South Carolina: Gov Nikki Haley supports Constitutional Carry

From The State newspaper (South Carolina):

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday that she backs a proposal that would make it legal for most South Carolinians to carry guns – concealed or in the open – without a permit or the training that the state currently requires. 

Haley made her comments after she signed into law a bill that allows gun owners with licenses to carry concealed weapons into businesses that serve alcohol – restaurants and bars – as long as they do not drink alcohol and the businesses did not bar guns. 

After signing the restaurant and bar bill, Haley said she backs a pending state Senate bill, called the “Constitutional Carry Act,” that would eliminate the state’s current permitting and training requirements for citizens who wish to carry firearms. 

“Criminals are dangerous, and I think that every resident should be allowed to protect themselves from criminals,” Haley said when asked by The State to respond to some state senators’ fears that doing away with the permitting and training requirements could threaten the public. 

State Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, the chief sponsor of the constitutional-carry proposal, says the 2nd Amendment gives Americans the right to carry firearms without any government restrictions. 

However, it is unlikely Bright’s bill will pass this year. It faces significant opposition in the Senate and still must clear the Senate committee where it nearly died last week. . . .

South Carolina: Concealed carry in Restaurants that serve alcohol and bars, ONLY two states will still ban guns in restaurants that serve alcohol

From The State newspaper (South Carolina):

Gov. Nikki Haley has signed a bill allowing people with concealed-weapon permits to bring their guns into restaurants and bars in South Carolina, if the businesses do not prohibit it. 

The law took effect with Haley's signature Tuesday. 

The Republican governor stresses it is illegal for people to drink alcohol while carrying a gun. Under the law, anyone caught would have the permit revoked for five years, plus face up to two years in prison and a $2,000 fine. 

Businesses can post a sign barring concealed weapons. . . .

North Carolina now allows concealed carry in restaurants serving alcohol and bars and in March Illinois will soon allow it also.  With South Carolina's new law, only two states will still have such a ban.  The map below doesn't show these changes.

Defensive gun use by concealed carry permit holder in Texas

From the Port Arthur The News (Texas):

Multiple witnesses on scene told police that Elmore was shot after pointing a handgun at a patron outside of the bar and the patron lawfully defended himself, according to a story that ran in the Jan. 7 edition of the Port Arthur News. . . . .

More Obamacare problems: funny enrollment numbers and the cost of getting people enrolled

From Fox News:

The Obama administration’s latest rosy scenario about 3.3 million consumers signing up for health care plans is facing skepticism from top insurance industry officials, who estimate that somewhere in the range of 10 to 25 percent of those “enrollees” actually have not yet paid their premiums and are not fully enrolled 

“The numbers are not as high as 3.3 million -- it’s lower,” one senior insurance industry source told Fox News. “Those numbers are inflated. The question is how much.” 

Industry officials tell Fox that some insurance companies have privately reported up to 30 percent of enrollees have not paid up, while other companies believe a higher percentage of customers have taken care of their premiums. The senior insurance industry source suggested it averages out to roughly 10 to 25 percent of enrollees not yet paying into the system, and thus those individuals do not really have insurance. . . .

This would imply that instead of 3.3 million, the number would be 2.48 to 2.97 million.  It also appears that the costs of the getting people enrolled have been pretty large, though the numbers that I have seen have some problems -- particularly in that they include development costs for the website that will be useful for many years, not just one.  From Investors' Business Daily:

How much does it cost taxpayers to sign up one ObamaCare enrollee? In President Obama's home state of Hawaii, it's $56,819. 

The Obama administration gave Hawaii $205 million in grants over the past three years to set up its state-run exchange. But so far, only 3,614 Hawaiians have filled out applications — just 40% of the state's enrollment goal. 

Even if Hawaii were to reach its 9,000 target, it would still cost nearly $23,000 for each enrollee. 

Hawaii's low sign-up numbers have state officials scrambling to figure out what to do next year, when its exchange is supposed to rely on excise taxes charged to insurers selling through the Hawaii Health Connector. 

Washington, D.C., meanwhile, received $133.6 million in federal grants to build its exchange, but so far has signed up just 5,090 — for a per-enrollee cost of $26,242.
Ironically, the city where Obama signed ObamaCare into law is just 12% toward its enrollment goal, the second worst rate in the country. . . .

Interview on the Dennis Miller Show

While most of the discussion here was on Obamacare, the last fifth of the interview was on the new Crime Prevention Research Center.  The audio of the interview is available here (1:17 to 1:28 EST PM, 02/13/2014).

Wyoming State House passes bill to allow permitted concealed handguns in schools

The bill is restrictive in that you have to depend on schools to allow these guns to be carried by staff.  It also will continue the ban on others being able to carry on school property.  Still this is a step in the right direction.  From Fox News:

The Wyoming House has advanced a bill that would permit local school boards to allow teachers and other school workers who hold concealed carry permits to carry guns at schools. 

The House voted 54-to-6 on Thursday in favor of a bill sponsored by Cheyenne Republican John Eklund. 

Eklund says he believes the state needs to act on the issue urgently. He says there's little if any law enforcement in many rural areas and says school workers need to be ready to protect themselves and their students. . . .

For those interested in gun control issues, please visit the Crime Prevention Research Center

The Crime Prevention Research Center is a great resource for everyone who is interested in learning about a variety of different gun control issues.  The information is available here.

Newest Fox News piece: "It may soon be easy to carry a permitted concealed handgun in California"

John Lott's newest piece at Fox News starts this way:

California may soon join 42 other states in letting people carry concealed handguns once they meet certain objective criteria. 

Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state couldn’t ban both concealed and open carry guns. The court also struck down the so-called “good cause” requirement for getting a permit, saying that concern for one’s personal safety should be sufficient justification. 

The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to “keep and bear arms.” To “bear” means to carry. 

 Ironically, California may have opened the door to make it much easier for people to get concealed handgun permits by recently banning people from openly carrying guns. The court wrote that while it might indeed be constitutional for a state to ban concealed handguns or to ban people openly carrying handguns, it simply can’t ban both options. 

Counties such as Los Angeles have only let a few hundredpeople get concealed handgun permits out of 7.5 million adults. In San Diego, only about 700 out of 2.4 million can carry. And in San Francisco, no one is granted a permit to carry a gun. 

In Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the few lucky people getting permits are big donors to a sheriff’s re-election campaign or a sheriff’s personal friend. In other counties, such as Stanislaus County in northern California, the key to getting a permit seems to be either an influential politician or a prominent businessman. . . .

The rest of the piece is available here.

What do Democrats know about what will happen to the Keystone Pipeline that they aren't publicly telling others?

I know that this article hits the corruption issue, but the other issue is whether Senator Kaine knows something about whether Obama is going to ever approve the pipeline.  Has Obama let a former DNC chair in on some inside information?  From Fox News:

Democrats who oppose the Keystone XL pipeline have thousands of dollars invested in direct competitors to the company looking to build the pipeline, public records show. 

A recent environmental assessment by the State Department was seen as a step toward the pipeline’s approval, but Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., remains opposed to its construction.
“In my view, there is now enough evidence to conclude that construction of this pipeline is not in America’s long-term interest,” Kaine said in a statement on the review. 

The freshman Democrat has between $15,000 and $50,000 invested in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, according to his most recent financial disclosure. Kinder Morgan is looking to build a pipeline that would directly compete with Keystone. 

Kinder Morgan is considering expanding its Canadian pipeline infrastructure with an expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which carries oil sands crude from Alberta to refineries and export terminals on Canada’s west coast. . . .

Are Domino's Pizza Delivery Workers Robbed more frequently than other deliverymen?

This story is all too typical.  From the Fox affiliate in Orlando, Florida.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office is investigating the robbery of a Domino's pizza delivery driver Sunday afternoon in Palm Coast. 

The driver told deputies she got lost trying to make her way to Belle Terre Parkway, and instead found herself on Powder Hill Drive where she saw two men and asked for directions.  

Investigators say one of the men approached her car and lifted his shirt to show a handgun and began demanding money from her. 

Officials say one of the suspects fired a shot into her vehicle hitting LCD screen on the radio in the center console as the victim tried to drive away. . . . 

Yet, Domino's pizza deliverymen can't carry a permitted concealed handgun for protection. The question is whether other delivery services allow delivery people to carry guns and what is the robbery rate that they face.

The Swedish government's destruction of the family

Originally the Swedish tax system was purposely set up to make women join the labor for.  With its very progressive tax rates and each individual being taxed on their own income, not the family's income, families are much better off having two people earn $50,000 each than one earning $100,000.  There is an additional point that was original noted by Sherwin Rosen.  From the WSJ:

Swedish author and educator Jonas Himmelstrand says although parents are given long parental leaves to spend time with their children in the first year of life, the Swedish system of universal day care could encourage parents to disconnect after that time. 

"The state is sending out the message that you don't have to raise your children yourself," says Mr. Himmelstrand. "Day care and schools will raise your kids, and when the kids come home, you can just be their friend." . . .

With essentially free day care, parents are giving up a lot financially to stay home with their kids.  It is also hard to convince grandparents or others to help out.  After all, why are the grandparents willing to be inconvenienced when free day care is available?

My own belief is that separating parents from their children is all part of the government's scheme to indoctrinate children.

Newest Fox News piece: "ABC News reports on guns mislead Americans"

Hitting likes on Facebook for this piece would be greatly appreciated.  My latest piece at Fox News started this way:

Gun control advocates not only push new fees and taxes on guns to reduce ownership, but they also employ another tactic: scaring people into not owning guns. 

Last week, on January 31, ABC News saturated its news programs with the alleged danger of gun ownership. 

It started early in the day with a segment on “Good Morning America,” then came a report on the evening news, and finally an entire hour devoted to the subject on "20/20."
The reports all focused on the dangers guns pose for children. 

Although a producer for ABC News spent hours asking me questions about this subject before the reports aired on various news programs, our discussions seemed to have had no impact. 

What I told them just didn’t fit the type of story they wanted to tell. 

The producers appeared to want to argue that gun ownership had fallen, dropping as low as 33%, implying that gun ownership really is not all that popular any more. 

Yet, as I explained to the producer I spoke with, the General Social Survey poll they wanted to cite was unusual. Other polls had found much higher rates of gun ownership. 

Indeed, I pointed out, much to her surprise, ABC News’ own polls show that gun ownership has changed little, currently holding at 43%. But in their reports, ABC didn’t even mention their own polls, instead cherry-picking the one with the lowest number.
ABC’s goal was to make people believe that little, innocent children frequently play with guns, accidentally hurting themselves and others. 

"World News" anchor Diane Sawyer warned: “Every hour a child is rushed to the emergency room because of gun shots.” . . .

The rest of the piece and how ABC completely misreported number on accidental gun deaths is available here.

Six days after the piece was originally posted, it is still producing some interest.

Gun Control Debate at the University Club of New York, Tuesday, February 11th, noon to 2 PM

On Tuesday, February 11th, CPRC's John Lott will debate Carl T. Bogus, Professor of Law, Roger Williams University and former board member for Handgun Control and the Brady Campaign.  The debate on the topic of gun control will go from 12:45 to 2 PM at the University Club of New York.  There will be a book signing after the debate.

Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns has fallen by over 15 percent since December 2012

From the Washington Examiner:

As it has broadened its attacks on lawmakers and Second Amendment groups like the National Rifle Association, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's aggressive “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” group has experienced a sharp 15-percent drop in mayor-members. 

According to a new count, the group’s membership has gone from a high of 1,046 following the shootings at Newtown, Conn.’s Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 to a low today of 885. 

That’s a fast drop of 161 members. 

The shrinking membership has been noticed and charted by pro-gun groups and congressional supporters of the Second Amendment as evidence that the public and public officials are losing their appetite for greater gun control. . . .

With over 35,000 cities and towns in the US, that means MAIG accounts for about 2.5 percent of all mayors and many of their towns are extremely small. 

Obama setting record rate of appointing campaign donors to ambassadorial posts

From Fox News:

. . . A string of gaffes by some of his recent nominees has thrust the Washington practice of appointing donors to foreign posts back into the spotlight. The administration faced difficult questions from the press last week, for instance, after Obama's nominee to Argentina admitted he'd never been there.  

But a look back at how Obama's appointments stack up to those of his predecessors shows it's not just business as usual -- if anything, the current president is using diplomatic gigs to reward bundlers and contributors seemingly more than ever.  

The American Foreign Service Association, which tracks ambassadorial appointments, has found that in Obama's second term, more than 53 percent of these appointments were political. Less than half have come from the career Foreign Service pool.  

"Obama is pushing the envelope," Christian Whiton, former State Department adviser in the George W. Bush administration, told Fox News.  

The United States is just about the only major democracy that still uses diplomatic posts to routinely reward political friends. Historically, less than a third of these appointments have been political in nature. Under former President Bill Clinton, 28 percent were political; under former President George W. Bush, that number was 30 percent.
Under Obama, the number has climbed to 37 percent overall. By the time he leaves office, it could well be higher. . . .

More news stories of defensive gun uses, first several have defensive gun uses by women

Recently I posted six videos of women using guns to stop violent crime.  Here is one video with multiple great local news stories.  The first few stories involve defensive gun uses by women.


Thanks very much to Victor for supplying me with this link.

More broken promises: Obamacare was supposed to provide a wider choice of doctors and lower premiums, but it is doing neither

"70 percent of insurers are offering narrow or ultra narrow hospital networks"

By 2-to-1 margin Americans believe in More Guns, Less Crime

This is from a Fox News poll given from January 15-17, 2013, and it was done right after the Newtown attack.  Presumably the results at other times would have been even more lopsided.

Income growth has gotten worse since Obama became president

From the New York Times:

But the report also made plain what many Americans feel in their bones: Wages are stuck, and barely rose at all in 2013. They were up 1.9 percent last year, or a mere 0.4 percent after accounting for inflation. Not only was that increase even smaller than the one recorded in 2012, it was half the normal rate of wage gains in the two decades before the last recession. . . . 

“People are running in place in terms of their living standards,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “There’s almost no growth in spending power.” As recently as 2008, when the economy sank deeper into recession and Lehman Brothers collapsed, wages still managed to rise by 3.5 percent, before inflation. But the combination of a backlog of workers left behind in the recession’s wake, as well as productivity gains resulting from new technologies, means salaries may not rebound anytime soon. . . .

In understanding the data for 2008, realize that the price level fell slightly -0.13 percent that year. So that 3.5 percent growth in wages was entirely real.  

Gun control groups planning on pushing for another gun control vote in the Senate

From the Newtown Bee:

Brian Malte, senior policy director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence , said advocates will push to get another vote in the Senate on legislation that would broaden FBI background checks of gun buyers. That bill failed last year to get the 60 votes it needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate. Supporters were five votes short, and it’s doubtful they would be able to win them in an election year that features several Democrats running tough races in states that favor gun rights. . . .

Irony: Obama Admin, which cut off funding to Project Child Safe, the free child lock program for firearms, now Department of Health and Human Services may launch a public safety campaign about the dangers of gun ownership

The evidence seems pretty strong that gunlock laws are dangerous, disarming law-abiding citizens so that they are unable to defend themselves.  So I wasn't too upset when the Obama administration ended the funding for Project Child Safe in 2009, which provided free gunlocks.  But the Obama administration's motivation was probably that they just didn't want to have anything to do with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which was involved with the program.

Anyway, it looks like the Obama administration is planning a public safety campaign to "educate" people about the dangers of gun ownership.

“As you might imagine, those are conversations that we aren't ready to speak to the media about,” said Erika Soto Lamb, spokeswoman for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group formed and funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

But others, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they are hoping the president will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a public safety campaign about the dangers of gun ownership, much like the agency did about the dangers of smoking. Gun control advocates are also pressing President Obama to spend more money on research about guns and gun ownership. 

In last week’s State of the Union message, in his only reference to guns, Obama said, “I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.”
But the president did not say what steps he would take using his authority. . . . 

In a study released in September, the NPA also recommended that the HHS “build an evidence-based approach to gun violence prevention, which includes restoration of robust funding and training for epidemiological research in this area (through the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and gathering data that tracks gun-related deaths and injuries, safety interventions, and the impact of measures to reduce the incidence of gun violence over time.” . . .