Tampa mayor Bob Buckthorn wrote to the governor, requesting firearms be banned at the RNC convention in August. The governor answered in the negative and for that we thank him.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has rejected a request to ban visitors from carrying concealed weapons in downtown Tampa during the Republican National Convention in August.

The request came from Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who wrote Scott to ask for an executive order to override state and federal laws allowing people with concealed weapons permits to carry firearms.

Buckhorn and others are concerned about people carrying guns at such a large, politically charged gathering.

In a same-day response to Buckhorn’s letter Tuesday, Scott, a Republican, said banning guns in the downtown area would infringe upon citizens’ constitutionally protected rights to legally arm themselves.

“Like you, I share the concerns that ‘violent anti-government protests or other civil unrest’ can pose dangers,” Scott wrote in his two-page response. “But it is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law.

Scott also said that his understanding is guns are already banned inside the convention center and in the surrounding “safety zone” created by the Secret Service.

Fox News

The man gets it. And for that we are grateful.

Bank of Something, but it sure isn't America

Apparently doing business with a firearm related company is too risky for one of the largest banking institutions in the U.S..

McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing and McMillan Group International have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. But no more: In a recent meeting, the mega-bank told the firearms company that its business is no longer welcome.

Operations director Kelly McMillan told the Daily Caller that his company has never been late on a payment and has never bounced a check. The debt outstanding on its line of credit is at 61 percent.

But at the bank’s request, he said, the McMillan group of companies would soon be paying off its credit line and closing its accounts.

Writing Thursday on Facebook, McMillan described a meeting at his office with Ray Fox, a business banking Senior Vice President with the giant bank. What was originally scheduled as an “account analysis” meeting, however, quickly became a political smackdown.

The Bank of America emissary, he said, “spent 5 minutes talking about how McMillan has changed in the last 5 years and have become more of a firearms manufacturer than a supplier of accessories.”

“At this point I interrupted him,” McMillan said, and asked, ‘Can I possibly save you some time so that you don’t waste your breath? What you are going to tell me is that because we are in the firearms manufacturing business you no longer what my business.’”

Fox’s reply, according to McMillan? “That is correct.”

McMillan told TheDC that he plans to move his company’s account to “a more Second Amendment-friendly bank” as soon as it can be done.

He recalls telling the bank executive that he planned to tell the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, and his other gun-loving friends “that Bank of America is not firearms-industry-friendly.”

“You have to do what you must” was Fox’s reply, he said. “We have to assess the risk of doing business with a firearms related industry.”

Daily Caller

Guess they don’t want our business, either.

H/T: Erinyes

I needed something to get my Monday started and Joan delivered! Here’s Ted Nugent and Piers Morgan talking about gun control…

Piers seems to be a useful idiot for leftists… but sometimes he’s not even useful. Good grief.

We went to a gun show at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium yesterday. And in spite of the fact that there was another gun show running concurrently in Dade county, the place was solidly packed. As in, can’t move, can’t breathe, think I’m bolting out the side door, sardine tin packed.

But, mission at hand, we persevered and Mike bought a stealthy new carry piece. He’d gone with Kel-Tec in mind, but I and every dealer he spoke with talked him out of it, so he ended up with a subcompact little Ruger LCP, a .380 double action with a laser. You can’t believe how tiny and light the thing is; like a deadly toy.

Gun show regulars in Dade county back in the early 90′s, people watching was half the fun for us. The crowds then were mostly… ‘aficionados’. Lots of strange shirts, bandanas, rough looking types…
This crowd was ‘just folks’. I only saw one Harley t-shirt. There were people of all ages, from every walk of life. The disparity between then and now was stunning.

Interesting facts about the auditorium – Opening in 1950, it cost just $450,000. in community donated funds to build.
The lobby floor features the names of WWII battles radiating from a floor seal and there’s also a statue of a Vietnam War soldier, donated by the Gold Star Mothers in the mid 1970’s.

The Ten Commandments sit out front. It IS city property and atheist groups have tried to get it removed, but evidently someone has fought for them. I was surprised and pleased to see them.

This image is stock from around 1990, but they look the same today.

Click for a larger image...

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t discriminate against the foolish…

This 18 year old mother blows my mind. Her husband died of cancer on Christmas day and she had the poise to shoot an intruder a week later.
You just want to reach out and give her a hug.

“I knew if I screamed I would give my position away in the house. And I wanted to see him first.”

She’s now gearing up to protect herself and her child from the accomplice. May God bless them and keep them safe.

Mason, Texas concealed weapons instructor Crockett Keller ran a controversial radio ad for his class, in which he stated that liberals and muslims are not welcome.

Texas DPS immediately began an investigation and released the statement:
“Conduct by an instructor that denied service to individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion would place that instructor’s certification by the Department at risk of suspension or revocation.”

Keller is unfazed by the government investigation, saying he’ll stop teaching if forced to include people who he feels are a danger to himself or this country:

Yahoo

If someone walked into the store and asked to take the class who was… sort of twitchy… Crockett could turn them down, or no? Does he have rights in this case or is he required to teach all comers, regardless? Not giving an experienced instructor any leeway in who he teaches is troubling… and frankly, frightening.

‘NO’ from the folks at A Human Right.

Florida’s Joe Carlucci Uniform Firearms Act, which gives gun regulation solely to the state, went into effect October 1st.

The Act is forcing cities and counties to modify their laws, as it makes all future and existing local government ordinances related to firearms regulation illegal. This has caused no little anxiety amongst city and county commissioners all over Florida.

Right here in my neck o’ the woods, our commissioners are upset, even frightened… and looking for ways to change it somehow.

I love how they always make it sound like the Dalton gang is going to ride up and whip out their Winchesters… In reality, they have nothing to fear from law abiding concealed carry permit holders! The bad guys will always find a way to bring a gun in somewhere and do evil with it… and the people carrying concealed can actually be a help if that happens.
Besides, Courthouses are lousy with LEOs, whose job it is to spot trouble, serve and protect… and then fill out reams of paperwork. Yeah, I know I changed it.

Yesterday about mid-morning, a crime occurred at our community clubhouse. It’s sort of across the street from us, diagonally speaking. So, this asshole walks in, all the way to the back where Ed, the treasurer, sits. It’s all very informal and the door is always unlocked. The asshole walks in like he owns the place, pulls a knife and demands Ed give him money. All Ed had on him was 5.00, so the asshole took it… made a phone call and then left! I’m sure the police have him by now, what with his prints all over everything and redial!

All-too-near, just-over-the-hedge Clubhouse of Horror

What if Ed hadn’t had any money? Would that have upset the asshole enough to use his knife? If I were sitting over there every day, I’d have a gun and would go with the familiar ‘just let me get my purse’. But I work out in the yard all the time unarmed… which now concerns me more than ever…

I’m getting off the point, of course. If the asshole had had enough money of his own, he wouldn’t have relied solely on a knife to rob Ed; he’d have used a gun, as all bad guys aspire to the largest, baddest weapon possible. The point, and I do have one, is that if Ed had his own gun, the asshole would have been stopped in his tracks and he’s still have his money.

Concealed carry holders have been kept out of county and state parks for years and now we’re free to go back… it’s a nice feeling.