Archive for the 'Gun Control' Category

The Des Moines Register:

States should take a closer look at how people with mental health issues are flagged in a federal background check system required for firearms purchases, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday.

Jindal was speaking during the last stop in a five-day trip to Iowa — his first since a man opened fire in a Louisiana movie theater, killing two women before turning the gun on himself.

“There was a shooting in Lafayette and the shooter in that case, I believe, should’ve been involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital and shouldn’t have been able to buy a gun,” the Republican candidate for president told the Westside Conservative Club at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale.

In 2013, Jindal signed off on two laws that improved Louisiana’s reporting requirements to ensure the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system was receiving information when a person lost their gun rights due to a mental health issue. He said other states should follow Louisiana’s example.

“I’m not for taking any rights away from law-abiding citizens,” Jindal said. “Those that were involuntarily committed, those records were supposed to be going into the national background check. That wasn’t always happening.”

My goodness he has a lot of faith in the “mental health” profession and system for someone who isn’t trying to take rights away from law abiding citizens (and I like the word “peaceable” better than “law abiding”).

As I’ve said before, “As for those who believe in the so-called mental health “sciences,” you may as well believe in voodoo and bow down and worship totem poles or cut your wrists like the prophets of Baal for a god who isn’t there.  The mental health “sciences” is the refuge of collectivists and scoundrels.”

Thanks for outing yourself as a collectivist, Bobby.  It’s always easier when y’all self-identify.

AL.com:

A group of Alabama sheriffs said Tuesday that current state gun laws limit their discretion in granting concealed carry permits and proposed legislation could further complicate their ability to confiscate weapons from potentially dangerous people.

Louisiana movie theater shooter John Russell Houser was denied a concealed weapons permit in Russell County in 2006. However, Sheriff Heath Taylor said Houser likely would have been given one under legislation passed in 2013 that says sheriffs “shall issue” concealed carry permits instead of sheriffs “may issue” them in cases involving applicants without felony convictions or other outstanding circumstances.

Taylor told a press conference in Phenix City that current law allows sheriffs to deny applications if they can provide reasons to support the denial in the interest of public safety. But he noted that law enforcement decisions may be overruled if the officials can’t provide strong enough documentation or details despite personal knowledge of an applicant’s past behavior.

Republican State Rep. Ed Henry of Decatur said law enforcement officials must simply provide reasons in writing for denying concealed carry permits.

“There’s nothing in the law that says the sheriff has to issue a permit at 18, there’s nothing in the law that removes their discretion, period,” Henry said. “What they can’t do — and what they loved to do before — is deny a pistol permit and not give a reason.”

A portion of the state’s concealed carry law says a sheriff must consider how much time has passed between a questionable incident and the date an application is made. Sheriffs who deny applications are required to provide written statements and evidence unless disclosing those details would interfere with an ongoing investigation.

I didn’t know this about Alabama law.  AL.com makes it sound much like North Carolina where Sheriff’s have a right to deny purchase permits – a throwback to Jim Crow laws that helps the Sheriff’s department raise revenue.  There isn’t much one person can do about it, since we are unfortunately controlled by Charlotte and Raleigh, two hotbeds of liberalism.  Alabama can do better.

So Alabama Sheriff’s have too much control over gun permits (when there shouldn’t be any such thing as a gun permit at all), and they want even more!  Totalitarians don’t just live up North.  They ensconce themselves wherever they’re allowed, and Alabama had better nip this in the bud.  You don’t need boys like that hanging around causing trouble.

Why won’t Scott Walker say Obama is a Christian?  Um, well, you know, because he’s not.  He’s a Marxist  A man cannot serve two masters.

David Codrea:

No.  Your move.

More David:

A Washington DC “Democrat media consulting firm” affiliated with Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (and a host of anti-gun politicians) is offering Oregon gun dealers $1,500 to allow them to film an on-location “public service announcement,” Oregon Firearms Federation announced Friday. The filmmakers need a gun store as a backdrop for an actor to tell viewers how “easy” it is to comply with form requirements …

Uh huh.  They’d better not.

Mike Vanderboegh:

… and twist old Chris Christie’s 2nd Amendment titty.

Now that’s something we’d all like to see.  By the way, I’m not sure I could name a single person with whom I went to High School.  Honestly.

Military Times:

Following the recent fatal shooting of four Marines and a sailor in Tennessee, Defense Secretary Ash Carter is ordering the military services to consider new policies that would enhance security for troops at home, including potentially arming more personnel.

In a memo released Thursday, Carter urged top military officials to “develop action plans to improve the security and force protection of DoD personnel.”

His memo noted that current Defense Department policy authorizes the arming of additional “qualified DoD personnel (not regularly engaged in law enforcement activities) based on the threat and the immediate need to protect DoD assets and lives.”

Carter also urged military officials to “consider any additional protection measures including changes to policy and procedures that protect our force against the evolving threat,” according to the memo.

Another key aspect of the “action plans” should be identifying ways to “improve off-installation site security, including practical physical security upgrades and procedural improvements.”

Carter’s memo also calls for a new assessment of “mass warning notification systems and regional alert systems” to identify any problems or gaps.

Well, perhaps.  It isn’t clear that the DoD will authorize weapons in recruitment centers.  They still work for the current administration, after all, and the administration is as anti-gun and anti-personal defense as any we’ve had in our history.

This whole debate reminds me of the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.  It split the conservative community.  Fight terrorists wherever they are, said some.  Others, like me, said don’t ever allow the President or anyone else the authority to kill citizens.  This power can be turned on gun owners and patriots of all stripes (or anyone else who happens to be out of vogue).  The debate would be muted if we actually trusted the government.

For the record, I advocated allowing Marines to arm themselves with personal weapons, although not issuing arming orders for them on U.S. soil.  This simple solution would, if adopted, solve all of the issues.  But I also pointed out the current Marine Corps Commandant orders via a MARADMIN that prohibits even personal weapons in personal homes of Marines except under very strict conditions (which would prevent their actual use in an emergency).

This question of arming Marines is a fake problem created by the gun controllers (some of who live in the military), which has real world consequences.  Solution: let the Marines arm themselves.  They’ll do a fine job.  They don’t need your help.

The Advertiser:

Retired Gen. Russel Honore’, Louisiana’s most well-known 21st Century military hero, said America is mired in a state of denial about its gun culture that’s harming the country.

“As a country we’re in a state of denial because we’ve confused the right to bear arms with the right to carry arms all the time anywhere or anyplace you want,” Honore’ told Gannett Louisiana on Monday. “We have to have a different kind of conversation in America and be prepared to speak about the politically unspeakable.”

Honore’ said the string of recent mass gun murders — culminating with the tragic movie theater shooting in Lafayette Thursday in which two victims died — should provide a wake up call.

“It breaks my heart to see that happen in my home state or anywhere in America,” he said. “We’ve got a problem in this country, and at some point the politicians have to get down into the community and find some answers to this problem.”

Honore’ had considered running for governor this fall but decided against making the race earlier this summer.

The retired army general, best known for his role leading the Hurricane Katrina recovery in New Orleans, said during his time in the military soldiers “were required to clear their weapons and turn them in as soon as they came in from the field.”

“The best place for weapons when you’re not in the field is to be locked up in the garrison,” Honore’ said. “Our biggest problem before Desert Storm was (soldiers) accidentally firing their weapons, and they’re trained.

“I’ve been around guns all my life, but when I was growing up they were locked in the cabinet unless you needed them for hunting.”

Honore’ also said he disagrees with those advocating for military men and women at recruitment offices to be armed. Some armed civilians have taken it upon themselves to stand guard at recruitment locations since the mass shooting at a Tennessee office this summer.

One such civilian accidentally fired a round at an Ohio recruitment office last week. Nobody was injured.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to arm military at the recruitment offices or to have civilians there with guns,” Honore’ said. “That’s the job of law enforcement. On our bases, yes, we guard our gates and our bases, but not at the recruitment offices.”

Field training with weapons owned by the armory and civilians with personal weapons.  I think he is conflating very simply different issues.  Moreover, if his Soldiers were “accidentally firing” their weapons, it was no accident (we’ve learned on the pages of TCJ that there are no accidents and that negligent discharge is a much better phrase), and they apparently weren’t well trained as he is claiming.

But his uneducated, simpleton ideas aside, take note of the claim.  He is perhaps Louisiana’s most well known war hero of the 21st century.  The Times-Picayune also has information on Honore.

“We’ve got to rethink and re-set our thoughts about guns,” said Honore who played a key role in post-Katrina recovery. “We have to focus less on ideology and more on practicality.”

Aside from the civil war he wants to start, there’s that assertion again: ” … who played a key role in the post-Katrina recovery.”

It’s obvious that he’s running for something, or is trying to bolster his collectivist credentials for some consulting or political gig.  But I want to know more.  As readers know, I have submitted Freedom of Information Act requests asking who issued the arming orders for the National Guard troops who were in the field post-Katrina?

My intention was not only to learn this information (the merit of such knowledge is obvious), but use it to lead to other information, such as who issued the order to confiscate personal weapons from civilians post-Katrina?  The courts slapped down such unconstitutional antics, but it was a long time before everyone recovered their weapons.

Who issued the arming orders for General Honore, and who ordered the general to confiscate weapons?  Is this something he did of his own volition, or does the chain of command go yet higher in culpability?

General Honore knows something, and I have not yet given up on finding the truth, even though the government never intends to honor my request or federal law concerning the FOIA.  And if the reporters who wrote all of this about the general cared about real reporting rather than just parroting collectivist talking points brought to them by the handlers, they would help me find the truth.

More Chris Christie (as if anyone can really stand that):

ANKENY, Iowa — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) got into a heated exchange with a skeptical voter who accused the presidential candidate of being “anti-gun” during a town hall on Saturday, citing New Jersey’s tough gun control laws.

Responding to the man, who did not identify himself but mentioned he was part of the Iowa Gun Owners organization, Christie defended his record, refuting every claim the voter mentioned, and, at times, even raising his voice.

“Come up with one fact that shows one thing I’ve done as governor in New Jersey that’s done anything, anything not to support the rights of legal gun owners,” Christie said as the crowd gathered inside a local community college auto body shop erupted in applause. “Don’t come in front of this group of people and lie about my record, which is what you did.”

The voter accused Christie of proposing to ban .50-caliber rifles, requiring a government-issued ID for every firearms purchase and setting up a statewide firearms registry of guns and gun owners. Christie responded harshly, holding true to the theme of his campaign, “Telling it like it is.”

“I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but your information is wrong,” Christie told the man.

Christie noted that he vetoed the .50-caliber ban, the statewide ID system and the law that was passed to reduce magazine sizes from 15 to 10.

The man in the crowd then asked if Christie is planning on pardoning Brian Fletcher, a North Carolina man who is facing prison time after telling a police officer in New Jersey that he had a gun in his vehicle, which is the customary and legal thing to do in his home state. Christie said he hasn’t made a decision yet, but is reviewing the situation.

“I’m not going to make that decision in 15 minutes nor should I. Nor should you want me to,” Christie said. “I see you shrugging your shoulders, why are you shrugging your shoulders about? You have your point of view, but have some facts about it.”

Good Lord!  Are we really going to have to listen to this loud mouth for the next year?  Chris, you are gun control collectivist from way back, and you made your fame in New Jersey pushing an “assault weapons” ban.  As for Mr. Fletcher, I do indeed want you to make your decision quickly rather than be cowardly about it.  And it should be to destroy all of the paperwork you ever had on him and tell your LEOs to stop arresting people who come across state lines with weapons, right after you pass a reciprocity law recognizing the permitting system of every other state in the country.

The fact that you won’t do that tells us everything we need to know about you.  The fact that you think we don’t want you to make your mind up about it should tell you something about yourself.  You have lived in collectivist-land for so long you don’t have even the slightest understanding of what the rest of us believe.

David Codrea:

“There’s a natural inclination to want to defend yourself, but if you can get through a situation like this and not do anything, and simply give these people what they want, and get the police out there as quickly as possible, that the way to handle it,” the Mesquite Police spokesman advises. “Let us handle it.”

Highly irresponsible counsel.  Never follow it because you don’t know what they really want.  All you know is what they say they want, and they are criminals who can’t be trusted.  Hmm …I seem to recall the Bible saying something about people who cannot be trusted (Titus 1:12).

Well, it appears that Mike Vanderboegh’s warning shot over the bow scared off the bad guys.

Visualizing the future battlefield.  For reasons I’ve explained elsewhere, I think this is pure fantasy.  The generals have been watching too many movies.  The so-called Big Dog sounds like a millions angry Africanized bees, won’t stand up to water, moisture or dust, and needs too much power to operate.  The so-called exoskeleton is fantasized because they want to see genderless battlefields.  Because they’re idiots.

Ben Carson again on guns:

“Early on, when I entered the political arena and I was asked the question about guns, I didn’t know at that time that you always start that off by saying how important the Second Amendment is and that you will never compromise that,” Carson said.

No, what you really have to do is tell the truth.  I think you did that the first time you ever opened your mouth on the subject.  And at that point we learned all we ever needed to know.

Kurt Hofmann:

We are told that we are to lock up our guns, “for safety.” We are told that cops (and retired cops) must have unlocked guns . . . “for safety.” How does once having worn a badge make what’s safe for one person the exact opposite of what’s safe for the next?

Expanding this line of thinking, if it’s safer to disarm us completely because, after all, guns are no defense, then the gun control advocate should also be in favor of disarming police.  But they never are, because they know guns are a defense.  The surest way to disarm (pardon the pun) gun control advocates is to ask them if they favor disarming the police too?  When they demur, you can call them a hypocrite.

Kurt Hofmann:

Sanders’ idea of the “middle” would also ban semi-automatic, detachable magazine-fed rifles–popularly, if inaccurately, referred to as “assault weapons”–and the “high capacity” (gun ban zealot-speak for “standard capacity”) magazines that feed them. This is the “middle”? Sending people to prison for buying the most popular class of centerfire rifles in America is his idea of respecting the rights of gun owners? Prison time for buying an 11-round magazine is the “compromise” he wants to sell us? Outlawing the most useful arms for defense of one’s home, one’s life, one’s family, and one’s liberty is part of the give-and-take he proposes?

Sanders is a communist like all other gun control advocates.

A blogroll addition at WoG.  Hey, I just noticed that I’m not blogrolled.

David’s latest at Oathkeepers.  I read the whole article, but David’s summation is the best: “Mirkarimi appears to fit that description. Initial charges of domestic violence were plea-bargained down to false imprisonment, allowing him to keep his gun. Not that he wants non-LEOs to keep and bear theirs. Hey, as long as he’s taken care of, why would the pesky Second Amendment and a ceremonial oath to the Constitution get in the way of an agenda?”

Mike Vanderboegh links this concerning someone’s pipe dream over how they define a “well regulated militia.”

“Here’s what a well-regulated militia actually looks like.”

1. First of all, assault weapons will be banned except for the National Guard. People who currently own assault weapons will be required to sell them to the National Guard which will distribute them to legitimate military units where they will be used for defense of the country.

2. Anyone wishing to buy a handgun will buy it from a police department. The police department will be allowed to make a profit on the guns they sell in order to pay for the systems’ gun owners’ database. These individual police department databases will be collected into a full national gun owners’ database and maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. Following a background check, the police department will issue the applicant a gun permit.

This person obviously wants civil war.

NJ.com on what it takes to legally transport a firearm into or through New Jersey.  I think the writer is wrong and that if you tried any of this you’d be arrested and charged with a felony.  Don’t follow this writer’s advice.

Molly Marshall, Baptist News Global:

Three important articles, first from Mike Vanderboegh:

So when the reset button gets pushed in the aftermath of the tyrants’ attacks and their defeat, they lose it all. Everything. Every tool of our oppression. This is something they should think about before they rouse their own people to righteous anger. They will lose everything they hold most dear — their power over us, their position, their appetite for our liberty, our property and our lives. That is what “reset” means to them in the context of the civil war they are determined to have. Everything.

Good point.  This is related to another article Mike penned concerning legitimacy, which will get some attention from me momentarily.

David Codrea, whos has a new gig with TTAG:

The way things are, there’s not much more hotel management can do besides offer condolences over their dead and wounded guests, stay in touch with authorities and report any findings to the public.

Hey, as long as the government feels safe from accountability from its citizens, everything is cool.  After all, that’s the reason for gun control.

Kurt Hofmann:

His criticism of those who invest in weapons manufacture is especially puzzling. Anyone, after all, who purchases a weapon could fairly be said to have invested in the manufacture of them. And as it turns out, the Pontifical Swiss Guard, who defend the Vatican and its most famous resident, are lavishly equipped with some pretty hefty investments in Sig-Sauer, Heckler & Koch, Steyr Mannlicher, and Glock semi-automatic handguns, personal defense weapons, assault rifles, and submachine guns, not to mention whomever manufactures the swords, halberds, and other more traditional weapons carried by his guards.

So, will the Vatican be melting all those guns and blades down, to be remanufactured into farming implements, or something similarly non-martial? If not, who is the real hypocrite here, Your Holiness?

Kurt turns his usual logical incisiveness towards the Vatican.  I saw all of that too, including the Pope’s ridiculous dive into AGW (which is just a massive global wealth redistribution campaign).  The pope is a clown.  I would care if I was Roman Catholic, but I’m not.  Kurt made just one mistake in the article – he called the pope “Your Holiness.”  There’s nothing holy about him.  Anyone who claims to be the vicar of Christ deserves the same condemnation the reformers gave him.  Gun control is just one more thing the pope will be accountable for before God.