What is the point of Gun Registration?

Recently, a federal judge upheld a law in Washington, D.C. requiring guns be registered every three years (among other things). Taken in conjunction with Connecticut’s “assault weapons” registration law which just went into effect January 1st, they portend ill-tidings for both the Second Amendment and our country itself.

Still, you might ask:  “What IS the problem with registration”? And if you did, I’d answer, “How much do you know about the Supreme Court decision entitled U.S. v. Haynes – 1968“?

Clayton Cramer wrote a fascinating article on the subject that I read at Firearms and Liberty.  His summary of the case is as follows:

“In Haynes v. U.S. (1968), a Miles Edward Haynes appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. 

His argument was ingenious:

If #Obamacare’s NOT a laughing matter, why is its spokesman such a clown?

Early in Barack Obama’s presidency, I remember seeing a creepy picture someone had photo-shopped to make him look like the Joker from The Dark Knight, portending sinister things to come. Fast-forward five years. I’m afraid they were giving the president way too much credit.

Rather than appearing as some conniving genius mad for power, Obama looks like a fool frantically trying to keep his whole façade of power from crumbling.

Between Barack and a Hard Place

Our POTUS still doesn’t seem to grasp how image shapes perception, especially in the media. For example, he recently appeared on Zach Galifianakis’ Web comedy show, “Between Two Ferns.”  Galifianakis’ purpose in this show is to get laughs by asking extremely awkward questions and putting his guests in the worst light possible. That’s the joke: everyone gets to look either rude or foolish.

Obama managed to look both.

The State can’t Protect you, …but it doesn’t want You to Protect YOURSELF, either

Two news items, both from Oregon, and both dealing with the right and ability to defend yourself. Apparently, the fine folks in Oregon are intent on having you as defenseless as possible.

The first one is from a week or so back, and received scant attention before the Memorial Day Weekend. From CBSLocal.com:

An Oregon woman was told by a 911 dispatcher that authorities wouldn’t be able be able to help her as her ex-boyfriend broke into her place, because of budget cuts.

Oregon Public Radio reports that an unidentified woman called 911 during a weekend in August 2012 while Michael Bellah was breaking into her place. Her call was forwarded to Oregon State Police because of lay-offs at the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office only allows the department to be open Monday through Friday.

“Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told the woman. “You know, obviously, if he comes inside the residence and assaults you, …can you ask him to go away?

10-year-old Boy Suspended/Isolated for 24 hours, after bringing Penknife with him on Camping trip

In what seems to be a daily march of idiocy in our public schools today, we have another child who has been turned into an Enemy of the State.

Courtesy of Todd Starnes over at FoxNewsRadio:

Tony Bandermann told Fox News that his son Braden was on a science camping trip with his class at Garden Gate Elementary School in Cupertino, Calif.

Braden “The Blade” Bandermann

Bandermann, who was out-of-town on a business trip, said he received a telephone call from the school’s principal informing him that his son had violated the school’s weapons policy. The punishment, she told him, must be immediate and severe.

“She threatened to expel him,” he said. “She kept telling me, ‘you can’t bring a weapon to school.’ A Swiss Army Knife is a tool, not a weapon.”

Wait a sec: weren’t the kids on a camping trip? What is someone supposed to bring when you go camping: a curling iron?

The Folly of Gun Registration

It’s practically a Pavlovian response at this point: every time an incident involving gun violence occurs, the resultant freak-out from the gun control advocates is always: “Somebody needs to do SOMETHING!!”

Inevitably, the discussion leads to background checks and mandatory registration.  Since this blog already dissected the risible “90%” claim spouted by President Obama regarding background checks, let’s take a peek at mandatory registration, shall we?

Obama pouts, rants and lies… but mostly lies

There has been plenty of coverage following the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey gun control amendment, with most of it dealing with the President’s classless demeanor during his 13-minute whine-fest.

This criticism is richly deserved, but it’s hardly new.

What has fascinated me has been his dogged insistence on focusing on two particular data points which are clearly brazen lies. The first is that “40% of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check”, and that “90 percent of Americans… agree on background checks”. At first blush these sound mighty impressive, but neither claim holds up to even a cursory examination, and THIS was one of the primary reasons the amendment failed.

Diversity, at any cost: “Pool hiring Lifeguards based on Skin Color, rather than Ability to Swim”

It’s like I’ve said numerous times before: locating examples of Liberal Lunacy today is as easy as opening the morning paper.

Phoenix, Arizona-area public swimming pools have been making waves in the news recently over a new hiring practice. Test yourself and see if you can spot why some folks might find fault with their initiative.

Courtesy of NPR:

After noticing that most of the lifeguards at the public pools used by Latino and African-American kids were white, the Phoenix aquatics department decided to try to recruit minorities.

More than 90 percent of the students at Alhambra High are black, Latino or Asian. On a recruiting effort there over the winter, the city’s Melissa Boyle tells students she’s not looking for strong swimmers. Like many under-resourced schools, Alhambra doesn’t have a swim team.

“We will work with you in your swimming abilities,” Boyle says.

Which is more culturally relevant: EASTER, …or Cesar Chavez’ birthday?

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter.

My family and I enjoyed ourselves, hosting my sister-in-law’s family after morning mass, while I kept track of the NCAA Hockey tournament. However, only one little unnecessarily political event ruined an otherwise politics-free day, as my brother-in-law and I jumped on the web for a quick hockey update.

This:

Yes, on Easter Sunday: a national holiday and special day of reverence for the overwhelming majority of Americans (both religious and secular), Google chose to make their daily doodle a celebration of the birthday of Cesar Chavez, rather than some sort of recognition of Easter.