Second Amendment
February 10, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Why liberals make “assault rifles” the main focus of their gun control efforts is a mystery, for at least two reasons. First, rifles of all kinds account for a minuscule portion of homicides, far fewer than knives, clubs, shotguns or bare hands. Second, there is no such thing as an assault rifle. What liberals have in mind when they use that term is a species of semiautomatic rifle. But they
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January 31, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Daniel Defense is a Georgia company that makes guns, including AR-15 style rifles. It attempted to place a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl broadcast, but the NFL turned it down. The commercial featured a Marine who has returned to civilian life and uses a Daniel Defense firearm to protect his home and family. The commercial was inoffensive and never depicted a gun, but the NFL apparently has a policy
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December 15, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The anniversary of the Newtown murders passed quietly, with no serious effort by liberals to revive their failed gun control proposals–none of which would have done a thing to prevent the Newtown murders, as pretty much everyone now understands. In Colorado, high school student Karl Pierson was suspended for threatening to murder his debate coach. It turns out they should have arrested him, not just suspended him. Pierson wasn’t kidding.
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November 29, 2013 — John Hinderaker
That’s what I thought after spending a couple of hours in the flagship Bass Pro Shops store in Springfield, Missouri, where we are spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my oldest daughter and her husband. The place is huge; this is one small corner. Click to enlarge: The store features wildlife, both stuffed and living. I wouldn’t want to catch this fish: We checked out the guns, as I am thinking
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November 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Having had enough of Obamacare for the moment, I’m in the mood to talk about guns. I haven’t written much about firearms lately, but that isn’t because the current ammo shortage has prevented me from shooting. On the contrary, I’ve been shooting regularly because a reader of this site put me in touch with a source in West Virginia who has kept me well supplied with 9 mm. and 22LR
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October 21, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Attorney General Eric Holder said today, in a speech to a convention of police chiefs, that mass shooting incidents have tripled in the last few years: Between 2000 and 2008, the U.S. experienced an average of five mass shootings every year. Since then the annual average has tripled, Holder said. So far in 2013, there have been at least 12, he said. According to Justice Department figures on mass shootings,
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September 26, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Soldiers taking control of what is left of Nairobi’s Westgate Mall have found that al Shabab’s terror attack was more horrifying than previously known. The Daily Mail has the appalling story: Soldiers told of the horrific torture meted out by terrorists in the Nairobi mall massacre yesterday with claims hostages were dismembered, had their eyes gouged out and were left hanging from hooks in the ceiling. Men were said to
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September 17, 2013 — John Hinderaker
More information has been flowing in on the Navy Yard shootings, and as usual, it turns out that much of the early news about the incident was wrong. Aaron Alexis apparently suffered from rather severe mental illness, for which he was being treated by the Veterans Administration. The Associated Press tells us that Alexis “had been suffering a host of serious mental issues, including paranoia and a sleep disorder. He
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September 16, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Whenever a mass shooting incident occurs, some are quick to try to gain political advantage. Many liberals hope that the murderer will–finally!–turn out to be a conservative activist. Others perhaps take satisfaction when the shooter, like John Muhammad or Nidal Hasan, is a Muslim. Gun control advocates immediately call for more gun legislation; but what legislation, in particular, seems to be a minor point. Much is not yet known about
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September 11, 2013 — Scott Johnson
The peasants revolted last night in two Colorado senate districts, recalling Democratic state senate president John Morse and his colleague Angela Giron. The revolt was prompted by the senators’ support for the gun control measures adopted in Colorado. The recall effort overcame the institutional forces of liberalism including a massive spending disadvantage created by Michael Bloomberg’s bucks. Fox News reports last night’s results here. NR’s Charles Cooke has been following
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August 20, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Chris Lane is the Australian college student and baseball player who was murdered while jogging along a street in Duncan, Oklahoma. The perpetrators were three teenagers who were bored and decided to murder someone just for fun. They saw Lane running by, got in a car, drove behind him and shot him in the back. Two of the bored teenagers, Chancey Luna and James Edwards, have been charged with first
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August 20, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has produced a “public service announcement” urging repeal of the stand your ground provisions that are part of most states’ laws on self-defense. The ad features, naturally, the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case, even though that provision of Florida law had no application to the case–you can’t retreat when you are lying flat on your back–the defense did not invoke or rely on “stand your
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August 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Left’s current focus on “stand your ground” laws is intended to obscure the fact that what liberals really want to do is abolish the concept of self-defense; or, at any rate, self-defense with a firearm. That objective was made crystal clear in this exchange between Chris Matthews and Mark Glaze, the executive director of Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun organization, the deceptively-named Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Matthews asked Glaze whether a
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August 11, 2013 — Scott Johnson
John Hinderaker called out Dick Durbin for his stupidity in “Is Dick Durbin the dumbest Democrat?” Recognizing the intensity of the competition for the laurels, John left the question open, but he found Durbin definitely to be in the running. But Durbin is worse than stupid. He is a bully and a thug. As John recounted, Durbin has been sending out letters to anyone he has determined to have funded
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August 8, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The competition is intense, but Durbin is definitely a contender. Here is the latest evidence: In preparation for a previously announced hearing on controversial “stand your ground” laws announced after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., sent letters to more than 300 possible corporate backers of the American Legislative Exchange Council, requesting their position on such policies in states
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July 15, 2013 — John Hinderaker
We first got to know Stephen Hunter when he was the Washington Post’s movie critic. He is best known as a successful novelist, and he happens to know a great deal about guns. This morning Stephen sent us his thoughts on the George Zimmerman verdict: 1.) Profiling. When the president calls for “calm” in the aftermath of the jury speaking, he is profiling. When police departments call in the manpower,
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July 4, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Power Line has a 4th of July tradition: Scott writes moving and profound meditations on the Declaration and the Founding, while I go to South Dakota and blow things up. Today finds me, once again, in my home town. This year we have firearms as well as fireworks on the agenda, so we will enjoy gunpowder in its manifold forms. I will update this post, or add new ones, over
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