new Assault Weapon Ban being floated by Holder - first canary in the mineshaft?

[RocketMan]

This is absolutely no surprise.  Absolutely no surprise.
"Third rail" my flabby posterior.

[BobR]

Wow, knock me over with a feather  :rolleyes:. I have the guns, but have been stockpiling mags at this point.

bob

[Waitone]

I'll start the letters now as a preemption but I will wait to hyperventilate.  Don't get me wrong;  the threat is credible.

[buzz_knox]

The people that said that are strangely quiet today, for some reason...hmm?

They'll be back when they figure out a new way of spinning this in an effort to lull us into complacency.

[AJ Dual]

This is absolutely no surprise.  Absolutely no surprise.
"Third rail" my flabby posterior.

I'll drop the "third rail" moniker when I see what Congress does.

I wonder if he's doing this as a distraction end-run though, to piss us all off and get us running left while he goes right.  Do you think he wants socialism more, or a AWB society more?

I'll also second that I'm wondering this, having Holder repeat what he's been saying all along is not the same as submitted legislation. What it comes down to is the Democrats district math, and how many seats they'll lose over it.

Although I'm also left wondering about lines in sand, and the kinds of things you don't discuss even discussing...

[MechAg94]

The Cop Killer Bullet comment concerns me almost as much as the AWB.  What sort of restriction is he talking about?  

I was going to buy some pistol ammo, but maybe I should make rifle bullets a priority.  :)

[slugcatcher]

Writing your elected representatives does not usually work. Rarely have I received a real response to my concerns. Call their offices. Talk to the head phone flunkie in charge and voice your opinion. Also, get a hard answer as to how they will vote on the issue. When I call Hutchison's office I usually get, "That legislation isn't up for vote today so the senator hasn't made an official statement." I don't have that problem with Cornyn or Olson.

[Waitone]

The Cop Killer Bullet comment concerns me almost as much as the AWB.  What sort of restriction is he talking about?

Kennedy signaled the move against ammo with that pathetic tirade about the time the AWB expired.  I suspect we'll see an attempt to impose restrictions based either on ammo construction (centerfired) or performance (projectile weight and velocity). 

In any case I can not duplicate the logic that says stirring up the the second amendment hornets is a good idea.

[Monkeyleg]

What it comes down to is the Democrats district math, and how many seats they'll lose over it.

In the Democrat's "sweep" in 2006, many of the districts they won were previously held by Republicans, meaning that those districts are still fairly conservative. I've heard or read of more than one of these newly-elected Democrats saying that he/she has to consider the makeup of the district. I still think any major gun control--AW bans, ammo bans, etc--would jeopardize these Democrat's reelection campaigns.

I'm also noticing that some in the mainstream media are taking Obama to task for the porkulus package. The honeymoon may be ending soon. Major gun control would be a great way to kick the groom out of bed.

[MechAg94]

If they do push this, I assume they are just pushing all their potentially controversial stuff now rather than wait until closer to the election.

[Boomhauer]

If they do push this, I assume they are just pushing all their potentially controversial stuff now rather than wait until closer to the election.

In four years, nobody but us will care about the AWB...

That is my prediction

[buzz_knox]

In four years, nobody but us will care about the AWB...

That is my prediction

If they do it now, few will care by the time the mid-term elections come around next year.

[K Frame]

"I wonder if he's doing this as a distraction end-run though, to piss us all off and get us running left while he goes right.  Do you think he wants socialism more, or a AWB society more?"

Eric Holder isn't that intelligent. He's also FAR worse of an anti-gun individual than Obama is. I have absolutely NO doubt that he's counseling the administration on exactly what should be in a new AWB and it's far worse than what he's telling ABC.

[Balog]

If they do it now, few will care by the time the mid-term elections come around next year.

Sad but true. To touch on Nick's earlier point, how do we fight it?

Poli-critters don't care about what their constituents want. They care about retaining power. All we can do is convince them that we will remember their treachery, and we will throw their ass out first chance we get. Especially all the newly D districts.

[Manedwolf]

Eric Holder isn't that intelligent.

I keep expecting him to define "cop killer bullet" as "Like the ones in that Lethal Weapon movie, those Black Talons that can shoot through a bulldozer."

[AZRedhawk44]

I keep expecting him to define "cop killer bullet" as "Like the ones in that Lethal Weapon movie, those Black Talons that can shoot through a bulldozer."

You owe me a new keyboard now.  Coffee and phlegm have contaminated mine.

[bk425]

I wonder if he's doing this as a distraction end-run though, to piss us all off and get us running left while he goes right.  Do you think he wants socialism more, or a AWB society more?

Socialism and loss of freedom go together like a fist and glove.

[Viking]

And WHAT THE HELL ARE COP KILLER BULLETS?!

All military calibers? All hollowpoints? What?

Anything that can punch through a bullet proof vest. For the purpose of classifying ammunition as "cop killer bullets", vests made out 3 layers of silk paper will be used.

[Harold Tuttle]

Last time I checked, Mexico/South America was awash with Narco terror armies armed with SAWs & grenade launchers

http://www.javno.tv/en/index.php?id=3383i0668e20b

Colombian authorities display their latest find. A huge stockpile of weapons that includes nearly three hundred rifles, two machine guns and more than 64,000 bullets.

The munitions were found near the Venezuelan border, buried in an underground storage unit in the country's northeast.

A military spokesman said the cache was hidden in six locations the closest just several hundred meter from an area under Venezuelan jurisdiction.

Authorities say the weapons belong to accused drug trafficker Daniel Rendon Herrera, known as ''Don Mario''. They believe Herrera and his gang use the weapons for kidnappings and for guarding drug crops and laboratories.

Colombia, believed to be the world's largest supplier of cocaine, produces over 600 tons of the drug annually.

[Manedwolf]

Anything that can punch through a bullet proof vest. For the purpose of classifying ammunition as "cop killer bullets", vests made out 3 layers of silk paper will be used.

I expect they'll use Level II as a standard, which many pistol calibers can defeat.

As to this in general, well, they seem to have learned from the British back then. If you're going to have a series of Intolerable Acts and massive taxation without representation, it won't do at all for the citizenry to be ARMED...Why, history could repeat itself!

[bk425]

That's the million dollar question.

I'm increasingly disinterested in the "write your congressmen!!!" option.  Quite honestly, has that ever helped?  In the game of politics, what *we* (a small minority voting block) want is very low on the list of priorities.  Especially when what we want directly conflicts with such noble agendas as 'fighting crime' and 'being tough on gangs'.

I submit that what we do is irrelevant.  How do you fight it, you ask?  You don't.

This is the same kind of "argument" I heard when I was asking RKBA folk to get involved during the election. Yeah right, we lay back while our freedom is drained by these leeches (NOT). This kind of thinking give Sarah Brady happy dreams. You know that banning guns won't fight crime or toughen up on gangs, it's OUR job to communicate that to people on the fence. And THAT IS HOW YOU FIGHT IT. So you are giving up on writing letters at a time when it's most effective. Letters to the editor get our word out there, letters to your elected officials at least let them know that yours is one vote they're losing with this effluent (and the next election is these sharks lifeblood). I gotta think you don't mean what you've typed here, at least I hope you don't. No one is being asked yet to take up arms against their neighbors as the minutemen had to do. We aren't being asked to run, armed, into the mountains like my Aunt did in the Phillipines or my Dad did in Korea. It's just really sadening to read this kind of defeatism. Mostly because it's wrong. -Boyd
http://www.nraila.org/ActionCenter/GetInvolvedLocally/

[Scout26]

Several people have asked.....

how do we fight it?

1.  Write letters to your policritters, letters to the editor, get active.
2.  Million Gun owner march (remember that the far less then a Million Mom March were instrumental in getting the first AWB passed.)
3.  Keep yelling and have others yell.  Policritters #1 instinct is self preservation.  If enough people are yelling at them, then they tend to back off.   Not always, the "true believers" in safe seats won't, but the others will feel the heat.  

[Balog]

While I doubt the effectiveness of the citizenry to stop the ideologues who aseem to be increasingly filling our fed.gov offices, we sure as hell have to try.

[bk425]

Of course, NRA-ILA is still asleep at the wheel and isn't covering it yet. So much for "our side" ever being as agile as the liberals with the web. Don't they have any bloggers? I mean, come on...

And I knew Holder would do this. Cop-killer bullets. Right. That's all rifle ammo.

Dude, go read http://www.nraila.org/News/Archives/InTheNews.aspx NRA was talking about the DNCs platform promise (in the "urban issues" section) to reinstitute the AWB permanently and to close the so called gun show loophole (track private sales). This was in the ILA news and out in EVC alerts -before- the election... they might not have reported on this particular dropping from the new AG. But that would only be because they had already reported that it was going to happen.

[bk425]

But is it really going to be "a hell of a battle"? I think the Dems are just going to vote nearly in lockstep (something the Republicans cannot seem to grasp) and happily send it up for Obama to sign. Not to mention that there are RINOs that will happily assist them and make up for any of the few Dem congresscritters that may not vote for it (the so-called "blue dog" democrats, which means we get to see what side they will stand on")

Yes, it is going to be a hell of a battle. Because people like us have -memories- assuming we get off our couches we can explain the advantage of freedom to fence sitters. And -that- will bring the battle home, at the very latest, in the mid term 2010 election. Remember, these guys want to win the next the election like sharks want to swim. -Boyd

We have only two years to recruit fence sitters. Be ready for the 2010 election.
http://www.nraila.org/ActionCenter/GetInvolvedLocally/