On Page 64, Justice Scalia lowers the boom: “In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful fire arm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.”
The numbers strongly suggest gun owners need to take more steps to prevent gun thefts. The same numbers underscore the fallacy of believing that “universal background checks” will prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands, because there are no background checks involved in gun theft.
So, the gun theft argument is a double-edged sword.
Gun Control
by the Numbers
…And the Numbers Aren’t Good
Money is the “life’s blood of politics,” a fact that Virginia gun owners — now looking into 2020 bleakly with an anti-gun governor and Democrat control of the legislature —know all too well.
Earlier this month, billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund pumped $2.5 million into Virginia political races to elect Democrats and throw out Republicans — and it worked. Another $300,000 was kicked in for digital advertising by the Giffords gun control lobbying group started by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Against that, the National Rifle Association, which is based in Virginia, spent just over $300,000. Bottom line, NRA was outspent by at least 8-to-1 and on top of that, voter turnout was reported at about 40 percent.
You cannot win if you don’t have the financial resources to finance a campaign, which includes getting voters fired up enough to go to the polls.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg provided a big hint that he is going to enter the Democrat primary race. He doesn’t need to raise any money, since he’s worth somewhere north of $50 billion.
Less than a year remains before the critical 2020 election for president and the entire U.S. House of Representatives. Additionally, most state legislative elections are next November. Anybody with a spare $10 million is encouraged to get involved.
If you’re less financially endowed, get together with other gun owners and support some local candidate or organization.
Polls Show Gun Control Support
Back in September, PBS published results of a poll conducted for the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist, and the results were alarming for Second Amendment stalwarts.
Eighty-three percent of respondents support mandatory background checks for private and gun show firearm sales, while 72 percent support a national “red flag” law. The same 72 percent majority favors requiring a license before a citizen can purchase a firearm.
The survey also showed 61 percent support a ban on the sale of so-called “high capacity magazines.” That would be magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, which would include a lot of double-stack pistol magazines.
Anti-Gunners Seize On Data
Last year, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2018, there were 142,154,108 firearm thefts, and only 15,755,404 recoveries for a dismal rate of 11.1 percent.
Anti-gunners seize on such data to push one of their favorite gun control demands: the so-called “safe storage” lockup. Many people believe, however, that such requirements are unconstitutional under language contained in the 2008 Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Dick Anthony Heller.
On pages 57-59 of that ruling, the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, made it clear that a requirement to lock up and render inoperable any firearm in the home not in use doesn’t pass the smell test.
Blazer Bulk Pack
One might say this is “just in time for the holidays,” and you’d be right — Blazer Ammunition has launched a bulk pack of .22LR ammunition.
Insider has at least a couple of .22-caliber handguns and they are voracious when it comes to chowing down on cartridges. These bulk packs hold 525 rounds with a reported muzzle velocity of 1,235 fps.
They launch a 38-grain RNL bullet, which is just the medicine for late fall-early winter cottontails, and my guess is they’ll conk squirrels, snowshoe hares and even grouse decisively.
No Concealed Weapon Here
Police in Renton, Wash. recently responded to a man-with-a-gun call that was a little unusual, and it didn’t end well for the suspect.
Seems this unidentified gent had been aiming a gun at customers in Renton’s business district, and if that wasn’t nutty enough, he was stark naked, according to KCPQ News. This time of year in Washington, you can pretty much take a shower outside if you’ve got a bar of soap and the rains cooperate, but police quickly deduced this guy wasn’t interested in personal hygiene.
When responding officers ordered the fellow to drop his gun, he instead raised it toward an officer and he shot the guy. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition.