Ryan Horsley has the details. And this is happening under a “pro-gun” administration folks.
Category: Gun Rights
The Real History
Cam Edwards notices some inconsistencies in some of Bryan Miller’s statements, and points out the true history of the Tiahrt Amendment:
The ATF has been opposed to the general release of its trace data since at least 1999, when Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sued the ATF to try and gain access to the data under the Freedom of Information Act. The ATF, under the Clinton administration, also felt that this information should not be available to the general public.
It wasn’t until the case was headed to the Supreme Court in 2003 that Congress stepped in and passed the Tiahrt Amendment, rendering the Daley case moot.
The facts are such inconvenient things for the gun control movement.
ATF Changes It’s Mind
The ATF has never held a position it wasn’t willing to change. Sadly, they have reneged on the deal they made with Ryan Horsley of Red’s Trading Post not to take their bogus claim of intimidation before the judge.
Ryan has some interesting peices for sale up on Gun Broker.  Go have a look! There are some nice looking C&R pieces on there too.
I meant to get this up sooner, but I couldn’t get to my machine for half the day :)
Loss and Liberty
Matt responds in the comments to my first Bryan Miller post:
Interesting, check out Mr. Miller’s lead post. His brother was Mike Miller, the FBI agent that was killed in DC in 1994.
Which means his niece is Dale Miller, who works for CeasefireMD and testified in favor of the AWB here last year.
We have a family here who blames the object and not the person. His loss, however, does not give him an unrestricted moral high ground. Taking him to task could get interesting.
Matt has more over at his blog too. I didn’t know this, actually, but it’s not too surprising. Many of core anti-gun activists are people who experienced some kind of loss through violence. It’s not something I’m unsymapthetic to, or can’t understand. Losing my mother to cancer when I was in college played a role in my desire to work in the drug discovery field. The desire to “do something” so other people won’t have to go through what you did is an understandable and even noble reaction to a tragedy.
But I do pretty firmly agree with Matt’s premise, that it doesn’t give him the moral high ground in this debate. Grief cannot be a reasonable basis for public policy, especially when a constitutional right is at question. As much as I might sympathize with someone’s loss, we can’t relent when someone uses that grief as a basis to remove other people’s liberty. That’s why, despite the fact that my mother died of cancer, I have vowed to give no more money to the American Cancer society. There’s things that are more important than my grief.
Bryan’s Privilege
Bryan Miller is still pushing the notion that the 50 BMG and the rifles that fire it are menacing weapons of mass destruction in the bit I quoted the other day. Let me quote for you a section, but please, go see for yourself, and comment:
Finally, I know you guys will never get it…that society has a duty and responsibility to mediate between individual privilege (in this case, the fun of firing a big gun) and public safety (the chance that hundreds or thousands could be injured or killed by one man with one of these massively destructive guns). In this state, you’re a tiny minority. Thank God. The vast majority of New Jerseyans value public safety over your fun. Get used to it.
Privilege? Â Wait a minute, let me check my copy of the constitution again.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
Yeah, I was pretty sure it didn’t say privilege. This is pure pants shitting hysterics folks. I’m quite happy to live on this side of the river, where fewer people are buying this crap, and we’re not looking for ways to outlaw fun.
Go comment folks, if you can. We can’t let their ignorance peddling, deceptions, and untruths go unanswered.  New Jersey may be a lost cause for shooters, but Pennsylvania is not, and Bryan is bringing that crap over here too.
More evidence …
… that we have the gun control movement in full retreat. This is the time to be most vigilant, and stay in the fight politically. Keep the NRA, and other gun rights organizations powerful, and well financed. To use an analogy: the Civil War dragged on for years, largely because Union generals, even when they could beat Lee, never pursued his army and destroyed it, but allowed him to safely retreat.
With a number of gun control organizations currently on the ropes, and with a possible Supreme Court victory for the right to bear arms in sight, we are presented with an opportunity to pursue and defeat the gun control movement as we currently know it, but we can only do it if we stay strong, and united.
Via Michael Bane
More proof…
… that E-bay is evil. I am probably the only person my age, who is otherwise internet savvy, that’s never bought or sold anything off of E-bay.
Tell Joe What You Think?
Looks like Joe Biden will be doing a book signing event in Dickson City (near Scranton), PA. You could personally ask him why he thinks you’re a lunatic, if you like. Except that you’d actually have to buy his book.
Bryan Miller Time
Bryan Miller has an editorial going on NJ voices. I’d pick out a quote, but the whole thing really must be read, because it’s a continuous several pages of pants shitting hysterics. I decided to put int he comments:
Wow Bryan. That was the longest hysterical rant I’ve read in a while. I normally won’t touch Anheiser-Busch’s products, because, let’s face it: it’s not good beer. But your post has made me decide maybe I should get a six pack of Bud, if Anheiser-Busch they are so dedicated about protecting my constitutional rights from people like you.
You guys really need to come up with some original arguments. You’re still pushing crap about the 50 caliber rifle being able to destroy things like rail cars, when Sr Vice President of Trinity Trail Group said:
“The assertions put forth about the threat to rail from fifty caliber rifles have no basis in reality. We exhaustively test our chemical rail car designs against all types of firearms, including fifty caliber. In almost all tests the bullet simply bounced off. The worst-case scenario we could demonstrate was a tiny leak equivalent to a hand-valve that wasn’t completely closed. Leaks of that scale happen every day all across America.â€
The type of armor piercing incendiary ammunition that would light anything on fire is not available to the civilian market. Regular ammunition is not generally capable of lighting fires. The 50 BMG is not an explosive round. It’s not much different, ballistically, from other big game hunting rounds of similar caliber.But the rifles that fire the BMG look scary, don’t they. And with many people in New Jersey having absolutely no familiarity with firearms, it sure does make them easy targets for the kind of disinformation your organization likes to push, doesn’t it?
Bryan Miller is also executive director of CeaseFire PA, because it wasn’t enough to destroy everyone’s second amendment rights in New Jersey. Now he has to do it in my state too. Fortunately, unlike New Jersey, we have a very clearly worded right to bear arms provision in our state constitution, and an active shooter community. He will not find his ideas so receptive on this side of the Delaware.
Go register and leave a comment. Be polite, and factual. We can’t let these folks misleading of the public go unanswered.
Harassment in Maryland
If you think Maryland will just be harassing criminals with this new initiative, you’re nuts.
Leading officials from Maryland, the District and Prince George’s County will announce a set of initiatives today aimed at cracking down on gun trafficking, tightening laws that govern firearms use and improving information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.
The effort will focus on stepping up inspections at firearms shops, increasing the number of sting operations at gun shows and ensuring that people on parole or probation sign notices acknowledging that they are prohibited from owning firearms, authorities said.
Ah, the old “targeting gun shows” routine.  Where have we seen that before? Of course, we know criminals don’t target gun shows themselves, so this is going to be another case of authorities harassing legal gun buyers.
I’d also like to know how that signed piece of paper is going to keep the criminal from obtaining a gun and shooting someone. I’m pretty sure that criminals really don’t care whether they are prohibited from owning a gun or not.  But hey, at least they are doing something, right?