Obama picking a fight

On: By: admin

Obama looks to be picking a gun fight he does not need.  Fox News reports:

“President Barack Obama has threatened to veto a Department of Justice appropriations bill House Republicans passed because, among other things, it includes a provision that blocks a gun control law his administration used Operation Fast and Furious to pass.  The Obama administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote, and began implementing, a new rule that would require gun dealers in the four U.S. states that border Mexico to report sales of multiple semi-automatic rifles to the ATF.  In the 2013 fiscal year budget for the Department of Justice and related agencies, House Republicans inserted a rider, or condition, that would force the ATF to not implement that rule …”

First off,  ATF simply does not have the legal authority to implement that rule.  This alone should have been enough to keep the Administration from getting involved with it in the first place.  Although NRA lost their first lawsuit against it, they are appealing.

Second, the “Fast and Furious” gun running scandal is a hot issue which isn’t just going to go away.  It looks as if Eric Holder is going to be charged with contempt of Congress over his refusal to provide satisfactory answers over it.  It makes no sense for Obama to bring up an issue where it appears likely that a top official in his administration is going to be hit with criminal charges.

Third, this plays right into the NRA’s election strategy of painting him as a gun grabber.  He’s already in trouble with the voters and the antigun label is going to cost him even more votes.  He lost 40% of the West Virginia Democrat primary to a guy who is in jail.

There is no way for Obama to put a positive spin on this.  What was he thinking when he made his veto threat?

CoBIS cost to manufacturers

On: By: admin

NSSF rep. Jake McGuigan brought up an interesting fact at today’s Sportsmen’s Caucus’ breakfast: CoBIS was costing gun makers $7 per gun to ship compliant guns into New York with spent shell casings.  Over it’s 11 year lifetime that adds up to gun owners paying an extra $2.5 million dollars on top of the estimated $4 million taxpayer dollars spent each year to keep CoBIS up and running.  Total damage: approximately $47 million dollars wasted.

Wrong, Bill

On: By: admin

Former President Bill Clinton has advice for Obama on how to deal with the gun issue:

“President Barack Obama should not bother trying to pass gun-control legislation because the issue is partly cultural and Obama is from an urban area, former President Bill Clinton said Thursday … The former president said Obama is from Chicago and “he was in the state Senate from the most liberal district in Chicago.”  Clinton said he was able to sign the 1993 Brady handgun law, which mandated federal background checks for gun buyers, because he was from Arkansas, had grown up among hunters and had hunted in his youth.  “I knew what to do,” Clinton said. “They couldn’t turn me into some freak, and I went after them.” …”

Bullshit.  Clinton had a big majority in Congress, just like Obama started with, and used it to push through unpopular programs (Brady and the AWB), just like Obama did (ObamaCare and Porkulus), and the result was scores of Democrats getting booted out of office in ’94, and again in ’08.  That is the real reason Obama hasn’t been going after gun owners: he learned from Clinton’s mistake not to mess with gun owners.  He did not learn not to push other wildly unpopular ideas on the American people.

Bill Clinton has a admitted previously that his gun control agenda cost the Democrats the House in ’94 and Al Gore the presidency in 2000.  There’s no need for him to say stuff like this.

Shoring up his base

On: By: admin

Roy McDonald was one of the handful of Republican Senators to vote in favor of gay marriage last year, a move that did not make him any friends especially after his campaign contributions were examined.

Facing a primary fight in a new district, Capitol Confidential reports on a full color mailing his campaign has done to the new district in hopes of shoring up his support among gun owners:

“… Complete with a picture of the senator as a young man on a hunting trip with his dad, the piece notes McDonald’s pro-sportsman votes as well as his opposition to micro-stamping … The letter also quotes McDonald as referring to moves for more gun laws as “misguided liberal interests” …”

Bad move Mitt

On: By: admin

The Times reports that Mitt Romney meet with Mayor Bloomberg:

“… On Tuesday, Mitt Romney had a private breakfast with Mr. Bloomberg at the headquarters of the mayor’s philanthropic foundation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side … Over coffee and juice, the two discussed several staples of Mr. Bloomberg’s agenda in Washington over the last decade: the economy, immigration, education and even gun control (a topic on which the two man are not entirely on the same page) …”

I would like to know whose dumb idea it was to have Romney sit down with Bloomberg.  The man brings nothing positive to the table.

“… His imprimatur could be useful to either candidates, conveying the approval of a businessman known for his common-sense and nonpartisan governing style …”

LOL!  Only the New York Times believes that.  The rest of America, when they think of Bloomberg (if they think of him at all), they think of an arrogant, statist control freak from a liberal la-la land.  This was not a good move for Romney.

Mandatory storage warning

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Brian Kolb sent out an e-mail alert yesterday via the Assembly Minority Sportsmen’s Caucus list warning about the mandatory firearms storage bill A-3292 being on the Assembly calendar.

The bill itself isn’t new, going back like 20 years, nor is its placement on the calendar a surprise.  What is new is that I believe this is the first time any state legislator made the effort to publicly warn the gun community ahead of time that a bad bill was under consideration.  It is a small, but significant step forward for our side.

He’s here to connect the dots

On: By: admin

Since Dan Gross took over as head of the Brady Campaign I haven’t heard that much from him.  Here is the first television interview I’ve seen of him on the leftist media outlet Current TV (which is owned by Al Gore.)

Exposing the gun control FAIL

On: By: admin

Despite the fact that yesterday’s gun control rally was sparsely attended and didn’t seem to generate much attention outside of this report from the Albany Fox affiliate, I did feel the need to send out a press release on it:

The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association calls yesterday’s gun control rally inside the Legislative Office Building a total farce. Unable to demonstrate any sort of public support for their proposals, antigun legislators and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, held a dog-and-pony show in the Well of the state legislative office building for a handful of people who were bused in from New York City.

Addressing scores of vacant seats in an almost empty hall, legislators lined up to speak to the couple of dozen or so people who had skipped school in order to be there, and reiterated their support for the same, failed gun control policies they have been promoting for years to an increasingly skeptical public.

By contrast, the rally sponsored by NYSRPA on March 20 attracted several thousand attendees from all across the state. Those concerned citizens gave up time from their families and their jobs to travel to Albany at their own expense to demonstrate their support for their civil rights.

“It is crystal clear where the public stands on the issue of gun rights in New York,” said President Tom King. “They stand with NYSRPA and the NRA! It is high time for legislators to stop pretending and pandering to fringe elements pushing their anti-civil rights agenda in Albany.”

Antigun turnout FAIL

On: By: admin

Last month a couple thousand people from all over the state came to Albany to lobby for gun rights.  Today New Yorkers Against Gun Violence had their lobby day.  As you can tell by this shot looking down into the Well, they managed to get a couple dozen people to show up and those had to be bused in from the City.

Romney takes New York

On: By: admin

To the surprise of no-one, Mitt Romney won all of the delegates in yesterday’s primary.  With Newt Gingrich hinting that he will drop out of the race soon, talk has shifted to who might be Romney’s running mate.

VSSA notices that Governor Bob McDonnell appears to be trying to raise his profile.  NRA rated him an A when he ran for Governor back in ’09.