Justin Buist

I’ll be honest here: After the Florida debate I really started liking Mike Huckabee. I think he gave a good showing and certainly seems sincere.

It was rather pleasing to me that he placed #2 in their text messing poll too.

So, with that, here’s Mike Huckabee’s official page on the 2nd amendment:

The Second Amendment is primarily about tyranny and self-defense, not hunting. The Founding Fathers wanted us to be able to defend ourselves from our own government, if need be, and from all threats to our lives and property.

Well, I’m certainly in agreement there. This is pretty close to the Ron Paul message.

Second Amendment rights belong to individuals, not cities or states. I oppose gun control based on geography.

Good.

I consistently opposed banning assault weapons and opposed the Brady Bill.

I’m not sure what particular “Brady Bill” this is, but whatever it was, opposition to it had to be good.

As Governor, I protected gun manufacturers from frivolous law suits.

Not sure how, but thumbs up on that one.

I was the first Governor in the country to have a concealed handgun license.

Rather trivial, but again, thumbs up on that one.

What, did you think I was going to try and tear the guy down? Nah.

While at the local gun show this Saturday a fellow asked me what I thought about Huckabee and my response was something along the lines of, “Well, I really don’t have anything against him. I think he’d be a decent candidate but he’s just not pulling in the campaign funding like Ron Paul is. See, Huckabee’s goal for October is about 1 million dollars, Dr. Paul is shooting for 4 million and as of today he’s already around 2 million.” At that point another Paul supporter said something, distracted the guy, and the conversation was over.

Bummer. I’d have like to chatted with him more He had already stated that his first choice, Brownback, dropped out, so this was certainly a guy willing to entertain the long-shot candidates out there.

The only thing I had heard about Huckabee earlier was from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

Forward to 2:35 for the Huckabee bit, unless you want to watch Jon Stewart make fun of Giuliani for a bit. If you’re here, you’ll probably just want to watch the whole thing.

Now, to borrow a line from Alan Jackson, I talk to Jesus, and I talk to God, but the thought of angels guiding my bullet to an antelope makes me a bit uneasy. It’s not that I have an issue with hunting, I don’t, it’s just that think a good clean killing shot has more to do with bullet selection, powder charge, optics, shot placement, distance, that kind of thing.

At this point I’d say that Huckabee is my #2 choice. I’m aware that there were some corruption issues when he was governor of Arkansas discussed in this article which doesn’t sit well with me, but I’ll take that over a Romney or Giuliani right now.

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Sunday evening the owners of the lab we were thinking about keeping came by to pick him up. It just wasn’t working.

There was nothing “wrong” with the dog that we couldn’t fix, behaviour wise, but there just wasn’t any spark there. Now that he’s gone I realize how much extra frustration he was bringing me while I tried to work from home. It would have probably all worked out in a month or so, but given that neither of us has a “spark” for the gigantic lovable lug, it just wasn’t worth the effort.

Besides, there were another 2 homes ready to take the guy. If he was going to be put down, we’d have kept him, but since that’s not the case, we’ll let somebody else have a go.

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Yeah, I didn’t go, so nothing to report there.

However, I found out today that the event was covered by The Huffington Post.

I have only one real quibble with the article:

This crowd was packing heat.

Negative, ghost rider. As per Michigan law any establishment that can seat more than 2500 people carrying a concealed weapon is not permitted. The organizers of the event also prohibit loaded weapons from being carried into the event, and all firearms must be disabled in some way, shape, or form, from firing before they’re allowed in.

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I spent about 4 hours today at the local gun show. The majority of that time was at the Ron Paul 2008 both trying to get information on Dr. Paul into folk’s hands.

I’m not terribly surprised but what I saw today, but it was still a bit strange at times.

I’d say about half the people that would give us the time of day had heard of Ron Paul. This is about what I’d expect. People that’ll roll up to a political booth are likely keeping tabs on the election better than your average stranger off the street.

While not a majority a fair number of people that chatted with us were very familiar with Ron Paul but stated that they didn’t vote any more. They had usually given up on the matter for a decade or so. One said, “If I ever vote again, it’ll be for Ron Paul, but I’m just not sure it’s worth my time.” This person also commented on 9/11 being an inside job, and that he knew somebody that could confirm SEAL Team 6 was in NOLA and killed about 40 people there.

Reality aside: Who the fuck says something like that to a perfect stranger?

There were a good number of folks that walked up and when asked, “Have you heard of Ron Paul?” responded in the affirmative and proceeded to ask how much for the bumper stickers, yard signs, DVDs, etc. That was nice to see. For the record: They’re free for the taking.

For folks that were interested in the booth they seemed to be willing to scoop up material on the guy and I think they were the types that would actually read it. That’s good.

Another point of interest is that there was only one other Republican booth there: Mitt Romney. That was interesting. The booth was manned by paid staffers. The Ron Paul booth was manned by volunteers. I snagged some of the Romney campaign material on the 2nd amendment and it seems he’s our guy because he reduced the licensing restrictions on target pistols, helped clarify the legal status of a muzzle loader, and extended the license period for guns in general.

Well, that’s just super!

Meanwhile, the officlal Ron Paul hand-out on the 2nd amendment talked about his introduction of a bill to repeal the assault weapons ban, to remove the instant backround check requirement, and the highlighted portion on the front of the brochure clearly stated that the 2nd amendment isn’t about hunting, and it isn’t about self defense, it’s our defence against tyranny.

There was only one person that was openly hostile to us. I found that surprising because it was only one. When a member asked him, in passing, if he had hear of Ron Paul he said, “Yeah, I have… and you guys are in the wrong place. He’s against the war!” I would have actually enjoyed chatting with the man but he didn’t seem up for that. I’m sure I wouldn’t have changed his mind, and that wouldn’t be my goal, but I would like to know why he’d put execution of a foreign war above his right to keep and bear arms. He was obviously well informed of the various candidates in this election, and that’s the type of person I want to talk to.

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It must be something in the air. Bruce of No Looking Backwards talks about Rudy and guns today.

The only difference between Hillary, Obama, Rudy, and Mitt on guns is how fast they’re back pedaling on the issue now that they’re in the national spotlight.

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Astude readers, that right there is Rudy Giuliani giving a speech at the Million Mom March sitting next to Jim Brady of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Firearm Ownership Violence, formerly Handgun Control, Inc.

This shouldn’t be any surprise if you’ve been following Rudy Giuliani’s past when it comes to gun control.

In 1993, Giuliani met with then-President Clinton to discuss national gun registration and supported the Brady bill, which had recently passed, but Rudy argued that it didn’t go far enough. Clinton, largely crediting Giuliani for the idea, enthusiastically sent Atty. Gen. Janet Reno off to develop a gun-licensing and registration system.

In May 1994, as the battle over the ban on certain semi-automatic firearms reached its height, Giuliani threw his support behind the ban. On the eve of the final vote, he noted that so-called assault weapons “have no legitimate purpose.” When the ban passed, Giuliani commented that “this is an important step toward curtailing the indiscriminate proliferation of guns across the nation.”

Hat tip to Jeff Soyer for that link, I found it via this post on his blog.

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We got ourselve a two-fer tonight.

First is Ryan Horsley, of Red’s Trading Post, who got a letter from Romney regarding his take on the 2nd amendment:

I firmly believe in the importance of responsible gun ownership and sales. As a member of the National Rifle Association, I do not believe that we need any more federal gun control laws. I also recognize that some types of extreme weapons, those which were not meant for hunting, sport, or self-defense, have no business being on the streets.

I’m going to wager Mr. Romney wouldn’t agree with me on the subject of using an MP5 in defense of my home.

Next up Bruce, having recently fled Massachusetts for the Live Free Or Die State, provides us with this video clip of Romney in the Massachusetts Governor debates:

Apparently Romney used to think that Massachusetts’ gun laws were great and Bruce explains what Massachusetts gun laws actually are. An example:

(i) …make it a criminal offense for an unlicensed individual to walk out of a public gun range, and into the parking lot with a spent shell casing stuck in the sole of his or her shoe?

If the above “license” thing sounds weird to you that’s because Massachusetts requires you to have a license to own a gun. Any gun. Just like Cuba.

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Theresa and I went out today and picked up a shock collar for Chuck Norris. With a 2nd dog in the house it’s become apparent that we need something to discipline him with. The dog #2, Cooper, isn’t up for playing around Chuck will follow him around and nip at him constantly. It’s annoying for Cooper, it results in a dog barking match, and general chaos. If I get up from wherever I am and walk over the behavior stops… then starts again as soon as I leave. So, I need something that can be applied while the incorrect behavior is occuring.

This should also be helpful in keeping him from leaving our yard. Cooper is really good about stayin in our back yard, but Chuck hasn’t ever quite gotten the hang of this. If he leaves the property and you chase him he thinks it’s a game. He’s also horrible about coming to you when you call him by name when he’s outside.

So, shock collar time.

Yeah, people might think it’s cruel. Whatever. My brother and I tried the thing out before I put it on the dog. There are 10 levels of shock to the thing. We tried it out on setting #1 first, and that didn’t do more than just tingle. We gradually ramped it up until we were at #7 and that was PAIN. Shit that hurt! I put it on the dog at setting #2 first but that didn’t do anthing to him. At #4 he notices the pain, but it isn’t strong enough to make him yelp. He just makes a retarded face .

Based on today’s results, I probably won’t even need the thing in a week.

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Previous entry here.

The new dog, Cooper, was brought over tonight. We let the two of them romp around in the baement for about an hour getting to know each other. It seems to be going well. Chuck Norris has been mounted a few times. The new dog makes Chuck look small, and he’s a solid 80 pounds.

I’ll see if I can get some pictures tomorrow or something. Right now I’m kinda worn out. I’m getting over a slight flu, sneezing and coughing and the like.

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It’s quite likely that this blog is going to morph into a Ron Paul endorsement fest pretty soon.

I will make no apologies for that: Of all the candidates running in the primaries, Democrat and Republican, Ron Paul is head and shoulders above everybody else when it comes to the 2nd amendment. That’s sort of my pet issue.

I know he’s a long shot in most folks minds. I expected his campaign to fizzle out in the exploratory phase. I really did. But it didn’t. He kept chugging along, momentum grew, and suddenly he’s so popular in the internet that nobody can run a poll without getting smashed with Ron Paul supporters.

While I took comfort in knowing that there were legions of people that liked the same guy I did I wrote it off: Internet fan boys do not win elections.

Then the fund raising drives started. Ron Paul was bringing in cash. Not huge amounts, but respectable amounts, and he wasn’t spending it all like a drunken sailor either. It was obvious that he was building up his war chest.

Then the Q3 results came out: Ron Paul got 5.6 million dollars in this last quarter. I believe that puts him in the #3 spot for Republicans with cash in hand to wage a campaign. Of that 5.6 million dollars guess how much was from corporate donations? It’s less than $7,000. The Ron Paul crowd isn’t just hitting every online poll they can find, they’re putting their money where their mouth is. Myself included.

The Ron Paul campaign isn’t just reaching out to Republicans that are unsatisfied, or disgusted, with the neoconservative movement. He’s reaching a portion of the population that never had an interest in politics before.

He’s different, and he’s just different enough that I think if he gets the Republican nomination he stands a good chance of winning the general election.

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