Category: Weekly Gun News

Happy Friday, and welcome to another issue of gun news. Even in slow weeks, there’s usually a lot of stuff that’s news, some of it is even interesting, but I just don’t have much to add. I don’t want the blog to go all Instapundit, or to bogart SayUncle’s style, but I do worry that some news gets stale by the time it ends up here. Here’s some hopefully not too terribly stale news:

Idaho now has a constitutional carry bill on the Governor’s desk. I’m not popping any champaign corks yet. Even Republican governors have vetoed these bills. If you live there, I’d call.

Now that Chris Christie is out of the race, this guy is probably screwed. Careful when you leave America.

The LA Times does a profile piece on NRA News’s Cam Edwards.

No anti-Second Amendment litmus test for Sander’s nominee for SCOTUS.

Long term, hunting is doomed if hunters don’t stop this shit.

Also, in Iowa, a silencer legalization bill hits the Governor’s desk.

Shocker: “the study has proven so flawed that the most influential members of the anti-gun research community have been forced to denounce it; lest the public realize the larger problems attendant to the entire field of study.”

Church joins fight for Nevada gun control ballot initiative. You know, if Churches are going to do this, maybe they should lose their tax exemption.

Well, the Supreme Court’s new stun gun case should have put an end to this argument: “Mark Hamill: You Have the Right to Bear Muskets, Only Muskets.”

I wouldn’t let this happen without a protest if I were a Michigan gun rights activist.

This gun control bill has gone down to defeat in Tennessee. Miguel explains why it was such a bad one.

As a famous gun blogger likes to say: Like you and me, only better.

Remember, they are just peace loving people who want to save lives!

Eugene Volokh comments on Caetano.

I don’t know if this is NRA trolling, or it’s meant to be serious. If it’s trolling, kudos. It’s upsetting the hand wringers.

Should you put slogans on your AR?

They have to believe it’s about the money, because otherwise instead of fighting evil corporations, they are working to take away something important to their fellow citizens, which would make them horrible people, rather than heroes, and they want to think themselves heroes.

John Farnam on Open Carry.

Really, a decent holster or lockbox isn’t that expensive. lawyers are much more expensive: Charges have been filed against Jamie Gilt, the Florida mother who was shot by her 4 year old.

Blue on blue: Obama attacked from the left for being the best arms salesman ever.

Off Topic:

Remember, Republicans only believe in federalism when it benefits the opposition’s pet projects. They are fine with destroying federalism when it benefits their pet projects, like pandering to some good old fashioned law-and-order populism.

It’s not often I’ll start out with a news post on Monday, but if I sit on some of these links, they’ll go stale.

Bill to legalize silencers passes out of committee…. in Massachusetts. I think the hearing argument is a powerful one. We should ask our opponents why they want people to go deaf? Traditional hearing protection can interfere with the ability to hear range commands, which is also a safety issue.

Yes, next question: “Did Guns Doom Hillary in Michigan?”

A counter drone system. Looks good for one or two drones, but what about a swarm attack?

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a hatchet, is a good guy with a gun.

Anti-gun Republicans are a rare breed these days, but where I grew up, you can still find them in the wild. There’s almost nowhere to shoot in Delco. There’s one club, and one public range, and I’ve seen enough unsafe things in that public range that I won’t shoot there. That’s not good for a healthy gun culture.

Let’s hope this is a trend: Jury nullification instructions coming to New Hampshire.

Trump & Guns: Bob Owens correctly points out some really bad advice. The law frowns on shooting people threatening or using non-deadly force.

Don’t for a minute think folks like this wouldn’t take your guns if given half the chance.

European gun control push on hold for now. They learned exactly the wrong lessons from the Paris attacks.

Maryland is looking to make colleges and universities gun free zones. Meanwhile, Georgia is moving in the opposite direction.

Yellow Journalism: Inside the Crackdown on Florida’s Shady Private Gun Dealers. They are conflating very illegal sales with lawful private sales.

Miguel on Colorado Magazine Ban: “When you see Dudley Brown, Be Sure to Thank Him.” The Dems were willing to cut a deal to do at least a partial repeal of the ban, but it was scuttled by Dudley. Now Coloradans are probably stuck with the 15 round limit forever.

“What liberals can learn from the NRA.” It’s not just liberals. A lot of conservative and libertarian groups would do well to look at how NRA does things.

Ban cars? Ban private sales of cars? No more lending your keys to your buddy! That would be the gun control mentality applied here: “Pedestrian deaths appear to be climbing: Can we reverse the trend.”

Trump’s supporters aren’t notably authoritarian, according to the WaPo. There’s a lot more authoritarianism to go around than I’m comfortable with, but that’s nothing new.

A private transfer ban is being considered in Minnesota.

Looks like Facebook’s anti-gun-sale policies aren’t really having much of an effect. It’s almost like gun control doesn’t work at all!

Is there enough gun news to fill a news post? Trump Mania is dominating the news cycle right now, so very little is being said on guns out there. But here goes:

Bearing Arms: It’s Cruz or the Second Amendment is dead. Plus part 2. I actually trust that Trump would be pretty good on the gun issue, in large part because his base is the white working class, who would never forgive him if he wasn’t. What I don’t trust him to do is pick the right Supreme Court justices.

The SHARE Act passes the House of Representatives. This deals with a number of hunting issues, and also increases the proportion money from P-R taxes on guns and ammo to go to public ranges.

You don’t say: “Bloomberg’s policy crusades could pose obstacles with voters.” I think he was only prepared to jump in the race if Sanders looked like he’d schlong Hillary. That’s starting to seem unlikely.

Why are anti-gun people so violent, Part MMXLIV

Safe storage laws only serve to punish grieving parents. Responsible people don’t need a law to coax them into being responsible, and irresponsible people aren’t going to be made responsible just because there’s a law. These laws are also unenforceable absent a police state, since they regulate what goes on in the home.

Progress on the right to keep and bear arms as an international human right.

Remember the creed of a number of anti-gunners: If it happens, that means it’s legal!

I didn’t even realize CPAC was going on. I’m out of shits to give for the DC conservative establishment.

Oh, I don’t know — try to pass it in the state’s most liberal city? “How to Pass Gun Control in the Sixth-Most-Gun-Owning State in America.” Missoula is preempted, so even if this passes, it’s likely not going anywhere. This is like getting excited that Austin is anti-gun.

Virginia Democrats, who just got out of having their asses handed to them on guns, decide to go for round two? They claim we’re paranoid for saying they want to take our guns, but they sure don’t want you to be able to buy them anywhere.

I have to agree with Joe Huffman, providing a tax credit to get firearms training is a great idea. It promotes the well-regulation of the militia. It’ll also expose the true motivations of our opponents.

Off topic:

Poll finds Sander and Clinton backers twice as racist as Rubio supporters.

I’ll second that “YEP”.

I was worried for a bit I wouldn’t have enough news, but I think I can give a news post a try:

Smart: Given the death of Justice Scalia, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association is declining to seek review by the Supreme Court of the Circuit Court’s decision to uphold the SAFE Act. The stakes just keep rising, and the voters just keep failing.

Can’t stop the signal.

Police in the UK seize an “arsenal.” Only this time it really is one.

Hillary ought to be upset at the lawyers preying on Sandy Hook families with hopeless lawsuits.

NRA eliminates women’s division in small bore rifle shooting, because the ladies can shoot just as well as the men.

SayUncle: “I guess [this] appeals to the same sort of person who buys truck nuts.”

Only the police can be trusted with guns.

It’s official, we have a ballot fight in Maine this November. Ballot measures should be unconstitutional, because they violate the guarantee clause of the Constitution, which guarantees every state a republican form of government.

The astroturf group comprised of nannying billionaires is trying to run another ballot measure in Washington State.

Opposition growing to Gavin Newsom’s ballot initiatives in California.

Yet another attempt by our opponents (namely Mike Bloomberg) to expand the class of prohibited person. They’ll keep doing this until a speeding ticket will cause you to lose your Second Amendment rights.

Maybe because gun control is an issue of old white women: “Why Don’t Bernie Sanders’s Millennial Supporters Care About His Record on Guns?”

Glenn Reynolds on Leland Yee getting 5 years: “I added the stuff in caps because the LA Times left it out of the headline.” Left out the little things, like the fact that he was gun running for tong gangs and wasn’t just run-of-the-mill corrupt.

Charles C.W. Cooke covers Iowan anti-gunners going ape shit because the state wants to allow kids to shoot handguns with adult supervision. Does anyone for a minute doubt what these people would do if they had the political power?

Constitutional Carry passes West Virginia Senate overwhelmingly. It’s passed before. The Governor vetoed it.

You’ll have to bear with me here. Last Friday I lobbed the tip of my finger off with a mandoline slicer. I couldn’t get it to stop bleeding. While I applied pressure to the wound, deciding whether cauterization on a hot stove burner would be more or less painful than dealing with emergency care, Bitter threatened to knock me out with a frying pan and drag me there unconscious if need be, so away I went. There’s too much CYA and waiting in emergency medicine today. Horrible experience. The stove would have been less painful. They tried to convince me to throw out my slicer, since they see a lot of injuries from mandolines, but to me if I want to slice the tips of my fingers off, damnit, this is America. Patch me up and get me on my way! I am wearing a sock around my finger to cover the little super glue strip thing they put over it. Supposedly it’ll fall off when it’s time. But it does make typing problematic. Links are easier:

Charles C.W. Cooke: Heller was not an empty decision. It was a pretty strong opinion, if you read it as a whole, rather than cherry picking, as the lower courts do. Hopefully future courts will someday take it seriously.

Apparently Jeb Bush tweeting about getting a gun as a gift is pissing off all the right people.

Tam: “Well, which is it, Atlantic Magazine? Is the AR platform an underpowered jammomatic, like you had Major General Scales write? Or is it a nearly-automated, death-spraying killing machine, like you had Mark Obbie write?” (Quoted from the Book of Face)

Joe Huffman takes a look at how concealed carry has grown over the past decade or so. Herring was a fool to tinker with concealed carry in Virginia, given those numbers. Not all those permit holders are Republicans, you know.

Speaking of that, gun sales are surging in blue Delaware.

You really have to wonder when the other side is going to realize that absent PLCAA repeal, which Hillary will fight for, the whole lawsuit strategy is just a waste of time and money.

Randy Barnett, who I think would make a great compromise candidate for Obama, writes in USA Today about Scalia’s effort to restore the right to keep and bear arms.

Clayton Cramer has a new paper circulating on whether gun rationing laws have any effect.

Charles C.W. Cooke notes that the Dems’ borking of Robert Bork set the precedent. As an interesting side note: if it had been Bork confirmed instead of Anthony Kennedy, we never would have won Heller. Bork was opposed to the individual rights interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, though I believe he’s come around now.

Also from Charles C.W. Cooke: “Heller Is Reason Enough for the Republican Senate to Take Its Time Replacing Scalia.”

Daily Caller: Scalia Replacement Is the Line in the Sand For Gun Owners.

Kane says she won’t run for another term as Attorney General. She shouldn’t even finish out her current one.

Moron: Congressional Candidate Dan Muroff says it’s “not sporting” to use a semi-automatic weapons for self-defense. It’s not sporting to break into my house in the middle of the night. This ain’t a golf game, Dan.

The US is the only industrialized country to lead in selfie deaths. Clearly we must regulate cell phones more strictly, and it’s just common sense to ban selfie sticks.

The Washington Post thinks the anti-gun groups should stop bellyaching over McAuliffe.

Constitutional Carry gets pulled from the schedule in West Virginia.

Ted Nugent would have saved himself a lot of grief if he had just said this from the beginning. Or you know, just been more careful.

Expect to see more stories like this which play down the massive increase in the number of permit holders.

Pennsylvania ranks 4th overall in carry permits per capita.

Off Topic:

Joel Kotkin: The Religious Right is Being Left Behind. Whether one thinks it’s bad or good, it is hard to deny it’s demographics.

I’ve always thought that John Boehner was a dim bulb. This just confirms it.

Millennials like socialism, but they have no idea what socialism is. When socialists ideas are tested on their own, millennials don’t like them.

We’re busy hosting Bitter’s mom this week, so I’ve taken a few days off and have dusted off “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” so we don’t have to go out all the time. Made a pretty good gratin potatoes with onions and sausage for lunch today. Tonight I’m going German and making a beer braised wurst platter with home made soft pretzels and store bought but doctored sauerkraut. But let’s see if I can get some gun news out the door before I have to start making the dough:

Irish democracy: Joe Huffman notes that I-594, the Washington State referendum-now-law that bans all private transfers, except in limited circumstances, is pretty much just being ignored. Yeah, that’s pretty much what we do in Pennsylvania too (though our ban is just on handguns and LTC holders are excepted for loans. WA has it worse.)

#FloridaMan: We must take action now to ban assault alligators, or at least limit tooth capacity.

Dave Kopel has a breakdown of the Virginia McAuliffe Deal. I think he’s wrong about possession though for DVROs. That’s 18 USC 922(g)(8), which bars possession. I believe indictments bar purchase but not possession, but not DVROs.

Gun Sales: Tam notes that she’s seeing a lot of old people, especially women, buying guns. Single stack nines seem to be the gun of choice. Given that old white women are the gun control folks key support demographic, this probably won’t end well for them.

Glenn Reynolds notes NRA is planning to spend significantly more in the 2016 race than they have in the past, noting that it was the Dems that wanted to make this election about gun control. Glenn also has a new paper out on the 2nd Amendment.

Everytown is doing a lot of hiring. That’s a hell of a lot of staffing up. This kind of thing is only possible because Bloomberg is infusing tons of cash into the group. The Brady Campaign would go bankrupt quickly if they did this kind of hiring, and that was true even before Bloomberg sucked all their oxygen away.

Shameless Bloomberg’s Sham Studies.

Looks like George Soros has been playing both sides of the gun issue.

Yes, mass shooters do look for gun free zones.

Off Topic:

This sounds about right to me: Ted Cruz needs to realize he’s velcro.

Follow up on GOP and Religion. Or pre-follow rather. This predates my post: “The establishment wing of the Republican Party has a religion problem. It’s not that the candidates it prefers are insufficiently religious – it’s that their professions of piety and faith aren’t working anymore, and nobody’s sure what to do about it.”

Nothing like using a little blackmail to gin up support in the media.

Yes, next question: Have Republican overestimated the conservatism of their base?

I was worried I wouldn’t get enough tabs for gun news this week, but I think I have enough for a news links post. Things have been busy for me this week, so not as much time to even collect stories. But I do have enough this week to channel my inner Instapundit:

Dave Kopel has some analysis of the decision in Kolbe v. Hogan, which vacated the ruling that had upheld Maryland new semi-auto ban. Also, see Dave Hardy’s commentary.

Eugene Volokh notes that the 11th Circuit has agreed to an En Banc hearing of the “Docs v. Glocks” law in Florida. I share many of the Professor’s First Amendment concerns, but the medical establishment hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory either.

It bears repeating: Not every criminal is going to be intimidated by the sight if your gun. Where some see trouble, others see opportunity.

Yes, next question: Should you carry OC spray? The law generally frowns upon shooting belligerent assholes. Especially if they are women.

Bloomberg is spending big in Nevada for his private transfer ban initiative. Ballot measures should be unconstitutional. They violate the Constitution’s guarantee of a Republican form of government. They also almost always favor the party that spends the most money.

Blue state gun panic: Gun licenses on the rise in Massachusetts. Also in New Jersey.

Analysis True: “Democrats have confused opinion polls with actual voter sentiment on guns for decades, and it led them to defeat every single time.”

Anti-gun activists in Ohio are trying for a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to end preemption in the Buckeye State.

In Oregon, they are looking to remove the default proceed on gun sales, and set up a situation where the state could ban all gun sales just by refusing to do background checks, or from sheer bureaucratic incompetence. Not just Oregon, but Delaware too.

In Florida, gun bills are under attack.

Constitutional Carry introduced in Michigan.

Breitbart: Concealed Carry permit fees are an attack on 2nd Amendment rights. I would argue the permit is too.

States by party affiliation. How red or blue is your state? Pennsylvania is listed as “Competitive.”

“You probably wouldn’t trust most politicians to babysit your kids. So why do you trust them with bigger issues?“

Gun news is actually getting kind of scarce out there. I do not wish that to change. I have learned my lesson in regards to “careful what you wish for.” I do have enough to do a good tab clearing.

One Guam lawmaker is trying to ease the island’s gun laws to bring them into compliance with the Second Amendment.

Ted Strickland, former NRA A-rated Democratic governor of Ohio has flipped 180 on the gun issue. Doesn’t look like it’s working out too well for him.

I blame Trump: Jenn Jacques at Bearing Arms says the piggish male is back at SHOT.

Uncle takes a look at the scariest product at SHOT.

Three pro-gun bills in Colorado. I don’t know if they have a chance, but it’s important to keep trying.

Is open carry backfiring in Texas? You guys need to get rid of that 30.06 and 30.07 stuff and just let trespassing law take care of things.

One town in Massachusetts is now demanding applicants for Class A LTCs write an essay. Heller and McDonald are effectively dead in the First Circuit, having been effectively overturned by the lower courts, with SCOTUS refusing to do anything about it.

Chris Christie is still proud of his “law and order” record of denying people fundamental rights based on someone’s presence on a secret government list. Well, then I’ll be proud not to vote for him.

Tam opines on the gun business in the way only Tam can.

Mike Rowe may not be an NRA member, but he seems to know the issue pretty well.

Looks like a new venue for the Lancaster Friends of NRA dinner, the largest in the state, I believe, decided to jerk the committee around on open carry.

Happy 161st birthday to John Moses Browning.

They say that like it’s a good thing: “Michael Bloomberg is more than just the billionaire former mayor of New York — he’s a leading voice on gun control.” His money, plus Obama’s bully pulpit, is pretty much the only reason the gun control movement still exists.

We’re not doing too well in Florida this session.

Of course she doesn’t: “Clinton Doesn’t List Self-Defense As Valid Reason to Own a Gun.”

Yeah, whatever Baghdad Bob: “Gun fantatics’ refusal to bend ensures they will be toppled.”

Brilliant: A lawmaker in South Carolina proposed a bill to register journalists, which met with the expected reaction. Now you boneheads know what it feels like to be a gun owner.

It probably makes me a bad person, but articles like this just make me smile. They need to go back to their safe space and stay there.

 

President Obama says he wants us to look toward the future. We’ll, we’ve been one step ahead of him. Thanks for all who have commented. I may have more comments as we ponder what we can accomplish in a FOPA II. Personally, I’d like a complete overhaul of GCA 68 and to get suppressors removed from the National Firearms Act. Call it the “Gun Control Modernization Act” so when the media reports it the other side’s barely engaged followers can’t be sure whether it’s good or bad. But enough about that, my tabs are filling and browser crawling:

What a shocker: The jihadist guy in Philly plead down a gun charge, and also the gun he used was a stolen police gun.

Professor Adam Winkler thinks one way to reduce gun violence is to raise the age at which you can buy a gun to 25. Eugene Volokh writes about the obvious constitutional issues involved with that.

Dave Kopel offers some legal analysis of Obama’s executive orders. Very thorough. Given how much interaction is on the Volokh Conspiracy gun posts, it’s a very good thing for us they got picked up by WaPo.

From on Volokh from Eugene Kontorovich: Obama’s gun seller policy seeks to chill rather than regulate. That was my belief too. The guidance document is a threat to prosecute, maybe.

Stephen Kruiser: “NRA Wisely Refuses Obama’s Invite to Gun Control Publicity Circus.” NRA is very good at managing their brand, and if they had gone, it would have cheapened it.

Joe Huffman: “As has been said by others, if they don’t want you to have a gun it’s probably because they want to do something to you and you would use the gun to resist…”

Glenn Reynolds: #ThanksObama, linking to a story about new membership queries crashing NRA’s switchboard.

Eric Raymond: Why I joined the NRA.

SayUncle: Magpul All the Things, ATF Social Media Fail and simulating an active shooter scenario, only correctly.

Charles C.W. Cooke: “But, that caveat aside, I see no real problem with either [Obama’s] breakdown or with the empathy that it has invited. Insofar as his tears are a taken as an expression of genuine grief — rather than used to bully the dissenters into acquiescence — there’s nothing wrong with them at all.” Also, “Nobody should hope for violence in Oregon.”

Cooke also gets one out in the New York Times, talking about the delusion of Smart Guns. I’m shocked they ran that.

John Richardson on single issue voting.

I agree: “2016 will usher in a fresh wave of assaults on Second Amendment rights.”

The Huguenots and the Second Amendment. Both Bitter and I are descended from Huguenots.

They must believe a lie told often enough will be regarded as true: The 90% of guns traced from Mexico come from the US meme is running around again.

Gun control groups are getting out the endorsements for Hillary early. Coincidentally, Sanders is surging again.

It’s beginning to look at a lot like…. well, Christmas in Panama maybe.  I certainly had Gatun Lake going on in my backyard yesterday. That’s probably just as well, since white Christmases are now racist. Blogging will be light around the holidays, unless there is major news like another shoe dropping like we just saw in Virginia with their AG revoking most of their reciprocity agreements. It begs the question, if these politicians are so sure this is a winning issue, why do they keep trying to downplay these maneuvers by announcing them before the holidays when no one is paying attention. Anyways, here’s the news as I see it:

Miguel is hoping that people will write their AGs and tell them not to revoke recognition of Virginia permits even though Virginia is revoking recognition of theirs. I’m of two minds on that, part of my agrees, but part recognizes some gun owners won’t get off their asses and wake up unless they are made to feel some pain.

Gun rights: not just for white guys anymore.

You remember that church on Wall Street that unsuccessfully tried to bully Wal-Mart into an anti-gun position? Now they are working over Cabela’s.

Good thing there wasn’t any gun involved, or someone might have gotten hurt. Also, what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

NRA has said it plans to “fight [Herring’s] decision in every arena possible.” I’ve heard talk of a universal reciprocity bill being pushed after the new year. Some dems in marginal districts will need to be made uncomfortable if they don’t vote the right way. When the time comes, be prepared to melt switchboards.

Apparently Smith & Wesson hires poor law firms for doing their trademark protection.

Remember folks, no one wants to take your guns!

Is it time to retire the term assault rifle?

People in blue states continue to arm themselves. Not just blue states either. Even ze Germans are arming themselves.

Much like Canada, which only has one road, Mexico only has one gun shop.

We should be celebrating this news: cars have gotten a lot safer. The correct comparison is car accidents to gun accidents, in which case guns are much much safer.

More Democrats abandon the Second Amendment.

Just a reminder of what they think of you.

Again, the anti-gun folks can’t turn out your local club’s Thursday trap level numbers. I doubt this was any exception either. We pitched our Friends of the NRA dinner to the media, which turned out a lot more people. Crickets. These people turn out a dozen white old ladies and get in-depth reports.

Jacob: Why did Obama sit down with Bloomberg? Cash is king. Dem fundraising is pretty anemic this cycle, but Bloomberg is willing to spend big. That’s a big part of why you’re seeing Dems run away from the Second Amendment right now.

Tam: “Let’s talk about Glock sights.”

Another gun case appealing to the Supreme Court for review.

Turns out that AK used in the Paris attacks which allegedly traced to Century Arms in Florida was an error.

Miguel finds the infamous Glock 7 in an LA County Sheriff’s report. Sometimes you have to wonder if someone is trollin.

Wired: Social Media is Making the Debate on Guns — and Trump — Worse. I think social media makes everything worse.

Brooklyn lawmakers are looking to introduce major restrictions on ammunition in the Empire State.

Generally speaking, sports newscasters wouldn’t be the first place I’d turn to for Constitutional analysis. A lot of journalists should really take this to heart.

Failing to understand us, Part MCMXVII: “This is very much a fear-driven issue right now, and it convinces people that they have to carry guns themselves” I probably shouldn’t complain, because this is a big reason they keep losing.