Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Struggling To Find the Truth

Item the first:  Did Trump ban bump stocks?  That was the buzz starting last night about this time.  By morning everyone was on the story and you couldn't get five minutes of a talk radio show without someone saying, "Trump lost me on this one".  Or the converse, "I'd give up bump stocks for national reciprocity" - or something.  But it really looks like Trump did nothing about bump stocks.  John Richardson at No Lawyers, Guns and Money linked to the entire text of the memo.  I excerpt it here.
Accordingly, following established legal protocols, the Department of Justice started the process of promulgating a Federal regulation interpreting the definition of “machinegun” under Federal law to clarify whether certain bump stock type devices should be illegal. The Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on December 26, 2017. Public comment concluded on January 25, 2018, with the Department of Justice receiving over 100,000 comments.

Today, I am directing the Department of Justice to dedicate all available resources to complete the review of the comments received, and, as expeditiously as possible, to propose for notice and comment a rule banning all devices that turn legal weapons into machineguns.

Although I desire swift and decisive action, I remain committed to the rule of law and to the procedures the law prescribes. Doing this the right way will ensure that the resulting regulation is workable and effective and leaves no loopholes for criminals to exploit. I would ask that you keep me regularly apprised of your progress.

You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. TRUMP
That's not banning anything.  It's saying, "hurry up and review the comments you received to your NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making)" that closed on January 25, and make a decision.  Then it says create a possible rule and prepare an NPRM banning all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns.  It doesn't say what the answer should be or put the words in anyone's mouth to ban bump stocks or anything else.  If there's one thing I'm sure of, banning bump stocks would do nothing except hurt some small companies or run them out of business. 

Is this just Trump playing the media like Itzhak Perlman on a Stradivarius?  Make them act like they like him for nanosecond? 

Item the second:  What about the other gun control proposals going around?  Raising the age to buy a long gun, or the ever-popular "Universal Background Checks"?  Quinnipiac released a poll yesterday saying
Support for universal background checks is itself almost universal, 97 [to] 2 percent, including 97 [to] 3 percent among gun owners. [added "to" - SiG]
I've always heard that when this particular question is asked, the vast majority of respondents don't understand what it means, and that when the questions are detailed, support for things like background checks for private sales drops down to the 50/50 range.  Once it's explained that there is no "gun show loophole".  This poll doesn't expand on that.

The poll is staggering and really looks like it could indicate trouble coming.  There's wide support for an assault weapons ban, mandatory waiting periods to take home a gun you purchased. 91% of Democrats and 69% of independents think it's too easy to buy a gun in the country.  There's a clamor for more laws, to make it harder to buy and keep a gun.  The amount of defective thinking is simply mind-boggling.  It's difficult to read the results because they're spread over dozens of screens, but interesting reading.

Of course, it's just one poll and I know nothing of systemic biases in it.

It's obvious if you spend 10 seconds listening to these kids in front of the president or the Florida legislature that they're being played by someone.  They don't know what they're talking about and either state things that are blatantly wrong, or just emotional junk.  Who's pulling the strings?  Bloomberg?  Soros?  Don't know, don't care.  Everything on the media since the shooting has been nothing but politics.  If the kids are actors, they're not particularly good actors; they're over actors. 

I think No Lawyers, Guns and Money, had a QoTD that's a perfect way to end this:
Just last week, Congress was calling on Tide to change the design of the Pods so teenagers would stop eating them. This week, teenagers should determine gun policy.

Slide Fire AR-10 Bump Stock, the SBS-308.  I'll be honest, I never particularly cared enough about these to buy one, but if someone wants one, I don't see the problem. 


5 comments:

  1. I watched a Youtube early last year I believe where a guy built a home made one using a drawer slide.
    If someone wants one of the things they aren't that hard to make.
    From what I have seen however, is that it basically turns your rifle into s Spray and Pray.
    A cute little novelty but not the massacre inducing monster the media makes it out to be. Unless you are firing point blank into a crowd.
    Not something I was ever real interested in owning.

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    1. I watched a Youtube early last year I believe where a guy built a home made one using a drawer slide. I think I could see that... but I've also heard you can do it with a shoelace and with no extra parts at all.

      I think of them as an ammo waster, and even at today's prices I have better things to do than waste ammo.

      Like I say, though, if someone else loves them, whatever floats your boat.

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  2. Re: Bump stocks. I can only hope that if someone wants to kill me that they use bump stocks and not rifle sights.

    I like Trump. We all need to understand the nature of politics and how the MSM perverts politics and enables the "anti" crowds activism. Trump and any pro-gun politician is intentionally placed in tough and lose/lose positions by the media hand and hand with activists (often children, women or people of color who cannot be addressed honestly for fear of being called insensitive or racist). Trump had to negate that effort and simply standing up and speaking the truth might make you feel good but it makes you look bad and then that video is used by the haters to take away everything you try to do to protect the 2nd amendment. Trump took that away from them and part of what he said to do this was about bump stocks. It's "The Art of The Deal" folks. Watch an expert at work. He takes away their publicity moment by being sincerely in favor of working on this problem, redirects their effort to make it all about guns and then behind the scenes is true to his core beliefs and promises to us. Imagine if he had appeared to be opposed to what those children (victims) and parents of the actual victims were saying. Also imagine what guts it took for him to immediately propose arming teachers right in the face of this carefully choreographed anti-gun publicity stunt. He was masterful.

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    1. To be honest, I couldn't bear to watch more than a few minutes of the nonsense with kids meeting the president yesterday.

      I have to admire his patience and inner calm to sit there through the obvious BS. I think we both agree Trump played the media like a master. And then to suggest arming teachers must have CNN spitting blood.

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  3. I think Trump is clear-thinking enough to do the straightforward thing when the straightforward thing will produce the results he wants. Everything doesn't have to be flamboyant and unorthodox merely to satisfy a self-image that he is flamboyant and unorthodox. In this case I think the goal is merely "look busy" and "pretend that central planning works", but conservatives who read his memo are having a hard time complaining.

    here's wide support for an assault weapons ban, mandatory waiting periods to take home a gun you purchased. 91% of Democrats and 69% of independents think it's too easy to buy a gun in the country. There's a clamor for more laws, to make it harder to buy and keep a gun.

    All true. What also is true is that gun registration in Connecticut in 2014 with registered letters warning the first people who would be suspected of a felony only got 10% compliance. One of the better things that could happen is a gun ban that would get as much compliance as when OSHA decided it would regulate the home office. Military philosophy says never given an order that won't be obeyed, because it reveals powerlessness. Wives will reveal these secret banned weapons as leverage in divorces, just like they lie about child abuse today. Most men will prefer to be outlaws than multi-year prisoners. I'm sure making a bunch of blue collar workers into outlaws estranged from their normal life and children won't have any bad consequences at all.

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