HR 308 - Updates For March

Another month and some more fellow travelers have signed on to Carolyn McCarthy's HR 308 which would ban standard capacity magazines.

The newest co-sponsors who signed on yesterday are:

Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6] - 3/1/2011
Rep Sanchez, Loretta [CA-47] - 3/1/2011
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] - 3/1/2011

You may remember Rep. Hank Johnson as the Congressman who questioned whether redeploying more Marines to Guam would cause the island to tip over and capsize. How Adm. Robert Willard, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, kept a straight face in response is beyond me.

As to Rep. Loretta Sanchez, you may remember that in an interview on a Spanish-language radio station in fall 2010, she accused "the Vietnamese" of trying to steal her seat from Hispanics. She eventually apologized for that gaffe. In January, Sanchez attempted to get Gabby Giffords removed from the House Armed Services Committee while she was recovering from her wounds. As you can imagine, that didn't go over too well.

I guess Carolyn McCarthy is not too picky about her bill's supporters. As it is, not one Republican - not even Rep. Peter King (R-NY) - has signed on to her bill. No hearings have been scheduled on the bill which was referred to the House Judiciary Subcomittee on Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on February 7th.

Is Nothing Sacred? (updated with letter)

The Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General's Office says the Illinois State Police must release the names of all FOID card holders to the Associated Press.

According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois State Police have always kept the names of the FOID card holders private. The State Police had argued that releasing this information would violate the privacy of the FOID card holders and should be exempted from the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. This argument was overruled by the Public Access Counselor.

The letter was released on Monday night but it is not yet up on the Attorney General's website. I have requested a copy of the letter from the Office of the Public Access Counselor. If I can get it, I will post it here.

Given that to possess a firearm in the state of Illinois one must have a FOID card, this list gives the press the name and address of every registered gun owner in the state. If something like this were to be published, criminals would be given a shopping list of houses ripe for break-ins. A contrarian view might be that crooks would know which houses could be more dangerous to hit because the owner is armed. Frankly, I lean more towards the former than the latter.

UPDATE: As I noted above, I requested a copy of the letter from the Public Access Counselor. I just received it this morning. I have embedded the full 8-page letter below.

FOID Letter - 10313 Rfr f Pb Ex Improper Sa

As Seen On TV

Robb Allen of Sharp as a Marble blog is interviewed by ABC Action News in Tampa about his support for a change in Florida law that would allow open carry. Despite his claim to have a face made for radio, I think he acquits himself and open carry just fine.

Congratulations Robb!

Arkansas Moves To Protect Gun Rights During An Emergency

On Monday, the Arkansas General Assembly sent SB 115 to Gov. Mike Beebe (Democrat) for his signature. The bill passed both houses of the General Assemby in overwhelming and bipartisan fashion. The House vote was 89-0 with nine not voting and the Senate vote was 29-5 with one not voting.

This bill, if signed by the Governor, would do two thing to preserve gun rights in the State of Arkansas. First, it clarifies the prohibition against any city, county, town, or other local unit from suing any firearms manufacturer, dealer, or trade association except for breach of contract or warranty.

Second, and more importantly, the bill would prevent any local body from enacting any emergency ordinance to regulate the the transfer, transportation, or carrying of a firearm or its parts.

Now if the North Carolina General Assembly would follow the lead of Arkansas and amend our laws regarding firearms during emergencies, I'd be a  happy camper.


Arkansas SB 115 - Regulation of Firearms by Local Governments

More On Microstamping In Massachusetts

Jim Wallace of the Gun Owners Action League is interviewed on Cam & Company regarding the microstamping bill.

If Utah And Arizona Can Adopt State Guns, Then So Should North Carolina

Both Utah and Arizona are moving to adopt State Guns. The Utah Legislature has passed a bill to make the John Moses Browning designed Model 1911 the official State Gun. This bill is only awaiting Gov. Gary Herbert.

Meanwhile in Arizona, the Arizona Legislature is considering adopting the Colt Single Action Army revolver as their official State Gun.

In this spirit, I propose that the Tar Heel State recognize the important contributions that one of its native sons, David Marshall "Carbine" Williams, made to the development of the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1 or, as it is better known, the M-1 Carbine by adopting it as the official State Firearm.

It is estimated that over 6.5 million M-1 Carbines including all variants (M-1, M-2, M-3, paratrooper) were made by military contractors. The U.S. military used these carbines in WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Manufacturers included GM (Inland and Saginaw Divisions), IBM, Underwood, National Postal Meter, Rock-Ola, Winchester, Irwin-Pederson, Commercial Controls, Standard Products, and Quality Hardware.

While there is some controversy about Carbine Williams contribution to the final product, it did include his short-stroke gas piston and was a scaled down version of an earlier prototype in .30-06 designed by Williams.

PFC Ted Gundy, WWII Sniper, Can Still Deliver The Shot

With modern equipment, 84-year old WWII sniper, Ted Gundy can still deliver the shot. He had a 5 inch group at 1,000 yards. And they were all head shots.

Definitely the Greatest Generation.

Simple Addition Is Beyond Mayor Daley

Watching Mayor Daley at this press conference with Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) calling for more gun control reminds me of the Genesis song I Can't Dance from their We Can't Dance album. Just substitute "I can't add, I can't do math" for "I can't dance, I can't talk" and you have Mayor Daley.

Daley claims that 100,000 people are "shot and killed with a gun" every year on average. He makes this remark at the .25 mark of the video.

However, if you take the numbers from their own posters - 34 - and multiply that by 365, you only get 12,410. That is a far cry from 100,000. Even when you add in suicides and gun-related accidental deaths, the annual number has averaged 32,000 deaths for the years 1980-2006. This last number is from the University of Pennsylvania's Firearm and Injury Center at Penn. FICAP has received $600,000 from the Joyce Foundation over that past few years to come up with that number.