Saturday, May 24, 2008

Hill's worried about assassination


How kind of Hillary, she will not drop out because someone might get assassinated. You know I really do not like McCain but he's really looking better all the time.


But folks as I look at the political landscape, I can taste the Bile. This has to be the most disgusting lack of choices in all the elections I have ever seen.

Inaccurate Brady letter. Color me shocked.

Brian Malte, State legislation and politics director for the BC, claimed that :

While the Illinois FOID "permit to purchase" card does require a background check before issuance, it is the only background check required for the next 10 years until someone must renew his or her FOID card. This allows people to pass a criminal background check today but fall into a prohibited class tomorrow. In fact, the Illinois State Police have verified that more than 1,000 FOID card holders were able to purchase guns (although) they fell into a prohibited category after issuance of their FOID card.


The problem? From the FOID act:

Sec. 8.1. Circuit Clerk to notify Department of State Police.
(a) The Circuit Clerk shall, in the form and manner required by the Supreme Court, notify the Department of State Police of all final dispositions of cases for which the Department has received information reported to it under Section 2.1 of the Criminal Identification Act.
(b) Upon adjudication of any individual as a mental defective, as defined in Section 1.1, the court shall direct the circuit court clerk to immediately notify the Department of State Police, Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) department, and shall forward a copy of the court order to the Department.
(Source: P.A. 95‑581, eff. 6‑1‑08.)


So, by law, the ISP get regular updates on the legal disposition of FOID holders and it is their responsibility to revoke it. All Mr. Malte has shown is that the ISP is failing in their duty.

So we have to options. Either the Brady Campaign Director for State Legislation is ignorant of actual state legislation or he deliberately lied in order to mislead the public. I know where I'ld put my money.

Bloomie's intentional ignorance.

This would be why Judge Weinstein, who has a history of coaching anti-gun cases to proceed, won't let Mayor Bloomberg testify:

NSSF noted that perhaps the mayor’s insults stems from his self-professed ignorance of our nation’s firearms laws and regulations, business practices of firearms retailers and the duties of the ATF. “I don’t know what the law is and what procedures are,” responded the mayor to a deposition question on illegally purchased firearms, NSSF quoted him. “I have no knowledge of what appropriate safeguards are for a dealer to comply with the law or what standard practices are in the arms business,” they quoted him.

In the same deposition Mr. Bloomberg admitted he did not know that ATF conducted inspections of firearms retailers. “I didn’t even know they had inspections,” the bewildered mayor offered and Bloomberg also noted that he did not know what a Federal Firearms Transaction Record, commonly known as a Form 4473 was or a NICS background check.

The anecdote don't fit

In his latest screed, Paul Helmke attempts to associate Police Officers feloniously killed w/ the sunsetting of the AWB:

We can do something about the challenges faced by our local men and women in uniform. We can adopt policies to make it harder for dangerous people to get their hands on dangerous weapons - doing things like requiring background checks for all gun sales, and restricting easy access to military-style weaponry.


Unfortunately for him, the facts don't fit. We've all seen the fact that only about 2% of criminals get their firearms from gun shows so let's look at the AWB:

In 2007, there were 57 officers feloniously killed. While at first glance that would appear to be a trend increase from the 48 killed in '06, looking back a little farther shows that's not the case. In fact, 57 is the same number that were killed in '04 when the AWB was still active. The year after was '55. Since '97, only one year ('99) had a number below 50 with two years reaching 70. All during the AWB.

Of firearms used, the number of rifles (the FBI data doesn't distinguish 'assault weapons') didn't drop below double digits until 2005, the year after the AWB, w/ it remaining there through '07.

Of the 55 alleged assailants identified, 42 had previous criminal arrests, including 11 who had been arrested for assaulting an officer or resisting arrest.

15 of the 55 alleged offenders were under judicial supervision (e.g., probation, parole) at the time of the fatal incident.

And just to make it extra-special disingenuous, here's the details from the anecdote Paul uses:

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Friday, March 23, 2007
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Charged with capital murder

Go wipe your shoes Paul, you're tracking up the place.

Update: One of Paul's lackeys, Doug Pennington, actually comments w/ the usual appeals to authority and popularity and promptly gets his rear handed to him.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Mexican murders up 32% so far this year..

Good thing they have such strict gun control or else the drug cartels might REALLY get out of control.

I'm sure it must be due to all the rocket launchers, grenades, machineguns and the hundreds of thousands of AR-15's that are being shipped in from the US.

Diversity of thought and expression

For approved ideas and only in authorized Free Speech Zones.

So says Tarrant County College which has banned the SCCC's "Empty Holder Protests".

I see lawsuits.

PSH in Oakland

This article via Joe Huffman reads more like an Onion piece or a Brady Bunch press release than anything resembling actual journalism. Case in point:

A majority of guns used in California crimes can be traced to purchase in Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Florida, according to a 2007 study by the Violence Prevention Research Program at the UC Davis.

The problem? This is an outright fabrication. Even though BATFE data is not to be used for statistics, let's compare. Out of 13,798 traces in 2007 where the state was identified, CA accounted for 9,981 of them. That would be 72.3%. How does less than 25% make a "majority". 10,865 of them even had a "time to crime" of over 3 years.

Never mind the fact that they only cite Wintemute, the Brady Bunch, and other anti-gun organizations and throw in the usual tripe about "assault weapons" w/o obviously having ever read the law. Those must be the "experts" that claim "more guns = more crime".

SailorCurt has more. So does Roberta.

Only Ones "It's not our job"

Says Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis on responding to bank robberies. So he's issued instructions that the CPD will not respond to them as they are a Federal issue and not local.

And criminals stand up and cheer.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Excellence in Parenting Award

What do you do when armed intruders break into your house and shoot one of your dogs? Evacuate the house and leave your kids behind.

Is this an example of the Brady's recommendation of "Giving them what they want"?

Missouri 911

17 residents of Gerald, MO are suing after a con artist convinced the local "Only Ones" that he's a DEA agent and they go on raids.

Like Bryan Miller says. You can't make this stuff up.

via IllinoisCarry

FOP opposes Cronyism in Chicago

Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue today decried the "double standard" that prompted Mayor Daley to endorse the idea of temporarily re-opening gun registration in Chicago after a request from Ald. Richard Mell (33rd).

"We have retired police officers who have a right to carry concealed weapons across the country, and they're being barred from registering their weapons in Chicago. We've taken one of these cases to Circuit Court. Dick Mell has taken his case to the City Council," the union president said.

All Daley is looking for is an additional vote on the board since he's losing support left and right. By supporting this measure which really only includes Mell, he'll use that as leverage to push more stupid laws through the council.

The FOP see this as well:

On Wednesday, Donahue questioned the mayor's motives for endorsing the change. If the goal is truly what Daley says it is, then the amnesty window should be permanently re-opened for existing gun owners, the union president said.

"If they're looking to find out how many guns are in the city, leave it open. Why set a window on it? Do it for everyone who has an existing gun," Donahue said.

Some folk just need killin'

No statement can be more true for the two scum who vandalized Stonehenge last week.

Now they're going to have to increase security and restrict access to it because of retards like this.

Wrong "Only Ones" folks.

To further show that ignorance abounds, residences of the ultra-safe, gun-free neighborhood of Englewood decided firefighters are also part of the problem and began harassing them as they tried to extradite critically injured people from a car crash.

Why did they do this? Well apparently one of the crash victims tried to punch a firefighter because he felt they weren't working fast enough and had to be restrained. Obviously the crowd felt that he should be allowed to freely assault the same people trying to help them.

Of course this is the same neighborhood where people scream about needing more police then shelter the gang-members and call out the Jackson squad whenever the police show up.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Brady Grassroots support

Via Sebastian SIH and WaronGuns

The Blogger Media

Via Bitter and the OutdoorWire:

Universally, they were the first to arrive in the mornings and among the last to leave in the evenings.

That's what's known as dedication. It's one reason why we're winning.

To show that we are becoming somewhat accepted I'ld like to present a quote from the Nat'l Geographic guy while standing at the buffet table:

"You're media now, eat up."

My sister's reply on last weekend.

When did you get so radical?

I mean, I mostly agree, but still!
:)

It’s my nutty little brother having an influence on other people that scary to me.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Private Laws for Public Servants

Everyone knows the Chicago Handgun ban right? How you had to register them back in '81 and if you forget one year, you're now a criminal? Well, Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, father in law of the Governor, has found a way around that. He wrote a law allowing himself to re-register his firearm after he forgot.

Mell forgot to re-register the weapons as required every year by the ordinance that he helped to pass as one of the City Council's most senior members.

So, what does an alderman do when he finds himself in violation of the law? He writes a new law. Mell has quietly introduced an ordinance that would reopen gun registration in Chicago and create a one-month amnesty for himself and other gun owners in the same predicament.



While this sounds like a good idea, it's tailored so tightly that it will really only apply to him and maybe a few other people.

But there's no elitism in gun control laws, right?

Thanks to Armed and Safe/Illinois Carry for the link.

UC Davis Microstamping Study

At the present time, therefore, because its forensic
potential has yet to be fully assessed, a mandate for the implementation of this
technology in all new semiautomatic handguns sold in the state of California is
counter-indicated.


'Nuff said.

2A Blogger Bash/NRA 2008: My Thoughts

How far we've come.

Amidst all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that we weren't able to carry during one, three hour session of the convention and the claims of journalists that we feel "under fire" I would like to relate these personal vignettes. During one forum, I was just a few feet away from one of the most prominent speakers in the US, Lt. Col. Oliver North. There were several security people nearby as well as a KY State Police Officer right behind me. While I was taking some of my shots, my carry piece was clearly visible.

And no one batted an eye.

I walked into the BassPro shop and there was a sign stating that fishing gear and firearms needed to be checked. I asked the person at the customer service desk if I needed to. He stated if I had a permit to just go ahead.

And no one batted an eye.

Think about that. Think about how much public perception has changed in the last 15 years. That we can go almost anywhere in the US while being able to protect ourselves and our families. Coming from a state where we are prevented from doing this anywhere and several jurisdictions actually openly violate federal law in regards to it, I find this amazing. I'm still trying to get my head completely around it. The convention was my CCW debut and now, coming home to the People's Soviet of Illinois, it has made me more driven to get CCW in this state. 15 years ago this wasn't even an option.

I don't assign 100% of the credit for these changes to the NRA. There are other great groups out there but be realistic. If our '800 pound gorilla' didn't exist at all or was the size of the majority of the other organizations, very little, if any, of this would be possible. I don't agree w/ the NRA on several issues, and I discussed this w/ quite a few of the reps., but they are getting things done. That's why I give them the majority (but not exclusively) my support.

This, in part, is why the NRA has come to the eminently wise decision IMO :) to work w/ pro-gun bloggers and vice-versa. We're the 'boots-on-the-ground' (or the fingers on the keyboards in this case) so we have a closer view of public perception than the leadership of a 3-4 million member organization can realistically get. It gets US more direct access to the upper-ups w/o having to go through 20 layers of functionaries to get to someone who can do anything about it. We all know things get filtered going up and down. With the horrible track record the NRA has w/ the traditional media, this gets them a venue into an ever increasing information distribution source, Even my small blog gets over 100 people visiting it every day, while we get access to more information than what is commonly available. We also have a faster reaction time than our said behemoth so we can find and respond to media/legislative hit pieces near instantly. Gotta love Al Gore's interweb.

What I like most about this, and still find surprising, is that they are working w/ us as independents. Unlike the GunGuys, I am not receiving wheel-barrows full of cash nor do I base or change my posts based on instructions from my masters. They know there's going to be criticism but feel that working w/ us will benefit more in the long run than not having us as a resource at all.

That said, I'm now going to start the obligatory thanks and kudoes.

First off is Bitter. You and I have butted heads a few times but I couldn't have organized this nearly as well as you did. My hat's off to you. You did a great job.

The NRA staff, Glen Caroline, Ashley Varner, Justin McDaniel, Danielle Sturgis, Daniel Felbusch, and all the other staff and volunteers who worked with us.

The Bloggers who I met:

A Keyboard and a 45
Captain of a Crew of One (my roomie for the weekend)
damnum absque injuria
Gun Pundit
Say Uncle
Sharp as a Marble
The Smallest Minority
Snowflakes in Hell
The View from North-Central Idaho
Call me Ahab
SqueekywheelseeksGrease
UnforgivingMinute
Rustmeisters Alehouse
Traction Control
The Professor and MaryAnn

Wait wrong show. All the other bloggers and commentors that I met over the weekend.

Getting to meet Dave Hardy, David Young, Cam Edwards, Sandy Froman to name a few, dozens of gun nuts from around the country, acres of guns and gear. The only thing I'm sorry about is that I kept missing Tom King and Scott Bach.

I had a blast.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Mainstream Media

It was pointed out on HuffPo and THR that the season finale of Desperate Housewives had two of the main characters purchasing and practicing with firearms because they were being stalked by their ex's.

Desperate Housewives is rated #8 currently by Nielson w/ a viewership of nearly 15.5 million.

Brady's jumping on McCain "Loophole" support

This seems to be the issue they're going to push.

Dear Thirdpower,

Representative Mike Castle (R-DE) has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 96) that will require Brady background checks at gun shows, and stop criminals and other dangerous people from exploiting these events to buy and sell guns.

We need you to contact your U.S. Representative today and urge him/her to cosponsor this important bill that would close the gun show loophole. We want the law to be: "no background check, no gun, no excuses!"

We need to make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and others like them to get guns. One simple solution is closing the gun show loophole.

Note they've dropped the references to Cho. Yep. Time to contact my Rep and ask him NOT to co-sponsor this legislation.

Here's the text. As of right now, it only has 9 co-sponsors, Castle's bit on it, and the NRA sheet.

Schoenke attacks NRA for hosting McCain.

because of his weak stand on firearm rights.

but the AHSA is supporting Barack "Urbanites can't be trusted" Obama.

Does anyone see a disconnect from reality here?

2A Blogger Bash/NRA 2008 Day 3:Finale

Sailorcurt headed home about 6:30am. I headed over to the convention center for a talk w/ Paul Helinksi, the founder of GunsAmerica. He gave a very interesting lecture on how and why he started the company and where he thinks the industry is heading in the future. Ahab and I got into a discussion on Dragunovs before we headed over to the NRA and the Media Forum was being held. Two prominents there were Sandy Froman and Oliver North.

They started out with a video on the CNN coverage of our favorite buddy Sheriff Jenne and his 'assault weapon' fallacy. I was surprised by how many people around me expressed surprise at it as I consider it a staple of our evidence. I presented a question as to how many in the audience had never heard of it and about a quarter of the people raised their hands.

Even several on the panel expressed their surprise at that. I think this shows that we need to work harder to get the information out there when even long-term members are unaware of things like this. Several other questions were posted before the Truther ambush of Col. North. After talking w/ some fellow gun nuts from Michigan, I headed back to the Media room where I spent the next hour or so waiting for Tam and just generally BS'ing w/ the other bloggers. They left for lunch and I was just getting ready to head out to the floor for one last sweep and get some food of my own when the NRA reps got the phone call about our buddies also hitting up Ted Nugent. I decided to stick around to hear what I could hear. I'm glad I did as I was able to get a side of the incident that most didn't see.
Out to the floor I went where I ordered my wife's b-day gift from the NRA store and got some lunch. As I sat down at a table, a lady noticed my "I love Mayor Bloomberg" button but not the Lauer Weaponry site below it.

She gave me a cool look and told me I was sitting at the wrong table. I laughed, explained what it was about, then spent the next half-hour or so chatting w/ her and her friends from Texas and Idaho. Note to self. Next year, make up cards for the site.

That concluded my NRA 2008 convention experience. Once I get things in order, I'll do a roundup of what I thought about the whole deal.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Truthers are out there

Several of us were present when a Truther hit up Col. North at the NRA and the Media Forum. He brought up REX84 and Building 7 on 9/11. After continuing to harass North, he went to the back of the room where he started talking to another person. After the Forum, another individual cornered North and apparently talked about the same things.

Turns out there were actually four of these guys and they were from The Liberty Voice. Their website isn't working right now but I got a screen cap of the Google Cache


I was in the Press Office when they got the call about this same group ambushing Ted Nugent w/ the same questions that they asked Col. North. I got this confirmed later talking to some people who were present at the Nugent event. They (the reps) decided to not yank the nutballs credentials as long as they didn't push it to far. Apparently the Truthers got what they wanted from Nugent as they left right after that.

If they ever get their site back up, expect to see posts about the NRA being part of the conspiracy.

We use the expression. 2nd Amendment, defender of the first. This incident shows just how true that is. While the NRA is willing to let these nutballs express themselves even though what they were pushing was completely off topic, I seem to recall the another "pro-gun" organization restricting media access only to approved "authorized journalists". I didn't hear about any this year. Their 25,000 members must not be paying their dues.

2A Blogger Bash/NRA 2008 Day 2B: Seminar & Banquet

Sebastian presented at the "In Your Own Words" Seminar.


A little nervous (you need to look up more Sebastian :) ) but a good overview of getting out and spreading the message. Most of the follow-up questions were directed to Sebastian and the speaker from the SCCC as these were the newest topics for most of the attendees.

Following the seminar, Sailorcurt and I got into discussion w/ several of the NRA reps on what we felt the NRA was doing right and what we felt they needed to improve on both politically and in relation to their PR w/ the boots on the ground. With luck, these discussions we've been having will filter up. Either way, they were listening and we might see some more pro-gun blogs hitting the web.

After going back to the hotel to clean up and get pretty-fied, we headed over to the KICC for the banquet. After mulling around for an hour or so where I met several other IL activists, we found our tables and the show began:

They presented a video of the Katrina confiscations who some people claim didn't really happen. It included not only the videos we've all seen, but interviews w/ people who were assaulted and robbed while the police stood by and did nothing. Of people that were prevented from protecting themselves and their neighbors by the authorities who did little to stop the actual criminals.

This was followed by LA Governor Bobby Jindal. Not only is he an eloquent speaker but he's a strong pro-gun advocate as well. He has an A rating by not only the NRA but the GOA as well. I ask this. Why the hell isn't he running for president? I've heard rumblings that McCain might give him the nod for the VP slot. God I hope so.

As hard as he was to follow. Glenn Beck, the keynote speaker at the banquet, managed. I don't watch him much as he's much more conservative than me and I don't agree w/ many of his opinions, but I tip my hat to a fantastic speaker. Referring to Michael Moore as a "Meatball in Sneakers" and the current presidential candidates as the "Three Stooges" had me, as well as the entire hall, on our feet, cheering and applauding. As he asked. "Is this the best we can do"? No, it's not, but unfortunately, it's what we've got. I think I'm going to have to start watching him more often.

The food was good, the service was slow, the company was great.