Snowflakes in Hell

Due to an apparently large amount of confusion between various factions of the Philadelphia area conservative movement, the “Tea Party” protest that was held yesterday was not the actual event, sort of.  Bitter and I headed down to Independence Mall this afternoon, figuring if this event wasn’t happening, we could always get some lunch.  Well, it was happening.  See photos below.  Commentary is in the photos if you click on them.

After everything was over, we went for some lunch and walked around Old City a bit.  This even could have been much larger and better if accommodations could have been worked out between different groups.  It is, I hope, not a bad omen for the future of the GOP in the Philadelphia area, that they are unable to successfully organize something like this.

From Tom Coburn’s Twitter:

new debt proposed by Administration’s budget is larger than the total amount of debt accumulated by the government from 1789 to today #tcot

The Garland, Texas school district does a series on safety during which they teach car and bike safety, taking care of yourself around strangers, life jackets, and not to touch a gun.  An angry mother has a problem with that last part.

Samone Howe of Garland brought home what appeared to be a typical coloring book; until her mom decided to page through it.

“Not only do I think it’s inappropriate to provide this information to my 5-year-old, but this is a program published by the NRA,” said Nicola Howe, Samone’s mother.

The coloring book includes illustrations of handguns and rifles.

“Having pictures of guns that children color in I think is sending the wrong message,” said Howe.

The book is called “Gun Safety with Eddie Eagle” and it’s published by the NRA, reports CBS station KTVT-TV in Dallas. It’s part of the Garland Independent School District’s Health and Safety Curriculum.

“If a student comes across a weapon, they’re supposed to stop, don’t touch the weapon and then run away and tell an adult. Those are the parts that are taught,” said Reavis Wortham with Garland I.S.D.

Howe is the first parent to complain in the 10 years the school has run the program. Apparently, the other parents are perfectly fine having gun safety taught through a program endorsed by the National Sheriffs’ Association and Association of American Educators, recognized by the National Safety Council, and cited as the best of more than 80 gun safety programs by the Journal of Emergency Nursing Online.

Bitter reports back that the tea party is over, and only about 50 people showed up on Independence Mall.  This is disappointing, but probably due to the fact that the organizations that were organizing the protest could not agree on a time, with some saying it was today at noon, and others saying it was tomorrow at noon.

The important thing is, the crowd booed Senator Specter when his name was mentioned.  One of the speakers was Devon Generally, who is a dark horse challenger to Specter in GOP primary.  Bitter reports that he’s a remarkably good off the cuff speaker, saying, “After he wrapped up his campaign-type speech and the camera packed up, he returned to the mic and just started talking.  People started walking up to listen.  Folks on the benches nearby really perked up.  He made the small crowd chuckle a few times.  During this time, the one news crew that bothered to show came back and started filming again.”

Bitter said that he really put an emphasis on no longer just being right, but organizing.  We shouldn’t leave organizing to the professional community organizers of the left.  Even though he is a dark horse candidate, maybe we can see more of Mr. Generally in Philadelphia’s future.

We are told the NRA are a bunch of ineffective weenies, who do nothing to fight for our gun rights, and exhibit demonstrably poor leadership on the issue.  Demonstrably poor leadership like capitalizing on Holder’s gaffe to actually ram a repeal of an “assault weapons” ban though an overwhelmingly Democratic controlled Senate.  It’s a local repeal, but if this passes the House in tact, and is signed by Obama, it’ll be legal to buy an AR-15 in DC with just a 4473 and NICS check.

The benefit of this, even if the gun rights language does not survive the conference committee, has been to force Senators, and soon House members, to put their cards on the table.  This lets us know far better where we stand in the 111th Congress than we did before.  Let’s look at some of our yes votes that were unexpected:

• Bayh (D-IN) – Not always friendly to guns, but voted with us.
• Bennet (D-CO) – We knew nothing about Bennet’s position on guns before this.
• Byrd (D-WV) – Byrd can be tricky on guns sometimes.  He was with us on this.
• Conrad (D-ND) – Not expected.  Good news.
• Dorgan (D-ND) – Also not expected.
• Feingold (D-WI)- Expected, but also can be tricky on guns.
• Gregg (R-NH) – He stuck with his fellow Republicans.  We applaud him.
• Hagan (D-NC) – F rated, so this is a real surprise.
• Landrieu (D-LA) – Very good for this C rated Senator.
• Lincoln (D-AR) – Excellent.
• McCaskill (D-MO) – Pleasant surprise.  F rated and AHSA endorsed.
• Pryor (D-AR) – Surprise
• Reid (D-NV) – Expected, but worthwhile to point out Reid is mostly pro-gun.
• Udall (D-CO) – Pleasant surprise
• Udall (D-NM) – Pleasant surprise
• Snowe (R-ME) – Held with party.  Unexpected.
• Specter (R-PA) – Expected, but likes to split with Rs often.
• Collins (R-ME) – Held with party. Unexpected.

Notables in the no column were Dick Lugar, the only Republican to vote against this, and Kirsten Gillibrand, who has now clearly calculated to retreat on gun rights a bit.  This is not to say the vote will be identical if an semi-auto ban comes up.  We’ll lose some of these yes votes, who represent politicians trying to split the middle on guns on an issue important to NRA, but not likely to be noted too heavily by the folks back home.  But we got the Senate on record, and soon the House.  That is tremendously valuable to us heading into the 2010 midterms.  We have to pick up pro-gun seats in 2010.  Don’t for a minute believe politicians like Obama, Pelosi, and their ilk won’t kneecap us at the earliest opportunity. The votes aren’t there right now, and we have to keep things that way.

For now, things are looking better than I thought. Congress didn’t just run from Holder’s remarks, they got in the car and peeled out in the opposite direction, choking him on burnt rubber.  This is not behavior politicians exhibit toward an ineffectual organization, especially after such a stunning blow in 2008.  But you know what?  I don’t credit NRA for this. They were just willing to exploit it on The Hill.  The credit goes to the millions of people getting active, buying guns, buying ammo, renewing their NRA memberships, getting concealed carry licenses, and generally engaging in activities that make politicians take notice.  NRA is nothing without engaged members, and at the end of the day, that’s what the politicians are really afraid of.  Let’s keep it that way.

Looks like both Pelosi and Reid are making it clear:

“Senator Reid would oppose an effort (to) reinstate the ban if the Senate were to vote on it in the future,” Manley told The Hill in an e-mail late Thursday night.

It was not immediately clear whether Reid would block the bill from the Senate, but his opposition casts serious doubt on its chances. Also, Manley noted that Reid voted against the ban in 1994 and again when it expired in 2004.

Don’t let this lull you into a sense of complacency.  We still have enemies in the Senate.  Diane Feinstein is vowing to continue fighting for a new assault weapons ban.  She won’t stop.  The progressives are formulating a plan to start replacing moderate and blue dog Democrats with solid progressives, and they will raise millions of dollars to do so.  The 2010 midterms are going to be vitally important.

Kirsten, Kirsten, why have thou forsaken me?   Gillibrand voted no on the DC gun rights amendment.  I think at this point, it is safe to say that my public advocacy for her is at an end.  In the battle to influence Gilly, and convince her to keep her A rating on the gun issue, gun owners in New York and elsewhere have lost, and the New York Times, Newsday, and Michael Bloomberg have won.

I do not regret my early advocacy for her.  She came out of the house with an A-rating and a solid, if not long record of being pro-gun, including supporting key issues like ATF reform, Tiahrt, Heller, DC gun rights, and other things.  She is still likely to be better than the likely Democratic or Republican alternatives.  New York is not Tennessee, Texas, or even Pennsylvania on the gun issue.  It will be a long road back to somebody like Al D’Amato for New York gun owners.

It is a stark lesson that principles often take a back seat in politics.  I’ve had it on good word from people who have dealt with Kirsten Gillibrand that she was a real believer in the Second Amendment, and I have little doubt she is, but she’s obviously more of a believer in winning elections.  She’s early in her political career, and has been elevated, with very little money in her campaign fund, to a state wide Senatorial office.  She’s facing the very real prospect of a primary challenge from the left, followed up by a tough battle against her Republican opponent.  She will likely never be more politically weak than she is right now, and she might, ultimately, end up defeated.  I still hold out the possibility that the Kirsten Gillibrand who emerges from all this, won’t be anti-gun, but for now, she’s on her own.  If gun owners in New York want to make the strategic move of supporting her because she’s better than the awful alternatives, that’s up to them, but she has a lot to make up to me before I’ll support her again.

The Philadelphia Inquirer laments how difficult it is to pass even minor gun control laws in Pennsylvania in response to another shooting of a Philadelphia Police officer (happy ending — dead bad guy, live cop).  You know what would do a lot to protect the city’s police officers?  Locking up bad guys.  The man who shot Detective Ford was this guy.

Maybe one of the reasons it’s so hard to pass gun control in Pennsylvania is because we might have a point when we suggest the city is not even using the laws it already has to lock up violent and dangerous individuals.  If you refuse to prosecute dangerous individuals who commit gun crimes, how are more laws the city won’t use going to help?  If the City had prosecuted the gun crime Robinson committed, he would have been in state prison.  He would not have been on the streets to shoot at police officers.

Looks like Ray Schoenke of the fake American Hunters and Shooters Association is worried his buddy Obama might make a fool out of him.

A neighboring school district seems to be building an air rifle range:

Bensalem High School will soon have a marksmanship training site for the school’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

The Bensalem school board agreed Wednesday night to allow the site to be established in a vacant area above the high school pool.

Currently, officers’ training corps students go off-site to train with the air rifles, but transportation has been an issue because the kids had to get there on their own after school, district officials said.

The on-site training area will enable students to train with the 1.77-millimeter air rifles five days a week, Superintendent James Lombardo said. The more time they have to practice, the more competitive they can be during marksmanship competitions, he said.

Well, OK, they got 1.77mm wrong, it’s .177 caliber in English units, or 4.5mm in metrics.  You can’t expect too much of reporters on guns.  But I’m happy to hear the local high school will have an airgun range.  Hopefully they won’t have any people objecting like they did in San Diego.

Air guns are a great way to get people into the shooting sports.  The equipment to get started is inexpensive, ammunition is cheap, and you can easily practice in your basement if you have one (which I don’t, unfortunately).  I got my start on air guns as a kid.  I didn’t own my own firearm until I was 26, and that was only because I was pissed off at Bill Clinton trying to ban them.  Then I remembered I used to enjoy shooting, and it was trouble for my bank account from that point forward.

If we are to have a new generation of shooters, we should be working to help get airgun teams at our local schools.

Redstate takes a look at it, and concludes that Obama wildly miscalculated on the issue.  I think he did too.

I’m told that there’s been a pro-gun amendment attached to the bill giving DC representation in Congress. It basically guts Washington DC gun control regulations, and preempts City Council from further regulation. The amendment passed 62-36.

I am also hearing that Holder’s comments were instrumental in helping bring this issue back up, and picking up the votes it needed. So thanks Eric! We really appreciate the help getting this amendment tacked on to a must-pass bill for the Democrats!

This bill is too important for the Democrats for Obama not to sign it. It is a giveaway to an important political constituency, the part of it that gives DC representation is also completely unconstitutional to boot! So that part is likely to be thrown out by the courts.

Looks like today has gone from gloomy to pretty good!

UPDATE: Yep, NRA confirms there’s indeed been a vote.  If DC wants representation, they have to follow the Constitution.

UPDATE: Final bill passes the Senate with 61 votes.

I thought MagPul’s folding subgun design was an original idea when they introduced the concept at SHOT 2008.  But it turns out the idea has been around for a while.  This video demonstrates an earlier folding subgun design.  Old enough there are a few transferrable ones out there.  I can’t imagine they are cheap, though:

There’s a “Tea Party” protest in Philadelphia tomorrow at Independence Hall.  I am sending Bitter along as the Snowflakes in Hell intrepid on-the-scene reporter.  I will not be able to attend, unfortunately, due to work.

It might not seem like it, but these tea party protests are actually a very good thing for gun rights, even though they have nothing to do with them.  They are apt to worry the Democrats about the 2010 elections if they are seeing organized protests over economic issues this early into the 111th Congress.  That makes them less likely to take on other contentious issues before the midterms.  Make plans to attend if you have time and can get off work.

Are they really getting that worried on the London Stock Exchange?

Don’t let this stop you from contacting your Critters, but this is welcome news:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tossed cold water on the prospect of reinstating the assault weapons ban, highlighting Democrats’ reluctance to take on gun issues.

Attorney General Eric Holder raised the prospect Wednesday that the administration would push to bring back the ban. But Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated on Thursday that he never talked to her. The Speaker gave a flat “no” when asked if she had talked to administration officials about the ban.

“On that score, I think we need to enforce the laws we have right now,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “I think it’s clear the Bush administration didn’t do that.”

That’s not a clear “we’re not going to do it,” but it’s about as close as you’ll get from Pelosi.  Keep pressure on Congress.  I will be doing a more detailed analysis later to see which critters should be targeted for calls, letters, etc.  That’s not to say all them shouldn’t be, but some are more important than others.  If the “blue dog” dems get hounded (no pun intended) with calls just from Holder opening his yap, it gives them a reason to remind the White House and leadership not to put them in a difficult spot.  It makes it less likely we’ll have to fight a bill.

Hat Tip to Blog o Stuff

Gillibrand is changing her position on Tiahrt, but still sticking to her “needs to fixed” language:

Gillibrand acknowledged backing Tiahrt’s repeal by signing the letter, an aide said, but denied making a 180-degree turn on the measure. Gillibrand said instead that Tiahrt needs to be “fixed.

“I have always supported law enforcement having access to all of the information they need to keep us safe, fight against gun violence and keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” she said in a statement.

Gillibrand said there is language in Tiahrt that “specifically says that it will not limit data sharing for law enforcement.”

But she said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others “have made clear that the law does, on occasion, obstruct information-sharing for law enforcement.”

I don’t regret donating to her, because she’ll still be better than than likely alternatives.  McCarthy as a Senator would be a disaster for us.  If this is the issue she picked to part with us on, that’s fine if it helps her avoid a primary challenge from the left.  But it calls into question her reliability on other gun rights issues, and is why I put her down as a maybe on the AWB.  Remember that one of her predecessors, Al D’Amato, voted against the 1994.  It’s not out of the question that she will stick with us on that.  We need to pressure her, and give her reasons not to vote yes.

Cemetery’s Gun Blog watched the debate on the Senate floor, and has a summary of it.

Yesterday was the 173rd anniversary of Colt’s patent for the revolver, originally issued February 25th, 1836.  Blog-O-Stuff has the patent info.

Apparently there will be a new issue of the state quarters done by the US Mint.  Massachusetts is letting people vote on a National Historical Site to appear on the back of their quarter.   GunPundit has a really good suggestion for how you should vote.  Scroll down to Hampden County to find it.

Not even looking at the house, I’m not honestly sure that Obama has the votes in the Senate to pass an assault weapons ban.  I mostly agree with Countertop’s list, so we’ll use that.  Here’s some likely no votes from the Democrats, italics mean they are up in 2010:

Baucus, Max (D – MT)
Bayh, Evan (D – IN)
Begich, Mark (D – AK)
Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D – PA)
Landrieu, Mary L. (D – LA)
Reid, Harry (D – NV)
Tester, Jon (D – MT)
Warner, Mark R. (D – VA)
Webb, Jim (D – VA)
Feingold, Russel (D-WI)

I will make one change from Countertop’s list.  I think Feingold is a maybe.  He’s not been a great supporter lately, but he did vote against the ban in 1994. SayUncle notes that Feingold voted against the renewal in 2004, so he’s a likely no.  Countertop’s original judgment has been reinstated.  The following Democrats are maybes:

Dorgan, Byron L. – (D – ND)
Johnson, Tim – (D – SD)
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. – (D – NY)
Lincoln, Blanche L. – (D – AR)
Nelson, Ben – (D – NE)
Pryor, Mark L. – (D – AR)
Udall, Mark – (D – CO)
Udall, Tom – (D – NM)

Even if a lot of those maybes would be nos, many of them will not want to have to cast a vote on this issue, and will probably apply pressure to the leadership to not bring up a bill so they don’t have to.  Even if you lose a few Republicans, and I think Snowe and Collins are possible defectors (Specter I think we keep.  The politics don’t work for him voting yes.), you still have a strong possibility of defeating this in the Senate.  Remember, that in 1994, this started in the Senate.  Despite the fact that we have more Democrats this time, the makeup looks different from a gun rights point of view.  Obama will have to burn considerable political capital to get his assault weapons ban.  If your Senator is on that maybe list, contact them about Holder’s remarks, and make sure they understand you expect them to vote no on any assault weapons bill before the Senate.

Oklahoma Democrat, Dan Boren, is forming a Second Amendment Task Force in The House, which “will be charged with monitoring legislation regarding the Second Amendment during the 111th Congress.”  Jason Altmire, from the Pennsylvania delegation, is also in the group.

The group is bipartisan.  Might be a wise idea to contact your Congress Critter and ask him to join Boren’s task force.  This sends a message to the Administration and Pelosi that this is not an issue to bring up in the 111th Congress.

Since Obama’s Administration advocates curtailing the constitutional rights of Americans because Mexico can’t control their border, or get their criminal cartels under control, I thought it would be useful to round up some of the news on the topic.

From the New York Times today:

The gun laws in the United States allow the sale of multiple military-style rifles to American citizens without reporting the sales to the government, and the Mexicans search relatively few cars and trucks going south across their border.

Sorry, but that’s just not true.  I can show you the form you’re supposed to use to report it.  Multiple sales are reported to the government.  No wonder the NYT are bankrupt. Justin points out in the comments it’s for handguns.  I didn’t register the rifles part.  I’d dock myself a day of pay if I got paid to do this :)

Once again, from the paper of making up the record.

Officials in Arizona this week said a gun battle last November in Nogales, Sonora, just across the border in Mexico, left the police there running out of ammunition. A top police official was also killed there that month one day after attending a cross-border law enforcement conference in Tucson, while Ciudad Juárez, just across from El Paso, has emerged as one of that country’s bloodiest towns.

Maybe the Mexican police haven’t been attending enough US gun shows.  From the sounds of media articles, you can apparently buy all the grenades, rockets, mines, and mortars you could need!

According to MS-NBC:

At a press conference announcing the arrests, Holder also suggested that re-instituting a U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons would help reduce the bloodshed in Mexico, where last year 6,000 people were killed in drug-related violence.

U.S. officials have a responsibility to make sure Mexican police “are not fighting substantial numbers of weapons, or fighting against AK-47s or other similar kinds of weapons that have been flowing to Mexico,” Holder said.

So we are going to lose our gun rights because our government can’t secure its borders, and the Mexican government can’t secure law and order and weed out corruption in its military, which is no doubt a large source of firearms for drug cartels.

Interestingly enough, it was not in his prepared remarks, so it must have been in a question. This is from the Administration, folks.  Obama may be willing to burn political capital on this issue.  Get ready.

UPDATE: Exact quote [previous article changed, quote now can be found here] “As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,” Mr. Holder said. “I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.”

Remember 1994.  That’s all I have to say.  We’ll do it again.  Don’t believe us?  Try it.

UPDATE: Wayne LaPierre will make an appearance on Cam and Company in a few minutes to talk about this.  Tune in to NRANews.com

Texas Republicans need to stop this crap:

“While the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way we communicate and do business, its limitless nature offers anonymity that has opened the door to criminals looking to harm innocent children,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said at a press conference on Thursday. “Keeping our children safe requires cooperation on the local, state, federal, and family level.”

Joining Cornyn was Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who said such a measure would let “law enforcement stay ahead of the criminals.”

Two bills have been introduced so far–S.436 in the Senate and H.R.1076 in the House. Each of the companion bills is titled “Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today’s Youth Act,” or Internet Safety Act.

Each contains the same language: “A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user.”

Technologically, that’s next to impossible to enforce, since user information is not currently built into any of the technologies.  It would require businesses and providers to add an extra layer of authentication onto their networks.  In other words, this is an IT nightmare of epic proportions, not even mentioning the civil liberties implications.  Republicans have been driving educated voters from their party in hoards, and it’s especially true in the Philadelphia Suburbs, which even a decade ago was considered a Republican stronghold.  Measures like this is part of the reason why.  I believe the Texas delegation ought to seriously rethink the implications of this bill on the party as a whole.

Kiddie Porn is becoming the new drug war.  There’s no civil liberty or aspect of commerce that where federal meddling can’t be justified in order to stamp it out.  Next time Steele comes soliciting for funds, I might have to send a copy of this bill back in the envelope with “no thanks” written on it.

Hat Tip to War on Guns for the link.