Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 1684 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

The “Gun Show Loophole”

The anti-gun people in Virginia must really have an extra special hatred for gun shows, because whenever I hear trouble in regards to shows, it seems to emanate from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Bitter points out that it’s Republicans causing the trouble this time. Wait, wasn’t Republican Mike Castle trying to close the gun show loophole as well? And John McCain is also a well known advocate, no?

I hate to say it folks, but this might have a chance of passing at some point, because I think Republicans might be selling us out on this issue. What makes the proposals on the table so virulent, is that they are specifically targeting guns shows with the intent of harassing them out of existence. This isn’t just about ending private transfers, or background checks. They are specifically targeting shows. I’m convinced this is a calculated strategic move on the part of the antis. Why?

Gun shows are a great place for people like us to organize and recruit
It’s easy to scare the general public about them. Most people will have no idea that “unlicensed dealers” the anti-gun folks mention at shows are people not selling firearms.
For people who are real firearms enthusiasts, shooters and collectors, it’s the only place you can go to find the things you need or are looking for easily. We’re not allowed to mail order guns anymore, unless you have an Federal Firearms License. Ammunition can be tough to find in your local gun shop, especially if you’re shooting rifles in obscure calibers. Mail ordering ammunition can be expensive because it’s heavy.
They help the shooting industry and community by providing an environment where people can see a wide range of products on the market, and get ideas for future purchases.

For all these reasons, the antis desperately want to get rid of them. Don’t buy any notions that this is about keeping guns out of criminal hands. It is not, and I’m convinced they are aware of this. Gun shows account for 1% of guns that end up used in crime. They are targeting gun shows because they are an important part of keeping our community healthy, and if they can put an end to them, it’ll reduce our numbers, effectiveness, and eventually make it easy to start pushing us back politically, until they finally get what they want. And we all know what that is. The leaders of the movement are not stupid. They know where we’re vulnerable, and they will attack us in those areas. This is one of them, and we can’t let them win.

Record Day

For a blog that’s only a week old, I’m rather pleased to have a record day of 500 hits from 280 hosts with 300 visitors and 330 sessions.Â For everyone who visited or visits, I hope you will come back again, and maybe be a regular reader.

I’d also like to announce another blogroll addition. Â Conservative Scalawag

He has a few videos on his blog that I thought were interesting.Â The posts will come up tomorrow morning.

Bearing Arms

Bitter has a post on bearing arms, or maybe that’s arming bears.

Mr. and Mrs. Massachusetts, Turn Them All In

No, they aren’t banning real guns yet. They are talking about banning BB guns:

In fact, these politicians not only plan to ban BB guns in Massachusetts, they’re sending letters to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island to ask those states to do the same.

In the words of one of these anti-gun politicians, their goal is to make “New England an area free of pellet guns and BB guns.”

The article doesn’t mention which special interest group is behind this legislation, but I have one theory:

Image:Squirrel with nut.jpg

Rendell Sworn-In for Another Four

Ed Rendell was sworn in today for four more years in the governor’s mansion.Â Rendell, as Mayor of Philadelphia, was one of the original group of mayors that came up with the novel idea of suing gun manufacturers under the theory that their product was a public nuisance.Â As governor, he’s given some lip service to the one-gun-per-month bills that the city politicians keep wanting to pass, but has largely kept quiet on his opinions on gun control.Â Aside from his position on that issue, he’s outlined some things I can get behind:

He broke new ground with his promise to overhaul the state’s open-records law, which many right-to-know advocates regard as archaic because it limits public access to specific categories of records rather than opening all records to public scrutiny except for specific exceptions.

I’m generally in favor of public records being as public as possible, with some notable exceptions.Â We will need to make sure that if this happens certain types of records (you know the ones) don’t get made public.Â I’m also enthusiastic about this:

His proposal to choose state appellate judges through a merit-selection process — a cause that critics of the current elective system have promoted for more than a decade — also came without warning.

I’ve never thought it a good idea to elect appelate judges.Â Judges should be separated from politics as much as possible.Â I’ll support this one.Â Even though I doubt this “merit-selection” process will be apolitical.Â There’s also a propsal in his inaugural address to put redistrcting to referendum.Â I have no idea how you’d make something like that work.Â I think there are better ways to deal with that issue, and don’t believe democracy is really going to work there.Â Hey Ed, some tax relief would be nice too!

Nutty Nutter Can Frisk This

We’re going to have fun with a name like Nutter. Especially when you start talking about crapping all over everyone’s civil liberties. For now on, Michael Nutter will be called one of the following “Nutty Nutter”, “Nutcase”, or in the case of referring to him as a possible winner “Mayor Nut”.
Of Arms and the Law links to a Philadelphia Inquirer article that previews some of Nutcase’s crime plans, which look suspiciously like every other mayoral candidates, except his would be done under the auspices of a “Crime Emergency”, which would give Mayor Nut extra special powers:

If such a declaration was made, the city would be empowered to limit or prohibit sidewalk or other outdoor gatherings; halt or limit cars and trucks within targeted neighborhoods; establish a curfew; and prohibit anyone from publicly selling, carrying or possessing any weapons.

To hell with the law if you want to be Philadelphia mayor! First time I get harassed by Mayor Nuts’ goons for lawfully posessing a firearm, I can promise them a giant lawsuit. If this gets beyond a lot of hot air, I think it’s time for us in Pennsylvania to make it a criminal offense for city and local government officials to interfere with the civil rights of Pennsylvanians. These clowns that want to be mayor might think twice if they were looking at fines and jail time for carrying stuff like this out.

I’m seirous about Dwight Evans looking like the best candidate so far, and that’s a sad statement on the state of the mayoral race in Philadelphia.

Hey Fuddies, Listen Up!

Dear Hunters,

I know some of you seem to think it’s OK to leave us evil black rifle types to the wolves, because, after all, they are never going to come after your grand daddie’s shotgun. Well, you need to wake up and pay attention to what’s happening in California:

In CRPAâ€™s opinion, the Departments current regulatory proposal to further define what constitutes the â€œcapacity to acceptâ€ a detachable magazine is nothing more than a covert attempt to ban as â€œassault weaponsâ€ most centerfire semiautomatic receivers and rifles in California. Accordingly, CRPA is in strong opposition to the proposed new regulations.

Who would have guessed? The anti-gun groups and politicians aren’t interested in just stopping at “assault weapons”. They’ll push laws and play with definitions until they get what they want; that’s right, your deer rifle. Because it’s not about reasonable gun laws. They’ve never wanted that. They hate guns and won’t stop until you can’t have one. So next time we tell you to fight with us, we really hope you listen. It might already be too late for you in California.

Sincerely,

Evil Black Rifle Lovers

Mexico Wants Stricter US Gun Laws

Mexico is agitating for more strict gun laws according to Jeff Soyer. The funny thing is, the Mexican Constitution is modeled after the US constitution, complete with their own right to bear arms provision:

Article 10 – The inhabitants of the United Mexican States have the right to possess arms, in their residences, for their security and legitimate defense with the exception of those prohibited by federal law, and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. Federal law will determine the cases, conditions, requisites, and places in which the bearing of arms by inhabitants will be authorized.

Of course, Mexican federal law pretty much prohibits everything. But surely this has to mean something, and doesn’t grant the Mexican federal government blanket powers to ban all firearms? Maybe Mexico should start respecting their own laws first, before they start asking other people to change theirs.

The NRA Strikes Back at Street

I’m pleased to see this up over at NRA News:

Philadelphia Mayor John Street talks tough when he pushes anti-gun laws, but when it comes to enforcing laws, he doesn’t put his money where his mouth is.

Philadelphia just set another record for the number of murders in 2006. Last year in the City of Brotherly Love, there were 406 murders, the most in almost a decade.

Yet instead of calling for increased enforcement and prosecution, Mayor Street is pushing a budget that’ll take a dozen prosecutors off the job!

Back in September, Mayor Street was more than happy to join New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg in demanding still more new gun bans for the state of Pennsylvania.

I will not go so far as to compare John Street to Wilson Goode, who is without a doubt the worst mayor that the City of Philadelphia has ever had, but the City has certainly not gotten better under Street’s watch. Cutting law enforcement and prosecution, appointing an incompetent Chief of Police, while at the same time as blaming law abiding LTC holders for the cities crime is just reprehensible. Does John Street really believe the gangs shooting it out over drug turf in North Philadelphia are bothering to apply for licenses to carry their guns with the Philadelphia Police? Does anyone really believe that?Â Why does the Philadelphia press keep acting simply as mouthpieces for this nonsense rather than ask the hard questions?

Look What the Brown Truck of Happiness Has Brought!

Let me just say, it’s pretty cool having the UPS man bring a rifle right to your door, after you ordered it off the modern Internets. Today’s delivery was a Mosin-Nagant M91/30, which is a rifle you would have been well familiar with if you were a Soviet soldier in the Great Patriot War. Of course, you wouldn’t have been familiar with it for long, because your life expectancy as a soldier in the Red Army was probably measured in hours. What makes the Mosin-Nagant a great rifle isn’t that it’s a particularly great rifle, it’s that you can go look in your sofa to come up with the money to pay for one. It’ll also happily fire ammunition that’s been buried in a farmer’s field in the Ukraine since the First World War, which he’d probably be happy to trade for a liter of vodka.

Shipped from Century Arms, in from the Great State of Vermont, nicely packed in the box:

Wrapped in the local paper, the Milton Independent.

I love what makes the front page there. A quiet day on Lake Arrowhead!Â I’m really glad they are getting that mold problem under control though. Must be from all the moldy Massholes moving in ;)

The whole deal showing right here. This rifle is arsenal refinished, so the furniture looks pretty good. A few dings and scrapes here and there, but nothing awful.

The image â€œhttp://snowflakeisnhell.com/blogpics/m91/receiver.jpgâ€ cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

The receiver markings show this comes from the Izhevsk arsenal in Russia, manufactured in 1944.Â You can also see the hammer and sickle, certifying the rifle as 100% commie.Â It’s a shame though, the Russian Imperial markings were much nicer and more ornate than the Soviet era ones.

Like every other rifle I’ve ever gotten from Eastern Europe, it’s packed in a good bit of cosmoline, which will have to be cleaned off before it gets shot. I have an idea of how this must go:

“Igor, you know the Americans, I have heard they love cosmoline.”
“It is true, they can never have enough! Pass me some more will you, Sascha.”

So once the cosmoline comes off, I will have to give a try.Â I’ll post a range report when I get around to it.Â Time to enter this one into the bound book and put it away for now.Â Also on my list for C&R aquisition: Soviet Military Makarov, Nagant Revolver (the pistol that put the ‘Russian’ in Russian Roulette), an M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, a decent Mauser, and anything else interesting I run across.Â I’m still going to be mostly an EBR shooter, but I figured I’d round out my collection with some historical pieces.Â Might as well as long as I can get them delivered to my door.Â I think they need to make the C&R license apply to everything though.Â My checkbook, however, probably will disagree.