Pennsylvania – Page 50 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Still Largely a Philly Issue

CeaseFire PA is happy to have more candidates this year return theirÂ questionnaireÂ than in previous years:

Overall, the large number of General Assembly candidates responding to the questionnaire represents a significant increase over the number who responded to a similar survey from CeaseFirePA in 2008 â€“ yet another indication that increasingly, candidates for elections in Pennsylvania are aware of the growing groundswell by voters for candidates who support more rational policies on gun violence prevention issues.

This could be anÂ indicationÂ the issue is building momentum from the other side. But I noticed their non-endorsement endorsements, at the bottom of their press release, show that this issue is still very much a Philadelphia thing. What should be of concern to us is the issue penetrating into the suburban collar counties that ring Philadelphia. Especially Montgomery County, which is becoming particularly problematic for our issue. Â Also of concern is some penetration into Chester County, some into Delaware and Bucks.

The danger here is, if we lose the suburbs on this issue, we lose the state. The rest of Pennsylvania can outvote Philadelphia, but it can’t outvote Philadelphia if its suburbs vote with the city.

Sestak & Specter Cheer Gun Control

Last weekend, Arlen Specter & Joe Sestak took turns embracing various forms of gun control. We captured video of their exchange, and here it what came out of it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGa8y2LlPI[/youtube]

Joe Sestak was flat out lying about NRA’s endorsement in the race. About a week and a half before they ever debated, NRA had already endorsed Pat Toomey in the US Senate race. Arlen Specter’s grade has taken a tumble since he has voted against us every time since switching parties.

The Unpleasant Reality of Politics

It’s true that money cannot buy votes on election day. But money can buy radio and television ads for a candidate to explain their positions. It can buy yard signs and bumper stickers to raise name recognition. It can buy pizza for volunteers. It can rent the phones needed to do phone banks. It can buy the t-shirts volunteers wear outside of the polling places.

You get the idea. Money is mandatory in politics.

So it’s very disheartening to find out what we thought was a pretty reasonable fundraising surge for one candidate here was actually a personal loan. Unfortunately, Gloria Carlineo, as feisty as she has been on the campaign trail, hasn’t been able to put up very good numbers for her campaign. She has only raised about $5,200.

If she plans to serious take on Patrick Murphy in November, she would have to learn to raise money in a big way. Considering Murphy is one the Democratic Party’s new star fundraisers, and with the huge cost of doing political business in this media market, there’s no room to learn on the job.

This is why Sebastian and I have hoped that some of these Tea Party inspired candidates would consider running for lower offices. It’s not that we wouldn’t like to see them in Congress, it’s just that cutting your teeth in a race so fierce and expensive isn’t likely to end well. I would love to see some of these guys (and gals) on the ballot for state representative in some seats. Hell, there are some Bucks Republicans who I think need to be primaried.

I had a commenter on my blog the other day who admitted he has never been involved in politics before, and that if his favorite Tea Party candidates lose in the primary races this year, he’ll sit out in November. That isn’t a winning strategy. In fact, that guarantees long-term losses. What would be far more productive is for him to help us vote out the biggest tax-and-spend guy in November (Patrick Murphy) regardless of who wins the GOP nomination in May. Then, use the next couple of years to shape some really good candidates for other offices so they can learn how to raise money and build connections on a local and statewide level. That is the way to change things for the long haul.

So if Carlineo doesn’t make it through the primary, I hope she doesn’t drop out of politics. I do realize that the Bucks County GOP leadership have treated her horribly, but giving up isn’t the way to change things. I’ve been to Bucks County GOP events, so I can assure you that we will outlast them. Many of them already have a foot in the grave. It’s just a matter of time, energy, and, yes, money.

Not Backing Metcalfe on This One Either

As a civil libertarian, I have some real issues with what Daryl Metcalfe is trying to bring to Pennsylvania. This sounds great, but the only way to do this kind of thing in a racially neutral way is to have everyone prove immigration status if there’s some reasonable suspicion. Imagine the following traffic stop:

“What the problem then officer? I don’t think I was doing over 100k an hour”

“License, registration and proof of insurance, please.”

“Let me get it oot of the glove box then, eh.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask to provide some proof or documentation that you’re in the country legally.”

“OK officer, here’s my Minnesota drivers’ license, registration and proof of insurance.”

“I have reasonable suspicion that you’re an illegal Canadian sir. I’m going to have to ask you step out of the vehicle.”

“But I’m from Minnesota.”

“You sound like a Canadian sir. We’re going to have to sort this out downtown.”

I am by no means in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens, nor against increased border protection, I don’t favor “haven cities,” and definitely not against cracking down on human smuggling. But I do not wish to turn the United States into an “Ihre Unterlagen, bitte.” police state in order to not really fix the problem.

I don’t agree with Dayln Leach on much, but I agree with him on this. It’s disturbing to me that so many lawmakers who recognize importance of the Right to Keep and Bear ArmsÂ as an important individual liberty don’t also recognize the basic right to a presumption of innocence by the government. That’s not just a right for the fair skinned. It’s a right of all people.

Getting Rid of POC Systems

There’s been talk among pro-gun voices in Pennsylvania about eliminating PICS, the state point-of-contact background check system. It looks like there’s an active effort in Colorado to do just that. It’s being touted as a cost saving measure, because the state would save approximately 1.7 million dollars by relying on the federal system. In this time of tight state budgets, the money argument is probably the winner. The only difficulty we have here in PA is that our PICS system is being used for a number of different reasons, including conducting background checks for teachers. That complicates the issue a bit more for using the cost saving argument, at least here in Pennsylvania.

The main reason for doing this here in PA, is that the state system has more downtime than the federal system, and when the system is down all gun sales are halted, and we revert to the Brady waiting period. Since very few dealers are willing to do default proceeds after the waiting period, this essentially halts all gun sales for the duration of the outage. The other reason is that it would interfere greatly with the State Police using PICS to keep a registry of all guns sold in the Commonwealth. The legislature intended to prevent this eventually, but the State Police found a legal argument around it. If you’ve bought a gun in the past decade, they know about it. We’ve had individuals have guns seized from them in traffic stops because local policeÂ erroneouslyÂ believe the State Police database is a comprehensive registry. This has been difficult to remedy legislatively.

Getting You Fired Up This Week

Here’s a video to get you fired up for the upcoming elections. The focus is on the special election for John Murtha’s former seat out in Western Pennsylvania.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNrhLRerypg[/youtube]

I swiped it from Jim Geraghty who adds:

But the music and editing is superb; you keep waiting for Paul Giamatti as John Adams to appear and declare that the Continental Congress has approved this message.

If you’re so inspired, you can go lend a (financial) hand to his campaign. He’s got to win this seat twice in 6 months.

Why Does Lenin Greet Capitol Visitors?

During the Right to Keep & Bear Arms Rally in Harrisburg, I tweeted about the mystery of Lenin’s face sculpted into our Capitol doors. Of course, I assumed it wasn’t really Lenin, but damn if it didn’t look just like him.

Doing a bit of VPC-endorsed intensive research, the busts in the door are of people associated with building the Capitol. It doesn’t provide a list, but does mention a few names. One initial possibility was Gov. Samuel Pennypacker, though I didn’t think that they really looked alike. Based on this list, it looks like that was an incorrect guess.

However, if my guess based on that list is correct, the bust is of E.C. Gerwig, the secretary to Governor William Stone. I didn’t find any pictures to compare him to Lenin, though.

On an interesting side note, Sebastian noticed that one bust had a hinge, so we assumed it hid a handle or lock. Sure enough, that bust (no photo, sorry) is of the Capitol’s architect and hides the keyhole.

Back from the Rally

It was a very productive day. I will have anÂ anecdoteÂ or two later, and some observation on media coverage. But I was happy to meet with several state reps, and some Senate staffers for some candidates in the area favorable to our issue. Sadly the Senate wasn’t in session today, so the Senators themselves were home in their districts. I was happy to have a frank discussion with one of the longstanding A+ reps in our area on the political situation gun owners are facing, and exactly what we need to do in order to create a better constituency for supporting gun rights in these changing districts.

I will say this though, Pennsylvania is in trouble long term if gun owners don’t step up and get involved. The Philadelphia suburbs are becoming increasingly less friendly to gun rights, and while Philadelphia can’t outvote the rest of the state, if the suburbs start voting with Philadelphia on the gun issue, the Second Amendment in this state is in serious trouble. We’re hoping to do our small part to try to turn that around.

Here’s some pics from the day. These are different than the ones posted to Twitter, since I took them with a better camera.

Until next year. A lot of hard work went into organizing the rally. Thanks to Kim Stolfer of FOAC, who started this tradition and helps keep it going. To NRA for finally sending Wayne out. To PAFOA, who’s members make a good showing at the rally (and who was helped greatly by Bitter with rally items his year). And thanks finally to all the legislators, too numerous to list here, but some of whom are pictured, who do a lot on behalf of our issue.

Taking a Break from the Lobby Day

Just tried to stop by our state rep, who I saw outside of the rally, but had no time to talk to him. It looks like they are on the floor this afternoon. Right now we’re chilling in the Capitol Cafeteria with the rats. Got ourselves something bottled, and even then I’m thinking “I hope the rodents didn’t pee on the bottle.” It’s kind of sad watching gun owners scarf down the food. Do they know? Surely they don’t. Someone just spilled something on the floor. Hopefully we won’t see a cafeteria employee come out and exclaim, “Don’t worry about that. The rats will eat it.”Â This is why gun owners need to read this blog. If they did, they would know to not eat anything made the Capitol Cafeteria. Especially not the chocolate chip muffins.

Wayne LaPierre is still the rock star of the movement, despite what a lot of folks on the fringes of our movement think about him. After his speech he was mobbed by autograph seekers, and hand shakers. It was difficult to make a quick exit. After the rally I saw him depart with Andrew from Public Affairs, John Hohenwarter, who is the NRA lobbyist for PA, and a Corbett staffer. I’m guessing they are meeting with the Attorney General, who is the lead GOP candidate for governor. This is going to be an important one. NRA is sitting out of theÂ GubernatorialÂ race for the primary, which is the good move since both GOP candidates for Governor are very pro-gun, and with records on the issue. Both have also, in their current offices, carried NRA endorsements. The other candidate is Sam Rohrer, who was also at the rally this afternoon.

Corbett Noncommittal on Castle Doctrine

In the Capitol Ideas Q&A with the candidates yesterday, Tom Corbett didn’t seem to want to take a position on passing Castle Doctrine. I should note that Corbett is NRA A rated, and has done a lot for gun owners, and this doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll come out against it. But we sincerely hope that if Attorney General Corbett is elected Governor, he’ll help us get this passed.