Third Lawsuit Filed Against AB 962

Truckers and gun owner groups file lawsuit against California to void handgun ammunition shipping ban

AB-962 Pre-empted By Federal Laws That Regulate Interstate Shipping

READ MORE HERE

No Police? Arm up, people!

Despite a lot of this article being crap, it does point out that Oakland should not rely on police and should arm themselves.

"Be very careful, be vigilant, get in touch with your neighbors, because we're going to have to look after each other."

I don't even think folks in Oakland are aware of this attention or their being used as an example.

Piece Now, Peace Later

Piece Now, Peace Later: An Anarchist Introduction to Firearms is available online in pdf form.

Nerf Guns

I posted previously about Nerf's toy guns based on real guns. Recently Gizmodo did a similar piece.

So This Is What Nerf Guns Are Like Now, Huh?

"The next amendment is,'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offence to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the militia. The friends of a free government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice, for the sake of mere private convenience, this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men.

The importance of this article will scarcely be doubted by any persons, who have duly reflected upon the subject. The militia is the natural defence of a country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expenses, with they are attended, and the facile means, which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the rights of the people. The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms had justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpations and arbitrary power of rulers; and it will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them. And yet, though this truth would seem so clear, and the importance of a well-regulated militia would seem so undeniable, it cannot be disguised, that among the American people there is a growing indifference to any system of militia discipline, and a strong disposition, from a sense of its burdens, to be rid of all regulations. How it is practicable to keep the people duly armed without some organization, it is difficult to see. There is certainly no small danger, that indifference may lead to disgust, and disgust to contempt; and thus gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our National Bill of Rights."

- Joseph Story, "A Familiar Exposition of The Constitution of the United States", paragraphs 450 and 451 (1840)

from SurvivalBlog

Why liberals should love the Second Amendment

Daily Kos posted a pro gun piece. Something different from their usual anti-gun sentiments.

Why liberals should love the Second Amendment

It seems like a decent article that focuses on gun rights as civil rights.

McDonald Decision Will Challenge Local Gun Laws

Sayre Weaver is one of the leading legal lights of the gun control movement in California and she says the McDonald decision is likely to spawn lawsuits challenging local gun control laws.

It appears likely that McDonald will generate challenges to a wide range of local firearms regulations, as well as ammunition regulations.....Because the Court has given little guidance on what standard a firearms regulation must meet to survive challenge under the Second Amendment, we anticipate that the decision will embolden individual litigants to challenge a wide range of firearms laws, including long standing laws that have previously survived challenge in the courts.

...ordinances will now be subject to a stricter test in the courts, and the legislative findings that may be needed for a given law to pass muster under the Second Amendment will be of particular importance.

From NO LAWYERS - ONLY GUNS AND MONEY

CalGuns Gets Over on Anti-Gun Forces

Popular online gun forum, CalGuns, suspected that anti-gun force, Legal Community Against Violence, was monitoring their forums. So CalGunnerss pretended to organize a potentially rowdy protest at LCAV's annual fundraising dinner in San Francisco.

LCAV were listening in and took CalGuns seriously. They even mobilized SFPD. However, no one showed and CalGuns revealed that LCAV had been had.

CalGuns:
As much fun as it would have been to organize a great big ruckus, it was much more fun watching them scramble about in fear that the gun nuts were going to heap insult upon the injury of McDonald at their pyrrhic victory dinner.

And we didn’t have to expend an ounce of energy.

What was the point?

Well, we learned a bunch.

1) That past actions have convinced them to take us seriously. Calgunner attendance at City Council meetings, legislative hearings and court cases has demonstrated that we’re able to mobilize a motivated group of activists on short notice. We’ve proven to them that we show up. We’ve shown that we’re effective, too. Emeryville’s revision of their proposed ammunition ordinance proved that.

2) That they’re paying attention to us. We long suspected that LCAV was monitoring our communications. It’s one of the reasons that CGF boardmembers are circumspect when discussing legal strategies. So, please be patient when folks are using cryptic language to discuss options for regaining our rights.

3) That now they don’t know when we’re bluffing. We’ve spoofed them twice so far. Who knows what other kinds of wild goose chases we can send them on? It will be fun to learn.

4) That they’re afraid of us. Despite my assertions (and requirements) that this “action” not allow any physical contact, trespassing, etc., LCAV felt it necessary to mobilize the police and additional security.

5) That they’re irrational. In every interaction that we’ve had with the antis, we’ve been polite. We’ve been well dressed, well spoken, chivalrous and respectful. We’ve been met with profanities, threats and incivility. I wouldn’t be surprised if local officials are starting to take notice the difference in style.

What a great tactic. It would be fun to employ this and redirect other forces and expend their energy/resources if we knew we were being spied on.

Talking About Guns, Fighting About Race

In These Times posted an interesting article about guns and race.
Check it out

via Bring The Ruckus

Victory on Second Amendment Freedom in McDonald v. City of Chicago

In a 5-4 decision, The US Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment applies not just to Washington, D.C. and other federal enclaves, but protects the rights of all Americans throughout the country. The opinion in McDonald v. City of Chicago brings an end to the nearly 30 year-long handgun ban that the city has imposed on its citizens.

As hoped, this ruling could challenge (and end) regulation of firearms. READ HERE for details on how.

Swiss Gun Party

Every five years, Switzerland holds the Eidgenössische (Federal) Schützenfest. This year, there were 2300 teams made up over over 45,000 individual shooters.

CA Long Gun Registration Still Moving Forward

Assembly Bill 1810 was passed by the Senate Public Safety Committee by a vote of 4-2. The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.

AB1810 would establish a registration system, similar to the one currently in place for handguns, for all newly-acquired long guns. Under AB1810, the make, model and serial number of the firearm as well as the identifying information of the purchaser would be recorded and kept on file by the California Attorney General’s office.

You can contact the CA Senate Appropriations Committee and urge them to not pass the Bill.
CONTACT INFO HERE

5 Hollywood Gun Myths

Cracked compiled an awesome and hilarious list of gun myths perpetuated by Hollywood films. Check out their list which has extensive examples and fact checking.

#5. Silencers Turn Gunfire Into a Gentle Whisper

#4. Machine Guns are Magical Death Machines

#3. Bulletproof Vests Are Magical Force Fields

#2. Gratuitous Cocking

#1. Bullets Explode Everything



One myth not listed which I think is used the most and perhaps the most important is that guns do not automatically and neatly kill a person. In reality, it can be very messy.

Stop California's Assembly Bill 1810

California’s Long Gun Registration Bill Scheduled for a Hearing on Tuesday, June 29

AB1810 would establish a registration system, similar to the one currently in place for handguns, for all newly-acquired long guns. Under AB1810, the make, model and serial number of the firearm as well as the identifying information of the purchaser would be recorded and kept on file by the California Attorney General’s office.

Contact the members of the Senate Public Safety Committee and voice your opposition to AB1810.
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

CA: Stop AB1810!

On May 28, the CA Assembly Appropriations Committee passed Assembly Bill 1810. The bill now heads to the Assembly floor for consideration where it could be heard as early as next week.

AB1810 would establish a registration system, similar to the one currently in place for handguns, for all newly-acquired long guns. Under AB1810, the make, model and serial number of the firearm as well as the identifying information of the purchaser would be recorded and kept on file by the California Attorney General’s office.

Please contact your Assemblymember TODAY and strongly voice your opposition to AB1810. Contact information can be found HERE.

toy gun

I don't know if they make toy guns like this anymore, but Nerf sells some pretty cool guns.

Amazing Shooting Range

check out this amazing shooting range and store in Germany!!

Gun Safety Poster

Gun Safety Poster


CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE PDF

The Firearm Blog

The Firearm Blog is a great resource on all things gun related.

Some recent things covered on The Firearm Blog:

- Instructions for painting rifles


- More people shoot than play golf

- European AR-15 rifles


The Firearm Blog on Facebook
The Firearm Blog on Twitter

NRA, HuffPost, Fear Mongering, & Gun Owners

Huffington Post's fearmongering headlines

The Huffington Post along with NY Mayor Bloomberg take the position that no one on the so-called "no fly" list should be able to legally purchase guns. Why? These people have not been convicted of any crime. They haven't even been accused of committing a crime! Show us this supposed list. Explain to the public exactly how one makes the list.

Bloomberg is working hard to make it so that people cannot legally purchase firearms based on their political and/or religious affiliations/beliefs.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) are .
We all know how the FBI chooses their targets.

There is something very dangerous about allowing the government to declare individuals unable to possess firearms based on them possibly being legal dissidents with no oversight or transparency.

Part of this hysteria is also to revoke US citizens of their citizenship without having been convicted of any crime.
_____

What about the part of HuffPost's headline about NRA members disagreeing with the NRA on this issue?
Think Progress conducted a laughable survey of NRA annual conference attendees. Apparently a lot of those asked agreed that anyone put on the "terrorist watchlist" should not be able to buy guns. It wouldn't be surprising if the rightwing membership of NRA went along with the law and order argument for restrictive laws (that they don't think will affect them directly).

This could easily be where the government gets the support of rightwing gunowners to restrict gun ownership to those who pass a political litmus test!
_____

As for the part of HuffPost's headline about Palin claiming that Obama wants our guns, her speech was just a list of paranoid ramblings about how Obama will take our guns and loves abortion.

Militia

The above image is the swearing in ceremony of Venezuela's civilian militia.
Obviously, Venezuela's militias come from a top-down state structure but it does bring up the idea of an armed citizenry. An armed and trained citizenry can defend itself from threats inside and out.
A standing army needs wars for profit.

coexist

You have probably seen those silly "coexist" bumper stickers.


Check out this clever one!

Arms v. Votes

This startling map is based on OKCupid data.


I don't know which would be more frightening to live in- a state that doesn't value (the myth of) democratic voting or a state that doesn't value citizens being able to arm themselves.

Afterall, an armed citizenry can defend freedom An unarmed citizenry would have no defense against powers whether voted in or not. Of course, a citizenry that doesn't value what is presented to them as democratic are probably not protesting the undemocratic nature of our voting system and more likely willing to side with fascism.

Girls With Guns

While maybe not specifically about guns, AK Press has put together a "Girls With Guns Snack Pack."

Titles included in the “Girls with Guns” snack pack are:
-Free Women of Spain: Anarchism And The Struggle For The Emancipation Of Women
-Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution
-Atamansha: The Story of Maria Nikiforova, the Anarchist Joan of Arc

Buy them as a set and get all three books for $27.50

Progress of Concealed-Carry

Sociological Images has posted a piece detailing the increase in legalizing concealed-carry.

1986

1993

2010

I think it is important to note that concealed-carry laws in no way equal easy/unrestricted access to the purchase of firearms.

_____

Arizona will be the third state in the nation to let any adult who can legally own a gun carry it concealed without getting a permit.

Hidden Handguns

Fun little image regarding hidden handguns

Facebook Update

We need to acknowledge how fast AAGC on Facebook is taking off. In the past couple weeks, we have gone from a handful of "members" to over 60!
The best part is that folks are contributing.
Keep it up!

"Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns."

A former New Orleans police officer told federal authorities he saw a fellow officer shoot and kick unarmed, wounded civilians in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

This is precisely why we need to stay armed!

Remember, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass ordered local police, National Guard troops, and US Marshals to confiscate all civilian-held firearms. He said "Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." Seizures were carried out without warrant, and in some cases with excessive force. National Guard troops, armed with assault rifles, were used for house to house searches, seizing firearms.

After refusing to admit that it had any seized firearms, the city eventually revealed that it did have a cache of some 1000 firearms seized after the hurricane.

We cannot rely on the law to guarantee our safety nor can we assume they will even respect our legal rights.
The state instinctively could not allow people and communities to defend themselves. Allowing that would run counter to the police and military's reason for existence.

Canada May Repeal Rifle Registration

Canada may end the required registration of long guns, or shotguns and hunting rifles.

The legislation would delete from federal law the obligation to register so-called nonrestricted firearms, though licensing requirements for long-gun owners to buy or possess firearms and to buy ammunition would remain in place. The legislation would also require all registration information collected to date to be destroyed.

Outreach

The other night I was doing a bit of AAGC outreach. It was actually not outreach at all but I was among friends and initiated conversations about guns. At one point, I got the sense that some friends might have thought the discussion bordered on bad security culture. I could have just been projecting but it made me think about when/if guns, gun laws, and training are safe topics to discuss among friends in public areas.
I used to worry about this and refrain from such discussions. However, I realized that this did nothing except keep my strong belief that people need to be armed for self-defense and community defense closeted. The entire reason I made the push to learn more about firearms and related topics and then contribute to AAGC was to share knowledge/information/skills and equally important- to demystify firearms and who owns them. We still need to be safe and aware but pretending we are underground militia members or that possessing guns should be hidden will not help get more people comfortable around firearms, possessing firearms, and trained in how to use them. It is all of that which we need.

who wants stickers?

Range Recommendation

When practicing at the shooting range, especially if in a group, be mindful of how you dress. In some areas, ranges have a diverse mix of folks and in other areas, they don't. There is really no need to draw extra attention to yourself as an "anti-authoritarian" or any other type of ruffian who might not love law, order, and/or the government. It might be common sense but avoiding clothing with anarchist, socialist, subversive, punk, or other imagery/words that might be seen as anti-establishment is just good security culture and keeps you safe and unnoticed.

off hiatus

The AAGC blog hasn't been updated in a while. Sometimes life gets in the way. We are becoming more active on facebook if you want to check us out there.

During the hiatus, we had a AAGC outing to a gunshow to coincide with the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair. That was a lot of fun and perhaps we will share more about that in the future.

and... WE GOT STICKERS!!

Games + Guns

The Escapist has an interesting article on the connection between gamers and guns.
CHECK IT OUT HERE

can haz?

I randomly came across this shirt on the internet and then found where you can purchase it. I don't know anything about who is selling them but they look pretty cool.

Free Weezy

"Law is mind without reason"

WY's Firearms Freedom Act

Wyoming Legislation asserting that firearms made, sold and kept only in Wyoming are exempt from all federal gun laws is set to become law. Tennessee and Montana have enacted similar laws.

WY's law also states that any state or federal official who tries to enforce any federal gun law on a firearms made and sold in Wyoming could face a $2,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

So how many guns are even manufactured in WY?! Freedom Arms, the largest gun manufacturer in Wyoming says, “The big (firearms) companies put out more in a day than we put out in a year.” Freedom Arms only makes revolvers.

(Unfortunately, the legislation doesn’t cover fully automatic weapons or rocket-propelled grenade launchers.)

Montana is testing that state’s Firearms Freedom Act in federal court and it could be found unconstitutional.

_____

Are laws such as these worth it? Are they more moral-victory-seeking attempts than meaningful ways to ensure gun ownership?

You could probably bet that if the Federal Government wanted to strike down these laws or just go round up all firearms in these states, they could do so legally or with military force.

It might be more effective if a more heavily populated state that manufactures a lot of guns enacted such a law... and even better if multiple adjoining states enacted such laws that could somehow acknowledge eachothers' laws.

In the end, we can't expect to rely on laws to protect us from the law.

Keep an eye on the SCOTUS

You can easily find better coverage of the Scotus (Supreme Court of the United States) hearing of McDonald v. Chicago elsewhere, but it should at least be noted here that oral arguments for the case have occurred.

“The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed poised to require state and local governments to obey the Second Amendment guarantee of a personal right to a gun, but with perhaps considerable authority to regulate that right."

Chile

Cost of Policing

Vermont proposed a law to apply a tax to those individuals who do not own and maintain a firearm. It is highly unlikely that this law will be passed (due, in part, to protecting religions). What is interesting is one of the justification in support of the law and tax; the cost of a standing police force.

What does it mean when people reclaim their need to protect themselves and their communities from standing militarized police forces? An end to the 'protection racket.'

Anarchist Criminology

The Long Road to Getting My AR-15

My obsession with owning an AR-15 began last summer while visiting my family in the Rocky Mountain region. My uncle had just gotten a Remington R-15 and I was psyched to get to shoot it. We destroyed plenty of melons and with that R-15's Leupold scope, I decimated some apples from a decent distance. The handling of the rifle coupled with the amazingly dead-on scope felt better than any other rifle I had shot. (Ironically, I ended up not opting for the amazing Leupold scope.) The price of somewhere around $1,000 was high to a novice gun buyer like myself but wasn't out of reach.

My uncle's Remington R-15 with Leupold Mark AR 3-9

After thinking about it, I decided to begin looking into actually purchasing one. This was a long road and I learned more than I thought I would. It is some of this knowledge or experience which I hope to share for someone else's benefit. Thinking back, I wish I had kept notes of some sort so that I could hit specific points that might be helpful.

Initially, I looked a lot at manufacturer's websites. I intended to buy a fully assembled system. Being familiar with Remingtons, I looked a lot at their site. Most of Remington's Ar-15's are designed for hunting and I knew I would rather have some sort of combat/tactical gun. That led me to Bushmaster. Bushmaster has a lot to offer. This is when I got serious and really tried to find out what exactly I wanted. I knew I wanted a flat top (optics ready), 16'' barrel, rail system, and collapsible stock.

Remington R-15 VTR Predator Carbine CS

Bushmaster Modular Carbine

Preferring to buy the weapon in person (I don't even know what kind of shit one has to go through to order a gun), I had been attending gun shows and looking for guns I liked to then research and potentially purchase. After not seeing exactly what I wanted, I thought I would try out Mountain View, CA's Gun Vault at the advice of a friend. A store that specialized in "black rifles" sounded like a good place to talk to someone about what I wanted. I walked in to a very very crowded shop right after New Years. When I told the old dude that I was interested in AR-15's, he asked me if I wanted gas or direct impingement. I didn't know. I inquired about Bushmasters. He told me Bushmaster lowers are illegal in CA and launched into a list of all illegal lowers. It was a rather intimidating and unpleasant experience except that the man did mention that they could build me an AR which started to sound good. The other piece of information I took away from the visit was to not get caught up thinking of brand name parts as a lot of brand names parts are manufactured by others anyway.

It was time to put in some serious studying about AR parts. I spent a lot of time looking at sites like LaRue, watching YouTube videos from Nutnfancy, and eventually the CalGuns forums. It seemed like everything I learned presented new options I wanted as well as new things I didn't know about. It is really tough to figure this all out via the internet. I almost wished I had contact with someone who was military/ex-military to pick their brain about preferences. (Of course, given the nature of my politics, that was unlikely.) Finally after thinking about AR-15's so much my brain overloaded, I thought I was ready to try The Gun Vault again.

I went in to The Gun Vault early on a weekday in hopes of avoiding any crowd and getting some one-on-one customer service. It worked. The employee who helped me seemed to know a lot, was ex-military, and not pedantic at all. I was prepared with a full list of questions to ask and thing I was looking for. I highly recommend gathering your thoughts together in a list to take in with you. It ensures you hit all the points you want and get all questions answered. It could have been bullshit customer service but I really paid attention to dude's military experience in his preferences and suggestions. Of course, with such a customizable gun, I didn't find everything I was looking for. I did find enough that I felt satisfied.

Optics are, of course, a whole topic on their own. As soon as I decided I did not want a hunting style magnification scope. I started looking at reflex sites. As much as I wanted to buy the optics when I bought the gun, I told myself I would need to check out my options firsthand before buying anything. I was most interested in the Aimpoint Comp 3 or Eotech's XPS. Luckily, The Gun Vault had both for me to check out. I looked through both and preferred the Eotech XPS-2. (I know Aimpoints are supposed to be better/cooler or whatever but I liked the Eotech and it was much cheaper.)

Aimpoint CompM3

Eotech XPS2-0

The actual purchase of the gun was quicker and easier than I expected. One does not need to take the CA Safety test when purchasing a long gun and I didn't have to show any stupid display of how to load the weapon or anything. The only bummer is the 10 day waiting period. When the 10 day wait was over, I went in and picked up my AR-15. I brought in a case I had purchased for the gun and the store made me buy a lock from them since I didn't have one (or a receipt for one). I should note that I did go way over my initial projected budget but that can easily happen when customizing something like this.

point of purchase

Something like 6 months later and I finally have the weapon I wanted. I also learned more about AR-15's and CA gun laws than I ever expected to and that feels really good.

LWRC lower, GG&G Dominator upper, RRA stock, Eotech XPS 2-0 sight.

Thank you to all my friends and family that helped inform this purchase. Thank you to the Nutnfancy Project. Thank you to CalGuns, specifically aPlinker's AR thread (a must read for any new AR buyer/builder!).

disarm citizens

Oath Keepers = modern day Bonus Army

Marketing Firearms

Sociological Images has an interesting chronicle of how guns have been marketed in the US. From tools, to patriotism, to hunting, and now primarily for self defense. The fairly new self defense angle plays into our culture of fear and also targets groups that have not traditionally purchased firearms.



Another entry on Sociological Images takes an anti-gun tone but has even better images. These images are advocating guns for self defense against sexism, racism, and homophobia.







I think this is my fave:

Oakland Adds More Anti-Gun Laws

Oakland City Council's proposed gun/ammo limitations was discussed previously.

The council approved the firearm ordinance without any no votes. Keep in mind, this useless ordinance just "enhances" already existing laws and it doesn't even affect any current businesses (because no gun or ammo stores exist in Oakland)!

Over 30 people showed up to say that the city’s new proposal would not serve as an effective deterrent to crime and infringed on Second Amendment rights. Several opponents of the measure tried to link Oakland’s budget problems to its decision to make further prohibitions to the sale of handguns in the city. The City didn't care.

“You’re going to get sued and you’re going to lose,” said Kevin Thomason, a lawyer who lives in East Oakland. “It cost San Francisco $380,000 when they lost their case against us. It will probably working out to be a million dollars when you lose.”

Councilmember Jean Quan, aware that this could most likely bring lawsuits against the city, says, "we're not backing off."

These new laws:

-implement AB 962 ammunition sales restrictions immediately instead of waiting for the state law to take effect next year;
add ALL ammunition, including rifle and shotgun ammunition, to the restrictions;

-require that all ammunition sellers obtain an FFL,

-require that all lost or stolen firearms be reported within 48 hours; and

-require the Chief of Police to send a letter to all handgun purchasers outlining their “obligations” as owners of nasty guns.


Wanna contact The Oakland City Council?