Gun Nut Roundup Jan. 2011

Iowa Now "Shall-Issue"

On January 1st Iowa's new shall issue system for issuing permits to carry weapons went into effect after decades of leaving issuance standards up to each of the state's 99 county sheriffs.  If a permit applicant meets mandated training requirements and passes a criminal background check, sheriffs must now issue a permit or give a written explanation why it was denied.  The applicant can appeal that denial to a judge if the applicant feels it was in error.

Since the beginning of the year, sheriffs have seen huge numbers of new permit applications, particularly in counties where sheriffs previously refused to issue them.  Despite the state's media pooping their collective panties, as of the time of this writing, the streets of Iowa had not yet ran red with blood.

Commie McCarthy Proposes Mag Ban

Although recent polls show that public support for gun control has not spiked because of the high-profile shootings in Tucson Arizona, that hasn't stopped the media and our elected officials from caterwauling for more gun laws.  Naturally jumping on the bandwagon is perennial gun ban queen Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.). McCarthy ran for Congress on a platform of gun control after her husband was killed in a 1993 mass shooting aboard a Long Island Rail Road commuter train.  (Apparently lost on the good Representative is the fact that her husband died from a lack of shooting back.)

According to the NRA-ILA, H.R. 308, McCarthy's latest gun-grab, would "ban the manufacture and importation of new magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.  Unlike the magazine ban that was in effect from 1994 to 2004, her new bill would also make it illegal for the tens of millions of Americans who already own these magazines to sell or otherwise transfer them, even through inheritance."  Anti-gun geezer Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced a similar ban in the Senate.

Although this won't do anything to lower crime nor deter nutballs like Jared Loughner, us law-abiding gun owners remember what an expensive pain-in-the-ass the last ban like this was.  This one would be even more so, if passed.

RINO Proposes Roving Tyranny Zones

Also coming out of the flap over the Tucson shootings is a proposal by the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Peter King (R-NY).  Furthering the eternal effort to make federal officials a distinct ruling class, the bill from (the appropriately named) King would strip American citizens of their constitutional rights whenever one of their sovereigns pass by.

The bill would "make it a federal crime to carry a weapon within 1,000 feet of any event which is attended by the President, the Vice President, members of the Senate, members of the House of Representatives, Cabinet officials, including the CIA director as well as federal judges.”  If only this had been in effect earlier in the month!  Surely Jared Loughner (who planned on violating the most fundamental laws of God and man) wouldn't have dared to violate King's sacred 1,000 feet rule.

In the old days I might have just invited Rep. King to kiss my ass.  But in this post-Tucson environment of sensitivity about civility in political discourse, I'll be sure to doff my cap when I do.