I Can't Disagree With This Comment

A comment was made on Facebook which I think epitomizes what some of us see as the issue at the NRA.

Chris Meissen wrote in reference to a story in a non-profit journal covering the issues at the NRA:

LaPierre is behaving like a mini-Maduro, dragging the organization down around him while trying to hold on to power.

I think he has hit the nail on the head. Wayne LaPierre's scorched earth approach to maintaining power may be good for Wayne but is horrible for the NRA as an organization. I acknowledge there are many good people on the Board of Directors. Some want Wayne gone and some still support him.

As to why those who still support him do so, I can think of three reasons. You have those who are in thrall of him like NRA President Carolyn Meadows based upon what he did years ago. Then you have those afraid of him for whatever reason. Finally, you have those who fear that with Wayne gone the golden goose will be gone with him. Thus you have the delusional, the fearful, and the greedy keeping Wayne in his position of power at least for the time being.

Comment Of The Day

You may have read about the active shooter event at Topsail High School in Pender County, NC that turned out to be a malfunctioning hot water heater. It made many news sources this morning.

One reader on the Firearms and Politics email list had this comment about it.

Don't relax yet. David Hogg is claiming that the water heater was funded by Russian money funneled through the NRA. Film at 11.

After this week, we need something to laugh about and especially if it is at the expense of the gun prohibitionists.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day has nothing to do with the Indiana primary, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Bernie, or Hillary. You can rest easy now and read it.

Our longtime "friend" Ladd Everett of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) was quoted in a New York Times article regarding the expansion of gun rights in the states and how some police object to it. He said, "“What is alarming to the police is that they have no power to ascertain the potential criminal background of an armed individual until a crime is committed, and by then it is too late."

My friend Josh who is a gun rights activist in California had this comment on Facebook:

You can always count on Laddie to pull the Stasi card...

I think Ladd pines for the days when the Young Pioneers would have been reporting on the subversive activities of their parents to the Committee for State Security. Or in the East German context of Josh's comment, the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation members reporting on Mutti und Vater to the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit.

Comment Of The Day

For a Brit, Charles C. W. Cooke of the National Review gets it on gun control and gun rights. Maybe because his native land has so eviscerated any semblance of gun rights, Cooke is more aware of what is at stake than many Americans. In an article published yesterday in the National Review, he takes on what he calls the "terminal vagueness" of Everytown Moms for Illegal Mayors. When he asks both a Demanding Mommies volunteer and Everytown Communications Director Erika Soto Lamb a direct question regarding whether they support a new AWB or mag restrictions, he gets evasiveness. While one would assume that they would have no problem supporting both of those restrictions, they don't want to go on record.

Cooke concludes that the gun prohibitionists have a problem with being too specific about their intentions and it carries over to their "branding".

While the National Rifle Association has maintained its name and branding since it was founded in 1871, the gun-control movement has gone through names and outfits faster than Prince. Before market research informed its leadership that words matter, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was named first the “National Council to Control Handguns” and then “Handgun Control Inc.” — both of which titles are nice and descriptive but, alas, leave little room for ambiguity. This, evidently, will not do. In a fight in which deception has become paramount — who honestly believes that Everytown would not support an assault-weapons ban? — vocabulary has become king and euphemism indispensable. Gun “control” has thus become gun “safety”; restrictions on ownership have become “gun-violence prevention”; and hard policy has been subordinated to woolly platitude. Michael Bloomberg may have rebranded his effort, but he has not yet managed to stop the truth getting out, nor to prevent his more moderate supporters from recognizing the ruse and bolting. And “a hog in a silk waistcoat,” as Charles Spurgeon famously quipped, is ultimately “still a hog.”

Comment Of The Day

In response to an announcement on Facebook by Cam Edwards that 75,267 people attended the NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Bob Owens (Editor of BearingArms.com) had this to say:

That's only 75,167 more than attended the Moms Demand Illegal Attention rally.

Not to mention that nearly all of those 75,267 who attended the NRA Annual Meeting paid their own way unlike those from Moms Demand Illegal Attention whose travel and lodging was paid for with Bloomberg's money.

People Violence

I guess I could have titled this "Comment of the Day" but the above title more accurately describes this. It is a Facebook post by Sheriff Jim Wilson regarding the knife attack by a student on his fellow students in western Pennsylvania yesterday.

THE RECENT SCHOOL KNIFING TRAGEDY is just a reminder that we are not faced with GUN VIOLENCE in our society. It is PEOPLE VIOLENCE that is causing all the trouble.

The kid could have used a machete, a baseball bat, a firearm, or even a weed whacker to cause harm. Violence is violence regardless of the adjective that precedes it.

UPDATE: I would also point readers to a post by Jim Shepherd at The Outdoor Wire who notes that the usual groups calling for something to be done (e.g. CSGV, Brady, MAIG, Demanding Mommies) are strangely absent from the media after this knife attack.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from Tam. It is about State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and his arrest yesterday for public corruption and arms trafficking. It is deliciously snarky in a way that only the Mistress of Snark could do with her skill and aplomb.

This guy ranting about the dangers of the criminal misuse of firearms is like Jerry Sandusky railing against the touching of little boys.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from Jim Shepherd of The Shooting Wire. He reviews the scathing decision by US District Court Judge John D. Bates in which he found that BATFE had erred in classifying Innovator Enterprises' muzzle brake as a silencer.

Jim ends with this:

Using Judge Bates' comparative critique of the flawed-logic used by the agency in its decision, you could draw the conclusion that possessing three characteristics of a competent police officer (a badge, gun, and arrest powers) wouldn't qualify an individual (or group of similar individuals) to mount complicated investigations where a scrupulous attention to detail, an adherence to the rule of law, or an unswerving dedication to public safety during those investigations were essentials.

Maybe it's just me, but this ruling makes another compelling argument that ATF is an agency in need of a top-to-bottom overhaul.

I think you'd find many rank and file BATFE agents in agreement with Jim's conclusion.

You can read Judge Bate's decision here.

Legal Comment Of The Day

If anyone wonders about the level of firearms ignorance contained within the Obama Administration, read this paragraph filed as part of the legal proceeding against Ares Armor. It is from the US Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura Duffy and AUSA Daniel Butcher.

The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is conducting a lawful criminal investigation of the illegal manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of AK-15 variant lower receivers, which are considered firearms under the Firearms Control Act, 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3).

Now I knew the AK-12 had been developed as the latest iteration of the AK-47 but hadn't heard anything about a AK-15. I wonder if even the Russians know about the AK-15. If not, maybe the US Attorney's Office in San Diego could tell them about it.

David Codrea has much more about the BATFE battle with Ares Armor here and here. Bob Owens at Bearing Arms has a whole series of videos taken of the raid that took place on Friday despite the existence of a restraining order against the BATFE.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from trainer John Farnam of Defense Training International. John is well known for his "quips". In today's "quip", John is discussing the language our opponents use like "governmental interest" and "public safety" and how the police "need" semi-automatic firearms with standard capacity magazines while we don't.

Regarding semi-auto M4 carbines, John has this to say:

In a final act of hypocrisy, M4s issued to state police are always called "Patrol Carbines" Those exact, same M4s, when owned by private citizens, are always called "assault weapons."

I think that captures the essence of the argument about the perversion of language by our opponents.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from Paul Erhardt, Editor, of the Outdoor Digital Wires Network. In a discussion about shooting ranges and the need for new and expanded ranges, Paul has this to say in his Between the Berms column:

Ranges are not simply places to shoot. They are the entertainment interface for firearms. Buying a gun is cool. But if all you do is sit around you house looking at it, drooling and bragging online about the shiny new super-blaster you bought, then you are just collecting guns...and dust.

Taking that gun to the range, shooting with others, even entering competitions, is where we fully exercise our Second Amendment rights. And not only do we exercise them to their fullest, we strengthen our rights.

Ranges are where we turn a new gun owner into a gun enthusiast of the highest order. The role of the range is therefore critical.

 I never thought of a shooting range as "the entertainment interface for firearms" but that is exactly what they are. I remember the first range I ever went to with my best friend in high school. It was little more than a clearing in a power easement with a 100 yard range. I don't remember if it even had any benches. But it was place to shoot and you could plink away to your heart's content. It is where I learned shooting could be fun.

Comment Of The Day

The Senate passed the extension to the Undetectable Firearms Act early yesterday evening. It passed without any extra riders to the everlasting consternation of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

The comment of the day comes from Emily Miller on Facebook who takes note of the fact that President Obama is out of the country attending the funeral of the late South African president Nelson Mandela.

Since Obama is out of the country tonight, the White House will use the autopen to sign the 10-year plastic gun ban extension so it doesn't lapse. So he's using a fake signature to ban a gun that doesn't exist.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day actually comes from this past Saturday. Sebastian had a post on the Melissa Bachman non-controversial lion hunt that has been made into a hate-filled cause ce'le'bre by the world-wide anti-hunting element. Sebastian pointed out the hunting variation of the "I'm a gun owner but..." rationale.

Clayton Cramer had this great comment in the comments section:

Whenever I run into a Fudd, I remind them of one really ugly fact: most of us “extremists” are trying to defend gun rights because of self-defense. If the right to protect yourself from a murderer, rapist, or robber isn’t sufficient reason to own a gun, what makes you think that having a gun for entertainment is going to be a good enough reason?

We all hang together, or we will most assuredly all hang separately.

While a counter-argument could be made that a firearm is necessary to feed one's family, very few people in this country exist anymore on what they hunt or what they gather.

Clayton's assertion that we need to hang together is spot-on. I rarely hunt anymore but I'll defend both meat hunters and trophy hunters against the PETAfiles. I just ask that they try and return the favor.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from a post I did early this morning. Chris Wiggins, co-host of Shooter Ready Radio, and a resident of Pueblo, Colorado gives his explanation of the outcome of the recall elections in Colorado.

Despite what the polls and the party leaders said, I never doubted we would win. If you had been in that first town hall meeting with Giron in March, where we packed a small library with thousands of pro-gun supporters, it was palpable. Initially, the Republican party, the NRA and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners doubted that a recall was even possible. Fortunately, the NRA and GOP had a change of heart, but they obviously weren't at that first town hall meeting--where we saw the beginning of true activist patriotism in this county. This is and always has been a grass roots movement. It was never about party or about realpolitik, it was only about the Second Amendment.

Chris' show airs on Friday afternoons from 4pm until 6pm Mountain Time. You can listen to it on a number of stations in the Pueblo and Colorado Springs area or on the interwebs. I think this Friday's show should have some interesting discussions on the recall elections. As an aside, Chris just so happened to schedule me as a guest on the show before we even knew the outcome.

Comment Of The Day, No. 2

Professor Randy Barnett of Georgetown University Law Center had an excellent op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. In the op-ed, he calls the seizure of private data by the NSA unconstitutional. Barnett goes on to say that the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in compiling a database of our private financial transactions including credit card payments, mortgage transactions, etc. should also be considered a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures".

The comment of the day concerns what should be the proper role of government in relationship to the citizenry: the government is the servant and the people are the masters.

In a republican government based on popular sovereignty, the people are the principals or masters and those in government are merely their agents or servants. For the people to control their servants, however, they must know what their servants are doing.

The secrecy of these programs makes it impossible to hold elected officials and appointed bureaucrats accountable. Relying solely on internal governmental checks violates the fundamental constitutional principle that the sovereign people must be the ultimate external judge of their servants' conduct in office. Yet such judgment and control is impossible without the information that such secret programs conceal. Had it not been for recent leaks, the American public would have no idea of the existence of these programs, and we still cannot be certain of their scope.

Even if these blanket data-seizure programs are perfectly proper now, the technical capability they create makes it far easier for government to violate the rights of the people in the future. Consider why gun rights advocates so vociferously oppose gun registration. By providing the government with information about the location of private arms, gun registries make it feasible for gun confiscation to take place in the future when the political and legal climate may have shifted. The only effective way to prevent the confiscation of firearms tomorrow is to deprive authorities of the means to do so today.

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from Miguel at the Gun Free Zone blog. It is about the George Zimmerman trial. I have followed the case since the beginning but really haven't commented much on it as others have done a much better job. The case is almost to a close with the defense as I write this is making its closing argument. I think this case is a travesty of justice as does Miguel.

So what we have now is a trial so tainted by prosecutorial misconduct and political pressure it has become something you see on TV about kangaroo courts in Third World countries, a very dangerous precedent to have. And I don’t care if you think Zimmerman is guilty and that he should spend the rest of his life in prison, this is not the way that a verdict of guilty should be achieved and we should not be accomplices on the travesty because it will make us feel better. If we let feelings corrupt our rights to a fair and impartial trial, you can bet your life it will be used against others and even yourself.

But by then it will be too late.