Shot in the Dark

Category: Grass Roots

  • 200,000 Victories

    As of today, the official number of carry permittees in the state of Minnesota is over 200,000.

  • Throughout History

    SCENE: Washington DC, April, 1861. Heather Martens is being interviewed on the upcoming secession over slavery: “if abolishing slavery were a good idea, the government would’ve already done it” SCENE: Honolulu, Hawaii, November, 1941. Heather Martens is being interviewed by the Washington Post or guarding complaints about the security at Pearl Harbor:  “If there was…

  • Timing

    Do guns in the hands of the law abiding citizen reduce crime? They certainly reduced three crimes, this past Monday, In different locations, within a few hours of each other. Don’t tell Representative Martens. Better yet – tell her.

  • I Love A Happy Ending

    In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, the vultures at the Brady Institute for Gun Grabbing filed a large, punitive lawsuit against Lucky Gunner, an ammunition vendor where Adam Lanza apparently purchased his ammunition. The courts threw out the suit with prejudice, ordering Brady to pay over $111,000 in court and legal costs to…

  • Amateur Hour

    Let’s say, hypothetically, that you want to join a gun rights group. Let’s say that you don’t read this blog – or worse, you read it, but don’t take it seriously. So you don’t know, or haven’t taken seriously, the news that the group “Minnesota Gun Rights”, is basically a Potemkin fundraising front the transfers…

  • Pod And Fury…

    The Tea Party and me go way back. In 2009 and 2010, I spoke at a couple of the big Tea Party rallies, including the big Tax Day 2010 rally at the Capitol, as well as more in other, smaller locales. At the time, the Tea Party was a fairly organic thing; lots of little groups…

  • The Times They’ve Been A-Changing

    When I first got involved in politics, and political punditry, 30 years ago the gun control movement was pretty much at its apex. The media glibly reported that “85% of Americans favored gun control” (although naturally they never broke out what form of gun control those 85% favored). Accurate and honestly reported or not, the surveys…

  • The Good Guys Win One

    Governor Dayton has reportedly signed HF878, the Public Safety omnibus bill that included five second-amendment-related provisions: Barring thengovernornfeom confiscating guns during states of emergency enacting carry permit reciprocity with several other states allow Minnesotans to buy long guns in non-contiguous states eliminated the capitol felony trap allows Minnesotans to own and use their federally-licensed suppressors.…

  • Make My Day, Part II

    A few hours ago, we discussed the fact that public safety omnibus bill containing five very important expansions of Second Amendment rights has passed the House, the Senate, and the conference committee with a bipartisan majority. Now, here’s what we need you to do about it.  Minnesota’s Second Amendment activists – GOCRA, MNGOPAC and the (newly-active)…

  • Make My Day

    Here’s the good news: over the weekend, an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of Republicans and Democrats, in both the House and Senate, voted for the public safety omnibus bill as finalized by the conference committee. How overwhelming was the majority? Here’s how overwhelming: That is a veto proof majority in both the House and the DFL-controlled…

  • Event Of The Social Season

    “Protect” Minnesota – the gun grabber group that’s been washed away from the front of Minnesota’s gun-grabber crowd by a sea of Michael Bloomberg money – is having an event. And not just any event.  Nosirreebob – it’s their “signature” event (emphasis added): Dear Heinrich, I’m pleased to invite you to our signature annual event…

  • Thanks For Nothing, Checkers Players

    In recent weeks, we’ve spoken of the plague of Second Amendment activists who believe that by putting all of our effort into Constitutional Carry – making all state gun laws equal to Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, Arizona and Kansas – we’ll solve all our problems. Note:  this works only in thoroughly libertarian-conservative states like Kansas, Alaska,…

  • Perspective

    While legalizing firearm suppressors has gotten most of the attention this legislative session, I think the most vital part of the Public Safety Omnibus bill is Rep. Newberger’s “Katrina Bill”, which would bar the state government from confiscating citizens’ firearms during a state of emergency. How important is this?  As we speak, in Maryland, the…

  • I Gazed Upon The Chimes Of Freedom Crashing

    Back in the seventies and eighties – the nadir of gun rights in the US – the antis used to cite a statistic; “85% of Americans support gun control”. It was misleading and out of context, of course; the question asked if people supported any form of gun control.  By that metric, “wanting to keep guns out…

  • Perfect Is The Enemy Of Good

    I need to get in shape.  The best way to do this is to win the Olympic Decathlon – because those people are in the best shape in the world.  I’ve decided that if I’m going to do anything about my physical fitness, it’ll be “win the Olympic Decathlon”. “But Mitch”, you may ask, “how…

  • The Elmer Gantries

    When it comes to Second Amendment rights groups, I’ve always said “let a thousand flowers bloom”. You prefer to fight the national fight by proxy?  Send your $35 to the NRA.  Want to get more into the thick of things nationally?  Contribute to the Second Amendment Foundation. Wanna affect what happens in the Minnesota legislature?…

  • Let’s Make Michael Bloomberg Crap A Cactus

    Up there with Easter, Christmas, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, this coming Saturday is one of the most wonderful times of the year. It’s the Shooter Show at Bill’s Gun Shop and Range in Robbinsdale. Shopping for a new gun?  Dozens of manufacturers will be there, showing their wares.  Bring a driver’s license, buy…

  • It’s Back

    “Stand Your Ground” is back. The bill – which would do nothing but remove the “duty to retreat” from self-defense on your property and in your car – was slandered as a “Shoot First” bill three years ago when it was passed by a bipartisan majority in both chambers (which, as an aside, is positive…

  • Break Out Your Maroon Shirts

    Tonight, and Thursday morning, the legislature is going to be debating a bill – HF722, sponsored by representative Jim Newburger – which would prevent government from confiscating civilian firearms during states of emergency. This is no idle worry; after Hurricane Katrina, the police went door to door through the storm ravaged neighborhoods, confiscating peoples firearms,…

  • Word’s Getting Around

    Heather Martens has never once made a substantial, true statement about firearms or the Second Amendment. Her testimony at the Minnesota House was more of the same: Martens claimed that silencers were “designed” to allow people to commit murder and get away with it. Sure – in the same way that car mufflers were designed…

  • It’s Go Week

    This is going to be a big week at the legislature for Second Amendment bills; five vitally important gun rights bills are going to be hitting the legislature in the next week. End The Trap: Currently, you have to notify the head of capitol security if you are a carry permittee who wishes to carry…

  • Pay Up For Your Rights

    Up until 1974, Minnesotans didn’t need a permit, or a sheriff’s permission, or a card costing $100, to exercise their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm. Minnesotans could carry anything they wanted, subject to their criminal record; they could do it anywhere they wanted to subject to their senses of etiquette. From 1974 to…

  • Going On The Offensive

    It’s been a busy couple of years for Real Minnesotans (and Real Americans) [1]. We’ve had an anti-gun president for six years, and we spent two years with a completely DFL government – and the DFL platform calls for restricting guns in the hands of the law-abiding (“Reasonable gun control that promotes public safety and…

  • Let’s Get Ready To Lobbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

    Next Monday – January 26 – will be the first annual MInnesota Gun Owners Lobby Day (MNGOLD). It’ll start with a rally in front of the Capitol. After that, we – you, me, all of us – will do something that normally only highly-paid union stooges get to do; lobby the legislature. We’ll go inside,…

  • Turn Out For Freedom!

    Two weeks from today – January 26 – will be the first annual MInnesota Gun Owners Lobby Day (MNGOLD). It’ll start with a rally in front of the Capitol. After that, we – you, me, all of us – will do something that normally only highly-paid union stooges get to do; lobby the legislature. We’ll…