The House Renews 1988 Ban on Plastic Guns

Last year, Texas firearms dealer Cody Wilson posted online directions to make a gun called a “Liberator” on a 3-D printer. More than 100,000 copies of the gun were downloaded before the State Department told Wilson to remove the file.

Bloomberg

The Republican-led House passed a bill today renewing a U.S. ban on plastic guns, just days before the 1988 law is set to lapse. 

The ban on weapons that can elude detectors at security checkpoints expires Dec. 9, as the Senate returns from a recess and is set to take up the measure. The National Rifle Association, the largest U.S. gun lobby, has been silent on the plastic-gun ban.

The House by voice vote passed the bill, sponsored by North Carolina RepublicanHoward Coble. The measure heads to the Senate, where Democratic lawmakers are considering revisions to deal with emerging technology.

Advocates for expanded gun laws say the House vote may be a signal that some support exists for stricter laws after the shooting almost a year ago in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 elementary school students and six adults.

“Any time you see the House of Representatives moving forward on firearms legislation it’s a very good sign,” said Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

Banned Super Bowl Ad - Daniel Defense

Mediaite

Another Super Bowl brings another round of “banned” ads that end up getting nearly as much free publicity online as they would have received for millions of dollars during the big game. An early entry this year comes from Daniel Defense, which would have had to shell out upwards of $8 million to air this 60-second spot had Fox not rejected its pro-gun rights message.

Fox cited the NFL’s rule prohibiting the advertising of “firearms, ammunition or other weapons” during games in its rejection of the ad, but gun rights groups are pushing back, claiming that the ad does not violate the league’s rules.

According to Guns & Ammo magazine, the firearms portion of the NFL’s Prohibited Advertising Categories states:

“5. Firearms, ammunition or other weapons are prohibited; however, stores that sell firearms and ammunitions (e.g., outdoor stores and camping stores) will be permitted, provided they sell other products and the ads do not mention firearms, ammunition or other weapons.”

They argue that the ad complies with the rules for two reasons: Because “Daniel Defense has a brick-and-mortar store, where they sell products other than firearms such as apparel” and “The commercial itself does not mention firearms, ammunition or weaponry.”

Typical of lying gun-rights fanatics, they pretend the ad is about selling tents and backpacks. 

But most interesting is that Fox has such a policy.

Moms Demand Action Receiving Death Threats

New Republic
Shannon Watts knew she was heading into a rough neighborhood when she became an activist in the battle over gun control. A former corporate executive and mother of five children, Watts launched a gun-control group, now called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, not long after the Newtown shootings. As the new push to restrict guns grabbed attention over the ensuing year, Watts and other activists experienced the blowback up close, in sometimes frightening detail.

Drone Hunting in Colorado

The Times They Are A-Changin' in Virginia

Media Matters

The campaign manager for Mark Herring, the declared winner in the Virginia Attorney General race, says they won the election because they ignored the conventional wisdom typically pushed by media pundits that supporting stronger gun laws is a political liability.

Media pundits often claim that it is electoral suicide for candidates to call for stronger gun laws, suggesting that National Rifle Association has the power to punish candidates who oppose any portion of its absolutist pro-gun agenda. After two Colorado state senators who backed stronger gun laws were unseated in a September recall election, the media hyped this narrative and suggested the Colorado recall served as a warning to politicians who would advocate for stricter gun laws. (MSNBC host Chuck Todd, for example, said the lesson of the recall elections was that "every Democrat south of the Mason-Dixon Line" should stay away from the gun issue.)

The Doe Run Company, Lead Smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri to Close

NRA-ILA

Doe Run made significant efforts to reduce lead emissions from the smelter, but in 2008 the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for lead that were 10 times tighter than the previous standard.  Given the new lead air quality standard, Doe Run made the decision to close the Herculaneum smelter.

Whatever the EPA's motivation when creating the new lead air quality standard, increasingly restrictive regulation of lead is likely to affect the production and ct of traditional ammunition.  Just this month, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will ban lead ammunition for all hunting in California.  The Center for Biological Diversity has tried multiple times to get similar regulations at the federal level by trying, and repeatedly failing, to get the EPA to regulate conventional ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

At this time, it's unclear if Doe Run or another company will open a new lead smelter in the United States that can meet the more stringent lead air quality standards by using more modern smelting methods.   What is clear is that after the Herculaneum smelter closes its doors in December, entirely domestic manufacture of conventional ammunition, from raw ore to finished cartridge, will be impossible.

Gun-rights fanatics and Obama haters like Allen West see this as a conspiracy against gun owners. Being completely self-absorbed, they see the EPA decision only as it affects them. They think it really has nothing to do with air pollution or the dangers of lead in the environment and only about "back door gun control."  The fact that many industries use lead other than the ammo makers doesn't phase them. It's all about their rights, you see.

State Education Rankings: The Best And Worst For Math And Science

Huffington Post

The voters, legislators and policy makers in each state are, for the most part, products of that state's education system. Where ignorance prevails, you can expect ignorant and backwards gun policies.  Where enlightenment and advancement is more prevalent, you can expect the opposite.

Well Above Average	1	Massachusetts	4.82
	2	Minnesota	4.06
	3	New Jersey	4.04
	4	New Hampshire	4.01
	5	New York	3.94
Above Average	6	Virginia	3.73
	7	Maryland	3.57
	8	Connecticut	3.28
	9	Indiana	3.28

Of the top nine states, 5 have decent gun control laws

Far Below Average	42	Oklahoma	2.01
	43	Nebraska	1.97
	44	Nevada	1.93
	45	Arizona	1.91
	46	New Mexico	1.72
	47	Alabama	1.60
	48	Louisiana	1.59
	49	West Virginia	1.58
	50	Mississippi	1.11

Of the bottom nine, every single one is a gun-friendly paradise.