A Blue View

Surprising: NRA Members Support "Common Sense" Gun Control. Will The NRA Listen?

At least if you've been believing the NRA's propaganda. From Mayors Against Illegal Guns:

A new poll by Republican pollster Frank Luntz reveals that NRA members and other Americans who own guns strongly support a sensible approach to gun laws that balances personal freedoms with measures to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. The poll finds that both NRA members and non-NRA gun owners support various reforms the bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns has called on Congress to enact. For example, 69% of NRA members and 85% of non-NRA gun owners support requiring criminal background checks on all purchasers at gun shows. The poll also finds 82% of NRA members and 86% of non-NRA gun owners support preventing terror suspects from buying guns and explosives.
Read the press release
Download the Luntz Poll Questionnaire and Responses (in PDF)
Download the Luntz Poll Slides (in PDF)

 

A Perfect Way To Kill Your Kids When They Sneak Into Your Bedroom At Night

Peeling Congress From The NRA's Cold, Dead Fingers (cartoon)

 

Only 44% Support Stricter Gun Control Laws, A Record Low

A depressing, new Gallup poll:

 

Urban Violence Cartoons

The NRA's Smoking Guns (cartoon)

 

Conservative's Good News: The "part of the electorate that largely sat out the last election is suddenly interested again"

From the NY Times:

Less than a year after an election that nearly wiped them out politically, conservatives are showing signs of life.

They are still searching for new leaders and new ideas. Their victories have been more about taking advantage of President Obama’s missteps than advancing an agenda that can recapture large numbers of voters.

But they have shown in recent weeks that they can have at least some influence as the voice of the opposition — and in the process energize what remains of their movement. The more upbeat mood was evident in Washington on Friday at a jubilant and crowded Values Voter Summit that brought together some of the most passionate social conservatives ...

Whatever problems the conservative movement has encountered — a string of electoral defeats, evidence that its membership is getting smaller and older, the demands of coming up with a new ideological agenda to meet changing times — these recent victories have given new hope to this formerly dispirited base of the Republican Party that it can still command public attention and influence policy in Washington. And this is no small matter for Republicans going into next year’s midterm Congressional elections, in a year when Mr. Obama will not be on top of the ballot.

Yet while the conservative movement seems to be finding its voice again, it may be premature to say that it is back on its feet. At a time when the Republican Party is in search of new leaders, the procession of familiar faces on stage Friday and in the audience was striking. Two of the party’s biggest names — Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Sarah Palin, the party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2008 — did not show up at all, citing scheduling conflicts.

Many Republicans have been arguing that the party’s focus on social issues is a mistake at a time when voters are concerned about the economic downturn and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the emphasis at the summit, sponsored the Family Research Council, was still decidedly on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion ...

That this bloc of the Republican Party is becoming re-energized presents complications for any Republican thinking about running for president in 2012. It is going to be hard to win the nomination without strongly courting this segment of the party.

Finally, even though many Republicans have argued that the party needs new ideas to counter Mr. Obama, the overwhelming sentiment at the summit was that the conservative message of the past 30 years was as effective as ever ...

It is not so much that the political climate is shifting to the right; it is more that the conservative movement has found ways to break through and get attention — often with decidedly unorthodox methods, including combative town-hall-style meetings. And the conservative movement has been helped by the backlash to the cost and sheer ambition of Mr. Obama’s first-year agenda: the big economic stimulus package, the intervention in the automobile industry and the effort to reshape the health care system. The argument that the White House may be overreaching has, at the very least, given conservatives an opening ...

For now, the most significant thing about this swing of the pendulum may be simply that a part of the electorate that largely sat out the last election is suddenly interested again. “There were conservatives that were never moved to exercise themselves that now are,” said Erika Barger, 21, a Georgetown University student from Ormond Beach, Fla.

After the year that conservatives have endured, that is by any measure welcome news for them.

The Senate's "shocking genuflection to the gun lobby"

A NY Times editorial (in reaction to this vote):

In a shocking genuflection to the gun lobby, the Senate has voted to deny Amtrak its indispensable $1.6 billion federal subsidy unless it allows passengers to transport handguns in their checked luggage. The budget support would be stripped in six months unless Amtrak scraps the gun ban that it wisely adopted five years ago after the terrorist railroad atrocities in Madrid.

The majority vote was bipartisan and not even close, with 27 Democrats and one independent (the ultraliberal Bernie Sanders from gun-friendly Vermont) joining all 40 Republicans versus 30 opponents. The hope is that the House or President Obama will ultimately reject the Amtrak measure, but security-wary citizens cannot count on that as the gun lobby choreographs political cravenness.

The budget cudgel was approved despite pleas from Amtrak that it lacks the manpower, equipment and extra financing to effectively meet the deadline and that it faces a shutdown if federal funds are lost. Among other changes, baggage cars would have to be securely retrofitted and manpower increased. The warning cut no ice with the majority as the chief sponsor, Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican of Mississippi, intoned a lock-step mantra: “Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason.”

Proponents said the change was needed to put Amtrak back to its pre-9/11 gun policy and equate it with airline security measures that allow unloaded, locked handguns in checked baggage. This is lunatic reasoning for a nation supposedly sensitized by the 9/11 attacks. Why should gun owners be treated as privileged travelers?

Amtrak has none of the hermetic procedures where airport passengers are screened shoeless at detectors while their checked baggage is separately secured. Trains stop at stations and passengers come and go. Amtrak presently has a system of checking passengers and screening baggage at random, much the way New York police monitor mass transit.

If the Senate wants to pass a bill on Amtrak, it should provide the money to hire more security guards and create a real passenger rail system. Generally, it should just stop its demeaning homage to the gun lobby.

Senate Votes Allow Guns On Amtrak

Unbelievable. From the NY Times:

The Senate voted on Wednesday to allow Amtrak passengers to carry unloaded and locked handguns in checked baggage, even though Amtrak officials had raised concerns that the proposal could present “numerous challenges.”

The provision, which was introduced by Senator Roger Wicker, Republican, as an amendment to a housing and transportation spending bill, is the latest in a string of Senate votes aimed at expanding gun rights. It passed 68-30, with a group of 27 Democrats and one independent, mostly from states where gun rights are widely supported, joining all 40 Republicans in voting for the measure.

Under the Wicker amendment, Amtrak would lose the funds earmarked for it in the must-pass spending bill if it did not comply with the new regulations. In a statement released after the amendment passed, Mr. Wicker stressed that the guidelines laid out in the provision — which would also insist that a passenger notify Amtrak that he or she is transporting a handgun and that only that passenger could unlock the secure container holding the gun — are roughly the same ones used by airline passengers.

“Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason, particularly if they choose to travel on America’s federally subsidized rail line,” Mr. Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, said in the statement.

In a letter to the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that deals with transportation, Thomas C. Carper, the chairman of Amtrak’s board, said airlines and railroads currently have different abilities to screen for weapons. He said that unlike airlines, Amtrak did not already have a uniform system in place for screening and added that Amtrak’s baggage cars are more easily accessible.

“As a result of these significant differences with the airline industry, Amtrak would need a significant amount of time and funding to properly address this congressional mandate,” wrote Mr. Carper, who is not to be confused with the current Democratic senator from Delaware.

Senate opponents of the provision had similar concerns.

The Democrats who voted for the gun amendment were Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall of Colorado, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall of New Mexico, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Harry Reid of Nevada and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. (The full vote breakdown in a graphic.)

Amtrak used to allow passengers to check licensed guns, but ended the practice after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

The Senate has already approved separate provisions this year that would allow properly permitted gun owners to carry in national parks and would loosen gun laws in Washington. Additionally, a July proposal that would have allowed permitted gun owners in one state to carry concealed weapons in another fell just two votes short in the Senate.

The House has already passed the spending bill without the gun amendment, so it remains to be seen whether the provision will make it into the final version of the legislation.

Ignorance Is Bliss--And Drives The GOP-- But It's Stupidly Self-Defeating (cartoons)

Thousands Rally Against "Big Government" And Separately For Health Reform

The Wash Post on the anti-government rally:

Tens of thousands of conservative protesters, many complaining that the nation is racing toward socialism, massed outside the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, angrily denouncing President Obama's health-care plan and other initiatives as threats to the Constitution.

The demonstrators are part of a loose-knit movement that is galvanizing anti-Obama sentiment across the country, stoking a populist dimension to the Republican Party, which has struggled to find its voice since the 2008 elections.

With Democrats in control of Congress, battling the president legislatively has been difficult. But after a spring of anti-tax rallies and summer health-care protests proved to be effective, a growing number of GOP leaders are dropping their wariness and seeing the political possibilities of latching onto this freewheeling coalition. Others are cautious about embracing views that can be seen as extremist. [see Tough Line For The GOP To Walk: Identify With Protesters Without Becoming Identified With The Nut Cases] ...

The huge turnout indicated the growing frustration with Obama among conservative activists and showed that his nationally televised speech Wednesday did little to move his political opponents on health care.

Although it is unclear whether the demonstrators represent a large segment of voters or even of Republicans, Saturday's march illustrated that activists, some of whom are not enthusiastic about the GOP, have been galvanized.

The White House declined to comment on the demonstration, but Democrats said the rally and other protests in recent months represent a small minority of voters and will not slow Obama's proposals.

"There is a lot of intensity on the far right to defeat the president's agenda, but I am not sure that holding up signs that say we have to bury health reform with Senator Kennedy will go over well with moderates and independent voters," said Doug Thornell, an adviser to Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

The NY Times on the pro health reform rally:

Thousands of roaring supporters turned out Saturday to rally behind President Obama’s call to overhaul the nation’s health care system, packing a basketball arena here as Mr. Obama warned that nearly half of all Americans under 65 could lose their insurance at some point during the next decade.

“It can happen to anyone,” the president said.

The rally, at the Target Center, was the first of what the White House said would be a series of similar events intended to whip up public support for a health overhaul. One of the biggest obstacles the president faces is winning support from middle-class workers who already have insurance, so he is stepping up his warnings that people could lose coverage at any time.

On a day when demonstrators crammed onto the west lawn of the Capitol to protest what they regard as Mr. Obama’s brand of big government, including his health plan, the images of screaming, cheering Obama supporters here provided a welcome visual counterpoint for the White House.

The White House estimated that 15,000 people attended the rally here; the applause was thunderous when the president bounded onto the stage, shirtsleeves rolled up, as he revived an old campaign rallying cry: “Are you fired up?”

The crowd roared back with another Obama favorite: “Yes we can!”

See the rest of the speech

Finding The Perfect Gun For Back To School Night Is Tuff

It's All In The Eye Of The Beholder

Go Ahead, Feel Free. I Don't Care About Anything But Political Advantage.

New Conservative Heart Throb

Sarah Palin Butt Of Joke In New Hugh Grant/Sarah Jessica Parker Trailer

Becoming the butt of jokes is not exactly good for one's political career. At about the 1:20 mark:

The Return Of The Wild West: "We asked everyone with firearms to check them with the sheriff before we began the meeting"

And apparently, it's ok with the White House, according to the Wash Post:

Armed men seen mixing with protesters outside recent events held by President Obama acted within the law, the White House said Tuesday, attempting to allay fears of a security threat.

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said people are entitled to carry weapons outside such events if local laws allow it. "There are laws that govern firearms that are done state or locally," he said. "Those laws don't change when the president comes to your state or locality."

Anti-gun campaigners disagreed with Gibbs's comments, voicing fears that volatile debates over health-care reform are more likely to turn violent if gun control is not enforced ...

Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said incidents of firearms being carried outside presidential events are a "relatively new phenomenon." But he said the president's safety is not being jeopardized.

"We're well aware of the subjects that are showing up at these events with firearms," he said. "We work closely with local law enforcement to make sure that their very strict laws on gun permits are administered. These people weren't ticketed for events and wouldn't have been allowed inside and weren't in a position outside to offer a threat." The immediate area occupied by Obama on such trips is considered a federal site where weapons are not permitted, Donovan said.

Lawmakers holding tense town hall debates about health-care reform also have seen armed constituents. The staff of some, including Rep. Stephen I. Cohen (D-Tenn.), have taken precautions to guard against guns being brought into gatherings.

"We asked everyone with firearms to check them with the sheriff before we began the meeting," said Marilyn Dillihay, Cohen's chief of staff, describing an Aug. 8 town hall debate in Memphis. "We've never done that before."

Are The Gun Nuts Going Too Far? Will Bringing Guns To Health Care Protests Backfire?

What do you think?

Campbell Brown moderates a loud debate:

Rachel Maddow interviews a Secret Service agent:

Chris Matthews Interviews Protester Who Carried Gun To Obama's Portsmith Event

"I'm advocating and informed, armed society."

The NRA's Washington

NRA Gunslinger

The Gun Lobby Loses This Round

Following up on The Gun Lobby Is On A Roll, Now Pushing Unconstitutional Legislation That Might Pass Thanks To Divided Dems, there's good albeit maybe temporary news from the Wash Post:

An amendment that would have allowed gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines fell just short of passage Wednesday in a vote that revealed deep divisions among the Senate's Democrats.

Supporters included all but two Republicans and 20 Democrats, but the vote of 58 to 39 in favor fell two short of the 60 needed to defeat a filibuster.

Despite its defeat, the amendment, sponsored by  Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), demonstrated the continuing power of the National Rifle Association and the gun rights issue in Congress. Rather than a setback, those backing the effort consider the vote a sign of strength for the Second Amendment and are planning more gun-related amendments to other legislation throughout the year. Afterward, Thune said he hopes the Senate will "reconsider this important issue" later this year.

It split not only Democrats, many of whom got to the Senate by supporting gun rights, but also the caucus's leadership:  Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), campaigning for reelection in 2010, voted yes, while his top lieutenants,  Sens. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and  Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), led the push by liberal Democrats against the measure.

Offered as an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill, the legislation would have allowed people to carry concealed firearms across state lines, provided they "have a valid permit or if, under their state of residence" they "are entitled to do so." It was considered one of the most far-reaching federal efforts ever proposed to expand gun-permitting laws ...

The NRA, in urging a yes vote, called the amendment "important and timely pro-gun reform."

The Gun Lobby Is On A Roll, Now Pushing Unconstitutional Legislation That Might Pass Thanks To Divided Dems

From the Wash Post:

Senate Democrats are scrambling to defeat a Republican-backed provision that would allow gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines, overriding the stricter laws of many jurisdictions and giving preference to states with looser standards.

Critics, including police organizations, big-city mayors and gun-victims groups, decried the legislation as creating "a new national lowest common denominator" for ownership of firearms. But twice this year, Republicans have succeeded in rolling back restrictions on guns with substantial backing from moderate Democrats, many newly elected from Western states with strong Second Amendment traditions.

For a minority party with little influence on Capitol Hill, the gun votes represent a rare opportunity to divide a filibuster-proof Senate Democratic majority. In May, the GOP lured 27 Senate Democrats to support looser rules on firearms in national parks; the measure passed the House and was signed by President Obama as part of an unrelated credit-card bill. In February, 22 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to stall the District's quest for House voting rights by demanding that the legislation also ease D.C. gun restrictions.

The latest measure, offered by  Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), has far greater reach. Offered Monday as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, it would allow people to carry concealed firearms across state lines, provided they "have a valid permit or if, under their state of residence . . . are entitled to do so."

The amendment is opposed by 400 mayors, including New York's Michael R. Bloomberg (I) and Boston's Thomas M. Menino (D), who outlined their objections in a letter to  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and  Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). They noted that at least 31 states prohibit alcohol abusers from obtaining concealed-carry permits; at least 35 states bar people convicted of certain misdemeanors from becoming gun owners; and at least 31 states require people to complete gun-safety programs before securing a weapons permit.

But Reid voted for both pro-gun measures earlier this year and is viewed as a likely "yes" on Thune's amendment, although he has not declared a position. A vote on the amendment could come Wednesday, said Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman.

Thune described his amendment as a crime-prevention tool. "Since criminals are unable to tell who is and who is not carrying a firearm just by looking at a potential victim, they are less likely to commit crimes when they fear that they may come in direct contact with an individual who is armed," he said in the statement.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has pledged to filibuster the amendment, called it a breach of states' rights. "Each state has carefully crafted its concealed-carry laws in the way that makes the most sense to protect its citizens," he said. "Clearly, large, urban areas merit a different standard than rural areas," he said. "To gut the ability of local police and sheriffs to determine who should be able to carry a concealed weapon makes no sense. It could reverse the dramatic success we've had in reducing crime in most all parts of America."

The National Rifle Association called Thune's amendment "important and timely pro-gun reform" and is urging a yes vote. "The right to self-defense does not end at state lines," the group said.

Both Have Blood On Their Hands

“I don’t see a thing wrong with having a loaded gun in" church

From the I-live-on-a-different-planet department at A Blue View:

Here's the NY Times report:

Some of those seated in the pews of New Bethel Church here Saturday night, their firearms tucked to their sides, saw themselves as modern-day pioneers.

“This country started by people gathering together in churches and complaining about taxation and about their current government, King George III, taking armaments that they had,” said Chesley Kemp, 61, a family doctor with his Kimber .45 Auto at his side.

Dr. Kemp said he had driven two hours from Bowling Green to attend a gun celebration at the church, which event organizers said appeared to be the first of its kind, at least in modern times.

The pioneer spirit suffused a 90-minute program staged by Ken Pagano, the pastor of the Assembly of God church, for whom God, guns and America are a package deal.

“But for a deep-seated belief in God and firearms, this country would not be here today,” Mr. Pagano declared from the church’s pulpit.

Amens rolled forward from the congregation of about 180 people who were celebrating their ability to bear their arms almost anywhere in Kentucky, including in church.

Mr. Pagano said the event Saturday was not a worship service. But at one point he could not resist, raising both hands above his head, blessing his heat-packing flock and saying a prayer ...

Doug Hawkins, a Louisville Metro Council member who represents the south end of the city, where the Assembly of God church is located, leapt from his pew to address the other congregants.

“I am glad to be among American patriots,” Mr. Hawkins said. “Thank God for you all being here and standing up for your rights.”

Many in the audience said they were not members of the church. But they seemed united in their belief that their rights as gun owners were under threat and they had to prepare for the day when their firearms might be confiscated.

As Mr. Hawkins said later in an interview, “Our country was founded on our ability to defend ourselves and may very well some time in the future depend on our ability to defend ourselves.”

Dawnrene Bullock, 43, a former nurse, seated in a pew with her husband, Dwight, 47, a truck driver, agreed.

“There’s a time coming when we may need to protect ourselves from bad things in the world,” she said. “We’ve been hearing the rumors about restricting ammunition so that it all expires, so people won’t have the right to protect themselves.”

Her husband noted that there could come a day “when we’ll need to protect ourselves in church” ...

Likewise, Tommy Hillerich, 68, a retired truck driver, and Maya, 58, his wife, a former auto upholstery worker, did not bring their firearms inside but firmly believe in their right to do so.

“I don’t see a thing wrong with having a loaded gun in there,” Mr. Hillerich said. “If the pastor’s in there and he’s got a concealed weapon and somebody comes in and starts shooting people, he can take him out. That’s his right.”

He added: “I think everybody should carry a gun.”

A Political Cartoon Worth A Thousand Words

The indictment of America this cartoon represents is supported by unbelievable stories like this: Pastor Urges His Flock to Bring Guns to Church.

Why Terrorists Will Never Attack Alabama

Because, according to the creator of this video, fully automatic guns are legal there ... this is one of the scariest videos I've seen in a long time. What valid, legal use could dual machine guns or a canon possibly have?

The NRA Wants Those On The Terrorist Watch List To Be Able To Buy Guns & Explosives

A mind-blowing story from the NY Times:

People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report. In one case, a person on the list was able to buy more than 50 pounds of explosives.

The new statistics, compiled in a report from the Government Accountability Office that is scheduled for public release next week, draw attention to an odd divergence in federal law: people placed on the government’s terrorist watch list can be stopped from getting on a plane or getting a visa, but they cannot be stopped from buying a gun.

Gun purchases must be approved unless federal officials can find some other disqualification of the would-be buyer, like being a felon, an illegal immigrant or a drug addict.

“This is a glaring omission, and it’s a security issue,” Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who requested the study, said in an interview.

Mr. Lautenberg plans to introduce legislation on Monday that would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists ...

Gun rights advocates said showing up on a terrorist watch list should not be grounds for being denied a gun.

“We’re concerned about the quality and the integrity of the list,” said Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association. “There have been numerous studies and reports questioning the integrity, and we believe law-abiding people who are on the list by error should not be arbitrarily denied their civil rights” under the Second Amendment.

A Comment Worth Drawing Your Attention To

Jimmy left the following comment on TN Rejecting Federal Gun Control (Little As There Is); Part Of "states’-rights movement that is picking up steam across the country"

So now that the states are finally standing up to the tyranny of the federal government and enforcing their constitutional rights you say: "it's really scary as it will join a secessionist sentiment, gun fetishism, hatred of abortion doctors, Jews, Blacks & Hispanics. It's all a piece of the same right-wing cloth that starts on the disagreeable but legitimate end of the spectrum and ends at murder and terrorism."

What kind of off the hook, radical, leftist, neo-liberal propaganda crap is that? I think you would be happier living in China or N.Korea. Thats more your kind of system. This is what it boils down to now in the leftist media. Any patriot that asserts their rights is an anti-semite, racist, murdering terrorist! F*** off!

What do you dear A Blue View reader think about this? Is Jimmy just proving my point or do yo think he's on to something?

If you have a comment you'd like to add, please do so in the post's comment thread.

TN Rejecting Federal Gun Control (Little As There Is); Part Of "states’-rights movement that is picking up steam across the country"

If this states-rights stuff described in this NY Times story is really a precursor of a trend, it's really scary as it will join a secessionist sentiment, gun fetishism, hatred of abortion doctors, Jews, Blacks & Hispanics. It's all a piece of the same right-wing cloth that starts on the disagreeable but legitimate end of the spectrum and ends at murder and terrorism.

Cities and counties across Tennessee are preparing this week to deal with the fallout from a raft of pro-gun bills recently signed into law in the state, where Republicans are flexing their new-found strength in the legislature.

Among the new laws is one that would allow people who have gun permits to carry guns in all public parks in the state. Another would exempt from federal regulation guns and ammunition made in Tennessee and kept within its borders ...

The law exempting Tennessee from federal gun regulations, while having little immediate effect, may have broader implications down the road. It comes as part of a states’-rights movement that tries to test the limits of federal power. The Tennessee bill is nearly identical to one signed into law in Montana and similar to ones under consideration in other states. Since Montana’s law does not take effect until Oct. 1, the one in Tennessee, which takes effect July 1, could become the first test case in the courts.

“The purpose of this bill is to let people know we have state sovereignty and the federal government has no business telling us what to do,” State Senator Mae Beavers, a Mount Juliet Republican who sponsored the bill, said in an interview ...

Brian Malte, director of state legislation for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Tennessee already had among the least restrictive gun laws in the country. Still, Mr. Malte said, the flurry of pro-gun bills was highly unusual and reflected a push by the gun lobby in a state with a newly sympathetic legislature, of which both houses are now controlled by Republicans.

Gun-rights advocates say expanded rights are needed so that law-abiding citizens can protect themselves in more situations. The new Tennessee laws also include measures that will allow permit holders to carry guns in bars and restaurants, if they are not drinking alcohol, and to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun in their vehicles if the ammunition is in the magazine but not in the chamber, although it can be in the chamber for purposes of self-defense.

The new law exempting the state from federal gun regulations is less about the Second Amendment, involving the bearing of arms, than the 10th Amendment, reflecting a states’-rights movement that is picking up steam across the country.

Week in Review: June 12, 2009

MediaMatters' review of the week:

Right-Wing Gun Nut Video

Just a taste of the chilling stuff that is out there ... From USAallDAY911's own introduction to his (I'm sure it's a he) video:

If the elite ever did empose martial law, it will be alot harder then they think with over 300 million guns in America. Have fun and try! In no way do I advocate violence, this is a attempt to awake the people to their god given rights in the constitution!

And from the comment thread:

thablackmarkit (13 hours ago) 

before revolution, you gotta go viral about the oath-keepers site. and say....

OATH KEEPERS:
Military, Veterans, and peace officers who will honor their oaths to defend the Constitution, will NOT just follow orders, will stand for liberty, and will save the Republic, so help us God. Our motto is:

"Not on Our Watch!"

USAallDAY911 (13 hours ago) 

Well said blackmarkit!

thablackmarkit (13 hours ago)

It's too early for resistance.
We need the cops, army, authority on our side, if were going to stand a chance.

USAallDAY911 (13 hours ago)

I agree, im am not saying to fiht them i am showing how hard it is to take down a well armed guy. If is impossible to take our uns unless we surrender them! Thanks blackmarkit!

Right-Wing Terrorism Feeds Conspiracy Theories About Liberal Media Which Feeds Right-Wing Terrorism

From Thomas Frank:

The culture war's inevitable cycles of accusation and counter-accusation ... began with the chorus of outrage directed at elements of the antiabortion movement after Tiller's murder on Sunday May 31. The crime, some suggested, was the logical culmination of certain pro-lifers' apocalyptic rhetoric and their penchant for singling out particular individuals to calumniate.

Pro-life leaders declared themselves shocked and surprised. How could this happen? And how could anyone associate them with this crime? After all, as far as we know, the man accused of the murder wasn't acting on anyone's instructions; he didn't go to movement meetings; he wasn't a member of the main groups dedicated to making Tiller's life difficult. He was, by all reports, an extreme outlier, a wingnut's wingnut.

A larger reason for the shock and surprise -- and this is true for the right generally -- is this: The culture wars are not meant to be taken seriously. Yes, right-wing invective dabbles in nightmare visions of treason and conspiracy and rampant paganism and a homegrown holocaust right here on Main Street, U.S.A. Yes, it ritually denounces liberals as members of a class fundamentally alien to the American way of life. But these are the ingredients of entertainment, not politics.

Culture war makes you feel noble and heroic. It sells books, it drives up the ratings of "The O'Reilly Factor," it brings in millions in direct-mail contributions -- but everybody knows you can't make Hollywood change its ways by walking the streets of Wichita carrying a sign deploring the "culture of death."

According to the unwritten rules of the culture wars, the "base" isn't supposed to act on it when the performers describe a world gone crazy. They're an audience; they're supposed to hiss, applaud, donate, vote and go home.

The people who are empowered to act are the usual suspects in Washington, where the only Armageddon is the one facing the steak some lobbyist just bought for your congressman.

Public memory is short, however, and it won't be long before this incident, too, has been carved and sanded and fitted neatly into the grand narrative of the culture wars, in which true-believing patriots are eternally disrespected by all-powerful liberals. And that will bring us to Act II in our red-state story, in which certain pro-lifers discover that they are the real victims of the Tiller tragedy, unfairly slandered by the left for their views.

We know this will happen because this is what some seem to recall most vividly about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing -- not so much the act itself, but the clumsy way then-president Bill Clinton tried to blame conservative talk radio for the crime.

We also know it because this part of the cycle has already begun. Fox News star Bill O'Reilly, who adopted the "baby killer" rhetoric of the Kansas right in his many attacks on Tiller, seemed uncomfortable to find himself on the receiving end of public outrage after the doctor's slaying. He also had an explanation for it: "the far left is exploiting this," he said last week, "trying to shut guys like me up by saying O'Reilly's responsible for this murder."

Others have tried to force the story into the familiar narrative of liberal media bias. After all, there were other murders in America, they pointed out, and to the extent that newspapers chose to focus on this one, their liberalness could be measured most precisely.

You and I will forget about Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, but I suspect that certain pro-lifers never will. They will cherish their memories of those awful days when the bloggers and the pundits suggested that maybe they deserved some of the blame for his murder. They will memorize the unjust accusations, exaggerate the sting of the insults, shed a tear for their own suffering -- and get back to imagining themselves as modern-day John Browns.

MSNBC Reacts To The Holocaust Museum Shooting

Keith Olbermann on increasing right-Wing, domestic terrorism:

Joan Walsh on the mainstream hate:

Fox Reacts To The Holocaust Museum Shooting

Fox's Beck typically has a idiotic reaction: he blames the left!

But Fox News' Shep Smith is scared by the email Fox receives:

And then goes on to discuss the conservative-derided DHS report on domestic terrorism:

Wow. Even some Fox talking heads are scared by these recent events.

Clever Daily Show Parody

Guns as investments ... pretty sharp!

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Inept Dems In Congress Allow GOP To "Outmaneuver" Them: Guns Will Be Allowed In Parks

From the NY Times:

To the frustration and discouragement of many Democrats, House and Senate lawmakers and aides say it now appears likely that President Obama will this week sign into law a provision allowing visitors to national parks and refuges to carry loaded and concealed weapons.

The White House is lukewarm at best on the gun provision, which was added to a popular measure imposing new rules on credit card companies. But the Democrats who now control both Congress and the White House appear ready to allow it to survive rather than derail a consumer-friendly credit card measure that Mr. Obama is eager to sign as Congress heads off for a Memorial Day recess.

“Timing is everything in politics,” said Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma and the champion of the gun proposal.

A majority of Democrats in the House and Senate still typically come down on the side of gun control. But the fact that they have been outmaneuvered by Republicans on gun issues is rooted in the fact that recently swollen Democratic ranks include senators and House members who represent Western states and more rural areas where gun ownership is popular and deemed sacrosanct.

When those Democrats team up with Republicans, they constitute a clear majority in the House and Senate.

“It is a shame,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California. “But you have to come to a realization around here that at this point in time, the N.R.A. gets the votes,” she said referring to the National Rifle Association.

“Either you are going to bring down the whole Senate and never do anything or you or going to swallow hard and say, ‘I will just vote my conscience on those amendments and speak out until people get a hold of their senses,’ ” Mrs. Boxer said ...

Mr. Coburn and his allies in both parties say the provision is less about guns than it is states’ rights. Under the proposal, people who are otherwise authorized under state law to have firearms would be entitled to have them in national parks and wildlife refuges unless a state law prohibited it. Currently, firearms must be unloaded and secured on those national lands, creating what backers of the bill say is a situation where someone passing through a park with a firearm can be charged with a violation ...

Gun control and conservation groups have urged the administration to insist on a credit card bill without the gun proposal. They have also joined top House Democrats in lamenting the inability of Senate Democrats to prevent Republicans from adding such politically charged proposals to unrelated legislation. A gun measure has also tied up a bill granting the District of Columbia full voting representation in the House, and Republicans are readying other gun rights initiatives for future consideration ...

For their part, backers of the gun provision were relishing their looming victory. “After using every legislative trick in the book to prevent a vote on gun rights, Democrat leaders are finally crying uncle and clearing the way for Congress to reinstate the Bush policy,” said Representative Doc Hastings of Washington, senior Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.

Victims Of Gun Violence Meet In Brockton

M.A.D. Updated

Will History Repeat Itself?

American Anger Management

Mexican Guns

Carrying Loaded Guns In National Parks Will Not Be Allowed

From the AP:

The Obama administration says it will not appeal a court ruling that prohibits carrying loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.

Last month, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Federal District Court here struck down the policy allowing guns in parks. She called the rule, issued in the last days of the Bush administration, severely flawed and said officials had failed to evaluate its possible environmental impact, as required. She set a deadline of Monday for the Interior Department to indicate its likely response.

The rule, which took effect in January, allowed visitors to carry a loaded gun if they had a permit for a concealed weapon and the state where the park or refuge was located allowed concealed firearms. Guns in parks had been severely restricted.

Gun Almighty

It's Better In Somalia

A great example of a political cartoon being worth a thousand words:

The Right To Bear Arms To Mexico

This Is Both A Crime AND A National Security Issue

Do you think the NRA cares? I don't. From the NY Times:

The federal system for tracking gun sales, crafted over the years to avoid infringements on Second Amendment rights, makes it difficult to spot suspicious trends quickly and to identify people buying for smugglers, law enforcement officials say.

As a result, in some states along the Southwest border where firearms are lightly regulated, gun smugglers can evade detection for months or years. In Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, dealers can sell an unlimited number of rifles to anyone with a driver’s license and a clean criminal record without reporting the sales to the government.

At gun shows in these states, there is even less regulation. Private sellers, unlike licensed dealers, are not obligated to record the buyer’s name, much less report the sale to the A.T.F.

Mexican officials have repeatedly asked the United States to clamp down on the flow of weapons and are likely to bring it up again with President Obama when he visits Mexico on Thursday.

Sending straw buyers into American stores, cartels have stocked up on semiautomatic AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, converting some to machine guns, investigators in both countries say. They have also bought .50 caliber rifles capable of stopping a car and Belgian pistols able to fire rifle rounds that will penetrate body armor.

Federal agents say about 90 percent of the 12,000 pistols and rifles the Mexican authorities recovered from drug dealers last year and asked to be traced came from dealers in the United States, most of them in Texas and Arizona.

Glass Houses

The NRA's America

Where The NRA Draws The Line