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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Obama Tells NBC That He Wants Gun Control Done in 2013

Fox News has this report about  President Obama's taped interview on this morning's Meet the Press, where he told host David Gregory that he wants gun control in 2013 and that he would not put it off to later.

While saying he would not prejudge any recommendations, Obama said he was skeptical about the only answer being to put armed guards in schools.   The National Rifle Association suggested that action in their December 21st press conference, and has been roundly criticised for it even though a number of schools, including 80% of Virginia's middle and high schools already have a law enforcement School Resource Officer (SRO) in schools.

All of the talk coming out of the White House is directed at "reducing gun violence" but the only "solution" they and their compatriots in congress have is to enact restrictions on firearm purchases.

Obama may not be prejudging recommendations but the only recommendations he seems to want are more gun control.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Talk of Confiscation

Since the Sandy Hook school shooting on December 16th, the gun ban lobby has been almost giddy with the prospect of getting everything they want on their long wish list, especially a renewal of the Clinton Gun Ban. But in some places, the talk is of confiscation or forced compensated confiscation (so-called buy backs).

This report by a New York CBS affiliate notes that New York Police are actually considering how they would go about collecting all those "assault rifles" in the event the ban is renewed.

The last time the ban was enacted, existing firearms were grandfathered.  Would the new darling of the media, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, go along with a ban that also called for confiscation?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Obama Working Group Likely to be Heavily Focused on Gun Control

Hoping to act before Americans move on to other concerns, President Obama announced that the working group he created today to address the Newtown shooting would offer recommendations by the end of January.  The Hill notes that the fact Vice President Joe Biden has been put in charge of the working group means it will focus mostly on gun control.  Obama said that public opinion polls showed support for a so-called "assault weapons" ban, limits on the size of ammunition magazines, and waiting periods for firearms purchases as if that is a good reason to rush and impose new laws.

If only the politicians in Washington had the testicular fortitude of Virginia's governor.  The Washington Post Virginia Politics blog notes that Governor Bob McDonnell said on Monday it is "way too early" to know whether new gun control laws are needed in the wake of the Newtown school shooting.
It is interesting that the things that Obama and others have cited like waiting periods, closing the so-called "gun show loophole" had nothing to do with what happened at Newtown.  Additionally, a new ban on modern sporting rifles would not prevent this type of incident from occurring the future since they would only ban the sale of additional rifles of this type.  So, it sounds an awful lot like the gun ban crowd is using this incident to try and get everything that has been on their laundry list for the last ten years.

McDonnell Discussion on Arming School Officials Draws Opposition

Not completely unexpected, Governor Bob McDonnell's comment yesterday that maybe it is time for a discussion about arming some school officials is drawing fire from the predictable quarters:
Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, Democratic caucus chairman, said, “The governor should know better than to suggest that arming citizens will solve anything.

“Maybe the governor should focus on solutions that could actually have an impact, like banning the high-capacity magazines used to inflict horrific violence upon countless American cities.”
The Virginia Education Association had a more measured response:
Meg Gruber, president of the Virginia Education Association, the state’s teachers union, said Tuesday that “In the aftermath of last week’s tragic events, we need to give careful consideration to measures to keep students safe.”
The Governor for his part made sense when he asked this rhetorical question:
“If a person like that was armed and trained could they have stopped the carnage in the classroom? Perhaps.”

Given His Performance on the "Fiscal Cliff" Boehner is Not Who I want Leading this Discussion

Via The Hill:
"We need to have a discussion about guns," the lawmaker said, relaying Boehner's remarks, "and that doesn't mean that all of a sudden we abandon the Second Amendment or the NRA [National Rifle Association] or anything like that. But there needs to be a discussion and everybody needs to participate and we need to depoliticize it."
Yesterday, this blog linked to a couple of articles, one by Dave Kopel, and one by Clayton Cramer, that suggested gun control is not where we should be putting our focus, but instead, areas like how the country deals with the issue of mental health. They should be required reading for Boehner and the rest of the members of Congress. 

If the "Fiscal Cliff" is an example of Speaker John Boehner's negotiating skills, I fear for my Second Amendment freedoms

At least not every member of the GOP is getting weak kneed.  Virginia's 6th District Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte of told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday that he does not favor additional gun control, such as banning assault weapons or high-capacity magazines. Goodlatte will take over as chairman of House Judiciary next year.

Hat tip to Sebastian.

Wondering What the Purpose is of This Bill

A day after the Newtown school shooting, Delegate Patrick Hope prefiled a bill for the 2013 legislative session that would  prohibit the possession of weapons in legislative buildings except by any person who lawfully possesses a handgun. House Bill 1391 would not apply to General Assembly members or staff or to any law-enforcement officer.  So, it would appear that it is not aimed at people with concealed handgun permits - law abiding citizens, at whom is it aimed? 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Virginia Sets Record for Single Day Firearm Background Checks on Saturday

Yahoo News reports today that this past weekend, Virginia recorded a spike of 42% over the same Saturday sales last year.
On Saturday, Virginia state police fielded 4,166 requests for background checks, a 42 percent increase from the same Saturday last year and the highest number of transactions received in a single day since the program was implemented in 1989. Sunday's 1,828 background checks in Virginia represented a 43 percent increase from a year ago. Colorado also set a one-day record for background checks on Saturday with 4,200, the highest number since the program began in 1999.
One Virginia firearm dealer said he saw huge sales in modern sporting rifles and "high-capacity magazines."

White House Lays Out What Gun Control Obama Would Support

Politico has this report on what White House press spokesmen Jay Carney said during this afternoon's press briefing:

Kopel Writes about Guns, Mental Illness and Newtown

Maybe Virginia Senator Mark Warner, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, and now Republican Senator Marco Rubio should have read Dave Kopel's Op/Ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal before jumping on the modern sporting rifle ban bandwagon:
Back in the mid-1960s, in most states, an adult could walk into a store and buy an AR-15 rifle, no questions asked. Today, firearms are the most heavily regulated consumer product in the United States. If someone wants to purchase an AR-15 or any other firearm, the store must first get permission for the sale from the FBI or its state counterpart. Permission is denied if the buyer is in one of nine categories of "prohibited persons," including felons, domestic-violence misdemeanants, and persons who have been adjudicated mentally ill or alcoholic.
And for those talking about bans on ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds:
Nor are magazines holding more than 10 rounds something new. They were invented decades ago and have long been standard for many handguns. Police officers carry them for the same reason that civilians do: Especially if a person is attacked by multiple assailants, there is no guarantee that a 10-round magazine will end the assault.
Read Kopel's entire article.  He makes some similar points that Western Idaho professor Clayton Cramer makes in this article.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Amid Gun Contol Talk, White House Says No Simple Solution

The Hill reports that the White House spokesman said while the president has expressed support for "commonsense measures" he said Friday's shooting is a complex problem that requires a complex solution. Though he refused to address specific proposals or give a timeline for proposals.
Carney was asked whether delaying a legislative proposal risked failing to harness the outrage in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The press secretary said it was hard to "imagine in a few weeks or a few months that pain would not still be incredibly intense and present."
The article also noted that Virginia Senator Mark Warner has joined the chorus talking about banning sporting rifles, also known as so-called "assault weapons." Warner called the Newtown shooting a "game changer."  While Warner earned an "A" rating from the NRA in 2000 after having signed a number of pro-rights bills as governor, he has what can be termed a checkered past on the issue.  As chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia he supported a waiting period for purchasing handguns, supported Governor Doug Wilder's handgun rationing bill, and later supported the Clinton Gun ban.

UPDATE: CBS TV 6 and The News Leader reported and a stronger statement by Warner making it clear he now supports Obama's call for banning so-called "assault weapons."

Roll Call Daily Briefing Lays Out Gun Control Options

Roll Call's Daily Brief provided a glimpse of the gun control options available to the Obama Administration after Friday's Newtown school shooting.  They started by noting that West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, whom they note is a "lifetime NRA member," has come out and said now may be the time to discuss more gun control.  This from Roll Call's Daily Briefing:
The West Virginian, who’s becoming the most influential culturally conservative Democrat in the Senate, said on MSNBC that he agrees with Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York, who has advocated a ban on the sale of assault weapons even more far-reaching than the one on the federal books for a decade ending in 2004. Manchin strongly suggested that sportsmen and people seeking to defend their homes should not view their Second Amendment rights as being violated by reviving that same law’s ban on the sort of high-capacity ammunition clips that Adam Lanza attached to his Bushmaster while killing 20 first graders and six school officials on Friday. “I’ve never had more than three shells in a clip,” said Manchin, who says he spent the weekend deer hunting. “I’m a proud outdoorsman and hunter, but this doesn’t make sense.”
Then the Daily Briefing went on to talk about Obama's options.  They started with executive orders or DOJ regulations on "high capacity magazines."
The most aggressive option would be to impose a unilateral ban, either by executive order or through Justice Department regulations, on high-capacity magazines. (The 1994-2004 law banned clips of more than 10 rounds.) Other options mainly involve tightening the rules for background checks (to include private sales as well as those by licensed dealers) and expanding the reach of the FBI system (so that it becomes aware of information on file at other federal agencies about such things as mental competence, for example). They have been floated by administration officials several rimes in the two years since the Gabby Giffords shooting, but not pushed beforehand, because of administration officials’ concerns about enraging the NRA while the president was running for re-election.
Retiring Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman has suggested the creation of a presidential commission with that would include representatives from the NRA to look at the issue of gun laws and the mental health system.  The first thing that should give people heartburn about this suggestion is that he also said the panel should include representatives from Hollywood.  Not sure what they know about firearms or mental health.

On his program today, Rush Limbaugh noted that Bill Bennett suggested yesterday that there should be at least one "competent" armed person in every school.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Armed Citizens and Mass Shooters

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

7th Circuit Strikes Down Illinois Ban on Concealed Carry

Illinois gun owners have won a victory, and all that remains is to see whether the state appeals the decision and Illinois residents have to wait until the Supreme Court settles it, to join 49 other states that have some form of concealed carry.  This from Fox News:

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals announced Tuesday that state lawmakers have 180 days to write a new law that legalizes concealed carry.
The Illinois Attorney General said she is reviewing the ruling and will comment later today.  Congratulations to the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association, who brought the suit along with former corrections officer Michael Moore of Champaign, farmer Charles Hooks of Percy, Illinois.  You can download and read the decision here.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Bill Introduced in General Assembly to Eliminate Online Training for CHP

Prince William Democrat Delegate Luke Torian has introduced a bill for the 2013 Virginia General Assembly that changes the training requirements that must be completed before applying for a Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP). Currently, the following qualify for the training requirement:
  1. Completing any hunter education or hunter safety course approved by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries or a similar agency of another state;
  2. Completing NRA firearms safety course; 
  3. Completing any firearms safety or training course or class available to the general public offered by a law-enforcement agency, junior college, college, or private or public institution or organization or firearms training school utilizing instructors certified by the National Rifle Association or the Department of Criminal Justice Services;
  4. Completing any law-enforcement firearms safety or training course or class offered for security guards, investigators, special deputies, or any division or subdivision of law enforcement or security enforcement;
  5. Presenting evidence of equivalent experience with a firearm through participation in organized shooting competition or current military service or proof of an honorable discharge from any branch of the armed services;
  6. Obtaining or previously having held a license to carry a firearm in the Commonwealth or a locality thereof, unless such license has been revoked for cause;
  7. Completing any firearms training or safety course or class, including an electronic, video, or on-line course, conducted by a state-certified or National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor;
  8. Completing any governmental police agency firearms training course and qualifying to carry a firearm in the course of normal police duties; or
  9. Completing any other firearms training which the court deems adequate.
House Bill 1326 would remove #s 1, 3, and 7 as options and would remove option of presenting evidence of participation in organized shooting competition in #5 as options to complete the training requirement.  Additionally, the bill adds the language "that focuses on the use and handling of a concealed handgun" to #s 2 and 9.  In other words, it appears that Delegate Torian is trying to infer that the training include range time without specifically stating such.  Currently, Virginia does not require range time as part of the training requirement.

Virginia's option allowing for online training received a lot of media attention earlier this year when numerous news outlets in- and outside of the Commonwealth reported about the "jump" in non-resident CHP permits, and attributed the increase to the ability to complete training online.  None of the articles offered any concrete evidence that non-residents used the online training option exclusively or even overwhelmingly over other training options.  They simply looked at the numbers and presumed because the increase appeared to coincided with the law clarifying online training was acceptable, that had to be the reason for the increase.  With this in mind, it is likely that online training is the real target of Delegate Torian's bill.

Commonsense tells us that anyone who chooses to carry a firearm should spend hours at the range practicing, not just before they get the permit, but also after, as shooting is a perishable skill.  But government should not try to legislate commonsense.  The training requirement was meant as a minimum to apply for a CHP.  This is a solution in search of a problem.  The CHP law has been in place for almost 20 years.  The online training clarification was added three years ago and there has been no problems.  VSSA will vigorously oppose HB1326, not because we don't support training, but because the bill is one more piece of nannyism.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Virginia Man Fired by AutoZone After Likely Saving Life of Boss

We know this type of story all too well.  Companies with "zero-tolerance" firearms policies fire employees who protect themselves from thugs.  But this one is a little too close to home.  Devin McClean worked at an AutoZone in the Tidewater Area.  Recently an armed robber came into the store.  He escorted Mr. McClean and his boss to the office, then after taking Mr. McClean's cell phone escorted him to the restroom.  McClean peeked out of the door and watched the robber go back to the front of the store.  At that moment, McClean was able to get out of the store, get to his car and retrieve his firearm.  Returning to the store, he re-entered the store and found his both on his hands and knees in front of the safe.  McClean confronted the robber, and the perp threw up his hands and fled the store.  He was later fired by AutoZone because he re-entered the store with the firearm.  He could have just as easily left his boss' life in the hands of the robber.  He didn't.  And for that, he was fired.

Cam Edwards of NRANews.com spoke with him about it the incident last Friday.


NRANews.com has tried to contact AutoZone for their side of the story, but, as expected, they have had no response.  The response, should they receive one will likely be the standard "we don't discuss personnel issues..."

Not being one to suggest boycotts, if you choose to take you business elsewhere (or in the case you have never been an AutoZone patron), at least take time to politely let them know why they will lose your business.

Goochland Teacher Attacked in School Parking Lot

The Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting that a female teacher was attacked this morning by a 29 year-old Henrico man. The attack took place in the parking lot of Goochland Middle School around 8:45.  Two teachers pulled the attacker off of the victim and are credited with saving her life.

Goochland Sheriff James Agnew did not disclose a motive for the attack.

Detroit Thugs Continue to Terrorize City

I guess this story will be cited as one more reason why the nation needs to ban so-called "assault weapons."
Detroit police are investigating whether a group of AK-47 wielding robbers who hit two gas stations Wednesday morning are responsible for several similar crimes that have recently occurred across the city.
Maybe Detroit should get their fiscal house in order so they can hire more police.  Detroit citizens have to protect themselves from the thugs since there are not enough police to respond to routine calls.