Guns – Page 48 – Shall Not Be Questioned

There’s Probably a Window for Passing National Reciprocity

After Obama was elected, you saw a lot of hot air from the right about secession movements. Now with Trump, there’s talk of Calexit and other secessionist movements that are still mostly hot air, but are perhaps a little more serious. I think it’s likely the talk will get a little more serious as the years go on.

I think it’s highly unlikely the United States will crack up, but the world wide trend is away from technocratic edifices like the EU and our own federal system and toward greater decentralization and autonomy. It’s not just here. It’s happening everywhere.

What would be the problem with California independence? The big problem is that California has no means to defend itself unless robot armies start replacing foot soldiers. Would the California Republic get to keep the nukes it has? Would it get to keep the San Diego Naval Base? What about the ships? What about California’s share of the National Debt? You can see the issues.

If you were to take a group of people who didn’t really want to fight a war over these things, and think about what a negotiated partition would look like, it would look an awful lot like the kind of weak federalism enshrined in our Constitution before the reconstruction amendments. That’s probably where we’re going if trends continue. Secession would turn into a sort of disarmament talks… namely disarming the federal government as an instrument of national policy in the name of getting along and preserving a national market and common defense.

I don’t think the 14th Amendment will suddenly get ignored, or end up repealed. People will likely leave in place the functions they are accustomed to: enforcement of civil rights, etc. What does that mean for gun rights? Gun rights being vigorously enforced by the Courts, Congress and Executive branch as part of our understanding of civil rights is not somethingÂ we’re accustomed to, because it’s largely not happened. The blue states will fight federal action to protect gun rights tooth and nail. If it doesn’t start happening soon, at some point that’s going to become a negotiating point between the Bluexit folks and the Redexit folks, and we’re probably not getting national gun rights policy after that. States like California and New York will remain awful. So in my 30,000 view of where the overall trends are going, we have a window, and that window is going to start closing probably within a decade.

California Legal

Can’t stop the signal:

I the Golden State, the automatic fire would be illegal, as would being able to detach a >10 rd magazine without disassembling the action. But the speed load would be legal, even with a bigger magazine if it were permanently attached.

NRA Part of Russia Conspiracy Now

I’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop. Russia has a RKBA movement that NRA has been involved with for several years. I met and spoke briefly with a representative from their organization at the NRA convention in St. Louis before Trump was even a thing. Somewhere I have her business card but I can’t seem to find it. Am I part of the conspiracy too now?

Now, this Russian RKBA group is not an opposition group. That’s not allowed in Russia. This group has the blessing of the Kremlin. This is not a new thing. NRA has been working with this groupÂ for years. NRA has always been willing to work with foreign RKBA movements and to help promote the shooting sports in other countries.

The common interests do go farther than that. Russia is an opponent of the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), and when it comes to ATT, allies are scarce. It’s basically the Russians and Chinese who don’t want it.Â The sanctions placed on Russia are also indirectly an RKBA issue, since a lot of our cheap surplus comes from Russia. Now, I am fine with the sanctions as long as their true purpose is to act as a legitimate instrument of US foreign policy and not just a back handed way to screw American gun owners. I never got the impression that Obama’s sanctions were targeting us directly.Â I would not like to see NRA take a position on the sanctions, even if they interfere with imports of firearms and ammunition. To me that’s a foreign policy issue and a legitimate prerogative of the President and Congress. In other words, not a gun issue, even if we’re indirectly affected.

There’s a lot of smoke here, but I’m not sure there’s fire. I might feel differently if I haven’t been seeing Russian nationals at NRA long before Trump came along, and before Putin started getting frisky in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Another Topic, Discuss: Concealed Carry Compromises

A few readers commented on the new Concealed Carry graphic I’m using. I try to use graphics because apparently it makes your site more appealing, even though most sites that use them either have expensive stock photo accounts, or flagrantly violate other people’s copyrights. I don’t like to do either. No copyright issue with this one, because it’s me, taken about 14 years ago not long after I purchased a Glock 19 and a halfway decent holster. I was also an early adopter of Smart Phones, and at the time used a Palm Treo 270.

I’ve done a lot of dumb things over the years carry wise. The first time I ever carried in public, sometime around August of 2002, I was carrying a Bersa Thunder 380 in an Uncle Mike’s sausage sack. That’s what I had. I got the Glock I carry today a few months later, and then started experimenting with better holsters.

But one thing I did, really up until the iPhone 6 behemoth, is carry my cell phone at 2:00 and pistol at 4:00 strong side. Since the iPhone 6, I found a pair of pants and a jacket that has a cell phone pocket, and I use that. The iPhone 6 is too large to comfortably wear on a belt clip.

My placement of the cell phone relative to the firearm would horrify a lot of instructors, but I’m a firm believer that everything with carry is a compromise.Â If I had to follow best carry practices all the time, I wouldn’t bother with it, and I’m pretty sure most other people would not either. I’ll make tradeoffs provided those tradeoffs aren’t dangerous.

I’m willing to be convinced carrying a cell phone on a belt clip strong side near a gun is a bad idea, especially now that the phones are huge and I have other options. What does the Internets collectively think? Discuss.

A Day Without Moms Demand

Today is the “Day Without Women” protest. I’ve long written in favor of smart activist tactics, and written against dumb ones. This has had the side effect of limiting my audience, because sometimes dumb activist tactics are very self-satisfying. Perhaps a feeling of righteousness and being part of something you think is contributing something has value of its own? Perhaps that is something I should consider, but it’s just never been my drug. If gun owners were mounting a similar “Day Without Gun Owners,” I’d call it out for useless activism that serves no purpose other than the contribute to activism fatigue (most people have lives to live).

Mom’s Demand is taking part in the Day Without Women, and why shouldn’t they? In fact, if they want to make it the year without women, please do. Decade? Century? I would strongly encourage it! Keep your people basking in that self-satisfied nothing, Shannon Watts. Don’t you ever change.

Constitutional Carry on the Move Again

This time in South Dakota. A bill is now on the Governor’s desk. This would be the 14th state to adopt Constitutional Carry. Meanwhile Senator Cornyn has introduced the Senate Bill S.446, “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017” This bill also recognizes the rights of citizens from states like Vermont that do not issue permits. I’m glad this is being pushed, because I’ve been of the opinion that our opponents need to get it worse than they would have if they had just conceded to this years ago when the only thing on the table was the recognition of permits.

Pennsylvania will not be a leader in the Constitutional Carry movement. Unfortunately, the only state, so far, that has passed Constitutional Carry which has a major urban center is Arizona. I don’t notice that sky is falling in Phoenix, but it will probably take another populous state like Florida or Texas before our politicians run out of excuses for not supporting it.

Reddit Ask Me Anything

Joe Huffman will be appearing on a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” thread tomorrow at 11AM alongside Maj Toure of Black Guns Matter. We’ve long needed an urbanized gun rights movement, so I think this should prove to be an interesting forum. The WaPo reported this weekend, “But that overall decline [in gun sales] has been accompanied by some unusual growth: Gun clubs and shops that cater to black and LGBT clients say there has been an uptick in interest in firearms since November among those who fear that racial and gender-based violence could increase during Donald Trumpâ€™s presidency.”

Arming up in the face of uncertainly is very deeply engrained in the American experience, much to the chagrin of people who wish it wasn’t so.

New York Media Story on PA State Militia

New York City’s News 4 took a trip down to the wild’s of Pennsylvania to meet themselves from genuine militia membersÂ (autoplay warning). The militia scene is not my scene, but if a bunch of people want to go out into the woods on the weekends and practice room clearing, it’s no skin off my back. I actually think News 4 manage to do a pretty fair job of covering the issue. There’s not much whipping up hysteria, and they seem genuinely interested in letting them tell their story. They don’t even sensationalize the fact that a lot of them don’t want to be identified. Minds can imagine that would be for some nefarious purpose, when the real issue is probably they don’t want their employers and co-workers to know they get together with their shooting buddies and play army on the weekends.

Those interested in learning more about the militia movement should start with Prof. Robert’s Churchill’s “The Origins of the Militia Movement.“

You Know What Makes Guns Get Left in Cars? Gun Free Zones

Bloomberg’s propaganda media outlet “The Trace” is busy promoting the idea that cars are not gun safes again. The great irony in this is that Bloomberg’s organizations also promote laws that create a patchwork of restrictions on taking guns into places like post office’s, restaurants, parks, public transit, etc. You know what people do when as part of their daily errands have to go to one of these places? Yep, you guessed it: leave their guns in their cars. You might wish people would just leave them at home, but that’s not going to happen. You might wish that the law banned people from carrying firearms outside the home entirely, but now all but five or so states allow most law-abiding people to do so, and that’s not going to change. Gun free zones encourage people to leave guns in cars. If Bloomberg’s organizations feel this is a real problem, they would end their opposition to measures that encourages people to keep their firearms where it is least likely to be stolen: on their persons.

That Didn’t Take Long: Obama Lead Ammo Ban Gone

On his first day, Trump’s Interior Secretary overturned the last-minute Obama Administration ban on lead ammunition on public lands. This will not be the last you hear of the lead issue. It’s going to come back. If we’re going to ban lead as a core material for bullets, the feds have to repeal the armor piercing ammunition law. Most of the other alternate materials bullets can be made from would qualify it as “armor piercing” under the law. Typically hunters have used pure copper bullets in jurisdictions like California, which ban lead ammunition. Pure copper bullets aren’t considered armor piercing, but they are very expensive, and not an option for shooters who go through hundreds of rounds in a shooting session.