ANTI-GUN SENTIMENT SHRINKS DICK’S. In reference to this article. I’m actually really hoping Dick’s gets out of the gun business entirely, if only so I don’t have to listen to the fuddie duddies talk about getting this or that at Dick’s. Not everyone gets the message. They’ve been a problem for years. None of this shit is new. It’s just that the mask is off now.
Ed Stack on CBS Sunday Morning
Be sure to watch Ed Stack’s, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, appearance on CBS Sunday Morning.
I love that he goes to the: “But if we do these things and it saves one life, don’t you think it’s worth it?” That’s such a vacuous argument, and after all these years I’m sick of hearing it. It’s a refuge of people who don’t really have an argument and instead want to resort to emotional blackmail.
John Richardson notes that CBS at least used the correct language.
Mootness to be Considered at Oral Arguments
The NSRPA v. New York case isn’t being dismissed for mootness. It’s moving forward to oral arguments, but both sides have been informed to be prepared to argue the point. Dave Hardy notes that they’ve held a number of cases over until the next term. We very much need a significant victory at the Supreme Court.
Some Field & Stream Stores No Longer Dicks?
Dick’s Sporting Goods is selling 8 of its Field and Stream stores to Sportsman’s Warehouse. I’m going to assume those stores will be rebranded, since Dick’s isn’t selling all its stores to the company. There’s speculation that Dick’s will exit the hunting and gun market entirely. I hope that’s the case, because they don’t deserve our money.
Rally in DC
It looks like some folks associated with Save the Second are planning a rally in DC on Saturday November 2.
I always hate writing articles like this, because I don’t like pooh poohing other people’s work. Any effort for the cause is appreciated, and I’ve learned over the years not to look a gift horse in the mouth by critiquing volunteer efforts.
But my skepticism of rallying as a tactic is still alive and well. It’s not that it doesn’t work, but in order for it to work you have to turn out numbers that make politicians stand up and pay attention. For DC, that’s a huge number that have to turn out, and it’s harder to generate numbers in DC than it is in other places. Making a DC rally a success takes a lot of organization and money. If you’re depending on people to get there on their own, you’re probably not going to turn out the numbers needed to really put the scare on lawmakers. Making a rally or march on DC work is a gargantuan effort, and it takes a combination of top down and bottom up organizing if it’s to truly be a success. You can joke all you want about Bloomberg buying a bus and boxed lunches, but that’s how it’s done. The reason Bloomberg’s outfits struggle with rallying is they lack the bottom up component that is necessary for making it successful. Our error has traditionally been assuming that bottom up is all you need. It’s not. It’s a lot of work from the other end too.
So if you’re not about putting out that effort in both directions, the rally is an exercise in growing your list. That could be important, especially in the battles ahead both internal and external. But even if list growth is the goal, is a DC rally really the thing to accomplish that? That’s the big daddy. You need a lot of organization and money, and November 2 is awful close.
San Francisco Backs Down
This isn’t the huge victory NRA is making it out to be. Precedent is well-established, and San Francisco City Council has already achieved their primary objective:
Win a Second Amendment case, or the case against Cuomo, and make him pay personally, I’ll be a lot more impressed. Speaking of the Supreme Court, it was always my impression that the person who had the relationship with Paul Clement was Chris. Are we going to use Clement in any upcoming case? I hope NRA still has access to him. But in this day of Bill Brewer being NRA’s everything attorney, I won’t be surprised if it’s not Clement up there arguing for us.
Preoccupied
So the Supreme Court is meeting today to decide the fate of NYRPA v. New York. I believe we won’t know the result until the 7th. Tough wait, to be sure. All sides have a lot riding on this.
I am not able to focus on blogging as much. My employer kind of suddenly but not unexpectedly went through a serious crisis that is going to result in eventual wind down. Most of the employees are gone. But we both agreed not to leave my client high and dry, so I’m going to continue with my engagement while there’s work under a different but far riskier (for me) pay model. The good news is I will make some damned good money in October. The bad news is I don’t know if I will have a job after that. While all this is going on, I’m just not as focused on gun politics or blogging. And I’m not sure if I find another job I’ll really want to continue doing this. We shall see once all this is done playing out.
Signs and Portents
Politico reports on what is alleged to be a White House proposal (PDF link) for increasing background checks. Only, something is kind of fishy about it. The Politico story quotes a White House spokesman
As far as the document circulating on the Hill, [Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman] added: “That is not a White House document, and any suggestion to contrary is completely false.â€
And when I actually read the (alleged) document, I have my doubts. It’s possible that the White House drafted a proposal that starts with the premise that there are Unlicensed Commercial Sales, and that there are commercial sellers who are not licensed dealers, but that doesn’t seem all that likely to me. Unless they’re expanding the definition of “commercial sales” to include all sales (there’s a reference to “Manchin-Toomey draft legislation” as well, which I haven’t seen the current iteration of).
Anyway, with the White House disavowing the proposal, and the Republican Senate refusing to move without clear guidance from the White House, things are looking a bit less grim? No reason to stop paying attention, though.
You’ll Have to Forgive Me …
Thanks, Irish Robert
Let’s be honest with ourselves: “Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in,” was getting pretty worn. Said years and years ago by a now octogenarian who probably won’t be with us much longer. Gun owners of the future will probably be like “Diane who?” before too long.
But thanks to Bobby Frank, we have a new scare quote we’ll be able to get mileage out of for years and years. Can we now dispense with the gaslighting fiction that no one is after our guns? Should be pretty obvious by now what the real agenda is here. Irish Robert wants to take the most popular gun in America. He said it on live TV where everyone could hear it.
Sometimes honesty is refreshing.