Montana passed into law a bill that exempts Montana-made guns from federal regulation.
Texas follows suit with HB 1863. It’s made it out of committee. We’ll see where it goes.
Politics
Flu Control? Gun Swine?
Howard Nemerov notes an interesting common thread between the way gun control and the swine flu are presented.
He’s right. It’s all about presenting fear, preying upon fear, and that government is the only one who can save us! Didn’t Ronald Reagan say “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'” How soon we forget.
Roy Batty was right. Living in fear is what it is to be a slave.
Be the change you want to see in the world
Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” A wonderful and noble thought.
Reading this from Roberta X reminded me of a thought I had a few weeks ago.
Driving around town with Family, Wife noticed a car with a bumper sticker that had the Gandhi quote on it. I do think it’s a beautiful thought, but I started to wonder how many people actually do that.
For instance, I wish to see people being more responsible for themselves, so I work to be more responsible for myself. I work to teach my children and other children in my care (e.g. my work as a Cub Scout Den Leader) about being responsible for themselves. I want to see people that work hard to be rewarded for their efforts, so I work hard, climb the ladder, save my money, and teach my children the same. I don’t want to see people go hungry, so I use my hard-earned money to buy food for my church’s food pantry.
Then I see people that want to spread the wealth. But then I ask them to spread some of their wealth directly to me, and they never seem to pull out their wallets. If the change (and hope) you wish to see in the world is to spread the wealth, then shouldn’t you be that change and start by spreading your wealth?
I see people that want others to pay for their health care or their groceries or their gas or whatever. But again they never seem to want to pay for mine when I ask them to.
I see people demanding mandated volunteer service (ignore the fact that makes no sense, or that it’s akin to slave labor), but I never see those same people volunteering.
Oh I see. You want *ME* to do that, but the gander just wants to sit back and reap the benefits. I see. Sow nothing, reap something. I see. Don’t consider the sustainability of that course of action, since you just want your big screen TV now. I guess someone didn’t have The Little Red Hen read to them as a child. Maybe that’s why some of us get a wee upset at such propositions of hope and change.
If you want to see change in the world, it starts with you. You need to change yourself and be that change. If you can’t be that change, maybe it’s not such a great change. If you can be that change, I can at least say I’ll have more respect for you.
Your will matters more
What does it say about a person?
With the recent debate on campus carry, the “against” side of the debate is bringing up the same old arguments from over a decade ago when concealed carry was first brought up. None of those arguments panned out (there’s no blood flowing in the streets, no OK Corral shootouts, people aren’t solving their arguments solely by shooting each other), yet the lack of logic and emotional appeals continue. I just received my copy of the latest TSRA Sportsman magazine and in the back of the magazine was a business card that inspired this posting.
SB 1164 to be heard today
Texas SB 1164 will be heard today in committee.
Contact your State Senator to let them know how you feel about this bill. Also, contact the members of the Senate Committee on State Affairs. Keep it polite and to the point.
Updated: Seems it was heard but not voted on yet.
Let’s break down the members of the committee (party, district, NRA grade w/year of grade):
Chair: Duncan (R, 28, A-2008)
Vice-Chair: Deuell (R, 2, A-2002)
Members: Carona (R, 16, A+ 2008), Ellis (D, 13 F-2006), Fraser (R, 24, A-2008), Harris (R, 9, A-2008), Jackson (R, 11, A-2008), Lucio (D, 27, A-2008), Van de Putte (D, 26, B-2008).
We’ll see how it pans out. Stay tuned, true believers….
Updated 2: Fixed the “updated” link to a permanent one.
Clarification on the Tiahrt Amendment…
Analysis of Texas Campus Carry
JR has an analysis piece of the evolution of the Texas Campus Concealed Carry bill.
The Inter-American Arms Treaty (CIFTA)
I’ve been passing on covering things like “the Mexican Gun Canard” and the 20/20 “guns on campus” abomination because other blogs have covered them mighty well. I have nothing to add.
But discussion of the Inter-American Arms Treaty (also known as CIFTA) has ugly implications. You need to contact your Senators and ensure this doesn’t happen.
After the Tea Party – Now what?
So you just went to a Tea Party yesterday. Now what to do?
Check out After The Tea Party. from the American Majority group.
Stuff From Hsoi 