Sunday, March 01, 2009

Am Back and All Wild Bunch'ed Up

Sorry for the absence...we were out in Phoenix filming Winter Range, the cowboy action shooting national championships, for COWBOYS. We got 5 super episodes, hung out with good friends and met great new friends and ate gobs of spectacular Mexican food. I can strongly recommend the margaritas at Cantina Laredo in Scottsdale...have a designated driver ready, too!

On the shooting side, I have some cool news to report...you guys know how much I like the new Wild Bunch class of cowboy action shooting, that is, using the guns of the movie THE WILD BUNCH — trench shotguns, major caliber lever action rifles and 1911s — on cowboy stages. Well, Gene Pearcey (Evil Roy to you all), Marshal Halloway from DRTV and I have decided to "adopt" Wild Bunch shooting and help promote it big time. 

Our initial efforts will be at this year's End of Trail, the cowboy world championships, in June. DRTV and Evil Roy will be proving the super-deluxe trophies for the match, and we will be lining up a heart-breaking selection of prizes for the participants, including 1911s, magazines, custom Wild Bunch leather and other things you really really want. In keeping with the spirit if cowboy action shooting, the prizes will be given away to registered Wild Bunch shooters by drawing at the match.

DRTV will of course be there to cover the match, and we're going to set up a special Wild Bunch section on the site that will include the basics of Wild Bunch style shooting, Evil Roy video training tips and (hopefully) discounts on gear. 

Ideally, Gene, Marshal and I want to make Wild Bunch shooting into a serious — and fun — national competition. And based on the great response we got from the SHOOTING GALLERY  episode on the first major WB match at last year's EOT, I think we're definitely on the right track!

I'll be putting up the talking points/letter to your Congressperson on the new AWB on Wednesday, both on DRTV and the blog. I'll also go over them point-by-point on the Wednesday podcast. I'm undecided on whether A.G. Holder's comments on the new AWB last week was a trial balloon or simply a slip on Holder's part. 

Pelosi and Reid tried to distance themselves from the comment, which IMHO means they counted votes and didn't have it. Their actions don't, however, mean they don't support a new AWB...just that they don't want the train to slip the rails this early in the new administration.

Clearly Holder's comments in the last couple of weeks reveal him as an undistinguished lawyer with a second-rate mind...a stalking horse or a shill. In either case, it's clear he speaks for the Obama administration, who — as Jim Shepherd has so clearly outlined — already think of the AWB as a done deal. 
Yesterday my conversations with a wide variety of people in the firearms and shooting industry were focused on a common theme: now what? 

Depends on who you ask. Pro-gun observers tell me that it's going to take a tremendous outpouring of protest to slow a new ban - despite Madame Pelosi's protestations for reason. Democratic officials tell me they don't believe there is any slowing of the administration because their position really is that "a crisis is too-good an opportunity to waste".

Disturbingly, they're also telling me that the administration strategists have dismissed the first step - the AWB's resurrection and implementation - as a foregone conclusion and have already moved into the second phase of a strategy that is designed to bring the United States into compliance with the "enlightened" position on firearms ownership as set forth the United Nations. Seems they feel they have time as well as power on their side.
I believe the fight is upon us.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

They can pass the AWB if they have the votes. But they can only enforce it if they have the fire power.
During the revolution only 1/3 of colonists supported it and only 1/3 of them were active in the field. Taking that percentage of today's gun owning Americans leaves about 10 MILLION Citizens engaged in active resistance to socialist tyranny.
Tom Bogan

Anonymous said...

Foregone conclusion, huh? We'll see about that.

Anonymous said...

Tom said: "Taking that percentage of today's gun owning Americans leaves about 10 MILLION Citizens engaged in active resistance to socialist tyranny."

I've heard some people say we only have 3% of people that would actually move to resist (i.e., more than just talk the talk...)

With 80 million gun owners...3% gets us 2.4 million. I bet 2.4 million using the tactics of the insurgents in the Iraq-Afghan regions would be pretty disasterous for the .gov

It will take a lot to get us to that

Soap box - ballot box - jury box - ammo box...in that order (although I think we've exhausted the first two already?)

Anonymous said...

Hmph. Personally, I think the Obigot bandwagon is running out of steam. There is a lot of anger out there. The temper I'm seeing is reminiscent of late 1994...and we all know how THAT turned out.

Anonymous said...

Folks, calm down. When was the last time that a piece of significant legislation got passed when both the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader had publicly opposed the measure? Well, that's what we've got here. Pelosi has said publicly that she won't allow a vote on this new ban on the House floor, and practically speaking, she controls what gets to the floor. Senate Majority Leader Reid has publicly opposed it as have Dem senators Tester and Warner. About 8-9 other Dem senators have chosen not to comment publicly; that can frequently be interpreted to mean they're not in favor either. Now add into this mix virtually all Republican Senators and House members opposing this thing. Barring a tremendous expenditure of political capital by Obama, this thing ain't happening before at least 2011. We've fallen victim to the propaganda that paints the Dems as a crazed left-wing monolith that will pay any price to take our guns away.

I think they still remember losing control of the House in the '94 elections after passing the ban that year, and that they would like to stay in power for a long while this time.

Also, a few days ago, 21 Senate Dems (including Majority Leader Reid) joined 41 GOP Senators to pass Nevada Republican Jon Ensign's amendment to S.160, the DC Voting Rights Bill. Ensign's amendment directs DC to lift its semiauto ban and eliminate its gun registration requirements. If all the Dems were so stinkin' anti-gun why would they have voted for Ensign's amendment?

Why do we never hear about that stuff on this blog?

Michael Bane said...

Gary R;

The Democrats have their own "blog" where they can tell the world what clever puppies they are..it's called the Mainstream Media.

As for "falling for propaganda," I'd say that the Attorney General of the United States speaking at a pubic media event is hardly a supersecret Deep Throat source passing documents in a dark parking garage.

Pelosi and Reid are neither progun nor friendly to any libertarian issues...they are purely political animals, concerned only with advancing their far-left agenda. Last week they counted on their fingers and discovered they didn't have the votes. That DOES NOT mean they won;t have the votes in a week, or a month, or a year.

We got killed in 1993 because we failed to rally our forces soon enough to head off a similar Democratic juggernaut.

You are welcome to call me alarmist, but I will openly predict that if the Dems are able to pass an AWB early in this administration, we will see gun confiscations of "assault weapons" by its end.

mb

Anonymous said...

Gary R said
"Also, a few days ago, 21 Senate Dems (including Majority Leader Reid) joined 41 GOP Senators to pass Nevada Republican Jon Ensign's amendment to S.160, the DC Voting Rights Bill. Ensign's amendment directs DC to lift its semiauto ban and eliminate its gun registration requirements. If all the Dems were so stinkin' anti-gun why would they have voted for Ensign's amendment?"

The answer is VERY simple, Ensign attached the amendment to a bill that the Dems desperately wanted to pass.
If you don't think the Dems are "so stinking anti gun" maybe you should read their party platform, or look at the voting records of B Hore, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, etc.
A little research goes a long way.
Tom Bogan

Anonymous said...

Gary R said
"Also, a few days ago, 21 Senate Dems (including Majority Leader Reid) joined 41 GOP Senators to pass Nevada Republican Jon Ensign's amendment to S.160, the DC Voting Rights Bill. Ensign's amendment directs DC to lift its semiauto ban and eliminate its gun registration requirements. If all the Dems were so stinkin' anti-gun why would they have voted for Ensign's amendment?"

The answer is VERY simple, Ensign attached the amendment to a bill that the Dems desperately wanted to pass.
If you don't think the Dems are "so stinking anti gun" maybe you should read their party platform, or look at the voting records of B Hore, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, etc.
A little research goes a long way.
Tom Bogan

Anonymous said...

Gary wrote: Pelosi has said publicly that she won't allow a vote on this new ban on the House floor, and practically speaking, she controls what gets to the floor. Senate Majority Leader Reid has publicly opposed it

Were their lips moving?
THEN THEY LIED!

and then he opined: We've fallen victim to the propaganda that paints the Dems as a crazed left-wing monolith

If you burn your hand on a hot stove it's not propaganda, the freaking thing will burn you again if you are stupid enough to not learn from your mistake.
Please don't eat the pablum...

Career Politicians - the biggest mistake EVER!!