Gun Ban Mindset?

QOTD found over at Sebastians:

Mayor of Chester: “We need to ban all these illegal guns!”
— Sebastian (@SebastianSNBQ) March 30, 2013

Along with the illegal soft drinks.

No word as to how he feels about banning illegal aliens.

Standing Together

Michael Z. Williamson has the long version of this:

First they came for the blacks, and I spoke up because it was wrong, even though I'm not black.
Then they came for the gays, and I spoke up, even though I'm not gay.
Then they came for the Muslims, and I spoke up, because it was wrong, even though I'm an atheist.
When they came for illegal aliens, I spoke up, even though I'm a legal immigrant.
Then they came for the pornographers, rebels and dissenters and their speech and flag burning, and I spoke up, because rights are not only for the establishment.
Then they came for the gun owners, and you liberal shitbags threw me under the bus, even though I'd done nothing wrong.  So when they come to put you on the train, you can fucking choke and die.

This works philosophically though no one is coming for the Muslims. In fact it's pretty much the other way around. Domestic terrorism is downgraded to workplace violence. I'm not an atheist, and for the most part I feel that you may practice whatever religion you want. The best you should expect from your fellow man is tolerance, and then only as long as you do not try to forcibly impose your religion on others.

No one is coming for the gays, in fact it seems that soon Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue will soon be permitted not only to marry each other, but the entire flock of sheep as well. There are endless jokes about ethnicities and regions where this will be welcomed.

No one is coming for pornographers, without whom the internet would be a pale shadow of itself.

Treasonous behavior is currently rewarded with high political office in some states, and is at least ignored in the rest.



Now there's this:

The man, who identified himself as Chris from Willowbrook (Staten Island), said that Sharia law was needed in the United States “because that’s the only way this deviant lifestyle will be corrected,” according to audio captured by GoodAsYou.org.
“I’m Muslim and I believe 110 percent in Sharia law.”
“You know what happens in Islamic countries? You know what happens to the gay people, correct? They’re beheaded,” the caller said. “I’m going to fight as hard as I can with all my Muslim brothers and sisters to make Sharia law in the United States.”

 Good luck, guys and girls. I guess that when any group controls the levers of power, you may confidently expect them to abuse that authority to the greatest extent possible.

Luddites

GM crops are banned in most of Europe, with the exception of GM corn, which is grown in Spain, quietly and without fanfare. Out of deference to the easily frightened, the stuff is not fed to humans but is instead fed to horses, cows, pigs, and poultry. That suffices to keep Europeans safe.

There is no conclusive evidence that GMOs are harmless to human health and the environment, which has led the World Health Organization to recommend that they be studied on a case-by-case basis.

There is no conclusive that anything else isn't harmful to at least some of the populace, but as long as a friendly judge can be found at a sufficiently high level, the rest of the populace can be forced to starve in the dark.

Ammo Shortages

Referencing item 4 in the Foraging For Ammo post below, perhaps we should be pinging our Reps and Sens, especially the Dems to lobby the Prez to ask Big Sis to free up some of the 1.6 Bn rounds she has stashed for reasons she won't divulge to needy police departments across the nation.

Especially the Dems as it was their policies that caused the shortage in the first place.

War Planning

Here is a collection of photos showing Lil Kim signing war plans with a map of the world behind him showing attack vectors on Hawaii, L.A., Austin, and Washington.

The Norks usually do this sort of thing in hopes that free world administrations will give them either oil or food in return for not doing it again right away. In the past this has been successful.

This time I believe we should give them an outright cash grant in return for assurances that Chicago will be added to the hit list. They scratch our back, we scratch theirs. I'd also suggest Detroit, but by the time they get there, the city will be indistinguishable from the encroaching great north woods.

Presidential Visit

Backing up promises to support legislators who backed his gun bills over the objections of their constituents, President Obama will be making a campaign stop in Denver next week:

DENVER — President Barack Obama is planning to visit Denver next week, the White House announced Thursday.
Obama is scheduled to visit Wednesday with local law enforcement and community leaders to discuss the state’s new gun control laws.

I hope we can arrange a "warm" welcome.

V.P. Biden has described gun control efforts so far an "a good start".  After all there are a lot of things on the progressive agenda that can't be accomplished without disarming the peasants first.

Jedi Training

Drudge put up the pic.

Couldn't resist.

Foraging For Ammo

Went out trolling the Wal-Marts today for .22LR for an upcoming Appleseed. Learned many things.

1. Each Wal Mart store orders its products at the beginning of the year in anticipation of sales throughout the pending year. This means orders for ammo were placed in December for projected sales over the next 12 months. In the first half of December Obama was coming off a campaign in which he had repeatedly said he was not coming after our guns and was a supporter of the second amendment. This changed on Dec 14 with the Sandy Hook shooting, and became new policy with his inaugural speech Jan 22. By that time orders had been placed.

2. With the inaugural, all the election promises expired, and the rush was on. Small numbers of people were buying $500-600 blocks of ammo and squirreling them away, at least until the next gun show. Caught flat-footed, Wal Mart made the sales.

3. By now, W-M is on to this trick, and has instituted 2 box per customer limits to individual purchases. Hoarders are bringing in confederates to help them.

4. While I was there, I spoke with a Denver cop who told me that the DPD had insufficient ammo to allow for routine training, once every 90 days. One supposes the rest of the Colorado cops are in the same boat.

5. Shipments into stores coma at different times for different stores, and sales are regulated differently. At one, the trucks are expected around 9PM and ammo is immediately moved to the floor and rationed. At another, the shipment arrives at varying times at night, ammo is moved to the floor, and rationing begins at 8 AM. Neither store can predict shipment dates. Technique is to have evening coffee at one store, then plan on breakfast at the other one until you get lucky.

I suspect that the above story will be true weather you shop at W-M or Bass Pro. At this point the pessimists are expecting this to be the norm for the next 6-12 months.

Write A Letter, Get An Answer

The whole exchange is here, do click and read it.
Mr. Maxwell writes his rep to ask for relief from gun laws:

From: Eddie Maxwell
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 10:54 PM
To: (all members of state legislature)
Subject: Gun Control and our Constitutions
Can the officers of our state government change our constitution when the change is forbidden by the people? The Supreme Court of Alabama has ruled that it cannot in an opinion dealing with another matter where change is forbidden. You have sworn to support our constitution. You have defined a violation of an oath in an official proceeding as a class C felony (C.O.A. Section 13A-10-101 Perjury in the first degree).
Do not violate your oath of office by introducing additional gun control bills or by allowing those already enacted to remain in the body of our laws.

Return letter is cc to the entire legislature, which seems a bit rash considering the content.

From: Representative Joseph Mitchell
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 11:59 PM
To: Eddie Maxwell
cc: (all members)
Subject: Re: Gun Control and our Constitutions
Hey man. You have used the word ‘except’ when I think you mean somethin’ else.
Hey man. Your folk never used all this sheit to protect my folk from your slave-holding, murdering, adulterous, baby-raping, incestuous, snaggle-toothed, backward-a**ed, inbreed, imported criminal-minded kin folk. You can keep sending me stuff like you have however because it helps me explain to my constituents why they should protect that 2nd amendment thing AFTER we finish stocking up on spare parts, munitions and the like.
Bring it. As one of my friends in the Alabama Senate suggested – “BRING IT!!!!”
JOSEPHm, a prepper (’70-’13)
Mobile County

Mr Maxwell is white, and Mr. Mitchell is black. Interestingly the laws Mr. Maxwell is asking for relief from are in all likelihood modeled after the Jim Crow laws and Black Codes that were used against Mr. Mitchells ancestors.

Sign Of The Times

This from Justice Kennedy during oral arguements to overturn Prop 8, a California constitutional amendment, as unconstitutional:

“Justice Kennedy: “The problem with the case is that you’re really asking…for us to go into uncharted waters.”

Well, yes. When the legislature or the electorate refuse in someones opinion to act sufficiently imbecilic, the Supreme Court is where we go for relief.

Tough Sell

Here's the Governor explaining to Candy Crowley that he thinks an AWB here in CO would be a tough sell.

I dropped him a note pointing out that one of the advantages of one-party rule is that you don't actually have to "sell" anything at all, just write the bill and run it through. I asked him why he doesn't take this approach.

I don't expect an answer, but when the AWB shows up on the docket in the next session, I guess you can blame me.

Gutenberg's Rifle

Posted by Ed Driscoll on Insty, I think calling it the Gutenberg sounds like a swell naming convention. It seems that the lower receiver and standard capacity magazine are now is pretty good shape with design allowances having been made for the different mechanical properties of the plastics being used.

Right now the biggest obstacle to moving forward is the ammo shortage which prevents any extensive testing. None of the other parts are regulated and are generally available, or will be when the component shortage clears up.

Again at Insty, this candidate for QOTD:

DEHUMANIZING ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC:  “[Anyone] who would run out to buy an assault rifle after the Newtown massacre has very little left in their body or soul worth protecting,” tweets Jim Carrey, in-between sparring with moviegoers on Twitter who disagree with his anti-Second Amendment viewpoint.

Actually, Jimmy-me-boy, anyone who ran right out and bought a Personal Defense Weapon(R) immediately following Newtown is today being described as "prescient". Doubly so if they bought 1000 rounds of ammo and 2 more standard capacity mags to go with it.

Anyone going out today and doing the same thing will have very little left in their bank account worth protecting.

Do Not Photoshop

Please, under no circumstances, should anyone photoshop these Ford ads to suggest prominent people might have "a little list" .

Here Silvio Berlusconi's taste in very young ladies is featured. The other two are available by clicking on the small pictures at the bottom of the page at the link.

The carrying capacity of the Figo notwithstanding, if you have something really large to tote, consider the standard fallback, the pickup.

 This fellow was found down under where at some point even the Aussie kids complain. Add this hazard to the usual gripes about "uphill both ways" and "barefoot in the snow" and all the rest.

Skewed Polls

When the Post polls its readers on an innocuous topic, like their favorite grass seed, they get up to 25,000 responses depending on the type of grass included in the poll, practically the Posts entire subscription list. But when they ask about legislation that bids to criminalize between one-third and one half of the population of the state, computer-savvy troglodytes drag their knuckles across their keyboards and activate secret hacking sites in the Cayman Islands to produce an answer the editors didn’t want.

Hint to the Post staff: If you find that the population consistently disagrees with you, it’s easy to limit participation in your polls to Post subscribers only, which should get you closer to the results you have in mind.

The Future Of Transportation - Trikes

Now here's an approach I could develop some enthusiasm for, since I already built one myself.

Mine didn't have bodywork, but the thought was similar. This is the Elio, in prototype form. Powered by a 3-cyl gas engine with a 5-speed tranny, auto or stick, it will reportedly deliver 84 MPG and a top speed just over 100 mph.

Bottom like, this is an enclosed motorcycle, suitable for all weather driving, and legal in the carpool lane without adding a passenger. Performance is modest with 0-60 reported to be 9.5 sec. No 1/4 mile numbers yet. this compares to the SmartForTwo which turns in numbers between 10.5 and 20 seconds, depending on whom you talk to.

It seems to be a tube frame dune-buggy-ish construction with the plastic body wrapped around it. This is significantly easier to build than a monocoque unit, especially if you don't have access to an unlimited number of zillion-ton stamping machines.

The vehicle is a good idea depending on how it's marketed. It would sell well as a commuter car to the people who buy the Smart now if the drive train is from a reputable source. Even better would be the addition of a "sport" model with a slightly livelier engine.  Mileage would suffer, but then it is the sport model.

Just a suggestion, but the blue oval company has a 3-cyl, 5-speed drive train that looks like it would serve both the high-milage and the sport market, depending on the state of tune.

 

It's used in the above street-legal sporty vehicle which is alas, only street legal in Europe due to the U.S. rather stuffy air bag requirements. Bummer, it looks like fun aside from being so low even Miata drivers might have a hard time seeing you. Fully tweaked, the power plant delivers some 202 hp, nearly 3 times the 70 advertised for the Elio. In tamer form it still delivers over 100 hp.  Ford, meet Elio. Elio, meet Ford. Billll, quit drooling.

Here in CO, it's a motorcycle that you can drive year round in the carpool lanes.
 I'm thinking their estimated MSRP of $6800 is way too low. A bare bones cruiser bike in that displacement class costs over $10K from people who make them by the boatload.Still, one can hope.

Compromise On Gun Control

I have a suggestion: Why don't we all write our state Reps and Sens, and ask for a reasonable compromise on the Mag ban they just passed.

In light of Gov Cuomos position that since there are no 7-round magazines, he'll allow larger ones if everyone promises not to put more than 7 rounds in them, why not adopt his position here? Repeal the magazine capacity law, and we all promise not to put more than 15 rounds into any magazine to be used in a school massacre or other mass shooting.

Penalties for use of excessive ammunition would be 1 year added to the jail time of anyone caught putting more than 15 rounds into a magazine used in a mass killing, defined as 4 or more dead, not including the shooter, for every round over the 15 round limit.

Heck, make it 2 years. That'll convince them.

1 in 10 U.S. Deaths Blamed on Salt

And here I'd always thought it was a less-lethal type load.

Springtime In The Rockies

Spring is here with the usual meterological twitches that go with it so here's a song for Spring



Cheery, no?

Here's the weekend weather:

Yeah, 6-12 inches during the Appleseed event. It's risky business to put your show blower away before June around here. I've seen it 72 deg and sunshine in January, and I've been snowed on twice in July. Keeps you on your toes.

Gun Laws Pass, Legislators Apologize

Of course it's easy to say "excuse me" after you knock someone over, but this is rich:

First we have Sen Morse and Rep Fields telling us that all those gun bills were forced upon them by the huge wave of mass shootings, one here in Colorado, and one in Connecticut, where the laws were already tougher than they were here. Forced into a legal corner they were, unable to do anything but pass Bloombergs potpourri of feel-good.

Of course Bloombergs spending of $2M on a primary race in Chicago just to make sure the Democrat nominee was the anti-gun candidate instead of the one suggesting that perhaps people should take some responsibility for their own well being would not impress Democrats here. Sure it wouldn't.

How the new laws will be interpreted is an open question as well as gun shops all over the state hire lawyers to tell them if they can sell any guns at all with magazines of any type or size included. I'm going to guess, based on my own experience with the City, County and Planet of Denver, that interpretation will be strictest in Denver and much less so outside of it. As the song goes, Get Out Of Denver. And try to stay out.

Governor Chickenpooper seems to have ambitions to higher office what with the Dem bench seemingly reduced to Hillary and Michelle, and is boosting his creds with the national party bosses by happily signing whatever lands on his desk. His signing statement expresses hope that the bills interpretation won't cause too much confusion or accidentally ban all firearms with detachable magazines. Meantime Bloomies other butt-boy, Andrew Cuomo, has ordered that the 7-round mag limit he just whooped through be ignored as no law-abiding New Yawkie would ever put more than 7 rounds in a mag no matter what the capacity.

Lawsuits have already been filed.

Colorado Gun Law - Phase 2

Phase 1 being the ramming of bills written by high school dropouts on medical pot, phase 2 will be the actual implementation.

I'm going to assume that Gov. Chickenpooper will happily sign everything on his desk tomorrow and LEO all over the state will have to begin considering how to interpret the things.

Magpul had their lawyers look at the mag ban bill and submit an interpretation to the Gov. Read all 5 pages here.

Or here.
In Section 1D, it is noted that there is no way anyone could second guess the intent of a firearm or magazine manufacturer as to weather a magazine with a detachable floor plate was designed that way to be expandable or simply to be cleanable. Note section 1E where they suggest that interpretation might well vary from one jurisdiction to another.

Let me get out my murky crystal ball and suggest that whatever you're carrying, most cops won't care what size your (obviously grandfathered) magazines are. Some, (cough Denver cough) however will be able to decide that any mag with a detachable floor plate is readily expandable, and immediately confiscate your gun. This means you'll get the bullets back in 30 days, and the gun a week later, probably with the mag unless they want to "investigate" further.

The legal opinion at the link suggests that a court challenge would have a good chance of succeeding on the grounds that the law in unconstitutionally vague. The bad news is that this could take some considerable time to get to the right court.

Meantime try not to forget this between now and November 2014, donate to anyone running against a Democrat, and mail a dead fish to any Libertarian who tries to make any race a 3-way.

Ammo Shortage

When times are tough, you gotta hold on to your sense of humor. Found this on Smallest Minority in the comments:

DJ • 7 days ago

• 
  

Found somewhere on the intertubes and sent to me by email:
-----
I managed to score a couple of cases of .223 ammo yesterday.  As I was putting it in my truck, I was approached by an attractive young lady.  She struck up a conversation about how she supports the Second Amendment, loves to go to the gun range, and so on.
Then she shocked me by asking if I would be interested in bartering sex for ammo.  Once I regained my composure, I said, "OK, what kind of ammo do you have?"
She left.

 With the .223 becoming the new dollar, 9x19 the new $.50, and the .22LR the new quarter, this kind of strikes home. Having a press and components is like being able to print your own money, which is good since at my age I'd have a hard time bringing home a handful of .22 on my looks.

Colorado Magazine Ban, Simplified

The closer you look....


The worse it seems to get. The economic effect is to drive out a manufacturer and the associated jobs.

The universal background check bill which "everybody" approves of is of course not really what was being sold to us. Enough loopholes have been written into it that no one will really be able to say what's legal and what's not, but the lawyers at the Outdoor Channel recommend staying out of the state if you don't want to become arrestable.

The good news I suppose is that all those deer, elk, moose, bear, and whatnot tags that used to go to out-of-staters will now be available to us locals.

Representative Government

Some have it and some don't. From Colorado Peak Politics:

Senate Pres. Morse advises Democrats to ignore constituents on national TV
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.—On Friday, Colorado Senate Pres. John Morse, D-Fountain, took time from ramming anti-Second Amendment legislation through the state Senate to be a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show. There, he told Maddow that he has advised Democratic state senators to ignore their constituents.

Most of us will not be entirely sure why he felt he had to reiterate this on national T.V. as his party has been standing like the 300 against their constituents for the whole session.

Morse was elected with a 130 or so vote margin out of some 26,000 votes cast with 1300 going to a Libertarian candidate. Bloomberg will need to pony up big bucks to save his ass in the recall.

In related news, the Governor has been at least dragging his feet on meeting with the County Sheriffs, nearly all of whom oppose the suite of gun bills currently headed for his desk. See previous post, option #3, which might involve meeting with the sheriffs after the bills become law without his signature.

Gun Show

Tamara reports that sanity seems to be creeping back in Indiana for which I offer her congratulations. Here in Colorado the current Plague of Zombies (Democrats) is keeping prices inflated and everything scarce. At this point she could well finance a vacation to Colorado by filling the Subie with .22 bricks in Indy, and selling it here at about twice the price.

See previous gun show report with prices and add about 10-15%.

The Mag Ban is on the governors desk, and he is asking his staff to keep a careful count of what the peasants are asking. Currently it's about 95-5 to veto the lot. His position is that he can:

1: Veto the lot and keep his job as Mr. Friendly-but-quirky Governor or..
2. Sign the lot and begin working on his candidacy for higher office, maybe a cabinet position, beginning in 2014, because he won't be governor after then, or
3. Do nothing and let the lot become law without his signature. He has a shot at both remaining Governor, and running for higher office, having passed the administrations wish list without actually signing it.

Actually I'm not sure how well #3 might work out as it seems unlikely that the voters will forget that he could have vetoed at least some of the bills.

Update: Brain fog today. Ping the Gov here.

Your Savings Account

O.K. probably not YOURS as I believe I have seen only one reader from Cyprus since I've been keeping track, but here's what happens when your government finds itself short of funds to pay its employees and retirees and can't get a loan from anyone without being expected to pay interest on it.

Raise Taxes! The omnibus solution to any problem a government could face. To be fair, let's make it across the board, but we'll taper it a bit so as to hit the rich a bit harder.

It is difficult to describe the weekend bailout package to Cyprus in any other way. The confiscation of 6.75 percent of small depositors' money and 9.9 percent of big depositors' funds is without precedence that I can think of in a supposedly civilised and democratic society.

Yup, the banks closed on Friday, as they usually do, and are not expected to open until Tuesday, as Monday is a Bank holiday, and Saturday morning, poof, your account is magically shrunken by the above percentages.  Nobody gets to cheat, as they usually do. BTW, most of the large depositors there seem to be Russian oligarchs, who seem to think their money would be safer outside Mother Russia.

Could have been worse. The Germans were lobbying for a 40% slice.

Many of the Russians are probably innocent businessmen. The way to bet would be that some percentage of them are the types from whom you most emphatically DO NOT want to be seen as taking their money without permission.

As an aside, there are several other European countries in similar straits. I'm thinking massive bank runs in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and possible some others come Tuesday morning.

Could get ugly.

Gun Law - Oh By The Way

Now that the debate has largely ended, the bill is on the Governors desk and the barn has burned to the ground, NPR is willing to host a debate on the topic.

Go here and you can watch either the whole show or a short clip. Link may not be valid after today.

On a similar note, I was out yesterday with Paula shopping for ammo. I had predicted what we found; Any caliber you might actually need is sold out, including .22 lr.

She bought a Crosman 760 pellet rifle which I recommend, and is out today looking for a spring air pistol to practice with. BB's and pellets are still in stock.

Hint: The Crosman is $32 at Wal-Mart. The pellets are $2/250 at Sportsmans Warehouse.

Mag Ban - Last Chance

With the Mag ban now on the Governors desk, the last chance to stop it is to appeal to the Governor, a member of MAIG himself. I am told his Facebook page is running essentially 100% against the bill, and as time goe on, more and more problems keep cropping up.

Remember the line about how no magazine may be sold in this state that can be "readily converted" to hold more than 15 rounds? It now appears that most magazines have extensions available for them that would make your stock 15 rounder illegal because you can slip a 2-round extension onto it.

Colo Peak Politics has a story with an accompanying video that explains the latest SNAFU. Short version:

OUR VIEW: Best case, the Mag Ban bill, HB1224, was rushed. Worst case, it was drafted by a liberal on quaaludes who has never shot a gun.

The bills sponsor is in the video. When I saw her at the judiciary hearings it was painfully obvious right from the start that she had not even read the bill. Rep. Rhonda Fields recognizes that there may be problems with the bill but hopes people will "just comply with the law" in spite of some little plastic thingie.

After Jul 1, you will be able to buy a centerfire pistol in Colorado, but probably not a magazine to go with it since most of them are amenable to extenders. For that you need to drive to a bordering state.

Now that there is a thick layer of band-aids on the bill to prevent your Mossberg 500 from becoming an "illegal magazine" in its own right, and another page of exceptions to allow Magpul and its suppliers to make standard capacity magazines as long as they don't sell them to the natives, it seems that this bill will effectively prevent the sale of most common handguns as long as the small plastic extenders exist. Note that the extenders are not banned, just the mags.

The above description of the bills author is beginning to look charitable.

Recalls

There are 3 recalls currently under way. For more information and do contribute to the effort, go here.

As reported in the Post, there are also 2 efforts to repeal the mag ban by voter initiative.

Gun Law - Initiative

In Colorado our constitution includes a keep and bear arms clause:
 Colorado: The right of no person to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall be called in question; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons. Art. II, § 13 (enacted 1876, art. II, § 13).

Looking at this carefully in the most obstructionist manner possible, it permits Coloradans to openly carry any firearm manufactured on or before 1876. This would include the Colt single action army and Navy models and certain Winchester lever action rifles. Others of course, but let’s leave it at that. Also included by inference are muzzle loading cannon and the Gatling gun. Today we are allowed all this and sometimes a bit more. Double action revolvers, self loading rifles and pistols for example, and with special permission, the cannons and machine guns.

Today this fairly expansive right is being nibbled away with demands that self loaders be limited to very small magazines and that the process of acquiring any firearm at all be only one small bill away from complete registration which history tells us is the necessary precursor to confiscation.

The question here is how exactly do we put an insurmountable barrier in the road to this kind of thing. The obvious answer would be a constitutional amendment. Our state has a deep and abiding dislike of the citizens making law on their own as the practice might cause people to think of legislators as self-aggrandizing oafs and not worthy of high adulation and large bribes. Every single year another measure is introduced to restrict the citizens ability to influence the law in Colorado. So far, all have foundered, but the effort is non stop. Before something succeeds, we need to get a measure out there that will protect our gun rights without seeming to be a “free guns for everybody” measure.

In Louisiana, the constitution was amended to add a requirement for the “highest scrutiny” of any law restricting the citizens’ gun rights:

The ballot question there read: "Do you support an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Louisiana to provide that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right and any restriction of that right requires the highest standard of review by a court? "

The use of what is called “strict scrutiny” makes arbitrary gun laws much harder to pass.

Strict scrutiny: A standard of Judicial Review for a challenged policy in which the court presumes the policy to be invalid unless the government can demonstrate a compelling interest to justify the policy. Strict scrutiny is the most rigorous form of judicial review. The Supreme Court has identified the right to vote, the right to travel, and the right to privacy as fundamental rights worthy of protection by strict scrutiny. In addition, laws and policies that discriminate on the basis of race are categorized as suspect classifications that are presumptively impermissible and subject to strict scrutiny. Once a court determines that strict scrutiny must be applied, it is presumed that the law or policy is unconstitutional. The government has the burden of proving that its challenged policy is constitutional. To withstand strict scrutiny, the government must show that its policy is necessary to achieve a compelling state interest. If this is proved, the state must then demonstrate that the legislation is narrowly tailored to achieve the intended result. A fairly low standard is being assumed in Colorado where evidence of sloppy crafting, overt favoritism, and other practices more worthy of Chicago are used to craft this legislation.  At the Federal level, laws that touch on enumerated rights are supposedly automatically accorded the strict scrutiny status, unless the legislation has political favor, in which case the peasants are SOL. A bill could be introduced in the legislature declaring that any legislation passed by the legislature and signed into law which impacts any enumerated right in either the Federal or the State constitutions is to be automatically accorded strict scrutiny status in any court in the state in which it might be challenged.This would be opposed by legislators with nefarious intent of course, and some effort on the part of the voters would need to be mustered to pass it, but it may well be doable. Passing the same measure as a constitutional amendment would be easier as the pro arguments would sound like asking people to defend their rights, and the anti arguments would sound like "Mommy Knows Best". This I believe would go a long ways toward limiting "feel good" legislation, passed with the fervor of a lynch mob convinced of its correctness.

QOTD - It's Not Over

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. "And we’ll fight them with the butt ends of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!"
                                                                           Churchill

That last bit was spoken quietly to an aide as the Parliament thundered its approval of the speech.

So on that cheery note, the latest news is that the House gets one more chance to derail Bloombergs railroad job. An article here confirms my earlier suspicions that the sudden appearance of multiple essentially identical gun bills in multiple states was in fact no accident but rather a carefully prepared assault on everyones rights taking maximum advantage of the fortuitous appearance of a stack of dead white kids.

In his years building the business empire that made him a billionaire, Mr. Bloomberg developed a unique fluency for numbers and learned to view the world through a statistical prism. Multiple people close to Mr. Bloomberg have said that the figure he’s most preoccupied with is the number people in his city who die of preventable causes. This obsession with bringing down the death rate has driven the mayor’s notorious crusades against smoking and sugar, and according to John Feinblatt, the mayor’s chief adviser, it was a major factor behind his decision to step into the national gun control debate several years ago.

Mayor Bloomberg is now the new head of the mythical organization I  named the Society For A Risk-Free America, whose goal is to legislatively remove all risk of any kind from everyday life in this country. Just imagine a country where everyone is encased in bubble wrap and anything that can be shown statistically to be a risk to a persons life is strictly forbidden. Utopia, I'm sure.

On the other side of that here in Colorado, there are 3 confirmed movements to recall legislators who voted in support of the gun bill package and the beginnings of a fourth. Bloomberg put $2.5M into a primary race in Chicago to elect an anti-gun Democrat over a pro-gun Dem who was suggesting that perhaps if the citizens were allowed to defend themselves, the murder rate might fall.

Last month, the PAC notched its first unequivocal victory when Democrat Robin Kelly defeated former Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson in a special primary election to replace Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned in late November before pleading guilty to federal campaign finance fraud charges.
Ms. Kelly was supported by approximately $2.5 million in ads paid for by Independence USA that, according to Mr. Wolfson, “helped make the race a referendum on guns.” The New York Times, MSNBC and others all called the race a “win for Bloomberg.”

It is thought that Bloomberg has also promised similar support for Colorado pols who might face primary challenges over their votes for the gun bills, or support for primary challengers if they didn't.  Only 2 Dems bucked Bloombergs marching orders here. Money talks.

Meantime, a ballot initiative has begun to put the magazine limitation bill up to a popular vote. If this goes through, we will get a chance to reject the measure ourselves, assuming that $2-3M coming in from New York, plus a finely tuned Dem machine, plus Republican bumbling and apathy don't carry the day again. The initiative is being pushed by two fellows from Littleton, so right here in the 'hood for me. It would be nice to meet with them to hear about the plan for this.

To that end, it seems as though a lot of this could be avoided if the legislature was required to consider a stricter scrutiny position on some of the stuff they put forth, and/or the courts were directed to do so. I'm going to split this into a second post in the interest of brevity, so see the next post above on that topic.

We Now Resume Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

To no ones surprise, the 5 remaining gun bills passed in the Senate and 3 of them now go to the Governor, a MAIG member, who is expected to happily sign the lot.

HB13-1224 is the magazine ban which limits all firearms except tube mag shotguns to 15 rounds unless you work for the State. You may keep your existing larger mags, but if you sell the gun, you may NOT transfer the magazines. Shotguns with tubular mags are limited to 28" of whatever you can fit in. Mags made in Colorado after Jul 1 this year must have a date and serial number so you scofflaws can be more easily identified.

This bill will move Magpul and some of its local suppliers out of the state. I'm guessing Cheyenne so that the existing supply chain will not be as seriously disrupted.

HB13-1228 is a poll tax, which its supporters claim is O.K. if it is presented as a fee.

HB13-1229 assumes that everybody in the state is a prohibited person, and demande that anyone receiving a firearm gat a BC within 72 hours.

This bill will require burglars to go to a gun shop and run a BC on the muggers they sell their guns to. We are told that gun crime will plummet.

All the above will go to the Gov, who will do as the Mayor tells him.

SB13-195 requires that AT LEAST PART of the safety and training coursework required for a CCW be conducted in person. It originally demanded that ALL be in person until someone informed the sponsor that part of the training required for a hunting license was done online.

Occasionally the legislature does something that makes sense. 1 out of 7 is probably above average for these clowns.

SB13-197 gives persons subject to a domestic violence protection order a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 72 hours to either completely divest themselves of all firearms and ammunition in their possession. This means turning it all over to law enforcement, who will carefully keep in in the evidence room or turn it over to a gun dealer who has safe space to lend or rent, or turn it over to your buddy Jack, who has a closet or something to put it in or outright sell the lot. In the last 2 cases, the recipient must provide a receipt, and pass a background check.

In other words the victim here has between 24 and 72 hours to "take care" of the vexatious spouse, but won't because if he doesn't turn in his guns, he'll be guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. Somehow I don't see this helping a lot. Of course if a firearm is misplaced during the inventory and transfer process, the miscreant is now in violation of the protective order. It adds a sense of urgency to the process of whacking your ex.

3 recall efforts are currently under way. I'm going to bet that should any of them produce the required number of signatures, Bloomberg will provide funding to assist the target in his or her defense, and the Colorado Republicans will remain carefully on the sidelines, which seem to be their natural habitat.

Meanwhile they won (again) and we lost (again). I understand they have bills in the hopper to ban drilling, fracking, and probably anything else that generates wealth. Good luck with those. If .22lr ever becomes generally available again, I'm going back to plinking on the e-postal matches and steel dog shoots.
.

Chickens, Roost, Assembly In Progress

Every so often you see a story that sets off the B.S. alarms in your mind even though the accompanying documentation seems to have all the bases well covered. Michael Bellesiles book on gun possession in America, suggesting that for most of our history almost no one actually owned a gun for example.

Locally this would be all those surveys suggesting that 3/4 of NRA members support the Brady Bunch's anti gun agenda. A somewhat more honest survey suggests otherwise.

Demonstrating that the easiest mistake to make is to actually begin believing your own propaganda is the sudden emergence of recall efforts over the Democrats agenda of attacking gun rights in Colorado. According to an article in Colorado Peak Politics:

A reader poll conducted by the Durango Herald shows that Democrat Rep. Mike McLachlan’s constituents are none too pleased with their representation at the Colorado State Capitol.  Currently, the poll has received over 400 votes and nearly two-thirds of respondents affirmed that they’d like him recalled.  Here’s the breakdown (as of 10am):

• 62% say “Absolutely – I’ll be first in line to sign the petition”
• 2% say “Depends on his next votes”
• 29% say “No way – he’s doing a great job”
• 6% say “Who is Mike McLachlan?”

 In Denver and Boulder you have to expect a certain amount of anti-gun sentiment, but the western side of the state is still pretty rural and a gun is regarded as more of a working implement like a pocket knife. Party discipline being what it is, I guess the Dems can get their members to tow the party line even on unpopular measures with the mentality of a suicide bomber. They may get the boot, but as a rule no law, no matter how bad, ever gets repealed.

The extortion scandal mentioned below of course can do nothing but help the effort to remove Sen John Morse who wrote and carried several bad bills including the strict liability for sellers and manufacturers of firearms.

Gun Law - Extortion?

A Colorado sheriff has said he has an e-mail from an aide to anti-gun Senator John Morse suggesting that a bill to raise the pay of sheriffs in Colorado would stand a better chance of passing if the sheriffs would drop their opposition to the gun bills currently being rammed through the legislature.

Trading a vote for my bill for a vote for your bill is pretty much accepted practice, but threatening a legislated pay raise sounds more like Chicago than we're used to here.


Local TV news has picked the story up, so the cat's out of the bag on this one.

QOTD

Got yer QOTD right here. Chris Muir is good at this sort of thing.

There's also probably some good quotes to be had from Henry VI relating to the war of the Roses, in our case between the Red and the Purple.

Ammo By The Inch

The Colorado legislature, still grappling with the definition of "high capacity" has amended the mag limit bill to allow a shotgun to hold up to 28 inches of shotgun shells. This is up from 8, which is up from 5 in earlier versions.

Under this definition, and assuming your shotgun can cycle these things, it is possible for a pump shotgun to hold more rounds than your Personal Defense Weapon* is allowed. Just keep the shell length at or under 1-3/4" and you're good to go.

*(c) Homeland Defense Department.

Bloomberg Blames Gun Violence On Space Aliens

O.K. he isn't there yet...quite. He is working on it with his proposed bans on Big Gulps, Styrofoam cups, blaming overcrowding in the homeless shelters on private jet owners, and wondering about the government requiring citizens to perform daily calisthenics.

.One has to wonder if at least part of the reason he travels with armed guards is because a background check on Hizzoner would reveal a psychiatric hold on his right to carry.

Remember that the difference between crazy and eccentric is the size of your personal fortune.

Colorado Gun Law - One Down?

The Senate debates are on line tonight, live as they drag on. Go here to see the whole sad process.

As this is the second reading of three, and as the Dems hold the presidents seat. all are expected to pass on voice votes, no matter how thin the voices.

Third and final votes will be held later. I have no info on when, but probably next week.

There is now a possibility that the Seung-Hui Cho campus rape and massacre preservation act may be withdrawn in light of the unfavorable publicity some of the legislators have received attempting to defend it. Write Rollie Heath and urge that he withdraw the bill until such time as campus rape becomes more socially acceptable.

The Denver Pest is reporting:

The sponsor of a bill banning concealed weapons on college campuses plans to kill his measure Friday, Democrats have confirmed.

Other sources such as Senate President John Morse, are not yet ready to let women defend themselves and suggest that the bill will go forward.

Update: Complete Colorado is now reporting 2 down. The Rape and Massacre Preservation Act, 1226  and the Welfare for Lawyers Liability Acts (SB13-196)were pulled by their sponsors.  NOTE CC link probably only valid for today. There is one more reading at which everyone will have to actually go on record, then off to the Governor who will do what the Mayor tells him.

Feinstein: Vets Presumed Insane, Ban Guns

Dianne Feinstein in testimony before a Senate committee today is claiming that the newly discovered ailment, PTSD should be assumed to be affecting all military veterans, and as such should be grounds for suspending their second amendment rights.

RCP has more quotes:

The problem with expanding this is that, you know, with the advent of PTSD, which I think is a new phenomenon as a product of the Iraq War, it’s not clear how the seller or transferrer of a firearm covered by this bill would verify that an individual was a member, or a veteran, and that there was no impairment of that individual with respect to having a weapon like this.

Sen. Feinstein is 79 years old, and aside from behavior like this is exhibiting no signs at all of becoming a dotty old hag.

Colorado Gun Law

We are very close. Like 1 vote close.

Keep reminding the Dem senators that they don't want to be lumped in with Sen Hudak, who would rather see co-eds raped than imagine that one of them might be carrying a pistol.

When you've lost the Post, your next posting will be to Siberia.

Update: They freely admit at this point that none of the bills will actually impact gun violence or gun crime, and 3 of them don't seem to think a rape or two here  and there is such a big deal.

Tomorrows the big vote and we'll see if Shotgun Joe has placed any horses heads in legislators beds tonight. Look for the menus at Denver Taco Bells to be changed from Burritos to Caballitos.

The Future - Energy

Lockheed -Martin is announcing that their research into fusion reactors looks like it's about to pay off. They have a small prototype which is working as predicted, and seem to think they can have a scaled up version (100Mw) turned on in about 5 years.

This is the humanities holy grail, in its own way. For physicists, it would be discovering the Hamster-Boson and presenting a jar full as party favors at the big Physics convention. For the rest of us this is taking something the physicists have discovered and turning it into something practical and salable.

Others including Polywell Fusion also claim to be hot on the trail of a working fusion reactor, so perhaps we'll see something actually working in the next 5 years or so.

It's atomic, so the Greens will oppose it.

2013 Special E-Postal Match

Extending the original contest into the foreseeable future, and in light of the Obama administrations position that it's O.K. to use drones against U.S. citizens inside the U.S., the E-Postal drone contest is extended indefinitely. After all, why shouldn't it be legal to use U.S. citizens against drones. The original contest was here, and we'll keep the rules the same:

Class 1 = Shotgun.Any sights, any load.
Class 2 = Rimfire handgun. Any sights. If it's that small light and close, it won't matter.
Class 3 = Rimfire rifle. Any sights. See above.
Class 4 = Center fire rifle with Iron sights. Red dot will be counted as iron.
Class 5 = Center fire rifle with magnification
Class 6 = Shoulder-launched rocket or center fire with radar assist.
Class 7 = Other. If you have a working laser, rail gun or what-have you, this is your class.

Points are awarded by weight, 1 point per pound. Don't pass up the PETA drone because it only weighs a pound or two, remember a Predator might be heavy, but it's harder to bag.

For you Class 1 shooters, Traction Control has what you need:

 For this contest, Class 7 will include anything sucked into a jet engine intake.

Have fun!

Update!: Lucky Gunner actually does have what you need:

Depleted Uranium Pellets no less.

Write a letter...

Maybe get an answer. Rumor has it we're close in the Senate, and no one wants to be the most talked about person on the internets. I tried this approach:

Dear Sen _________

I sincerely hope that you will vote against all 4 of the Bloomberg bills, 1224, 6, 8, and 9, in hopes that better legislation can be crafted that actually addresses the problem of gun violence. I understand that Virginia has produced what might well be model legislation following the Virginia Tech shootings. I have not researched it, but reports I have read suggest that it is mostly (90+%) addressed to the mental health area.

We now have 3 legislators whose positions on the proposed gun laws have made the Colorado legislature the laughing stock of the nation, Salazar, Ulibarri, and Hudak.

I understand your frustration at getting e-mails and letters from all over the world on the topic of these bills. I suppose you are relieved that you're not getting Sen Hudak's mail. I sympathize with you on that. No one deserves to be getting Sen Hudak's mail. Except possibly Sen Hudak.

Regards

 The following are considered good possibilities.

Last Name	First Name	Party	Office Phone	Email Address
Giron	Angela	Democrat	303-866-4878	angela.giron.senate@state.co.us
Jahn	Cheri	Democrat	303-866-4856	cheri.jahn.senate@state.co.us
Kerr	Andy	Democrat	303-866-4859	andy.kerr.senate@state.co.us
Newell	Linda	Democrat	303-866-4846	linda.newell.senate@gmail.com
Nicholson	Jeanne	Democrat	303-866-4873	jeanne.nicholson.senate@state.co.us
Schwartz	Gail	Democrat	303-866-4871	gail.schwartz.senate@gmail.com
Tochtrop	Lois	Democrat	303-866-4863	lotochtrop@aol.com

 Click here to email these Democrat members and respectfully ask them to vote NO on these gun control measures. (Places all addys on a single e-mail. )

QOTD

Found at Twitchy:

Americans! The US Constitution may be flawed, but it's a great deal better than what you have now!
—
Daniel Hannan (@DanHannanMEP) March 02, 2013

Isn't that about the size of it?

Science

Yahoo News is reporting that the rat population in Tehran is growing, and not just numerically. Local rat catchers are bringing in rats up to 11 pounds in weight and impressively long. The one in the picture at the link is either covered in debris or is growing scales or something.

With shortages of everything in Iran, this could prove to be a new and important source of meat for the locals. How do you say "beef" in Farsi?

This would help prevent things like the discovery in Iceland that beef pies not only contained no beef, they contained no meat of any sort.

Yet Another Dem Who Hates Guns and Women

In the hearings yesterday on on-campus CCW  Sen Hudak came out firmly in support of campus rapists.

As Sen Harvey noted, it's more important that others not be intimidated by an individuals ability to defend herself than it is that the individual actually defend herself.

In the end, all the gun laws being proposed will redound to the benefit of the thugs, by insuring a safer working environment for them.

Downstream, the increase in violent crime will set the stage for even more draconian gun control laws until eventually we become Chicago.

That idea I has to start a business, based on cleanup following messy "accidents" like suicides or murders is sounding better and better. There is already one such that I am aware of in Arvada and once the word gets out that they can not only remove bloodstains, but quietly dispose of the source of them, business should be good. As an aside the municipal crime rate will decline as people discover that it's no longer necessary to trouble the police with burglary calls and the like.

Video from Dana Loesch radio.

Update: "Sorry about your rape, but I promised my constituents I'd support this measure"
She must have a lot of rapists in her district. 

Pimp My Ride - DHS Edition

Now what? The DHS seems to think it needs 2700 APC's to cruise around in.

Al-Quaida must be far more deeply entrenched than I thought.

Tell you what, When I am dictator, some of these will be donated to the border patrol, and the rest donated to the armed forces mothball carpool unit, an adjunct to Davis Monthan AFB.

Not even Chicago actually needs one of these.

Colorado Legislation

Once more dear friends, into the breach...

Arrived at the capitol around 10:30 by missing the bus I intended to take by 30 seconds. The din of horns honking was impressive. A line of vehicles wrapped all the way around the building and the block adjacent and were leaning on their horns pretty much non stop. The din was audible in both hearing rooms. Improved my humor right away. Had some 50 people waving signs and hands at the passing traffic. There was no doubt whatsoever which side the motorists were on.

The hearings were scheduled to run to 90 minutes pro and con, followed by about an hour of debate on amendments, followed by the same procedure for the next item, so 4 hours plus short breaks times a minimum of 3 bills per committee beginning about 10:45. Do the math. It will be a late night tonight.

I ran out of steam at 5 PM after talking to my representative, my senator, Michael Bane, and numerous of the folks who had showed up.Consensus is that all the bills will pass their committees on party line votes, but several non-committee senators are likely to defect on Wednesday. We'll see. We also expect that some wavering senators will awaken tomorrow to a horses head in their beds. Labeled beef, of course.

One of the bills is the Sueng-Hui Cho memorial bill that would ban CCW on state college and Univ. campuses. The graphic I put up here was received with great interest and will be passed around to all the Senators in the next 24 hours. Following the link to Sonderstrom and reading the comments suggests that at the same time, CU continued to prohibit CCW on their campus and saw an increase in crime of all types.

The bill requiring a background check for all firearm transfers is having trouble due to a difference in interpretation of the word "transfer" which in some cases implies a sale, but in others implies only that the firearm change hands for any period, however brief.  With some 23+ amendments proposed it passed the committee.

The bill that establishes that everybody is guilty of something and must pay the state to prove otherwise (background check) also passed although a couple of gun shop owners were there to point out that the bill imposes a burden on them to supply some 1/2 hour of time and effort for a payment of $10 which they don't see as fair. Others have noted that the bill imposes a $10 tax on all gun transfers and will likely be largely ignored. It was openly suggested that the "big 4 " bills were originally authored in New York by the Bloomberg group.

When I left the magazine ban was beginning to be discussed and the campus carry bull was about 3 hours out. BIG TIME KUDOS to the county sheriffs of Colorado, most of whom seemed to have turned out to take our side on the bills. Didn't get a count, but when they walked into the hearing room, the parade was impressively lengthy.

NOTES: 2 Dem senators were absent today, both of whom are considered likely defections from the antis. Discussion with my Representative suggested that 2-4 others might also side with us. Knowing what I know about pols, I will remain cautiously optimistic, but will not be surprised to see them tow the party line come Wednesday. Still, keep pounding them, they're feeling the heat.

People to contact:
Jahn,
Kerr,
Schwartz,
Hudak
Todd
Nicholson
Newell
Giron
Jones

Let them know that you don't consider Mike Bloomberg to be the Mayor of Colorado.

Horns were still honking when I left at 5 PM!

Oh By The Way: Questions were raised to me regarding recall efforts afoot. I had heard of 3 over on the Western slope, and if anyone hears of any other efforts at all, I am given to understand that the effort will be welcomed and some sort of support will be available. Leave info, contact, rumors propaganda, whatever, in the comments. Film at 11. The bills supporters were rather thinly spread and opposition is deep and wide. I think I'd make a fine Senator, don't you?

Unlike when the House was holding hearings, the shirt stickies supplied by the RMGO were forbidden in the hearing rooms. I guess some of the senators were finding that seeing a sea of stickies with guns on them to be creating a hostile environment. Good.

Gun Law - Colorado

One of the realities of politics is that he who has the gold, pretty much gets to make the rules. We now hear that out-of state celebrity speakers will be heard at the senate hearings tomorrow, which will be limited to 90 minutes for each side, pro and con. To my observation, if someone is a tier one lead off speaker, the two minute limit goes right out the window ant their time will be deducted from the total available.

Gee, I wonder who has the dough to fly celebrities across the country to promote their pet causes?

In a possibly related story, it seems that Senator Angela Giron, who was once listed as a possible switch vote, has now ceased all communications with her pro-gun constituents. Part of the story here, the rest behind the Pueblo Chieftain pay wall.

Persons as yet unidentified, but from back east have already contacted House members and threatened them with a primary challenge if they fail to support the anti gun legislation, and promised financial backing if their vote should prove unpopular with the peasants. The effort looks like it extends to the Senate as well.

Ammo Shortage?

I guess it depende on where you shop. Here

is a picture of an ammo shelf in a local grocery store in northern Utah. There, no one is expecting the government to swoop in and confiscate everything that goes bang.

Pic passed on to me by a well -paced source who wishes to remain anonymous.

Spring Must Be Here!

The first e-postal match of the year is up at Mr Completely. It's a re-run of one we've done before and as I recall, it's trickier than it looks.

Rules at Mr. Completely, target is here. Don't use the one above. 10 round limit, so this should be easy on your budget

Have fun!