I want to emphasize that the next handful of points is just a set of rumors. I've seen a few versions that are close to this set, edited from what I first saw from Miguel at Gun Free Zone this morning. The main points of the agreement seem to be close to this:
Of all of these, there is nothing I'd call a positive win. Overall, it leaves things as they are, so if you're inclined to see not losing any more ground as a win, you'll see it as a win. I see it as a waste of millions of dollars and thousands of man hours in defending territory we already hold. Comparatively speaking, I think the anti- side has many times our financial resources. They can just keep doing this year after year, bleeding us dry of money until there's no opposition. Bloomberg alone has more money than all the pro-2A groups put together. I'd think he'd rather not spend all of his own money when there are so many other rich liberals to help, but if he wanted to, he could outspend us by a factor of 10 all by himself.
- All internet sales must go thru FFL
- All Gun Show sales must go thru FFL
- Private sales remain private.
- No Dianne Feinstein AWB or Hi Cap mag BS attached to the bill.
- Federal funding to improve the NCIS system or studies of violence or something.
Now, personally I'd love to know where this magical land is where you can order new guns on the internet and have 'em shipped directly to your door with no FFL involvement, but I've never seen it. Likewise, as we all know, Gun Shows don't exert a magical force field that negates firearms law and lets you buy anything without filling out forms and getting background checks. If private sales remain private, and transfers remain sales, things remain as they've been for a while.
That said, it isn't as bat shit crazy as the president saying we need a criminal background check just to be allowed into a gun show. As sure a sign as any that he's never been inside one in his life. Is he afraid of the assault beef jerky? The military style belts? Assault paracord? Jewelry? Military memorabilia or bumper stickers?
The NRA statement is pretty good, but in light of what's happening in New York, it bothers me. They said:
Expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime and will not keep our kids safe in schools. While the overwhelming rejection of President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg's "universal" background check agenda is a positive development, we have a broken mental health system that is not going to be fixed with more background checks at gun shows. The sad truth is that no background check would have prevented the tragedies in Newtown, Aurora or Tucson. We need a serious and meaningful solution that addresses crime in cities like Chicago, addresses mental health deficiencies, while at the same time protecting the rights of those of us who are not a danger to anyone. President Obama should be as committed to dealing with the gang problem that is tormenting honest people in his hometown as he is to blaming law-abiding gun owners for the acts of psychopathic murderers. (bold added - SiG)The problem with the emphasis on mental health is the gun and permit confiscation going on in New York right now. New York, in what seems to be a violation of the 4th and 5th amendments along with the federal HIPAA law, is going through the medical records of everyone with a permit to own a gun, finding those who have taken certain drugs, notably SSRIs, and deeming them to be unworthy of the permit.
A lot has been made about the SSRI connections with the Aurora and Newtown shooters, and the connections to mass murders in general. The problem is that these are very common drugs, including Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac and others. Millions of people are prescribed these at some time in their lives, but only an extremely tiny portion will ever get violent. James Alan Fox, the recognized expert in the study of mass shootings, has pointed out that the people who commit these mass murders are virtually impossible to find in advance. The best quote in that piece is from the interviewer, Megan McArdle, who said:
So you have been saying that many of the most popular remedies for mass shootings won't work. They aren't all identifiably crazy before the shooting, so mental health screenings for gun buyers won't stop them. Neither will waiting periods, because they're long-term planners. And restricting certain scary guns (an "assault weapons ban") won't have much effect, because they'll just pick another gun.In our rush to say we need to fix the mental health system, I fear congress is going to fix it as well as they fixed healthcare, gun laws and pretty much everything else. They'll make it a thousand times worse. If all they have to do to kill the 2nd amendment is get you to be prescribed one pill one time in your life, that's pretty dang easy. It would be even easier to define wanting to defend yourself as mental illness. Anybody who would put up with federal laws to own a gun must be out of their mind.
I fear that it will be more sinister than you imply.
ReplyDeleteToomey has gone over to the dark side and embraced life as a traitor.
You must go after any congress person who goes after our 2nd amendment rights. Impeach, recall, look into what they do with their money/assets, what property they own, who their friends are, who pays who for what, bring them up on ethics charges. Go to their meetings and speak up. Bring a friend to video it. Be polite, no threats but let them know how you feel and when they make their excuses don't let it end there. Go after them, vote them out. Give money and your time to their opponent even if they are not conservative; the message has to be that we would rather get stabbed in the back by the liberals then by conservatives. Write letters, talk to the local papers and report things you find out about them. Don't let them ever hold an office again.
ReplyDeleteAny hints on how to go about getting that information, without hiring a PI, please feel free to write.
DeleteOne of my senators is Marco Rubio, who is part of the Rand Paul, Ted Cruz group, so he's solid right now. The other is a 70+ year old Democrat, Bill Nelson, who pretty much ignores us. I worked against him in November, for all the good it did.
Not always easy. Do they own a business? If so what were their business deals, sometimes this can be found out from a friend who knows someone who works for them, etc. Most property tax records are computerized and publicly available. Most will allow you to search by name thus finding all property in that county. Talk with others who fell the same way and share info. I totally agree it isn't as easy for a civilian as it would be for the police but it's possible. Obviously I'm not suggesting breaking laws, not only would that be stupid but it would be counter-productive. But a lot of information is public record and if someone in your group is a lawyer then they might have better insight into this then I do. My point on this is I suspect that every politician with a handful of exceptions is crooked. After all they enter office as middle class and within a few years they are multi-millionaires. So for that reason there is something to be dug up. The objective is to get them out of power so whatever it takes. I would in most cases be happy with just voting them out at their next election but this is too important to put off for 2-6 years. This is just the beginning. We will see good and honest people go to jail for breaking some new law that was nothing more then a "gotcha". We will see gun registration and what inevitably follows registration? We need to turn these politicians around or get them out.
DeleteI think the video may be as useful as anything else we do. Look at the politicians who have made stupid statements only to show up on youtube. Look at how the opposition (usually union thugs) have resorted to violence making them look like brownshirts. My suggestion is have a dedicated guy to take the video and someone else ask the questions, it comes out too shaky and the volume is too loud when one guy does both. I would also suggest a guy to video the first video guy because often the radicals who are there to start trouble will harrass or even attack the guy with the camera so get that on tape. I have been to our own state capitol to video the demonstrations and what state legislators might say or do and I do get the feeling sometimes that there are "professional" trouble makers in the crowd.