Snowflakes in Hell

This IPSC like stage with submachine guns looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Seems the winning strategy is to have a drum mag of some kind. The folks with .22LR submachine guns seem to do well just mowing down the bowling pins:

Courtesy of Vegas Shooters. Click here if you can’t see the embedded link above.

UPDATE: Sorry folks, I didn’t realize it was set to auto play. Next time that happens let me know. I will never intentionally set up anything to auto play on this blog. If you see it, it’s a mistake.

The Bucks County Courier Times covers the 1 million dollars donation by Barker too, and includes this:

Barker said he believes “the good citizens in Pennsylvania would be embarrassed if they knew in detail just how horrific these pigeon shoots are,” Barker said. “These are not hunters. They’re assassins.”

Assassins kill people. Birds are not people. Whether pigeon shooting is right or wrong, it’s not the moral equivalent to murdering humans, sorry.

For years, Barker said, “I’ve heard the same thing from everyone that is tormenting animals. There are thousands of people who are helping with every disease and the children of Haiti, but there are very few who are giving any money to help animals,” Barker said. “That’s what I do.

“I wonder how much the members of the gun club have given for the children of Haiti,” Barker added.

How many children in Haiti would that cool million have helped Bob? Don’t play that moral card with us, asshole. You’re donating a million to save fucking pigeons. There’s nothing particularly noble about that. If you have a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, why not donate it to children in Haiti? If it’s because the pigeons are important to you, you have no moral room to disparage others who also feel passionately about the pigeons… err… as targets.

Even if protesters somehow managed to shut down the pigeon shoots, that wouldn’t save the birds, Corr said. “The pigeons in question have been trapped as pests and are in line for extermination,” according to Corr. “The pest control companies usually accomplish this by asphyxiation, more precisely by sealing the trap with plastic and then introducing carbon dioxide gas.”

One could perhaps argue that’s more humane than shooting them, but the point that pigeons are vermin is a valid one. They will be killed one way or the other. What makes Leo Holt particularly more reprehensible than the pest control workers who kill the pigeons by gassing them to death or poisoning them?

Keep in mind that I have no issue with groups putting social pressure on PGC to cease their pigeon shoots, and wouldn’t even have a problem with Bob Barker lending his celebrity to the cause. But that million will go to lobbying — lobbying for a ban that’s going to ban many forms of dog training, among other things as well, including putting pigeon shooters in prison. Social pressure is fine, but I do not advocate the government coming in and forcing one group’s moral preferences on another. Isn’t that what folks get uppity about the religious right for?

I’m not generally one to make calls for unity, probably because I think some degree of debate and disagreement within the community is healthy and understandable. But I have to agree with Dave Hardy on this one:

There are three ways to reach Second Amendment incorporation, at least two of which have present and powerful advocates. I can only say that I’m in correspondence with both, and they really wish there could be an end to to conflict. Bottom line: if the three routes to incorporation each got two votes, it’s still a 6-3 and a win, the other side is left to ponder that “almost” only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades, and the winner who favors one route or another has some votes (for the first time in my lifetime) on which to build. They’re going into the fight of their lives, no OUR lives, and don’t need the distractions. We can all engage in internecine battles after oral argument, or better yet, the decision. For now they need to concentrate.

Hardy is, of course, speaking about the conflict brought about by this, which is one of the reasons I felt it was a poor course of action; that it would promote a conflict at a time when we did not need one. That’s spilled into the blogosphere a bit with statements said here, here, here, and here. However, I agree with Dave, there’s no bad way to win this, the important thing is that we win.

Tonight, Arlen Specter said he would endorse a constitutional amendment limiting corporate spending. Not corporate spending on campaigns. Just corporate spending.

I don’t know where to begin.

Bob Barker is donating a million dollars to an animal rights group to fight for a pigeon shooting ban in Pennsylvania, and suggesting he’s going to join protestors outside of Philadelphia Gun Club. I have not been very supportive of Philadelphia Gun Club on this issue, and I consider to believe they are a liability on this issue, but nor am I a fan of the proposed ban HSUS is floating in Pennsylvania, largely because it will also ban many of the methods used in the training of hunting dogs, as well as other completely legitimate sporting activities in the Commonwealth.

The politics of this issue is difficult, because as the ban currently is must be opposed. But I have other, ancillary concerns with it as well. If a ban comes before the legislature, we have a number of local politicians who will likely part from NRA on this issue, even though on other issues they would be otherwise good. I don’t want them to get in the habit of having to go against NRA, especially when I know doing that isn’t likely to hurt them much considering the suburban makeup of the local gun community (most of whom don’t do pigeon shooting, or even hunting dog training for that matter). The only hope is to keep this bottled up in committee so they don’t have to vote on it. Philadelphia Gun Club is making it more likely there’s going to be a vote.

For the record, Pennsylvania is not the only state that still has pigeon shoots. The animal rights folks are lying in order to embarrass us on that count. But Philadelphia Gun Club is the only club in a suburban area doing them. While I understand the club has been around for a long time, and has been doing live pigeon shoots nearly as long, I think they are doing the shooting sports and hunters a grave disservice by continuing to hold live pigeon shoots in an area where it’s not possible to be discrete about it, and where the surrounding culture is not going to be supportive of the practice.

PAFOA thread on the topic here. Looks like several people are already on top of it. I do offer a bit of cautionary warning about open carrying to the public meeting, but that aside, this thread is only a day old, and it’s great to see people organizing against it in such a short amount of time. There’s a simple message I would suggest folks try to deliver to Radnor Township Supervisors:

• Lost and Stolen ordinances have been passed across the state, but there has not been a single criminal prosecution under any of them.
• It is the opinion of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania that these ordinances are unlawful under state law.
• These laws have not been shown to be effective at reducing crime or reducing straw purchasing. These ordinances are being promoted by gun control proponents with a hidden agenda.

That’s essentially what I would focus on when confronting the Township Supervisors. Keep ancillary issues like open carry out of the equation, and not give the media any reason to focus on them, or to try to sell the pro-gun presence there as “intimidation”. The goal is to convince them that activists on the other side are playing them as fools, and that they would be inserting themselves into a contentious social issue for no good reason. Township level politicians aren’t used to controversy, and don’t typically seek it out. Give them controversy, plant doubt, and they will fold.

Jacob points out that New York Newsday, a Long Island based paper that is very anti-gun, is having some stellar success with their new online subscriber model. A revenue busting thirty five members have subscribed to the paper so far. Hell, I could probably raise more revenue than that for this blog if I put up a tip jar and begged for donations. Maybe they should have just started a blog.

Dave Hardy has an excellent summary of the reply briefs in the McDonald case.  These are the briefs filed by the Petitioners (McDonald et al. represented by Alan Gura) and the Respondents in Support of the Petitioners (NRA represented by Stephen Poss and Stephen Halbrook), an excerpt:

The Steves (Halbrook and Poss), briefing for NRA, put their main weight on this clause. Chicago’s claims are paradoxical — that infringing a right can contribute to “ordered liberty.” Its idea of ordered liberty is that of a police state, order always triumphs over liberty. It claims falsely that the 14th Amendment is all about equality, not only equality of rights but equality of their infringement. Presumably, Chicago thinks the Black Codes would have been no problem if their oppressions applied to everyone. The framers of the 14th Amendment would beg to disagree.

Go read the whole thing. I haven not yet had time to read any of the briefs yet, and I don’t know when I will given my work schedule, but I am going to try to be present in DC for the McDonald case. Still deciding whether I want to camp outside.

I admit it, I love following the Brady Campaign on social media outlets. I don’t pick on every little thing they do, but every once in a while, they just beg for it. Today, Paul put up a post on the blog no one reads on the problems of musicians glorifying violence. The only reason I saw it was because it had a mildly witty title that tweeted out with it.

Now, if Paul was truly serious about violence promoted by musicians, his efforts are laughable. He doesn’t call for any action other than watching more Brady-produced propaganda. There’s no threat to raise hell about what this teaches kids. He just asks people to give him more YouTube views. Woo-freakin’-hoo. Way to stand up for the cause there, Paulie.

“Yo Paul, I’m gonna let you finish, but Heston had one of the best rap-violence condemnations of all time.”

So I ask: Who is more effective? Charlton Heston putting his career on the line to pressure Time Warner to drop Ice-T or Paul putting up a blog post that no one reads asking people to watch a video.

It just goes to show that if the Brady Campaign was truly serious about addressing the problem of violence – and how it is embraced so casually in the entertainment world – they would take a serious stand. But considering how Paul runs to Hollywood for his fundraising dollars, I doubt we’ll ever see such a condemnation.

I did a post a few days ago about the Facebook presences of a few anti-gun groups providing some good reasoned discourse opportunity. As of now Heeding God’s Call has a whopping 96 Facebook Fans, which is better than 62, which is the number for CeaseFire Pennsylvania.

My friend Dan, who runs PAFOA, decided to start a new media initiative in the middle of January, and made it a goal to get to 1000 fans for PAFOA by the end of the month. Currently that number stands at 1900. He’s since had to revise his goal to reach 2000 by the end of the month. Here’s the PAFOA Facebook page, so if you’re on Facebook, go become a fan and help embarrass the Pennsylvania gun control groups.

It doesn’t make a good Michael Moore post unless you can show he’s a hypocrite. Fortunately, Moore gives us plenty of fodder.

Michael Moore’s latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story – which bashes taxpayer bailouts of big Wall Street companies – was itself the recipient of taxpayer subsidies from the state of Michigan, the Mackinac center reports. Moore previously bashed the film tax credit program, calling it a handout for big Hollywood production companies.

I guess it is only objectionable when taxpayers are forced to subsidize other rich fat cats.

The House Speaker, that is.

It reads like a dream order for a wild frat party: Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey … and Corona beer.

But that single receipt makes up just part of the more than $101,000 taxpayers paid for “in-flight services” – including food and liquor, for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trips on Air Force jets over the last two years. That’s almost $1,000 per week.

I could use a spare bottle of Grey Goose if she’s got a bottle (or even half!) laying around. I just got our sampler of vanilla beans from around the world in, and now the 2 cups of extract I planned to make aren’t going to be nearly enough.

Dave Hardy points to his original 1974 law review on the Second Amendment. He scanned the whole paper if you want to read it. Pretty interesting.

It seems that Hell just dropped a few degrees. I don’t know how else to describe the prospect of Massachusetts getting a single license issuing authority that removes the discretion of local police. I admit that I don’t pay close attention to things in the Bay State anymore, but wow. Just wow.

I realize that most of you read that and wonder what kind of gun rights hell that describes, and why I would consider it a good thing. Consider that when someone I know described the gun laws of Massachusetts to a Pennsylvania gun owner, the guy didn’t even believe that it was in America. He knew the state was part of this country, but he assumed the laws described were from a country that has a near ban on ownership. Baby steps don’t even begin to describe how reform happens in Massachusetts.

If the New Jersey AG or California AG declare this is a certified smart gun, it will be the only gun you’re allowed to buy in either of those states. Fortunately, Jerry Brown has been more friendly on the issue lately, and we just had an administration change in New Jersey. Nonetheless, it’s interesting how much it costs, and it’s only a .22LR.

Normally they just let bills that aren’t going anywhere languish in committee, but the Virginia House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee held a vote and voted it down 4-1. This kills the bill. They also killed a bill that would have weakened preemption considerably. This means the bills are dead, and sends an effective message that gun control will find no welcome in the Old Dominion. Obviously some folks are upset.

In a world of politics where it’s rare to see a candidate take a strong stand on any position and actually mean it, I suppose that I should find Joe Hoeffel’s dedication to abortion admirable – at least as a matter of not being afraid to be clear on his positions. But for a guy who wants to win a state that’s more of a purple shade of blue rather than bright blue, you’d think he would have figured out that his enthusiasm for a controversial issue isn’t exactly going to win him many votes.

Most pro-choicers I know are not ardent pro-choice advocates. While they are unlikely to vote for a candidate who wants to ban all abortions, they are also not likely to carry water for those who take a Kang-like dedication to “abortions for all.”

So I really have to wonder exactly what Hoeffel’s strategy on this issue is for his race for governor. He can’t possibly think there’s a constituency for it. The abortion issue and related links made up 28 of his last 60 tweets. I can’t fathom anyone who actually thinks that abortion is such an important issue today that it justifies nearly 50% of a campaign’s social media outreach. There are no big controversial abortion bills on the floor of either the state legislature or Congress. Even if he survives the Democratic primary, there’s really nothing the next governor will be able to do for either side of the issue. Hoeffel has just gone nuts on this non-issue, and I can’t fathom whose votes he believes it will win. At this rate, I fully expect him to show up at the next campaign stop with a Planned Parenthood abortion pride t-shirt on.

Chuckie Schumer is dropping in the polls. I’m sure Chuck can count on the anti-gun vote to save him. All he has to do is ask his buddies Jon and Martha. I don’t want to be too optimistic, but it would be awfully nice to run the Scott Brown treatment on Schumer. I’d love to send one of the major architects of gun control legislation for the past two decades packing.

Bill Schneider, who backed Obama in the election, is now coming out with “I told you so” articles, saying how great Obama has been for gun rights. While I will give Mr. Schneider the benefit of agreeing that Obama has kept his word to moderate Dems like Tester, Baucus, and Webb, to lay off the gun issue, I think he’s blind to the bigger picture.

Obviously he’s not following the Brady machinations, who are quickly realizing they flushed their endorsement of Obama down the toilet. They weren’t fools. They looked at his record just like we did and drew the appropriate conclusions. He’s also incorrect that the Ensign Amendment repealed anything (it was amended on the DC voting rights bill, which is being held up by Democratic leadership because they hate the gun amendment). He’s overlooking that Obama only signed pro-gun legislation because it was amended onto must-pass legislation, that Obama wouldn’t have had much room for exercising a veto. These amendments were a partnership between Republicans and pro-gun Democrats, and not anything pushed or desired by the White House or Pelosi.

I have to admit that to the extent that Obama made deals with pro-gun Dems to lay off the issue, he’s kept his word. The assertion that Obama is pro-gun, or good for gun rights, is as ridiculous now as it was before the election. His history on this issue is not one of respecting the Second Amendment. While he’s not done anything to us, he’s also not done anything for us. If Bill Schneider wants us to praise a Democrat for helping us get pro-gun legislation through the House and past the Oval Office, he should be telling us to praise Harry Reid, not President Obama.

We typically attend a couple of Friends of the NRA dinners a year, but last year we missed them all. The family in Bucks County that always organizes it (and complains about how much work it is while turning away volunteer help), seems to have dropped the event last year. The New Jersey dinner we have attended in the past was held the same night as another event we planned to attend, so that was just a planning issue.

This year, I’d like to get back into the habit of attending them. We’re by no means high bidders in auctions, but we’ll usually spend some dough on games and a silent auction item. Lucky for us, we learned in a conversation with the Field Rep in 2008 that there’s usually a Philadelphia dinner in the spring.

Unfortunately, when I went to check out the list of dinners scheduled for the next few months, it would seem that the Philadelphia dinner is not mentioned. I presume that if there is going to be a spring event, it would already be well into the planning stages. Hopefully they just bumped it back to later in the year. I’d hate to think that the shooting sports, youth programs, women’s outreach, and range support programs have no friends left in Philadelphia. (We won’t know whether there are friends left in Bucks County until later this year since that dinner was regularly held in the fall.)

Obama: I Hate The Perpetual Campaign. Please Donate Now.

I’m always a fan of a good headline.

When an Oregon paper editorializes that Obama’s pro-gun moves have been sensible, it really has to chap hides over at the Brady Campaign. That’s partially because the paper otherwise supports the anti-gun agenda and is willing to give a pass on some issues, but also because even when they take our side, the facts are wrong. It’s rather funny, actually.

The anti-Second Amendment group last week criticized Obama for “continuing concessions to the ‘guns anywhere’ mentality of the gun lobby.”
…
The restriction in national parks was unenforceable, and lifting it has caused no harm as far as has been reported.

Likewise, the Amtrak ban on transporting guns in checked baggage was nonsensical on its face, considering that the only people it affected were legitimate hunters and competitive shooters traveling to marksmanship matches. It forced these people to transport their equipment on the highways instead of taking the train. Criminals, on the other hand, if any were taking Amtrak trains, could carry their handguns concealed as they got on the train.

By signing acts of Congress that got rid of these restrictions, Obama did the sensible thing.

So now they’ve been called out on their Chicken Little response to everything we support by a sympathetic group, and that can’t be fun. But the knife has got to hurt a little more since the support for the national park carry is justified by the fact that it hasn’t caused any notable problems. While I doubt it ever will cause problems when it actually takes effect, I’m sure that Peter Hamm is writing a swift response to claim the end of civilization in and around national parks won’t happen until next month. Just wait, that sky will fall soon!

Maybe now the Brady staffers will get a very small dose of what it’s like when the media grandstands on the issue without actually knowing what the hell they are talking about. We’ve been dealing with the problem for years.

Jennifer shares the tale of the day her son learned about no tolerance rules the hard way. I read it in a lesson on just how tolerant Jennifer is of idiots.

I know I could not have restrained my laughter. I also would have advised the vice principal to take me off of speaker phone to let him know exactly what I thought about the situation. But then again, I have little tolerance for the public education system as a whole.

It would seem that Sen. Pat Browne is still hoping to get the Pennsylvania Long Rifle designated as the official state firearm. It’s not clear on how this is an update on the bill which was actually dropped last year.