RKBA

PSH du jour

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

PSH – Pants Shittin’ Hysterics.

Today’s episode, courtesy of “Gun Free Kids” (h/t to SayUncle). I’ve written about these folks before, and this new move is taking it to ridiculous extremes.

Today the Texas state senate passed dangerous legislation that would force the carrying of hidden and concealed guns at public universities and colleges. 

Forced? Huh? No one is being forced to carry a gun at public universities of colleges. It’s unwise to lead off your press release with factual errors, but why let that get in the way of your hysterics?

The bill threatens the safety of students, professors, and staff and increases the risks of gun violence on college campuses by making weapons more readily available.

Exactly how is the risk of gun violence increased? I asked you before for concrete facts, but once again, let’s not let facts in the way of emotional hysterics.

Of course they talk about how this is the will of the gun lobby. No, it’s actually the will of the Texas citizenry. Imagine that.

Folks, this same sort of PSH was trotted out years ago when concealed carry was first brought onto the scene. The OK corral shootouts didn’t occur, the streets didn’t flow with the blood of people solving every disagreement with a gun. The data has shown that concealed carry has served to decrease violent crime.

But again… let’s not let facts and data and logical thinking get in the way of our hysterics.

As well, this group is called “Gun Free Kids”. What are they doing talking about colleges? Apart from an exceptional child here and there, students, faculty, and staff at colleges are all adults.. at least, last time I checked. Or is this perhaps a metaphor, that they believe we can’t care for ourselves and they are mommy that knows best? Who knows.

Regrouping for next time

/ hsoi

JR has an entry covering the state of some gun legislation in Texas, including the concealed carry on campus bills.

He’s right about the need to inform, because I do believe a large reason for the bills not happening was massive amounts of misinformation, just like he points out in his article.

So to begin with that, let me remind folks of what it takes to obtain a CHL in Texas. 

And also note that this isn’t just about college students, but the employees of the college as well.

The gun is civilization

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I hadn’t read the original essay before, but because of this then this I was directed to this original essay.

I thought about what relevant snippet was worth quoting. Thing is, the whole thing is worth quoting. Hopefully Marko Kloos won’t be too upset by this, especially since I’m giving him proper credit (not this Major Caudill, who didn’t write this) and I’m not Ted Nugent nor writing some commercial book. I’m only doing this so I can add my own thoughts to his. I have quoted his essay in its entirety, just broken up so I can comment/respond:

Continue reading →

LB430 update

/ hsoi

I travel to Nebraska on occasion, so seeing the passage of LB 430 is welcome. Joe has the details.

What I’m looking for is reciprocity. Texas honors Nebraska’s license, it’ll be nice for Nebraska to honor Texas’.

Update: LB 430 isn’t law yet. It’s passed out of the legislature and is headed to the Governor’s desk for his signature, which I’m pretty sure he’ll sign.

Guns in National Parks amendment

/ hsoi

Yesterday the US Senate backed an amendment to allow people to carry concealed handguns into national parks.

On the surface, I’m pleased with this. Evil by definition doesn’t follow the rules. We good, well-intended folk might draw a line somewhere and say “sorry, you can’t cross this” and other good, well-intended folk will obey that… but evil won’t. When people go hiking in the backwoods of our national parks and risk running across people engaged in illegal activity (e.g. illegal drug operations, such as marijuana cultivation), those criminals tend to shoot first and ask no questions at all. Why should we good folk be disadvantaged, and forcefully so, by the laws that we cherish and obey?

If the measure becomes law “it would not only put park visitors and wildlife at risk, it would change the character and the peaceful and safe atmosphere in our parks,” [Bryan Faehner, associate director of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group that opposes guns in parks] said.

So tell me how visitors are not already at risk? Tell me how evil is already warded off and parks are 100% safe havens. And wildlife will be at risk? How? This law only permits lawful concealed carry of a handgun by a segment of the population that are statistically more law-abiding that your average citizen. So now they’re going to break hunting and other game laws? I mean, you can hunt in national parks, per hunting laws, which means wildlife isn’t any more or less at risk because of this. How is this going to change? Oh that’s right… once you put a gun in someone’s hand they turn into bloodthirsty killers bent on shooting everything they see. The law no longer applies. We’re above the law! MUHAHAHA!  That’s right… I forgot. Silly me. 🙄  Gosh, and you’d think that with all the years of data we have regarding concealed carry would mean something… the fears of OK Corral shootouts and how the streets would be flowing with blood… gosh, none of that has yet come to pass; in fact, violent crime went down. Golly gosh jeepers, what to do.

But while I’m happy to see this, I’m not happy to see how it’s being done. It’s being attached as an amendment to a credit card reform bill. This is a bill that many feel needs to pass into law, given our current economic climate. So attaching this amendment — which has nothing to do with the bill — really doesn’t fly with me. The bill is one that needs to become law and likely will, which is part of the (sneaky) strategy in putting the amendment on this very bill. This strategy is sneaking the concealed carry stuff in through the back door, with a high chance that will allow it to become law (no line-item veto, so we’ll have to see how it fairs in committee when House and Senate reconcile). Folks, we bitch when people do this about things we don’t favor, so we need to bitch even when they do things in our favor. We can’t like the backdoor when it favors us and dislike it when it doesn’t.

Updated: Yea! It’s nice to see another gun blogger with mixed emotions over this one. It’s really interesting to watch most of your “pro gun blogs” out there, that bitch and moan about such legislative tactics, but now that the tactic is favoring them are oddly silent on the tactic and all happy to see legislation favoring them.

It’s precisely a safety issue

/ hsoi

Louisiana is a step closer to allowing concealed carry on campus. Here’s hoping it makes it.

“Guns and campuses simply do not mix,” [Higher Education Commissioner Sally Clausen] said. “This is not a 2nd Amendment right; this is a safety issue.” 

It’s exactly a safety issue. If being safe is a matter of keeping people from harm, please tell me how “gun free zones”, such as college campuses, keep people from harm? There’s no invisible shield surrounding the campus keeping the evil out. We’ve got years of data showing that once you allow concealed carry, violent crime goes down. Where’s your data showing otherwise? We’ll be waiting.