"The Gun Lobby Doesn't Disagree"

The gun lobby—typically opposed to any attempt to tighten federal gun controls—doesn't disagree. The National Rifle Association has decided to make no public comment about any aspect of the Virginia Tech tragedy, according to a spokesman. But a source close to the gun lobby (who asked not to be identified because of the organization’s sensitivities about making any political points related to the tragedy), pointed out that pro-gun lobbyists and groups like the NRA have long supported adding all relevant mental-health records to background check databases. "We have no problem as long as one is adjudicated mentally incompetent [in denying gun purchases] and we have no problem with mental health records being part of the NICS," the source said. "The problem is not with the gun community. The problem is with the medical community" that has traditionally opposed making such records available on privacy grounds.

That's it?

Four days after the fact--when the whole country is furiously debating the impact of the Virginia tech shootings on the Second Amendment--there's still no leadership from our self-proclaimed leaders? All we get are plausibly deniable signals sent through seconds that they'd endorse an expansion of NICS if only there were some way to work around privacy protections?

I'll repeat myself: anyone who can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted without a custodian. But absent due process, you cannot deprive a citizen of his rights. That's one of the prices of a free and open society.

I expect the recognized leaders in promoting the Second Amendment to promote the Second Amendment. I expect them to lead us in demanding an end to victim disarmament zones. Are they so cynical to believe that fighting unbendingly for the truth and for liberty is indefensible? Are they really so afraid of the Bradys--who are currently out grubbing for massacre money--accusing them of "making political points"? Does anyone at Fairfax really believe that saying nothing will accomplish anything?

[Via Ryan H]

Thanks for the Three...Uh...Two Bills!

I wish I'd gotten a a screen shot of the original post. Still, someone forgot to delete "HB 2457" from the subhead. I guess by this latest incarnation, someone at HQ decided cheering on an "Only Ones Only" bill might be problematic?

[Via 45superman]

How to Deal with Workplace Violence at Virginia Tech

What to Do When Violence Occurs

• Try to stay calm. Raising your own voice may increase the anxiety of a potentially violent person.
• Speak slowly, softly, and clearly to reduce the momentum of the situation.
• Listen empathetically by really paying attention to what the person is saying. Let the person know that you will help them within your ability to do so or you will send for additional help.
• Do not agree using distorted statements or attempt to argue.
• Avoid defensive statements. This is not the time to place blame on the enraged person.
• Ask the belligerent person to leave the area and come back when they feel calmer.
• Ask questions to help regain control of the conversation.
• Ask uninvolved parties to leave the area if this can be done safely.
• Use the prearranged code word to alert your coworker(s) to call the Campus Police.
• Never challenge, try to bargain, or make promises you cannot keep.
• Describe the consequences of any violent behavior.
• Avoid challenging body language such as placing your hands on your hips, moving toward the person, or staring directly at them. If seated, remain in your chair and do not turn your back on the individual.
• Do not physically touch an outraged person, or try to force them to leave.
• Move away from any object, such as scissors or heavy objects that could be used as a weapon.
• Calmly ask the person to place any weapons in a neutral location while you continue to talk to them.
• Never attempt to disarm or accept a weapon from the person in question. Weapon retrieval should only be done by a police officer.

They forgot a few:

• Tell the attacker you have an STD.
• Vomit.
• Use a rat tail comb.
  

But under no circumstances use a weapon. That would be against the rules.

[Via J. Peel]

A Very Strong Proponent

I am a 36-year-old gun owner. I started target shooting at the age of 5 and hunting at the age of 14. At the age of 21 I joined the NRA and became am NRA certified shooting instructor and spent three years teaching shooting skills with the Boy Scouts of America. Not surprisingly, I am a very strong proponent of the right of Americans to own firearms. What some people do find surprising is that I am also a strong proponent of stricter gun laws in this country...

The only realistic solution is to enact strict federal laws that require background checks for the purchase of all firearms, to have mandatory waiting periods for purchasing firearms, to federally regulate ALL gun dealers in the country and to limit the number of guns that can be purchased by an individual during a given time period, such as per month or per year.

Nothing disgusts me more than gun owners for gun control. There's a term for such creatures...

[Via HZ]

Bridge Out Ahead

Absent some sort of federal "Missouri Compromise" where y'all agree to leave us alone and we agree to leave you alone, state by state, there really is nothing our two countries can negotiate about. We may share a past, we do not, cannot and WILL NOT share your intended anti-liberty collectivist future.

Mike Vanderboegh takes on Tommy Denton (again).

We're the Only Ones Minimizing a Lot More Losses Enough

SMERCONISH: Well, wait a minute. I think you`re speaking my language now when you say we need to arm the general public. Is your thought process that we`d be better served if more individuals, law abiding Americans, were carrying firearms so that they could take down whomever it is that perpetrated these acts?

BROWN: You bet, Michael. I`m one of those people. Yes, I do believe that.

SMERCONISH: OK, well, that makes two of us. And I imagine, Lieutenant Rogers, we may not get a beef out of you on that?

ROGERS: Well, the problem with that is, that, when the police, who are well trained to deal with these situation, enter into a dorm, who`s the shooter? Who`s the killer? Who`s the murderer?

You know, it`s an easy fix to say, well, let`s arm everyone. But we`ve got to be concerned about how many more lives could be lost. These police officers, and I agree with Pat, you know, they`re reacting to a tragic situation. But what they did, what these officers did this morning was no doubt minimize a lot more losses that could have been incurred by this suspect.

No doubt. "Only Ones" crouching behind trees while victims are being slaughtered works every time.

[Via Whose Paranoid]

Last Wish

Except it's time to stop wishing. It's time to start doing.

Before this happens.

[Via Declan]

Radio Rankin

Larry Rankin got some air time on The Colab Report , following a special appearance by Columbine survivor Crystal Woodman Miller. I didn't have time to listen to her segment, so I don't know if she came away from the experience with an appreciation for armed defense or not.

Click on "Download" for the April 19 show. Larry's segment starts a bit past half way through.

End the School Grounds Loophole

In a surprise move, a House panel voted Wednesday to repeal a state law that forbids the carrying of handguns on property and buildings owned by state, county and city governments - including parks and playgrounds.

"I think the recent Virginia disaster - or catastrophe or nightmare or whatever you want to call it - has woken up a lot of people to the need for having guns available to law-abiding citizens," said Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. "I hope that is what this vote reflects."

As amended, the legislation still wouldn't allow guns on school property, however.

Nicely done, Rep. Nicely. And brilliant amendment, Rep. Briley. But why not finish the job? Why do we leave the most obvious targets still vulnerable? Isn't it time to End the School Grounds Loophole? (Feel free to adopt this slogan.)

And why not challenge that idiot Janis Sontany to publicly demonstrate what she would do if a madman started shooting up the place while she was there? Why not challenge antis everywhere to do this? (Feel free to adopt this tactic.)

I notice from her website she's doing a "Tour for Life" for animals. I guess her constituents' lives aren't as important or sacred as cats'.

[Via Brian Puckett]

This Day in History: April 20

NEVER AGAIN

"Do You Know What a Barrel Shroud Is?"

Amazing. These people don't even know what it is they want to ban. And she's their "leader." What an incompetent fraud. In any other professional field, this would be considered malpractice.

From your legislation, Congressthing McCarthy, which you apparently neither read nor understood, but insisted on banning anyway:

`(36) Barrel Shroud- The term `barrel shroud' means a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel of a firearm so that the shroud protects the user of the firearm from heat generated by the barrel, but does not include a slide that encloses the barrel, and does not include an extension of the stock along the bottom of the barrel which does not encircle or substantially encircle the barrel.

[Via "Anonymous"]

A Media "Conservative"

The Second Amendment itself is debatable. But my position is the same as it was before this tragic week: I support a ban on all privately held handguns, period. In fact, I believe the manufacturing of handguns for private use should be outlawed.

That's the "liberal" position according to USA Today. What do the antis call that? "Reasonable gun control"?

Here's what they'd have us believe is the "conservative" counterpunch:

As for the assault-weapons ban, life went on for the 10 years that the ban was in place, so I'm not averse to reauthorizing it.

Neat trick by the "authorized journalists"--if you fall outside their parameters of a total ban on handguns and a total ban on semiautomatics, why you're an extremist!

Cal Thomas, you are a hollow fraud.

At least a fleeting mention of VTech's disarmament policy made it into in the "debate."

[Via 45superman]

The First Obligation

College officials in the U.S. are considering measures including better surveillance cameras and passes to improve security after the shooting at Virginia Tech University that left 33 people dead...

"We have been meeting all day; there's been endless discussion," Massachusetts Institute of Technology spokeswoman Patti Richards said in an interview. "The first obligation is to reassure the community that we hear people's fears and we're on the situation."

No, the first obligation is to not create a haven for psychopathic predators, you nitwits. You can have all the endless discussions in the world, and none of them will stop a deranged murderer.

But I guess it makes it seem like you're experts, and like you're doing something. But it's all an illusion, all for show. You people don't have a clue, and want to address everything but the obvious.

How reassuring is that?

Let's Pass the Ban--Before it's Too Late

Maniacs should not have easy access to hammers. We must have tool control.

Madame Nicki Knows All, Sees All

And I'm sure the armed criminals are appreciative of the General Assembly's actions as well. This will help them victimize their prey and give them a full college campus of disarmed targets.

Nicki Fellenzer said this about the death of the bill to provide for concealed carry on Virginia college campuses--in February 2006.

Believe it or not.

Eisner to Manipulate Public with Propaganda

So I think the solution is to get the public, in an emotional, story-driven way, behind the goal of an abolition of handguns and automatic weapons.

Coming from a guy who made money selling illegal toy guns, that's pretty hypocritical.

He comes right out and admits he never shared values with middle America while he was social imagineering Disney, and that he compromised his principles to keep his job.

The Best Tyranny Money Can Buy

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a coalition of 214 mayors are using the Virginia Tech massacre to pressure Congress to give local cops the information they need to trace illegal guns used in crimes.

CBS 2 has also learned that they're also launching a TV ad campaign starting Sunday...

The ads are funded by Bloomberg, who said he will personally spend whatever it takes to stop a bill that would allow the feds to withhold crucial information on illegal guns needed by local cops.

"In terms of how much money to spend I don't know," Bloomberg said. "The last time I was on a campaign I spent $85 million."

Well, he spent $70 milliion to buy the mayor's seat--that's some campaign finance reform in NYC, eh?

And the thing is, having a comparable war chest wouldn't be enough--not that any rich pro-2A champion will ride to the rescue, and not, heaven forbid--that gun owners will ever chip in to launch a pro-gun media campaign of their own. No, even if such an effort existed, it still would pale compared to the free media exposure the citizen disarmament camp get every day via bias, ignorance, omission and outright lies by the establishment press.

So Bloomberg will use his millions to put on a propaganda blitz aimed at a mass audience the experts are, well, experts at manipulating. He'll demand what this idiot "authorized journalist" Marcia Kramer brainlessly parrots: "Give local cops the information they need." And the mayor is not above exploiting the Virginia Tech murders to convince people this is so--even if the police somehow managed to "trace" those guns without having a national gun owner registry, which is really what he's after (and which some friends of mine have figured out how to stymie, but their idea is getting even less support than the COA ad campaign).

Yeah, I'm sure "The Only Ones" need a lot of things that would make their jobs easier, if only that pesky Bill of Rights didn't get in the way.

Butchers With Immaculate Hands

These butchers with immaculate hands are, to my mind, just as guilty as the shooter. They are the enablers of mass murder, by setting up a huge "free fire kill zone" where any criminal KNOWS IN ADVANCE he's not at risk; where anyone who has the temerity to try to obtain the legal means to protect himself or others is prosecuted as if he is the criminal. In today's body count do we see today the inevitable fruits of the insanity of gun control.

Mike Vanderboegh has some thought on shared culpability for the Virginia Tech massacre.

Fox Quotes Alphecca

"(The Republican candidates) must appeal to folks like me to get my vote. I don't expect them to be calling for further gun control," said Jeff Soyer, who runs www.Alphecca.com, a Web log popular with supporters of the Second Amendment guarantee for individuals to bear arms.

"Simply put," Soyer said, "there is no law that could be enacted that would have prevented this tragedy. You can't legislate against insanity.

It's nice to see deserving bloggers gain access to a mass audience. Here's Jeff's take.

This Day in History: April 19

NEVER AGAIN

2005
2006