Good News

School overturns student's expulsion over guns in truck
Hudson Sangree | Sacramento Bee

A Willows High School student who was expelled for having firearms in his pickup that was parked near the school will be reinstated and have record of the disciplinary action expunged from his record.

That ruling was made this morning by Glenn County school trustees acting on an appeal filed by Gary Tudesko.

The Oct. 26 incident occurred a few days after the start of waterfowl hunting season in an area where duck hunting is a major pastime. Tudesko said he was returning from a morning hunt and did not have time to take the shotguns home without being late for school.

He said he parked on a public street thinking that satisfied the rule against bringing guns on campus. A dog trained to locate weapons later alerted authorities to the shotguns.

Tudesko, a high school junior, was expelled Nov. 19 by the governing board of the Willows Unified School District.

The unanimous decision by the five-member school board was met with cheering and applause by supporters of Tudesko, who celebrated by hugging his parents and lawyer.

After the expulsion, Tudesko's parents appealed to the county education board. The National Rifle Association and the California Rifle and Pistol Association provided support and legal assistance.

GrassRoots Support

While NYC Mayor Bloomburg and his Mayors Against Gun Ownership, along w. the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun groups crow about their push poll showing even NRA members want to ban guns,the reality is different.

In VA, over a thousand showed up for the VCDL lobby day in contrast to the few dozen anti-gun advocates who bothered. Over 10:1 by the lowest estimate. Again, they didn't even have enough people to complete their 'Lie' in. Even in the home state of the VT tragedy.

While in McHenry County, IL, over 400 people attended a townhall on supporting CCW legislation. Beyond on Sheriff who expressed reservations about 'may issue', there was NO opposition according to attendees.

Last years IGOLD lobby day had over 5,000 attendees. No gun control group showed while anti-gun legislators killed a CCW bill before we got there then ran out the back doors.

Telling, isn't it?

Fly on the wall at Brady Bunch HQ

Paul: All right, everybody huddle up. We have some rather serious times before us and what we’ve been doing up to this point clearly isn’t working. I think we need some new angles and fresh memes. Share your ideas and remember, this is a brainstorming session so just throw it out there, there are no dumb ideas.

Sarah: Not working? But we have the House, the Senate and the White House chock full of kindred spirits. We won, they lost now let’s get to work everybody!!! Right, Paul?

Dennis: Uh… Sarah, would you be so kind as to go bake some cookies. We’re probably going to be up late tonight and I’m feeling a bit peckish.

Sarah: What kind!?!

Dennis: I can’t see how it matters.

Petey: I could threaten to shoot gun owners again.

Doug: I could publish personal info about people who comment on our blog again.

Josh: The Joyce Foundation cut our fucking funding!

Bryan: My brother is deeaaaaaaaaad! *sniffle*

Paul: This isn’t the feedback I was hoping for. We need to stay within the law and develop some new form of crap that will easily stick to the wall we’re currently banging our heads against. We need something new. Let’s first identify where we stand right now; a brief recap: 1. Heller. Hurt. Us. Bad. 2. We’re going to lose the Chicago ban. 3. We just lost Kennedy’s senate seat to a republican ahead of the midterms. 4. The President has proven to be an abject failure to our cause, going so far as to muzzle his cabinet officials and sign pro-bills into law. All of this rests on a backdrop of looser CCW laws, Castle Doctrine sweeping the land and the NRA not simply surviving, but down-right thriving in an environment we thought would be a nightmare for them just one year ago. That’s where we are, how to we get to where we all want to be?

Dennis: I think it would be prudent to also note the legal limitations we’ll be operating under going forward. Yes, the SCOTUS has ruled the 2A an individual Right to keep functional firearms, including handguns, inside the home for personal self-defense, so continuing our focused attack on these looser CCW laws is something we should maintain regardless of any new approach taken. In addition, the McDonald case ruling striking down the Chicago ban will frame the options available to us so we should brainstorm under a worst case scenario.

All: Agreed.

Kelli: I’m like so totally behind you 100%, Paul!!! You’re ~ an ~ inspiration!!!! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dennis: Uh, Kelli…we’re gonna want some milk with those cookies, there’s a market just down the block.

Petey: Okie-dokie, back to the fundamentals, how about a name change? We all know that the youth is the secret to changing the future and younger, more impressionable folks don’t even know who Ronald Reagan was, much less James Brady. I think we should adopt a name more up to date.

Paul: Suggestions anyone?

Josh: Let’s just be clear that the VPC has no desire to be absorbed under one big umbrella, the Joyce Foundation still covers my salary and the cost of my internet and google account…for now. I’d be willing to talk about it.

Bryan: Hell, sign me up. We can’t even afford to pay the rent on our domain name. I’ll serve under any banner as long as I don’t have to go out and get a real job.

Doug: We need some hip imagery that boosts our street cred and slights the NRA at the same time. How about “American False Idol” or “Dancing with the Blood?”

Dennis: Hmmm… Not sure that would play well for our media allies. I’d suggest a more toned-down identity like “Founding Father’s Future” or “The Queen Mum’s Children.”

Bryan: How about “The Anti-NRA?”

All: OOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul: Now we’re getting somewhere! Let’s agree to implement this immediately. Now what do we do under this new umbrella?

Dennis: Let’s spend millions renting out convention halls and hold anti-gun shows!

Doug: Let’s call congress critters and tell them we don’t want to exercise our 2A Rights!

Josh: Let’s tell the Joyce Foundation that changing our name is a major victory and very expensive!

Bryan: Let’s close down comments on all our blogs!

Paul: I think we’ve made some great progress and the Gun Lobby, as well as congress and the White House will be in for quite a surprise once they witness our new stark naked power.

Sarah: Cookies are ready!!!! I made Snicker-doodles!!!

Kelli: Ice cold milk, come get your ice cold milk!!!

Dennis: Uhhhh, these are actually cat turds sprinkled with sand and that smells a lot like horse piss.

Paul: Sounds reasonable to me.

Reasoned Discourse: Sun Times Edition

Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun Times Lynn Sweet posted a blog entry w/ Daley's press release to the US Conference of Mayors in full. It lists all the elites and intellectuals who are supporting Chicago's gun ban and the usual PSH:

Nutter said, "There is no reason to have an m-16 in an urban environment/. The NRA is out of control."

Of course they don't call it a ban except in the headline, they call it an 'ordinance' and 'strong handgun laws'. Technically true. Neither does she note all the briefs filed against Chicago. I tried to leave this comment noting all the individuals opposing the ban:

Chicago's handgun ordinance?

That makes it sound like you are allowed to own a handgun. It's a ban. A resident has not been allowed to register any new handguns since 1982.

And that 82% of murders committed w/ firearms in the city? Still occurring even though handguns have been banned for over 20 years. The city accounts for over 60% of the murders in the state but only 22% of the population.

Opposed to the gun ban are:

38 states
56 US Senators
249 US Representatives
Over 700 state legislators
Dozens of other organizations and individuals

The Historical brief in support of Chicago has already been found to have inaccurate and at times deliberately misleading information.

Read the Briefs and Filings for yourself. Don't rely on a speech by an organization led by individuals w/ 24hr security forces who think you should rely on someone else for safety.

http://www.chicagoguncase.com/

Here's the response:

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Why am I not surprised?

Chicago Amicus Brief Fail Cont.

David E Young continues his series shredding the various historical inaccuracies and outright fabrications contained in the Amicus Briefs supporting Chicago.

Chicago's Brief.

'Historians' Brief Part One and Two.

NRA on SCOTUS Campaing Finance Ruling

Fairfax, Va. - The National Rifle Association praised the U.S. Supreme Court's decision today in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, removing unconstitutional restrictions on the NRA’s ability to speak freely at election time.

The late Sen. Paul Wellstone had said during the original debate over this legislation that it was his intention to silence groups like the NRA. While the author of this measure had singled out the NRA, this law delivered a clear message to all American citizens: “Keep your mouths shut and stay out of our political debates.”

Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said, “This ruling is a victory for anyone who believes that the First Amendment applies to each and every one of us. The majesty of free speech is that any American can roll out of bed and speak as freely as The New York Times, NBC or politicians. This is a defeat for arrogant elitists who wanted to carve out free speech as a privilege for themselves and deny it to the rest of us; and for those who believed that speech had a dollar value and should be treated and regulated like currency, and not a freedom. Today’s decision reaffirms that the Bill of Rights was written for every American and it will amplify the voice of average citizens who want their voices heard.”

The case originally centered on the FEC’s denial of Citizens United’s attempt to broadcast a film about Hillary Clinton through on-demand cable services in January 2008, but had broader implications in protecting the First Amendment rights of organizations like the NRA during election time.

Chris W. Cox, NRA-ILA chief lobbyist, said, “This decision today returns sanity to our political system. The First Amendment does not allow Congress to make laws denying Americans the right to speak out on issues, the right to assemble or organize on public policy issues, or the right to petition our government for redress of grievances.”

Josh Sugarmann back to work..

Guess the Joyce Foundation didn't like that Josh has been wasting their money so he's back to blaming "lax concealed weapons law"'s for a horrific murder that had nothing to do w/ concealed carry.

No surprise really coming from their 'study' that has confused CCW victims as murders, non-CCW holders, self-defense etc. in their tally.

I suggest we start a letter writing campaign to the Joyce's encouraging them to direct more of their funds to the VPC so Josh can continue his outstanding and highly influential efforts.

Now What?

So Brown spanked Coakley's peepee for a seat that was held by THE Democrat for decades and Obama makes a speech about dismissing most of his cabinet and congress.

The GOP is crowing 'mandate' which usually is followed by an attack of the stupids.

How will they drop the ball this time to screw up the momentum that's there?

Will the DNC try and jam through health care and/or delay Brown's appointment?

In what other ways will our 'Government' show that they are completely detached from reality?

ISRA 2010 Endorsements

The ISRA-PVF/FedPac have released their lists of endorsements for 2010.

For Gov. primaries they're endorsing Dillard.

The full list of State endorsements/preferences is available here.

The list of Federal endorsements/preferences are here.

"Abject Failure"

That's the description of O's first year by the Brady Campaign who endorsed him wholeheartedly while he was making campaign promises.

Not that they have enough influence left for him to care what they think, I'm betting he's going to have to get used to that phrase when people describe his presidency.

Pro-Chicago Amicus Brief Fail..

Historian David E. Young takes the brief filed by other 'professional' historians in support of the Chicago gun ban to task. From his message:

Just thought I'd let you know that the first part of my comments on historical errors in McDonald amicus briefs is up at On Second Opinion. The first deals with problems in the English/Early American historians' brief. Six of its twenty-one signers were also signers of the Heller historians' brief. Thus, the newer one has the same kinds of problems as that filed in Heller. I suspect there will be several parts or posts dealing with this brief, and several more dealing with one not related to English history. There is a strong attempt in McDonald to re-argue Heller historical points.

That the Chicago briefs are trying to re-argue Heller seems to be the default for most of them. Read the whole thing to see how weak the claims they're making really are and how Anti's need to distort history to defend their beliefs.