I had the plates turned around for the practice portion leading up to the match. Then the big reveal:
I think we can all agree that King George was thoroughly trounced:
I think I may be wanted in the UK for a hate crime now.
Category: Guns
NRA Sued Over Using “Cloud Gate”
Anish Kapoor and Everytown are SLAPPing NRA over using “Cloud Gate” in Chicago in one of their videos.
Looks like sculptor Anish Kapoor is collaborating with Bloomberg’s Everytown to sue NRA for using footage featuring his Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago in their video “Clenched Fist of Truth” Assuming NRA, or more accurately NRA’s PR firm, used their own or licensed material, I can’t imagine there’s any basis for this suit other than grabbing headlines. How can you copyright any picture of an object in a public place? This strikes me as a SLAPP suit. Regular readers of this blog know I’m not the world’s biggest fan of what I’ve dubbed Angry Dana videos, but it’s free speech.
While Illinois has an anti-SLAPP provision, the applicability of state anti-SLAPP provisions in federal courts varies by circuit. Federal anti-SLAPP provisions in the 7th circuit seem applicable, but only to get the suit dismissed. I’d note that Illinois doesn’t seem to have a SLAPPback provision. Â Either way, I hope NRA pursues every avenue to recover the money spend defending against this suit.
Bloomberg’s Signature Gatherers Caught Lying
Bloomberg is gathering signatures for the Oregon semi-auto ban by paying people to lie.
I-1639 is a ban on semi-automatic firearms. It has nothing to do with a grocery tax. They get paid for signatures, and so they get signatures. The people getting paid don’t care how. This is why I do not believe in direct democracy.
You can find more examples of this kind of deception at the original link.
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 …
Hogg House Swatted
Hogg House Swatted?
There’s a lot of bloggers on the right noting that Hogg’s reaction is odd. I wouldn’t go so far as saying it was staged, but I’ll agree that it smells fishy, much like everything else in Broward County.
The Hoggs weren’t home, but in DC. I don’t support doing something like this to anyone, even though I strongly disagree with Hogg about gun control, and find him distasteful as a person. SWATing is just short of attempted murder, if you ask me.
In other news, isn’t his dad a retired FBI agent? Didn’t his mom work for the school district? That’s a pretty swank house for government workers.
Falling Plates
My apologies for the lack of posting. I have a whole lot going on right now. It’s dues processing time at the club. In addition to fielding angry e-mails about dues increases, there’s a lot of set-up with the bank. I don’t really like being dues chair, but each year I’m trying to automate more and more of the process. Next year it will be stupid easy. We’re taking credit card payment this year for the first time. Because I’m apparently enjoying the lack of sleep, I’ve also taken on running a falling plates match.
We’re pretty much a Gun Culture 1.0 club. Previously we shot Bullseye, CMP, Trap, Silhouette, more Silhouette, and even more Silhouette. But I’m noticing those sports are getting really sparse turnout these days compared to when I joined. Matches are what suck people into club life, and a club that doesn’t have healthy matches won’t stay healthy overall for too long. So I decided a Falling Plate match started from the low ready was a good way to bring a somewhat more Gun Culture 2.0-like sport into the club. I’ve never run a falling plate match before, so my fellow match director and I are kind of making it up as we go. What does this take? I don’t know:
???
Profit!
That’s about how it goes, right? I’m thinking we can mix it up a bit to keep it interesting. Maybe one match you load 6, so if you miss one you have to do a magazine change. I tried to keep classifications simple, and this is just a “for fun” club match. But my co-director and I want to bring Steel Challenge to the club eventually.
If anyone has run a Falling Plate match and has advice, I’m all ears. I’ll also listen to stories about anyone who has helped move a club from GC 1.0 to 2.0 matches. We’re probably a long way from anything like USPSA, IDPA, or anything else that requires drawing from a holster, or running with a gun. But Steel Challenge is pretty tame.
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.