NY State Citizens Disobeying Cuomo's SAFE Act

"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." From the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. penned the words that are being taken to heart by New York State residents. Only 24 thousand of New York State’s 20 million residents have registered so-called assault weapons since Cuomo's SAFE act took effect in 2013. Less than 45 thousand rifles have been registered. Law enforcement estimates there are at least 1 million assault weapons in the state. The citizens are engaging in civil disobedience even though failure to register is a felony, punishable by up to four years in prison.

In a raw display of power politics, Cuomo rammed his blood-of-innocents drenched SAFE Act though the legislature mere weeks after the Sandy Hook tragedy. The act was an anti-gunner’s dream scheme: a ban on high-capacity magazines, universal background checks, stolen gun reporting, safe storage, mental health provisions, warrantless firearm seizures, ammunition sale checks, as well as the act's pivotal registration requirement. Tellingly, NONE of the provisions, even if followed exactly by the madman, would have prevented the shooting at Sandy Hook.  

“Many people have been calling for a full repeal of the SAFE Act. It would appear the people have just bypassed the legislature and simply repealed it on their own,” said Tom King, of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. Communities and LEOs outside of New York City seem to be ignoring or openly challenging Hiz Honner’s draconian law. 

           While we cannot tell New York’s residents to resist this unjust law - that would be illeeeeeeegal - we can certainly tip our hat to the state’s residents who are adhering to Thomas Jefferson's perscription; "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."

Yee-ouch!

Some wickedly sharp wit from the Mistress of Snark herself, Tam:

I swear, some people wouldn't know Occam's razor if you slit their throat with it...

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) June 20, 2015

That cuts deep!

(And yes, the puns are intentional.)

Stay safe.

Quote of the Day — Gov. Nikki Haley [R-SC] (June 19, 2015)

As quoted in Newsbusters, after being pressed about whether it's time to "rethink" the Second Amendment in the wake of the Emanuel A.M.E. shooting in Charleston, South Carolina:

Any time there is a traumatic situation, people want something to blame. They always want something to go after. There is one person to blame here. A person filled with hate, a person that doesn't define South Carolina. And we are going to focus on that person.

Yes! Focus on the person using the firearm, not on the firearm itself!

I have nothing else to add.

Stay safe.

(Hat tip: Matt Vespa at Townhall.com)

Happy Father's Day

To all the Father's out there, including my Everyday Hero Dad,

Happy Father's Day!

Stand!

     Unsourced radio reports are saying the evil bastard reloaded his 45 caliber pistol five times. An armed citizen carrying concealed just might have made a difference in that desperate situation. Pastors have successfully defended their flock against homicidal maniacs. Every year millions of gun owners make a life-saving difference.

     Two hundred and fifty years ago Edmund Burke realized that in order for evil to flourish, all that is required is for good men to do nothing. Concealed under my shirt is my resolution to do something in face of madness and evil. We urge everyone to stand with our brothers and sisters of Charlston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. - Stand in a considered, rational and effective way.

     Stand against the evil. Carry a firearm if you can, where you can, when you can. Stand as a free man or woman; not as a victim. Stand. 

     Otherwise, evil flourishes. 

     Stand!

Emanuel AME Church Murders

     Our hearts go out to the friends, family, congregation and community of the nine victims of this despicable crime. We can only condemn the evil that raised its head in that holy place.

     Condemn -- and fight.

 

Emanuel AME Church Charleston
(caintv.com & Flickr)

Free Ice Cream Machine on the Fritz

Sorry for the dead air, everyone. It's been an insane week and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

It's not that there's been no gun news, what with the State Department looking to update the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR) with new restrictions that could stifle free speech online (Sebastian has some excellent coverage here and here, with suggestions for submitting a comment here); or H.R.2710, which would gut the "sporting purpose" language from GCA'68 and NFA'34 and replace it with "lawful purpose" (which is, as Joe Biden puts it, a big friggin' deal); or the guy turning the Dallas, TX, police station into a shooting gallery (someone double-check the "automatic weapon" claim — we've all seen how the press can completely botch that distinction, right?); or a dozen other things. Heck, I even have a movie to review!

It's just life speaking in its Outdoor Voice™.

Thanks for your patience. We'll get the Free Ice Cream Machine back up and running as soon as possible.

Stay safe.

Gun Control Saves A Life

No, really, you read that right. Breitbart reports how how New Jersey's strict "gun control" laws have successfully (and documentedly) saved a life:

On April 21, Carol Bowne from Berlin Township, NJ, applied for a license to own a handgun, which she wanted to protect herself from a former boyfriend against whom she had a restraining order.

On June 3—while still waiting for the state to give her permission to own a gun—Bowne’s former boyfriend, Michael Eitel, allegedly stabbed her to death in her own driveway.

(See also: this article from the Courier-Post.)

There you have it! A man's life was protected as a direct result of New Jersey's strict "gun control" laws, up to and including discretionary "may issue" licensing to own — let alone carry — a handgun. It's common-sense, don't you know! For the Children!

What? You didn't seriously think New Jersey's "gun control" laws would save the innocent person's life, did you?

[UPDATE 6/8/2015 10:00 am PST:] Dave Workman (see hat tip below) has more on NJ's gun laws here and more on the mainstream media ignoring the story here. The image on the second article gives me an idea for a form of silent protest. [/UPDATE]

Stay safe.

(Hat tips: Ian Argent at Shall Not Be Questioned for the Breitbart link and Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman for the Courier-Post link.)

Happy 1st Blogiversary, NOMGL!

I made this here.
And yes, I just made "gunblog" a verb.
Deal with it.

Today marks the one-year blogiversary of Not One More Gun Law. Charlie Foxtrot published the first post, "Twenty Thousand Gun Laws Later", on June 4, 2014, one year ago today.

I believe congratulations are in order to Charlie, both for starting this blog and keeping it going for a full year. Here's to many more!

Stay safe.

Hey, It's Not a "Gun Ban"....

Inspired by these two posts, I decided to make a little map of my town: Salem, Oregon.

The first post, by Sebastian over at Shall Not Be Questioned, goes over a petition at Change.Org to prevent a strip mall property owner from leasing a space for a gun store, on account of the space being "too close" (two city blocks) to a school. Part of the description mentions that four other schools are within five miles.

The second link looks at how a "five-mile rule" (wherein guns cannot be bought or sold within five miles of a school, even from/to retail FFL dealers) would affect Houston, Texas. There's no legal space left to buy/sell/trade guns, anywhere in town!

So today we're going to examine what even a paltry "one-mile rule" would do to the gun business in sleepy little Salem, Oregon*.

Here's a map of Salem with a bunch of schools — "certified" pre-K, K-12, and higher; public and private — marked out by red dots (and graduation caps; Google fills those in for some schools for some reason):

Click to embiggenate

Note: The initial Google search was "public schools", but I added several more dots by hand to cover private, post-K-12, and pre-K campus locations. I won't claim to have gotten them all, but as you'll see next, it really doesn't make much difference.

Here's the same map, with a 60-pixel-radius (which represents one mile, judging by the scale in the lower right; I counted) red circle superimposed over each dot:

Again, click to embiggen

Remember that this map, unlike the map of Houston, is filled with one-mile circles, not five-mile circles. But do you see many places where gun shops could legally be located? Envisioning a two- or five-mile ban is an exercise I'll leave to the reader.

The anti-rights crowd claims they don't want to ban guns; they just want to enact "common-sense, reasonable" restrictions on where and when guns can be bought, sold, traded, stored, transported, carried, and used. Including within X distance from schools, churches, public buildings, parks, playgrounds, shopping malls, movie theaters, homes, offices, and parking lots. For the children, don't you know.

But we're supposed to believe it's not a gun ban.

Don't ever let anyone tell you they're not trying to take your guns.

Stay safe.
------------
* - Salem, despite being the capital of Oregon, is not a big city. It's about 12.5 miles north-south and maybe 8 miles east-west, at the longest/widest points (and that's if you include West Salem, which is in another county and is therefore technically a different city. A "five-mile rule" on just the six public high schools in the district would effectively cover the whole town.

Quote of the Day — Capt. David B. Wilsey (WWII-era, exact date unknown)

We're coming up on Memorial Day weekend, so in addition to the sales and barbeques (which have become almost grotesquely ubiquitous, given the day's significance), it's fitting to quote an American hero, Capt. David B. Wilsey, who among other accomplishments and distinguished acts, assisted in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp (freed 70 years ago last month) and the post-liberation medical care of its internees.

Capt. Wilsey's back-story has recently come to light, by way of his children, who discovered a box of letters to his wife, written during his service in the European theater of World War II (warning: graphic images). The detailed recollections illustrate the startling devolution of a man forced to witness first-hand the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime on the helpless Jewish population. He came back a changed man; the trauma and memories haunted him until the day he died in 1996.

Only someone who has personally witnessed such depravity can pen this stark a statement:

Truth and totalitarianism just cannot coexist. One of the two has to die. For several hundred millions, totalitarianism did not die — so truth had to.

Such profound clarity of thought is rare, indeed. I'll repeat the warning about graphic images, but encourage you all to read the full account.

May God grant you the peace and rest you deserve, Capt. Wilsey.

The rest of you, stay safe.

(Hat tip: Claire Wolfe, writing at The Zelman Partisans)

Thoughts on Hate and "Hate Speech" — Conclusion & Afterthoughts

[NOTE: This concludes the series on hate and "hate speech". We might re-touch on it in the future; given how much hate is being spewed by race-mongers and talking heads, I'm sure there will be more to discuss, and probably sooner rather than later. As always, comments and tips are welcome.]

Wow. What a ride, huh?

Let's do a quick recap, and then sum up.

Be Sure to Check Your Facts...

Alternate title: Why Good Research is a Requirement When Advocating an Issue.

Read this.

Once you've stopped laughing (I had tears coming down my face!), realize that this is why anti-gun writers and bloggers are so consistently unbelievable. They repeat pre-written and pre-approved talking points — which are often based on false assumptions and/or poor logic — carry no credibility or accountability of their own, and when caught in a mistake lie they (sometimes) issue a minor correction and double down their original argument.

This is why we can, and do, do better.

Stay safe.

(Hat tip: Borepatch)

Thoughts on Hate and "Hate Speech" — Part 3

[NOTE: At this point in the series, I've said most of what I needed to say and what I felt needed to be said. I will likely wrap it up next week [UPDATE: Conclusion is up.]. Part 1 here, Part 2 here. This installment will focus on the "speech" aspect of "hate speech".]

Much ado has been made the past couple weeks, over whether "hate speech" is protected by the First Amendment. This, to my mind, clouds the issue. It's not relevant to the discussion about the failed "jihadi" attack in Garland, Texas.

I will repeat that, because it bears repeating. A discussion on First Amendment protections — or the lack thereof — for "hate speech" is completely irrelevant to the discussion of the failed "jihadist" attack in Garland, Texas.

Offensive? Possibly, but still not a call to murder.
Translated: "100 lashes, if you're not dying of laughter!"
(source: Huffington Post)

It's irrelevant because a cartoon contest, even if it features satire, ridicule, or other material which sheds a less-than-favorable light on Islam and their "prophet" Mohammed, is still just a cartoon contest. It is not, and should never be taken as, a call to murder someone for holding a point of view opposite the subject of the satire or ridicule. Put simply, being the butt of someone's joke, while sometimes upsetting, doesn't ever rise to the level of an acceptable reason for killing him or her.

To be honest, it's hard to believe that simple truth can be called into question so easily. But it has, and now we have to deal with the fallout.

Click through to continue reading.

Thoughts on Hate and "Hate Speech" — Part 2

[NOTE: This is a continuation of the series of thoughts and reflections on hate and "hate speech". This part was loosely inspired by this article by David French at the National Review. Part 1 of my series can be found here.]

In the last installment, I talked about the failed jihadi attack on a free speech event in Garland, Texas, on May 4, and the American media's meltdown and cognitive dissonance in using their First Amendment free speech rights to attack event organizer Pamela Geller's First Amendment free speech, free association, and free assembly rights.

This time, I'm going to talk about hate itself. It won't be politically-correct, but as I put it last time, I think some things just need to be said.

So if you get nothing else out of this, take this one concept: Some things in this world are worthy of hate. Some things in this world deserve to be hated. Some things in this world are so vile, so evil, and so despicable, that hating them is not a bad thing; it's a virtue.

Like I said, it's not politically-correct, but it's true.

More below the break…