Politics – Page 386 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Pittsburgh Needs To Aim Higher

I was really surprised by this article in the New York Sun on Pittsburgh’s woes as a city.Â Particularly this bit:

Pittsburgh is a cautionary tale for many American cities. It can either go the way of Detroit or become a comeback city like Philadelphia and Baltimore. Its future, as defined by either Mr. Ravenstahl or Mr. DeSantis, could provide a roadmap for how economically depressed cities can recover.

Philadelphia?Â Baltimore?Â Comeback cities?Â Are you kidding?Â Pittsburgh folks need to have higher ambitions than this. Â The rust belt is a truly depressing place.

I was listening a bit to Cam & Company last night, to see how the NRA National Police Shooting Championships are going.Â People in Albuquerque are very proud of their town, and what it’s achieved, and are optimistic about their future, which is the complete opposite of rust belt cities.Â They remain proud and forward looking despite the fact that most people in the US have no idea how to spell Albuquerque.Â I sure didn’t. Â Thank god for spell checkers.

Working to Undermine the PA Constitution

Looks like anti-gun activists and the media are looking to guilt companies into helping them pass more gun laws in the Commonwealth.Â Â I’m sorry to see they appear to have the support of former Governor Mark Schweiker, who is currently running the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.Â Schweiker had this to say:

Let me mention that the business community has been a steadfast participant in efforts to reduce violence. Our political efforts range from the Chamber’s 1999 testimony in Harrisburg in favor of one-gun-per-month sales legislation to our recent testimony in July in support of Philadelphia’s efforts to pass gun laws more restrictive than the state’s. Financial efforts and backing include the record-setting workplace donations to United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania in 2006 as well as the millions of dollars which individual corporations donate directly to social service agencies.

Schweiker’s name comes up when people talk about who’s going to run on the GOP ticket when Rendell’s term is up in 2010.Â I thought Pennsylvania gun owners should be aware of what he’s been up to in the mean time, in the event he does still have political ambitions.

Answering the Call

Seems Rudy has a history of taking calls from his wife, according to Mother Jones.

Self-Defense In New Jersey

Sometimes self-defense stories illustrate important points.Â We’ve all seen a lot of stories that contradict a lot of the myths out there, on both sides, about using firearms to defend your life.Â Â This is an important one from New Jersey.Â Why is it important?Â This is why:

The woman ran to her bedroom, locked the door and grabbed her husband’s handgun and ammunition, Traina said.

The gun is legally registered to the woman’s husband, he said.

She then ran into the bathroom, locked that door and loaded the weapon while sitting on the floor.

Emphasis mine.Â The Garden State has decreed that, once the technology is available, all firearms sold in New Jersey will only be operable by the authorized user, except to law enforcement, who apparently didn’t want anything to do with the technology.

I suppose this woman could have thrown the smart gun at the man trying to attack her.Â It might be kind of heavy with all those electronic and mechanical extras in it, after all.

Pretty Outrageous

Squeaky talks about some funny business in the Texas legislature, in regards to votes legislators cast, or rather, cast for other members who are absent.Â I think the rules of the legislative body in Texas needs to be changed to stop this from happening, but this probably doesn’t mean the legislator is voting twice.Â Remember, these votes are on record, and it one of their colleagues comes up on record as having voted for something he needed to be against for political reasons, you can imagine the trouble that would cause.

What is likely happening here, is legislators are casting votes on their colleague’s behalf.Â I agree this should change, but not because it’s double voting, but because it’s lazy and unprofessional. Â If you want to cast a vote, at the very least, you should show up.Â Otherwise, how are the folks back home to know how uninvolved you are?

Out Here in the Wilderness

SayUncle posts about the NRA being powerful in the Republican coalition, and we are. But he seems surprised Bush scored so highly, along with James Dobson and Pat Robertson.

Libertarians are political exiles. We are not a small group of people, if you believe polling data, but politically we have very little power. Want to understand why I focus on the gun issue? It’s a libertarian issue where I can win. I can’t win on anything else, because no one listens to libertarians. Why? Quite simple. Libertarians don’t vote in sigificant enough numbers to make anyone care about them. The Libertarian Party is a joke, and in the Republican coalition, we don’t turn out voters.

Gun owners turn out voters because people are passionate about the issue, and because it’s a good unifying philosophy that can get a lot of different types of people to vote together on an issue. In other words, it helps keep the Republican coalition together.

But being on a mission to save the second amendment doesn’t get people fired up nearly as much as being on a mission from God, and that’s why religious people turn out in large numbers to vote Republican. God might not have told them to do it himself, but they will use their churches, civic organizations, and social networks to get people out to the polls on election day, and get them to vote their values.

It sucks being out in the political wilderness, where I wish that I could focus on other libertarian issues I care about, if anyone in power would just care about them, but they don’t.

Not Impressed

I’m not impressed that Michael Nutter is playing up the race issue within the Philadelphia Police Department. I have been holding out hope that Nutter will be a better leader for the city than the city’s current iPhone loving Corrupter-in-Chief. I’m getting less optimistic. It seems to me Nutty Nutter should heed the advice offered by one of Wyatt’s instructors:

“You’re not white. You’re not black. From here on out, you’re blue.”

The city’s problems aren’t going to get solved by making race an issue, which is part of the city’s problems to begin with.

A Bit on Section 302 of MHPA

I notice Larry Pratt keeps bringing up a Pennsylvania case where a man was committed involuntarily for observation under Section 302 of Pennsylvania’s Mental Health Procedures Act. This provision is described as follows:

Section 302 is the part of the Act relating to treatment without consent for observed behavior constituting a clear and present danger to the individual and/or others. The behavior must have occurred in the past 30 days. Under Section 302(a) any responsible party can petition for an involuntary evaluation by stating that an individual may be severely mentally disabled.

Now, it should be noted that for purposes of a federal firearms disability, this section is insufficient. The regulations specifically exempt persons held for observation.

Committed to a mental institution. A formal commitment of a person to a mental institution by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority. The term includes a commitment to a mental institution involuntarily. The term includes commitment for mental defectiveness or mental illness. It also includes commitments for other reasons, such as for drug use. The term does not include a person in a mental institution for observation or a voluntary admission to a mental institution.

But that’s federal. The PA Uniform Firearms Act is also a controlling law:

A person who has been adjudicated as an incompetent or who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution for inpatient care and treatment under section 302, 303 or 304 of the provisions of the act of July 9, 1976 (P.L.817, No.143), known as the Mental Health Procedures Act. This paragraph shall not apply to any proceeding under section 302 of the Mental Health Procedures Act unless the examining physician has issued a certification that inpatient care was necessary or that the person was committable.

So unless the person actually ends up being involuntarily committed to a mental health institution, there’s no prohibition under federal or state law that prevents him from owning a firearm in the future, unless he’s committed.Â It should be noted that Pennsylvania already has a mechanism in place for restoration of rights for commitments and adjudications.Â In the editorial I mentioned last, a PA district attorney was quoted as saying:

“I contacted the sheriff and had his license to carry a firearm revoked. And I asked police to commit him under Section 302 of the mental health procedures act and that was done. He is now ineligible to possess firearms [for life] because he was committed involuntarily,” the district attorney reported.

I think that particular DA needs to read the law, because he’s wrong.

Penndot Woes

Bitter and I have come to hate Penndot lately, because of adding about an hour delay on the trip between here and DC.Â Now she finds that they are probably ruined a potential Turnpike lease deal by not informing the state police there might be foreign men in the area taking pictures.

You know, it’s funny, but since when is taking pictures probable cause for an arrest?Â Though, I suspect that stopping for a non-emergency along the Turnpike is a traffic infraction, and our Supreme Court has said you can be arrested for those at the whim of the officer.

Foie Gras Bans in Philadelphia

I’m really happy to see with the city murder rate soaring above 300, with the police department in disarray, and with officers getting shot in the face by the scum of humanity, that City Council feels they absolutely have to tackle the problem of Foie Gras being eaten in the City of Brotherly Love. I’m so happy to see that the city’s political leadership has its priorities in order:

Foie gras (pronounced “fwah GRAH”) is the engorged liver of a duck or goose force-fed by a process called gavage. To animal-rights activists, including the Philadelphia group Hugs for Puppies, gavage is cruel.

If you want to be taken seriously as an advocacy group, don’t call yourself “Hugs for Puppies”. Calling yourself that really makes me want to go hang out with Glenn Reynolds and blend a few into smoothies.

Hat tip to West, By God