Gun Rights – Page 6 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Looks Like PA’s “Red Flag” Bill is Getting a Floor Vote

Vote on ERPO could happen today. Time to call.

A vote could happen as soon as today, so be sure to call. I made probably a weekend’s worth of work for myself getting my club involved.

I don’t understand why people think we need HR 2227, the “Red Flag” law, when it’s trivially easy to make someone a prohibited person in Pennsylvania by 302ing them for psychological observation, and we already have prohibitions for people who file a Protection of Abuse order. This is probably harder to get than a PFA. So what’s the point? I think the point is Bloomberg thinks he can get this, and he’s right. Republicans love themselves some law-and-order, and if you can figure out how to get them chasing after that bone, you can beat NRA.

My issue with this bill is that in certain jurisdictions, like Philadelphia, these ERPOs are going to be rubber stamped. They’ll issue the order as a matter of routine. I also don’t really like that it defines “Family or Household Member” as “other persons related by consanguinity.” I have non-immediately family members deeply concerned about my mental health because I shoot. I get their are penalties for abuse, but what about cranks that think anyone who likes guns is off their rocker? What’s to prevent an abusive husband from using this to disarm a spouse? Nothing. I am also disturbed that the evidentiary standard for applying an ERPO is “preponderance of the evidence” (a lower standard) but getting one removed is “clear and convincing evidence” (a higher standard). The default legal disposition is “easy to get an ERPO, hard to get rid of an ERPO” which is exactly how it will be done in practice.

This also won’t do jack to stop mass shooters. We’ve seen in recent cases where authorities and families don’t take the barest of measures, readily available. So what’s adding more bullshit that’s only going to get abused by the authorities? I’m so glad we have the Republican Party to protect our gun rights. So glad. Such a great job they are doing.

Deerfield AWB Enjoined

For now at least, the courts aren’t allowing Deerfield to enforce its new “assault weapon” ban.

A judge has temporarily barred Deerfield from enforcing its ban. That’s very good news. This lawsuit against Deerfield is not a Second Amendment lawsuit, but a preemption lawsuit. Deerfield had a safe-storage ordinance on the books for “assault weapons.” Under Illinois’ preemption law, passed with the Concealed Carry bill, existing ordinances were grandfathered, but new ones preempted. Deerfield decided that since they had an assault weapons related ordinance on the books, they could change that into a ban and still claim the grandfathering.

This is good news for us, but not as much as it could have been if it was a Second Amendment case.

YouTube Shuttered Brownell’s Channel Over Weekend

Who needs government censorship when we’ve got plenty of it from our lovely silicon valley monopolists …

Who needs government censorship when we’ve got plenty of it from our lovely silicon valley monopolists. No word is forthcoming on what triggered the deletion. I’m so old I can remember when Internet pioneers would have thought a rule like this was stodgy and naive, like something those clueless fogies in Congress would come up with. Information wants to be free, right? The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it, right? Can’t stop the signal? I remember all these ethoses (ethoi?) from back in the freewheeling days of the early internet, before the oligarchy descended.

If you’d have told me back then that it wouldn’t be the Government screwing up the Internet, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Don’t Think It Can’t Happen Here

Confessions of an English gun enthusiast …

This is Why Registering Your Guns is a Bad Idea

California man ends up charged with multiple felonies after trying to register his guns. He failed to understand that this is not about putting criminals in jail. This is about putting _you_ in jail. He played their game and they screwed him. Don’t play their game.

California man tries to comply with California’s new and improved assault weapons ban, and ends up with a rash of felony charges when authorities start looking at the pictures. It’s going to be better to fly under the radar in California. I would not register anything without talking to an attorney first. I’d note that this is not one of California’s densely populated counties: if it can happen to a guy in Kern County for trying to do what they tell you is the right thing, it can happen to anyone.

Remember, they want you in prison. That’s the goal. This has nothing to do with putting criminals in jail. This has to do with putting you in jail. You’re far better off not playing this game. I know people get tired of gun owners getting told to move, but it’s really the thing to do. Go somewhere your vote matters and continue the fight. Nevada needs you. I’d say the same thing to New Jersey gun owners: Pennsylvania needs you. We need people to offset the tax refugees who will come here and keep voting for the same kinds of assholes that ruined New Jersey and California in the first place.

Taking Back Vermont

Can gun owners take back Vermont? If the answer is yes, the first step is to sink Phil Scott’s political career …

Can Gun Owners Take Back Vermont? Vermonters really really need to make sure Phil Scott is punished:

Dick Wobby, one of Scott’s closest friends and political advisers, recognizes the similarities and concedes that if conservatives revolt and moderates stay home, the governor could lose a primary challenge. But he’s skeptical that gun-rights activists, whom he characterizes as “a bunch of radical, gun-toting individuals,” are as potent a political force as they appear.

“They’ve got a base of what? One hundred people? One hundred fifty people?” Wobby said. “When you really look at it, their rallies and groups are not growing. They’re diminishing rapidly.”

This is utter betrayal. Bloomberg talking points, through and through. This is what Everytown has been trying to convince politicians. And you know what? If we sit on our asses and do nothing; just sit back and lament how awful they all are, Bloomberg will be proven right. It’s vitally important to vote against Scott every chance you get. Help out his opponents. This is one of those situations:Â “I don’t care how you do it, you must sink the Bismarck.” Phil Scott’s political career is the Bismarck. He can’t win re-election. If Vermonters want to save their state, you need to start here.

Gun Owners Must Carry Liability Insurance

We’ll mandate you carry insurance, then make it illegal!

And if you actually offer that insurance, we’ll make it illegal and fine the companies offering it. Is there anyone out there who is still seriously going to argue that prohibition is a gun nut delusion? This is like Chicago mandating live fire training to own a gun with one hand, and then with the other hand arranging the city’s zoning code so that there could never be any ranges in the City of Chicago. What do you expect me to think? They act like anything short of showing up at my front door with a confiscation order is just nothing at all to worry about. Hey, I know, you can legally have guns, but the Second Amendment doesn’t say anything about bullets now does it? Go to hell. Do you think we’re stupid?

Gun Control in the Heartland

It looks like Democrats are looking to candidates from deep red districts to not give in on guns and to openly push their national gun ban agenda.

I received my home town paper today, and this is a full-page ad running in small town papers in Oklahoma from Fred Gipson who is running as a Democrat in Oklahoma’s 4th district which does have a college town, but is also largely rural.

click to enlarge

I wish I was back in town the day the candidate visited so I could introduce myself as a “female AR-15 owner, NRA Life Member, volunteer to fund programs that teach young people how to safely and responsibly use semi-automatic rifles & other firearms, and past Democratic pro-gun candidate volunteer.” All with a smile. Because even our insults back home are polite.

I think it’s safe to say that given the branding of his website and lack of events posted that he probably doesn’t stand a chance in a district where his incumbent opponent has consistently won with around 70% of the vote. But I don’t think it bodes well for us that one of the major political parties is running openly on gun bans even in pro-gun areas. It seems they don’t believe we’ll be around long enough to matter.

If you live in OK-4, it might be wise to let your local Democratic Party know that you expect them to find candidates who have a record of respecting the 2nd Amendment instead of running candidates who campaign on banning guns many local residents own and use responsibly. Telling the local leaders who have a voice at the state level that they are hurting down ticket races by pushing gun control candidates on the ballot can make a difference in how the political parties work with us instead of against us.

Just So You’re Aware What’s at Stake

Senator Van Hollen is working with fellow Democrats to push handgun licensing as a major platform in their fight for more gun control …

Democrats want to make the 2018 election about gun control. To that end, Senate Democrats are working up a licensing regime for handguns.

Lawmakers have introduced a bill that would encourage states to do so by providing federal grants.

To qualify, states would have to require a gun purchaser be at least 21 years old, submit fingerprints and a photograph to local law enforcement, and undergo a background check.

“Just like you need a license to drive a car you should get a license to purchase a handgun,” Van Hollen said.

The Handgun Licensing Purchaser Act would motivate states through federal grants to require individuals to obtain a license before buying a handgun, something Maryland currently does.

I find it odd that Van Hollen would go after handguns. Going after rifles is the latest vogue in the gun control movement post-Heller. This harkens back to a movement more interested in restricting handguns. Of course, the reason the gun control movement switched from trying to restrict handguns to trying to restrict rifles is because they had almost no success trying to restrict handguns. Josh Sugarmann, ever the evil genius of the movement, realized that if the gun control movement went after a subset of rifle owners, those owners would be politically more vulnerable, especially given the confusion about AR-15s vs. M16s, etc.

Hope the Rally is Going Well

I got sick and cannot make the rally, but here’s hoping it’s successful this year …

I was planning to be at the rally today in Harrisburg, but a stomach bug ruined those plans. I hope this year’s rally is a success, because if there’s any year we need to be successful it’s this one. Thanks to all those who turned out. I am not always a fan of the annual rally as a tactic, but this year turning out is important, since we have Republicans getting soft on us. I shall hopefully be recovered soon, in which case I will return to blogging.