Just a reminder, we gun bloggers are meeting up at the NRA convention this year. List of attendees so far:

Who else is going? And, no, you don’t have to be a blogger to attend.

From a shotgun.

The Honolulu Star Bulletin thinks that the supreme court should uphold gun laws. Let’s look at why they think that and why they’re igorant:

Courts have ruled for more than a century that the Second Amendment allows reasonable restrictions on possession of firearms, but the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia has ruled that such measures are unconstitutional.

In DC, handgun ownership is outlawed. Possession of rifles and shotguns is heavily regulated to the point that you cannot have a loaded or assembled one in your home unless it is locked up and rendered useless. That is not a reasonable restriction.

Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett has properly joined three other state attorneys general in asking that the Supreme Court overturn the ruling to maintain public safety.

And the gun ban has done nothing for public safety.

In 1939, the Supreme Court agreed with decades of decisions by state courts that a sawed-off shotgun was not among the “arms” the Founding Fathers had in mind. The constitutional right to possession of a gun, that court ruled, should have “some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia.”

Err, first of all that decades of decisions line is made up. Second, in the Miller case, the supreme court ruled no such thing. The case was not decided and the court asked for clarification about a short barreled shotgun. But making stuff up is easier than thinking. And here comes the PSH:

The dangerous ruling does not directly affect Hawaii and other states but, if it stands, will “cast a cloud over all federal and state laws restricting access to firearms,” Bennett and attorneys general from Maryland, Illinois and New York contend in a brief submitted to the high court.

Bingo. Hawaii’s strict gun laws are in danger.

Robb has more.

Parade (yes, that little rag that gets tucked into the comics section of the Sunday paper) addresses crime guns:

Even though crime is on the decline across the U.S., gun violence is actually on the rise. How do guns continue to end up in the hands of criminals? A small group of sellers is responsible: 57% of the guns used in crimes come from 1% of all dealers. Too often, they fail to run background checks or sell large numbers of weapons to traffickers who then resell them on the street. Due to weak laws and lack of enforcement, it can take an average of 11 years for authorities to order one shop to quit selling firearms. From 2003 to 2005, law-enforcement agencies reportedly traced an astonishing 1,424 guns used in crimes back to Trader Sports of California. The store had been investigated since the 1970s, but only last year was it forced to leave the firearms business. Progress is occurring, however. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the City of New York has sued 27 dealers in five states for engaging in illegal sales; so far, 14 of them have settled and agreed to stricter monitoring of gun sales and to tough penalties.

If a dealer fails to run a background check that dealer has broken the law. If a dealer sells a large number of handguns to one person (3 in a week) that info is reported to ATF. So, two strikes.

Also, if ATF wasn’t busy shutting down shops for failing to dot i’s and cross t’s, they might be able to go after bad dealers.

The ATF and others have noted that guns traced do not necessarily indicate the gun was used in a crime.

You can send the editor a letter at editor@parade.com.

Update: More at Ahab’s.

Only three prominent candidates answered Project Vote Smart’s questions about their positions.

Thoughts on the timing and the run up to the elections.

Sailorcourt reports on his M1 and SKS. Also, his various post on the M1 are available on CD.

Before gun control, about 800 Canadians were killed annually by firearms. After gun control, about 800 are killed annually by firearms.

Drew Carey on Eminent Domain.

Sig!

Remember that guy that said we had to change the definition of privacy because, err, not sure why? Well, turns out the reporter got it wrong:

The reporter got it wrong. And we believed it because it was what we wanted to hear. We want to hear how dangerous the government is. We latched on to that sloppy (I’m giving her, Pamela Hess, the benefit of the doubt) reporting and ran with it. Shame on us.

Yes, I know The Gun Blogs are down. My people are working on it.

We’re the only ones, err, chicks and guns. Oh, forget it. At least she doesn’t have her booger hook on the bang switch.

Send a dildo to a dildo.

As we all know, STI recently stopped selling weapons to law enforcement in California (good for them!). Now, Larry Correia is running a group buy to reward good behavior:

This is how it works. Pick any gun and options at www.stiguns.com and then e-mail me at larry AT fbmginc.com for a quote. We will arrange payment via e-mail. I can take checks, money orders, or credit cards.

I’m offering STI pistols at killer prices. By ordering them in bulk, I get a super discount, and I can pass that along to you.

Barrett also refuses to sell to Cali law enforcement.

State Sen. Tim Burchett wants to enact breed specific legislation mandating that pit bulls be spayed or neutered. The senator was also on the talk radio this morning saying that such programs in California have been successful. Unfortunately, such programs don’t exist in California as state law there prohibits breed specific legislation. It’s one area that Cali actually does correctly.

And breed specific laws are generally pointless for a variety of reasons, including:

Some breeds are hard to identify (pit bulls, for instance, refers to a class of dog and not a specific breed)

If a breed is regulated, people will just switch breeds

Pit bulls have a temperament rating similar to a Golden Retriever.

The factors that contribute to dog attacks occur irrespective of breed (see here and here). Those factors are, generally, the reproductive status of the animal (at least Burchett gets that part right); an animal that is not properly restrained; chained animals become defensive; and unsupervised pets and kids.

Update: Turns out, Cali does allow for spaying/neutering based on breed. I forgot about that. Cali still prohibits bans based on breeds, though.

That’s the lesson Robb is learning with respect to suppressors. I have a hard time understanding why he’d have to be fingerprinted four times. Here in Tennessee, LEO approval is required by law within 15 days unless you are a prohibited person. And you only get printed once.

Sebastian notes some bad stuff brewing in Pennsylvania:

* HB 18, which basically destroys our state’s preemption law
* HB 22, which limits gun purchases to one gun per month
* HB 29, which requires the reporting of a lost or stolen firearm to police under severe legal penalties. This bill has the potential to trap unaware gun owners who are victimized by crimes.

He says to write your reps.

Tam:

In my brief lifetime, the popular icon of the American law enforcement officer has gone from Sheriff Andy Taylor to Special Agent Jack Bauer.

Where the f___ did we go wrong?

Reminds me of this bit by KTK a while back: Where Have You Gone, Sheriff Taylor?

Ya know, when the extra crispy variety of left leaning sorts and the right leaning libertarian sorts look at this issue and see the same result, it speaks volumes.

In Idaho. So, they get a ranking of F from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership. And we all know the truth about their grades which is that high Brady grades correlate to increases in violent crime.

Update: Link fixed. Stupid copy and paste.

Armed Canadian answers.

On the number of unlicensed vendors at gun shows:

The bottom line is that these people are brazen, unrepentant, blatant liars. Period.

On guns being dangerous:

Yes they are. That’s why we shouldn’t entrust them only to criminals and governments. But I repeat myself.

Ok, I lied about the brains.

Heh.

So, some of us gun bloggers are planning on meeting at the NRA convention in Louisville. Get thee hence and sign up to go. Should be some range time, new gizmos to ogle, and lots of fun.

BTW, thanks to Bitter who went above and beyond in putting this together.

It’s like pornography, I can’t define it but I’ll know it when I see it.

In which I remind casual readers that, yes, I really am a gun nut. Even though I don’t like scaring white people.

Breaking point seems to be the topic of debate on the gun blogs lately. Essentially, at what point is it time to shoot the bastards. As for me, I dunno. Joe lists examples that he thought would qualify, such as Ruby Ridge and Waco. I was a 20 year-old kid when those happened and only recall what I saw on TeeVee. And the revelations of the feds lying and being corrupt didn’t really come out until after these incidents were concluded. And, yes, the .gov got merely a slap on the wrist. But no such incident has happened since.

Sebastian says he’d hide is guns. Well, that’s great but you just got on the internet and told everybody that. And I know the feds read my site (hi, guys).

But the consensus among these two is that, generally, gun owners won’t do much. I dunno. First and foremost, I think the political process is working now. Most states have CCW, the JD has taken the individual right view of the second amendment, both houses of congress affirm that, and both political parties’ platforms in the last elections state that too. It’s not absolute victory but it shows that we’re heading the right direction. We’re winning*. So, first and foremost, gun owners should be active in the political process now. It’s not the 1990s any more. More importantly, the various anti-gun groups have about zero clout.

Chris disagrees that gun owners won’t do much. I tend to concur. Not all gun owners would but I think a substantial portion would.

As for me, what would I do? Turn them in. Ammo first.

* Update: note on we’re winning: except certain states (like NJ, NY, IL, CA, and MA) where it’s mostly hopeless.

Fringe benefits if you don’t like cats.

The WaPo notes that the DC handgun ban hasn’t done a thing to prevent crime.

Remember the reporter arrested for carrying a gun on school property and the video of the whole thing? Turns out, he wasn’t on school property. Charges have been dropped.