51 Senators have called for a policy change carrying firearms in national parks.
There is a word for that, when more of the Senate wants something than the part that doesn’t…what is that word? Oh yes, it’s called a “majority”.
Girls and guns
Well, not exactly young women.
More like Grandma with an MP40.
Heh. “Toodles”.
That should spread around the gunblogs like wildfire.
Bar-Sto Barrels
Question for you guys; I’m looking at replacement/upgraded barrels for my Taurus PT92 (for a few reasons), and really the only ones I can find are from Bar-Sto. The only thing I know about Bar-Sto comes from their unfortunate association with Mall Ninja lore; but beyond that I have no idea if they actually make a quality product that shoots well, or if I’m going to throw 200 bucks away on a crap barrel.
Does anyone out there have experience with Bar-Sto, both in terms of final product quality, ease of installation, and customer service if required?
The barrel is part of a customization project I’m doing on said PT92, which some could argue is silly to customize a $400 gun, but hey, it’s my money.
Nice Present
Sebastian got Bitter one hell of a gift for her birthday.
I’m green with envy, because that is a fantastic .22 LR rifle.
Arsenal laws
I mentioned here that I think that people should get out and buy a black rifle for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being the possibility that they could be banned by any number of the potential presidents that we could have. Sebastian also thinks that you should stock up on magazines, preferably those of a capacity higher than ten rounds. I also think that’s a good idea; but the discussion in one of his posts got me thinking about ways in which a new president could restrict our firearms rights.
I tend to agree that Obama, being a relative outsider and idealistic would be the greatest threat to our rights; Hillary has seen what can happen when you ram gun bans down the throats of America’s gun owners, they get rather upset. McCain is a wild card, because I don’t have to stretch my imagination to see him “reaching across the aisle” to ban EBRs a gesture of good faith or some foolishness like that.
An area of legislation I’m concerned about would be the passing of “arsenal laws”, i.e. legislation which would require a special license to posses more than X number of rounds of ammunition, or Y number of firearms without a special permit. Not that I’m trying to give the Brady Campaign ideas or anything, because this kind of law has been proposed; and I personally think would stand a better chance of passing than an assault weapons ban, or even a micro-stamping regulation.
If you recall, the first AWB played off the hysteria created in the media to literally get people to believe that the guns being banned were somehow more deadly than Grandpa’s hunting rifle; in terms of propaganda and misinformation it was a glorious effort. That same fear and hysteria could easily be leveled against people who have “arsenals” in their houses. “Why do you need more than five guns”, or “why does someone need more than 200 rounds of ammo” would become the rallying cry of the anti-gun movement. They could easily attach the “terrorism” buzzword to such bans, which would only help the hype and misinformation.
Yes, I’m concerned about another Ban on Scary Looking guns, and I do believe that you should buy one, and some hi-cap magazines while you’re at it. But if that’s out of your price range for whatever reason, stock up on ammo. Of all the types of potential anti-gun legislation, I’m most afraid of an “arsenal law”. The concept of subjecting your average firearms owner to the tender ministrations of the BATFE if that person wants to keep more than X bullets, or Y firearms in their home concerns me greatly. It is a type of law that will concern me no matter which candidate gets elected, specifically because of the ability to twist that sort of legislation into some kind of “anti-terrorism law”.
Travel Day
Finally on my way home from Vegas. Hopefully the Las Vegas TSA won’t think I’m a terrorist, and I can have an uneventful flight home.
Blogging will be light today, because the problem a 4 hour flight going east is that I lose three hours to the time change. I may put some content up while I’m in the airport, but in the mean time check out all my SHOT SHOW coverage by clicking on the banner above. Or, go through the links on my sidebar for more gun and political coverage.
NRA Files Amicus in DC vs. Heller
Read the entire brief at this link.
In adopting the Second Amendment, the Framers
guaranteed an individual right to keep and bear
arms for private purposes, not a collective right to
keep and bear arms only in connection with state
militia service. This is clear from the text of the
Amendment itself, which guarantees “the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms.” Throughout the
Constitution, individual rights are guaranteed to
“the people”; when the Framers refer to a power of a
State, they refer, unsurprisingly, to “the States.”
Aw yeah. I don’t have a whole lot commentary, I haven’t read the brief yet in its entirety. Once I get some downtime over the weekend to read the complete brief, I’ll have further commentary.
2A Blog Bash Update
You are coming to the 2A Blog Bash in Kentucky, during the NRA National Convention, right? Of course you are. Well, if you are, it would behoove you to bone up on Kentucky’s concealed carry laws. The best part about Kentucky, which scored the lowest score on the Brady Campaign’s BS scorecards, is that Kentucky recognizes any carry permit from any state in the country.
If you have a valid concealed carry permit or license from any state, Kentucky recognizes it. It doesn’t matter if your state doesn’t recognize a Kentucky license. Kentucky doesn’t hold it against you. If you are a full-time paid peace officer or elected Sheriff, you may carry without a permit on or off duty IF your state accords a Kentucky full-time pad (sic) peace officer the same rights by law. If your state only allows a Kentucky officer to carry on duty, then that restriction applies to you in Kentucky.
After SHOT, I’m actually really excited about the NRA Convention. Some people said that after SHOT I’d be disappointed by the NRA Exhibit hall. I highly doubt that, since SHOT was so big I didn’t get to see everything, so I can catch up on the goodies I missed at the NRA Convention.
The Black Rifle Drum
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly in the last couple of days, a lot of people both in the industry and in politics are very concerned about the possibility of an extremely anti-gun administration, either in the form of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. I’m also moderately (although less so) concerned about a McCain administration, because he’s displayed a willingness to compromise core conservative beliefs in the past; and after the shenanigans pulled by the current and allegedly pro-gun administration I no longer believe that the mainstream Republican party is interested in representing our right to keep and bear arms. Incidents like this one in LA are only going to serve as further public fodder for people looking to ban “assault weapons”; whether or not one was used in that crime doesn’t even matter.
So what can we do to keep this from happening? Blogging is a great tool for spreading information, but if we don’t act on that information, it’s so much yelling in the wind. Here are my personal action steps for the next year.
- Join the NRA. I’m already a member, so I can’t rejoin, however I can also donate the NRA-ILA and contribute to the NRA Political Victory Fund.
- Join the NSSF. Just like NRA promotes the political health of the 2nd Amendment, the NSSF supports the public health of the shooting sports. Joining the NSSF can get you involved at the local level with firearms training and instruction (so can NRA, fyi) and will help you to take personal ownership in helping to grow our sport.
- Buy a Black Rifle. I’m serious. Even if it’s an M1 Carbine with a polymer stock (which is what I’m going to buy) or a Kel-Tec SU-16, buy a semi-automatic rifle, and shoot it a lot. Buy ammo and accessories; because money keeps the shooting sports strong.
- Get involved at a local level. Don’t just join the NRA and say “Well, you’ve got my 25 bucks, make some magic”. NRA Membership is a good way to help our firearms rights, but it’s even more effective to get involved a local level. Find a club or range near you and join up, introduce new people to the sport. Get politically involved at a local level, volunteer for your party, volunteer at ranges.
- Go Vote in November. Seriously. I’m wary of McCain, but he still beats a Hillary/Obama presidency by a country mile. I’m officially the McCain-Train as of today; I hope that if he gets elected this year that he will remember all the pro-gun voters that elected him into office.
I’m really big on people getting involved; and I’m also big on people keeping the industry strong by purchasing firearms. I do worry about the possibility of a new assault weapons ban, and I believe that one way to help forestall such a ban is to keep the market strong for evil black rifles.
On the Radio tonight
I’ll be appearing as a guest on Cam and Company tonight, you can listen at NRAnews.com. We’ll be talking about experiences and new products at SHOT ’08.