Snowflakes in Hell

I just wanted to wish you both good luck.

We’re all counting on you.

Looks like the new Guv can’t keep his pistol properly secured either.

Cam Edwards digs up something from Justice Kennedy that is good to keep in mind as we head toward oral arguments tomorrow.  I also understand that Cam has quite a show lined up for today and tomorrow, so be sure to watch starting at 9PM eastern at NRANews.

Jacob reports that Bob Levy says he’ll target New York City’s Sullivan Act after Heller.  Chicago would be a more obvious target post-Heller, because of the similarity with the D.C. ban.  Wouldn’t it be best to keep the courts focused strictly on the incorporation issue, rather than have to deal with extraneous issues?  There’s little doubt in my mind that New York City’s Sullivan Act is unconstitutional, but to me, that’s a more appropriate target after we go for incorporation using an outright ban similar to The Districts.   The Sullivan Act can wait.

Eric has a post up about this topic:

Why single out guns unless the intent is to stigmatize them? I think that a law criminalizing non-reporting requires more than merely reporting a loss or a theft; by its nature it imposes an affirmative duty to monitor and count your guns on a regular basis or be a criminal (in much the same way that a law criminalizing the non-reporting of silverware would require counting the silver). But because it does not spell that out, I think it’s unconstitutionally void for vagueness.

Read the whole thing.  I think it creates that obligation as well, because most of these bills use the standard “X period of time after the actor knew or should have known the firearms were missing.”

I think I actually missed the most important part:

Joe Grace, CeaseFirePA executive director, said the group had lobbied all 203 House members and would hold a rally and news conference today. Hundreds of supporters are expected to turn out, among them 10 busloads of Philadelphians.

Last week, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh City Councils passed resolutions urging the legislature to pass a lost-and-stolen bill.

Law enforcement agencies across the state, including the Pennsylvania State Police, say such a mandatory requirement would help prevent straw purchasers of guns from using the excuse that their guns, later used in crimes, were lost or stolen.

This vote was moved up.  You don’t just pull a rally that size out of thin air.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the vote was moved up to coincide with a rally that was already planned, in order to help pre-ordain the outcome.  Calling your representatives is now more important than ever.  They must hear from gun owners.

Here’s what the Inquirer says:

Handgun-control proponents in the State House are attempting to force a floor vote today on a controversial bill that would require handgun owners to tell authorities when their weapons are lost or stolen.

To avoid a counter-lobbying campaign by the National Rifle Association, lawmakers late Wednesday filed the language as an amendment to a crime-code bill that had already cleared a House committee. The move sends the bill directly to the floor.

“This is a historic moment for the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the House in particular,” said Rep. Cherelle Parker (D., Phila.). “For many years, legislators across Pennsylvania have been trying to answer calls law enforcement has been making to us to give them the tools to get handguns off the streets.”

The amendment will face opposition from Republicans and many rural Democrats. But, proponents say, polls showing that a majority of voters support mandatory reporting of lost and stolen handguns will compel lawmakers at least to go on record with their position.

It’s unclear whether opposition has softened in Harrisburg since 2006, when the House overwhelmingly defeated the measure. Votes were not recorded then.

Let’s hope not.  Contacting legislators makes all the difference.  Lawmakers assume one phone call represents probably 100 other people out there that think the same way.  If they are getting 5 to 1 calls in favor of gun owners, that’ll put some fear into them.  Someone who calls is someone who will come out to vote against you if you go against them on this issue.  Make sure your reps know how you feel.

The line for hearing Heller oral arguments began to form at 5:35pm last night, according to Professor Kerr over at the Volokh Conspiracy.  While it would be nice to get to hear history being made, I think there are those far more deserving to hear arguments than am I, plus, there’s no way in hell I’m camping out in Washington DC overnight when I can’t carry.

Looks like the legal work on the I-80 toll issue goes to the Governor’s law firm.  Conflict of interest?  Bite your tongue!

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (D) has handed his former law firm millions in payment for legal work on plans to toll Interstate 80 and privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Over a period of about a year, the law firm Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll has collected $2 million, according to invoices obtained by yardbird.com. Rendell decided that the law firm where he worked as a partner from 2000 to 2002 was better suited to the job, rather than use the seventy lawyers on staff at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Rendell fundraisers became big winners in the toll road deal. Kenneth M. Jarin, co-chairman of Rendell’s re-election campaign, billed the state $24,703.15 for forty-six hours of work with Ballard Spahr. The payment was approved by Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann, who also happens to be Jarin’s wife.

Pennsylvanians, as someone who lives near the City of Brotherly love, let you me give you some brotherly advice.  Never, ever, under any circumstances, and I don’t care how much you like the guy, elect someone from the Philadelphia political machine to a state wide office.  Just say no!  Don’t do it!  Do the Dew instead, for all I care, but Philadelphia politics is dirty and corrupt, and we don’t need it soiling the rest of our fair state.

Looks like they renewed it.  Someone call Sugarmann and ask him how much he charges to do a transfer?  Maybe Sugarmann could make some more money being the first FFL to open for business in DC, rather than continuing to preside over the failing enterprise that is the VPC.

Or is doing the whole daylight savings time transition several weeks earlier a lot tougher on the ol’ biological clock than it was doing it at the old “spring ahead” time?  I’m still not completely back on schedule in that regard.

Target Rich Environment points out a piece of real estate any gun nut would love.  I’ll be in the market for a new house in a few years, but sadly not right now.

Mark R. Herring  State Senator from Loudoun County, Virginia apparently doesn’t read the legislation he votes against:

Herring did not support the bill. “Drinking alcohol and carrying firearms is not a good mix,” he said. “It’s a public safety issue. There was no compelling case for loosening the restriction on carrying a concealed weapon into bars.”

Let’s review for a minute the requirements of the law:

Virginia Senate Bill 476 would have allowed permit holders to bring concealed handguns into bars and restaurants. Patrons would have been required to notify their server of the weapon and would not have been allowed to consume alcohol on the premises.

Emphasis mine.  Now, is he legitimately ignorant, or is he, along with his other gun control supporting pals in the Virginia Senate merely misreprenting the issue to continue to screw gun owners in the Commonwealth of Virginia?

Looks like this issue is rather inconvenient to the Senate Majority Leader.  It’s tough having to be the leader of a party divided on the issue of guns.  This is pretty amusing though:

Republican Rep. Jon Porter, who plays in a congressional band called the Second Amendments but represents a largely suburban Southern Nevada district that is trending Democratic, said as long as those carrying guns are following state law, the proposal “seems reasonable to me.”

We need to find out who the other members of that band are :)

I know everyone is distracted by the oral arguments in Heller that will be happening tomorrow, but if you recall a few days ago I released some important information about an upcoming fight in our state.

It’s important to call your representatives TODAY and tell them to vote YES on Representative Cappelli’s amendment (A05131) to amend “Castle Doctrine” to House Bill 1845 and alsdo to vote YES on Representative Stevenson’s amendment (A05706) which would allow a Pennsylvania License to Carry Firearms to be used as a substitute for a PICS check.  Most importantly, do not forget to ask them to vote NO on Representative Levdansky’s amendment (A06178) to impose severe criminal penalties on gun owners who fail to report a lost or stolen firearm to the authorities.

The NRA alert on the matter is here.  If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.  There are no stupid questions, only stupid politicians.