Salon.com > Second Amendment

Salon.com > Second Amendment http://www.salon.com Sat, 18 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Missouri advances bill to nullify federal gun laws http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/missouri_advances_bill_to_nullify_federal_gun_laws/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/missouri_advances_bill_to_nullify_federal_gun_laws/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 21:07:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13294114 Missouri's state legislature has passed constitutionally questionable legislation to nullify federal gun laws, and make them unenforceable in the state.

The Missouri House passed the measure by a vote of 118-36, after the state Senate advanced it earlier this month. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.

From the Associated Press:

In addition to declaring federal gun laws unenforceable, the bill would allow concealed weapons to be carried by designated school personnel in school buildings. It would allow appointed “protection officers” to carry concealed weapons as long as they have a valid permit and register with the state Department of Public Safety. The officers would also be required to complete a training course.

The bill would also allow people with a firearms permit to openly carry weapons less than 16 inches in length even in localities that prohibit open-carry of firearms.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/missouri_advances_bill_to_nullify_federal_gun_laws/feed/ 59 Senate Dems block pro-gun amendment to water bill http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/senate_dems_block_pro_gun_amendment_to_water_bill/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/senate_dems_block_pro_gun_amendment_to_water_bill/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 20:51:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13292960 In a 56-43 vote on Wednesday, Senate Democrats blocked an amendment that would have allowed people to carry guns at certain outdoor recreational areas, including lakes and campgrounds.

The measure was introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., as an amendment to the Senate's Water Resources Development Act, which authorizes projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Coburn had initially introduced a second gun-related amendment, which would have required federal agencies to register guns it owns, purchases or loses, though he withdrew it after sharp criticism from Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, of California. Boxer had sponsored the water bill.

“I would hope that this gun amendment would not get the 60 votes required, because I believe it is dangerous,” Boxer said before the vote, according to TPM. “Why would we want to have on a water infrastructure bill an amendment that allows people to come in with guns and go right to the heart of those critical water infrastructure projects, those dams, those reservoirs, those locks?”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/senate_dems_block_pro_gun_amendment_to_water_bill/feed/ 9 “Freedom’s biggest army”: Scenes from the NRA convention 2013 http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/scenes_from_arizona_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/scenes_from_arizona_partner/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 18:25:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13292919 HOUSTON -- To swing the door on a National Rifle Association annual meeting is to enter a world where Freedom comes from a gun. The gun's purpose is not important. It doesn't have to be American made. It can be any number of shapes, so long as it has a grip, a trigger, and a barrel. But only from a gun barrel can Freedom flow. In the words of multiple NRA members who confronted protestors this past weekend, "The Second Amendment is the one thing protecting the First."

Last May in St. Louis, NRA leaders pounded away at this idea in a torrent of Apocalyptic warnings about the consequences of failure in the November elections. A year later, gathering two weeks after helping defeat the biggest effort to strengthen gun laws in a generation, the same men delivered the NRA's Second Amendment gospel with a newfound swagger. Unchanged was the primacy of guns and gun rights in the NRA's understanding of the world and everything in it. In his opening speech, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre described the gun enthusiasts before him as "Freedom's biggest army, greatest hope, and brightest future." The group's chief lobbyist-strategist, the boyish Tennessean Chris Cox, celebrated the convention as "the biggest celebration ever of American values," whose 86,000-plus attendees embodied "the essence of participation in American democracy."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/scenes_from_arizona_partner/feed/ 109 Coburn wants to tack pro-gun amendments onto Senate water bill http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/coburn_wants_to_tack_pro_gun_amendments_onto_senate_water_bill/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/coburn_wants_to_tack_pro_gun_amendments_onto_senate_water_bill/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 16:12:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13292723 UPDATE - May 8, 1:30 p.m.: Coburn has withdrawn the amendment that would have required the federal government to register all of its firearms. A spokesman for Coburn told The Huffington Post that the decision was made "as a goodwill gesture" to Boxer, following her criticism of the amendment on Tuesday.

From earlier:

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Water Resources Development Act on Wednesday, which authoritzes water projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., also wants to add two pro-gun amendments to the equation.

One of the amendments would allow people to carry guns at water resources development projects regulated by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, including outdoor recreational areas where guns are currently forbidden. The other amendment would require federal agencies to register guns and ammunition it owns, purchases or loses within a given year.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/coburn_wants_to_tack_pro_gun_amendments_onto_senate_water_bill/feed/ 8 When gun control is a felony http://www.salon.com/2013/05/05/can_states_actually_ignore_federal_gun_laws_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/05/can_states_actually_ignore_federal_gun_laws_partner/#comments Sun, 05 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13289096

In mid-April, Kansas passed a law asserting that federal gun regulations do not apply to guns made and owned in Kansas. Under the law, Kansans could manufacture and sell semi-automatic weapons in-state without a federal license or any federal oversight.

Kansas’ “Second Amendment Protection Act” backs up its states’ rights claims with a penalty aimed at federal agents: When dealing with “Made in Kansas” guns, any attempt to enforce federal law is now a felony. Bills similar to Kansas’ law have been introduced in at least 37 other states. An even broader bill is on the desk of Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell. That bill would exempt any gun owned by an Alaskan from federal regulation. In Missouri, a bill declaring federal gun laws “null and void” passed by an overwhelming majority in the state house, and is headed for debate in the senate.

Mobilizing the pre-Civil-War doctrine of “nullification,” these bills assert that Congress has overstepped its ability to regulate guns — and that states, not the Supreme Court, have the ultimate authority to decide whether a law is constitutional or not.

The head of the Kansas’s State Rifle Association, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, says she put the bill together and found it a sponsor. While the NRA regularly lauds passages of states’ gun-rights laws, it stayed silent on Kansas’ law, and, so far, has kept a low profile on nullification. (The group did not respond to our requests for comment.)

Many observers see nullification bills as pure political theater, “the ultimate triumph of symbolism over substance,” as UCLA law Professor Adam Winkler put it. He said he doubts the laws will ever be enforced, and, if they are, expects them to be struck down by the courts.

Winkler and others say nullification laws violate the Constitution, which makes federal law “the supreme law of the land … anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.” Indeed, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote a letter last week to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, asserting that Kansas’ law is “unconstitutional.” (Brownback, who signed the bill into law, did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.)

But the growing number of such bills -- which have passed by large majorities in at least one chamber of seven state legislatures -- highlight the challenge gun control advocates face in their attempt to fight for gun regulation at the state level.

It also shows how nullification is fast becoming a mainstream option for state politicians. In Pennsylvania, 76 state legislators signed on to sponsor a measure that would invalidate any new federal ban of certain weapons or ammunition. The bill would impose a minimum penalty of one year in prison for federal agents who attempt to enforce any new law.

Supporters of nullification are not simply frustrated at what they see as congressional and presidential overreach. During a hearing about one of the nullification bills she had introduced, Tennessee State Sen. Mae Beavers called the Supreme Court a “dictatorship.”

“You think that the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of any of these laws. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe it was ever granted the authority under the Constitution,” Beavers was quoted as saying in The Tennessean. (Reached by phone, she asked to comment later, then did not respond to further requests.)

The Supreme Court rejected nullification in 1958, after Southern states tried to use the concept to avoid desegregating public schools. “No state legislator or executive or judicial officer can war against the Constitution without violating his solemn oath to support it,” the Court ruled.

Winkler, the UCLA law professor, said that even though the nullification trend was likely to be ineffectual, “It represents a strong, powerful opposition to our government.”

The concept of nullification has had a resurgence since the beginning of President Obama’s administration. More than a dozen states have introduced bills to nullify Obamacare.

The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates nullification as the solution to a range of policy issues, from marijuana legalization to Obamacare, publishes model gun nullification language. The center has little direct contact with state legislators, Michael Boldin, the center’s founder, said.

The roots of guns law nullification trace back nearly a decade.

In 2004, Montana gun rights activist Gary Marbut drafted a bill stating that any guns manufactured and retained in Montana are not part of interstate commerce, and thus are exempt from federal regulation. The bill failed twice, but it became law in 2009 after Republicans took control of the statehouse. By Marbut’s count, at least eight states soon enacted “clones” of the Montana law. (Those laws don’t go quite as far as the more recent nullification legislation. For instance, most of them don’t make it a crime to enforce federal law.)

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms responded to the earlier laws with letters to local firearms dealers explaining that federal laws and regulations “continue to apply.”

The day the Montana law went into effect, Marbut filed a lawsuit in federal court asserting the right to manufacture weapons in the state without a federal license. The suit, now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, has been backed by a large group of supporters, including Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Goldwater Institute, and a group of nine attorneys general, some of them from states that had passed their own versions of the Montana law.

Representatives of Goldwater and the Cato Institute said they see the case as not primarily about guns. Instead, they say, it’s meant to persuade the Supreme Court to rollback the Congress’ power to regulate commerce within a state.

“The likelihood of victory is low,” said Trevor Burrus, a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies.

The latest set of bills — including Kansas’ new law — represent a far broader and more aggressive challenge to federal law. Even conservative organizations have been skeptical of the trend.

“A state law that criminalizes federal activity — I would oppose that as both imprudent and wrong,” Burrus said. The Cato Institute’s chairman wrote an op-ed this spring arguing this kind of nullification is invalid.

Goldwater Institute’s Nick Dranias, a constitutional expert, said the term “nullification” is sometimes applied to legitimate attempts to exert state sovereignty, “and sometimes it is essentially lawless civil disobedience.”

States should only pass laws challenging federal power "when there is a reasonable legal argument for sustaining them," he said. And the penalty for enforcing federal law in "hard cases" should be "a misdemeanor at most."

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group, released a “fact sheet” last year titled “Nullification: Unlawful and Unconstitutional.” (The fact sheet does not address guns in particular.)

The Montana activist whose helped inspired the nullification movement Kansas is also a bit skeptical. While he simply chose to challenge the federal government’s commerce power, Kansas is “bucking federal power more generally,” he said.

“I think, maybe tactically, they may have gone a little further than they needed to,” Marbut said.

Though he supports the principles behind the Kansas law, “I don’t know how much of that they can uphold when it gets to the courts.”

But Marbut hopes that the rapid spread of gun law nullification bills across the country will encourage the Supreme Court to hear his case.

“I see the tide moving our way,” Marbut said. “I think the Supreme Court has figured out that the people of America are gathering their torches and pitchforks and it’s time to settle things down by reeling in the federal giant.”

A spokeswoman for Alaska Gov. Parnell, who has not either approved or vetoed the state’s nullification bill, said last month that “he is supportive of it.” But, she added, “The bill (as with all bills that pass) is currently undergoing a thorough review by the Department of Law.”

In Kansas, Patricia Stoneking, the president of Kansas State Rifle Association, said she was recommending that Kansans not start manufacturing guns under the new law until its legal status has been clarified.

Even if Kansas’ law ends up being struck down in court, “We actually are not going to roll over and play dead and say, ‘Oh, no, shame on us,’” Stoneking said. “The fight will not be over.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/05/can_states_actually_ignore_federal_gun_laws_partner/feed/ 30 NRA is getting a new president http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/nra_is_getting_a_new_president/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/nra_is_getting_a_new_president/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 22:21:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13288012 David Keene will be replaced by Alabama attorney Jim Porter as president of the NRA, once Keene's two-year term officially ends at this weekend's NRA convention in Houston.

CNN reports:

While Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is widely known as the face of the NRA, Keene had an active role in publicity and media appearances, especially in the wake of the Newtown elementary school massacre that left 26 people dead.

Porter has been serving as the NRA's first vice president, and before that he served as the group's second vice president. The presidency, an unpaid position, is the next stop in the NRA's leadership rotation.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/nra_is_getting_a_new_president/feed/ 2 Accidental child shooting in Kentucky sparks gun debate http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/ky_child_shooting_part_of_urban_rural_gun_debate/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/ky_child_shooting_part_of_urban_rural_gun_debate/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 15:25:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/ky_child_shooting_part_of_urban_rural_gun_debate/ BURKESVILLE, Ky. (AP) — As Stephanie Sparks cleaned the kitchen, her 5-year-old son, Kristian, began playing with a rifle he was given last year. She stepped out onto the front porch, poured grease out of a frying pan for the dogs and "heard the gun go off," a Kentucky coroner said.

Authorities said the boy had fatally shot his 2-year-old sister, Caroline, in the chest.

In rural southern Kentucky, far removed from the national debate over gun control, where some children get their first guns even before they start first grade, the accident stunned the community.

Kristian's rifle was kept in a corner of the mobile home, and the family didn't realize a bullet had been left in it, Cumberland County Coroner Gary White said.

"Down in Kentucky where we're from, you know, guns are passed down from generation to generation," White said. "You start at a young age with guns for hunting and everything."

What is more unusual than a child having a gun, he said, is "that a kid would get shot with it."

In this case, the rifle was made by a company that sells guns specifically for children — "My first rifle" is the slogan — in colors ranging from plain brown to hot pink to royal blue to multi-color swirls.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/ky_child_shooting_part_of_urban_rural_gun_debate/feed/ 39 Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/poll_3_in_10_voters_say_armed_revolution_might_be_necessary/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/poll_3_in_10_voters_say_armed_revolution_might_be_necessary/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 21:26:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13287138 A new survey of voters by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that 29 percent agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties" - including 18 percent of Democrats, 27 percent of Independents and 44 percent of Republicans.

From the survey:

Only 38 percent of Americans who believe a revolution might be necessary support additional gun control legislation, compared with 62 percent of those who don’t think an armed revolt will be needed. “The differences in views of gun legislation are really a function of differences in what people believe guns are for,” said Cassino. “If you truly believe an armed revolution is possible in the near future, you need weapons and you’re going to be wary about government efforts to take them away.”

The poll also found that 25 percent of those surveyed "think that facts about the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary last year are being hidden." 11 percent are unsure.

h/t TPM.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/poll_3_in_10_voters_say_armed_revolution_might_be_necessary/feed/ 174 Pro-gun billboard sparks outrage over depiction of Native Americans http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/pro_gun_billboard_sparks_outrage_over_depiction_of_native_americans/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/pro_gun_billboard_sparks_outrage_over_depiction_of_native_americans/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:48:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13285513 A billboard in Greeley, Colorado, is causing outrage among residents because of its use of Native Americans to oppose gun control. The billboard features a picture of three Native Americans with the sarcastic message: "Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you."

The billboard was paid for by a group of locals who asked to remain anonymous, according to Lamar Advertising, which spoke with KUSA.

From the AP:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/pro_gun_billboard_sparks_outrage_over_depiction_of_native_americans/feed/ 67 Bloomberg gun group to grade lawmakers http://www.salon.com/2013/04/09/bloomberg_gun_group_to_grade_lawmakers/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/09/bloomberg_gun_group_to_grade_lawmakers/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:04:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13265649 Michael Bloomberg's pro-gun control nonprofit, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is borrowing the NRA's system of handing out letter-grades to lawmakers, except it will rank them on how strong they are on gun control.

“For decades, the NRA has done an admirable job of tracking to minute detail how members of Congress stand on gun bills. We’ve simply decided to do the same,” said the group's director, Mark Glaze.

The Washington Post reports:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/09/bloomberg_gun_group_to_grade_lawmakers/feed/ 2 Gun Owners of America out-hardlines the NRA http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/gun_owners_of_america_out_hardlines_the_nra/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/gun_owners_of_america_out_hardlines_the_nra/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13261361 The NRA's smaller but more hardline gun lobby cousin, Gun Owners of America, is steadily gaining influence and pressuring Republicans to oppose gun control legislation.

The New York Times reports that the group, led by Executive Director Larry Pratt, has been effectively targeting senators, particularly Republicans who have indicated that they are open to supporting things like universal background checks.

For example, Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who began working with Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for a deal on background checks, was pounded by calls and emails from constituents after the Gun Owners of America got involved.

Part of the group's increasing profile might come from its decision to remain outspoken against gun control in the days just after the Newtown school shootings - which led to newfound media exposure. At the time, the NRA and other gun lobby groups went into hibernation mode, while Pratt made comments like "Gun-free zones are like magnets for the monsters in our society."

From the Times:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/gun_owners_of_america_out_hardlines_the_nra/feed/ 9 NRA’s rhetoric on gun “confiscation” appears to be working http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/nras_rhetoric_on_gun_confiscation_appears_to_be_working/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/nras_rhetoric_on_gun_confiscation_appears_to_be_working/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:24:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13261362 A new poll by Quinnipiac University finds that 48 percent of Americans believe that universal background checks will lead to gun confiscation -- a favorite talking point of the NRA. Despite this, 91 percent of those polled still favor the policy.

Fifty-three percent of gun owners believe universal background checks will lead to confiscation, according to the poll, as well as 61 percent of Republicans.

Meanwhile, debate over gun control legislation, including universal background checks, has been delayed in the Senate.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/nras_rhetoric_on_gun_confiscation_appears_to_be_working/feed/ 25 Connecticut passes nation’s strictest gun laws http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/connecticut_passes_nations_strictest_gun_laws/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/connecticut_passes_nations_strictest_gun_laws/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13261360 In the wake of the Newtown school shootings, both houses in Connecticut's state legislature have approved sweeping gun control legislation that, once signed into law, would amount to the strictest gun control measures in the country.

The legislation passed out of the state Senate in a 26-10 vote after a six-hour debate on Wednesday. The state's House of Representatives passed it by a vote of 105 to 44. Both votes were bipartisan, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, D, says he will sign the measures into law as soon as possible.

From CNN:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/connecticut_passes_nations_strictest_gun_laws/feed/ 6 NRA to roll out guns-in-schools proposals http://www.salon.com/2013/04/01/nra_to_roll_out_guns_in_schools_proposals/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/01/nra_to_roll_out_guns_in_schools_proposals/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:50:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13257850 On Tuesday, the NRA will reportedly roll out proposals for how to prevent gun violence, including placing armed guards in schools.

CNN reports:

The NRA is expected to give Congress legislative proposals in the Tuesday report.

Law enforcement officials will find training recommendations to prepare the armed guards who the organization believes should be available to schools.

State and local officials will find guidelines on how to alter their ordinances to permit the armed guards.

The report will include both proposed legislation and resources for how to prevent future gun violence, according to CNN.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/01/nra_to_roll_out_guns_in_schools_proposals/feed/ 10 Wayne LaPierre: Still paranoid http://www.salon.com/2013/02/25/wayne_lapierre_still_paranoid/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/25/wayne_lapierre_still_paranoid/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13211535 Shortly after cautioning the world about looting Brooklynites, the NRA's chief executive Wayne LaPierre issued another ominous warning about the Obama administration's push to implement universal background checks. "Don't you be fooled - there is nothing universal and nothing reasonable about it," LaPierre told the 2013 Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Utah.

"This so-called universal background check… is aimed at one thing," LaPierre said. "It's aimed at registering your guns. And when another tragic opportunity presents itself, that registry will be used to confiscate your guns.

"This is not universal background checks, this is universal registration of all of your firearms," he added.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/25/wayne_lapierre_still_paranoid/feed/ 19 Town hall questioner says Biden was being sexist on guns http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/town_hall_questioner_says_biden_was_being_sexist_on_guns/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/town_hall_questioner_says_biden_was_being_sexist_on_guns/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:47:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13208952 The woman who asked Joe Biden about guns at a Parents Magazine town hall says that she felt the Vice President's response - that she should just buy a shotgun - was sexist.

Kate Ernest had asked Biden earlier this week: “Do you believe that banning certain weapons and high capacity magazines will mean that law-abiding citizens will then become more of a target to criminals as we will have no way to sufficiently protect ourselves?” In response, Biden laughed and said that he's told his wife, Jill Biden, "Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony, put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house."

He added that you don't need an AR-15 to ward off intruders: "Buy a shotgun."

Ernest said on Fox News that she felt Biden was dismissive. “I think it was poor advice and it comes off a little sexist,” she said. “Like, ‘let me tell you what you need’ versus, you know, ‘arm yourself or protect yourself in a way that you feel necessary."

Watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/town_hall_questioner_says_biden_was_being_sexist_on_guns/feed/ 15 After shooting death, new FPSRussia gun-fetish videos are back http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/after_shooting_death_new_fpsrussia_gun_fetish_videos_are_back/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/after_shooting_death_new_fpsrussia_gun_fetish_videos_are_back/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:11:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13208725 It has been six weeks since the strange death of Keith Ratliff -- the YouTube assault-weapon enthusiast who was shot and killed in his Georgia compound/weapons store/testing facility.

While conspiracy theories continue to fly around the Web (usually suggesting that the Obama administration is sending "death squads" after Second Amendment lovers), his popular FPSRussia channel has gone quiet. No new videos demonstrating what the firepower of an assault weapon might do to a cardboard cutout of Justin Bieber!

(Most Web ratings services placed it among the 10 most popular YouTube channels, with some 3.8 million subscribers.)

But rest assured, fans of freedom. If you would like to see a UTS-15 12 Gauge take out a toilet, FPSRussia is back. And that exploding toilet is verging on 1,000,000 views.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/after_shooting_death_new_fpsrussia_gun_fetish_videos_are_back/feed/ 1 Missouri GOPer uses gun control legislation as target practice http://www.salon.com/2013/02/19/missouri_goper_uses_gun_control_legislation_as_target_practice/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/19/missouri_goper_uses_gun_control_legislation_as_target_practice/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13205543 The gun control debate in Missouri has taken a turn for the extreme, with one state legislator literally using gun control legislation as target practice, and another making it a felony to propose gun control measures in the first place.

State Rep. Eric Burlison, a Republican, posted a Joe Manchin-like video Monday called "2nd Amendment puts holes in HB 545," referring to an assault weapons ban proposed by Democratic state Rep. Rory Ellinger. In the video, Burlison goes to a shooting range to ask people what they think of the bill. In one exchange, he asks a man with a rifle his opinion, and the man responds: "It's a great bill ... It's great target practice." Burlison agrees.

Here's the video, via the Riverfront Times. The legislation-shooting comes around the 2-minute mark:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/19/missouri_goper_uses_gun_control_legislation_as_target_practice/feed/ 15 Stephen King calls his work “possible accelerant” to killers http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/stephen_king_calls_his_work_possible_accelerant_to_killers/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/stephen_king_calls_his_work_possible_accelerant_to_killers/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:52:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13181855 Stephen King has published a Kindle Single (more than a book, less than an essay, proprietary to Amazon platforms) on gun violence, in which he describes his decision to pull his pseudonymous novel "Rage" from shelves after possible copycat crimes.

"Rage," which King first wrote in high school ("I suppose if it had been written today, and some high school English teacher had seen it, he would have rushed the manuscript to the guidance counselor and I would have found myself in therapy posthaste"), depicts a hostage situation in a high school when a student brings a weapon to school.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/stephen_king_calls_his_work_possible_accelerant_to_killers/feed/ 20 12 rational responses to irrational gun arguments http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/12_rational_responses_to_irrational_gun_arguments/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/12_rational_responses_to_irrational_gun_arguments/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:47:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13181816

AlterNet

In a recent discussion about gun control on Thom Hartmann's program, my opponent suggested that gun control advocates like me really have a cultural aversion to guns. That's a standard ploy for the gun set: when reason isn’t on your side, deploy emotional and personal arguments instead.

"Anti-gun"? I could've brought up my own recreational gun use, or even brought out the firing range pass I carry in my wallet. But I'll admit that I've lost a little of my taste for it as our national killing spree continues unabated. What's more, that would've been disrespectful to the millions of Americans who do have an understandable aversion to guns. Personal habits should have no part in a rational policy discussion.

Now that President Obama has made his initial gun control proposals, the crazy's being ratcheted up to a new level. Rational Americans in all walks of life will be confronted with these kinds of arguments. We're going to need a playbook. Here are 12 responses you can use when you're confronted with some of the standard illogical, irrational and emotionally overheated statements that gun extremists use.

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