Firearm Traces: Pointing Fingers

Bloomberg’s anti-rights propaganda outlet, The Trace, has been looking at the ATF’s 2018 firearm trace data in an attempt to draw some conclusions about the sources of “crime” guns.

Potential Gun Trafficking Hubs Revealed in ATF Data
The aggregate data from those trace reports, analyzed by The Trace, provides a map of the interstate routes that display the most glaring signs of firearms trafficking. The data also bolsters the well-documented pattern of guns flowing from states with loose gun laws to nearby states with stricter ones. (emphasis added)

Meh… not so much. You only see that if you carefully ignore most of the source states (and territories).

An open letter to Leslie Ruffing

First, the backstory.

Ms. Ruffing was shopping at Hobby Lobby and discovered some novelty signs. One depicted a pair of revolvers with the message, “We don’t call 911,” while another was an old fashioned no trespassing sign; “Violators will be shot.”

After whining for attention on Twitter…

Another bogus gun viol.. Wait. WTF?

I saw this today.

Drunk drivers more likely to commit violent gun crimes in California, study finds
Gun buyers in California convicted of driving under the influence are at greater risk of committing a violent crime or a firearm-related offense, a group of researchers at UC Davis found in a broad study that tracks gun purchasers over the span of a decade.

Well, that sounds bad, right? Maybe we should make a DUI conviction a prohibited person qualifier.

Or maybe we should look at the study and see what they really found.

No so fast there about that wonderful “background check app”

Sean D. Sorrentino thinks the supposed smartphone app for running background checks is a gun owner win.

Now the gut reaction of most gun owners who are politically active will be “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!” But before you jump up on that table and do your best Patrick Henry impression, let me explain why this is a good idea.

Let me explain why Mr. Sorrentino actually has zero idea if this is a good thing.

A Reasonable Right?

I came across a rather remarkable column the other day. It much needs to be addressed. I’ll take it in two parts.

But first, treat yourself to a stiff dose of your preferred adult beverage. You’re going to need it, because the column is by Adam Winkler and Edwin S. Grosvenor. Winkler, I was familiar with. Grosvenor, not so much; this introduction was unpleasant.

The Reasonable Right to Bear Arms
While the Founders sought to protect the citizenry from being disarmed entirely, they did not wish to prevent government from adopting reasonable regulations of guns and gun owners either.

I found that an odd assertion (or it would be, from someone other than Winkler). Really?

Dear Ms. Hammer,

I see you have launched yet another attack on critics of the Vichy National Rifle Association.

I am one of those people. I have been for decades; long before it became trendy to notice the financial mismanagement (to be kind). So you are attacking me.

If I had done “1 percent of what Wayne has helped the NRA accomplish,” I would expect The Zelman Partisans to ban me from the site, cancel all my login credentials, and apologize to its members for allowing me to work there.

TZP Columns Update

My most recent columns at The Zelman Partisans

• Survey says..: Politicians take note: 82,220,861 likely voters oppose more gun control.
• Rorschach Research Associates: They conducted a verbal Rorschach test of “support” for whatever was in the mind of each individual.
• The Cluelessness is strong in this one: And a-fisking we go. It rapidly becomes obvious Swearer has no frickin’ idea what she’s talking about.
• Nasty, Brutish, and Short: This is the 21st century; the firearms cat is out of the bag. If you want to use gun control to stop shootings, you need to reduce the nation to a sparsely populated Stone Age society.
• A willingness to defend yourself WILL get you “red flagged”: What was the horrible “threat” Kohfield made, that got his firearms stolen and him involuntarily committed to a psych hospital by judicial order (the latter part means he may never get his firearms back, nor replace them)?
• Absolute Tyranny: What is it with Dim-ocrat presidential candidates thinking that threatening to wage war on American civilians makes a great campaign platform plank?

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New Zealand Confiscation Update

The first month of the NZ MSSA Amnesty is past, and the results are in.

“Buyback” Events: 90
Firearms turned in: 10,242
Average firearms/event: 113

This isn’t looking good for the government. As previously noted, there are a rough-guesstimated 158,730 affected guns.

Overall running compliance rate: 6.45%

Guess the number of NZ guns affected by the confiscation law

Some folks don’t like that I’ve been basing my New Zealand confiscation compliance estimates on NZ media reports.

Granted, “my” (not really mine, but as I said from NZ reports; have to go by something) estimates are kind of laughable, since no one knows how many newly banned guns are in the wild down there. But why are those guesstimates any less valid than my critics’ wild ass guesses?

Well… SOMEONE missed a point or two

Sunday morning, I ran across a real WTF opinion column from University of Wisconsin student newspaper. I don’t expect much quality from student newspapers, but this call for “red flag” laws was…

Read it for yourself.

The red herring in the red flag debate: Conservative opposition to common sense gun control misses the point
A red flag law, proposed by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, aims to address these flags. It would allow family members and law enforcement to petition a judge, temporarily removing firearms from an individual who is a possible threat. Despite intense disagreement about the limits of the second amendment, red flag laws and universal background checks, among other proposed restrictions, are supported by a significant majority of Americans.