There is a world of difference between someone who thinks that she can lead and someone who has demonstrated it by his accomplishments.
{2020 SOTU Speech breakdown and mediocre democratic response (I’m feeling generous tonight) below.}
(9)Nuh Uh.
(1)Court of Appeals AFFIRMS Arena Authority Preemption
I mentioned ‘Preemption’ the other day.
Apparently, last week the Michigan appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that preemption is indeed still a thing. It cleared the air that ‘authorities’ which are a subdivision of government fall under the State’s Act 319 of 1990, but also properly noted that the lessees CAN enforce their own rules with regard to publicly owned arenas, etc.
Several years ago, the Lansing center folks booted a bunch of open carry guys from the Republican convention which was awkward, because well ..Republicans are supposed to be pro second amendment, right? No more, unless the MI GOP SPECIFICALLY issues a no firearms rule for its conventions, right?
Good job, and well done to our brothers at Michigan Open Carry and Michigan Gun Owners Inc..
Until the next challenge.
(12)Nuh Uh.(0)And the rest of the conservative agenda?
Michigan 8th District U.S. Congressman Mike Bishop’s campaign website has been scrubbed updated to remove any mention of the Second Amendment from its Issues page. Or anything else remotely controversial in the conservative agenda. His new campaign website Issues page has a bunch of anodyne pablum, but no mention of firearms:
His new, Second Amendment free, Issues page
His previous, 25 September 2017, Issues page:
2nd Amendment
Supporting our 2nd amendment right to bear arms, Mike Bishop championed right-to-carry legislation, received A/A+ rating from NRA and is personally a gun owner with a CPL.
The Rochester Republican has not made any public statements indicating changes in his position on the Second Amendment, but the update of his campaign website speaks volumes.
Bishop faces no opposition in the August 7th Republican Primary, but tough Democratic opposition in the November 6th General Election. Chris Smith, a labor-backed professor at MSU’s School of Criminal Justice, and Elissa Slotkin, an Obama Administration DoD appointee, are both running. The winner of this Democratic primary match up is expected to be well funded in the Fall.
(20)Nuh Uh.(0)Big Brother Is Watching
There has been an interesting development in the case of two individuals who were arrested for open carry in the anteroom of the Dearborn, Michigan Police Department Headquarters. Two men from central Michigan were arrested for entering the anteroom of the Dearborn Police Department Headquarters building while carrying, and filming themselves while doing so. They were reportedly using open carry to protest what they believed was a bogus traffic stop which they were subjected to earlier in Dearborn.
James Baker and Brandon Vreeland have been abandoned by Michigan’s open carry movement, probably due to the allegation that they were using open carry to protest something entirely unrelated to Second Amendment rights, but it does not appear that their actions actually violated any Michigan law. At least one of the two was wearing ‘body armor’, which added to the provocative nature of their actions. Carry in police stations is actually not prohibited by Michigan law, and it is a violation of Michigan law to prohibit firearms in a police station outside of secured areas.
Fun side note: When I was a kid in the 1960’s, I used to shoot small bore rifle matches in the basement shooting range of this very building, which was even then the DPD police station. How times have changed!
Now we have a remarkable discovery from Nicholas Somberg (P80416), the defense attorney for Brandon Vreeland of Jackson: The Dearborn Police secretly monitored the two ‘Second Amendment activists’ and essentially ambushed both men as they were filming themselves walking into the Dearborn Police headquarters.
Here is the interesting development, as reported by the Detroit Free Press:
(13)Nuh Uh.(2)Phillip Hofmeister (President of Michigan OPen Carry, Inc.) addresses Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan regarding his stance on guns.
Governor Snyder,
I am a frank man, as many people who know me could echo to you, so I will get straight to the point: you need gun owners this November. I know you have read the polling numbers, it’s real close — you might lose. Those few ten-thousand gun owners that won’t vote for you (along with me) may make the difference. Aside from the people who mindlessly follow the NRA, you don’t have them. I know many of them are planning to do one of the following regarding their vote for Governor: under-vote, vote third party (Libertarian or Constitutional), or vote for Mark Schauer (just to teach you and the Republicans a lesson).
I’m not sure which I will do yet, but I do know this: I won’t be voting for you. The purpose of this letter is to express what you can do to win my vote (and more importantly my personal support and endorsement). It’s simple, really. I only ask you to do 2 things:
Yes, between now and November the NRA-ILA will sing your praise for passing its FOIA Package. I will yell just as loudly, that FOIA package accomplished nothing. Here’s the thing you and the NRA-ILA don’t want people to know: these records were already exempt from FOIA under Mager V. Department of State Police (Michigan Supreme Court, 1999, 460 Mich. 134). I will make sure as many people know this simple fact as possible — that despite all the NRA’s praise, signing this bill accomplished nothing.
So really, that’s it — those two, small things. Let’s face it: the anti-gunners are already going to vote for Mark Schauer so you won’t be losing their vote as it has already been lost. Not to mention, the number of pro-gun voters in Michigan seemingly far surpasses the number of anti-gun voters. All you have is gain. Do these two things and I will travel the state with you as well as sing your praise on every social media.
I look forward to working with you to accomplish these goals. Mr. Posthumus knows how to contact me.
Rick Snyder is no friend of Gun Owners, at present.
(25)Nuh Uh.(0)Mi GOP Supports gun rights, right? Nah The death of a perception...
Many of you may be aware that I was asked to disarm nearly a year and a half ago at the Michigan GOP State Convention. Just a few weeks ago (8/23/2014) at the Michigan GOP State Convention in Novi, my dear colleague and good friend Tom Lambert (Vice-President of Michigan Open Carry, Inc) followed in my footsteps of having my rights disregarded or minimized by the GOP.
(29)Nuh Uh.(1)The thoughts of Michigan Open Carry, Inc's president on Rick Snyder.
I know I’m preaching here to many that already know this. I’ve said it before, but I feel the need to say it again. Rick Snyder is a no good piece of “s” when it comes to gun owners. It’s my humble opinion that we would be much farther along in Michigan if Virg Bernero had be elected governor in 2010.
Is Virg a strong pro-gun politician? Far from it — exactly the opposite, in fact. If Virg was dictator, every gun would be banned. That being said, Virg is a Democrat. Why is that important? In 2011/2012 we had well over 2/3rds Republicans in the State Senate. The State House was just short of a 2/3rd Republican majority. Given this, it was like pulling teeth to get both houses to adopt pro-gun legislation. Why? RICK! Both the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader have over the past 3 years done nothing but carry the water for our dear Governor. You see, you don’t get to become the Speaker of the House nor the Senate Majority leader by willfully breaking the 11th commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. Both of these guys and most of the Republicans in the legislature won’t pass something unless Rick is okay with it.
As it happens, Rick isn’t very pro-gun for a Republican. It’s rumored his roommate was shot in college and that has made a long term impression on him regarding guns.
If Virg had been elected, on the other hand, the super-majority pro-gun legislator would have sent him pro-gun legislation, just to spite him because he’s a Democrat. Of course, he would have veto’d it — but that is okay. With 2/3rds of each chamber we would have easily over-ridden his veto. Regarding the 2 or 3 missing votes (Republican wise) in the House, I could have found them on the Democrat side of the aisles in people like Richard LeBlanc in 2011/2012. I maintain if Virg had been elected, Michigan would be a constitutional carry state right now with fewer Pistol Free Zones.
Now, I’m not going to tell anyone how to vote this year…but I plan to vote for a Republican legislator and a Democrat Governor — even if said Democrat is flaming anti-gun.
These thoughts are the views of Phillip Hofmeister and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Michigan Open Carry, Inc.
(18)Nuh Uh.(9)
