Category Archives: National Politics

I’ve finally gotten around to reading H.R.8 – Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 that passed the House recently. I have a question. How many years should my friend Mike get in the Federal lockup?

The law is pretty basic.

“(t)(1)(A) It shall be unlawful for any person who is not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not so licensed, unless a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession of the firearm for the purpose of complying with subsection (s).

This basically says “unless you have a Federal Firearms License, you can’t give, loan, or sell your firearm to another person. If you don’t have an FFL, you have to transfer it through an FFL.

Like I said, pretty basic stuff. The interesting parts are the exceptions. What gifts, loans, or sales can happen without going to an FFL?

“(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—

“(A) a law enforcement agency or any law enforcement officer, armed private security professional, or member of the armed forces, to the extent the officer, professional, or member is acting within the course and scope of employment and official duties;

Cops and the military… if they are doing cop and military stuff.

“(B) a transfer that is a loan or bona fide gift between spouses, between domestic partners, between parents and their children, including step-parents and their step-children, between siblings, between aunts or uncles and their nieces or nephews, or between grandparents and their grandchildren, if the transferor has no reason to believe that the transferee will use or intends to use the firearm in a crime or is prohibited from possessing firearms under State or Federal law;

Loans or gifts between specifically listed persons related by blood or marriage. I see that cousins are excluded. Also roommates. Also persons living together without benefit of marriage or some legal domestic partnership.

Note the use of “No reason to believe.” Not “does not reasonably believe” or some other construction to admit ordinary doubt. NO REASON. That means that later, the prosecutor will be at trial saying things like “You sure you didn’t have ANY reason? Any reason at all? Not even the smallest doubt?”

“(C) a transfer to an executor, administrator, trustee, or personal representative of an estate or a trust that occurs by operation of law upon the death of another person;

So I guess inheritance doesn’t require an FFL to wet his beak. That’s nice, I guess.

“(D) a temporary transfer that is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, including harm to self, family, household members, or others, if the possession by the transferee lasts only as long as immediately necessary to prevent the imminent death or great bodily harm, including the harm of domestic violence, dating partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic abuse;

Oh, how nice! If someone is actually in the process of trying to murder your friend, you are permitted to hand him your gun so he can defend himself.

Here’s the problem. “Imminent” has a very specific legal meaning. It means “RIGHT NOW.” It doesn’t mean some future speculative harm. So when your girlfriend says “My ex threatened to murder me because I left him,” this doesn’t cover you if you say “here’s my AR, take it home with you and if he comes in, blast him.” Because that’s not “imminent.”

“(E) a transfer that is approved by the Attorney General under section 5812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or

Oh, how nice! If I pay my $200 tax stamp to the IRS, I don’t need a background check to hand my SBR to someone else on the trust.

“(F) a temporary transfer if the transferor has no reason to believe that the transferee will use or intends to use the firearm in a crime or is prohibited from possessing firearms under State or Federal law, and the transfer takes place and the transferee’s possession of the firearm is exclusively—

“(i) at a shooting range or in a shooting gallery or other area designated for the purpose of target shooting;

So if I am on an actually designated shooting range, I can let my buddy shoot my P320, but if we’re out on his back 40 shooting tin cans and cardboard boxes, FELONY!

“(ii) while reasonably necessary for the purposes of hunting, trapping, or fishing, if the transferor—

“(I) has no reason to believe that the transferee intends to use the firearm in a place where it is illegal; and

“(II) has reason to believe that the transferee will comply with all licensing and permit requirements for such hunting, trapping, or fishing; or

What does “reasonably necessary?” Clearly the classic “crossing a fence while carrying rifles” qualifies. But can I go down to my friend Andy’s house and borrow his turkey gun so I can try to whack a turkey during the season? Is that “necessary?” Is it “reasonably necessary?” Or am I required to take Andy to the FFL and pay $50 to transfer it because we have time, so it’s not “reasonably necessary” for him to just hand it over? Inquiring minds want to know.

“(iii) while in the presence of the transferor

Oh, that’s nice. So long as I am standing right there, we’re golden. But if I wander off to use the toilet (for some reason my lady friends are less than sanguine about standing right next to me while I pee on a tree) are we both felons? There’s a choice. Creepy? Or FELON?!

So let me spin you a true story. I swear on a stack of bibles that this actually happened. It’s not something I dreamed up to illustrate a point, it’s what I’ve actually done.

Mike is a friend of The Wife’s* and mine. We’ve known Mike for more than 25 years. Mike is an Army vet and someone we’ve known through the historical re-enactment group we all participated in. In this group we fought with swords and armor in mass battles. In order to prove you were safe, you had to take a practical combat test where you fought a test bout against another known skilled fighter. In 1993 when I took that test, the person I fought against was Mike.

That’s the kind of history I have with Mike.

One day a few years ago, The Wife, who is not a gun person, said to me, “If I wanted to learn to shoot that little rifle you built to go to Appleseed, and Mike was willing to teach me, would you loan it to him so we could shoot on his farm?”

Mike owns a .410 shotgun for farm work, and he’s pretty much the definition of “guy you would want at your side if you needed any help at all,” so I’m totally OK with loaning him a gun. Hell, he was even a foster parent until he just adopted the kid. If you’re going to let someone teach your wife to shoot, you could do a lot worse than Mike. You could PAY for a lot worse than Mike.

I grabbed my Ruger 10/22, a few boxes of .22LR, hopped in my pickup truck, and roared off to Mike’s house about 45 minutes away. I handed him the rifle, the ammo, and drove straight home. The Wife said “I guess that’s a ‘Yes’ then?”

Over the course of the next two or three months, whenever The Wife went up to help out on Mike’s farm, they’d take a few minutes during lunch to shoot some paper plates or cardboard boxes out on (literally) his “back 40.” Then sometime 3-6 months after I took it up, The Wife comes home and says “here’s your rifle back” and hands me the cased 10/22.

The question I have is, how many years in Federal Prison should the three of us have gotten for letting Mike teach The Wife how to shoot my Ruger 10/22?

Under this law I committed a Federal felony by handing Mike my rifle. Mike committed a Federal Felony by handing the rifle back to The Wife. Perhaps The Wife was free and clear, because it’s not really a felony for her to give the rifle to me, but then again, she received it from Mike, so maybe that’s a felony.

In any case, all three of us would be bankrupted by the resulting legal fight. All because out here in Real America, it’s totally normal to have a guy like Mike teach your wife to shoot a Ruger 10/22 out on his farm.

*The Wife is always referred to as “The Wife” online as she does not wish her photo or her name to be bandied about among all you lovely strangers. When the old GunBlog VarietyCast Radio crew went to Atlanta, one of the house guests made drinking glasses with the logo and names on them. Mine said “Dysis’s Human,” and hers said “The Wife.”

Please, I’m begging the Dems to take up this plan and run with it.

The student activists who crashed the political arena after the mass shooting last year at their high school in Parkland, Fla., are throwing their weight behind a new and ambitious gun-control program that they hope will set the tone for the debate following the most recent mass shootings and headed into the 2020 elections.

Oh? So what’s David (Camera) Hogg’s plan?

Every day in America, more than 100 lives are taken by the deadly epidemic of gun violence. Among young people, gun violence has become a top cause of death, second only to drug overdoses. It has many root causes, including hate, poverty, and despair. It’s a deeply intersectional issue, inextricably bound with our long journey for racial justice, economic justice, immigrant rights, and the rights of our LGBTQ allies. And it’s amplified by the societal belief that a gun can solve our problems. Gun violence is destroying our generation. This is simply unacceptable. That’s why, as survivors and students of March For Our Lives, we believe it’s time for a Peace Plan for a Safer America.

OH! A PLAN! Gimme some nuts and bolt, please. I’d like to know what you think the terms of our surrender should be.

1 – CHANGE THE STANDARDS OF GUN OWNERSHIP

Advocate and pass legislation to raise the national standard for gun ownership: a national licensing and registry system that promotes responsible gun ownership; a ban on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and other weapons of war; policies to disarm gun owners who pose a risk to themselves or others; and a national gun buy-back program to reduce the estimated 265-393 million firearms in circulation by at least 30%.

Let me see if I can break that down into action steps

• Hold Star Chamber hearings to take away the civil rights of people convicted of no crime.
• Ban Semi-Auto rifles. (and probably a whole lot more)
• Ban magazines that hold more bullets than I have fingers.
• Confiscate them, but throw a few bones at the citizens serfs you just took them from.
• Keep taking guns until there are only about 200 million left.
• Make a complete list of all citizens serfs who have official permission from the government Soviet to possess arms suitable to their condition and as allowed by law.
• Make a complete registry of all guns that remain permitted so they can be collected at a later date when the rules change.

OK, what’s next

2 – HALVE THE RATE OF GUN DEATHS IN 10 YEARS

Mobilize an urgent and comprehensive federal response: declare a national emergency around gun violence and announce an audacious goal to reduce gun injuries and deaths by 50% in 10 years, thereby saving up to 200,000 American lives.

This isn’t a plan. This is a goal. This isn’t even a goal, really. It’s wishing upon a star. I could “declare” a “financial emergency” and “set an audacious family goal to make a million dollars next week,” and it would have about the same total effect as this “plan.”

3 – ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE GUN LOBBY AND INDUSTRY

Hold the gun lobby and industry accountable for decades of illegal behavior and misguided policies intended to shield only themselves; reexamine the District of Columbia v. Heller interpretation of the Second Amendment; initiate both FEC and IRS investigations into the NRA, and fully repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

Ok, that’s more like it. He’s giving us some more steps.

• Reverse the Supreme Court decision that said the right to keep and bear arms was the right of INDIVIDUALS to keep and bear arms.
• Instigate some lawfare against a civil rights organization
• Return to the days when deep pocketed states and localities could sue gun manufacturers for the criminal actions of third parties, lose their case in court, but still win because they bankrupted the gun manufacturer in the process.

Yeah, OK, I see where you’re going here.

4 – NAME A DIRECTOR OF GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Appoint a National Director of Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) who reports directly to the President, with the mandate to operationalize our federal goals and empower existing federal agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – agencies that have all been structurally weakened by the gun lobby. The National Director of GVP would begin by overseeing a down payment of $250 million in annual funding for research by the CDC and other federal agencies on gun violence prevention.

Ok, some more action steps. A bit vague, but…

• Hire a professional gun hater to work inside the government.
• Turn the ATF, the DHHS, and the CDC into anti-gun groups. (worse than they already are)
• Prime the pump of anti-gun “research” by giving a quarter of a billion dollars to Garen Wintermute, David Hemenway, and Arthur Kellermann so they can fake up some more anti-gun statistics rather than get honest jobs.

All right, the picture is getting clearer.

5 – GENERATE COMMUNITY-BASED SOLUTIONS

Fully fund targeted interventions addressing the intersectional dimensions of gun violence, including community-based urban violence reduction programs, suicide prevention programs, domestic violence prevention programs, mental and behavioral health service programs, and programs to address police violence in our communities.

Apparently everyone causes “gun violence,” from crazy people to cops. But no good “plan” for more government forgets to slop a little pork barrel spending onto their favored foot soldiers. Can you guess who will be first in line to get a piece of that particular pie? If you said “gun grabber groups” then move to the head of the class.

6 – EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATION

Automatically register eligible voters and mail voter registration cards to all Americans when they turn 18. Create the “Safety Corps,” a Peace Corps for gun violence prevention. The younger generations are disproportionately affected by gun violence. They should have a say in how their country solves this epidemic.

A “safety corps?” A “Peace Corps for gun violence prevention?” Are they Handgun Hall Monitors? Ballistic Crossing Guards? Seriously?

I, too, think that everyone should be registered to vote. I think that when people turn up at DMV to get their driver’s license they should be offered a voter registration card and a Concealed Handgun Permit card. If we’re trusting you with a 2 ton missile capable of triple digit speeds, we can trust you with a gun and a vote. But I don’t think Camera Hogg agrees on this point.

This “plan,” which is more of a pie-in-the-sky wishlist, needs to be the front and center at the next Dem debate. I’d like to see a show of hands…

Got a call today from Dan Roberts, father of very young competitive shooter, Shyanne Roberts. Maybe you saw her testimony against yet more gun grabbing laws in her home state of New Jersey.

She and her father were recently on Fox and Friends, talking about when it’s appropriate to teach firearms safety to children. Naturally, Dan and Shyanne felt that earlier was better than later. You know what they say, “If you don’t teach your kids about guns, who will?”

Dan makes the statement at about 3:15 that “Firearms safety, education, and familiarization was pretty much standard in elementary schools.” Naturally, the clowns at CSGV, in yet another bit to remain relevant in a world where Michael Bloomberg’s minions get TV interviews and Ladd Everett is in danger of having to sell a kidney to buy a Windows 7 compatible office computer, attacked Dan’s statement as “Revisionist History.”

 

So, how many of you who were in school before the 1970’s learned some form of firearms safety? Email your “school shooting” stories to Dan so he can beat these clowns over the head with the truth. <—- Click the link to send email to Dan.

In the minds of the gun grabbers, guns are banned in school, therefore they were ALWAYS banned in school. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

 

There’s a Colorado Persecutor, err, Prosecutor, who is trying to make political hay out of what seems to be a fairly straightforward self-defense shooting.

 A Colorado prosecutor said he’s frustrated that the state’s “Make My Day” law prevents him from charging a man who killed an acquaintance during a drunken brawl that spilled into his home, becoming the latest test to self-defense gun laws nationwide.

So, the facts so far. Shooting happened INSIDE the home. Please note that the “Make My Day” pejorative is generally applied to “No Duty To Retreat” laws, which by definition do not occur inside homes. One is almost never obliged to retreat inside a home.

After a night of drinking at a party in the western Colorado city of Grand Junction, Cook and another man went to fight Hoskins outside his house. The fight moved inside and to Hoskins’ bedroom, where the homeowner said Cook tried to snatch away his shotgun. Hoskins tackled Cook and shot him, according to Hoskins’ account of the night, which was relayed to investigators through an attorney.

Even accounting for the info coming from an attorney, the Prosecutor does not refute that the fight started outside and proceeded inside.

Umm, guess what? That’s a legal shoot. Even assuming that this is true,

Cook’s brother, Stacey Cook, said aspects of the investigation remain undone. Prosecutors should have looked more closely at video evidence showing Cook walking away from the brawl and Hoskins following and taunting him before they fought, he said.

once the “victim” in this case entered the house with intent to harm someone inside, it’s a whole different game.

Here’s a basic rule to keep in mind. Even when you are drunk, don’t get into fights. Even if the guy is taunting you, don’t get into fights. And most especially, never pursue a person into their own house. Because when he shoots you to death, he’s right and your not only wrong, you’re dead.

After a six-month investigation, Hautzinger decided last week not to file charges

Here’s a clue. If the Prosecutor can’t find grounds to bring charges after 6 months, even with “video evidence”, then there’s no grounds to find.

In a country where any decent prosecutor can get a Grand Jury to indict a ham sandwich, what the prosecutor is saying with this outburst is that he’s pissed off that he can’t use the apparatus of the state to abuse someone who hasn’t actually broken any laws.

HT: My friend, Mike, via Facebook

So raise your hands if it surprised you when Michael Bloomberg announced the reconstitution of his anti-gun empire into “Everytown for Gun Safety” that Tom Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania and purple state RINO was on the “advisory board.” I was a bit surprised. Not that he was willing to play nice with gun grabbers, but that he was willing to be so open about it. Well it turns out that even Tom’s flexible principles don’t bend far enough to accommodate the pint sized former New York mayor.

He’s playing it off as a “I didn’t know what I was getting into,” sort of situation, but can anyone with half a brain pretend that he didn’t know Mikey is a gun grabber?

“When I signed on as an advisor to Everytown, I looked forward to a thoughtful and provocative discussion about the toll gun violence takes on Americans,” Ridge told The Daily Caller in a statement, through a spokesman.

“After consultation with Everytown, I have decided that I am uncomfortable with their expected electoral work,” Ridge said. “Therefore, we have decided that we will pursue this issue in our separate spheres.”

Let me translate that last paragraph for you.

“I’m cool with the anti-gun efforts. I just object to how Mike is going to spend his billions to campaign against Republicans on the gun issue.”

Ridge is a RINO. He’s owned by the establishment Republican party, so he dares not cross them. Unless he pleases the power brokers in the establishment, he’ll never get another cool government bureaucratic job. But note how it’s not the anti-gun part that bothers him. That couldn’t have been a surprise to him. It’s the “expected electoral work” that he balked at.

So if you’re tempted to sing and dance at Mikey losing Tom Ridge on the first day of the NRA Convention, don’t. Ridge is not on our side. Quitting Bloomie’s anti-gun cabal doesn’t change that.

Some of you may know that I have a brother who lives in Northern California. I visited him behind enemy lines in October of last year. While I don’t really like Santa Cruz, he’s just found out that the Sheriff has decided to abide by the Peruta ruling and start issuing Concealed Weapon Licenses.

Here’s a PDF of the letter the Sheriff is handing out. The PDF is hosted by a local training company, but my brother went down to the Sheriff’s office and got handed the same letter.

You’ve got to read the process to believe it.

Phase One (to be completed by all applicants)

1. Complete and submit a Standard Application for License to Carry a Concealed Weapon (Cal DOJ form FD4012). Do not include separate attachments for information requested within the application. Initial every page of the document.
2. Based on current law, and in the absence of any applicable exclusionary factors, self-defense or personal safety qualifies as sufficient “good cause” for the issuance of a license. However, if the law changes in any respect, we may require applicants to supplement the “good cause” statement in order to retain any CCW License that has been issued based on the law in place at the time the license was issued.
3. Submit three signed letters of character reference from individuals other than relatives.
4. Submit proof of ownership and registration of each weapon to license for concealment.
5. Submit two recent passport size photos (2” x 2”) of the applicant.
6. Complete Live Scan applicant fingerprinting for CCW application (DOJ fees paid by applicant): http://www.scsheriff.com/Home/LiveScanFingerprinting.aspx or 454-3007 for more information.

Once the application package has been reviewed, the application will either be advanced to phase two or will be denied. In the event the application is denied, the applicant will be notified in writing.

Phase Two (to be completed only by those applicants successfully competing phase one)

1. Participate in personal history interview.
2. If directed: provide written evidence from a licensed physician that the applicant is not currently suffering from any medical condition that would make the individual unsuitable for carrying a concealed weapon. All costs paid by applicant.
3. If directed: complete psychological testing by an authorized psychologist used by the Sheriff’s Office. The cost to the applicant many not exceed $150.00.
4. Complete a 4-hour (minimum) course of training approved by the Sheriff’s Office. The cost of training is paid by the applicant directly to the approved trainer.

 

And you just know that the Sheriff will certainly direct everyone to get a Doctor’s note as well as a $150 psych eval. All of this just to exercise a basic fundamental right to bear arms.

Here’s a copy of the standard California CWL application.

So, on the plus side, Shall Issue CWLs in Santa Cruz, California. (75%-20% Barack Obama in 2012)

On the minus side, Fees, Fees, Fees! Because we can’t allow the masses to Keep AND Bear arms. That would be unthinkable!

I’m glad I don’t live in California.

So I hear that Representative Carolyn McCarthy is retiring.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) announced today that she would not be seeking re-election after serving nine terms in the US House of Representatives. McCarthy, who made her name by pushing gun control bills in Congress, has lung cancer and has been undergoing treatment for the last six months.

Well, let me be the first to wish for her eventual recovery. Many times people on the Left post ill-considered wishes for the deaths of their political enemies. Rest assured that Ms. McCarthy has my best wishes for a very long, long, long life. I want her to have to live through us demolishing the unconstitutional and wrongheaded gun control laws she worked so hard to prop up. When we are all free to open carry AR-15s in Central Park, NYC, I want her alive to see it.

I once got Representative McCarthy to send me a campaign sticker. Somehow both the bumper sticker and some 230gr. +P HydroShok bullets ended up at the range at the same time. This seems like a good time to re-post it.

It was time to rotate the carry ammo anyway.

Goodbye. Good riddance. Get well.