You Can't Have It Both Ways

The usual Mantra of the "Leftist Liberal Gun-Grabbers" (but I repeat myself!) is that the NRA is the tool of the firearms manufacturers.

That would suggest that anything which widens the market for newly manufactured firearms would be a primary effort which the National Rifle Association would eagerly espouse to advance the fiscal well-being of their supposed "masters" .. the gun makers.

But what's this?

The NRA is backing laws to require LEOs to keep and resell confiscated firearms, rather than to destroy them?   Even if it means that the market for new firearms may be undermined?

NRA Keeps Killer Guns on the Market - POLITICO Magazine:

In the past eight years, 11 states have passed NRA-backed laws encouraging or requiring police to resell confiscated guns. The legislation is consistent with the guns-everywhere strategy the lobbying arm of the NRA has advanced at every level of government since the late 1990s—more guns in the hands of more people in more places. Dealers buy them in bulk from police departments and sell them to the public with no disclosure that such weapons were once used in robberies, assaults or homicides. In some notable cases, these guns are used to commit new crimes. Even so, efforts to expand these laws to other states are underway.

Either the NRA is the toady for the gun makers, or it's an advocate for the American Citizens who own (or want to own) guns.  As this article illustrates, you can't have it both ways.

Chuck Behind The Curve: Brady Kicks Politico Arse

Is Chuck Schumer developing a conscience?
Why else would he be dragging his feet on introducing another means-nothing anti-gun bull?

Gun-control group pushes Schumer, he obliges - POLITICO:

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence had organized a conference call for Monday afternoon designed to call out Schumer — normally a reliable ally of gun-control groups — for not yet introducing the bill. In a statement announcing the call, the organization proclaimed: “Senator Schumer falls through on promise to Brady Campaign.”

Chuck was a little bit slow dancing to the Brady tune this week, so they called him to account for his intransigence.   It required only a mild threat to get Chuck back on the gun-grabber bandwagon.

Under heavy pressure from an influential gun-control group, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday that he would introduce legislation expanding universal background checks — following through on a months-long pledge to bring forward the bill.

One wonders: is he beginning to feel just a little bit used and abused?

One hopes so.

That's the usual fate of "Useful Idiots" when they exceed their "Sell-By Date".

H/T: Sipsy 

USPSA In The News

Alternative summer camp: where children learn to shoot assault rifles | US news | The Guardian:

A 15-year-old boy fires an assault rifle at human-shaped targets while walking through a desert shooting range. Whipping a pistol from a holster, another teen shoots rapidly at man-shaped targets that pop from behind barrels.

Oh, darn.

I don't know anybody who shoots at man-shaped targets.   Do you?




check it out here.

Unsafe At Any Speed: HillaryEMail

Clinton E-mail Trove Likely in Russian Hands | Frontpage Mag:

The mainstream media had sought to protect Hillary Clinton from revelations about Guccifer’s role in the hacking of her private e-mail server as long as it could. For example, NBC News reporter Cynthia McFadden had interviewed Guccifer from a Bucharest prison and elicited Guccifer’s first-hand account that Hillary’s server was “not safe at all.” NBC sat on this interview for more than a month. Only after Guccifer was extradited to the U.S. and appeared to be of interest to the FBI did NBC have to acknowledge the potential importance of what Guccifer had to say regarding Hillary’s unsafe server.

The repercussions of Hillary Clinton's "Not-So-Private" Email Server continue to resound,    Even though the  MSM gratuitously maintains its private job as Protector to the Queen, unsympathetic news/opinion websites dig deeper and discover increasingly ominous suggestions that her arrogance and self-perceived "I'm So Special I Don't Need To Obey The Rules" attitudes may have undermined the security of the United States.

If she is so mindful of her Liberal Preference as a candidate, how would she fare as the Leader of the Free World?

Barack Obama, you may soon be demoted to: "The SECOND Most Dangerous American President".


Hat Tip: Claire

 

The Force is weak in this one

It's pretty obvious the guy isn't married.
And we now know why.

PBS, "Armed in America" ... fair and balanced? You decide.

PBS, ‘Independent Lens’ to cover gun violence with special 2-night event | Newsday:

 “Armed in America” is theme for “Peace Officer,” “Armor of Light” Network says it is not taking an editorial stand on issue On Monday and Tuesday, PBS will devote most of its prime-time schedule to a two-night event built around the theme “Armed in America” as part the service’s ongoing coverage of gun violence. Two films under the “Independent Lens” banner will air, followed by town hall discussions moderated by former ABC News correspondent Michel Martin (now weekend anchor of NPR’s “All Things Considered”). (Both town halls were taped April 27 at Northland Church in Longwood, Florida.

PBS swears that it's not going to take an 'anti-gun' stance during these presentations.

I don't have television, or I would watch this just to hoot at their 'balanced presentation'.

But SOMEBODY ought to watch it!

When they call it "gun violence",  you can assume it will be talking about "Bad Guns!" and not about "Bad Social Violence".

And little time will be spent talking about the sociological aspects of violence; instead, they WILL be talking about Gun Control.

Because I gave up my television 20 years ago, if someone can find an online version of this 'series', I would be interested in watching what PBS has to say.

THIS is what Hillary WANTS?

Trump Parrots Right-Wing Media’s Bogus Claims About Clinton’s Gun Policies:

 May 9, 2016 12:53 PM EDT ››› JULIE ALDERMAN

 Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump echoed conservative media and the National Rifle Association by baselessly claiming that Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton wants to “abolish the Second Amendment” and “take your guns away.”
In fact, Clinton says that Second Amendment rights can be "protected" while the government also implements"common-sense" measures like universal background checks to keep guns from dangerous people.

As usual, the Left Wing Media torques the rhetoric to make their "presumptive candidate" look good ;; at least, as good as she can be made, considering that she is (a) a politician, and (b) a DEMOCRATIC politician, and (c) ergo, a liar.


In point of fact, Hillary actually said:

You know, Australia’s a good example, Canada’s a good example, [and] the UK’s a good example. Why? Because each of them had mass killings, Australia had a huge mass killing about 20 or 25 years ago. Canada did as well, so did the UK. In reaction, they passed much stricter gun laws. In the Australian example, as I recall, that was a buyback program. The Australian government as part of trying to clamp down on the availability of…weapons offered a good price for buying hundreds of thousands of guns and basically clamped down going forward, in terms of having more of a background check approach–more of a permitting approach ...

[emphasis added]

The Australian Gun Control Law Banned and Confiscated Guns!

The Australian "Gun Buyback Program" wasn't presented as an option: it was mandatory.

Australians  complied because they were required to, by law.  They didn't do this because it was their choice!   And receiving $500 for a firearms which might have cost you thousands of dollars was not appreciated as "a good price".

(THIS is what Hillary wants?)

Reason Magazine noted that

As a result, concluded one academic assessment, "Suicide rates did not fall, though there was a shift toward less use of guns, continuing a very long-term decline. Homicides continued a modest decline; taking into account the one-time effect of the Port Arthur massacre itself, the share of murders committed with firearms declined sharply. Other violent crime, such as armed robbery, continued to increase, but again with fewer incidents that involved firearms."

The thing which DID decrease in Australia was that fewer (as in "NONE") of Australia's honest law-abiding citizens had the means to protect themselves against' violent felons .. felons who had NO problems acquiring firearms!

England has had fewer murders by firearms; however their rates of violent crime has soared because, again, criminals no longer feared The Armed Citizen.  Hell, you can't even use a kitchen knife in London to defend yourself against a home invasion!


So let's go back to the  original statement by the egregious JULIE ALDERMAN:

TAKE YOUR BULLETS AWAY:

Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nominee, wants "to take your bullets away." He made the remarks during a May 7 rally in Washington state, according to CNN. From the CNN report:

Julie Alderman called that "a lie" by Donald Trump.

But is it?
Not if you accept that Hillary was sincere when she embraced the Australian Example..

Let's go back to Australia, whose firearms laws are so cherished by The Hillary::

Who can possess ammunition?

Section 65(3) of the Firearms Act 1996 prescribes that:

A person must not possess ammunition unless the person is:

1. The holder of a licence or permit to possess a firearm which takes that ammunition, or
2. They are authorised to possess the ammunition by a permit.

What requirements must be met to purchase ammunition?

Sections 65 & 45A of the Firearms Act 1996 prescribe that ammunition for a firearm may only be sold to a person who produces at the time of the sale:

1. Identification showing the name and address of the purchaser, and
2. A current firearms licence or permit for a firearm that takes the type of ammunition being purchased, or
3. A permit authorising the person to purchase the ammunition.

THIS is the model which Hillary Clinton thinks is "... a good example"?

(THIS is what Hillary wants?)

A Sign Of The TImes

Pol to seek bill requiring city to post signs on gun possession - NY Daily News:
(May 04, 2016)

 Councilman Dan Garodnick will introduce legislation this week to require the city to post signs on roads entering the five boroughs saying that it’s illegal to have a gun without a license from the city. Garodnick said the signs will send a message to would-be gun traffickers — as well as clueless tourists who have gotten busted for bringing their guns into New York. 

 Tourists ... maybe.  "Gun traffickers" ... not so much

But HEY!    This guy might be on to something.

Getting his name in the news.

Politicians:  "The scrabbling, scheming rabble in both houses who would foul their own nests for a line of good press or an edge in the next election"   (David Drake)

I thought I was The Only One ...

Clayton Cramer.: Foreign Policy Is A Pretty Straight-Laced Establishment Journal:

Rhodes and others around Obama keep on talking about doing all this novel thinking, playing from a new playbook, bucking the establishment thinking. 

But if that is the case, why have they given so much foreign policy power to two career hacks who never have had an original thought?
I mean, of course, Joe Biden and John Kerry. 

I guess the answer can only be that those two are puppets, and (as in Biden’s case) are given losing propositions like Iraq to handle.

I thought I was "The Only One" who recognized Joe and John  ... The Sock Puppet Twins ...as total clueless losers who never had a rational thought between them which was not handed down to them from their betters.

BTW: Joe ... in case none of your non-existent friends ever told you: letting loose a shotgun-charge of double-ought buckshot is NOT the best was to protect your home.

... when all you really need to protect your home is a pack of fire-crackers!
(They have the same effect, and they're a lot cheaper!)


And John .. you can take your thrown-away (unearned) medals from Viet Nam and find a place for them where the sun never shines.  Nobody thinks you were a war hero;  we all know you were a REMF!  Why don't you admit that you were fragged by your own crew?

Oh, this is GREAT Police Work!

Cops deploy StingRay anti-terror tech against $50 chicken-wing thief • The Register:

Annapolis police never found the thief but he represented just one of 17 occasions on which the city of 40,000 people used the device in 2011. Its use is far more prevalent in larger cities.
,,,
. New York City has used its StingRay more than 1,000 times since 2008.

There's a great meme which is never spoken of:

"If you have a tool, you will use it, even if you don't need it!"

(I just made it up.  Like it?)

Okay, here's a more familiar one:

"If you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

I'm all for solving crime, and all that.
What I'm not all for is creating intrusive devices and techniques which intrude on our Constitutional "Right To Privacy" (I made that up, too)

All kidding aside, I'm concerned about the increasing encroachment of governments on the privacy rights of their individual citizens.

THIS IS HAUNTINGLY FAMILIAR!

Hatchet House

Hatchet range | WWOR: A hatchet throwing range is open in New Jersey.


Which reminds me ....

Channel your Inner Ed Ames




(Friday Night is the loneliest night of the week)

Mossberg and "Smart Gun" Technology

Yeah, right.

New Gun Technology Weds You to Your Gun | Digital Trends:
(May 03, 2016)

 Mossberg knows he faces an uphill battle when it comes to changing the negative opinions of both law enforcement and consumers regarding gun lock solutions. That battle will be won or lost in the long term, but in the immediate future, Mossberg is working on improving the firearm circuitry with the goal of shrinking it to fit inside the handgun. An internal board will restore the seamless appearance of the gun and will hide the technology from potential thieves who will of course be surprised when their stolen gun fails to operate.

... and the gun owner will be surprised when his gun fails to operate, for any of several reasons.

I'll accept Smart Gun Technology when it meets any number of 'technical' criteria:

• When the U.S. Army accepts it as the standard
• When all American Police Departments accept it as the standard
• When both these governmental groups have proved it in 10 years of on-the-job usage
• When the price of a 'smart gun' is the same as a "Stupid Gun" (or preferably less than)
• When you've proven that the technology can not be circumvented by an 'outside' influence (including the Feds with their Smart Gun Shut Down Technology) @TM
• When it's available in guns which are within my range of purchase price
• When the gun works every time, all the time, no matter whether I'm wearing the Ring of Fate or the Bracelet From Hell, and it can be made to reliably work for every member of my family

It's my life you're talking about.   It's a LOT more important to me than field-testing your flawed technology ... which you can't even figure how to fit it into a handgun!

So go back to the drawing board, Mister Mossberg, and think about not how what you can sell it, but what works for your prospective customers.

My guess is that you will never, ever, come up with a design which works for all of your customers.

In the meantime, do us (your prospective customers) the courtesy of no longer making bold, unfounded promises of "We'll make this work Real Soon Now", because we do not believe you.  

So STFU and go do your job.

So far, all we have is unfounded expectations and promises that "we really, REALLY want this to happen, real soon now"!

It's not going to happen in your life time.  Nor mine. 

 And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you're going to quit sinking your family fortune in pie-in-the-sky baloney and go back to making very, very good shotguns.

Which you're very, very good at.

Is "Gun Nuts" the new "N-Word"?

LETTER: Calling gun owners ‘gun nuts’ ill-informed:

I'm a Gun Nut.

My father was a Gun Nut, and so were most of his brothers.

I've been a Gun Nut for over half a century.

Thinking about it, I've devised an ad hoc definition of the term:

• I don't know, for sure, exactly how many guns I own
• I don't care to count them.  I just shoot them, and keep them clean  That's my job.
• I own guns I haven't fired for years
• I own guns I haven't ever fired (grandfathered)
• I shoot guns hunting, in competition, and sometimes I just go shoot them because I want to
• I reload my own ammunition
• There have been years when I have fired over 10,000 rounds in competition
• I introduced my  Significant Other to shooting 'for fun', after she realized that she would never see me on a Saturday if she didn't go to matches with me
• There have been years when I've spent over $3000 a year in shooting expenses; aa an Amateur
• I have a full gun safe, and extraneous guns tucked away in most rooms in my home
• I've given guns to my children, because I am not using them ... and maybe they will
• ... and I think they should
• If they don't use the guns, I don't care; I've done MY job!
• I buy primers by the sleeve, not by the 100-count flat
• I currently have 100 pounds of gunpowder in my loading-bench area
• I spent over $1500 on reloading tools
• I have four reloading presses
• I have a reloading press semi-permanently set up in my front room (I say "semi-permanently because it has been there for less than five years)
• When I vacuum my living-room rug, I pick pick up spilled powder and expended primers
• I got my first CHL license 50 years ago
• My garage is a mess, except I keep the area around my MAIN loading press (Dillon 650) clear
• I don't object to use of the word "gun" when referring to firearms.  I know what I mean, and I HAVE seen the movie "Full Metal Jacket"  .. in fact, I own a copy of the DVD
• Most of my friends are "Gun Nuts"
• I teach a class in "Introduction to USPSA" every month; have done so for the past 5 years

So when someone says that the term "Gun Nut" is "Ill-Informed", I say "Look at the source".

The term is only "ill-informed" if someone else says it.  

I don't have to apologize to anyone for who and what I am.  

The people who don't understand ... their opinion is not important to me.

Kansas U's reluctantly accept new Concealed Carry Laws. Miami, too!

Students voice concerns over concealed carry on college campuses | Myinforms:

 On Jan. 20, the Kansas Board Regents approved a revised policy that states, “Beginning July 1, 2017, any individual who is 21 years of age or older and who is lawfully eligible to carry a concealed handgun in Kansas shall not be precluded from doing so on state university campuses except in buildings and areas of buildings for which adequate security measures are provided, and except as otherwise prohibited by law.”
 [paraphrased]: This policy will still prohibit the open carry of firearms "anywhere on campus".

Also, the liberal professors/staff aren't comfortable with using their didactic teaching styles on armed citizens:

This debate isn't specific to Kansas. After Texas recently passed a similar law, Fritz Steiner, the dean of the architecture school at the University of Texas at Austin, announced he was leaving for a similar post at the University of Pennsylvania. His reason: the new law allowing guns in his classroom.

Texas is the eighth state to allow concealed weapons on its public, post-secondary campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The other states are Mississippi, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Wisconsin, Utah and Kansas. [sic]

It's hard to force draconian solutions on free citizens.

Perhaps the Universities may end up learning more from their students, than their students learn from them.


[MIAMI]

GUN-WALK PROMPTS COUNTER PROTESTS:

“I have no clue why they would want to carry a gun through our campus,” said Froehlich. “Maybe to somehow make us safe.”

Maybe these folks have something going for them.  

The key may be common courtesy.

California Dreaming ... MEDIUM

California All Rifles and; Shotguns Will Be Rationed - Fight Back:

Ever hear the story about the frog in the cook-pot?

You put a frog in a pot, and put the pot on the stove.  The frog is comfortable, and paddles around as if nothing has changed ... because it has not.
After a while, you turn the burner on to "LOW".  The frog is kewl with that.
Later, you turn it up to "MED".  Happy Frog sweats, but it's no big deal.
Finally, you turn the burner up to "HIGH", and you've got a stewed frog who was perfectly happy with being stewed because .. hey, it didn't seem like such a big deal at first!

Well, California is the Frog.  You're getting burned, and you don't even notice it because it's so GRADUAL!

You're The Stewed Frog

You live in California, and you're an elected official, and you really want to get re-elected for the rest of your life.  (the following criteria doesn't count if  your  first name is "jerry" or "alan".)

The first thing the politicians do is to vote to infringe upon the Civil Rights of your voters..

The first thing you, the voters,  do is to re-elect Democratic State Senators after they are dead.

If you stopped doing that .. that would help, don't you think?

(Geez, I've seen some clue-less electorates, but don't you agree that this is embarrassing?  In this state, if you're a DEMOCRAT, you don't even have to .... not only campaign, but BE ALIVE to be re-elected!  And you wonder why your Elected Democratic Representatives don't seem to stand up for your civil rights in California???)

Okay, let's talk about Firearms Ownership and the Second Amendment in California:

The Guantlet

2 Times I Was Glad I Had A Gun:

It was around 4:30pm and I walked to the bathroom and noticed a car in the parking lot. It was a white Honda accord with no plates and 5 people in hoods sitting in the car. I instantly thought something was off and heightened my awareness but went about my business. Around 4:45 I was starting to lock everything up and I went and peaked out a window to see if the car was still there, it was.

Dealing with a Perceived Threat: 

Peter had a problem.  Working at the office in an otherwise empty building, he saw some people loitering in the parking lot.  His was the only car in the lot.  He felt intimidated, and probably a little frightened.

He finished his work, and the group was still there.  Waiting, it seemed to him, for the owner of the lone car to come out.

He had several choices; he chose to leave the building and, on the way to his car, contrived to 'casually' display his concealed handgun in a way which was just barely "Brandishing".  He did not draw his weapon.

That worked.  The five men got into their car and left.

The comments on Peter's story lean heavily to the "Why Didn't You Call The Police?" side.

Perhaps he should have.  Maybe he just got lucky.  Possibly, potential attackers are inclined to fade away when they discover that their 'soft target' wasn't so soft, after all.

And maybe the five strangers finished their cigarettes and decided it was time to get back on the road if they wanted to get to Disneyland before it closed for the night.

EWWWWWWWW ...

Perhaps he should have have chosen the option which the comments are full of ("Why didn't you call the police?").   Maybe they're right; maybe it was a dumb stunt for Peter to actually go about his business without seeming to be intimidated.  Maybe he DID risk his life, for no good reason.

KORWIN: The Progressive’s Gun Myths

Alan Korwin says a lot of things I wish I could express so concisely.   So this week I'll be providing links to some of his commentary:  Here's the first one:

KORWIN: America’s Real Gun Problem - The Progressive’s Gun Myths - GunsAmerica Digest:

 Hillary keeps saying it, the “news” media hammers it, too many democrats apparently believe it like the gospel (though a lot don’t seem to believe in that): “We’ve got to defeat the big bad powerful evil gun lobby, namely the NRA.”

Priorities

from Dad's Deadpool Blog:

BATF hires Arizona to do their dirty work for them

David Codrea at "THE WAR ON GUNS" reported this:

Glendale, Ariz., Police Become Enforcers of ATF Gun Control:

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has entered into an agreement with the Glendale, Arizona, Police Department that makes the latter the unpaid enforcers of the former’s regulations, the Tenth Amendment Center reports.

Apparently, the feds are tired of catching all the heat for murdering citizens and burning down homes.

This must be cheaper than trying to hire agents with scruples.

Beyond the Bullet: The Cost of Gun Violence in Detroit

Beyond the Bullet: The Cost of Gun Violence in Detroit: A child's fight after becoming a shooting victim Little 9-year-old India Williams was shot while riding her bike two years ago. Her family hangs out with us for an afternoon, talking about…

(This documentary can be found here.)
The video expose starts with an opening statement by the reporter.  He speaks to how hard it is to cover this kind of story:

I've been on the streets for about 14 years, working nighst, going to a lot of these scenes.   And the same question keeps coming up:  "How do you do what you do?  Don't you bring this stuff home with you???"   Looking at the crying mothers, the crying brothers and sisters, those violent crime scenes throughout the city.  The answer is, 'of course I do. I'm human like everyone else, I try to bury it in my subconscious, but it still eats at me and bothers me every day.   I may go home and think about it for two or three days, but .. .unfortunately, it's 'on to the next story'.

Through the story, there are references  to brothers mothers and sisters.  But there are no references to fathers.  At all.