The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
OK, it’s not often I will link The Gun Guys, because it’s really hard to take the site seriously, but if the Freedom States alliance folks aren’t happy with the deal struck between the Democrats and the NRA, then it certainly helps me feel a little better about it.
UPDATE: The link is now broken. I guess they want me to be worried.
UPDATE: Thirdpower provides us with a cached version.
… was an evil “assault weapon” that had no sporting purpose.   Surely the Brady Campaign, and every other gun control organization, would never think about misleading the public on this matter.
Via: SayUncle
This Newsday article has Carolyn McCarthy involved in the NICS deal:
“Mentioning the NRA and Carolyn McCarthy in the same breath is like oil and water,” McCarthy said. “They’re certainly nervous about their membership working with me. My side, my groups are nervous about me working wih Dingell and the NRA.”
Dingell’s office helped conduct daily discussions on the bill’s specifics, according to McCarthy spokesman George Burke, and McCarthy’s office signed off on the final agreement. Dingell was a co-sponsor of the first bill in 2002 and a co-sponsor of this year’s version.
I’m not much inclined to give too much credence to statements from McCarthy’s office that she was involved. Of course they won’t want to paint her as an utter failure, and admit that she was sidelined.
The article also mentions, “McCarthy said the bill could reach the House floor for a vote this week.” which would indicate that it is not her own bill, which is already introduced. Â We’ll see though.
There is some more clarity here:
Democrats agreed to allow up to 109,000 armed services veterans, placed into the NICS system for mental health reasons determined by a physician but not adjudicated by law, a chance to remove their names from the system.
Those with minor infractions, such as temporary restraining orders which have since expired, could also petition the state for removal from the system.
The federal government would also be barred from charging gun buyers or sellers for background checks.
I’m hoping such as merely includes that, and doesn’t indicate things like temporary restraining orders are the only thing that can be challenged.  We’ll have to see the bill though. The NRA also notes that this isn’t yet a done deal, and they will oppose the bill if the deal goes sour. I’m wondering if perhaps this was leaked to the press before it was really ready in an attempt to force one of the parties hands.
This would all be less nerve wracking if I trusted the Democrats on this issue, which I do not.
This type of incident has happened before in my area, and now it seems to be happening again. I have a special level of loathing for criminals who masquerade as police officers, because it erodes the public’s level of trust in law enforcement.
It’s one reason I’m understanding of Bitter’s disdain for officers removing weapons from license holders during stops. I understand why officers do it, but I also can understand a woman’s reluctance to be disarmed by any male, even one claiming to be a police officer.
I think we’re witnessing the twilight years of the Swiss gun culture. Though they have huge turnouts for the national target shooting festival, there is increasing support for banning army weapons in the home, and the militia system that Switzerland has used for its defense is unpopular among young people.
Because Switzerland’s shooting culture is so intertwined with it’s militia system, I don’t think it will survive its demise. Â If the Swiss sportsmen want to preserve their shooting traditions, they are going to have to organize, otherwise, the generation gap there appears to be on this issue will be their undoing.
… let me play with guns either.  As you can all see, it was quite an effective strategy for keeping me away from them ;)
The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs has an alert out urging shooters in New Jersey to contact their state legislators. The New Jersey General Assembly is voting on a bill today, AB3511, to institute a one-gun-a-month gun rationing scheme.
THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE WE HAVE TO STOP THIS OPPRESSIVE ANTI-GUN MEASURE IN
THE ASSEMBLY!
Please contact your Assembly member TODAY and respectfully urge him or her to oppose this unwarranted and unnecessary gun-rationing scheme. To identify your Assembly member, please use the NRA-ILA “Write Your Representative” link below or click here.
So those of you who live in New Jersey might want to make a call. Jersey may be a lost cause, but that doesn’t mean we should give up without a fight.
… have to ambush some fish. This is pretty cool. It’s a Russian assault rifle they designed to shoot into water or from water. It’s called the APS Underwater Assault rifle.
The size of the magazine is a result of having to accomodate cartridges that look like this:
 
Pretty crazy. Â Apparently it can shoot 100 feet underwater, or shoot out of or into water, with lethal effect.
This study is hardly surprising. Gun shows tend to conform to the laws of the state they are hosted in. What a shocker. A pity this study tells us nothing about whether gun control works on criminals, since, according to a 1997 study by the National Institute of Justice, only 2% of crime guns have their origins at gun shows.
Bitter has two really good posts up about how the anti-gun groups are going to have to spin the Democrat/NRA deal as a victory even if it isn’t really.
I actually disagree. They are in a do or die situation here. If they can’t be seen as getting a win after the PR tragedy that was handed to them on a silver platter, they will start to lose funds and support.
She goes on to document the demise of Americans for Gun Safety, and goes on to mention:
Now with all of that said about AGS, I realize that the Brady Campaign has a much more entrenched status as the leader for anti-gun activism. They solidified that by taking over the Million Mom March. However, most sources of funding for non-profits don’t keep the tap open forever without at least a few results. If the Brady’s allow this to come out as the only gun legislation that can pass and only then because of the NRA getting on board, they are screwed. They will have to spin this as success, only without mentioning all the stuff we got out of the deal.
So expect the Brady’s to ignore that part, and just focus on “We strengthened the background checks to ensure blah blah blah blah”.  Her next post points out that things at the Brady Campaign already aren’t too good:
So we can see that the two major divisions of the Brady Bunch did see a combined loss of $2,310,000 in revenue from 2004 to 2005. With losses like the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that took several of their big legal challenges off the table, it’s not a shock that they would see a drop in 2005. It will be interesting to see their 2006 numbers, the year that Michael Barnes left and Paul Helmke took over. Of course, he didn’t take over until the first quarter was over, so the 2007 numbers would really be more reflective. If with the Parker case and Virginia Tech, the Brady Bunch doesn’t regain all of the lost revenue and more, I would say they have to start making cuts. They don’t have the assets to support themselves for even a few months if donations take a drastic drop.
And when you’re operating in DC, cutting your staff signals to the people you’re trying to influence that your support is eroding, and that’s the kiss of death.
Also keep in mind folks, that gun owners tend to let their memberships and donations to pro-gun organizations lapse when we start to get too complacent as well. Having gun control off the table as a political issue is great for us, but if we want to keep things that way, we have to keep our pro-gun organizations strong.