MO state senator Scott Rupp ansswers the Gun Rights Questionaire

David Codrea can't do it alone and has asked others to hold accountable our elected officials. This August, MO will hold a republican primary for the seat held by incumbent Scott Rupp. I e-mailed Scott Rupp and his GOP opponent State Representative Cynthia Davis the Gun Rights Questionnaire. So far, only Senator Rupp has responded, this after a second attempt to glean answers from both candidates. Without further preamble, here are the Senator's answers


1. Do you believe that the Constitution is the "supreme law of the land"
and that the Bill of Rights acknowledges our birthrights?

Yes. It is the foundation of this country and the supreme law of the land.

2. If so, should these rights be proactively protected from infringement
by all levels of government, including city, county and state?

Yes. No level of government is exempt from the freedoms granted to citizens in the constitution.

3. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider constitutional.

Conceal and Carry, The Castle Doctrine

4. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider unconstitutional.

National registries trigger locks, ammunition registries.

5. Does the right to bear arms include the right for any peaceable
citizen to carry them concealed without a permit, as in Vermont?

Yes.

6. Do you believe that Americans have a right to own, use and carry
weapons of military pattern, and will you use the prestige of elected
office to publicly promote that right?

Yes citizens have a right to own, use and carry firearms and infantry weapons and I have supported that right over my last 7 years in public office.

7. Do you support or oppose registration of weapons? Why?

I support a voluntary registering of weapons for theft recovery and insurance purposes. A mandatory registration of weapons is not needed, has not reduced gun crimes or gun safety accidents. As history has shown, the first way to take away the rights of the people is to confiscate all weapons and ability for individuals to defend themselves.

8. Do you support or oppose licensing requirements to own or carry
firearms?
Why?

I have supported and voted for the Conceal Carry Law in Missouri that is now law. I believe we have the right under the constitution to carry weapons, and this is consistent with the framers beliefs and promotes personal responsibility and self defense.

9. What specific gun laws will you work to get repealed?

I believe the inability to purchase guns out of state and then bring them home to Missouri is something that is a burden on gun owners that is permitted on all other purchased items.

I also feel that we need to disallow the over collection if information on permit applications by local entities. There should be a minimal and uniform application by all counties in Missouri.

10. If elected, will you back your words of support for firearms rights
up with consistent actions? How?

Yes. I have done that with several votes during my years in the Missouri House and Senate. I have actively campaigned and promoted my 2nd Amendment beliefs and I am proud of the rights granted to us by the founding fathers. I will continue to promote our 2nd amendment rights in speeches, legislation and by voting for gun rights issues before me in the Senate as I have done for the past 7 years.

________
Again, thank you for your questions and I hope you have a great week ahead.

Respectfully,

Senator Scott T. Rupp

Thank you Senator for providing answers to these questions. In response to the idea of a voluntary registry, I would say that it would be incomplete and therefore practically useless. It is up to gun owners to keep track of their firearms and should the need to report a theft arise, the pertinent information may be forwarded to the proper authorities, but not required. When I receive Representative Davis' reply, I shall post that as well.

Auto Union reviving Eco Fascism

For those not in the know, Auto Union is actually Audi. I refer of course to Audi's superbowl commercial.



The so called Green Police would (will) be met with rapidly accelerating 124 gr lead projectiles should they decide to darken my door for having incandescent light bulbs.

update: I can hear their German counterparts says 'recycled bio degradeable papers, please?!"!"

A curious agrument for the No Pants lifestyle

Paul Helmke replies thus to his blog:

The key reply is that clothing which some find offensive is different from firearms that others — justifiably — find frightening. That is: pants aren’t guns, and being gay doesn’t kill people. Not sure if CDC counts how many Americans die by strange-looking pants each year, but if they do, chances are the number will be a lot less than 30,000 (the number shot to death every year in this country).

emphasis mine

Well, if Americans are dying by strange fashion practices, perhaps Robb Allen has the right idea. (hint: it's in the comments)

h/t to Joe for pointing out the bigots quote

QOTD

"As a result, many who think themselves infinitely superior to the aberrations of naziism, and sincerely hate all of its manifestations, work at the same time for ideals whose realization would lead straight to the abohrred tyranny." F.A. Hayek in The Road to Serfdom.

Eugenics, fundamentalist environmentalism, state run and owned business, all of these things were part of Hitler's Germany. All of these things are part of Barack Obama's America.

Shooting Range Bleg

I work fairly close to Adventure Shooting Sports, Guns & Hummers. They are in the process of applying for permission to set up a shooting range on their property. They had a petition to show support at their counter when I was in there this evening. Please if you live in the St. Louis Metropolitan area, go in and sign your name. If you know someone in the area, tell them about it and urge them to sign the petition. They do have the fact that the Chesterfield Police Department has their own private range, 500 yards down the road from the Lynch property going for them.

Friday Fun Track: Declaration Edition

It's always fun to get a history lesson in entertainment. The violin is really nice also.



h/t to Politics, Guns & Beer

Gear Review: Mantis Monacoe T-5 Spyder

I've been meaning to write this review for awhile now. I originally found out about this knife from the Atomic Nerds I had been looking for a good everyday carry knife and knew I wanted something different. I ordered my knife direct from Mantis Knives.

I prefer for my everyday carry knife to have a partially serrated edge, and as this was a turn off for me initially, I contacted Mantis Knives about sometime in the future doing a partially serrated edge on the Monacoe T-5. I came home late on a Saturday evening to find an offer in my e-mail to produce my request if I were to buy two knives. Jared West also offered me the chance to name my knife. I immediately thought of the Porsche Spyder open cockpit sportscars I admire. Just like an open cockpit sportscar is a spyder, the serration that opens up more of the cutting surface, hence the name, spyder. I jumped at this chance and went ahead to place my order.



The knife arrived along with a companion nifty keychain, the B-3 Necessikey. I'll write a review sometime in the future over that little gem.

The knife itself is inspired by open wheel racecars. viewed from a certain angle, you can see the cockpit and such.



The blade is BG-42 ball bearing stainless steel. It holds an edge quite well, even with the abuse I subject mine to. This is my primary knife I use at work to cut open boxes, peel labels off of boxes and cut through strapping. The serrated edge comes in particularly handy for cutting plastic strapping. The knife is very easy to open one handed with my thumb. That and a snick of the wrist causes the blade to lock in place. The lock is one with the frame so no extra parts that can fail are part of the design. Two descriptions that come to my minds are very elegant and simple.

Obviously this is not a new knife in the picture. I have carried it everyday for over 8 months. In that time I noticed a couple of nagging things. The neat little screen printed Mantis Logo has not worn well. I am proud to carry this knife and I wish for people to know what brand it is. The second thing is the belt clip was loosening up. I guess, what with coming in and out of my pocket twenty to thirty times a day, that it was bound to loosen up. The clip is held on by torx head screws. Torx head screws are the bastard child of some sick individual who had a serious hate on for allen head screws. I could not find at first a torx head screwdriver that was small enough to fit these particular fasteners. I ended up finding what I needed at Lowe's.
Still the screws had wallowed out their holes enough to need more help than I could give them.

I contacted Jared West yet again and he suggested I send the knife back in for service. I did so, and received back the knife you see in the pictures. The clip was firmly attached to the frame and turn around time was second to none.



The knife itself is very avant garde design that suits my aesthetic tastes. Mantis Knives customer service is second to none. When you're dealing with the president of the company on a personal basis, it is comforting to know you're being well taken care of. For those looking for an EDC that doesn't look like it belongs in Rainbow Six strapped to a commando or that Buck knive your grandpa carries, then Mantis Knives fill a niche in the market.


(FTC disclaimer: Not that it's any of the FTC's business, but I bought and paid for it all by myself.)