Defense Distributed And Legal Action

In what was a completely expected reaction by the Left, Defense Distributed was ordered by a judge in “Western Washington” (How deep blue is Seattle?) to have the data on 3D printing guns, that was on the site, taken down.

While I tried to parse how I feel, I think the best response is just to post a link to how you can help support the legal action to restore both our First and Second Amendment rights. Join DD Today.

LEGIO is Defense Distributed’s political and technical fraternity; the primary sponsor of our research and development. Legionnaires do more than “protect” the Second Amendment. They fund its direct, material expansion with Defense Distributed.

Because nothing scares the Left so much as Liberty.

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Because the Left Is Clutching Their Collective Pearls

I thought it would be fun to revisit NPR’s take on Cody Wilson. Planet Money Episode 817: The Gun Man.

If you’ve been following the story at all, there isn’t much new information here. The collective pearl-clutching of the gun-fearing does come through loud and clear. (That episode is from January, so the recent court ruling is not covered.)

Any decent garage mechanic can make guns, and in jurisdictions where they have been outlawed, there is a booming business. But the current outrage is over a 3-D printed gun that shoots 1 round. Yeah they mention the lower-receiver, but they are all about “completely plastic guns.” That AR-15 in the photo (first link above to the NPR episode) contains more than a fair amount of aluminum, and the barrel and bolt carrier group are going to be steel. But hey, why clutter the issue with facts?

Forty-six seconds – Or Why We Need More Security In Schools

Even and especially if that security includes armed teachers. A Cop Who Responded to a Deadly School Shooting Explains Why He Now Trains Teachers to Carry Guns.

December 13, 2013. About 12:33 in the afternoon. A school shooter with a pump-action shotgun and Molotov Cocktails.

After entering the school, the attacker came upon 17-year-old Claire Esther Davis. He shot her in the head before chasing a teacher to the school library where he set off the Molotov cocktails and eventually shot himself. The attack was over in less than 2 minutes. It was only 46 seconds between the time when the school resource officer called for help and when the shooter took his own life.

Cops responded but didn’t have a chance to get there in 2 minutes, let alone the 46 seconds they had between the time the alarm was sounded and the event was over.

“Cops are not the first responders,” said Cunningham. “It is the people there, the civilians. Whether it’s an active shooter or something happens at Walmart at three o’clock in the morning. You are the first responder, you have the right to protect your life, and cops are the second responders, fire rescue third. When I show up with my SWAT guys in our green pajamas, that’s an hour, hour and a half for us to get all our stuff, all our people and go. That’s way too long and that’s what happened at Columbine. Columbine, everybody set up, waited for SWAT while killing was happening.”

The Left will say “you can’t arm all teachers” and some teachers will say that they won’t carry guns. OK. It isn’t about arming all teachers. It is about ALLOWING teachers who want to be armed to carry concealed. And there are plenty. You won’t see any of them on CNN, and not just because it violates the narrative. Obscurity is a part of Security. It just can’t be the only part.

Armed Teachers at One School District in Virginia

About time someone had the common sense – and the nerve – to do this. (They will be armed starting in the fall.) Southwest Virginia county becomes first to approve arming teachers.

The school board voted unanimously, but they had to get the requisite “I’m scared” and “more problems” quote from a teacher. (My guess is she won’t be armed.)

But many Lee County teachers are willing to go face-to-face with a gunman if it means saving one of their students.

“Sooner or later, it could happen and, like some of the board members said, we need to be prepared in case it does,” said Ronald Earley, a former Lee County teacher.

The board said teachers will be armed starting this fall.

You can pass laws, I’m sure there are laws forbidding drugs in schools. But the only way to have security, is to actually provide security, either by hiring armed guards, or allowing armed staff.

It is a debate that is starting to take place at least. Debate regarding armed teachers, staff rages on in Madison Township. And Ashland County school district seeks public input on arming staff (Northeast Ohio). Ohio allows armed school staff, but districts don’t have to publicize the issue.

Defense Distributed Wins Case Against the Government

Technical specs for guns (3D-printed and otherwise) can now be online. A LANDMARK LEGAL SHIFT OPENS PANDORA’S BOX FOR DIY GUNS

He published 3D-printing instructions for a single-shot firearm. Called the Liberator. The federal government charged him with violating weapons export laws.. Instead of giving up (which his first lawyers advised him to do) he sued under the First Amendment to the Constitution. (Oh, and he fired those give-up lawyers.)

Instead, Wilson has spent the last years on an unlikely project for an anarchist: Not simply defying or skirting the law but taking it to court and changing it. In doing so, he has now not only defeated a legal threat to his own highly controversial gunsmithing project. He may have also unlocked a new era of digital DIY gunmaking that further undermines gun control across the United States and the world—another step toward Wilson’s imagined future where anyone can make a deadly weapon at home with no government oversight

The Wired Article is long, there are shorter versions of the story on other sites, but it is complete, including the reference to the Goliad flag.

While is isn’t a complete victory. (Wilson’s company got a unique license) it will be hard for the government to go after anyone else, since they basically admitted there were First Amendment issues with their original position. (Hat tip to Claire Wolfe.)

Data (and graphs) on Firearm Ownership

I do love the data. Political Calculations presents Firearms, Homicides and Suicides in America.

The graphs alone are worth a look. The first one is Estimated Number of Firearms in Civilian Possession in the United States, 1994 through 2017. That is measured in the 100s of millions, and going up.

I take issue with how some of the data is sliced – I always do if you end up slicing some of it away. In particular, looking only at gun-related suicides implicitly states that eliminating guns would eliminate those suicides. But the history of suicide in Canada doesn’t support that conclusion. (See Suicide vs “Gun-death” Suicide for a review of Canada’s situation, as of 2015 anyway, and some other countries as well.)

But I think the data presented at Political Calculations is worth a look. (Hat tip to Say Uncle)

Italians Want Less Gun Control

Where would we be without surveys? Sharp rise in Italians in favour of loosening gun control.

The proportion of Italians who favour relaxing laws on gun ownership has jumped from around a quarter to more than a third, according to a new survey.

Also the number of Italians who own guns, is rising.

You have to admire the uniform nature of spin on Italian politics.

The hard-right League party has long advocated for changes in the law to protect people using weapons, including firearms, in the name of self-defence. Now the junior partner in Italy’s governing coalition, the party has proposed that individuals should be allowed to shoot anyone who enters their home, even in the absence of a clear physical threat.

While the league is opposed to the Euro (Italy had problems, but they didn’t get the press that was lavished on Greece), but I’m not sure the press – in any country or any language – is able to do anything except denigrate any group that doesn’t think more government is better. Then again, I’m that up on Italian politics.

But advocating armed self-defense? In Europe? Where do they think the live, Texas? (Actually they live in the Real World™ where bad things can and too often do happen.