Arizona’s newest (and most “progressive”) Congressional Representative has been noticeably absent in the current debate on gun rights since she was sworn in earlier this year. That’s now changed, and she’s finally responding to her constituent’s letters. I just received her response to one of the many emails I’ve sent regarding gun rights, and I’ve posted it below. Looks like she’s going to try and play both sides – not surprising, considering the number of Republican and Democrat gun owners in her district.

 
Dear Ms. XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting me to share your views on the issue of gun violence.  I appreciate you taking the time to make me aware of your position on this very important issue.

I believe strongly in the Second Amendment and that it guarantees individuals the right to own and bear arms.  I also believe that it’s time for Congress to have a serious discussion on how we keep our kids, schools, and neighborhoods safe.  This means discussing how we care for the mentally ill and how expanding universal background checks can be most effective.

I recognize that only a small minority of those afflicted with mental illness may ever become violent and believe that we can strengthen mental health services to help minimize that possibility.  At the same time, we can and should prevent access to guns for the small minority of the mentally ill who are dangerous.

We cannot let politics get in the way of doing the right thing for our kids, families and the millions of responsible gun owners.  As a former social worker at Sunnyslope and Shaw Butte Elementary schools in Phoenix, I understand the importance of this issue and am committed to having a discussion with all sides of the debate to pass legislation that helps protect all Americans.  Should legislation regarding this issue be considered by the House of Representatives, I will keep your views in mind as we work on this complex and important subject.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.  I encourage you to visit my website at http://sinema.house.gov for up-to-date information, press releases, and other information.

Sincerely,

Kyrsten Sinema
Member of Congress
 

Thank you for the response, Ms. Sinema.  If you’re serious about having that “discussion with all sides of the debate”,  I am more than willing to have that discussion with you at any time, any place.  You know how to reach me.

If you live anywhere near Tucson Arizona, you have an opportunity on Saturday to participate in the “national conversation on gun control”, or at least support the only pro-rights person member on the panel.  Widely praised Second Amendment scholar, author and attorney David T. Hardy will be the only pro-gun/pro-rights member of the panel.  Mr. Hardy will represent your rights, and be the only voice of reason, in the discussion about “common sense gun control ideas.”

From Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik:

Beginning at 2pm at St. Marks Church (3809 E. Third Street – a block west of Alvernon) I’ll be participating in a forum with several other people to discuss the issue of common sense gun control ideas. Also on the panel will be Pam Simon (January 8th survivor and member of Demand A Plan,) State Representatives Bruce Wheeler and Victoria Steele, State Senator David Bradley, and Tucson Attorney and gun rights advocate David Hardy. Possible attendees will also be Representatives Grijalva and Barber – depending on schedules and what’s going on out in D.C.

The forum is scheduled to last until 4pm.

There will be opening remarks by the panel members, and then questions from the audience. I know each of the people ho are on the panel and it is my expectation that this will be an opportunity to listen to varying viewpoints on this volatile topic in a way that is non-confrontational and respectful. With this topic, that’s not always the case.

If you live near the Tucson area and value your right to bear arms, your attendance is critical to demonstrate to the Tucson City Council that they can’t justify trampling your freedoms using sham “forums” like this one.

Saturday, March 16th, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, at St. Marks Church, 3809 E. Third Street, Tucson, AZ.

H/T to Arizona Citizens Defense League and Gun Owners of Arizona for the heads-up.

Spread the word and please, arrive early to fill the room with pro-rights people.

Lately, shopping for .22 Long Rifle cartridges has made me a little nostalgic for the days of yesteryear, when .22 was much cheaper than .40 S&W. The price of a fastfood meal would buy 500 rounds of .22 Long Rifle ammunition, or as we used to call it, a few hours of shooting.

Things have changed!  Bricks of .22 LR were going for $80 to $100 each at our last gun show, when you could find them. I thought it was outrageously expensive, until I found it online for $189.99.

If I had only known in the late 1990s how much the under-appreciated .22 LR would be worth today, I’d be rich.  Obscenely rich!

Yes, $9.89 was a high retail price for 500 rounds of .22 LR, but the sale prices were good.

UMC .22LR Bicks were $6.99 in the 90s (about 1998)

I wonder if my bank knows how much ammo is stored in their safe deposit boxes now?

Jacqueline and I volunteered to promote 2nd Amendment rights at a gun show this weekend. The show is fairly small for the Phoenix metro area and it tends to have older guns and an older clientele.  A family of ‘gun show tourists’ (non-gun owners) stopped at the table to talk to us, because we “looked normal” (our wookie suits had just been picked up from the cleaners).  I looked around and saw nothing that looked abnormal, then I noticed the vendor across the aisle with a President Obama dressed as Hitler T-shirt. Ughh!

The sightseeing wife asked a ton of questions about guns, where to shoot, and how to pick out a gun.  It was also clear that she was interested in protecting her family, and target shooting, and learning what-in-the-hell this gun culture thing is all about.

After talking to her about guns for at least five minutes, the woman finally noticed that we were both open carrying.  I don’t know how anybody could miss the purple Elsie-nine on Jacqueline’s hip.  As we talked about buying a gun, the conversation took a strange turn:

Woman:  Do you actually own another gun?

Me:  Yes, of course.

Jacqueline:  We have a gun for each purpose.

Me:  Different guns for different purposes.

Woman:  Purposes? <BLINK!>

Me: Yes, it depends on what you want to do with a gun.

Woman:  ????????????? <ZOT!!!>

Me:  What do you want to do with a gun?

Woman:  <Bug-eyed vapors! Bzzzt! ZOT!!!>

Me:   Do you want a gun for target shooting? Hunting? Plinking soda cans in the desert? Long range rifle competition? A compact self-defense gun for concealed carry? Or a home defense gun?

Woman:   (looking perplexed) I don’t know.

Me:   That’s okay, figuring out what you want to do with a gun will help greatly in choosing the right gun. Give it some thought before you go shopping.

Jacqueline:   While you’re here at the fun show, ask if you can pick up guns that you might be interested in buying. See how they fit in your hand and make sure you can reach the controls (slide release, magazine release, and trigger).

This back-and-forth went on for quite some time.  We recommended she take her family to the Arizona Game & Fish Department Outdoor Expo to try different types of recreational shooting and guns, then take a NRA First Steps class, then go to a local indoor range on ladies night and try a variety of handguns until she found one she liked and worked well for her hand size, while fitting her intended use.   Of course, she needs to practice with the gun to develop and maintain her skills.

Many people have been conditioned by years of dishonest anti-gun propaganda, yet they are interested in learning reality (and unlearning the propaganda).  When I asked the woman what she wanted to do with a gun, it must’ve come across as, “who are you going to kill?”   She was baffled and apprehensive about the question, but relaxed quite a bit when I mentioned four possible recreational uses. I think it was at that point she realized much of what she knew, just wasn’t true.  You could almost hear the ‘pop’ of her paradigm shifting without a clutch.

My experience with this inquisitive woman was an important reminder that we can all be good ambassadors for gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment.  We can’t write off the people who’ve been lied to by politicians and newscasters over the years.  If you see lost and scared gun show tourists, stop and give them some help.  They’re easy to spot, because they don’t look like normal fun show attendees.

You may be familiar with the idiom, Fast, Good, or Cheap, pick any two.  In the current firearms and accessories market, you may not get any of those choices.

While much of the U.S. has been experiencing a gun, magazine, ammo, and reloading component shortage, there’s been a secret among shooters at Arizona ranges.  Quietly whispered among shooters, “Psst, you can still get all the gun powder, primers, and bullets you need at normal prices from Bruno Shooters Supply in Phoenix.”  Pretty soon, the secret was out and Bruno was slammed with orders, just like every other company in the firearms industry.  On an Arizona shooting forum, Amy Bruno explained why prices are skyrocketing, phone calls go unanswered, and orders are taking much longer to ship:

Hello All,
I do need to clear the air.  The reason that our prices keep going up is because the manufacturers are rarely shipping anyone product.  We need to buy it from whomever has it in stock.  Because of this, we have to pay shipping charges and Haz-mat fee just like you.  This is what is raising the prices.  It has nothing to do with manufacturers’ price increases. It has to do with the increase in our true COST.  We try to at least have stock for you to buy.

In regards to Jason (my brother), he is there. He took time for a honeymoon, but he is still there.  In regards to heating and cooling, we do not own the building. We rent. We have only the swamp coolers that they provide. These do not work in the summer. In the winter, we have one little heater.  I am sorry that the climate is unbearable. It is for us too.  Also, we never accept your payment without giving you a total first.

In regards to our hours, we are open from 8am-5pm Monday thru Friday.  Sometimes we leave 5 minutes early.  Sometimes we stay 4 hours late.  We do not have the staff to be open all day every day.

Now onto the phone situation.  As many of you know there are only 4 of us there. We have chosen to leave the door open to walk in customers and not accept calls.

As of today, we have over 2000 orders (we now measure in reams of paper). We are at least 2 weeks behind in even looking at your order.  Once we get to it, if we are out of something, we will call or I will email you. Assuming most of you are local, this will not apply to you but I will say it anyway.  Orders for non HAZ-MAT (powder and/or primers) orders will ship in about a week as long as everything is in stock.  Orders for primers and anything else BESIDES powder will ship in about 3 weeks.  Orders with Powder and any other item will ship in about 6 weeks.  The reason for this is because no vehicle can have more than 100 pounds of smokeless powder on it.  This means UPS. We have already 2 trucks coming daily.  This means we can ship 200 pounds of powder a day.  Considering the circumstances, this is a drop in the bucket.

We are not accepting calls because we cannot get to our orders if we do.  We would be unable to wait on customers if we do.  Next to go is the website and as a last resort, we will lock the door to walk-in customers until we can get caught up.  We are trying to avoid both of these situations and are doing the very best that we can.  We ask that you do not call or come in or email to check order status until at least 3 weeks have passed.  We will contact you, we promise.  We also have chosen not to ration or hit you with limits like the other stores.  We may not be well-lit, or temperature controlled.  We may not have a public restroom or lots of parking.  But at least we have things that you need (most of the time) in stock so you can shoot.

Thanks for understanding,
Amy Bruno
Bruno Shooters Supply

I think Ms. Bruno’s honest explanation applies to the current industry-wide shortages of firearms and components.  Major national dealers have also struggled with providing accurate inventory availability online, responding to customer inquiries, backorders, and prompt shipping.  The order systems are under a severe stress test and seemingly minor system limitations are showing up as major weaknesses.  The demand for these goods is unprecedented and overwhelming!   Even industry heavyweight Brownells has had to revise their order tracking system in attempt to keep up with the  avalanche of orders.

Hopefully, manufacturers are not running their production lines beyond their capabilities too.

Local gun stores here, even large dealers, are placing ads essentially begging to buy guns from the general public.  Dealers are trying to stock their shelves for customers, but when those dealers have to buy at inflated street prices, then add their margin, the retail prices have to go up and the cycle repeats.  Eventually, supplies will return to normal, prices will come back down, and the industry will make their customer service / ordering systems more robust to handle surges in demand.

Until then, we’ll all need to be patient.

A 2nd Amendment rally was held in Phoenix, Arizona today, the ‘Day of Resistance’ rally, put on by the Phoenix TEA Party. This rally was well attended, with a crowd of 1,500 according to event organizers. Compare that figure to the showing at Congressman Matt Salmon’s office during the Obama For America/Organizing For Action’s National Day of Action in support of gun control. Coincidentally, Congressman Matt Salmon was a featured speaker at today’s pro-gun rally.

Phoenix ‘Day of Resistance’ rally at the Arizona capitol. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu speaking (visible on the right).

Much of the crowd was armed with revolvers, semi-auto handguns, AR-15s, and/or various other rifles. Despite the large number of armed individuals present, only two law enforcement officers were spotted at the rally. One Arizona Department of Public Safety officer who used his car to enforce closing the street in front of the capitol, providing safe passage for all of the pedestrian traffic. The other law enforcement officer was Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, another featured speaker at the rally. As commenter Zermoid noted over at Shall Not Be Questioned, “The fact they felt they needed more cops for an anti rights rally than for a pro gun rally (where alot of the people were probably packing) says ALOT!”

Three local news stations were there to cover today’s event too. I haven’t watched any of the coverage of today’s event, but I have no reason to believe it will be any different than the coverage of last weekend’s pro-rights rally.

UPDATE (five minutes after posting):  I forgot to mention this rally was competing with the International Sportsmen’s Expo, the big Crossroads of the West gun show, and the Winter Range – SASS National Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting at Ben Avery Shooting Range Facility.

UPDATE 2 (9:34AM 2/24/13):  Local CBS affiliate KPHO 5 covered the rally without any fear-mongering nonsense.

CBS 5 – KPHO

President Obama’s OFA campaign machine, recently renamed Organizing For Action, called for a National Day of Action in support of laws that would limit your right to self-defense, ban guns and magazines, and devote your tax dollars to the creation of anti-gun propaganda.  I was curious what an anti-gun rally looked like, so I headed over to a planned location today for a better look.

From the Arizonan’s For Gun Safety mailer:

a number of rallies at local Congressional offices to promote the President’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence, including Universal Background Checks, a Ban on Assault Weapons and High Capacity Ammunition Magazines, a National Gun Trafficking Law, and Research on Gun Violence by the Centers for Disease Control.

Here’s a photo outside of Congressman Matt Salmon’s Gilbert, AZ office, 15 minutes into the big protest.

I kept looking around for this protest, because surely it would be a large gathering, based on the amount of time the media provides to anti-rights groups and their anti-gun agenda.  Surely, the balance in viewpoints the media claims to strive for would indicate that this should be a big rally, dwarfing the turnout for the pro-Second Amendment rally held at the state capitol last weekend.

I counted six police officers outside watching the building, which is five more than I saw at last weekend’s pro-gun rally, so I had to be at the right place.  The officers were keeping a close eye on me, probably because of my snazzy GUTNTAG seasonings T-shirt.  As I was leaving, I finally spotted a group of people gathered on a balcony at the same building where Congressman Salmon’s Arizona office is located.  I can’t be certain these six to ten people were protesters, or just office workers outside on a smoke break, as they didn’t have any signs.  If they were exercising their right to petition an elected official, I wasn’t about to interfere with their rights.

So there you have it, that’s what an anti-rights/anti-gun rally looks like in Arizona.   Keep this in mind when the news media gives equal, or greater, amounts of airtime to anti-gun groups in the name of “balance”.