Snowflakes in Hell

I discovered Calico is still in business. They managed to survive the hi-cap magazine ban. So I gave them a call.

While they have never heard of the exact failure mode I had, they said that with the older bolt design (which my gun has), they have seen a few rare cases of the gun firing out of battery as the bolt is closing. As Armed Canadian pointed out the bolt was damaged when the shell ruptured. For around $100 they’ll repair the bolt and upgrade it to the current design. If I ship them the whole gun they’ll clear the barrel, inspect everything, and test fire it.

The people in charge of the gun club where the accident occurred are interested in what happened, so I’m going to do a little show and tell there (any maybe give them my eyeglass lens to stick up on the bulletin board), and then I’ll probably ship the gun off to Calico.

This article in the Rutgers Observer is worthy of some perusal.  They have a comment section, so feel free to (politely and respectfully) inform them of our viewpoint on the issue:

Five weeks ago, Cho Seung-Hui used a credit card to purchase a Glock 19 handgun and a box of ammunition. He paid $571.

In the mid-90’s Bubba Clinton signed a ban on assault rifles with no conceivable civilian use during a period when Democrats across the country were trying to impose modest gun controls. However, pandering to the NRA, Republicans have done their best to ward off even the slightest gun controls, exemplified in President Bush allowing the aforesaid ban to lapse in 2004.

Yes, even though the killer didn’t use an “assault weapon”, we nontheless have to once again ban bayonet lugs and flash hiders.

Reader KathyH brought up something in the comments about single issue voting, which got me interested.   Just out of curiosity, how many of you folks are single issue voters?

I am not, generally, believe it or not.  I’ve never voted for someone outright hostile to gun-rights, but I have voted for politicians who were less than staunch allies because I agreed with them on other things.  Despite the fact that I think our senior senator, Arlen Specter, is batty and often annoying, I’ve consistently voted for him, because on a lot of other issues, I agree with him on.

I also voted against Rick Santorum, despite is strong support of gun rights, because while I’m willing to accept some token social conservatism, he took the issue to new and insane heights, and I thought he deserved to get kneecapped because of it.

My major issues tend to change from election cycle to election cycle, but 2008 presidential it’s shaping to be:

• Foreign Policy
• Supreme Court
• Smaller government
• Firearms Policy

I actually suspect 2008 won’t feature much gun control, so I think that issue could end up being off the table.  It will come down to the other three.  I can’t rank in any order, because it depends greatly on how much the candidate offends or supports each view.  My support for Richardson over other Democrats reflects my desire to see gun control completely off the agenda, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t vote for Guiliani over Richardson, if Richardson proposed something like, pulling our of Iraq and leaving the field to Iran and Al-Qaeda.

I’m also very concerned with seeing judges appointed to the Supreme Court who follow what the law says, rather than what they wish it to be.  I tend to agree more with Republicans on this issue than Democrats.  Though I support keeping abortion legal, I don’t favor how the Supreme Court chose to go about doing it.  So I don’t get quite that worked up as your averge Democrat when someone says they think Roe was wrongly decided.

Gun control ranks high in my political calculus, but it’s not overwhelmingly dominant.  This means I will probably never vote for a candidate who is explicitly running on a campaign of gun control, but other things can offend me as well.

While the Pennsylvania media is busy writing about how insane Pennsylvania gun owners are, I decided to look up the person who was apparently responsible for the banner which gave the people allied against us all the ammo they need:

Alan Kiser

Warning, the web page will annoy you with cheesy music. I happen to believe that people who assault my ears with cheesy music because I loaded their page should most definitely be hung from the tree of liberty. Leave it to a third party dude to bring the crazy to the party eh?

Constitution Party of Pennsylvania

Ahhh! More crappy music! I love the use of vibrato on some sections that just kind of bashes you over the head. I think it might have stolen my wallet too.

Now I’m not bashing third parties here folks. They serve a very valuable purpose in making the two main political parties, who are about as worthless as the dirt on the bottom of my shoe, seem sane and reasonable. The sad part is that I support a lot of constitutionalist views. I just can’t abide by the freaky religious stuff and rhetoric that underlies much of what the CP does.

This is one for the “How Not to Win Column”:

HARRISBURG — A sign waved at a gun supporters’ rally Tuesday outraged lawmakers who interpreted it as suggesting the lynching of a Philadelphia legislator and said they would report the incident to police as a death threat.

Two men stunned onlookers by raising the banner criticizing Democratic Rep. Angel Cruz, sponsor of a bill that would create a registry of gun owners and require people to pay a yearly $10 fee for each gun or face state police confiscation of their weapons. Cruz should be “hung from the tree of liberty for treasonous acts against the Constitution,” the sign read.

Are you friggin kidding me?  Look, I’m against the gun registration as much as anyone, and I’d like nothing more than to see Cruz pay a political price for it.  But let’s get real here.  The proper remedy for a politician going against their political oath is to throw them out of office, not to suggest they ought to be hanged.  This just makes us look insane.

The sign was “over the top,” Cruz said, but he said attendees had a right to express their opinions. He said people outside of Philadelphia don’t understand what it’s like in a city where “five or six killings” happen a day.

In the rest of Pennsylvania, “they don’t hunt human beings like they do in Philadelphia,” said Cruz, whose bill is before the House Judiciary Committee.

Imagine that.  Lots of guns, and we don’t kill each other.   Maybe Philadelphia has a criminal problem rather than a gun problem?

Republican Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, of Cranberry, a strong supporter of gun owners’ rights who helped organize the rally, said the sign contained “horrible statements” that had no place in a conversation about politics and policy. The people involved did not represent the event organizers, he said.

Geez guys, you even pissed off Daryl Metcalfe!   He’s one of the staunchest supporters of gun rights in the legislature.

“The overwhelming majority of gun owners are not criminals. …They are not madmen, and they shouldn’t be treated as such. They’re hunters and sportsmen,” said Rep. Jesse White, a Democrat who represents portions of Washington, Beaver and Allegheny counties.

He’s right.  It’s a pity a few bozos had to suggest otherwise.

Mike S. Adams of Townhall has an idea on how to prevent future tragedies:

Because there are two ways to buy a handgun in North Carolina (with a CCW or with a one-time pistol purchase permit) there are two types of people who are able to buy guns; 1) Those with a CCW who have been subjected to criminal background checks, have released full medical and psychiatric records, and have taken a firearms safety course. 2) Those who obtained a purchase permit by submitting to a criminal background check, without releasing medical and psychiatric records, and without taking a firearms safety course.

At this point in the column I’m ready to unleash the first three steps in my four-step proposal for preventing mass killings on college campuses. The first two steps will not surprise my readers but the third will:

All states should allow citizens to apply for a CCW. All states should allow those with a CCW to buy guns without a separate pistol purchase permit.
All states should eliminate pistol purchase permits immediately.

So you’re suggesting that we license gun owners, essentially.  How is that different from what the gun controllers are suggesting?  You don’t license a right.

Hat Tip to War On Guns