No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for the 'Guns' Category

June 26, 2008

Actually, it’s more of a guideline than a rule…

by @ 15:08. Filed under Guns.

Said Peter Veckman in Ghost Busters as his conscience fought his libido over whether to take advantage of a possessed Dana or allow his chivalrous side to rule. Eventually, Bill Murray realized that rules were in fact rules and went on to save Sigourney Weaver.

Nancy Pelosi must be a Ghost Busters fan as she makes the “Actually, it’s more of a guideline than a rule…” argument with regards to today’s Supreme Court’s ruling on handguns.

From TheHill.com

Pelosi Says D.C. Should Continue Gun Regulation
@ 12:29 pm by Andy Barr
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says that despite the Supreme Court decision to strike down its gun ban, the District of Columbia will still be able to regulate firearms.

“I think it still allows the District of Columbia to come forward with a law that’s less pervasive,” Pelosi said at her weekly briefing Thursday. “I think the court left a lot of room to run in terms of concealed weapons and guns near schools.”

While Justice Scalia may not have been as inclusive in his opinion as some would have liked, especially in the area of conceal and carry, there is no doubt that his opinion addresses the Framers inclination that gun ownership was desired for self defense. As opposed to Justice Scalia’s direct understanding of the Constitutional right to self defense, Nancy uses the “The Constitution is more of a guideline” argument by trotting back out her hope that there would still be ability for the DC to implement conceal and carry restrictions.

I have to admit that I’m torn by the possibilities of Nancy’s thinking. On the one hand I’m clearly not in favor of abridging and constitutional rights for any citizen who has the capability of rational thought and has not been previously found to abuse the right. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see Nancy is able to get the courts to agree that even Constitutional rights can be limited by putting the good of the public over that of the individual. If she is able to move the courts that way, perhaps we reopen that nasty Roe vs. Wade thingy and see if perhaps the imagined “Constitutional rights” that exist there could be abridged for the benefit of the public over the individual?

Heller affirmed

by @ 9:19. Filed under Guns.

Word from SCOTUSblog is that Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 split striking down DC’s gun bans and affirming an individual right under the 2nd Amendment, with Breyer writing a main dissent and an unknown Justice writing a concurring dissent.

When they have the opinion, I’ll have the link to it.

Revisions/extensions (9:27 am 6/26/2008) – They have the opinion. I’m going through it as soon as I hit “save”.

R&E parts 2 and 3 (10:59 am and 11:08 am 6/26/2008) – Scalia’s opinion is mostly a thing of beauty. There are a couple of quibbles regarding too much deference given to bad precedent, but considering we were but a Kennedy away from no gun rights outside of the auspices of a government organization, I’ll take it. Indeed, Heller is part of a government organization and was seeking to extend his “militia” right to his private residence.

Also, Chris, the BBA Master of Arms, is now taking suggestions for a date to hold a BBA shoot in honor of Heller.

April 3, 2008

The gun-grabbers are feeling their oats

by @ 10:54. Filed under Guns, Politics - National.

Amanda Carpenter highlights Barack Obama’s flop back to gun banning….

"I am not in favor of concealed weapons," Obama told the Pittsburgh Tribune. "I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations."

No, BHO. Concealed-carry creates a potential atmosphere where innocent people can defend themselves during altercations, with the side benefit of making the criminal lifestyle a bit less appealing.

So, why is BHO going back to his disarmament roots? According to The Washington Times, that’s what the fools in Philly want.

March 18, 2008

Congress calls for the end of DC’s gun ban

by @ 16:24. Filed under Guns, Politics - National.

Matt Lewis, among others, noted that John McCain joined a rather extraordinary amicus brief on District of Columbia v. Heller. It is rather extraordinary for a couple of reasons. First, it is extraordinary in its conclusion:

In sum, historically Congress has interpreted the Second Amendment as recognizing the right of law-abiding individuals to keep and bear arms. This Court should give due deference to the repeated findings over different historical epochs by Congress, a co-equal branch of government, that the Amendment guarantees the personal right to possess firearms.

The District’s prohibitions on mere possession by law-abiding persons of handguns in the home and having usable firearms there are unreasonable per se. No purpose would be served by remanding this case for further fact finding or other proceedings. This Court should affirm the decision below, Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007).

That in itself is a rather stunning and refreshing change from the official position of the executive branch, which in essence is that, while there is an individual Second Amendment right, all existing gun controls, including the DC gun ban, do not run afoul of that.

The second is who else joined this brief. At the top is Vice President Dick Cheney, who joined in his capacity as President of the Senate. I guess that blows the notion of him actually running the country out of the water. There are also a smattering of Democrats, some of whom I would never have guessed would say that an outright ban on handguns is unreasonable.

Specifically, those in the Wisconsin delegation that signed on are Senator Russ Feingold and Representatives Steve Kagen, Ron Kind, Tom Petri, Paul Ryan and Jim Sensenbrenner (the latter 3 I would expect as they are what remains of the Republican half of the delegation).

Hey Doyle. Hey Decker. You mopes listening?

February 28, 2008

Yet again, I’M SHOCKED

by @ 9:12. Filed under Guns.

Who’d a thunk there was a relationship between gun ownership and political and civil freedom….I remember, it was the guys who wrote our Constitution!

January 12, 2008

Bush, you ignorant slut

by @ 15:20. Filed under Guns, Lawgivers-In-Black.

(Headline shamelessly stolen from Doubleplusundead, and no, I’m not going to spare anybody from the language)

I just got done quickly plowing through the brief US Solicitor General Paul D. Clement (friend of noted gun-grabber Rudy Giuliani) filed in District of Columbia v Dick Anthony Heller, (brief at SCOTUSBlog, H/T – Owen), and I have to say (language warning after the jump)…
(more…)

December 17, 2007

Romney shoots himself in both feet

by @ 7:33. Filed under Guns, Politics - National.

(H/Ts – Bryan and Michelle)

Shot #1 – Romney came out in support of the ever-so-meaningless 1994 “Assault Weapons” ban. The quote of the day – “But, but I would, I would look at weapons that pose extraordinary lethality"¦.” The odd thing is, I’ve fired both the MAK-90 (AK-47 clone firing a 7.62x39mm round) and a rifle firing a .30-06 Winchester round, and because the Winchester round is much longer (they’re both the same diameter), the hunting round is a lot deadlier. In the Hot Air comments section, MadisonConservative takes a very good whack at the other things that the Brady Bill said made rifles soooooooo dangerous.

Shot #2 – Romney wrongly claimed he got the NRA’s endorsement in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial election. While he did get a “B” grade from the NRA, not only did they stay out of the endorsement game in that race, but they gave his opponent an “A”. I will guarantee that he won’t get the NRA endorsement this time either.

Quick flashback to the YouTube debate. Several of the candidates were asked what their favorite gun was. Here’s how I recorded Romney’s answer: “To Mitt – But my son does (probably BB Ryders).”

November 20, 2007

SCOTUS will rule on D.C. gun ban

by @ 15:41. Filed under Guns, Law and order, Politics - National.

The news has been flying around the Net all day, so I’m a bit late to this party. The SCOTUS Blog has the best legal summary I’ve seen:

– The Supreme Court has accepted Washington, DC’s appeal in the case District of Columbia v. Heller. Specifcally, they worded the granted issue this way: "Whether the following provisions "” D.C. Code secs. 7-2502.02(a)(4), 22-4504(a), and 7-2507.02 "” violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes?"

– They did not act on a cross-petition of five District residents seeking to join the case. SCOTUS Blog cautions that this is not necessarily a rejection of that cross-petition.

– Left unmentioned by the Court are a whole host of issues that may or may not be decided in this case, including whether the Second Amendment would apply to state and local governments (D.C. is a federal enclave, and that was the reasoning in the D.C. Circuit’s voiding of those three gun laws).

Jim Geraghty wonders whether this would affect the 2008 election. Given the likely timeframe of a March hearing (strongly suggested by SCOTUS Blog) and a June ruling, I would have to say that any ruling would not affect the primaries, specifically the Republican primary, at all, as I expect things to be settled before Wisconsin’s scheduled turn in the “limelight” February 19.

The fact that the Supreme Court has taken the case, however, does have the potential to influence the Republican primaries. Rudy Giuliani, who would be gravely conflicted should the Supreme Court hold the Second Amendment trumps local gun bans, will face a very difficult choice between his lifelong desire to grab guns and his late public professions of support of Constitutionalist Justices. While the side he decides to come down on probably would not cement the nomination if he chooses wisely, it would likely have the effect of ending his chances should he choose poorly.

Similarily, the ruling has the potential to have a major influence on the general election. It will energize both sides of the gun-laws debate, especially whichever side loses. There is a caveat; if Giuliani is the Republican nominee and the Supreme Court sides with the District, that additional energy on the pro-gun side will likely gravitate to a third-party candidate.

August 28, 2007

Let’s make it 100 for 100

by @ 19:53. Filed under Guns.

(H/T – Geoff at JunkYardBlog)

Michael at Innocent Bystanders picks up on a Reuters report that America has 90 guns per 100 citizens and suggests we all charge north. While I like the idea of no longer having to import my Kokanee and Labatt Maximum Ice, or pay non-citizen rates for a fishing license, I don’t like the prospect of having to supply my SocSecurity number to get that license.

While I have your attention, a late reminder from US Citizen at Traction Control that today is Buy Ammo Day. I am running a bit low on .40 S&W FMJ.

Revisions/extensions (7:59 pm 8/28/2007) – Elliot has the money quote from the AP version – “‘There’s no clear relationship between more guns and higher levels of violence,’ Krause said, pointing to low ownership and high crime rates in Latin America.”

May 19, 2007

I’m armed and ready

by @ 6:48. Filed under Guns.

Just in case you guys forgot, today is the BBA Spring Shoot at McMiller’s. The shoot starts at 10 am, and Smith, Wesson, and me will likely be a bit late. The best way to get there from the Milwaukee area –

– Take I-43 southwest of Milwaukee to Hwy. 83.
– Turn right on 83, and head to County Hwy. LO on the north side of Mukwonago.
– Turn left on LO, and proceed to Hwy. 67.
– Turn left on 67, and follow until County Hwy. EE splits off.
– Turn right on EE, head a short distance, and the entrance to McMiller’s will be on your right.

See you there.

May 16, 2007

Add another pistol to the BBA Spring Shoot

by @ 20:12. Filed under Guns.

This is your semi-regular reminder that we will be at McMiller’s Sports Center on Saturday starting at 10 am. Be there or be nowhere.

A confirmed list of guns that will be there…

  • .30-06 rifle with scope
  • .22 rifle with scope
  • .17HMR rifle with scope
  • MAK-90 (modified AK-47) “assault” rifle in 7.62x39mm caliber
  • 12-gauge shotgun (if Chris remembers it this time :-) The clay range is closed on Saturdays – DAMMIT!
  • .44 Magnum revolver
  • Beretta PX4 Storm (.40 caliber)
  • Glock 27 (.40 caliber)

And one more…

In something less than 48 hours, I’ll be the proud owner of a Smith and Wesson SW40VE pistol (.40 S&W) with the 14-round magazine. Many thanks to Gander Mountain for a nice, quick, pain-free purchase.

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