewhere who believe crime is on the rise.

It’s been a long week for work, what with taking a few days off to attend the NRA Annual Meeting. But I have been trying to keep up with the news, and with that my tabs are quite constipated.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board banned firearms in Pennsylvania Casinos, a relic of the fact that it was Ed Rendell who set up that board. The Board just rescinded that regulation. Good. It was never really legal to begin with.

Stirring the pot: 6.8mm Remington SPC not so special after all. I have an AR chambered in this caliber. It was my only flirtation with any of these new boutique cartridges.

Constitutional Carry bill introduced in Ohio, and Maine’s bill draws hundreds to the State House. We just need enough people that want it bad enough.

Jim Geraghty from NRAAM: A yawning cultural gap begets clueless reporting on GOP field.

There’s a recall effort afoot against New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Additionally, recall effort have been filed in Oregon. This works for us in Colorado, but it might not everywhere. Still, I don’t see any reason not to keep them afraid. Oregon looks particularly precarious. More here. Once the waters top the levee, it’ll be hard to stop. Once they think you can’t hurt them, it’s all over.

I admire this guy, but he’s lucky he didn’t become the next George Zimmerman. The system doesn’t want you to get involved. They’re designing it so you won’t.

More effort to restrict 3D printing of guns. Can’t stop the signal.

Remember that Bill Haslam was a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, when he was Mayor of Knoxville.

Does Kenya really need a may issue concealed carry regime? Seems they don’t have licenses to carry in Kenya. If you have a license to own it, you have a license to carry it. But the licenses to have it are may-issue.

Obama hasn’t given up on gun control. That has David “Mudcat” Saunders worried about the future. That’s funny, Mudcat wasn’t all that worried after Sandy hook.

Joe Manchin isn’t too happy with NRA. That’s fine, because the feeling is mutual. Let’s see how Joe does in a reddening state come his re-election.

It looks like GOAL of Massachusetts may have won a minor victory against the anti-gun billboard king John Rosenthal. See this release from GOAL.

If this study were true, America would be awash in blood. It’s not. Violent crime has dropped as gun ownership has increased. The problem these people have is that they would like to disbar people from owning guns if they were “angry” people. But owning a gun is a right, and that should, necessarily, take certain policy options off the table.

A lot of people are upset NRA didn’t invite Rand Paul, and fewer that they didn’t invite Chris Christie. Rand shills for a gun organization, NAGR, that opposes federal civil rights legislation to protect the RKBA. Federal Civil Rights legislation is the only way we’re going to free people in anti-gun states. Even though Paul voted for National Reciprocity last time it came up in the Senate, the organization he supports and promotes opposes it.

SayUncle: “So, basically, my butt refuted The New York Times.” More here.

Hey, good on this kid for building a smart gun without formal training. I have no problem with smart guns, if people want to buy them. I have a big problem with the busybodies that want to mandate them.

Miguel takes a look at crime during NRA Annual Meeting. As is usually the case, there was less of it.

One thing Bloomberg and Watts are good at is doubling down on failure.

Thirdpower on Brady: “She’s dead, give us money.” If it wasn’t for Bloomberg’s money, the gun control movement would be finished already.

 

The big push is on for a transfer ban in Oregon, and all the stops from the other side are coming out. But as we’ve seen, these victories for the other side are entirely symbolic, and Oregon is looking like it’s going to go the path of Washington, where massive resistance outside of the lefty-govorned urban areas are rendering the law meaningless and unenforceable. With large parts of the state refusing to comply, any victory here is symbolic and meaningless. The law will be in place, and surely the other side will claim victory, but it’s a pyrrhic one at best.

Whether they like it or not, the effectiveness of these kinds of gun control laws as tools to enhance public safety is completely dependent on the willingness of gun owners to accept them and help enforce them. If our community instead chooses to ignore them, they can never be effective. By this point, anti-gun forces have blown enough goodwill and trust that even casual gun owners no longer trust their intentions, and have no intention of complying with their regulatory schemes.

Thanks to Governor Brownback for signing the law. In other states where this has passed with Democratic governors, it’s met with a veto. I am not saying this to cheer the GOP, as I would like gun rights to be an issue that has bipartisan consensus, but it would seem that the Democratic Party, even in red states, is not interested in a truly robust Second Amendment right. West Virginia and Montana have both rejected full constitutional carry due to timid Democratic governors. Of course, let us also not forget about timid Republican governors.

This is a very difficult issue to move. The Democrats don’t want it because they like control, and don’t like the idea of the everyman being armed. The Republican “law and order” cohort likewise feels a lot more comfortable with licensed carry than they do with it actually being treated like a fundamental right. Shall-issue licensing was easier to move, because while it liberalized the licensed carry regime, one could argue it promoted “law and order,” which appeased that GOP cohort.

Constitutional Carry is essentially getting the law out of the way of a fundamental right, altogether. There are factions in both parties who are uncomfortable with that idea. Grassroots action is the only thing that’s going to move this needle.

But the fact remains, the shall-issue movement is over, because we’ve largely won. We’ve gotten all the states we’re going to get through the legislative process. The rest is in the hands of the federal courts. Constitutional Carry is the new frontier.

Lots to do. NRA Annual meeting is coming up, and I have a project I mean to finish before that event swing around next week. But there is some time for a news links post, and maybe some more. Depends on what kind of news comes.

Everytown has been running poll numbers in Florida showing 61% opposed to Florida’s law allowing campus carry. Given their polls for I-594 were running 80-90% and they got 60%, I’d suggest you probably actually have a pretty good majority for campus carry!

Speaking of Everytown, how much you want to bet Bloomberg is behind this propaganda effort?

I’ve seen a few outfits try to make hay out of NRA, you know, complying with state ethics laws on gifts. The scoundrels!

How many times is Kroger going to have to tell MDA to go to hell?

Gun control in Oregon. I feel bad for Oregon gun owners, because I don’t thing it will stay easy from here. Californication is a powerful thing.

FBI is fudging the numbers on school shootings.

CSGV tries to claim a straw buy was a private transfer. Of course, because none of their foaming at the mouth followers have any idea how federal and state law operate.

Rubio backing important civil rights legislation to fix D.C.’s gun laws, and preempt City Government from regulating firearms. I know this will come as a surprise, but I think he means to run for President.

The Tampa Bay Times all but predicts blood in the streets. How many times do they have to be proved wrong?

Another case of the media not having the barest understanding of what they are talking about: “We don’t understand why any armor-piercing bullet, even one capable of being fired only from a rifle, would have been exempted in the first place.” Ten minutes of Googling would have been all the research needed to understand.

NBC is getting sued over the whole Tannerite scare. Good.

Media Matters is sliming Cam Edwards with lies.

Vermont Democrats are busy trying creating a laws that mirror federal law on prohibited persons. Vermont essentially has no crime to speak of. It’s like Switzerland. Looks like there’s some skepticism of Bloomberg’s astroturfing front group in the state.

Constitutional Carry in Maine? Worth trying! Upper New England unfortunately has their own version of Californication in the west.

Jim Geraghty: too much for Everytown to handle. Welcome to the club. Remember, they just want a “national conversation.”

Keep an eye on your kids’ textbooks: “The Second Amendment appears in the book this way: ‘A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms [i.e., for military purposes] shall not be infringed.‘”

How many Democratic candidates do you think will be lining up to kiss Everytown’s ring? Oh yeah, they don’t have a convention. It’ll all be done behind closed doors, because their movement can handle things that way.

Oral arguments were held in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case challenging Maryland’s sweeping post-Sandy Hook gun control laws.

Christie: I’d respect gun rights more with a pro-gun legislature. Keep in mind he did sign a law that allowed people to be denied Second Amendment rights because their name was on a secret government list.

Democratic Governor of Montana vetoes Constitutional Carry.

I’ve often wondered how many members NRA loses because of their fundraising. In truth, NRA are no worse than other groups I’ve been a member of, but for a lot of people, NRA is their only form of engagement. Those are the people NRA needs, because they are potential single-issue voters. My big worry is that NRA is too dependent on mass targeting rather than learning how to micro target members. There’s systems that can do that.

Lots of budget maneuvers over gun rights. NRA has gotten very good at playing this game, and bureaucrats worry about interests with the power to affect their budgets. This is a good thing in this case.

Off topic:

“The party of smaller government.” A smattering of bones thrown to the SoCos and “law and order” branches of the coalition.

Glenn Reynolds: You’re probably breaking the law right now.

Why the Dems are desperate for Hillary.

If you live in, near, or have some relationship to Kansas, be sure to contact Governor Brownback to ensure we get a signature here. Remember, Bloomberg tried pretty hard to stop Constitutional Carry in Kansas, and it would be an awful shame to get this far and fail because the Governor didn’t hear from enough of us. If a signature is forthcoming, Kansas will join Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, and Arkansas to become the sixth state to pass Constitutional Carry.

This is continuing to progress. Maybe not quite as fast as shall-issue licensed carry, but it is continuing.

See NAGR’s release here.

I was previously wary of National Reciprocity supported solely on the herpes theory of the commerce clause, so I don’t outright scoff at people’s concerns with federal involvement in this area. But with the advent of Heller and McDonald rulings, Congress now has another, more constitutional avenue to legislature in this area, namely Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, which grants Congress the power to enforce its provisions that guarantee rights. This has been used to promote civil rights in many contexts in the post-Civil-War period. National Reciprocity is really a quite appropriate exercise of this power, given that the Heller decision assumed a right to carry a firearm, and the Court applied it to the states in McDonald. In fact, I’ll go farther and argue that Congressional action is likely the only way we’re going to restore the Second Amendment to the few remaining states which disrespect it. So let me take on some of NAGR’s arguments.

NAGR argues that the Second Amendment is the only license you should need. No one steeped in this debate disagrees that there should be no licensing requirement for exercising your Second Amendment rights. But Congressional action here doesn’t necessarily legitimize licensing. Previous Supreme Court rulings make Congressional action on unsettled issues like licensing problematic. Even with National Reciprocity, the other side will certainly argue City of Boerne v. Flores, which circumscribed Congressional power under the 14th Amendment. Congress attacking licensing might spark a turf war with the courts, such as happened in the City of Boerne case. We want to be cautious about reaching too far without more guidance from the Court.

NAGR argues that this bill is a trojan horse that will pave the way for federal control of licensing and carry. That is false. This bill gives no federal agency any regulatory control. It will be a law passed by Congress and enforced by the federal courts against the states. Could Congress pass such regulatory control in the future? Sure. But they can do that whether we pass National Reciprocity or not. Groups like NAGR act like anti-gun folks never thought of passing federal gun control before we gave them the idea. Nonsense!

NAGR uses Obama’s lawlessness as a reason not to do this. But this bill offers Obama no regulatory power to abuse. Could he just mandate something anyway? Sure, but again, he could do that right now. It will come down to what the federal courts let him get away with. That’s true with or without federal reciprocity.

NAGR calls this the “National CCW Registration Act,” despite the fact that there is no registration component to the bill. Nothing changes in regards to federal involvement in carry permitting, and nothing could change. All the law does is demand that states recognize each other’s licenses to carry. No more, no less.

NAGR is simply wrong on this issue, very badly wrong. Some Senators and Congressmen may use Dudley Brown’s opposition as cover to avoid taking a hard vote on this.  I’ve made no secret that I don’t like Brown or his organization, but even I honestly don’t know what’s he’s even thinking here.

I don’t think we ought to stop with National Reciprocity either. Lately I’ve liked Glenn Reynolds idea of mandating that, for someone not prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm, they can’t be sentenced to more than a petty offense, with a fine not to exceed $500 dollars, for any firearm violation not involving the commission of another serious, violent crime. It would be a good next step, and hopefully compatible with City of Boerne. At the least, it represents the kind of remedy we can probably only get from Congressional action under the 14th Amendment.

I would ignore NAGR’s plea to oppose this law, and make sure your friends know it too. NAGR has built up quite a Facebook presence, so Dudley could do serious damage in trying to move this or any other federal civil rights bills forward if more sensible people don’t help educate.