Category: Weekly Gun News

It’s tough after something like the San Bernardino attacks to keep writing about guns. Glenn Reynolds keeps floating the idea that Obama wants us to argue about guns as a distraction from his real failures. This seems plausible to me, and there is a certain amount of feeling like I play into his hands. But the blog must go on.

The Civilian Self-Defense Blog is back, documenting what we are told regularly can’t possibly ever happen. You’ll recall this effort by Clayton Cramer was shut down because of copyright trolls.

The Maryland Minute Men of 1942.

Never let anyone tell you that no one is after your guns.

Thirdpower points so some other loony thing the gun control folks are proposing.

People in San Bernardino are voting on gun control with their wallets. Lines out the door at local gun shops.

Marco Rubio is right on guns, says Washington Post’s fact checkers. Rubio claimed that “no recent mass shootings would have been prevented by gun laws.” They go case by case and show that none of the proposed gun laws would have made a difference. It’s pleasing when they get it right.

Answering the important questions: How much will the CMP 1911s likely cost?

Dave Hardy paid a visit to the Clinton library, to get some insight into what was going on in the White House during gun control fights. Good idea!

The eight most over-the-top smears of NRA Gun Owners in 2015. And this was put together before San Bernardino!

So the straw buyer for the terrorist couple doesn’t look like the kind of guy who will do well in prison.

Simple Justice: “While this assertion is facile, blame Scalia’s errant paragraph in Heller for opening the door. His unprincipled caveat means that Times and gun control advocates get to call for whatever regulation they deem reasonable.”

Tam: “You can’t make this stuff up.”

Jim Geraghty: “The Surge in New Gun Sales is Entirely Rational.”

Obama threatening to use executive power to close gun loophole.

Dave Hardy has further thoughts on the cert denial in Friedman v. Highland Park.

Eugene Volokh: “Can Americans be denied Second Amendment rights because the Attorney General suspects they’re terrorists?” also “Why bans on so-called ‘assault weapons’ are unlikely to reduce mass shooting deaths.” It’s been good for us to have the Volokh Conspiracy in the WaPo.

Guns and Vultures

Law Review Paper: Gay Rights Strengthen Gun Rights

These ISIS inspired militants had a plan.

SayUncle offers some Gear Advice. I don’t really have much to add. I agree when it comes to optics and holsters, you get what you pay for.

Popehat: Talking productively about guns.

Why you can’t find .22LR ammunition.

Why yes, I always form my political opinions based on the opinions of vapid celebrities. I might be worried when the other side tries something genuinely new for a change.

I agree this kind of thing is not helping. It’s worth noting that the Kurds, who are doing most of the killing and dying fighting ISIS, are muslims.

There is now a right to possess a switchblade in Wisconsin.

Depression is no barrier to a gun carry permit. Nor should it be.

Chris Cox: “No, Mr. President, the NRA is not to blame.”

Personally, I’d call it a step in the right direction.

Reason: How California’s Gun Control Laws Failed

Mike Bloomberg isn’t buying much democracy for his money.

It’s not really tab cleaning time just yet, but I’d rather fire off the news post today rather than tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last day in our old offices. On Monday, the movers come, and I have to move a few switches and servers. Tuesday they switch our Internet pipe, so I will have a lot to do ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

It’s almost like he wants Hillary to lose: “Obama says gun control to be top issue of final year.” Either that or he’s making a killing on gun stocks.

Apparently the European Commission is considering a rash of gun control laws. It’s what control freak technocrats are wont to do, and the European Union is the biggest infestation of technocrats out there. Of course, none of this will work, but control is what they do.

Analysis true: How not to be a jerk at a shooting match.

Clinton and O’Malley are still trying to out anti-gun each other.

Bernie hits back at O’Malley, noting Baltimore is not a very safe city.

Haters gonna hate.

Dog bites man: Bob Owens notes there’s more support for reinstating DC’s gun ban from wealthy whites than from residents outside of that demographic.

Every town put out a “study” that suggests states that ban private transfers of handguns have fewer mass shootings. Again, they are hoping you’re thinking one kind of mass shooting when the vast majority of these are really another.

Charles C.W. Cooke: “The NRA Is Absolutely Right to Fear the ‘Terrorism Watch List’” He takes on that ridiculous headline over at the New York Daily News. I don’t even think the “no-fly” list should be constitutional, let alone using this bullshit for removing 2nd Amendment rights.

Taurus pistols don’t seem to be drop safe? All modern pistols should be drop safe. That’s one safety feature I agree with.

Oregon admits to monitoring what Second Amendment supports were saying after the UCC killings.

There’s a Swedish rifle called the “School Shooting Rifle.” No really, there is.

Brazil seeks to copy US gun culture.

Dog bites man again: It’s possible for criminals to traffic contraband. This apparently comes as a shock to many.

Good to see Mayor Nutter putting the “Lame” in “Lame Duck.”

 

It’ll be a very busy next several weeks, since we just settled on our new building, which we’ll be moving into before Thanksgiving, and I’m trying not to fall behind with client work at the same time. So thinks around here may be scarce some days. But my tabs are getting crowded, so it’s time to clear them:

Smart guns don’t work so well, so now it’s time for smart magazines!

Maryland scraps its gun fingerprint database because it was useless. Most ideas floated by gun control advocates are useless.

Troll or derp? It’s hard to tell these days.

What gun porn is from the guy who invented the term. I can’t think of anyone using gun porn as a term before SayUncle did.

Clayton Cramer has a new paper out “Do Ammunition Background Checks Reduce Murder Rates?” This is good stuff. The people passing this garbage couldn’t care less whether it’s effective. It’s only meant to frustrate you from your rights. But federal courts are supposed to care.

Dave Kopel has been writing about gun issues a lot over at The Volokh Conspiracy. See:

“Safe storage of firearms: The harms from Bloomberg’s strange background check system.”

“English Legal History and the Right to Carry Arms.”

“Handgun bans for persons under 21: A hidden problem in Everytown’s ‘universal background checks’” and finally,

“Sharing firearms for informal target shooting: Another legitimate activity outlawed by Everytown’s ‘universal background checks.’”

Kindergartners get gun safety lessons at school. To a lot of gun control folks, this is a bad thing as long as NRA is doing it. They promote an abstinence only method. Puritans.

Andrew Branca tears apart a “scientific” study of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.

Dave Hardy links to the oral arguments in the Ezell II case. Note the difference in the level of preparedness and presentation between the Chicago attorney and Alan Gura. I think the judges noticed too. I figure at least one dissenter. Hopefully this case will go well for us. I’m optimistic after listening to that.

I’m not sure why I’m bothering to link this, since no one likes Martin O’Malley, but his 7 point plan on gun control is the same tired shit I’ve been listening to from anti-gunners my whole life.

Speaking of tired shit: “Does the phrase ‘gun control’ hurt the push for new gun laws?” You can call it whatever you want at this point. The public hasn’t been fooled by this crap in the past, and it won’t be in the future. Cam Edwards seems to agree.

Hey, I agree with Hillary on something. But I don’t think she and I agree what the end result would be of making this a fact. Hopefully she keeps writing our 2016 campaign ads.

Speaking of Hillary, apparently she’s making video games an issue. The youth vote is going to love that.

As this country descends further into lunacy, this handy guide to might be useful. This probably goes double for millennials, who mostly don’t know what fascism, or socialism for that matter, are.

This weekend I managed to get shooting again. I’m slowly getting back into IHMSA competition. At this point we’re the last club standing in Pennsylvania that’s still running matches. Handgun metallic silhouette is a tough discipline. The closest target for small bore (which is what I mostly shoot) is chickens at 25 yards, and about the size post card. Pigs are at 50yd, Turkeys 75yds, and Rams at 100yds. I shoot standing, so I started back getting only 17 out of 40. Then 21 out of 40. This match our Mule ran out of gas and had to be pushed back from the 100 yard line, which got my heart rate up, so I bombed a few ranks of animals after that. Back to 17 this match. Maybe December will be better. But enough about that, now for the news:

There was no news from the Supreme Court as to whether they’ll grant cert in the Highland Park Assault Weapons Ban case. My prediction is that they will not take the case.

John Richardson takes a look at a recent 60 Minutes segment on smart guns.

Virginia Elections: Great kid, but don’t get cocky. The other side is feeling pretty jazzed too, and they have reason to be with Bloomberg dumping millions into these races. The right people have to turn out in the right places for all this to work for us, so be sure to turn out if you live in Virginia.

Lies about guns and children. Sometimes I wish they’d come up with new arguments so I’d have something different to talk about. I keep reading how rejuvenated the gun control movement is, but I’m not seeing new or novel arguments. It’s the same bullshit they’ve been trying to fool everyone with for decades.

You don’t say: Gun owners don’t always fit the stereotypes.

SayUncle: “I pondered if [the Dems going full gun control] was because big money guys like Bloomberg had them convinced it was a popular thing or they were just whoring for the money.” I think it’s a combination of the two. Obama convinced them it was popular, and Bloomberg is promising to spend big.

Gun headline of the week: “Prosecutor Who Went After Student For NRA Shirt Pulls Gun Over Fake Spiders.”

Suing to protect the gun rights of the Amish.

Media bias: reporting mass shootings when there was no mass shooting.

I think it’s fair to say one would be a fool to take self-defense advise from the New York Times, especially when they get offer VPC’s Googling the title of legitimate research. Fortunately, the public doesn’t seem to be listening.

Joe Huffman has some interesting observations about new media, “The online world has returned to the day of yellow journalism of 100 years ago.” I’ve been thinking this for a while now. Read the whole thing.

NRA still enjoys majority support in the US.

The real problem our opposition has is that shooting is a fun and safe activity.

Apparently male domestic violence victims are shockingly high. Probably also very underreported.

Dave Kopel has even more follow up on the 2nd Circuit’s awful decision upholding most of the SAFE Act.

Also from Dave Kopel: English legal history and the right to carry arms.

The Center for American Progress is joining Bloomberg to attempt to turn Virginia into an anti-gun state, like neighboring Maryland. Baltimore must surely be a crime-free paradise!

The Democrats are working hard to ensure that they can shut down all gun sales by taking NICS offline. In this day in age, if the FBI can’t complete a background check in 72 hours, that’s not the fault of our community, that’s incompetence on the part of the NICS examiners.

There was a threat of Loyalsock Township passing a gun ordinance, but fortunately, it looks like they decided to let it die. A lot of times all it takes is grabbing a few friends and showing up. Local government aren’t used to actual participation, except for the people who show up every week to complain about something or other.

Joshua Prince and Allen Thompson: The Inalienable Right to Stand Your Ground.

Also from Josh Prince: It’s legal to carry a firearm while voting in Pennsylvania. My polling place is an elementary school, which is a legal grey area in Pennsylvania. I would not advise carrying if your polling place is a school.

Looks like the Dems are trying an old trick that stands little chance of working: making demands on government arms suppliers to implement gun control. Any handgun maker who cuts a deal with Chuck Schumer will be out of business in a year. That’s a promise.

Derp sells, part MCMXVII.

A pretty balanced article about Maine’s new suppressor hunting law.

Obama and Hillary both praise confiscation schemes of other countries, then drone on about how we might want to try it here, and there are still people with their heads in the sand about the real end goal in all this.

 

I missed last week, due to being too busy. You might think these kinds of all linky-no-thinky posts are easier to put together, but not really. They take longer than two thought out posts. The hard part is going through everything and figuring out what stuff is still good and relevant, and then copying and pasting all the articles, spread across three different devices. That’s why I sometimes get links wrong. But here’s a try:

Dave Kopel has some commentary on the recent 2nd Circuit decision upholding the SAFE Act.

Steven Halbrook is probably the leading effort on German gun control and its effect on the holocaust. He writes about it at Investors Business Daily.

The big news, though only tangentially gun related, is that Joe Biden decided not to run. This will clear the way for Hillary Clinton, who is making gun control the centerpiece of her campaign. I think this is a good thing, because I believe Biden would have been a much stronger candidate.

BTW, polls don’t look good for Hillary’s tactic of making gun control a central campaign issue. This might be why her campaign was trying to walk back her comments about Australian style confiscation was something that “would be worth considering doing on the national level”

Democrats in Wisconsin are running on gun control too.

Must read: “The Legal History of ‘Dangerous or Unusual Weapons’”

It was reported that gun control groups were forging an alliance with Black Lives Matter, but one of their leaders said the article was clickbait. Take a look at these people. I’ve seen more racial diversity at an NRA convention.

Reason notes some statistical trickery used by the other side. The big thing is cherry picking data, and controlling for other factors assumed to contribute to violent crime, like urbanization. You can choose what you control for to get the outcome you want.

It looks like distrusting the government has become a thing. Can’t imagine why.

Someone managed to slip a win past the PLCAA. It’s not impossible to do, since dealers can still be sued for negligent entrustment and negligence per se. The Bradys celebrate the win, but it wasn’t theirs. They withdrew from the case after pissing off the judge, if you recall.

Salon is really about as much of a sewer as Twitter often is these days, so it’s not too surprising to see them publish an article which advocates anyone buying a gun to have to be shot first.

Here we go with the smart gun crap again. I’m fine with the idea, as long as it wins in the marketplace and not through government mandates. The problem is, as soon as it’s viable, it will be mandated.

Comment of the week: “Looks as if she should try to infiltrate Jenny Craig.” If you know what lawmaker that comment is about without looking, congrats, you’re as awful a person as I am.

New York City is now using backscatter radar to spot concealed weapons. Yeah, this is probably not constitutional. But I don’t see why they won’t use it, and then claim the pretext for the stop was they noticed a bulge, rather than using an experimental technology.

Poe’s Law says that any sufficiently extreme viewpoint is indistinguishable from parody. This might be such a case.

Campus Carry ended in California. I’m sure this will deter mass shooters.

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Same to this guy too.

Unintended consequences of banning private transfers.

Gun control has more racial disparities than the drug war. Both have been just about as successful too.

Rare takes on that awful SNL skit about guns.

This is a long read, but it’s more evidence that mass shootings are driven by publicity and infamy of the shooters.

You know, it’s occurred to me that the teletype stock photo I often use for this feature is probably a foreign piece of equipment to most people under forty. Maybe I should find a new one. It’s hard to believe it’s Thursday already? Where have the weeks been going? I appreciate everyone’s patience about the light volume of posts here. I have to get items off my rather lengthy “todo” list and that means working longer hours, with not much time left for blogging. But I do have quite a lot accumulated in my tabs, since last week we did not have a news post. So here goes:

Looks like if Hillary wins, we’ll be seeing more gun control through executive orders. Of course, the Obama Administration leaks that they had already looked at her ideas and decided it wasn’t feasible. I don’t even think she’ll win the nomination.

Oregon shooter purchased all his guns legally.

We should be thankful this kind of heroism still exists among our young people. It gives me hope for the future.

Baltimore is still a hell hole, so clearly that means we should try Maryland’s gun laws everywhere.

A culture of helplessness.

People on the left do seem to be getting a lot more honestly lately in regards to their intentions on the gun issue. Why do you think that is? Personally, I think when you get desperate, you don’t have much to lose. That’s what’s happening here. Only Bloomberg is foolish enough to spend millions to get crumbs.

More honestly from the left: “In other words, yes, we really do want to take your guns. Maybe not all of them. But a lot of them.”

The Atlantic: “Why Conservatives Mistrust Even Modest Efforts at Gun Control.”

Again, mass shootings are not on the rise.

NRA is 9 points ahead of Hillary in terms of approval ratings.

Glenn Reynolds: Obama saves himself by gunning down Democrats’ electoral chances.

More Glenn Reynolds: “In 2012, Room for Debate asked ‘Is the Gun Lobby Invincible?’ Since then, the answer has turned out to be ‘yeah, pretty much.’ And the reason is trust.“

Special forces on stupid internet filters: “Honey, we are a special forces company. We are all about workplace violence!“

How would you like your own 20MM? It’s only about 1000 dollars for each millimeter!

Don’t let anyone convince you that no one is after your guns.

Five reasons that the benefits that flow from guns far outweigh the risks inherent in guns.

How to sneak chocolate into a movie theater.

Why are anti-gunners so violent? Part MCMXVII.

Own an M1 Carbine in New Jersey, go to jail.

CSGV’s position on NSSF’s gun locks grant is too much even for the Hartford Courant.

Democrats doing what they do best: selling guns.

Eugene Volokh on guns and alcohol. There’s a lot of “something must be done” thinking in this world, for sure.

Charles C.W. Cooke takes on Saul Cornell’s argument that RKBA is a relic of the slave-owning south.

You’ll notice that you don’t ever hear about these victims in the media. Though, to be fair to the media, probably because NRA doesn’t go victim shopping after every mass shooting like Bloomberg’s people do.

Instapundit: Promise meets expiration date. No one who was paying attention back in 2008 thought Obama was telling the truth then.

McCarthy out for Speaker race. This is very good news.

We here in and around Philadelphia are anxiously awaiting the popeocalypse. Being non-catholic, I have no plans to go into the city to engage in any pope watching. The way the media has been portraying it around here, you’d think it’s going to be mass hysteria, hence why people have adopted the popeocalypse hash tag. My prediction is everyone will be scared away by predictions of chaos, and the crowd will be much smaller than expected. With that out of the way, let’s get to the news:

Pope Frances once again gets on his arms manufacturer bandwagon. I should remind you that the pope has an armed guard who use guns that were manufactured by someone. It was this gun, this gun, and this gun that helped take down Hitler. Pope Francis strikes me as a naive figure, in a way that John Paul II assuredly was not.

This proposal from the City of Missoula, Montana almost certainly violates the state preemption law. They are trying to find whatever hole they can to bring back the idea of local regulation of firearms. That way, gun owners, who can’t possibly know thousands of local laws, can more easily be imprisoned where people like Bloomberg think we belong.

Mike “the gun guy” is looking at the bright side of the Heller III ruling. I don’t think anyone on our side claimed it was a victory. I personally don’t think registration or training should be allowed as a prior restraint on purchasing a firearm, and registration should be flat out unconstitutional. As I said, partial win. The court rightly saw gun rationing for what it is, at least.

Half of all Americans think the government is a threat to freedom. I guess we’re all insurrectionists now, or at least half of us are, by CSGV’s standards.

There’s often a lot more to these stories of victimhood if you dig.

Trump’s policy position on guns isn’t too bad.

NRA endorses State Senator John Edwards in Virginia. This is the guy CSGV lead a pathetic protest against. Well, let’s see you deliver some hurt, CSGV. The game is on. Can you hurt Edwards where it counts? At the ballot box?

NRA is being investigated in Connecticut after anti-gun group complains. NRA maintains they have followed the law on this matter.

A win for knife rights in New York.

New Jersey lawmakers fail to override Chris Christie’s veto of a gun control bill.

Lawsuit over campus carry in Missouri tests how far strict scrutiny can go. They recently passed an enhancement to the RKBA provision demanding the courts apply strict scrutiny.

More radical nonsense from Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. I’ll join with Bob’s reiteration that their coalition partners should be aware of what they are doing. This is not mainstream,  this is a crazy train position this group is taking, and CSGV is far from the only one.

Florida isn’t processing as many new applications for gun permits. Better reciprocity is probably also contributing to this. Florida only gets me about 3 more states than my PA license does, but since Delaware is one of them, I hold on to it.

The recall petitions for Oregon legislators who voted for gun control have failed. Generally speaking, you’re going to get some signatures dismissed. Groups usually collect at least 20% more than they need. Perhaps they were running out of time. Gun control groups are saying this shows the tide us turning in their favor.

Campus Carry is on the move in Florida.

SayUncle: “On lights and guns”

RPG v. bullet proof glass.

Elizabeth Price Foley: “The House GOP would be well advised to stop fighting its own base, listen to them, and select someone from the House Freedom Caucus–which has been fighting Boehner tooth and nail–who would unify the party with its own voters. Someone like Raul Labrador, Mark Meadows, or Jim Jordan.” Don’t count on it.

Why gun control isn’t at the heart of Black Lives Matter: “Stricter gun laws could do more harm than good to poor, black communities, experts and activists say.” The left have been conspiring to screw poor minority communities out of their Second Amendment rights for years, and then turned around and tried to convince them they are better off for it. I’m glad to see people waking up.

Townhill: Toomey walks the high wire on gun control.

Just when you think maybe your fall won’t be that busy, the landlord boots our company from its palatial estate. Not because they don’t like us or anything, but because we lease from a client of ours, and they need the space for themselves. We’ve known this was coming for a while, but now it’s panic time. This is going to make a lot of work for me over the next several weeks, so I appreciate everyone’s patience. But let us see how many useful tabs I have open:

Gun writer Frank James has passed on. R.I.P.

Lessons from the field: don’t misplace your gun.

As a tech geek, it gets on my nerves when tech geeks comment on technology, like guns, they don’t know the first thing about.

Millennial may be moving to greater gun ownership. I feel like I wrote about this or linked this before, but maybe I only intended to. I’ve said before, I think gun control advocates are going to be disappointed with this generation. Gun control is a movement of old white women, for the most part.

A dose of reality about Australian gun laws.

“The biggest gun grabber in the IL State Senate, Dan Kotowski, is stepping down to join a ‘Child Advocacy’ group in Chicago.”

Here’s the old gun and cars meme again, saying we should treat guns more like cars, even though we already mostly do. Cars are actually far less regulated in many areas. Our opponents have always tried to deceive people into believing that guns are essentially unregulated.

Al-Queda is targeting billionaires, including Mike Bloomberg. Good thing they have all that armed security. Remember, good guys with guns never stop bad guys with guns, right Mike?

Dave Hardy has been digging through the Clinton Archives, looking at his executive agenda on guns. I’d wear gloves if I were you, Dave. You don’t know where those documents have been.

A look at Time Kaine’s gun control bill.

They don’t want a national conversation about gun control, as they claim, they want to lecture everyone else.

A guide for GOP candidates on how to fill Court vacancies. A lot is at stake this coming election. The next President will shape the court for a generation.

I’ve actually fired one of these. Very fun.

GOA endorses Ted Cruz. Jacob is right, that it’s way too early. But it all makes sense if you understand that GOA may have motivations that go beyond gun rights.

The Pennsylvania State Police have no authority to conduct inspections of FFLs, absent a valid warrant.

Apparently hunting licenses and hunting fees are an important part of wildlife conservation in Africa. Who would have guessed? Actually, I’m surprised to see this in the New York Times.

The police are allowed to take your firearm during a traffic stop, says federal court. Pennsylvania isn’t a duty to inform state. How did the officer find out you had a gun? If I’m not legally obligated, I never tell an officer I’m armed. Just goes smoother and safer that way.

McAuliffe brings an armed guard to the gun control rally. They are big, important people, you see. Know your place, peasant!

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people floating this idiotic idea over the 15 years I’ve been paying attention to this issue, but it’s still as dumb today as it was then.

Clayton Cramer says to the anti-gun folks, if they don’t like guns, stop promoting bans, because threats of bans seem to sell a lot of guns. Like I’ve said before, the gun control movement is having an impact.

You don’t say: “Criminals Pretty Much Avoid Buying Guns Legally, Says University of Chicago Study”

Dispelling a common myth: “You Don’t Need a License to Own a Gun In Philadelphia” Gun ownership in Philadelphia is the same as in the rest of the state, except you need a License to Carry Firearms to carry a firearm on the streets at all, openly or concealed.

Off Topic:

Rudy Giuliani shows how to sell conservative ideas without making it seem like you want to push grandma off a cliff or starve the homeless.

Hillary’s campaign is imploding. This is no real surprise. I’ve seen Township Supervisors with more raw political talent. Her only real political accomplishment was marrying Bill Clinton. She’d have trouble getting elected dog catcher otherwise.

Seems fitting that this week’s gun news post is unlucky thirteen, given how this week is going so far. I’ve got a lot to do this week, so let’s get on with it:

Apparently Newspapers in Connecticut don’t realize what NRA’s founding mission is: teaching Yankee soldiers how to shoot straight. This isn’t a “new way of making money,” this is what NRA was founded for, you ignoramuses.

I guess there are some judges that are pretty absolutist when it comes to the Second Amendment.

Miguel notices the irony of the Coalition to Stop Gun Ownership quoting the Declaration of Independence while decrying people having guns as a check on government, ignoring the fact that the Declaration is essentially an outline for a just revolution. Probably because they hate America.

There’s an effort to try to get an assault weapons case to the Supreme Court. My money is on SCOTUS denying cert. That is unfortunately the safe bet these days.

Charles Cooke has his say about CSGV’s “swatting” tactics: “To call a first responder and to alert him that you are scared of a man with a lethal weapon is inevitably to set his heart racing and to raise his adrenalin level to the breaking point. If there is a better way to increase the chances of a mistake, I would like to know what it is.”

Speaking of Charles Cooke, you should be sure to read his masterful challenge to the anti-gun folks, if you haven’t already: “An Open Rant Aimed at Those Who Would Repeal the Second Amendment.”

Cam Edwards: “How Anti-Gunners Prey on Tragedy.” Tragedy is the currency of the realm in that movement.

Speaking of that, Joe Huffman notes the continuing decline of the Brady Campaign. If it weren’t for the Sandy Hook tragedy, they’d be under the waves by now. That’s probably why Colin Goddard is back from the dead, but now working for Bloomberg. I guess we weren’t the only ones to see the writing on the walls.

Yeah, sorry Jeb!, but the 2nd and 14th Amendment says the federal government gets to be involved protecting gun rights. That should, if the courts were willing to do their jobs, mean that gun rights in New York City would be the same as Phoenix. Didn’t Obama use the same argument in 2008? Trump is right. Jeb! is a loser.

Dog bites man: San Francisco is looking at creating more gun laws. So is Albany. California piles on too. Of course they are. The courts have all but surrendered on robust and meaningful protections for the Second Amendment right.

How about making gun powder from your own piss? This method has actually been around for a while.

I made the same mistake SayUncle did. Buy a safe for the number of guns you want, not the number of guns you have. Within reason, of course. I know there’s no safe made that big.

This ignorant mistake by Vox is funny, but it’s not the first time it’s happened. Dave Hardy (at least I think it was Dave) told me a story that the National Rifle Association actually used to be in the same building as the National Recovery Administration, and they used to get each other’s mail.

Hey look, the same coalition of rich assholes are teaming up again to screw gun owners.

You say that like it’s a bad thing: “Australia Reduced Mass Violence by Confiscating Guns. In the U.S., Police Sell Them Back to Citizens.” Sounds like the proper way to run a railroad to me. Never let them tell you nobody wants to take your guns.

Chris Cox: “In fact, even a seasoned propagandist would blush at the level of coordination now employed by those arrayed against us, especially considering that at its core, the “science” they continue to promote is devoid of any basis in reality. As Vladimir Lenin is purported to have said, ‘A lie told often enough becomes the truth.‘” When you see the same narrative popping up on a bunch of media sites, as is often the case, yeah, that’s no accident.

This meme about gun control being renewed, or re-energizing the debate has been seen many places. Again, this is no accident. This is coordinated propaganda put out by one rich billionaire meant to manipulate public opinion.

The “I’m a gun owner, but…” meme is now recirculating too. If you think there are actual gun owners behind this, I have a bridge to sell you. Though, I would be willing to bet a lot of money there are prominent people in the gun control movement who own guns, and not just for killing deer.

I really can’t detect a difference between these people and pearl clutching old ladies. The way to get back at dour puritans is just to have fun.

Tam: “Perhaps at some point in time, it was a thing for armed robbers to square up twenty-one feet from their victim and yell ‘Hey! Could you toss your wallet over here?’” Including a graphic of a target that even in my derp phase I thought was pretty derpy.

I’m going to guess this means Cabela’s won’t be caving into Bloomberg’s demands. Not that I ever really thought they would.

Bob Owens: “If this account is roughly accurate, we’re possibly looking at another situation where a law enforcement officer was worried about being attacked for using too much force against an ‘unarmed’ man or men.” The agitators have made self-defense a lot more risky. That was their plan all along.

I’ve known and worked with very good scientists who would agree that the peer review process is complete bullshit.

Look who also has her own private e-mail server. Kane is a Clinton ally, so this should be no surprise.

The White House has acknowledged their gun control agenda is total bullshit.

When your busybody proposals provoke a backlash from voting adults, clearly the remedy is to switch the effort to “protecting the children.” They already do this with Second Amendment rights, because if kids have access to guns, someone might get hurt!

Pro-gun people hijack Twitter hashtag campaign. I don’t spend much time on Twitter because it’s a vast wasteland for the most part, but for those of you willing to brave the fever swamps, good show!

I’d note that the turnout for the last Roanoke area Friends of the NRA Dinner I could find turned out 46x the number of people than this pathetic protest by paid activists.

Photo of CSGV Protest at @Edwards4VA‘s Office Today w/ STV Star City & Blue Ridge Coalition Against GV #p2 #VA #tcot pic.twitter.com/ICEibpKwdI

— CSGV (@CSGV) September 3, 2015

We missed last week, since it was such a slow week.

Gun News:

Now we have another high profile mass shooting (sort of) on our hands, this one captured live on TV. This one looks like a case of a disgruntled employee. I typically don’t write much about mass shootings these days because the reporting is generally so bad, almost nothing turns out to be correct. More on that over at Bearing Arms. I couldn’t agree with Pat Rogers more.

Speaking of that, we had a few heroic Americans and a Brit who saved France once again. Good show.

NRA continues it’s original mission: teaching Yankee soldiers how to shoot straight.

Dave Hardy: Brady’s Empty Suits. Dave has been intimately involved in this fight since the beginning, and is a font of knowledge on the movement and it’s history.

Reminder: Bloomberg is targeting Maine. Having lost in the legislature, he’s taking it to the ballot, where his billions can overcome our grassroots energy and numbers. I’d note there are a lot more options available to us to fight back in Maine than in many of the western states.

Taking on the City of Seattle’s “Gun Violence Tax.” It pretty clearly violates preemption.

Finding the NRA in Ireland.

Not your father’s NRA.

Sandy Hook families file campaign finance complaint against NRA. NRA is calling it frivolous. They were willing to admit that they had made a mistake before when that Yahoo article came out, so I’d say it’s a safe bet this is frivolous.

Social Security Administration: We’re not going to add everyone with a representative payee, just some people. They are starting to walk back the proposal. Good.

The FBI is beginning an investigation of Kathleen Kane. She’s a Clinton ally, so possibly the White House won’t mind steamrolling her too much either, right along with Hillary’s campaign.

Expanding the category of prohibited persons is one of the gun control movements major strategies right now. This is pretty clearly going to have a disproportionate affect on the gun rights of minorities, which is probably the idea, to be hoenst.

Some easements for folks facing “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” in California. There still isn’t enough due process involved with these GVROs.

Hey, Vivek Murthy is an unapologetic gun control advocate. Who knew?

I get tickled pink to see gun control groups like Coalition to Stop Gun Violence tripping all over the politically correct obstacles the social justice movement has thrown up. They helped make this bed, so now they can lie in it.

Media outlet in Connecticut shocked to find there are 328 “assault rifles” in their town. Hate to tell you, there are a lot more than that. That’s only what people registered, and compliance with the registration law was almost nonexistent.

Again, I’m glad there are liberal gun owners out there. You should be getting behind Sanders and pushing him back to the side of gun rights, which is where I think his instincts lie. He needs some cover from the howling anti-gunners on the left. If you’re not willing to vote gun rights, you’re not really of any political use to the movement.

The shooting sports are coming back to high schools. This is a big deal in terms of winning the culture war. I won’t be satisfied until schools in New York City have rifle teams again.

I’ve seen this meme going around in the media, probably driven by Bloomberg’s group. Public opinion matters, but only to the degree you can scare politicians with it. There’s also the bandwagon effect. As long as we keep voting the issue, we can overcome public opinion. Here’s another one. This WaPo article is a bit more balanced.

Australia is going to allow lever action shotguns. Note that they call these “rapid fire.” Once they get the semi-automatics, then they’ll call simple repeaters “rapid fire,” and then try to get those banned. Then muzzle loaders can go under “large caliber.”

Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey is trying to convince everyone that gun control works. Show some faith in action, Senator. Take a stroll through Dorchester at 2AM without your security detail. I mean, Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. What do you have to worry about? It’s working great in Britain too.

Just Guns:

The AEK-971, “the dark horse of the Russian next-generation individual weapons trials”

This is quite a staple gun. But hey, gun control works!

Tam gets a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 up to 1235 rounds before it malfs for want of a cleaning. I’ve been looking for a better pocket gun for a while, and looking at all the options available today. I thought that Smith & Wesson had taken the pocket gun to the next level with the BG .380. This will move acquiring one up on my short list.

Off Topic:

The Institute for Justice does God’s work for civil liberties in this country. Real civil liberties, not some of the fake ones the ACLU imagines and defends.

Glenn Reynolds on Donald Trump: “The candidate he most resembles, actually, is Barack Obama, circa 2007.” I’ve been thinking that too.

Jacob notes that Hillary is a “but it’s her turn,” candidate. That almost never turns out well. But since Hillary’s candidacy is imploding, they are warming up Uncle Joe in the bullpen. It’s his turn too.