All posts by Nicki

guns, Poll

Poll: Trouble for Olympic Shooting Sports

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Even if you haven’t watched every minute of the Olympic Games, you have to know something odd is happening with Olympic shooting sports.

RioOlympicsShootingWomen-f039cDuring her first Olympic showing, 19-year-old Ginny Thrasher became the first gold medal winner for the United States and the first medal winner of this year’s Olympiad after firing an unbeatable score in the Women’s 10-meter Air Rifle event.

It is no doubt a feat to be proud of, and yet, the American teenager faced sneering and snark from the likes of Piers Morgan and whining has-been Wil Wheaton (aka Star Trek’s Wesley Crusher), who instead of appreciating her achievement, decided to wax sarcastic about America and guns on social media.

Kim Rhode won a bronze medal in skeet shooting last week, and in the process became the first woman to take the podium in six straight Olympic Games. And yet, big name sponsors want nothing to do with her, because GUNZ!

An odious bill entitled the HEART Act, which I briefly discussed in last week’s poll threatens to shut down youth shooting sports.

Are things really that grim, or are shooting sports going to come out of this just fine? That’s the subject of today’s poll. What’s the danger? Let us know.

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Poll

Poll: A Good Time for Machine Guns

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My son was eight years old when he fired his first machine gun. It was an MP5 9mm automatic that a nice man at the range offered to let him fire.

He was 11 years old here. Very small for his age.
He was 11 years old here. Very small for his age, with a lot of hair!

I stood behind him, helping his little hands control the weapon, and the gentleman stood next to me, also behind my son, guiding him.

Danny had been exposed to firearms since he was probably four years old. He knew gun safety rules before he learned how to tie his shoelaces. Prior to his range trip, he had fired numerous firearms under supervision, and I felt he was ready to try something new that day.

Not everyone thinks that children should be taught to use these firearms, let alone semi-automatic rifles. Two hoplophobic imbeciles last month introduced separate bills – one in the Senate, and one in the House – nauseatingly named the Help End Assault Rifle Tragedies (HEART) Act to prevent young people from using these firearms.

We’ll discuss these noxious proposals more in depth in a separate article. For now, we’d like to know when you believe is a good time to introduce youngsters to automatic weapons.

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Poll

Poll: Buying New Guns?

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gunsA recent Rasmussen poll reported that Americans are buying guns at a record pace.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that nearly one-out-of-four Americans (23%) say they or someone in their immediate family has bought a gun in the past year. Seventy percent (70%) have not, but six percent (6%) aren’t sure.

The majority of the respondents claim their purchases are for self defense. What about you guys? Are you purchasing more guns? Why?

Let us know below.

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Poll

Poll: The Democratic Party Platform

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Hillary-Clinton-Gun-Control-600x337Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Democrats have “perfected” their party platform, if you can call it that. The platform unsurprisingly includes their gun control plans, otherwise known as all the different ways they plan to infringe on your right to keep and bear arms.

So our question today is simple: what are they likely to focus on first?

It’s been hard for them to pass any kind of gun control measure, given the public’s lack of support and Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, but it doesn’t mean they won’t try. So where do you think they’re likely to strike next?

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Poll

Poll: Other Self-Defense Means

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Those who work in areas where carrying a firearm for self defense is not prohibited, or who are self-employed, are lucky. There are times many of us must go to work, or travel, or simply must live in an area where carrying our firearms is either not practical, or outright prohibited.

So what do we do?

What type of self defense tool do we carry?

Practical and commemorative. Because no one should be left defenseless!
Practical and commemorative. Because no one should be left defenseless!

There are options that should be considered. We here at the Zelman Partisans certainly are considering them. We continue to expand the products we offer to include those that might be useful, not just commemorative.

The knife above is certainly cool, but what else would you carry in lieu of a gun? What’s practical and concealable? What kind of self-defense tool do you carry if you can’t carry a firearm?

Let us know below.

 

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Poll

Poll: What’s next post-Orlando?

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If you haven’t heard, late last night, a US citizen with Islamic State sympathies murdered more than 50 people in a gay club in Orlando, Florida.

Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, armed with an AR-15 and a handgun – having passed all the necessary background checks as a security officer at G4S Secure Solutions, pledged his allegiance to ISIS in a 911 call during the attack.

Remember, this is a man who worked as a security officer. He passed all the background checks. He was born in the United States to Afghani parents – in New York. He was also a spouse abuser, according to his ex-wife, who claims he was violent and beat her.

She never pressed charges, apparently, and never reported him to the police, which means he was clean and would have and did pass every necessary background check – even though he was on the FBI’s terrorist watch list in 2013 and 2014.

Mateen is dead, but the fallout is just beginning.

The mega Broadway hit Hamilton - now without muskets. Guess they forgot Hamilton died in a duel. With firearms.
The mega Broadway hit Hamilton – now without muskets. Guess they forgot Hamilton died in a duel. With firearms.

Almost immediately, the usual suspects began calling for gun control. Celebrities such as Seth MacFarlane and Kirstie Alley immediately started screeching for a ban on automatic weapons on Twitter, while in a staggering bolt of stupid, the cast of the Broadway show Hamilton eliminated muskets from the musical.

In light of this tragedy, what do you think will happen next? Will the gun grabbers’ calls for “universal” background checks finally be successful? Will another “assault” weapons ban pass? Will those on terrorist watch lists be deprived of their right to keep and bear arms without due process? Let us know in comments.

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Politics, Poll

Poll: Will you vote for Donald Trump this year?

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Donald_Trump_GunIt certainly appears that my last post generated a lot of controversy.

A number of commenters think I was mistaken, and that Trump will do a lot less damage to our Second Amendment rights than Hillary. Several pointed out that we are allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good.

I have explained my rationale behind my opposition to Trump previously.  Aside from his historic anti-RKBA views, which he has now conveniently changed now that he’s pretending to be a Republican, he’s an authoritarian weasel, who has no respect for basic human rights.

So I’m wondering what our members and readers really think about Trump.

Will you vote for him now that he’s the presumptive GOP nominee? Will you enthusiastically support him? Will you vote for Hillary Clinton, or the Libertarian nominee instead of Trump? Will you stay home on Election Day?

Let us know! Poll below.

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authoritarian swine, gun control, guns

here’s what the nra just endorsed for president

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The NRA just endorsed Donald Trump for president at its national convention.

This is what they endorsed.

 

I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. With today’s Internet technology we should be able to tell within 72-hours if a potential gun owner has a record. — Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.102 , Jul 2, 2000

It’s often argued that the American murder rate is high because guns are more available here than in other countries. Democrats want to confiscate all guns, which is a dumb idea because only the law-abiding citizens would turn in their guns and the bad guys would be the only ones left armed. The Republicans walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions. — Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.102 , Jul 2, 2000

Q: Do you support the California law allowing judges to confiscate someone’s gun if they are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others?

A: This is something to look into–people with mental health problems are on the streets who shouldn’t be. — Source: CNN SOTU 2015 interview series: 2016 presidential hopefuls , Sep 20, 2015

Q: You’ve talked about wanting to keep the terror watch list but, under current law, individuals on the terror watch list and the no-fly list have been allowed to buy guns and explosives. Are you OK with that?

TRUMP: We have to have a watch list, but we have the laws already on the books as far as Second Amendment for guns, if people are on a watch list or people are sick, this is already covered in the legislation that we already have,

Q: But under current law people on the watch list are allowed to buy guns.

TRUMP: If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it’s an enemy of state, I would keep them away, absolutely. –ABC This Week 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls , Nov 22, 2015

Donald_Trump_GunSo the NRA – an organization that is supposedly dedicated to preserving our Second Amendment rights – America’s First Freedom – endorsed a candidate who implied that the NRA is uncompromising and that Republicans are wrong not to bend on at least some restrictions.

The NRA endorsed a candidate who thinks it may be acceptable for a judge to confiscate the property of an individual with some nebulous concept of “mental health problems.”

The NRA endorsed a candidate who believes people placed on a secret no-fly list without due process should be relieved of their right to keep and bear arms.

The NRA endorsed a candidate who has publicly voiced his support for an “assault weapons” ban and who wants a waiting period before anyone is allowed to make a constitutionally protected purchase. Of course, now he claims he no longer supports the ban on those scary black rifles. Just in time to run for President as a Republican.

Congrats, NRA. You’ve endorsed a flip-flopping, tyrannical weasel, who has hoodwinked a plurality of Republicans into supporting him, and you fell right in line with the rest of those who care more about “winning” than they do about the direction this country is taking.

You care more about defeating the evil Hillary than you do about endorsing someone who has zero respect for basic human rights and believes they should be subject to the whims of politicians.

America’s first freedom, indeed.

Nauseating.

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Poll

Are they really that stupid?

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Over the years, we’ve heard a lot of ridiculousness coming from gun grabbers. Anything from calling regular ole black rifles “assault” weapons to screeching about hip-fired weapons that can “spray” bullets to cause death and mayhem.

A couple of years ago, the husband and I went to see the last GI Joe movie (don’t judge!). It was as awful and badly written and acted as one would expect. At one point a female Soldier referred to a “Kalishnikov,” which caused me to jump up in the middle of the crowded theater and yell, “It’s KALASHNIKOV, you dumb b@!ch!” No, I didn’t get tossed out of the theater, but I did get a few amused (and bemused) looks.

To this day, if my employees want to make my head explode, they simply refer to the rifle as a “Kalishnikov” and watch my eyes pop out of my head.

DERP!
DERP!

Remember the now-infamous Everytown graphic depicting an entire cartridge flying out of the muzzle of a gun?

Remember how any number of firearms or boxes of ammo found in the home of a criminal is automatically referred to as an “arsenal,” by the compliant press corps?

Yes, I’ve actually had a retired  ATF agent at a “Gun Violence Forum” in Arlington refer to a magazine as a “clip,” and when I called him on it on the sidelines, he waved me off and said, “you know what I mean.”

So using last week’s poll as a jumping point, I started to wonder what is the best/worst/most egregious gun flub you’ve heard over the years?

Tell us in comments if your choice isn’t included.

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