David Codrea:

While massive spending appears to have paid off against Parrish, but not against Sturtevant, Republicans holding on to all of their seats in the Senate is a major disappointment for both Bloomberg, who saw that out-of-state money isn’t everything, and McAuliffe, who will not be able to establish a “progressive” legacy in Old Dominion much beyond the destruction he’s already done there. But there are also lessons to be learned for Republicans in general and gun owners in particular …

Read the rest of David’s analysis.  Clever and well-researched, concerning who won and who lost, and what role gun rights played.  As a sidebar comment, I know good folks from Virginia, and their only answer to Terry McAuliffe is that it was those folks from Northern Virginia who elected him to begin with.  If Virginia doesn’t watch it, you’re in danger of becoming too bifurcated to continue when the times get rough, as they doubtless will in the future.  How can two men walk together unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3)

Via Mike Vanderboegh, an interesting history of the M1 Carbine.

“It was an easier gun to carry than the Garand,” Wicklund said. “It was shorter, it was lighter, it was reliable, it was easier to shoot and easier to clean and it had a 15-round magazine. It was easy to tape two magazines together and get 30 rounds to fire. Stopping power was not there with the carbine, but you could fire it more times.”

Well, I’ve got mine.  If you don’t have one, you should get one – soon.  But I will offer the caveat that the reliability is a function of the ammunition you feed it.  Feed it crappy ammunition, you get crappy performance.  Feed it good ammunition, it’ll function as long as you can.  Of course, it’s like that for all guns isn’t it?

Mike also notices this: “Of course this got a top-of-the-page link on Drudge. Now I am the leader of an “anti-Muslim militia” and my rhetoric “overlaps” with “white supremacist groups” that I have fought all my life.”

Hey, it’s from rawstory.com.  What do you expect from a gaggle of gargoyles?  I wouldn’t worry too much about it.  Attention is good, and those who spend ten minutes trying to understand any of this will know the truth much better than explained by Raw Story.

Take Action:

To: Florida Commission on Tourism and the Florida tourism industry

Florida is a favorite vacation destination for many families. But the state is now considering giving gun owners with concealed-carry permits the right to openly carry their firearms anywhere they want in public. Please stop the open-carry bill from moving forward, because families don’t want to vacation in a state where people are openly carrying their weapons.

Sincerely,

[Your name here]

Oh bullshit.  Open carry was commonplace with the bus drivers (and others in Wyoming) when we visited Jackson Hole for a week last winter.  There were plenty of families there, and women, children and effete men didn’t run for cover screaming, regardless of what the “Moms Rising” want you to think.

Hey, now that I think about it, given South Carolina State Senator Larry Martin’s opposition to S.C. open carry based on tourism in Charleston, he thinks just like a “Mom Rising.”  Or effete man.  Because he is.  An effete man, that is.

I said earlier that I’m no fan of bear spray unless backed up by a gun, but this little example shows why (via Uncle).  Of course, this isn’t something a 230-grain fat boy won’t stop.

Prior:

Is A Gun Protection Against A Bear?

Backpacker Shoots Grizzly In Denali: First Life Saved Since Firearms Became Legal In National Parks

When Can You Kill A Bear?

NJ.com:

A veteran city police officer was reassigned from his regular duties following an off-duty incident in Woodbridge that ended with his arrest on assault and weapons-related charges, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Newark Police Department Detective Andre Evans, 41, was arrested and charged on Oct. 25 by Woodbridge police after he allegedly pointed his service weapon at a civilian during an early-morning verbal confrontation, confirmed township police spokesman Capt. Roy Hoppock.

Newark police authorities were alerted to Evans’ arrest following the incident, and he has since been reassigned from his duties pending the outcome of an internal investigation of the incident, said department spokesman Sgt. Ronald Glover.

A fourteen-year police veteran, Evans rose through the ranks to eventually join the department’s Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Division, according to his Linkedin profile.

Reached by phone Thursday, Evans declined to comment on the allegations and referred questions to his attorney James Nolan. Attempts to reach Nolan for comment were unsuccessful.

According to authorities, the incident began at approximately 1 a.m. outside a township steakhouse in the 100 block of Oakwood Avenue.

Evans and a 54-year-old North Carolina man were arguing inside the restaurant parking lot when Evans allegedly pointed a firearm at the man’s face, Hoppock said. The weapon appeared to be Evans’s service weapon, Hoppock confirmed.

Witness statements provided to police indicate that an employee of the restaurant was able to secure the gun until police arrived at the scene, Hoppock said. Neither Evans or the man, whose name was not released, sustained injuries during the incident, he added.

Following the incident, Evans was placed under arrest and later charged with one count each of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, Hoppock said.

A veteran city police officer was reassigned from his regular duties following an off-duty incident in Woodbridge that ended with his arrest on assault and weapons-related charges, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Newark Police Department Detective Andre Evans, 41, was arrested and charged on Oct. 25 by Woodbridge police after he allegedly pointed his service weapon at a civilian during an early-morning verbal confrontation, confirmed township police spokesman Capt. Roy Hoppock.

Newark police authorities were alerted to Evans’ arrest following the incident, and he has since been reassigned from his duties pending the outcome of an internal investigation of the incident, said department spokesman Sgt. Ronald Glover.

A fourteen-year police veteran, Evans rose through the ranks to eventually join the department’s Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Division, according to his Linkedin profile.

Reached by phone Thursday, Evans declined to comment on the allegations and referred questions to his attorney James Nolan. Attempts to reach Nolan for comment were unsuccessful.

According to authorities, the incident began at approximately 1 a.m. outside a township steakhouse in the 100 block of Oakwood Avenue.

Evans and a 54-year-old North Carolina man were arguing inside the restaurant parking lot when Evans allegedly pointed a firearm at the man’s face, Hoppock said. The weapon appeared to be Evans’s service weapon, Hoppock confirmed.

Witness statements provided to police indicate that an employee of the restaurant was able to secure the gun until police arrived at the scene, Hoppock said. Neither Evans or the man, whose name was not released, sustained injuries during the incident, he added.

Following the incident, Evans was placed under arrest and later charged with one count each of aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, Hoppock said.

One commenter says:

If a person is 6’8″ ,  athletic and points his fist at a short fat guy ,  is that also assault  in NJ?  In most states  assault begins when the fist is thrown or the gun is fired.

No, no, no, no, and a thousand times no!  Assault isn’t limited to the act of hitting, shooting, kicking or otherwise harming.  That’s battery.  Assault can and does include within its purview creating the perception that any of those things will occur.

… an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.  An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm.

This has broad implications for carriers, but if I was a betting man, I’d favor odds that the LEO will return to the beat with his rank and firearm.

Via Instapundit, the bravest man on earth.

White reopened St George’s church after the invasion of Iraq even though civil war raged and the diplomats and ex-pats who had once made up the congregation no longer dared to go there.

Iraqis came instead, and the congregation reached a peak of 6,500. They built a school, a clinic and food bank. White pledged to stay even as the sound of bombs grew louder. “We had Isis on the doorstep of Baghdad last year. I said to my people, ‘I will not leave you; don’t leave me.’ But many did leave me and they went to Nineveh and Mosul. Isis were there too. There was total mayhem.”

More than 1,200 men, women and children who worshipped with him have been killed in recent years, he says. Four boys he knew were beheaded because they refused to swear allegiance to Islam. The church caretaker was forced to watch as his five-year-old boy was cut in half.

There used to be 1.5 million Christians in Iraq but now there are only 260,000, he says. Some are calling it genocide. Surely he no longer believes that negotiations with Isis could work? White stares at me from behind owlish spectacles. “Can I be honest? You are absolutely right. You can’t negotiate with them. I have never said that about another group of people. These are really so different, so extreme, so radical, so evil. . . .

But surely there is only one logical conclusion to be drawn? He sighs, and answers slowly. “You are asking me how we can deal radically with Isis. The only answer is to radically destroy them. I don’t think we can do it by dropping bombs. We have got to bring about real change. It is a terrible thing to say as a priest.

“You’re probably thinking, ‘So you’re telling me there should be war?’ Yes!”

I am shocked by his answer, because this is a man who has risked his life many times to bring peace.

“It really hurts. I have tried so hard. I will do anything to save life and bring about tranquillity, and here I am forced by death and destruction to say there should be war.”

“It is a terrible thing to say as a priest.”  Well, not it’s not.  He needs to study Good Wars by Professor Darrell Cole.  And he also needs to think of this in terms of defending the image of God in himself and those over whom he has been given charge, including the children.

I am afraid there have been too many centuries of bad teaching endured by the church, but it makes sense to keep trying.  As I’ve explained before, the simplest and most compelling case for self defense lies in the decalogue.  Thou shall not murder means thou shall protect life.

God’s law requires [us] to be able to defend the children and helpless.  “Relying on Matthew Henry, John Calvin and the Westminster standards, we’ve observed that all Biblical law forbids the contrary of what it enjoins, and enjoins the contrary of what it forbids.”  I’ve tried to put this in the most visceral terms I can find.

God has laid the expectations at the feet of heads of families that they protect, provide for and defend their families and protect and defend their countries.  Little ones cannot do so, and rely solely on those who bore them.  God no more loves the willing neglect of their safety than He loves child abuse.  He no more appreciates the willingness to ignore the sanctity of our own lives than He approves of the abuse of our own bodies and souls.  God hasn’t called us to save the society by sacrificing our children or ourselves to robbers, home invaders, rapists or murderers. Self defense – and defense of the little ones – goes well beyond a right.  It is a duty based on the idea that man is made in God’s image.  It is His expectation that we do the utmost to preserve and defend ourselves when in danger, for it is He who is sovereign and who gives life, and He doesn’t expect us to be dismissive or cavalier about its loss.

And concerning John Calvin’s comments on this subject:

We do not need to prove that when a good thing is commanded, the evil thing that conflicts with it is forbidden.  There is no one who doesn’t concede this.  That the opposite duties are enjoined when evil things are forbidden will also be willingly admitted in common judgment.  Indeed, it is commonplace that when virtues are commended, their opposing vices are condemned.  But we demand something more than what these phrases commonly signify.  For by the virtue of contrary to the vice, men usually mean abstinence from that vice.  We say that the virtue goes beyond this to contrary duties and deeds.  Therefore in this commandment, “You shall not kill,” men’s common sense will see only that we must abstain from wronging anyone or desiring to do so.  Besides this, it contains, I say, the requirement that we give our neighbor’s life all the help we can … the purpose of the commandment always discloses to us whatever it there enjoins or forbids us to do” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1, Book 2, Chapter viii, Part 9).

He is a brave man doing what he believes is his duty.  But it is his duty to prosecute war, for the sake of the little ones.

David Codrea:

“Question 1” referred to in the docket means the Court is only taking on the “recklessness” question. They will not rule on whether a firearm ban due to a domestic violence conviction violated rights under the Second Amendment.

Unannounced at this writing is an even more eagerly anticipated question, whether the Court will grant cert in the case of Friedman v. City of Highland Park, a challenge to the city’s ban on militia-suitable firearms and standard capacity magazines. The docket notes the case was “DISTRIBUTED for Conference of October 30, 2015” on Monday, so word of whether or not the case will be heard was expected.

Let’s forget the issue of how or why the statute was broken (or in other words, the issue of “recklessness”).  This is a trivial question compared the databank of second amendment rulings, and the fact that they refuse even to consider the issue means that they are running scared on the issue of rights to gun ownership generally, not specific to this case.

Via Mike Vanderboegh, Marco Rubio’s new billionaire backer is a top funder of open borders.  Of course he is, because Rubio is an open borders freak.  Count me out as far as the elections go if the choice is Rubio.  I’ll walk the dog, grill steaks, clean my guns, and catalog my ammunition.

Via Mike Vanderboegh, Georgia becomes a border state for violent illegal immigrants.  Of course.  It’s all by design.  It’s all as it was intended to be.  You understand that, right?

Bear spray is harder to transport through the TSA than firearms.  Not surprising.  I’m no fan of use of bear spray anyway – or at least, not without firearms as a backup.

Firearms records languish at national tracing center.  Good.  Very good.  Let’ keep it that way.

This is what happens when you hate yourself and your heritage.