Category: Gun Rights

News today has been pretty scarce, but I think I might have enough for a news link post:

Following up on progress in the states, the Florida Senate just passed a bill that allows people to carry a firearm without a license during a mandatory evacuation. It still needs a House vote, but it’s at least on the floor. Arizona is having a hearing for a bill, previously vetoed by Jan Brewer, that would allow carry in public venues like stadiums. I had not mentioned these bills in the previous post. Like I said, too many pro-gun bills to track! Good problem to have.

Moms Demand Action’s war on women: Against allowing expedited permit processing for women under active threat from a stalker or in an abusive relationship.

Boomberg has been smearing Scott Walker by pointing out he once supported a gun control bill. You know things are bad for the other side when they try to cause problems for politicians for supporting their bills!

Good guy with a gun saves lives in a Philadelphia barber shop.

New Jersey claims yet another innocent victim with their gun laws. This keeps happening because New Jersey’s gun laws entrap innocent people by design. It’s a way of rigging the law so easy and routine mistakes are felonies, and they can still look down on you smugly for thinking they are after your guns.

NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show generated $73 million for PA’s Harrisburg-Hershey region. How much money did CeaseFire PA’s Everytown Gunsense Show generate? Oh wait….

CSGV will soon deliver their petition to Fox’s Washington affiliate, WTTG, to have Emily Miller fired. Oppose them, and they’ll ruin your life. But remember, they’re all about peace and love.

Fresh off their defeat on ammunition, the Administration is now trying to make it harder for people to travel internationally with firearms.

Sued: Lower Merion Township gets sued for their illegal gun ordinances by FOAC and Josh Prince. We gave them a chance to comply with the law, and they gave us the finger. Now they can cut us a check for our trouble and have their ordinances struck by a judge.

In truth, there are so many bills running, I can’t keep track of them all. In Vermont, it looks like a bill is running, S.141 to replace the failed private transfer ban. This looks like a straight up NICS Improvement Amendment Act compliance, but NRA is still saying “S.141 remains a solution in search of a problem,” and asking people to call their State Senators to urge them to vote against it. It would be bad for Bloomberg to be able to declare victory in Vermont. Also in trouble is Oregon, which is looking to pass a transfer ban as well.

Constitutional Carry was doing very well in West Virginia, until it met Governor Tomblin’s veto pen, a bold move in a state that keeps getting redder. Constitutional Carry is still alive in Kansas, and is headed for a floor vote in the House. It has already passed the Senate there. It’s also looking like it might not be so dead in Idaho, as they are looking to pass Montana Carry (no permit required outside of cities). Utah’s Senate passed Constitutional Carry, but it faces an uphill battle in the House, and the Governor has vetoed it before. Tennessee tried to pass permitless open carry, but failed. Tomorrow, there will be a hearing for Constitutional Carry in New Hampshire.

Nebraska has a preemption bill in the works.

Missouri is running three pro-gun bills.

Arkansas is repealing its prohibition on green card holders from obtaining licenses to carry, and also passing a “shall sign” measure.

In Virginia, Governor McAuliffe signed two pro-gun bills into law, but still has another six sitting on his desk.

Iowa is trying to repeal their handgun purchase permit requirement, prompting Mom’s Demand to try one of their lame stroller jams. It didn’t work. The House passed the bill.

Bloomberg has launched a campaign to stop constitutional carry’s momentum, which is evident from all the opposition pieces in the media using their poll showing people don’t want it. If you read how the poll was asked, there is probably a lot of confusion about whether support for the permit system is a pro or anti-gun position. I would argue their poll results are useless for supporting their position.

Campus carry is doing pretty well in Florida and Texas. Marion Hammer, NRA’s lobbyist for Florida, is arguing the opposition is using taxpayer money.

And this is hardly a comprehensive list. Overall, we’re doing pretty well, though we do risk going backwards in Oregon. There are a lot of blue states that are unfortunately probably lost causes over the long term.

It’s tab clearing time again, folks:

Clayton Cramer will be the featured speaker at the Firearms Policy Coalition 03/29/2015 in Sacramento.

NRA is opposing the confirmation of Loretta Lynch for Attorney General. It’ll be interesting to see who bucks NRA on this vote.

Rape survivor challenging Mom’s Demand Action.

Another case of CSGV being classy. Personally, I think it’s a tacit admission that their side is more motivated to action by cultural condescension and hate than they are by reducing gun violence. Where’s the fun if you can’t hate on people you think are beneath you?

There was a protest held in Bala Cynwyd Park to protest Lower Merion Township’s illegal ordinances regulating firearms. Lower Merion Township is being intransigent about repealing their ordinance, claiming it’s in line with state law and therefore legal. This is nonsense. More from the Inquirer.

An explosion in college shooting teams, including one at MIT. This is the work of the evil gun lobby!

Lawsuits challenging the NFA or 922(o) (the Hughes Amendment), at this point in time, are very poorly considered. At this point all you’re going to do is make bad precedent.

Many conservatives are blowing it on Ferguson, according to Red State. Red State is usually a bit too SoCo for my tastes, but they are absolutely right in pointing this out. Conservatives have to start taking police abuses seriously if they want to have any prayer of splitting black voters away from the Democrats. It’s also the right thing to do.

Caleb looks at why Bullseye is still the most popular pistol shooting sport.

NRA is going after two more illegal ordinances in the City of Lancaster.

The Washington Post is being even more ridiculous than usual.

Gun control groups distance themselves from the M855 ban. The stench of failure here belongs entire to the Obama Administration.

Remember, we need to have a national discussion on gun violence, but at no point should that discussion ever include someone who might disagree with gun control groups.

Massad Ayoob dives into the shark infested waters of the Open Carry debate here, and again here. I am in general agreement with his position on this.

Looks like a former staffer for Eric Cantor will be lobbying for Bloomberg. Like I’ve said, you don’t find many true believers in DC, even among Republicans.

On the other hand, sometimes you can make friends out of former enemies.

Joe Manchin doesn’t like West Virginia’s Constitutional Carry Bill. That’s OK, because I’m not West Virginians much like Joe Manchin. I guess we’ll find out in 2018.

You’ll often hear people say “Die in a fire!” as an insult, but as a gun owner, if you really do die in a fire, there are some on the other side who will be happy about it. Also, they have only the utmost respect for our nation’s veterans.

Bill Haslam not so pro-gun anymore? Well, he was once a member of MAIG.

Family court rules that all guns must be removed from a father’s home until the kid is 18. Without having to reach Second Amendment issues, a higher court reverses only on grounds that the order is ridiculous.

It’s worth mentioning again: It’s a bad idea to take self-defense advice from Joe Biden.

Time to clear the tabs again:

Clayton Cramer: Gun control laws don’t create safety, only illusions. The fight for Constitutional Carry in Idaho is still hot.

They see me trollin’, they hatin’. Never occurs to them that the reason people do this is because it baits people on the other side into revealing what petty hand wringers and rabid busybodies they are for all to see. Plus, look at all the sickos who think the picture is sexual? And they think we’re disturbed?

Josh Prince: Did AG Kane fail in her statutory duties regarding reciprocity? She’s not going to prosecute herself, though.

Is your Congress critter on the list of reps who signed the M855 letter to ATF? Mine isn’t. The only member of the PA Republican congressional delegation to not sign on. That’s because he’s not running again in 2016, and he’s never really been with us. Even Pat Meehan signed it!

USA Today: “Giffords draws crowd at D.C. event to support gun control” Pictures or it didn’t happen.

Google has already done a lot to destroy blogging, but this may actually kill it off for good.

From the land of Brady Board member Joan Peterson: “More Minnesotans have handgun carrying permits than ever before.” Minnesota’s murder rate is typically at European levels.

The Fourth Amendment is dead. Hey, it’s fine as long as “they’ve been regulated for centuries.”

Walker supports ending Wisconsin’s waiting period. Worth remembering that our last Republican President won office saying he supported banning assault weapons. This is a welcome change.

Joe Huffman takes a look at polling on guns in the home.

Remember, gun control people tell us that it’s very important for gun owners to be well-trained, and then turn around and mock and oppose training.

Florida Carry countering Bloomberg’s astroturfing.

Mance v. Holder stay denied by judge.

Iowa considering legalizing suppressors.

Pat Toomey makes the list of most vulnerable Senators in 2016. How’s that gun control working out for ya Pat?

I’m happy to see Justice Thomas embracing non-delegation doctrine reform. I think this has been a much greater problem for traditional American liberty than the expansion of the commerce power.

And so it begins: handwringing and hysterics from the media over national reciprocity.

 

NRA-ILA is announcing ATF is waving the white flag of surrender, for the time being.

The announcement that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) will suspend its proposed framework to ban M855 ammunition validates the NRA’s assertion that this effort was nothing more than a political maneuver to bypass Congress and impose gun control on the American people.

I think we can all pat ourselves on the back here. Gun owners seem to be more effective at standing up to the Obama Administration than the GOP. Punch back twice as hard.

Friday, people were e-mailing me about the M855 issue that the ATF had removed the language about the M855 exception from its 2015 Published Ordinances. I will say that a lot of people in the media, including the gun media, got details wrong. ATF is now claiming it was just a mistake. First, the Published Ordinances are not actual law. How ATF makes actual law, at least in this case, is defined by the Administrative Procedure Act. Now, it may well be that the comment period is a sham, and the ATF plans to implement the ban anyway. In fact, that would seem certain.

But that’s NOT to say it means it’s pointless to submit a public comment, which closes on March 16. I’m planning to ask whether I can submit one on behalf of my local club as legislative chair. The law spells out what ATF must do. Yours might raise an important issue that ATF fails to address that could get the regulation invalidated. There’s never a point where you should assume the fix is in and not keep playing the game. Make their defiance of the law grossly apparent to any judge who they end up before.