Page Nine

Arizona's Constitutional Carry Law: Corrections

My Constitutional Carry post needs a few adjustments. 1) This Arizona law is the first statute in the contiguous U.S. states that removes all obstacles to discreetly bearing arms in the state, no permit required, no residency required (but you better know our state laws to stay out of jail). 2) The law recognizes all sorts of training as valid, including any NRA firearms safety or training course, if you still want to apply for a permission slip. 3) The 8-hour government-designed course, with minimal range time (only 10 shots required) is still available, valid, and being taught. 4) Because open carry has always been legal here, it doesn't matter if a discreetly carried arm "shows," but it is considered bad form.

"Discreet" is the term preferred over "concealed," to avoid the negative sense of something to hide. It's all spelled out on my Updates page http://www.gunlaws.com/updates.htm. Also, 31 states currently recognize our permits (I had said 23, leaving out eight states that signed contracts with us).

Also note, naysayers predicted bloodbaths in bars, promoted by the media, when our discreet-carry in restaurants bill was enacted last year. Nothing happened, no correction has been issued. The same tired paranoid claim has been made repeatedly over Constitutional Carry (and every other freedom we enjoy here).

Corrections: Taxes, Football, and the Olympics

Concerning sales-tax holidays for guns in a few states on a few special days -- Gary Marbut points out that I left out Montana's plan -- they have a sales-tax holiday for everything, 365 days a year. Go ahead, Gary, rub it in.

 Charles S. from Louisiana informs me that "Who dat" is not only a footballism and, "I honestly don't see this as a strictly ebonics phrase... Racial lines are more blurred here than in most parts of the country, and all colors of people can seem to talk like a 4th grader with a speech impediment." He claims that Cleveland Browns fans say, "Who dey," which translates to, "Who are they?" Shows yuh whut litle I no.

 Many folks wrote to tell me that the Olympic biathalon was in fact carried by NBC-TV, one even commenting that the coverage was pretty good. If this is the worst mistake I ever make I'm in pretty good shape: "I watched the men's 15km and (a) most of the "skiing" was spent in "commercial breaks" and (b) they crowed about shooters missing targets -- and only showed "close-ups" of "misses", none of "hits".

Corrections: Names and Numbers

It's the Ft. Worth, not Austin, Star-Telegram, Austin's paper is the American-Statesman. D'oh. (See Corrections: Ammo Shortage.)

Several readers noticed ACORN's new name didn't match its acronym (see "Acorn Still Funded."). Author friend Charly Gullett explains, "At the time of writing, ACORN was struggling with what to re-name itself. CCI was and is the financial laundering arm of the organization and was considered at the time a contender for the new name. In fact they seem to have been waylaid in this re-naming effort by the recent video scandals. The name now on paper legally for the international arm (but not yet on the web) is Community Organizers International." http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11836. Check out Charly's new book on overturning America's socialists, "Cooking Alinsky's Goose." http://www.gunlaws.com/books8newbies.htm

I had complained about the federal proposal to estimate the entire economy to within 1/4 percent 12 years from now (see "Impossibly Longrange Predictions"). One astute reader gripes that he would think, "Getting an economic prediction right to within 1/4 percent for 12 minutes from now would be quite an accomplishment for a government office." I stand humbled.

Corrections: Ammo Shortage

As expected, the end of the ammo shortage is a spotty affair, with readers writing to say that their neck of the woods is still sparse or barren. I did say it was ending, not that it's over, sorry if I overstated the case. Cabela's locally (Ariz.) has goods on the shelves, as does WalMart and local shops, and prices are dropping. Hang tight fellas and gals, the boom is off the mad rush and I believe things will normalize soon. Sorry if I implied it was done and gone and everything was universally hunky dory.

One local customer at Walmart reports: "Just left with 6 boxes of blazer gold 50rd boxes for 8.95 each . (No more left ); and 2 boxes of .40 Blazer Gold 12.95 each. they still had 20+ boxes left; Lady behind the counter said they got in 5K of WBW yesterday in 9mm and one customer bought it all. How much you want to bet it will be out at the gun show for $25-30 per 100rd box."

One major distributor was flooded with calls because of that Page Nine report, called to set me straight that it's far from over. Gun dealers are paying retail at WalMart to obtain something to sell, ranges are suffering and having to ration, even PDs are curtailing practice. But the military has few problems, says this insider, because their small arms ammo comes mainly from AFT's Lake City plant in Missouri, and commercial providers like PMC don't compete directly (but really straight answers are a little hard to come by). Some calibers are more scarce than others, with handgun loads in shorter supply. Like I said, it's a spotty affair. And let's face it, marksmen have plenty of ammo, right? you just can't get more, or replace spent shells at a good price.

In other news, CBS TV reported on 9/23/09 that there's an ammo shortage, and background checks on gun sales have spiked. They're only ten months late, why is no one surprised.

The Austin Star-Telegram quoted me in a story suggesting there is light at the end of the tunnel: http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1639775.html. The Huffington Post carried an AP story with a dimmer view: http://tinyurl.com/ykugn24. Perhaps the real news is that America's position is more precarious than we realize, and ammo's just the bellwether -- this could happen to toilet paper, batteries, canned goods, liquor, cigarettes, candles, bottled water-- any consumer goods struck by a rumor or perceived threat, and manufacturers would not be able to meet demand.

Corrections: Obama's Eduspeech

I had suggested (see "Obama's Eduspeech Excelled") that if president Bush had addressed school children the way Mr. Obama recently did, there would have been an uproar from the media and the left. It turns out there was more than an uproar -- with democrats holding congressional hearings and staging a GAO investigation when Bush the 1st did that in 1991. Sorry for the misleading understatement, and thanks to C.D., for the research. http://tinyurl.com/ny3yg3. In other news, kindergarten students are being led in songs praising "Barack Hussein Obama," see it with your own eyes: http://tinyurl.com/ycbelbq "He said red, yellow, black or white, All are equal in his sight, Mmm, mmm, mm!, Barack Hussein Obama." Try this if it's been removed: http://tinyurl.com/y9aoc53

Corrections

I noted with disdain that Judge Sotomayor, in the Supreme Court nomination process, said, "The Constitution doesn't give me the right to go home, get a gun, and come back to shoot you," and none of our representatives on the committee called her out on it, they just let her preposterous statement stand.

Reader Bob R. correctly pointed out that the Constitution actually does guarantee exactly that. You would have to be perfectly justified in your use of force of course (which Sonia wouldn't have been in the circumstance she was in), but your right to go home, get a gun, and use it in a situation where it would be justified, is at the heart of a free society. Also note, it is a right the Constitution guarantees, not a right the Constitution gives, a common error in thought and logic from people in government. Thank you Bob, I stand corrected.

 

Disgraceful error of the week: MSNBC covered up the race of the AR-15 protester (he was black) at the Obama rally in Phoenix, and charged white racists with the "offense." Shame on such anti-ethical behavior. No correction is expected. See it with your own eyes. http://tinyurl.com/ntgazj

 

I said our newly enacted Defensive Display self-defense law was invented in Arizona. It was not. Gary Marbut and Montana get the credit for this fine addition to statutes that protect the public. Sorry. http://www.gunlaws.com/ModelLegislation.htm

Correction: Environmental Hoax Proof

In "Environmental Hoax Proof" I said the U.S. has 3% of the world's population, but is being pressured to reduce its lifestyle as if it's the sole key to saving the planet from global environmental destruction. Meanwhile the rest of the world is not under the Obama cap-and-trade outgassing tax scheme. Current numbers indicate we are 4.65% of the world's people, so only 95.35% of the world won't be paying for the new Obama tax (if it passes). Sorry for the misstatement.

Correction: Obama's Mama's Hajj

Do people in the Middle East really believe Obama is a Muslim? I couldn't provide the link last time (see "Obama's Mama's Hajj"), sorry, here it is -- "A lot of people in the Middle East actually do think that the president is Muslim." – Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent, speaking on the Bill Maher Show. Engel makes the statement at 7min., 55 sec. into the video at this link: http://tinyurl.com/pjxjar, or read it here on HBO's site: http://tinyurl.com/pztuvv

A reader writes: "I spent a month in the Middle East last summer (Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Syria) and became informed on this issue. Because my trip was before the election, I was interested to know what people in this part of the world thought about Obama and his background. I asked many people point blank "Is Obama muslim?" Universally, the answer was "His father was muslim, so therefore he is muslim".  This was true in every country we visited.  According to Koranic law, he is muslim. Thanks for all the hard work you do on your email newsletter." --Chris K.

Muslim, Obama, Richard Engel

Corrections: Gun bans and 4473 forms

I circulated a list of guns the Democrats want to ban, based on the bill they introduced in the last session of Congress. The list is accurate. http://www.gunlaws.com/GunLawUpdate3.htm. It is not, however, "Obama's Gun Ban List," or not yet anyway -- that's a headline some person added to it, and it's misleading. Sorry for any confusion, I can't control what other people do. No list is in the current Congress as of today.

A number of Page Nine readers pointed out that since gun sales can now be recorded on electronic 4473 forms, the shortage of paper ones is not such a big deal (see "4473 Form Shortage"). Well, yes and no. Although we're assured by our trustworthy government officials that the electronic form would never be used to create a centralized registry of gun owners, its ability to do that just happens to be enormous. The shortage of forms (by the millions), and the burden shift to dealers to make their own, has the fringe benefit of slowing down the database the government says it isn't making (which it has repeatedly tried to make in the past).

Corrections: Eric Holder and Swimming the Atlantic

I forgot to mention (see "Gun Ban Announced") that Eric Holder, according to "news" reports, wants to ban guns to stop the flow of grenades and machine guns to Mexico, but grenades and machine guns are not openly available to the public in stores (a very limited inventory of MGs nationally can be obtained with special FBI and local LEO clearance at $10K and up each); he also wants to ban the sale of "cop killer" bullets, which is actually two mistakes -- any bullet aimed at a cop is a potential killer and totally illegal already (with death penalty as punishment), and special ammunition so named by the Brady gun-ban group is already banned to the public. Thanks to Howard Nemerov for pointing out these shortcomings, and noting, "Holder proposes to ban something that is already banned... so he can dramatize 'doing something about crime' on the public stage." Mexican drug lord sources for grenades and MGs was not reported.

I failed to detect (see "Swimmer Dunks AP") another gross error in AP's report on their preposterous swim-across-the Atlantic-stories, when they said, "Benoit Lecomte... French long distance swimmer... first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean... for cancer research... tribute to his father... electromagnetic field to ward off sharks... took him 72 days, with 6-8 hours spent swimming each day..." Bob Solomon, who like me also owns a "calculator," figured Lecomte's 5,980 kilometer route would require about 10 km/hr. -- but the 10 km open water Olympic marathon last summer achieved only 5.36 km/hr. (for a 2-hour race). I apologize for not noting the AP's additional ridiculous blatant error.