Guns and the State - a two-fer
First - from
FOX News:
New Gun Control Push: 'Microstamps' Drive Gun Makers Out of CA
A new law in California is supposed to help police track down violent criminals, but instead it's driving at least two gun makers out of the state entirely.
The state law requires guns sold in California to have "microstamps." The unique marking would, in theory, allow police to trace a bullet back to a specific gun.
Many gun rights supporters believe, however, that this law was actually intended to stop gun manufacturers from operating in the state.
Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger have announced that they will stop selling guns in California, rather than incur the increased costs of "microstamping" their firearms.
�Smith & Wesson does not and will not include microstamping in its firearms. A number of studies have indicated that microstamping is unreliable, serves no safety purpose, is cost prohibitive and, most importantly, is not proven to aid in preventing or solving crimes. The microstamping mandate and the company�s unwillingness to adopt this so-called technology will result in a diminishing number of Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistols available for purchase by California residents," the company said in a statement.
Typical 'progressive' solution -- they fail to admit that the microstamping can be defeated by an untrained individual with a small file or emory nail board. All of their legislation is aimed at making life hard for law abiding citizens -- it will not touch criminals.
Second - from Emily Miller at
The Washington Times:
D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing
Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.
The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek�s Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search warrant for �firearms and ammunition � gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts.�
More:
After entering the house, the police immediately went upstairs, pointed guns at the heads of Mr. Witaschek and his girlfriend, Bonnie Harris, and demanded they surrender, facedown and be handcuffed.
In recalling what followed, Mr. Witaschek became visibly emotional in describing how the police treated him, Ms. Harris and the four children in the house.
His 16-year-old son was in the shower when the police arrived. �They used a battering ram to bash down the bathroom door and pull him out of the shower, naked,� said his father. �The police put all the children together in a room, while we were handcuffed upstairs. I could hear them crying, not knowing what was happening.�
More:
Mr. Witaschek is a gun owner and an avid hunter. However, he stores his firearms at the home of his sister, Sylvia Witaschek, in suburban Arlington, Va.
Two weeks after the June raid, D.C. police investigators went to his sister�s house � unaccompanied by Virginia police and without a warrant � and asked to �view� the firearms, according to a police report. She refused. The next day, the D.C. police returned to her house with the Arlington County police and served her with a criminal subpoena.
Talk about overreach. The author of this last piece, Emily Miller, wrote the book:
Emily Gets Her Gun: ...But Obama Wants to Take Yours:
In the wake of tragic shootings in Newtown and Aurora, the anti-gun lobby has launched a campaign of lies, distortion, misrepresentation, and emotional manipulation that is breathtaking in its vitriol and its denial of basic facts. Their goal is to take away our Second Amendment rights and then disarm law-abiding Americans.
Emily Miller tells her personal story of how being a single, female victim of a home invasion drove her to try to obtain a legally registered gun in Washington, D.C. The narrative�sometimes shocking, other times hilarious in its absurdity�gives the reader a real life understanding of how gun-control laws only make it more difficult for honest, law-abiding people to get guns, while violent crime continues to rise.
Using facts and newly uncovered research, Miller exposes the schemes politicians on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and around the country are using to deny people their Second Amendment rights. She exposes the myths that gun grabbers and liberal media use to get new laws passed that infringe on our right to keep and bear arms.
The gun rights debate isn�t just about firearms. It�s about protecting a fundamental right that is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It�s about politicians who lie, manipulate, and outright break existing laws to get what they want. It�s about President Obama wanting a bigger federal government to control you. Not just your guns �- you. The fight for gun rights is the fight for freedom. Emily Miller says stand up and fight back now because your Second Amendment will only be the first to go.
Posted by DaveH at February 12, 2014 1:39 PM