Posts Tagged ‘Guns’

Legislative Mountain Labors To Give Birth to Dead Gun Control Mouse

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Manchin-Toomey went down in flames today, a cloture vote falling six votes short (including four Democrats (Baucus (MT), Begich (AK), Heitkamp (ND) and Pryor (AK) voting no) of the 60 it needed.

Let’s catalog what Democrats won’t be getting during the current congress, shall we?

  • No national gun confiscation regime, like the one imposed in Australia.
  • No ban on civilian gun ownership, like Sen. Diane Feinstein has admitted she wants to impose.
  • No universal gun registration act.
  • No national “high” capacity magazine ban.
  • No modern sporting rifle (AKA “assault weapon”) ban.
  • No reinstitution of the Clinton-era cosmetic modern sporting rifle ban.
  • And, with the defeat of Manchin-Toomey, no “universal background check” as a prelude to a national gun registry.
  • This is one case in which the Senate’s deliberative style has worked in conservative’s favor. If Harry Reid had been able to ram through a vote days after the Sandy Hook massacre (as happened in New York), it’s very possible some sort of gun control might have passed. But with time for the knee-jerk emotional response to die down, and for the NRA and gun owners across America to mobilize, all Democrats managed to do was endanger a few senate careers, both among themselves and the RINO herd. Remember Michael Moore declaring how the NRA was doomed?

    Didn’t work out that way, did it?

    Instead, they got…well, let’s Mr. Wonka break it down for them:

    And how about a little sad trombone?

    And thanks to Senator Ted Cruz for fighting the good fight.

    Shall Not Be Questioned has the blow-by-blow description of the Senate debate.

    Liberal Anti-Gun Ads Target…Ted Cruz?

    Thursday, April 11th, 2013

    ObamaOrganizing For America is using anti-gun ads to target Sen. Ted Cruz.

    That’s some mighty fine political ad targeting you’ve got going on there, Lou.

    The same Ted Cruz that pantsed David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff because Dew wasn’t conservative enough?

    The same Ted Cruz who was endorsed by Gun Owners of America? (You know, the gun rights group that’s like the NRA, but not so squishy and eager to compromise.)

    The same Ted Cruz who beat his opponent in the general election by 16 points?

    The same Ted Cruz whose been walking point on Second Amendment Rights in the current congress?

    The same Ted Cruz who isn’t up for reelection to the Senate until 2018?

    Yeah, that’s a use of liberal money that I’m sure is going to be super-effective.

    I hope OFA dumps all their money into ads against Cruz, since it will garner them squat and weaken their ability to place ads elsewhere.

    (Hat tip: Rick Perry vs. The World)

    Clarification: Bold Ideas/Colt Competition Moving to Texas, Not Colt Firearms

    Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

    I have some clarification to yesterday’s extremely short blurb on Colt moving to Texas. The company doing the moving is Bold Ideas, which manufactures Colt Competition rifles, including two AR-15 pattern rifles. Bold Ideas is apparently a licensee of Colt (their logo appears on Colt Competition’s website), but not Colt itself. They’re moving to Breckenridge, Texas, which is around 100 miles west of Ft. Worth.

    I’ve sent Bold Ideas/Colt Competition a request for additional information. I’ll let you know if I hear back.

    News Flash: Colt Firearms Moving to Texas

    Monday, April 8th, 2013

    Details later, since blogging from an iPhone sucks. Link.

    LinkSwarm for April 4, 2013

    Friday, April 5th, 2013

    Been a while since the last Friday LinkSwarm, so here it is!

  • The problem with Europe’s economy? It’s the spending, stupid.

    Government spending on bailouts, subsidies, grants, salaries and entitlements commands a much larger share of these economies than it did just a few years ago. European austerity has been focused on the private sector — namely, taxpayers with high incomes.

    That is the second thing the PIIGGS have in common. The highest income tax rate was recently increased in every one of the troubled PIIGGS except Italy (where it was already too high at 43%). The top tax rate was hiked from 40 to 46.5% in Portugal, from 41 to 48% in Ireland, from 40 to 45% in Greece, from 40 to 50% in Great Britain, and from 48 to 52% in Spain.

  • Immigration “reform:” Distrust and Then Verify.
  • News flash: Getting a PhD in Literature is not a surefire path to financial security. Stop the presses!
  • Female Princeton grad tells current Princeton women that maybe they should consider getting married in college. Naturally the Ivy league/feminist/MSM complex threw a fit. (Pro-tip: There are few surer signs of leftwing PC think than the word “hetronormative.”)
  • Homicide Trends in the US: 1980 to 2008.
  • Dwight brings up another case of journalistic malpractice. “Meet the Sniper Who Killed 2,200 People in Iraq.” As Dwight notes, anyone with even passing knowledge of snipers should know that this claim is ludicrous from the git go. In sports terms, it’s like someone claiming they threw 20 Major League no hitters, or ran a two minute mile. It reminds me of Scott Thomas Beauchamp’s smears about troops in Iraq in The New Republic. (If you remember the Beauchamp affair, it turns out that he was engaged to Elspeeth Reeve, who just happened to be a TNR fact-checker. Somebody should make them read Stolen Valor.)
  • Also from Dwight: This interesting piece about a gay man talks about coming out at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
  • Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott: UN Treaties don’t trump the Bill of Rights.
  • Left-wing bigots pat themselves on the back.
  • Larry Gonzalez Goes Hunting Gun Manufacturers

    Thursday, March 28th, 2013

    Texas House District 52 Representative Larry Gonzalez announced today that he’s inviting gun manufacturers from around the country to relocate to his district.

    “Recently, you received correspondence from our Texas Governor, Rick Perry, inviting you to consider moving your company to Texas – a pro-gun, pro-2nd amendment, pro-business, right to work state,” says the opening line of the letter. The letter continues, “Texas has created an economic infrastructure which allows business to thrive. We understand government’s role is to get out of the way of private business and allow them to do what they do best – create jobs and help build our economy.”

    “My pitch was specifically for the cities within House District 52,” said Gonzales. “I feel many variables make the cities of Round Rock, Hutto and Taylor very attractive places to locate a company. Chief among them is our roadway infrastructure. Our mobility is the envy of this state.”

    You might remember that I’ve suggested something of the sort before at the state level…

    LinkSwarm for March 23, 2013

    Friday, March 22nd, 2013

    Another Friday roundup of random news:

  • Republicans offer bill to outlaw Cyprus-like bank account seizures.
  • What did Dianne Feinstein’s gun-grabbing “assault weapons” bill actually accomplish? “These efforts have driven some law-abiding Americans into the loving arms of the NRA.”
  • “In Harry Reid’s Senate there are more votes against Chuck Hagel than there are in favor of an assault weapons ban.”
  • “[Ted Cruz’s] infraction was asking the right question. What Cruz wanted to know was this: Why do liberals cherish the First and Fourth Amendments, but trash the one in between – the Second Amendment?”
  • Bill Maher wakes up and suddenly realizes he’s getting ripped off by California taxes.
  • Dwight has an update on the laughable, doomed boondoggle that is EarthQuest.
  • Surprise! The U.S. is now more hated in the Middle East than under Bush.
  • Iran exporting Chinese-made portable antiaircraft missiles to terrorists. I’m sure that will make the Middle East all the more stable.
  • ObamaCare is slowing hiring.
  • Tides Foundation vs. Koch giving, in graphical form.
  • The UK decides that they don’t need any stinking freedom of the press.
  • Germany abandons some of its green energy fantasies.
  • Louisiana judge rules that ex-felons can own guns. Some caveats: This is based on a newly passed, pro-gun amendment to the Louisiana Constitution, and Louisiana law (as opposed to the other 49 states) is based on the Napoleonic Code rather than English common law.
  • Don’t suspect a neighbor; report him!
  • Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead Not Taking Our Guns

    Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

    The “assault weapon” ban of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-osen’t Know the Constitution) died before it could even reach the Senate floor.

    What happened? The NRA-ILA happened. Ted Cruz happened. Actual voters happened. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid evidently didn’t have the clout to put the squeeze on members over gun control the way Nancy Pelosi did on Obamacare and taxpayer-funded abortions. That, or the fact there’s no way in hell the Republican House would pass a ban, Reid decided the political cost would be too high (including, very possibly, the loss of the Senate) for no legislative gain.

    This is one of the times that the Senate’s glacial pace helped prevent knee-jerk liberal opportunism from making it’s way into law.

    There’s still a lot of other bad gun control ideas floating around Washington, DC (not to mention out in the states), but at least we managed to kill this one.

    Maybe in a few months I can buy an AR at a decent price…

    Ted Cruz Schools Dianne Feinstein

    Friday, March 15th, 2013

    Nice exchange over gun control:

    I’m pretty sure David Dewhurst would never have gotten under Dianne Feinstein’s skin, which is all the more reason we in Texas are happy we elected Cruz…

    Conservative Blog Meetup Dinner Query for Saturday, March 23, at 6 PM

    Thursday, March 14th, 2013

    Dwight of Whipped Cream Difficulties and I are contemplating a conservative/gunner blogger meetup Saturday, March 23, at 6 PM, venue TBD (but not too close to the SXSW madness downtown). Drop me a line at lawrenceperson at gmail dot com if you’re interested in attending.