Ed Avila is the owner of AR15.com. He’s just sold an arsenal of guns and gear in advance of his move from Farmington, NY to Texas. As you know, your humble scribe is in the midst of the same transition. A recent article in New Republic chronicled the whole gun guys goin’ south trend. And it’s true: civilian disarmament laws passed or about to pass in northern slave states have triggered an exodus southwards. I agree with the author’s point: aside from gun scribes (and the employees of gun manufacturers relocating to more firearms-friendly states) the push for disarmament is simply the last straw . . .
Truth be told, conservative-minded Northerners have been fleeing South for decades, escaping their home states’ high taxes, union domination and institutional corruption (leading to fiscal collapse). And now vilification. Check this comment under the New Republic piece:
I’m with Roi — this seems like a great thing for those of us who don’t get a secret thrill in our genitals every time we hold, stroke, caress, a gun. My view is that as long as gun owners shoot other gun owners, I have no problem with gun ownership. It’s when they start shooting those of us who don’t own guns that I object. Come after our lives, we come after your guns. That’s the deal. So, I’d be thrilled if all gun owners moved to Texas, Idaho and Florida. I give them all my word I will never mention the words “gun control” ever again as long as they agree to just shoot each other. One gun owner shooting another gun owner isn’t a tragedy, it’s natural selection.
It occurs to me that Northern gun owners are like Jews fleeing a country ahead of a pogrom. While I hope that the metaphor is ridiculous, I can imagine an anti-gun kristallnacht, where New York State SWAT teams swoop down on “illegal” AR-15 owners in a coordinated “law enforcement action.” One more Newtown and they’re there.
And speaking of mounting anti-gun fervor leading to flashpoint fascism, why did the New Republic author feel obliged to mention that all the gun owners headed south were white? For the same reason he wrote that TTAG makes a million dollars a year (we don’t). To stoke the fires of prejudice.
Mark my words: this will not end well. But at least I’ll be watching from the relative safety of a free state. That’s the theory anyway . . .
Ha. A million a year. That’s a good one.
Time to ask for that raise!
Hell why stop there? Raise, company car, corner office, a supermodel to clean your gun, and maintain your rifle…
It’s never wrong to make a dollar while giving a customer what he wants. Especially in a marketplace as large as the Internet. Better mouse trap = more money. Here’s hoping you blow right through that mark and beyond. That’s just the other side’s way of saying that your blog is effective.
He meant a million lira.
While I don’t blame anyone for moving because they are sick of their state’s policies, I would like to point out that if everyone leaves, there is no one left to fight with those who can’t. There comes a point where people have to be willing to stand up and say that they aren’t going to take it anymore. I’m not advocating violence or anything but actively opposing all unconstitutional policies. I don’t know about many of you, but I often contemplate when I am going to run for office in my state so I can help set the country straight and expose those who try to subvert our rights. If enough of us took up the cause, we could make a difference. It could take a very long time but it has to start some time. Mass exodus will just leave fewer states to stand up against federal grabbers who will seek to impose their will on free states.
^ THIS
and yet, recently the Dems were crowing about how shifting demographics could give them Texas in future elections. This may just reverse that supposed trend. The liberal states are a lost cause, lets not lose anymore conservative ones.
You’re still just delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later it will catch up with us at the federal level and there will be nothing a few pro gun states will be able to do about it.
“shifting demographics could give them Texas in future elections”
Do they mean: The stupid breed faster? That Idiocracy movie might be right after all…
Just remember, in the meantime, your tax dollars go to fund the opposition. I used to think like that, like the republic actually mattered. But we don’t live in a republic anymore, we live in a democracy, where the 50%+1 hold sway. And in slave states, those 50%+1 see nothing wrong with applying their majority tyranny while spending the entirety of tax dollars (and then some!).
The only way to fix a democracy is to kill or exile enough people that that 50%+1 is no longer made up of moochers and happy slaves. If you don’t want their blood on your hands, it’s better to leave them to their own sty.
er no, not to be impolite, but it is the slave states that are kind of funding the free states right now…
Political weapons have failed . The next tool in the bag is voting with your feet – that’s what you are seeing now. The next tool in the bag…is the last tool in the bag.
I dont agree.
“Mass exodus will just leave fewer states to stand up against federal grabbers who will seek to impose their will on free states.”
Really and how would they “impose their will” on free states if they are armed to the teeth??? Tear the f^cking country apart for all I care. if we cannot abide by our founding principles, we dont deserve to exist to begin with.
I say move. Take your tax dollars and labor elsewhere. if enough people move from these draconian states, they will continue to highlight themselves as bigger and bigger jokes (like california).
In response to average casey.I feel the same as you and I did run for local office, and won by a convincing margin. Here is where reality set in. I am one vote. I recencently invoked the 5th admendment in a case where the county was denying someone the use of their property with out just compensation. You would have thought I was quoting from a manual on nuclear fusion. Only one other person in that room even had a clue. Even though our regulation clearly violates the constitution I was out voted so it stands. I am disheartened to say the least.
Come to Indiana. We heart guns.
On our way as soon as the house sells…tx.
I know that in New York, lived there 17 years, if you are not well heeled financially and/or politically you can’t run for anything higher than water commissioner.
Those New Republic comments are pretty creepy. Can’t get on there to straighten them out because that would involve subscribing. Not happening. Felt guilty even giving them an extra page visit, as that is how online revenue is generated.
When our nation finally does split (formally or informally) into two, one with armed civilians and one without, I would ask which of those two nations will be safer?
I understand the “if you all leave, there will be no one to defend” argument (and I’m still in New York) but at some point we just have to let these failed states collapse, as they eventually will under the weight of taxes and crime. Then and only then will the majorities in those states, who elect the same foolish pols over and over again, possibly wake up. After all, a Conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, whether by an actual mugger or the tax man doesn’t make a difference.
Finally, there’s a great movie called Shattered Glass which details the true story of New Republic writer Stephen Glass who, essentially, made his stories up. What the film also documents is that The New Republic is written by underpaid 20-something’s with precious little fact-checking or editorial oversight. Kind of explains how foolish they are.
I understand the “if you all leave, there will be no one to defend” argument (and I’m still in New York) but at some point we just have to let these failed states collapse, as they eventually will under the weight of taxes and crime. Then and only then will the majorities in those states, who elect the same foolish pols over and over again, possibly wake up. After all, a Conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, whether by an actual mugger or the tax man doesn’t make a difference.
The only thing I fear is when QE7 or QE8 rolls around, and that comprises of “Recover America” bonds that bail out profligate states on the backs of the rest of the nation. In which case, the only remedy is secession. I would like to see Texas secede peacefully, enabling those who live there to renounce their federal citizenship and tax burden, and be just citizens of the Republic of Texas. Or, they could retain their US citizenship and continue to pay taxes as an expat, or (more likely) receive the benefits a renouncer would not get (and at this point, would not likely see anyway). Index the currency (I nominate ‘Simoleon’) to the US$ for awhile, but back it with gold in a new Texas Bullion Depository (which has already been mooted to get the state’s gold back from NY, along with that of the university system’s gold). I’d say start with the common source code (the Constitution) and do a fork from there.
The Cascade Alliance (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Alaska, and Western Canada (yeah were taking it biatches!) would be glad to have a free Texas as a friend 😉
The roof is on fire, thats all i have to say.
Concur on New Republic.
Not going to get a fair shake there-from the “About us” page-
“The New Republic is led by its Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Chris Hughes. A Facebook co-founder and digital campaign strategist for the 2008 Obama Campaign, Hughes purchased The New Republic in March, 2012…”
or the writer, Winkler, who describes himself:
“If you’re like me, and/or are a child, you know almost nothing about the dreaded “fiscal cliff.” And that’s fine: We can’t all be policy wonks (what a nasty, brutish and short world that would be). Thankfully, there is now a special edition coloring book for those of us with more important things to do than worry about…”
Sort of a man-child metrosexual from Austin kind of Texan.
Isn’t Texas becoming more Democratic due to changing demographics? I wonder if that will affect its gun laws in the future
A lot of it is from the immigrant vote(first generation children of immigrants really). We have too many republicans who are against any type of immigration reform, and the Dems use that data point to push propaganda to low info first generation voters saying that if they vote republican, the republicans will load their children up on trains and send them all back to Mexico. The immigrants i know who are originally from Mexico are actually pretty conservative, but priority number one is to not be sent back to Mexico. We do also have a large number of liberal Californians and northerners who move to Texas because their home states are broke and job unfriendly, but they make no correlation between the progressivism they support and why their former state is in the toilet. In Dallas specifically, we have a lot of people in south Dallas who vote for a living. We also have a fake conservative as mayor right now. Don’t get me wrong I’m not partisan, and I don’t particularly like either dominant party, but at least on the state level, Republicans do a better job of not running the economy into the dirt like the Democrats do. If only the republicans would get over some of the social issues that drive voters(especially young ones) right into the arms of the democrats.
I guess he meant trayvon(the non gun owner) otherwise who are CC holders blowing away except POS criminals? He better hide trembling behind his no weapons sign till the almighty obombastic guberment comes to save him, Randy
As the saying goes the first thing those that oppose gun ownership and don’t believe in God do when a bad guy shows up is to call a good guy with a gun and pray to God he gets there in time.
One thing I love about the South and something I love about my liberal arts degree having, beat poet college fellowship taking wife. As she walks out the door in a fine spring dress to go to a bridal shower, she says, “this thing is on a farm, I am sure they won’t mind if I shoot while I am there, can I get an extra box of ammo?” Yes honey in addition to the two 15 round mags you keep with your g lock 22, here is another box of 100. Me “that enough?” Her “probably, it is a bridal shower after all.”
Mmm mmm mmm. Smart southern women.
Does she have a sister?
That’s the wedding shower.
Update from the bridal shower, she did get to shoot and let some of the other shower guests shoot too. She said the guy who lives on the farm would not shoot after her because she would have embarrassed him. Girl is a good shot, no doubt.
better watch your back. the Dems are trying to turn Texas blue in the next 10 years.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/democrats-launch-plan-to-turn-texas-blue-86651.html
In general, as has been demonstrated in Colorado, retreat is not an option, we need to fight them where they are.
Sometimes retreat actually IS an option, but you’re correct – running away is simply putting yourself in a position to be overtaken and surrounded.
I have friends – gun-hating ones at THAT – who talk about expatriating to other countries. I always tell them – not that they value my advice – that the issues we face are GLOBAL in nature. You can run, but you can’t hide. The trouble you run from will most certainly track you down.
Besides, they’re miserable COWARDS.
It’s not just Texas, but Virigina as well. Virginia is likely to become a Blue state in 2016 if not this year or next year. This makes me sad just thinking about it.
Interesting experiment. The libs kill all their children (or a lot of them anyway), so the only way to make more libs is indoctrinate in schools. Which one wins, The conservatives at home or the libs at the school? As for me, no way I will subject mine to that.
It’s already quite purple on the Federal level. We seem to be holding the tide back at the state level. However, the urban areas are starting to dominate politics. We’ll see how it turns out. I’ll move west if it gets really bad.
It’s not retreat. It’s simply a consolidation of forces.
I escaped from NY 21 years ago, when I was 21. I left for many reasons, but gun ownership was not one of them. I actually didn’t get into firearms until about 3 years ago. None the less, as Emperor Cuomo II has demonstrated along with his anti-constitutional buddy Bloomberg, I obviously made the wise decision. I’ve been living in Pennsylvania since 1995, and although Democrats often carry the State in Presidential elections thanks to the Philly Freaks and Pittsburgh Putz (Not all, but generalization of voting records), the State is often controlled and run by Republicans which is why we still currently have very decent gun ownership rights and laws.
That said, I have passively pondered the move to Austin, TX in the future. I spent one summer in July and August down near Houston – which I’m pretty sure makes Hell seem like it has air conditioning, but between the Liberty leanings of the State, Gun ownership rights, The Circuit of The Americas, and now Google Fiber.. Austin is looking pretty attractive. Although, I will always – ALWAYS – hate the Cowboys. 😉
You REALLY don’t want to go to Austin. It’s San Fran in high heeled cowgirl boots, and that’s just the men. When you walk down the main street you see signs saying “keep Austin weird” with the sound of “swishing” everywhere.
Perhaps, but there’s still good eats, good beer, good movies to watch, good music to listen to, and the roads haven’t gotten so bad that you can’t live 20mi out of town and take advantage of all that without getting stuck with the taxes.
I’m out near Bastrop and have the best of both worlds: good neighbors on 2+ac unincorporated spaces with no HOAs and ranches/stables/farms all around, where I can smoke a good cigar in my backyard while the neighbor’s donkey brays, while being able to get to and from work on full electric in my Volt.
Man, you’re lucky. I live in a supposedly conservative county in Crazyfornia where we are stuffed into overpriced suburban enclaves like sardines. Upside down mortgages all over the place. Orwellicopters hovering overhead. Illegals everywhere. Sky high prices for everything. Permanently high unemployment. So many obnoxious and indecipherable gun laws that any gun owner can be arrested at any time. Lunatics and crooks running everything.
This place went from paradise to a bankrupt insane asylum in less than 50 years!
The gun grabbers are getting desperate, LOL, cant wait for the national concealed carry & supressor amendments to that background check to be attached LOL, pass it or posion pill, it dont matter1
Although I somewhat agree about staying and fighting there comes a point where you have to realize that the state is not worth saving.
NY, CT and other heavy anti states need to hit bottom, then they can build back up more of a pro constitutional, pro gun state government and citizenry.
Would love to see a Welcome to New York sign that says ” Welcome to New York! We love guns!! ” never happen but hey you can dream!!
It’s not that said state is worth saving. It’s that gun confiscators are everywhere. And they have the patience to slowly encircle you and move in for the kill. They’ll find you sooner or later.
Advantage: grabbers. Patience and subterfuge wins, if relentless enough.
Our great disadvantage is that we, as gun owners and self-defense believers, are not in a position to be patient. Patience on OUR part allows them to blitzkrieg right over us and our rights.
We have no battles we can afford to lose. THEY DO.
Have you noticed how many anti gunner media types are about doing violence on gun owners. Seems there may be a very good reason they do not (should not) own any guns.
The same presumption of superiority that allows them dictate the lives of others absolves them of any guilt for what would, in a “lesser” person, be petty vindictiveness. If your goals are so “noble” that they permit any demonic means to be used to further them (ignoring federal law, getting a border control agent killed, etc), then they must also permit those means for your satisfaction.
It’s like buying a plenary indulgence in the 1300s.
Ouch. True, but ouch.
Good simile.
I live here in CT and sadly we don’t have the numbers. I will stick around for a little while to fight after that I will look at leaving the state where I was born and raised. Look at this past week where middle-school kids are taught that the 2nd Amendment is for states not individuals? Its no mistake. Hartford school districts about 87% of the kids in the public schools come from single parent households. Hartford highest HIV infection rate in the state. Leave the liberal states to their liberalism and the people will have to suffer. Let people vote with their feet. That is how this how our country is supposed to work. Any state that gets out of hand, move to another.
It’s sad when folks think of a restrictive state like Texas as “pro gun”.
My wife refuses to move to any state that does not allow open carry.
Texas is far from being one of the best states to move to for gun rights. I find it funny that all these people are about to move there and they will be in the same situation a few years from now. There are far better states to move to than Texas. Just look at what was said in Austin recently. http://godfatherpolitics.com/10356/texas-democrat-tells-crowd-that-total-gun-ban-is-coming-soon/
Since you have female offspring, do stick to Austin and surrounds – rape is actually a crime there, rather than a spectator team sport with a mature betting industry. That said, have a ball. I used to live in San Antonio (well, Kirby) but in the late eighties work was not easy to come by so I headed elsewhere.
As to shooting non-gun-owners, if someone attacks me on my property he is going down even if he’s armed with a pompon.
Sheesh.
Move to Massachusetts. Pom-poms are illegal here.
Ha!
I would like to see states alot their electoral votes proportionate to the votes each presidential candidate receives in that state, rather than the current winner take all format most states exercise.
Metro areas are by and large dictating presidential elections and the votes cast in Small Town USA go for naught, especially in the northeast, but it’s creeping down the coast and about to fundamentally alter the Old Dominion, among others.
A quick look at Red vs Blue counties last November shows just how much the tail is wagging the dog.
So when all the honest gun owners move South and this twat is still afraid to walk his streets at night because the thugs are the only armed ones left, what does he do? Probably move to Texas. Where he will immediately set about civilizing the place with common sense gun control laws.
THAT is my only worry…carpet baggers moving south in the past have not been a good thing. Maybe as long as they are pro 2A it will be OK, just leave the rest of the “change” up north…
I fled from New Jersey to Colorado, and that didn’t get me away from the anti 2A crowd. Nowhere is safe from the plague of the progressives. This ideology is spreading like locusts, and ruining the land. I am not going to run anywhere anymore. If the progressives’ get their way at the federal level, there will be no place that is safe from gun prohibition.
We can thank the liberal educat…indoctrination centers for such attitudes.
If you want to gain a further insight into the liberal mind, Thomas Sowell’s
The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
is the best explanation you will find anywhere. The New Republic, which is
wrongly named, since they’re all dreaming of the Old Soviet State, but in a
kinder and softer tyranny, is, and has always been chock-full to the brim
with liberal Peter Pan’s with Mommy Dearest complexes, who are absolutely sure that everyone who doesn’t think like they, are knuckle-dragging, inbred, racist, homophobic, YY chromo’s that are too damned stupid to comprehend the wisdom of the self-superior intellects that should be running everything, namely THEM! I have relatives who live in NY and think exactly like this NR rube. It’s like we’re being lectured to by ignorant, self-centered teenagers. 20 years hence, they too, will claim they are people they have always been waiting for.
Isn’t The New Republic the same magazine that allowed Stephen Glass to publish article after article of investigative reporting without fact checking any of them? Dozens of articles came entirely from Glass’s imagination–articles about places and events he’d never been to and interviews with people who didn’t exist. There was a movie made about it called Shattered Glass.
Stop running. Eventually these gun control nut jobs will be at your door. Stand and fight in place.
So, if all gun owners leave the Northern states what is going to happen to the remaining non-gun owners argument when criminals start shooting them, their violent crime rate goes up, etc?
well, in a world with human beings who are able to learn from theyr mistakes, they will elect politicians who will enact pro-gun laws.
but that won’t happen cause humans seemingly aren’t able to learn from their mistakes. it’ll hapen like in europe: violent crime will raise, nobody will be able to defend himself and as an answer to that, gun laws will get even stricter. and other weapons will be banned soon, too. after that, law enforcvement will become too expensive and therefore the law enforcement agencys won’t be able to enforce the law or do anything efficient against the criminals. if you want to see your future without guns, watch at germany or the UK. or any other european state (without switzerland, the last bastion of freedom in europe).
Ever since Texas received it’s own Formula 1 track, it’s been really hard to resist moving down there.
“So, I’d be thrilled if all gun owners moved to Texas, Idaho and Florida.”
Gosh, I feel all warm and fuzzy and humble and proud that the “New-ish not-a-Republic” has put Idaho into the same “full of crazed eeevil gun owners” category as the Lone Star State. I am a bit peeved that they mentioned Texas first, however.
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