Nobody Drives Corvettes for Racing, They're Too Slow

Snowflakes in Hell has video of Ed Rendell talking like a loon . . . . which he has already taken apart pretty well. I'm not going to redo the work Sebastian has done; I just find myself tickled at Rendell. Is he talking out his . . . . uh . . . sleeve, about things he doesn't understand? Or is he lying? It's hard to decide. What I do know is that Ed Rendell says nobody uses AR-15's to hunt because they're inaccurate, and nobody uses AK-47 clones for home defense because, and I quote, "they jam a lot, and they're the last thing you want. You should have a revolver or something like that."

That's right, kids. That guy on the gun forum who keeps telling everybody to get a revolver, because revolvers don't jam? That could very well be Ed Rendell. And remember not to rely on that AK clone, because everyone knows the AK design is a jam-a-matic, especially if it gets a little dirty, right?

That got me thinking about what other things are really not well-suited to their uses:

• Don't drive Corvettes on road courses, because Corvettes are slow.
• Don't use a pickup to haul gravel, because pickups don't carry loads very well.
• Don't use Ed Rendell to govern your state, because Ed Rendell is ignorant and proud of it.

IllinoisCarry.org's Valinda Rowe Rebuts 20/20 Hit Piece

WSIL, a local ABC station in Harrisburg, IL, ran the 20/20 story "If I Only Had a Gun." Nothing wrong with that; they're an ABC affiliate, and they pay big money to run that program. But they took a step that I'm willing to bet most local stations around the country didn't think of: they invited advocates of both sides of the issue to appear live on the nightly newscast to discuss the piece. According to WSIL anchor Angie Wyatt, both the ICPGV (Illinois Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence) and the Brady Campaign (Formerly Handgun Control, Inc.) were called, but neither responded. Imagine that! The only one who took the station up on its offer was Valinda Rowe, spokesperson for IllinoisCarry.org.



Personally, I think ICPGV and BC made the right choice. The NSSF refused to comment on 20/20's hit piece, because it was clear that it was intended to bury the NSSF's point of view and make it impossible for them to give their side of the argument. Putting two anti-gun shills at the same table as Valinda Rowe of IllinoisCarry.org and forcing them to defend their arguments with whatever facts they can muster is the same kind of foregone conclusion. If they had agreed to play fair against Valinda, they'd have had no one but themselves to blame for the results. The 20/20 piece made all their arguments about as well as they're able to make them; there was nothing to gain for them in trying to debate.

And a Good Time Was Had By All

I had an excellent time in Chicago this weekend. Just a great day in Chicago, followed by some great times in the suburbs. This is very unusual for me.

In Chicago, we hit the packed-to-the-rafters Chicago Field Museum mainly to see the "Real Pirates" exhibit with relics from the Whydah Galley, the flagship of "Black Sam" Bellamy. The Whydah was originally a slaver taking part in the "triangle trade" but was captured by Bellamy and converted into the ultimate pirate ship; the Whydah was one of the most technologically advanced sailing ships of its time, and there was really nothing in the Atlantic to match it--except the hurricanes, which eventually sank it off the coast of what would later be the United States. The exhibit was excellent, as advertised, and I did pick up some good new information. The only tickets left were for 3:00, and we couldn't have gotten those if we hadn't been members of the museum, but we got our money's worth. They had to shoo us out at 5:00! First, though, we started the day by taking a tour with a friend who works at the Field Museum. We didn't see anything top secret--you can see the same things at the semi-annual Members' Nights--but we never get to those because we simply live too far away.

The next day, we had lunch with some of my wife's old friends and watched the babies play together for hours. I don't know what we did for fun before we had babies to watch, but now that fills an afternoon nicely.

Later, we had dinner at the home of a Chicago gun-rights activist whose comments you've probably seen many times at online news articles; he and his beautiful wife grilled delicious lamb chops and made cookies that would have been illegal inside the city limits. Other guests included semi-vegetarian teenagers ("I don't think it's wrong to eat meat, it's just, well, gross") and two other Chicago-area activists who are actually suing the city of Chicago to overturn its onerous "registration" laws. One of the guests brought some really weird Hungarian wine called "Bull's Blood," which actually wasn't half bad (had my glass of wine for 2009--maybe I'll have a nice Chardonnay in 2010.) In a stunning reversal of standard procedure, the twins charmed everyone in the place while Sean screamed and threw tantrums. There was actually remarkably little gun talk as we enjoyed each others' families; the conversation turned more to wordplay and personal histories. Of course, there was some showoff time, and unfortunately, the only gun I had available to show off was my Gun Blog .45. Luckily, others were along to take up the slack. Essentially, their gun collections put me to shame, the hosts' lovely house put my money pit to shame, their dogs are well-behaved and their teenagers sat at a table with 12-year-old boys and had a friendly meal with them. Clearly these people are a great deal more competent than I, but they're gracious about it.

Firsthand Account of Snuffy Pfleger's Lobbying Day

INDENTTonight the irrepressible and inimitable Tom Shafer regaled the monthly meeting of the Sangamon County Rifle Association with tales of his up close and uncomfortably personal encounter with Father Michael "Snuffy" Pfleger:

Pro Tip: Lobbying Days Require Grassroots, Not Astroturf

INDENTYou may remember that Illinois gun owners had our Lobbying Day at the state capitol in Springfield on March 11. One week later, Snuffy Pfleger had his own Lobbying Day on March 18. He brought several buses down from Chicago to lobby for passage of HB0048, the bill that would have made it illegal to transfer a gun in Illinois without first giving it over to a federally-licensed gun dealer--even if you were loaning or giving the gun. This bill was the absolute top priority for the gun banners in Illinois, so Snuffy organized a bus trip for three groups of people: members of his St. Sabina's Catholic Church, students from the Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, and students from Howard University in Washington, D.C. The Simeon kids were here in memory of a classmate who was killed at a basketball game, while the Howard University kids were on an "Alternative Spring Break" on which they were supposed to be "addressing gun violence."

INDENTThe interesting part is that Tom lucked into the chance to attend the event when he was visiting the capitol on other business that same day and happened to hear Rep. Edward "Don't You Know Who I Am?" Acevedo say something about going out to "the gun rally." He followed the group outside, where Pfleger's folks were disembarking from their buses, and joined the demonstration.

INDENTTom estimated that the crowd at its largest was between 80 and 100 people. I found that very interesting, since I've had a chance to crunch some numbers. Remember the kids from Simeon Career Academy and Howard University? Well, here are the numbers for those:

• 54 students from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
• 14 students from Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.
• "over 50" students from Simeon Career Academy in Chicago
  

INDENTMy arithmetic makes that 54+14=68 college students bused in from 900 miles away, in addition to ~50 students bused down on school buses on a school day to be used as political props (nothing new for Chicago Public Schools.) That's 118 blades of astroturf. If we're extra generous, assume Tom was wrong, and they must have gotten 150 or so, that still means that roughly 80% of their "grassroots citizen lobbyists" were school kids taking the day off or college kids from four states away. Compare that to the numbers IGOLD generated--with everyone paying his own way--and you can see why legislators were not jumping on the Pfleger bandwagon.

"I Love You, I Hate You, I Just Don't Know Anymore"

INDENT"Ma'am, I'm from Springfield. Can I get some of your materials, please?" Tom asked the big, happy lady at the door of the bus.
INDENT"Well, of course!" she said. "You're doing the right thing. I just love you!"
INDENT"I do appreciate that, ma'am, but I'm from the pro-gun side of things . . . ."
INDENT"Well, then, I guess I just hate you!"
INDENT"Well, ma'am, I still love you."

Good Touches and Bad Touches: The Hand of Pfleger

INDENTAt one point, after Pfleger was done haranguing the crowd and embarassing Dan Kotowski, Tom walked up to him and asked him whether he regretted calling for John Riggio and state legislators to be "snuffed out." That's when things got weird. According to Tom, Pfleger reacted by grabbing his shirt with one hand, which caused both police and Chicago school students to close in a bit and look edgy, then began "stroking (me) with his other hand. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I just told him to keep it above the waist, buddy," Tom told the group. As he "stroked" Tom, he explained that his comments had been taken out of context and that he'd never actually said he wanted anyone to hurt John Riggio. The video is at the top of this post; I'll let you decide for yourself whether Pfleger was unfairly taken out of context. Also whether he's a howling maniac.

Playing In Traffic

INDENTDuring IGOLD, several thousand gun owners marched across 2nd Street in Springfield and gathered in front of the Lincoln statue on the capitol lawn. We had to get them all across the street safely and then keep everyone out of the street, because 2nd Street is a city bus route and we couldn't block it (it can be done, with the right permit, but there's so much extra work fitting yourself to the bus schedule that it isn't worth it.) Pfleger's group didn't have a permit to block any streets, much less a main artery like 2nd, but according to Tom, they decided that was the best way to get some attention. There were scattered shouts to the effect that they would jump into 2nd Street and stop traffic. I'm not sure what the purpose of that was supposed to be; maybe just pure mischief. In any case, the kindly police officers escorting the group quashed that particular brainstorm so early that no one was hit by a bus, which I suppose is for the best.
INDENTFinally, Snuffy, sensing that no one was going to cover this circus and knowing that the planned vote/spectacle on HB0048 was not going to happen because the votes weren't there, decided to try one last attention-getting tantrum: he and his merry band announced their intention to "storm the Governor's Office and occupy it." Contrast that with IGOLD, when Governor Quinn refused to meet with us, but Thirdpower and I chatted amiably with his secretary and the Ladies of IGOLD presented an assistant with Quinn's plaque.
In any case, it was not to be. The Secretary of State's Police officers suggested, as Tom put it, that "that would be a very bad idea." Disappointed, and with opportunities for mischievous street theater exhausted, Pfleger loaded his merry band on the buses and went home.

Celebration One: HB48 Down in Flames

It looks like private sales (such as they are) will continue in Illinois. HB0048 has been defeated. Last year, the All-Powerful Gun Lobby (APGL) managed to convince two formerly reliable anti-gun votes--Democrat legislators representing urban districts in Chicago--to vote against the bill, which deadlocked it 58 votes to 58. 60-56 would have passed it, so that was a squeaker.

This year, the tally was 55-60 with one abstaining, which I personally consider 55-61. I don't even know who abstained yet, but you can bet it wasn't a pro-gun legislator trying to hide out on this one. By my math, that means we picked up a minimum of 3-4 votes this year. That's a huge deal in Illinois, and I'd like to take a moment to harp on something I talk about all the time: the DemonRATS vs. the ReTHUGlicans. There may be states where that dichotomy makes sense, but Illinois is not one of them. Illinois is a state where the main divide is between urban legislators of both parties and "downstate" legislators of both parties. There are 70 Democrats in the Illinois House of Representatives, but only 48 Republicans. Since it takes 60 votes to pass a bill, that means that if the Democrats can arrange a party-line vote, they can pass anything they want. They can even give up nine or 10 votes on a given bill and pass it anyway; there's nothing the Republicans can do about it. So in Illinois, when a bad bill like this one goes down, we owe that fact to a lot of Democrats.

The really interesting thing to check on will be the number of urban Democrats who voted against this bill. The urban vs. rural divide is very real in Illinois and the Democratic party, but that may be changing. I suspect urban lawmakers are beginning to defect to the pro-gun side at least part of the time. If that trend continues, the anti-gun side in Illinois is in deeper trouble than I've thought. That's a process that would take time to show results, and those who demand instant success might not notice it . . . . but that kind of slow momentum is much harder to resist than the temporary flashes of public attention.

(In case anyone is wondering, the defeat of HB48 means that it will still be legal to sell or give a gun privately in Illinois--as long as both parties have valid FOID cards, a record is kept of those FOID cards, and both parties observe a 24-hour waiting period for long guns and a 72-hour waiting period for handguns.)