Alphecca

Weekly Check on the Bias

Welcome to the April 11th edition of my Weekly Check on the Bias of media concerning firearms and the 2nd Amendment.

First some old business. We all remember the shameful behavior by law enforcement in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, especially the confiscation of legally owned firearms from law abiding citizens who desperately needed those guns to protect themselves and what was left of their homes. Slowly the Louisiana legislature is addressing this. From the Times-Picayune:

BATON ROUGE -- With little debate, the Senate voted 39-0 Monday for a bill that would prohibit police from confiscating firearms of law-abiding citizens in times of emergencies or disasters.

The vote on Senate Bill 93 by Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, an outdoors enthusiast and gun-rights advocate, sends the measure to the House for debate.

McPherson filed the bill in response to actions by New Orleans area police who confiscated firearms from evacuees during Hurricane Katrina. He said that the federal and state constitutions recognize the right of citizens to bear arms and that a hurricane or an evacuation from a natural disaster or emergency does not eliminate that right.

McPherson said the legislation is backed by the National Rifle Association.

"Any individual trying to escape in a flood should not have his weapon collections confiscated," McPherson said.

The bill would not prohibit police from seizing illegally possessed firearms such as those held by convicted felons, McPherson said.

State law now allows police officials to take a citizen's firearm during an emergency even if the individual has a legal right to carry the weapons and is not violating any law.

It took emergency action by the NRA and SAF to obtain a court order to halt the seizing by cops and it took months (in fact, only a few weeks ago finally) for the guns to slowly be returned to their owners. [Update: A while back I had this post and thought the guns would finally be returned. As Cam and others here have pointed out, that STILL isn't happening, yet. *Sheesh*] Many lawmakers in other states, seeing what happened here, have been proposing legislation of their own to make sure a state or municipality doesn't trample on such rights again.

No blood bath in North Carolina. The News & Observer of North Carolina had a lengthy piece a few days ago about concealed-carry in the Tar Heel State. While journalist Jim Nesbitt certainly presents both sides of the issue, I found some of his characterizations of CCW permit holders -- or how he thinks anti-gun folks perceive them -- a bit condescending:

Kavanaugh is a street-legal pistolero, one of almost 76,000 North Carolinians who hold a permit that allows them to carry a concealed handgun under a state law enacted in 1995. Far from being a teenage gangbanger or predator in neighborhoods where weapons are illegal and crime is rampant, he fits the demographic of a typical Tar Heel permit holder -- a white, middle-age man.

Short, bald and bespectacled, Kavanaugh keeps his pistol within easy reach for that moment he hopes never happens.

Until that day, he and his wife, Debbie, who also shoots but doesn't have a concealed-carry permit, live what could be called a "tactical" lifestyle from their modest, brick-trimmed ranch home in southern Durham County.

They've worked out how they'd fight a home invasion. They keep their car doors locked and are careful about where they park at the mall or grocery store. One never goes to a drive-up ATM without the other as a backup, sitting in the car, gun at the ready.

Like an Old West gunfighter, Kavanaugh tries never to sit in a public place with his back to the door -- unless he's covered by another gun-toting friend.

People who hate guns or aren't familiar with them may find his stance distasteful or paranoid, particularly in the face of North Carolina's falling crime rate.

To them, all guns are bad. They see America's firearms fetish -- rooted in frontier myth and a latent Southern celebration of violence -- as a fearsome cultural telltale, a Neanderthal instinct they wish would just become extinct.

To them, people like Bill Kavanaugh are wild-eyed pistol wavers, paranoids who are cocked and locked to spray lead at the barest of provocations.

See, if Nesbitt had even provided just one single actual quote from a gun grabber claiming that folks like Kavanough are "wild-eyed pistol wavers, paranoids..." and have "a Neanderthal instinct" then I'd say, 'Okay, I knew that'. But he doesn't and I'm forced to conclude that maybe some of that attitude is really Nesbitt's. Especially when, in the next breath he writes,

Guns are as American as Wyatt Earp and Al Capone.

And ever since a Republican majority swept into Congress in 1994 and started taking over state legislatures, more and more states have passed concealed-carry permit laws.

If Kavanough does sound a bit paranoid I'd say he's entitled to do so since he and his wife were the victims of crime:

In a recurring, acid-etched image, he also sees the would-be carjacker who jammed a gun barrel against his wife's rib cage at a Union 76 truck stop near Meridian, Miss.

That after-midnight moment is still vivid almost 30 years after it took place during a bathroom break as the couple, their infant son and a woman friend drove from Texas back to Wilmington, the Kavanaughs' hometown.

Kavanaugh can still see the barrel of that gun as it arced from Debbie's midsection to his face and back again. He can see the calm, road-weary and clueless faces of diners in the truck stop's brightly lit cafe just a few yards from the front bumper of his car. And he can still taste the helpless bile he swallowed that night, when all he could do was reach for his wallet and pray the man would take it and run.

"I was extremely upset I could do nothing to defend my wife, my son and my wife's friend," he said. "I was not going to let myself be in that position ever again."

To Nesbitt's credit, he does offer a quote in support -- or at least not in detraction -- of concealed-carry:

More than 10 years later, neither the fear of blood in the streets nor the predicted crime-rate reduction have become reality, police officers and prosecutors say.

"They both were wrong," said Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong. "It's been a non-factor as far as I can see."

Triangle law enforcement officials running programs to reduce gun violence say they don't worry about the pistol-centered life of Kavanaugh or North Carolina's relatively thin cadre of concealed-carry permit holders.

Instead, their focus is riveted on the primary cause of this chronic and oft-times deadly problem -- criminals packing illegal firearms.

In the eyes of Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, there are two distinct gun universes -- one features the pistol-packing outlaw he tries to arrest; the other is a smaller world of concealed-carry permit holders.

[...]

The individuals who apply for a permit are the good citizens of our county who get up and go to work every day, go to church, are family people," Bizzell said.

This accepting attitude is based on the lawman's belief that few permit holders commit a criminal act -- either by reckless use of a handgun or otherwise.

[...]

Most Triangle area sheriffs and prosecutors say they haven't had a violent crime committed by a concealed-carry permit holder in their jurisdictions.

Chatham County Sheriff Richard Webster says permit holders haven't shot up the streets or stopped crime.

"I think it's a gray line right down the middle that hasn't veered one way or the other," he said.

Some would say that this article by Nesbitt is positive but I just can't help being bothered by all the negative stereotyping he employs, even if just for -- I suppose -- humorous effect.

Much better was an article about women and guns in Ohio. From the Marietta Times:

Cathy Ash, 41, of Barlow, is a shooter and proud of it.

For more and more American women like Ash, knowing how to handle and properly use a firearm offers empowerment, self-confidence, security, and fun.

"I love it all, just so long as it goes bang," Ash said of her guns.

Women and guns — it's a growing trend not likely to slow anytime soon.

"Actually, it's very empowering to know how to handle a firearm safely," Ash said. "Your confidence level soars and it's loads of fun."

Ash is among a growing number of women who see themselves as marksmen and firearm owners, and enjoy the whole sport genre surrounding guns.

"I got interested when I was always 'plinking' in the driveway, shooting cans with my 22 rifle," she said. "When I married my late husband, he shot IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) competition and I always went with him. I got interested. He offered to teach me the proper stance, grip, and gun safety."

Over five or six years, Ash, a licensed social worker with the Area Agency on Aging, has improved her skill level, is teaching National Rifle Association courses for women, and has won several prestigious competitions in shooting.

In 2003, she first won the Ohio State IDPA state competition and was named top woman shooter. Again in 2005, she won honors as top Ohio woman shooter.

The story also profiles another woman, Teresa Stone, a firearms safety instructor who gives classes in area schools. Good, positive portrayals of the increasing participation by women in the shooting sports -- none of whom are "wild-eyed, pistol waving..." et cetera.

Women and Self-Defense. Here's a story about rising crime in North Caroline -- a contrast to the Nesbitt op-ed above -- and what some women are doing about it. From the Charlotte Observer:

A single mom wanting to protect her children. A mall worker fearing a dark parking lot. A real estate agent meeting strangers in empty homes.

They are Charlotte-area women. And they own guns.

More women, gun advocates say, are buying, shooting and carrying firearms -- in briefcases, purses or even on their hips.

For some, it's sport. But with violent crime up from five years ago and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police actively searching for a serial rapist, many women say it's about self-protection.

"Things out there are tough, for men and for women," Christy Barnes, a 22-year-old chiropractic assistant, said while practicing at a shooting range earlier this month. "I'd like to know I can handle myself."

Local gun retailers and range owners say women are one of their fastest growing markets.

The Observer didn't notice any increase in CCW permits (percentage wise to men) in the Mecklenburg County area but notes:

At a gun show at Metrolina Expo on Saturday, customers said some sellers offered guns with fancy, even pink stocks, to attract women. There also was a table full of purses with a special pocket and holster hidden inside.

Operators would not let an Observer reporter in the show.

The growing female market, experts say, can be attributed to many things, including more women heading households, more fear of crime, and less stigma attached to gun ownership.

Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Gun Shop, says women -- most with a husband twisting their arm -- used to make up about 2 percent of his business. Now women account for about 15 percent, and he carries guns made especially for them and the purses equipped with a holster.

Hyatt said he has seen a slow, steady increase of female customers over the last 20 years -- and then big jumps after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the chaos following Hurricane Katrina. He also saw an uptick in sales to women after police said a serial rapist attacked a Dilworth jogger last year.

Dan Starks, who has taught firearms safety courses for 17 years said a firearm can give women the power to control almost any situation. And with crimes like carjackings and home invasions increasingly common, Starks says they need the protection.

"When you have a firearm in your hand, and the knowledge, skill and chutzpah to use it, nine times out of 10 you won't have to use it," he said. "Criminals don't like armed citizens."

Indeed! There's plenty more so (as with all cases of stories I mention here) read the whole thing. One local range notes that:

At Firepower, an indoor pistol range and gun shop in Matthews, workers say about one in 10 who use the range are women, many of whom shoot for fun. Their regular customers include married couples and father-daughter pairs.

They wear safety glasses and ear protection, then take turns firing at paper targets in a small room with six shooting lanes 50 feet long. Bullet casing are scattered on the floor.

On Wednesday, a 72-year-old woman went in asking for information about the range. She owns two handguns, she said, and likes to shoot every couple of months so she hopes she'd feel comfortable if she needed to use a gun in an emergency. She didn't want her name printed in the newspaper, she said, because she didn't want people to know she's got the guns.

I can't blame her. If the mutant gangbangers out there know where the guns are, they steal them when the homeowner isn't home. This is one reason I'm adamantly against permit holders' names and addresses being made public by newspapers.

Smith & Wesson fighting back. From today's New York Times:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — It is hard to imagine a company sinking as low as Smith & Wesson, the legendary arms maker that equipped soldiers from the Civil War to Vietnam and 98 percent of American police forces.

Just two years ago, the company's chairman was found to be a convicted felon: he had failed to disclose spending 15 years in jail for armed robbery. Federal investigators were looking into accounting irregularities, and the company's stock was stuck at $1.50 a share.

Adding to the company's woes, American soldiers for the last decade have carried Italian-made Berettas, while most police forces long ago switched to handguns from Glock, an Austrian company.

But now, with new owners and a new chief executive, Michael P. Golden, who once sold power tools for Black & Decker and bathroom fixtures for Kohler, Smith & Wesson is coming back to life — thanks to an expanding Pentagon budget and growing spending by the Homeland Security Department.

With consumer sales of rifles, shotguns and handguns remaining flat for the last decade, Smith & Wesson is casting its lot with Washington, where it is making headway with a new "Buy America" pitch in Congress and at the Pentagon.

The company recently won contracts to supply pistols to the fledgling Afghan security forces, its first Pentagon award in 15 years. Next, it wants to put a Smith & Wesson back into every American soldier's hand — a major contract worth up to $600 million.

Smith & Wesson's fortunes indeed fell on hard times when the previous owners cut a deal with the devil the Clinton Whitehouse. Now, with new owners, they are hiring lobbyists to push the Pentagon and others to "buy American" again.

Interesting that gun sales to consumers are flat when it's newspapers such as the New York Times that keep up the myth that manufacturers are "flooding the streets" with firearms for criminals.

Then there's this:

On the police front, Smith & Wesson lost out to Glock when the company introduced a lightweight polymer gun in the early 1980's that American manufacturers initially mocked, saying that no police officer would buy a "plastic" gun, especially a foreign one.

Last September, Smith & Wesson finally introduced its own polymer pistol, the M&P (military and police) 40 series of handguns, and is now beginning to inch back up from its current market share of 10 percent.

On top of that, a shrewd marketing campaign has put the Smith & Wesson name on everything from Nascar racers to a shooting-and-hunting cable show on the Men's Channel. And it now adorns a new men's cologne — introduced in an event at the Miami Beach estate once owned by Gianni Versace (the company made clear it was not a Smith & Wesson gun that was used to kill Mr. Versace).

"No company in modern history has come back from the dead like Smith & Wesson," said Russ Thurman, editor of Shooting Magazine, a leading trade publication. "In the dark days for Smith & Wesson, you'd go to a trade show and there would be an invisible cone of silence around the Smith & Wesson booth. Now you have to get into a fistfight to get close to their displays."

Well, I certainly hope the company rebounds. It would be a shame if one of the great Trademarks of American history were to close as Winchester did a few weeks ago. And why the hell isn't our government buying American?

Time for some quickies...

"No" to a Maryland AWB. From the Baltimore Sun (first item):

The Assembly rejected legislation that would ban the possession and sale of assault weapons. A federal ban on assault weapons expired in 2004.

Can't complain about that!

Abuse of seizure laws. The Muskogee-Pheonix of Oklahoma has an editorial taking the local DA to task for selling off guns taken from criminals because they might wind up (despite the fact that buyers have to pass the NICS check) in criminal hands at some point. I don't buy that argument but I do agree with this:

Also questionable is the wisdom of law enforcement agencies being allowed to keep the proceeds of sales of seized guns, vehicles, tools or any other property.

In recent years, law enforcement agencies and district attorney offices across the country have been accused of illegal property seizures or taking advantage of liberal seizure and forfeiture laws that allow property not related to a crime to be taken away. Those laws have been a lucrative source of funding for departments and certainly open the door for abuse.

Funding for law enforcement shouldn’t depend on forfeitures.

For years we've been reading about over-zealous police departments keeping the cars of people accused of soliciting prostitutes or houses seized because one occupant had some marijuana for sale.

John Lott fights back. From the Chicago Tribune:

A scholar known for his work on guns and crime filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, co-author of the best-seller "Freakonomics."

John Lott Jr. of Virginia, a former U. of C. visiting professor, alleges that Levitt defamed him in the book by claiming that other scholars had tried and failed to confirm Lott's conclusion that allowing people to carry concealed weapons reduces crime. Publishers Weekly ranked "Freakonomics" eighth this week for non-fiction hardcover books.

According to Levitt's book: "When other scholars have tried to replicate [Lott's] results, they found that right-to-carry laws simply don't bring down crime."

But according to Lott's lawsuit: "In fact, every time that an economist or other researcher has replicated Lott's research, he or she has confirmed Lott's conclusion."

By suggesting that Lott's results could not be replicated, Levitt is "alleging that Lott falsified his results," the lawsuit says.

Lott is seeking a court order to block further sales of "Freakonomics" until the offending statements are retracted and changed. He is also seeking unspecified money damages.

Lott acknowledged in the suit that some scholars have disagreed with his conclusions. But he said those researchers used "different data or methods to analyze the relationship between gun-control laws and crime" and made no attempt to "replicate" Lott's work.

The lawsuit alleges that Levitt and his publisher, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., made the statements with reckless disregard for whether they were true and that the book damaged Lott's reputation.

This will be an interesting case to follow.

Lastly, some sad news to report... Mark Serbu has asked me to return the BFG-50 he kindly loaned me last year. I knew the day would finally come but had hoped that with my publicity of it he might just let me keep it... I thank him kindly though for the chance to play with a gun and caliber I could never afford to buy.

Anyway, if there are other gun makers out there (*hint*) who would like to see one of their models highlighted to thousands of readers each week in posts (*hint*) that always wind-up near the top (*hint*) of Google searches for certain model guns, feel free to (*hint*) ship me a demonstrator (I'll pass on my local FFL's info via email) and your product could replace the choice space (*hint*) now occupied on the right-hand sidebar by Serbu. It's the only (*hint* *hint*) advertising I allow here at Alphecca. A nice Bushmaster (*ahem*, *HINT*) or Armorlite AR (*big-ass clue*) would be nifty... [Gosh, Jeff, you're as subtle as a train-wreck --ed.]

Anyway, time to get this posted. I'll be on the Cam Edwards -NRA News Show this afternoon and as always, thanks so much for stopping by!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at April 11, 2006 10:53 AM