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Monday, April 19, 2004


We're moving. Pixy has graciously offered space over at mu.nu for Publicola & we're going to give it a go. As far as I know this site will still be here & accesible, but the new posts will be at the new site (makes sense doesn't it?).

The new address is http://publicola.mu.nu

It'll take a few days to a few weeks to get everything in order over there, but the new posts will be there as of today.




Sunday, April 18, 2004


Cheney spoke at the NRA convention on Saturday. Kerry made a statement prior to Cheney's address. Tom Mauser (father of a victim at Columbine High School) was denied entrance to the NRA convention despite his literally wearing his murdered son's shoes. Here's the article from which the following fisk is based.

"PITTSBURGH - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) portrayed President Bush (news - web sites) and himself as champions of the Second Amendment ?— and Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) as a potential threat to gun owners ?— in a speech at the National Rifle Association's 133rd annual convention Saturday."

Oddly enough, if I portray myself as cantaloupe that does not make it so. Champions of the Second Amendment? Not the one I've been reading all these years. Perhaps he should have portrayed himself & Bush as champions of the 2nd Amendment with reasonable exceptions.

"John Kerry's approach to the Second Amendment has been to regulate, regulate and then regulate some more,' Cheney said, citing votes against legislation that would protect gun makers from lawsuits and in favor of allowing federal authorities to randomly inspect gun dealers without notice."

& Bush's approach has been to enforce, enforce & enforce so more the gun control laws we have on the books - despite their conflict with that whole "...shall not be infringed..." thing.

"Cheney lauded the NRA for its safety programs and said the best way to prevent gun crimes was to enforce existing laws. Federal prosecutions of crimes committed with guns increased 68 percent under President Bush, he told the crowd."

Funny, the lying bastard didn't mention how many of those laws he seeks to enforce pass constitutional muster. Nor was it mentioned how many of those gun crime prosecutions involved a person or persons with no harmful intent who just happened to possess something verboten or not have their papers in order.

"Bush 'has shown you respect, earned your vote and appreciates your support,' Cheney said."

Bush showed me respect? Earned my vote? Appreciates my support? Damn skippy I'm not included in the "you". Bush has bitch-slapped gun owners, told them eveything'll be okay if they just use a little more make-up to cover the bruise so the family won't talk, & then tells us he's a saint compared to the other abusive pimps out there.

"Cheney did not address the federal assault weapons ban, which expires in September, and which the NRA maintains has been ineffective."

Damn right he didn't address that. Neither would a prudent man discuss his approval of wife beating with his wife right before he takes a nap. Cheney didn't bring it up cause he knows that gun owners wouldn't be able to cling to the "Bush is pro-gun" lie if confronted so directly with his bullshit.

"Kerry, in a statement issued before Cheney's address, said 'most voters don't know that (Bush and Cheney) are standing against major police organizations and breaking their promise to renew the assault weapons ban ?— which helps keep military-style assault weapons out of the hands of criminals and terrorists."

& Kerry doesn't know that all federal gun control laws based on prior restraint stand against the 2nd amendment of the constitution of the united States. But one good thing about Kerry is that most people see through his bullshit. I don't think anyone - Republican or Democrat - will actually argue that Kerry is pro-gun. But both Republicans & Democrats think Bush is.

"Earlier in the day, Tom Mauser, whose son, Daniel, was killed with an assault weapon in the Columbine High School killings five years ago, tried to enter the convention hall where the NRA was meeting, seeking to urge Cheney to support extending the assault weapons ban. Mauser was turned away by a security guard..."

I do not know for certain Daniel Mauser was Murdered with an "assault weapon" or not. The murderers had a Tec-9 which was mentioned specifically by the "assault weapons" ban, but I never heard if they determined who was killed by what. Since the Tec-9 fires the 9x19mm cartridge it is very possible that he was killed by either that particular weapon or a pistol chambered in that cartridge. I seriously doubt Mr. Mauser recognizes the problems with ballistic matching of a projectile to a particular firearm, but it is possible that the Tec-9 was the only 9mm weapon they had, or that the rifling differed significantly from the pistols they may have had.

In any case Mr. Mauser doesn't seem to grasp that the "assault weapons" ban did not prevent two deranged people from committing a horrific act of murder. Neither does he realize that since they were prepared to break the laws concerning murder, possession of weapons & explosives on school grounds & a host of other laws that the AWB probably wouldn't have made them alter their plans.

Mr. Mauser also does not realize that the problem wasn't the instruments used - it was the people who were using them. Daniel Mauser would be just as dead if they'd have used muzzle-loaders. In fact if you average the number of people killed or wounded at Columbine from the time they started shooting until the time they presumably killed themselves you'll find that the rate of fire was under 3 rounds per minute per murderer. That's a little slower than the Minutemen were expected to accomplish in the 1770's. So "assault weapons" didn't enable the murderers to do anything they couldn't have done using230 year old technology & techniques.

But Mr. Mauser is a sad case. I cannot fathom the pain he went through in losing his son & feel a great amount of pity for him because it has warped his logic.

"Mauser, who marched three blocks to the convention hall literally in his son's shoes, said before the march that continuing the ban would be common sense.
'What is the useful purpose to these weapons? ... They are the weapons of gangs, drug lords and sick people.' Mauser said. 'It is a weapon of war and we don't want this war on our streets."


They are also the weapons of freedom fighters, of people who will be free & of people who will not be forced to give up that freedom even to their own government. A sick person is not one who espouses the ownership of arms, but one who thinks that through a law the good as well as the bad will give up their arms & leave peaceably forever. It is further evidence of sickness that a person thinks that I & others such as myself will acquiesce to a law demanding us to give up our arms without first enduring the war in our streets that Mr. Mauser claims is a bad thing.

"Mauser called the NRA 'an organization with a Field-and-Stream-magazine membership but a Soldier-of-Fortune-magazine leadership."

Ya know, I keep hearing about this radical leadership in the NRA. Where the hell are they & who the hell are they?

I'm tired of everyone getting it backwards: the NRA membership is typically more pro-gun than the NRA leadership. If you presented detailed questions to both, I think you'd find that it's the leadership who are in favor of gun control far more than the members.

But some of this is starting to leak out in the mainstream press. This MSN video touches on that. Angel Shamaya of KeepAndBearArms.com is interviewed & has some pretty harsh (well for him mild) words for Bush's support of the AWB. However you should keep in mind that the press is mainly interested in this angle because it's anti-Bush.

I have no problems with airing grievances against Bush - as long as the grievances are based on substantive issues instead of a general bias. If you want to trash Bush on his record or his views then I can understand that. But the bulk of the opposition to Bush is based on either a personal dislike of him (he's uneducated; he has no tact, etc...) or a misunderstanding of him (he's shrinking the government too much; he's too pro-gun, etc...).

The video has a couple of interesting thing sin it;

First of all they reporter says the NRA has launched its own news network to "get around" campaign finance laws. That's like saying a person joined the military to "get around" federal firearms laws. The NRA started its own news network simply because that was the only legal avenue left to them to get their message out in the months prior to an election. It'd have been real nice if the reporter had mentioned the constitutionally questionable nature of those campaign finance laws (yes I know how SCOTUS ruled - they were wrong) but since reporters are immune to those same laws I doubt she was aware. After all if it doesn't affect a reporters livelihood it couldn't violate the 1rst Amendment could it?

Next we have LaPierre saying that gunowners know the difference between Bush & Kerry on the 2nd Amendment. What difference? What freakin' difference is there between a man who calls them reasonable regulations & a man who calls them common sense gun laws? One fakes to the left while the other fakes to the right but they both try an end run around the constitution. Now I have no doubts Kerry would be a messed up president, but I don't think he'd be much worse than Bush. Their methods would differ but they'd both be the wrong methods to achieve the wrong goal. But focusing strictly on the firearms issue I see abo-freakin'-lutely no difference between Bush & Kerry.

"President Bush's support of the "assault weapons" ban is an embarrassment. He should hang his head in shame." A bit harsh you say? Those were the words of Angel Shamaya. Considering the source I'd think it was on the mild side. Honestly I'd expect Mr. Shamaya to start talking about tar & feathers, but perhaps he did & the reporter thought it best to not air that portion of the interview.

In the introduction to Mr. Shamaya's statement the reporter said his website (KABA.com) has "tens of thousands of followers" (emphasis mine). First I'd be surprised if KABA.com didn't have a hit count of 6 digits, but I suppose that it could be in the 70 to 80 thousand range. But does it strike you as odd that a web site & political organization has "followers'? I can understand "members" & I could understand "visitors" but "followers"? Maybe I'm just reading too much into it but it seems like the reporter was trying to subtly plant the idea that you should equate the people who visit KABA.com with a religious group. After all, the word "followers" is rarely used unless you're talking about a cult of some sort. The NRA has "members", not "followers". Jim Jones had "followers". But as I said perhaps I'm just reading too much into it.

Just for laughs pay close attention to the segment of Kerry with the side by side & orange vest. I'd be hard pressed to find a better visual for "Fuddite".

It goes on to say that most NRA members are supportive of Bush. The two people interviewed to support this statement never said they support Bush wholeheartedly; rather they feared Kerry would be worse than Bush.

Don't be fooled - the only reason the mainstream media is airing this story &/or others like it is not to spread the truth but to garner opposition against Bush. They don't care if he's pro or anti gun as long as they can use it against him. But despite their ill intent the word is getting out. It'd be a beautiful thing if Bush did a turn around & started being actively pro-gun, but the skeptic in me doubts that will ever happen. What I do think is possible is for the election to send a message to the Republicans that the half assed approach to being pro-gun (i.e. relying more on reputation than action) isn't going to cut it. But that's real difficult when the NRa leadership is constantly being called extreme.

Just out of curiousity if the leadership of agroup who supports every federal gun law on the books is consiered pro-gun in the extreme, then what would I be labeled as? Extreme extreme? ultra extreme? Uber-extreme? Course if you're thinking that most of the mainstream press couldn't even imagine people with my beliefs exist let alone label them, then you're probably correct.




Thursday, April 15, 2004


I can't say I wholeheartedly agree with David Kopel on everything although I must confess I'm more in agreement with him than Ted Kopel. But over at the High Road someone linked an article Mr. Kopel & Stephen D'Andrilli wrote in 1990 about Switzerland & its militia system. It's called The Swiss & G U N S ~A Success Story~. It's a bit dated as some changes to the gun laws in Switzerland occurred in the 90's. In fact the Swiss pro-gun group Pro-Tell is busy fighting these efforts as we speak. But the bulk of the article is correct in its assessment of Swiss firearm laws.

Now here's something to think about:

"Indeed, the militia is virtually synonymous with the nation. 'The Swiss do not have an army, they are the army', says one government publication. Fully deployed, the Swiss army has 15.2 men per square kilometre; in contrast, the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. have only .2 soldiers per square kilometre. Switzerland is 76 times denser with soldiers than either superpower. Indeed, only Israel has more army per square kilometre."

I'd venture to guess that only certain parts of the American South & Southwest could even begin to approach that kind of coverage by the militia. If I'm looking at the correct conversion table (hey - it's late) a square kilometer is 0.3861 square miles, & a square mile is about 640 acres. So the U.S.A. figure mentioned above would equate to (if my calculations are accurate) about 2.5 soldiers per square mile. Now a mile is 1,760 yards so at the dead center of a square mile you'd have 880 yards in all directions (actually a little more than that in the corners). That's along way to shoot. But throw in the other man & a half & you could cut it down to something a bit more reasonable - say just shy of 600 yards. Now for a rifleman with a rifle that'd be no problem, but for a soldier with an M16...let's just say I'm not optimistic. After all, no matter how good Hank Aaron was ain't no way in hell he could've hit anything in a meaningful way if he substituted his Louisville Slugger for a flyswatter.

But the Swiss can field 38 men per square mile. That's a man for every 16.8 acres. They'd be spaced so close together that they could effectively cover each other with rifled muskets!

Now Kopel & D'Andrilli don't take into account the U.S. militia which would boost our numbers a bit. But probably not by that much. If someone tried to invade Switzerland almost the whole citizenry would show up to stop them. In the U.S. we'd expect the Marines & Army to show up & do something. But the average citizen for years & even decades has been bombarded with the idea of letting the professionals handle things. Hell, lowly peasants often get arrested for shooting criminals in self defense or merely partrolling private land on the borders. So it wouldn't surprise me in the least to hear a chorus of "let the Marines handle things - that's what we pay them for" echoing through the countryside if anyone ever tried to invade the U.S.

In Texas, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico & Arizona I'd expect a little more turn out than average but only in the rural parts of those states. Any state with a medium to large urban area (i.e. a big city) can almost write that part of the state off. This isn't so much because people in big cities are cowards but rather they've been indoctrinated so long into government dependence that it'd be difficult to get them to change their views in time to do any good. The rural areas of every state won't have the same mindset as most rural folk are used to doing for themselves - well at least to a greater degree than their citified brethren.

Another reason is that in urban centers (i.e. big cities) gun control is usually more strictly enforced. That means the confidence that comes with developing skills in arms will be lacking & create another psychological barrier. & that's not even dealing with the issue of having arms in the first place. After all, would you feel positive about repelling invaders when your most potent weapon is a bottle filled with gasoline & a lighted rag? I'd like to think the city dwellers in D.C., Chicago, NYC & other places where possessing arms is legally difficult to impossible ignore those laws, but I can't see more than 10% or so being armed with anything more than a small pistol.

The Geek With A .45 touched on a related subject in a post of his a few days back. His focus was on gun control laws on the federal level being harmful to small arms development that is essential to national defense. A few months ago I wrote about an article on the National Matches & their relationship to national defense, or more specifically how the government has been withdrawing its support of this important primer for national defense. But as important as those two issues are to address I feel they are insignificant compared to the one I'm talking about now, which is an apathy on the part of the populace. After all, if we could buy newly designed & manufactured machine guns over the counter & the government was actively involved in civilian matches as it once was it would accomplish very little if the majority of people simply looked to the government to protect them.

Pay attention over the next week or so to the news & other forms of mass communication. In newspaper articles, news stories, billboards & magazine ads & articles you'll see that anytime the public's role is mentioned in anything its merely to be a good witness &/or informant. No cop has ever said (in recent times at least) for a citizen to get directly involved in preventing crime. Illegal aliens crossing on your land? Call the cops. A little old lady getting her ass kicked? Call the cops. Someone's being gang raped in the alley beneath your window? Call the cops.

What this message is doing is conditioning the populace to not getting directly involed. It's taking them out of their proper place in society a sparticipants & making them mere spectators. Now I'm not saying you should go out on "patrol" every night looking for drug lords & pimps to place under citizens arrest. But if you see a person getting beaten up & robbed, even if its by the cops, you should try to intervene if you can. Yes, it's risky as hell; you don't know if the attacker will turn on you or just run away. But here's the thing - that attacker whom you let get away because you feared for your own safety could very well be the attacker your wishing someone will save you from 3 weeks from now. Or worse: he'll be the one who beats up &/or kills your wife or daughter or son 3 weeks from now. C'mon - didn't you watch Spider-man? He let a guy go because he didn't want to get involved & that same guy ended up killing his uncle. There's a message in that which most people seem to ignore: if you tolerate someone you don't know being mistreated then don't be all shocked when it happens to someone you care about.

That's one of our problems as a society: we do not want to get personally involved. If we won't get involved when crime threatens our community, then what makes you think it'll be different if an invasion threatens out community? Do you think the Jews in Hitler's Germany just accepted their fate? Do you think they were all pacifists up till the very end? No, it was conditioning that made them too susceptible to inaction. That same conditioning is present today in the U.S. It's perhaps a bit more varied than what the Jews in Nazi Germany were taught, but everytime you here that "it can't happen here" or "we'd be no match for a modern military so resisting would be futile" I hope you'll recognize it as a modern variant of the reasoning that caused millions of people to allow themselves to be murdered with little if any resistance.

More from the article:

"Since 1291, when the landsgemeinden (people's assemblies) formed circles in the village squares, and only men carrying swords could vote, weapons have been the mark of citizenship. As a Military Department spokesman said, 'It is an old Swiss tradition that only an armed man can have political rights.' This policy is based on the understanding that only those who bear the burden of keeping Switzerland free are entitled to fully enjoy the benefits of freedom."

I can't say that I'd be opposed to something like that over here. Hell, can you imagine the looks on Schumer's, Feinstein's & Brady's face if on election day everyone showed up at the polls with their pistol, rifle & best web gear?

"In 1977, the Münchenstein Initiative proposed allowing citizens to choose social or hospital work over military duty. It was rejected at the polls, and in both houses of parliament (the Bundesversarnmlung's Nationalrat and Ständerat). There are provisions for conscientious objectors, but this group only numbers .2% of conscripts."

& keep in mind Swiss militia service isn't about getting job training or money for college. These people are very serious about defending their country. They want to serve.

"In 1978, Switzerland refused to ratify a Council of Europe Convention on Control of Firearms. Since then, Switzerland has been pressured by other European governments, which charge that it is a source for terrorist weapons. As a result, in 1982 the central government proposed a law barring foreigners in Switzerland from buying guns they could not buy in their own countries and also requiring that Swiss citizens obtain a license to buy any gun, rather than just handguns.
Outraged Swiss gun owners formed a group called 'Pro Tell,' named after national hero William Tell. In 1983, the Federal Council (the executive cabinet) abandoned the restrictive proposal because "the opposition was too heavy" and suggested that the cantons regulate the matter. A few months earlier, the Cantonal Council of Freiburg had already enacted such a law by a one-vote margin. A popular referendum overturned the law the next year, by a
60%-40% vote."


Apperently they want to vote as well. Can you imagine what the press would do if gun owners got off their ass, stopped making excuses for the lesser of two evils & elected pro-gun politicians to repeal gun control laws? Imagine every time a gun control law is passed it gets repealed right after the next election. But imagine is all we can do because gun owners are petrified of Kerry even though Bush isn't all that different on the gun issue.

But go read the rest of the article. It does a good job of explaining the Swiss mindset when it comes to guns & culture. I still think in theory America has the best system going, but in practice the Swiss aren't that far behind, if at all as far as arms ownership goes. Switzerland isn't perfect by a long shot, but if you read your history you'll note that several American institutions were copied from the Swiss. One of those was the militia. It's a shame it's more a part of history for us than anything else, especially when the Swiss seem to be doing well with it after 500 years or so.



At End the War on Freedom I found a rather interesting link: a fellow by the name of Larken Rose has put together a flash presentation called "The 861 Evidence: A Disturbing Exposé of the United States Income Tax System". It takes a while to load & it's rather lengthy but considering the day I thought I'd pass it on.


Monday, April 12, 2004


April 15th. It's only 3 days away so you have to get moving.

No, I'm not trying to encourage you to send your yearly extortion payment to the IRSS; I'm telling you about B.A.G. day.

Aaron the Liberal Slayer came up with this last year. His original goal was for everyone to buy a gun on April 15th just to piss off Michael Moore. Can't say his heart wasn't in the right place with that one, but he decided to shorten it to B.A.G. so it'd be a little catchier this time around.

Unfortunately due to a lack of finances & a recent purchase I won't be able to join in with y'all this year. But that will not stop me from vicariously shopping through you - so if you're undecided on what you want to purchase feel free to drop me a line & I'll give you my $0.02 for free.

But allow me to go over what in my opinion is a complete battery for anyone in the U.S. to have in their gun safe:

First & foremost a .22LR chambered firearm is essential. No, it won't stop a tank with one shot nor will it shoot flying saucers down from a low orbit. It will put food on the table. I've never seen a squirrel or rabbit that's immune to a .22LR. It will also keep pests out of your garden. In a pinch it'll keep the two legged vermin from doing much damage to you (although there are better choices). Most importantly it's cheap to feed. You can still get a 100 round box of decent quality ammo for around $3.50. Three cents a round ain't anything to laugh at & you can find plinking ammo for a bit less than that. But the beauty of its economic friendliness is that for under $10 you can have a nice little practice session. & practice, even with the lowly little .22LR, will help your shooting skills to develop.

As far as which .22LR to get it's hard to go wrong with damn near any well know make of firearm. Ruger makes a superb autoloading pistol as well as a decent single action revolver in .22LR & .22 Magnum. CZ makes a much talked about line of .22LR bolt action rifles. Browning makes fine autoloading pistols in .22LR. Smith & Wesson & Taurus have both pistols & revolvers to choose from. Remington makes a superb line of .22 rifles as does Marlin. But my favorite for a host of reasons is the Ruger 10/22.


Next I'd list the shotgun. In fact if a pragmatist was limited to one firearm a repeating shotgun of some sort would not disappoint. The main virtue of the shotgun is its versatility. By switching the ammo you can have a firearm that propels multiple projectiles or a very large single projectile. It's ideal for close range hunting of damn near any game in North America & is an ideal choice for close range defense against bipedal predators. I would also advise getting a 12 gauge. For the recoil sensitive people out there (& it's nothing to be ashamed of) you can use target loads in your 12 gauge to reduce the perceived kick. If it comes down to it Aguila makes a 1 & 3/4" (as opposed to 2 & 3/4" or 3") shotshell they call the Minishell. They make slug, buckshot & birdshot loads. As you might imagine it doesn't have as much projectile as the longer shotshells but a 7/8 slug or 5/8 ounce of birdshot will get most jobs done that you need done at close range. The big plus is that they generate very little recoil so those who are sensitive to kick don't have to settle for a smaller gauge (not that there's anything wrong with 16, 20 or 28 gauge guns).

Remington makes perhaps the best pump action shotgun available in the model 870. There are other very reliable & very decent pump action shotguns out there but I've always had a soft spot for the 870. One other one I will mention is the Ithace model 37. It's another one of JMB's designs & as such I wouldn't feel slighted with it at all. (For more on JMB look here, here & here.)

Of course being somewhat of a traditionalist I have a big soft spot for double barrel shotguns; particularly side by sides. My grandfather was an avid bird hunter in his youth & the first firearm I ever had any exposure to was his L.C. Smith 12 gauge field grade. Unfortunately it was stolen from him when I was still a teenager. I'm primarily a rifle person so I could never justify spending a grand or two on a long gun that doesn't have any rifling although when I think of the old man & the look in his eyes when he'd tell me about dove hunting with his favorite pointer I'm tempted to sell something & find an L.C. Smith that needs a good home. In the meantime however I'm making due with a rather enjoyable & economical Brazilian side by side imported by Stoeger called the Uplander. I doubt my grandfather would turn his nose up if he'd have been handed one though I'm sure he wouldn't have favored it to his Smith.

But there are automatics as well as single shots & over/unders made by many manufacturers. Depending on your needs finding something suitable won't be nearly as difficult as narrowing the selection down.

Handguns are next on the list. Revolver or auto is strictly a matter of preference. Personally I'm intrigued by the S&W; model 610 although I haven't acquired one for various reasons. The steel frame 10mm EAA Witness is another one I've had my eye on. Keep in mind though that the fit & feel of a handgun are the most important things to consider. A gun that fits comfortably in your hand may feel awkward in mine. & recoil that you're comfortable with may cause me to flinch. So try to narrow your choices to handguns that feel comfortable in your hand when you hold it & cartridges that are tolerable when you shoot them.

Now if you're thinking I'm a fan of the 10mm you'd be correct. It's odd because I don't own one & can't honestly say I've ever fired one, but the external ballistics have me hooked. A full powered 10mm load would be ideal for hunting medium to large sized thin skinned game & I wouldn't feel too peevish about carrying one into brown bear country. But the thing that has me most intrigued is that in my opinion the 10mm would make the ideal cartridge for military use. It'd be a much more decisive fight stopper than the 9x19mm & I'd wager it'd be more effective than the much revered .45 ACP. But that's another discussion all by itself.

The important thing to remember about handguns is that their main purpose is to allow you to fight you way to your long guns. So without further ado...

Rifles are what make my world go round. & nothing spins it faster than an accurate rifle. Remington, Browning, Ruger, Savage & many other make brand spanking new bolt rifles that will usually shoot better than you can right out of the box. Those same companies also make fine auto-loading rifles. A few companies even make single shot break open rifles.

But in my opinion there is no finer product offered today than the ones offered by the Civilian Marksmanship Program. They sell government surplus 1903 Springfields, 1903A3 Springfields, 1917 Enfields & M1 Garands. All four rifles are chambered for the .30-06 Springfield cartridge & as such I cannot think of any man or beast in North America that would not be deterred by its judicious use. Now in keeping with the original theme of B.A.G. can anyone think of a way to piss off Michael Moore, Sarah Brady or any others of their particular ilk more than to buy a battle rifle from the U.S. government? I think not.

Another reason to buy the Garand in particular is that it can have 5 (count 'em - 5!!!) of the features that make a semi-automatic firearm into an evil "assault rifle". Reese Surplus has some BM-59 folding stocks that will fit on the Garand. That'd knock out the folding stock & conspicuously protruding pistol grip. The Garand's gas system uses a threaded part on the barrel that will accept a flash suppressor so even if you don't have one that knocks out that requirement. All Garands come with a bayonet lug - it's part of the gas system. & finally Numrich Gun Parts among others offers grenade launchers for the Garand. So all 5 of the evil features can be on your rifle at the same time. The only thing lacking is the "high capacity" detachable magazine.

One rifle, sold to you by the government that can have 5 of the 6 features that the hoplophobes feared so much they sought to make them illegal. I'd say that alone would be reason enough to buy a Garand. Of course I am of the opinion that the Garand is the finest piece of machinery available, so forgive me if my bias shows.

But just as important as the platform you select to launch projectiles from are the projectiles themselves. Or more precisely the cartridge. If you only want one or two rifles in your collection then a general purpose cartridge such as the .30-06 or .270 Winchester would be what to look for. But if you don't mind having two or more cartridges in your ammo locker then I'd say there are three areas you'd want to focus on: a small bore, a medium bore & a large bore. Now keep in mind these are all dependent upon your needs: I'm only offering an opinion.

For a small bore I'd look at one of the medium velocity .22's such as the .223 or the .222 Remington Magnum. They're not the fastest out there but they're close enough to give good performance without the decreased barrel life offered by the .220 Swift or the .22/250 Remington. & I'd prefer a decent bolt action but I wouldn't be opposed to an accurate autoloader since these cartridges would be limited to target shooting & varmint hunting. So don't misunderstand - I am not telling you to get an AR-15 for defense from anything other than prairie dogs. A decent variable powered scope would be a must no matter what type of rifle as the targets are often small & far away, but occasionally closer than you'd need a 14x scope for.

I also wouldn't discount the .243 Winchester or some other 6mm cartridge to bridge the gap between a small bore & medium bore. Truth be told for deer (not elk) & varmints a .243 is pretty close to ideal as long as you use the appropriate bullet weights for the game you're hunting.

For a medium bore I'm all set with the .30-06 Springfield. But the .270 Winchester, .280 Remington or any of the .30 caliber magnums would work just fine. & almost any action type will work depending on your needs. Bolt actions have a reputation for accuracy, but I've seen Garands that will shoot 1 inch groups at 100 yards.

For a large bore I'd look somewhere between the .338/06 & the .375 H&H; Magnum. Personally I don't see a need for anything larger than the .375 H&H; for any North American game, although if I were in Alaska amongst the grizzlies I might consider revising my standards considerably. But for me a .35 Whelen would be about ideal for anything that could be hunted. This has nothing to do with the fact that Garands can be chambered in that particular cartridge. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

If you plan to hunt in Africa then that's a whole ?nother ball game. I'm sure there's a host of people that could give more accurate detailed advice on which cartridges are best for Cape buffalo & other dangerous quadrupeds. But feel free to ask & I'll try to point you in the right direction.

I'd be remiss in not pointing out that the pistol caliber carbines such as the Ruger PC4, High Point carbine & M1 carbine fill a very unique, if somewhat limited niche & they'd be worth considering. Also the cheap surplus rifles aren't a bad idea especially for those on a budget. The SKS in 7.62x39mm, Mosin-Nagant in 7.62x54R, & 98 Mauser in 8mm can still be found relatively cheap.

So to sum it up I think everyone should have a .22LR (either handgun or long gun but preferably both), a shotgun, a centerfire handgun, & at least one rifle.

I regret that I won't be able to make any new (or used) purchases this week but by all means let me know if you do. Hearing from a reader who buys a firearm isn't quite as good as getting one myself, but it's definitely the next best thing. Thanks again to Aaron for not only coming up with the idea but for doing a lot of footwork on its behalf.

So do him, me & yourself a favor - go buy a firearm on the 15th.




Tuesday, April 06, 2004


The Volokh Conspiracy, Instapundit & Kim du Toit along with a few others are talking about the number of dissenting judges & the intensity of their dissents in 2nd amendment cases. What seems to be of interest are the dissents in Nordyke v. King. Of particular interest is that Justice Kozinski concurred with the majority opinion to deny an en banc hearing. This is the same Justice Kozinski who wrote a passionate dissent in Silveira v Lockyer & wrote the majority opinion in U.S. v Stewart(which stated that privately manufactured machine guns do not affect interstate commerce & therefore can't be used as a basis for NFA prosecutions).

I am simply not heartened by the dissents. their intensity is admirable & many good points are made in them, but they are still an underwhelming minority. The main reason I'm not as optimistic is that despite their personal feelings all these judges are bound by precedent. Justice Kozinski is arguably the most outspoken supporter of the Right to Arms on the federal bench today, yet he has denied 2nd amendment claims because he was bound by previous rulings of the court. He even concurred with the majority in Nordyke for what he deemed "prudential considerations".

If you haven't read "Game Over, Man. Game Over." by Kevin of The Smallest Minority then please do so. It sums things up quite nicely.

What we have is a judiciary that keeps building on very bad decisions even when the judges disagree with those decisions. Some will say this is a triumph of the rule of law or the impartiality of the courts. I disagree. I'm more inclined to say it's a sign of failure of the rule of law & shows the bias of the courts.

The rule of law is a very simple idea: a ruler is bound by the law just as the common person is. In this country we have a pecking order as far as the law goes. Deference must be given to the federal constitution when a conflict arises between it & a federal or in some cases a state law. The main purpose of the federal constitution is to place limits on government authority. What the courts have been doing with regards to the 2nd amendment is not to make the common folk & government equals in the eyes of the law but to side with the government against the common folk despite the constitutions limitations on government. They have done this through exercises in acrobatics of logic that are at times quite astonishing.

This demonstrates not only their personal prejudice in the matter but a deference to the government rather than the constitution. When a judge who openly agrees that the 2nd amendment protects an individual right feels compelled to abide by a system that whittles all the substance from said amendment he is not acting impartially. What he's doing is showing deference not to the constitution but to the courts.

You might disagree with my view on this. A very good argument could be made that without the system of precedent that the courts have long honored we'd have judicial activism of the worst sort. But I fail to see how that would be any worse than a system in which a man must forsake common sense & his oath to defend the constitution (assuming judges are still sworn in with an oath that affirms such) because he is verboten to rule against the government (i.e. the courts).

Let me make this clear - the judiciary is a branch of government. Some will say that the courts are not swayed as easily by politics & other factors which seem to drive the legislative & executive branches, but supposing that's true they are still swayed by considerations other than what their original purpose was: protecting the people.

Courts were instituted so that the ruler would be seen as fair in matters that directly effect the people. A murderer could not be summarily executed w/o a trial to determine if he was in fact a murderer. Similarly a person could not be punished for refusing to abide an unlawful act on the part of the government. (& yes I realize this is a rather simplistic explanation but bear with me as I'm a bit rushed.) For these reasons the courts were viewed as a good idea as a way to impose fairness on a government which by its very nature is unfair.

In our system the constitution is supposed to be the highest law in the land. No law that conflicts with the constitution is supposed to be upheld as valid by any court. In this way the courts are supposed to check the excesses of the legislature which in most circles are a recognized & unavoidable part of a legislative system.

But now it seems the courts are (& have been for some time) bending over backwards to explain why the laws which seem unconstitutional on their face are in fact quite constitutional. As many others & myself have said the lengths some courts have gone to in order to justify laws they approve of despite conflicts with the constitution are simply amazing.

But what discourages me is not so much that the courts are doing this, but that even judges who see this as blatently wrong are going along with it. Sixty four years of bad precedent is more compelling to them than their own conscience. That to me is the main source of my discouregment & disgust with the courts.

Some have opined that for reasons similar to what I stated above that we should be glad that a lot of 2nd amendment based cases are not heard by the higher courts. The idea being that until the courts are more favorable we should thank judges who vote against hearing such cases. & this I disagree with as well.

There is simply no practical effect that a Supreme Court ruling would have as far as the 2nd amendment goes unless it reversed those 64 years of bad precedent. If they sustain a federal courts ruling in whole that the 2nd amendment means the states have a right to a militia but individuals have no right to arms, then what difference will it make? Since the Supreme Court hasn't heard a direct 2nd amendment case in the last 64 years the district court rulings are binding on all lower courts. In other words the practical effect is the same whether the Supreme Court upholds a bad ruling or they simply refuse to address it.

This is because all federal district courts have promoted a collective rights view of the 2nd amendment. The 5th Circuit is the only notable exception & as yet hasn't been tested in their district. Considering the lengths judges have gone to in order to refute the meaning of a constitutional amendment I have no doubts that the 5th Circuit ruling in Emerson will be worked around in some fashion. Perhaps by a direct reversal or possibly even by stating that the 2nd amendment shouldn't have been addressed & the opinion concerning it was merely dicta (which is part of an judicial opinion that holds no legal weight). & as the recent Parker v DC demonstrates the 5th's view of the 2nd amendment is not seen as persuasive by other districts.

& you must remember that in Emerson the court did say that the 2nd amendment protected an individual right, but it was subject to reasonable government restrictions. To me there is little if any practical difference between the "collective right" view & the "reasonable government restriction of an individual right" view. It all revolves around what is considered reasonable & given what I've seen of the courts I'd wager that their idea of reasonable is a lot closer to Sarah Brady's than mine.

I wish I could share the optimism expressed by some, but for the reasons stated above I cannot put any more faith in the judiciary than I can in the legislative or the executive branches of government.


Friday, April 02, 2004


A decision was made in Parker v D.C.: the 2nd amendment does not guarantee an individual right to own or possess arms unless it is directly related to service in a state militia, therefore D.C.'s firearms laws are valid.

Again we see a court take U.S. v. Miller & misinterpret it. Then they cite 60+ years of circuit court decisions that also misinterpret Miller. & on top of that they claim that since the Supreme Court has not reviewed Miller or any direct 2nd amendment cases since Miller that the highest court in the land must approve of the interpretation of Miller.

They do spend a little time downplaying the 5th Circuit's decision in U.S. v. Emerson. Well downplaying isn't the proper description: they explain why they feel Emerson was an incorrect decision based on precedent as well as reasoning. I thought that was interesting since Emerson is the only circuit court decision issued recently that would support an individual as opposed to a collective right. & perhaps even more so because the Emerson decision was a 5th circuit matter: not binding on any other circuit. Yet the D.C. court went to some trouble to argue against it.

The court explained in some depth that a person had to be sanctioned by the state to qualify as a member of a militia. They reasoned that a militia must be trained & organized by the state & subsequently that enrollment in such a militia is the only means of claiming to be part of the militia. In other words, they suggest that unless you are actually on a roll of a state's militia then you're not a member of the militia. This despite the evidence presented in Miller that the militia was composed of all capable people within certain a certain age frame.

But the D.C. court held that since the plaintiffs raised no argument that they were members of a militia that they had no claim under the 2nd amendment & ruled against them.

Kevin of The Smallest Minority has a post up entitled "Game Over, Man. Game Over." that has more than a little relevance to the situation with the courts generally.

Parker is further proof that we have no redress in the courts. The only thing that could alter my view of that would be for the Supreme Court to hear & reverse the findings in Parker or a similar 2nd amendment case, but they've been ducking the issue since 1939 & I doubt they'll grow a conscience & courage at the same time.




Thursday, April 01, 2004


So I get this nasty, shrill message in my KABA mailbox this morning from a British panty-wetter reporter, who is apparently irate that we repeatedly use articles in UK publications to point out how ineffective, absurd and positively medieval their gun control laws are.

Greg Truscott writes:

DO NOT USE MY NEWS STORIES TO FUEL YOUR DESIRE TO BEAR FIREARMS.

TAKE NOTICE OF THIS WARNING OR I'LL PASS IT TO OUR LAWYERS TO DEAL WITH.

GREG TRUSCOTT, SOUTH LONDON PRESS, UK.


The message resulted in an email exchange between myself, KABA Executive Director Angel Shamaya and Mr. Truscott, detailed here.

Give it a read. It will give you a chuckle. Not only are the Brits unilaterally disarmed, but they are prosecuted for defending their lives without permission from their tyrannical government and they try to threaten those who expose this savagery with legal action!

Mr. Truscott's email address is: crime@slp.co.uk

I imagine he will be quite irate tomorrow when he gets to work and finds his email box full of love letters from gun rights supporters.

A friend of mine wrote the following in an email:

I was born and raised in the UK.

I live in the US now.

It's very sad to see the festering sh*thole Britain is becoming.

Under the US Constitution, we have free speech and press.

By federal law and Supreme Court decision, anyone may post links to
anything on their site, as free speech and free press.

It's sad that your articles prove our point. But your lawyers can't do
a damned thing about it, and you won't find an honest US lawyer to take
the case. A shyster will take your money, lose and get us lots of free
publicity. I urge you to do so.

Are all British reporters incompetent and irrational fools? That's all
I seem to read anymore from over there.

Cheers




Wednesday, March 31, 2004


Now I am not the first to tackle the problems with Miller: Brian Puckett wrote a piece entitled United States v. Miller and Short-Barreled Shotguns which I would encourage you to read. (He has more modern examples of shotgun use in the military - with pics!) I've previously touched on Miller here & here But for my own reference felt a more in depth refutation of Miller was necessary.

Many federal courts rely on U.S. v. Miller in which the Supreme Court remanded a case back to the District Court that had overturned the National Firearms Act of 1934. The District Court agreed with Miller that the NFA violated the 2nd Amendment. Justice McReynolds delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court that the weapon in question, a shotgun with a barrel of less than 18?, was not known to the court to have use in the militia & therefore the NFA didn't conflict with the 2nd Amendment.

Most federal courts since then have misconstrued this to mean that unless a person was actually serving in a state militia with a state approved weapon then the 2nd Amendment is inapplicable to them. This is flawed simply because the findings in Miller did not state or even imply such a conclusion. In fact Miller went to great lengths to establish that "militia" meant every person capable of serving in the common defense.

Before I get into the Supreme Court's decision in Miller there are a few facts I would like to point out about the case. First of all a gentleman named Patrick L. Aultice compiled all the available information on Miller that he could find. It contains every document from the district court's grant of bail to the Supreme Court decision itself as well as a brief summation of Jack Miller himself.

It should be noted that Miller was indicted twice for the same violation of the NFA; once on June 2nd, 1938 & again on September 23rd, 1938. In the first instance a demurrer to the indictment listing 5 items was filed on June 11th, 1938 with a memo opinion from Judge Ragon on June 11th, 1938. In the second instance a demurrer to the indictment listing 6 items was filed on January 3rd, 1939 & a memo opinion was given by Judge Ragon on January 3rd, 1939. In Mr. Aultice's chapter on Jack Miller, he mentions that Miller originally plead guilty but the judge advised him to withdraw his plea & he appointed counsel for both him & Mr. Layton (who was indicted along with Miller). I think if you have an interest in the case you'll find all the documents & summaries provided by Mr. Aultice interesting, but I'll leave it to you to click on the link above for the detailed story.

This is Judge Ragon's opinion as stated on January 3rd, 1939:

"The defendants in this case are charged with unlawfully and feloniously transporting in interstate commerce from the town of Claremore, Oklahoma, to the town of Siloam Springs in the State of Arkansas, a double barrel twelve gauge shot gun having a barrel less than eighteen inches in length, and at the time of so transporting said fire arm in interstate commerce they did not have in their possession a stamp-affixed written order for said fire arm as required by Section 1132 c, Title 26 U. S. C. A., and the regulations issued under the authority of said Act of Congress known as the National Fire Arms Act.

The defendants in due time filed a demurrer challenging the sufficiency of the facts stated in the indictment to constitute a crime and further challenging the sections under which said indictment was returned as being in contravention of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The indictment is based upon the Act of June 26, 1934, C.757, Section 11, 48 Statute 1239. The court is of the opinion that this section is invalid in that it violates the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States providing, 'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.'

The demurrer is accordingly sustained."


That & the demurrer itself are all the Supreme Court had to go on from the defense. They did not submit a brief or attend oral arguments.

The briefs from the government in objection to the lower court's ruling were very detailed. Common law was cited as far back as 1686 in England to support the idea that restrictions on arms were justifiable. What they failed to do was demonstrate that the 2nd Amendment sought to adopt the common law of England in its restrictive view of the Right to Arms. But oddly enough the Supreme Court decision itself fills in many gaps that the government left in its briefs concerning militias.

This is an excerpt from Miller where Justice McReynolds states his overall findings concerning the case:

"In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length' at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense"

He then goes on to explain the Congressional power concerning the militia that was granted in the Constitution & concludes that

"With obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of such forces the declaration and guarantee of the Second Amendment were made. It must be interpreted and applied with that end in view."

He then continues about the militia:

"The Militia which the States were expected to maintain and train is set in contrast with Troops which they [307 U.S. 174, 179] were forbidden to keep without the consent of Congress. The sentiment of the time strongly disfavored standing armies; the common view was that adequate defense of country and laws could be secured through the Militia- civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion.

The signification attributed to the term Militia appears from the debates in the Convention, the history and legislation of Colonies and States, and the writings of approved commentators. These show plainly enough that the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. 'A body of citizens enrolled for military discipline.' And further, that ordinarily when called for service these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time."


Justice McReynolds spends a great deal of time in discussing the history & purpose of a militia:
"Blackstone's Commentaries, Vol. 2, Ch. 13, p. 409 points out 'that king Alfred first settled a national militia in this kingdom' and traces the subsequent development and use of such forces.

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Book V. Ch. 1, contains an extended account of the Militia. It is there said: 'Men of republican principles have been jealous of a standing army as dangerous to liberty.' 'In a militia, the character of the labourer, artificer, or tradesman, predominates over that of the soldier: in a standing army, that of the soldier predominates over every other character; and in this distinction seems to consist the essential difference between those two different species of military force.'

'The American Colonies In The 17th Century', Osgood, Vol. 1, ch. XIII, affirms in reference to the early system of defense in New England-

'In all the colonies, as in England, the militia system was based on the principle of the assize of arms. This implied the general obligation of all adult male inhabitants to possess arms, and, with certain exceptions, to [307 U.S. 174, 180] cooperate in the work of defence.' 'The possession of arms also implied the possession of ammunition, and the authorities paid quite as much attention to the latter as to the former.' 'A year later (1632) it was ordered that any single man who had not furnished himself with arms might be put out to service, and this became a permanent part of the legislation of the colony (Massachusetts).'

Also 'Clauses intended to insure the possession of arms and ammunition by all who were subject to military service appear in all the important enactments concerning military affairs. Fines were the penalty for delinquency, whether of towns or individuals. According to the usage of the times, the infantry of Massachusetts consisted of pikemen and musketeers. The law, as enacted in 1649 and thereafter, provided that each of the former should be armed with a pike, corselet, head-piece, sword, and knapsack. The musketeer should carry a 'good fixed musket,' not under bastard musket bore, not less than three feet, nine inches, nor more than four feet three inches in length, a priming wire, scourer, and mould, a sword, rest, bandoleers, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, and two fathoms of match. The law also required that two-thirds of each company should be musketeers."


He then continues with examples of regulations concerning militias in the states before he concludes:

"Most if not all of the States have adopted provisions touching the right to keep and bear arms. Differences in the language employed in these have naturally led to somewhat variant conclusions concerning the scope of the right guaranteed. But none of them seem to afford any material support for the challenged ruling of the court below.

In the margin some of the more important opinions and comments by writers are cited. 3 [307 U.S. 174, 183] We are unable to accept the conclusion of the court below and the challenged judgment must be reversed.

The cause will be remanded for further proceedings."


Justice McReynolds never mentions that Miller was not a member of a state militia & therefore had no standing. Rather he concludes that the weapon Miller had was not of a benefit to the militia, but he even left that open by mentioning that it was not within judicial notice.
Now once again here's the relevant passage of Miller:

"In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length' at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense"

Matters of fact are usually left to the trial court, unless it is something very obvious such as the capital of Oregon or the allegation that a river runs from the upper midwest to the Gulf of Mexico or that cars use gasoline. But what is curious is that the Supreme Court at the time had two justices with prior military experience, three if you count a newly appointed justice who recused himself from the case due to his missing the oral arguments. From this site the JPFO put together on Miller I found the following:

"...Two of the Court's members had seen military service, Justice Hugo Black as a Captain in the Field Artillery in 1918 and Justice Felix Frankfurter as a Major in the Army's Legal service. Justice William O. Douglas, who did not take part in the decision, had been a private in the U.S. Army in 1918."

So it should have been possible that at the least Justice Black had some exposure to the military's use of short barreled weapons. From the same article from the JPFO we see numerous examples of the military use of short barreled weapons.

"The British issued a Sea Service flintlock blunderbuss with a 16-inch brass barrel, circa 1760..."

Jumping to the Late Unpleasantness 'Twixt the States:

"The degree to which barrels were amputated depended upon the whim of the cavalryman, or was dictated by battle damage sustained by the gun. Thin gun barrels were often dented or bent. Since weapons were scarce, the damaged portion was simply cut-off to restore the gun to action. This resulted in the discovery that shortened guns were more controllable while mounted; therefore, they were better suited for fighting purposes."

& further:

"In 1861, the Federal government purchased 10,000 Austrian-made carbines (KammerKarabiner, Model 1842). This muzzle-loading .71 caliber firearm resembled a shotgun: it had a 14.5" rifled barrel and no bayonet...The government issued three types of ammunition for this carbine: buckshot and ball combined, ordinary buckshot, and round balls..."

& from WW1:

"...The Ordnance Department procured some 30,000 to 40,000 shotguns of the short-barrel or sawed-off type, ordering these from the regular commercial manufacturers..."

But it is entirely possible that none of the justices were aware that short barreled shotguns not only could be of use, but had & currently were in use by the U.S. military.

Now Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides in part for Congress to have the authority to:

"To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water..."

A letter of marque is defined at Findlaw.com as: "a letter from a government formerly used to grant a private person the power to seize the subjects of a foreign state" & more specifically: "authority granted to a private person to fit out an armed ship to plunder the enemy (usu. used in pl.) (often used in the phrase letters of marque and reprisal)".
Private citizens were granted permission to engage an enemy nation on the seas. Now if any of you have ever spent time aboard any ship you'll understand what a commodity space is. A short barreled shotgun or rifle, not to mention a belt fed machine gun, would be the preferred weapons aboard any ship. I am sure that the U.S. Navy employed shot barreled weapons, including shotguns, aboard her vessels & it would be foolish to conclude that given the options we have today short barreled automatic weapons as well as shotguns would not have been coveted by the early American Navy.

The same part of the Constitution also states that Congress is empowered:

"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions..."

Up until the mid 1800's the military (including the militia) was expected to perform the same duties as police officers do today. & considering that in most states citizens have power of arrest when they see a felony or other dangerous crime being committed it would not be unreasonable to conclude that weapons similar to what the police departments use would be well suited to the private citizen. If you weren't aware police departments & other law enforcement agencies do use short barreled shotguns among other NFA weapons.
The justification used in Congress to pass the NFA was that certain weapons such as short barreled shotguns were particularly suited to criminal use. Criminals did use them on occasion. But this points to a another class of people at whom the sale of short barreled shotguns was targeted: law abiding citizens.

Miller was decided foremost on an inaccurate assumption of fact: that short barreled shotguns had no militia use. It's obvious to anyone with more than a moderate knowledge of firearms that literally any weapon is suited to militia use, just as any weapon is suited for criminal use, or police use. It is not the type or design of the weapon that determines their suitability to a specific class of person, but the intent of the individual wielding the weapon.
Moving on to Justice McReynolds finding of law, I cannot begin to fathom how he would have (if indeed he would have) justified the NFA once he was shown that the short barreled shotgun, as well as all other weapons covered by the NFA, do in fact have a use for the militia. But let's just forget that point of fact for the sake of argument.

Justice McReynolds states that, "...With obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of such forces the declaration and guarantee of the Second Amendment were made. It must be interpreted and applied with that end in view." The preceding part of his statement merely recited the powers Congress was granted concerning the militia.

So the continuance & possibility of an effective militia was considered the reason for the amendment & all interpretations must be consistent with that goal. To which I must point out that the militia was to be called forth to "...execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions". Justice McReynolds states a little later on that "...The sentiment of the time strongly disfavored standing armies; the common view was that adequate defense of country and laws could be secured through the Militia--civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion." (emphasis added)

The same weapons useful for one of the purposes would be useful for the others, providing the wielder of said weapon was proficient with them. Naturally a belt fed machine gun would be useful in repelling an invasion, but also in suppressing a riot or to stop or discourage looters during a black out. & equally a short barreled shotgun would be useful in repelling invaders, as it would be in suppressing a riot or discouraging looters during a black out. The same could be said of any weapon as long it was used by someone who knew its strengths & limitations.

If a person one day finds himself behind a belt fed machine gun, or a short barreled shotgun in the course of his lawful duties within the militia the type of weapon he has will do him little good if he is not properly trained in its use. So if the 2nd Amendment must be interpreted with the goal of keeping a well trained militia capable of acting for the public defense, then the courts must strike down laws which impose burdensome fess or other restrictions on the individual obtaining & practicing with weapons suited to militia use. That would encompass all weapons as a militia may find itself in what we today would consider a military combat role; a military peacekeeping role; an irregular military role; a general police role; or a specialized police role (such as a SWAT team).

A militia was expected at the time to perform the duties of soldiers as well as policeman. Fighting an invading army is the most common thought of use for the militia, but fighting an oppressive government, suppressing insurrections, enforcing laws, controlling & dispersing riots, as well as helping an area during & after a natural disaster would all fall under the duties of the militia. That these duties have been neglected is bad for us not just because of the misunderstanding surrounding the 2nd Amendment, but because our obligations to our communities, states & country have been neglected along with them.

I believe Justice McReynolds own findings established that the militia is any able bodied person capable of acting in the public defense. But I will add a few quotes from those around at the time of the Revolution as well as some who lived to see the Constitution ratified:

"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms." - Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters from the Federal Framer (1788) at p. 169

"It is reported that the Governor has said, that he has Three Things in Command from the Ministry, more grievous to the People, than any Thing hitherto made known. It is conjectured 1st, that the Inhabitants of this Province are to be disarmed." - "ABC" (PSEUD., SAMUEL ADAMS)

"The said Constitution be never construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." - Samuel Adams, during Massachusetts's Convention to Ratify the Constitution (1788).

"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them." - Zachariah Johnson, 3 Elliot, Debates at 646

"Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people." - Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.

"No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at discretion." - James Burgh, Political Disquisitions: Or, an Enquiry into Public Errors, Defects, and Abuses [London, 1774-1775].

"The right of the people to keep and bear...arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country..." - James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789.

"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms." - Tench Coxe in `Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution' under the Pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1.

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms has been recognized by the General Government; but the best security of that right after all is, the military spirit, that taste for martial exercises, which has always distinguished the free citizens of these States....Such men form the best barrier to the liberties of America" - Gazette of the United States, October 14, 1789.

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." - James Madison, The Federalist Papers No. 46 at 243-244.

"...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights..." - Alexander Hamilton speaking of standing armies in Federalist No. 29.

"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops." - Noah Webster, An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed BV the Late Convention (1787).

You get the idea: the militia was thought of as the body of the people that were capable of bearing arms. The law that currently defines the militia in the United States can be found at 10 U.S.C. § 311. While it only includes males between the ages of 17 & 45 I would say its safe to say that with the case law concerning equality between the sexes that women should not count themselves out of the militia just yet. & it should be noted that whether this age range is applicable depends entirely on the occasion for which the militia is called up; should a hurricane ravage a town along one of our coasts or an invading force attempt entry at our borders then I would think the tie honored definition of "any able bodied person capable of acting" would be what's required.

& I'll beg your forgiveness as the next bit of information I was going to present isn't where I thought it was. It's a case the Supreme Court decided in the early 1900's or possibly the last decade of the 1800'2. The name escapes me but it was a tax case & it more or less held that taxation must not be for any regulatory purpose but solely for raising revenue. I'd kindly ask for anyone who recalls the name of this case to drop me a note as I don't expect anyone to merely rely on my word that such a case exists or that it found what I say it found. So if you'll pardon the lack of citation I'll submit that a taxing measure must not be for regulation: its sole purpose must be to generate revenue.

I must ask, is a $200 tax on a short barreled shotgun (which prior to the NFA sold for between $10 & $40) something that you would do to generate revenue? I could possibly see a tax of 10% or even 50% of certain items, but 200%? & instead of requiring a tax stamp that is transferable without any further oversight, a request for permission for the tax stamp, as well as much paperwork must be delivered to the government & your request could very well be denied. Further in 1968 all weapons in existence that fell under the NFA & that were not registered & taxed were declared contraband & wouldn't be able to be registered after a grace period ended. In 1986 all newly manufactured weapons were prohibited from being added to the registration. I realize these last two things happened long after Miller was decided, but can there be any doubt about the NFA's purpose being one other than taxation?

To further that I offer you this testimony from the congressional debate concerning the NFA in April & May of 1934. In it Mr. Frederick (President of the NRA) discusses his views on the proposed NFA. Several times it is mentioned that the purpose of the bill is a regulatory measure under the guise of a revenue measure & towards the end there is open discussion about the goals of the legislation, which is to target gangsters.

In Murdock v. Pennsylvania it was found that:
"A state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution... The power to impose a license tax on the exercise of these freedoms is indeed as potent as the power of censorship which this Court has repeatedly struck down... a person cannot be compelled 'to purchase, through a license fee or a license tax, the privilege freely granted by the constitution."

So even if on the surface the NFA was a revenue raising measure it would not be applicable to possession of firearms. I would offer that a sales tax as is common to other items similar in value & collectible at the retail purchase of a firearm would not fall under the provision of Murdock, but I cannot see how a $200 tax on items that at the time were as cheap as $2 (sound suppressors) & currently could still be half the value of the tax (single barrel shotguns are commonly available for $100) would not run afoul of Murdock.

The militia is comprised of the people which would include anyone capable of acting in the militia. To preserve that militia the individuals who comprise it must be able to own & train with suitable weapons. Given the wide range of duties the militia may be called up for any weapon may have valid militia use. Short barreled shotguns & all other NFA weapons would have militia use & are in current use with the military & police forces of the U.S. A tax law must be designed with the sole purpose of revenue & not regulation. A Right guaranteed by the Constitution may not be taxed or licensed.

Because of these conclusions the finding of the lower courts that the 2nd amendment relates to a collective, rather than an individual Right & that Congress has the authority to regulate firearms is absurd & is not supported by the facts or the law.



Tuesday, March 30, 2004


More about Mr. Lancaster.

The Nashville Files has published a little more on the background of Mr. Lancaster, specifically dealing with the motives behind the ATF & their informants:

"Someone (who I can't name) that works for the Federal government added an interesting perspective to this entire issue. He said that the BATF might be in the hot chair. The BATF spent lots of money going after Lancaster, and if they don't get a good sentence out of it, it will look bad on paper...
When Lancaster was arrested, there were approximately 15 law enforcement people of various capacities at his residence, and there was at least one and possibly two experts flown from D.C. It takes a lot of money to undertake a raid and investigation like this. In fact, the source listed above said it probably goes into the tens of thousands of dollars.""


This seems likely because it appears to be a pattern with the ATF. They spend X amount of time & money on an "investigation" & they feel obliged to produce "results" to justify their expenditure & provide arguments for increasing their expenditure. & considering they just asked for another budget increase I can see how important any & every conviction would be for them. Never mind that they don't bother to differentiate between the arrest of violent people & those with no prior criminal records who made some error relating to paperwork or mere possession as that wouldn't endear them to the hearts of congress now would it? Too bad Rep. Ron Paul isn't on the committee that Acting Director Domenech addressed his statement to. Course I can't let that pass: considering this report on the ATF's practices, I'd say they didn't just need an acting director, but acting lessons.

If you're interested in learning more about how the ATF does its thing to the people, look here.

& in answer to a complaint of mine Blake goes on to give some details of what & who started this mess:

"First off, this entire fiasco started because of a church budget. And you thought that your church had rought budget battles. Two associate pastors were going to be getting big raises (we're talking in the 20% range). A large group of members couldn't understand why and they wanted to get answers, and Lancaster took the side of the people wanting answers...
We know for certain the names of two of the Confidential Sources of Information listed in the affidavit for the search warrant. According to the affidavit, an annonymous caller tipped the BATF off (with confirmed lies about Lancaster being a Nazi sympathizer, manic depressive, dangerous, and having explosives). During the supression hearing, it was learned that an associate pastor at the church (James Mason...one of the ones getting a raise in the budget) made that call to the BATF and was also CSI2 in the affidavit (on a side note, Mason was later arrested for beating his wife...his wife has since fled while he is out free)...
CSI3 gave the most information, but he was essentially coerced into talking (because of the coersion, I will not give his name here). The BATF apparently threatened him with jail time if he didn't talk, and James Mason was also present during part of the questioning (CSI3 would have been considered a subordinate of Mason at that time)."


So because of a church budget battle members of that church ratted out Mr. Lancaster to the feds & he's looking at federal time????? Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus to the Romans & Chief Priests for his own profit. You'd have thought that members & especially leaders of a church would have remembered this story. Not that Mr. Lancaster was the equivilent of Jesus, but that Judas' crime would have been just as treacherous no matter the state of his victim: the betrayal of someone who has done you no harm in exchange for your own profit.

Now I grew up in Charlotte, NC back when tele-evangalism was getting popular. I couldn't tell you the number of times my living room was standing-room-only 'cause everyone wanted to watch Billy Graham together. Coming from the same area as Jim & Tammy Baker I know a little something about how vicious conflicts within the church can be. But turning a person over to the feds so you can get a 20% raise? Did James Mason ever bother to read any of the literature inside the church? I'm positive there had to be a New Testament lying around somewhere. & in that New testament the Gospels tell us repeatedly about how Jesus condemned the religious leaders as hypocrites. Ratting someone out who has never harmed anyone while you're slappin' your old lady around would qualify as hypocritical in most people's minds. There are also numerous condemnations of betraying someone in the Gospels, as well as throughout the rest of the Bible.

Turning someone in to the ATF is not drastically different than turning someone in to Tomas de Torquemada. Despite not having caused any harm to any person, they are persecuted with the might of a government & could suffer anything from loss of property to imprisonment to death. We look back on the Spanish Inquisition as a gross injustice that not only harmed innocents but contradicted the goals sought by the Inquisition (a conversion of all to Catholocism). One's only hope in either case was to admit to & repent of acts which you may not have been guilty of or caused no harm to others, or to turn in other people.

& to make it worse on a different level, James Mason & his companions in treachery turned in a good church going fella to the damn revenuers! I know that this events didn't take place in Appalachia, but wouldn't they be close enough to realize how lod down this sort of behavior is? But I guess if you can't expect Christian charity you can't be surpised at a lack of down home ethics.

I'm much obliged to The Nashville Files for posting this information. I can understand how someone would feel that someone who is coerced shouldn't bear the blunt of public disapproval for their actions. However I will point out that what this does is give a free pass to anyone who claims they did it to save their own skins. The ATF routinely theatens people into infroming on others with the promise of dropping some BS charge they claim they have on them. More gun owners inform for the ATF than non gun owners & because of this I'd be more inclined to hold them as accountable as those who inform for some other motive. don't get me wrong - the bastards at the ATF who use this strategy should all be forced to serve out the sentences of those they seek to charge, but unfortunately there's enough blame to go around.

& I'm still disappointed that a very large group of concerned citizens haven't demanded Mr. Lancaster's release & kicked the statist bastards that did this to him out of the state. At the very least I hope James Mason, Special Agent Patrick W. Hand & all others who advocated Mr. Lancaster being punished for violationg an unconstitutional law will be treated as persona non grata wherever they go.


Angel Shamaya wrote an article about concealed carry that's been published in the Ft.-Wayne News-Sentinel. I understand they contacted Mr. Shamaya & asked him to write a piece for them to print after one of their own reporters admitted to having a concealed carry permit.

So I'll give them credit for trying to display both sides of the issue. Mr. Shamaya tells me that the article is completely unedited so again I must say I they've acted admirably in this instance. Other papers could learn from them.

Give it a read.


Monday, March 29, 2004


NJ is following NYC's example.

"It is just a big mess,' Bogdan said. 'This is definitely out of the ordinary. He (Garcia) was in the wrong for shooting at him. The other guy was in the wrong for stealing the van and the other guy was in the wrong for having a gun."

That was from NJ Trooper David Bogdan regarding a situation where a man (Horn) stole a van that had another man (Garcia) sleeping in the back seat . Garcia was awakened when his friend (Jimenez) discovered the van missing as he came out of the truck stop & called Garcia on his cell phone. Garcia pulled a gun, made Horn pull over & kicked him out of the van. Then Garcia fired a shot in Horn's direction but didn't hit him. Meanwhile back at the rest stop Jimenez had called the cops to report a stolen van. So when Garcia arrived back at the rest stop the troopers searched the van & arrested Garcia & Jimenez as well as Horn. The charges?

"Horn was charged with carjacking, burglary and theft.
Garcia was charged with possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, aggravated assault and possession of hollow-point bullets.
Jimenez was charged with possession of a weapon and possession of hollow-point bullets.
All three were being held Friday at the Warren County Jail."


I'll agree that barring some circumstances we do not know about from the article that Garcia shouldn't have fired at Horn & should be charged for it. But charging either of them for mere possession of a firearm or a certain kind of ammunition that the state troopers had in their guns is outrageous.

So I would add to Trooper Bogdan's quote above that he (Bogdan) was in the wrong for arresting anyone for mere possession of a weapon or ammo & his fellow troopers were in the wrong for not arresting Bogdan for flagrantly violating at least two people's Right to Arms.

The usual applies: if you see Trooper Bogdan or any other NJ law enforcement agent who you know would arrest someone for mere possession of arms or ammo then explain to him why he can't do business or interact socially with you until he changes his evil ways.




Sunday, March 28, 2004


Kevin of The Smallest Minority has a thoughtful post up regarding the 5th Circuit's decision on the 4th amendment from last week. In case you haven't heard the 5th Circuit decided that a warrant, consent or even probable cause aren't needed to conduct a cursory search of a person's home if done it under the guise of "officer safety". The majority opinion was 32 pages & there are a further 30 pages of dissent. 3 judges dissented & 1 dissented in part from the majority opinion; that's out of 16 judges who heard this case. 3 to 1 odds against protecting a constitutionally enumerated Right. Not heartening is it?

Kevin does a good job of discussing the case & its implications. Go read what he has to say.




There's been some bad news from the courts this week.

For starters Mark Lancaster had a sentencing hearing on Friday (for some background on Mr. Lancaster's circumstances I refer you to this previous post). The blog Nashville Files provides an account of what happened at the hearing. Bottom line is Mr. Lancaster is facing 30 to 33 months in jail & that will be decided after a ten day wait so the respective attorneys can file arguments for or against a shorter sentence. All this because he didn't have the correct paperwork for the machineguns found in his home. Chief District Judge Robert L. Echols wouldn't allow Mr. Lancaster to change his plea from guilty to not guilty despite the recent 9th Circuit decision where they held that home made firearm were not subject to the NFA.

Another name y'all should remember is that of ATF Special Agent in Charge James Cavanaugh. He was the statist bastard who organized the raid & arrest of Mr. Lancaster. Ditto for BATF Agent Hand who, according to the Nashville Files account, was sitting with the statist bastards persecutor prosecutor during the trial.

What is not mentioned are the names of the "informants" who ratted Mr. Lancaster out to the ATF. All I can tell you is to be careful of whom you trust. The ATF has a long history of "recruiting" informants who are actively looking to save their own hides from a federal weapons charge.

No Quarters tells us that Francis Warin was sentenced to 33 months earlier this week. Mr. Warin is a U.S. citizen that emigrated from France & started challenging federal firearms laws in the 1970's. His latest conviction is for mailing & possessing NFA firearms w/o having the proper permission slips, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm (his felony conviction came from earlier attempts to challenge the NFA). For more details on Mr. Warin's history please look at this previous post as well as this post from Say Uncle which links to his previous posts on Mr. Warin.

Of note is that Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Weldon thought it was a just sentence according to this article. U.S. District Judge David Katz sentenced Mr. Warin to much less than the maximum he could have, but he also fined Mr. Warin $2,500 & 2 years of supervised probation after he's released. ATF Agent Dennis Bennett testified against Mr. Warin according to this article.

Ravenwood tells us of a raid where the cops confiscated a person's firearms & involuntarily committed him to a mental institution for observation. When he was released (as his sanity wasn't questionable & he'd committed no crime) they refused to return his firearms because he had been involuntarily committed! This was the work of a special "firearms unit" set up to handle the tips from the D.C. Sniper incident in 2002. Yep, the bastards got so many tips they decided to keep the special unit that focused on firearms. Lt. Michael Mancuso and Sgt. Kenneth Berger are two of the thugs & are pictured in this article.

FreedomSight has a post up about the 10th circuit's collective right interpretation of the 2nd amendment as handed down earlier in the week. The case was U.S. v Parker. Paul M. Warner and Diana Hagen were the U.S. Attorneys who argued against an individual interpretation & Kelly, McWilliams and Briscoe were the presiding circuit judges. Judge Kelly dissented in part to their reasoning regarding the 2nd amendment but concurred with them in their decision. It was decided that no oral arguments were necessary & the case was decided purely on the briefs. Mr. Parker accidentally carried a pistol onto a military base & it was found under the seat of his truck. This was an offense under the Assimilative Crimes Act which allows federal prosecution for violating state firearms laws on federal property. It was a misdemeanor & he was fined around $100. He appealed on 2nd & 10th amendment grounds. While they agreed he had standing to bring a 2nd amendment claim they denied his having 10th amendment grounds to argue his case. they then explained why the 2nd amendment confers only a collective right to arms & repeated a 4 part test (originally used in U.S. v Haney) that must be met to have a successful 2nd amendment case. More or less it'd take a note from the governor to have a valid 2nd amendment Right according to those bastards.

I'll try to examine the court decisions more in depth in a later post.

What I do want to stress is this: gun owners don't have many friends apart from other gun owners. There are a few who are on our side on general principles but don't own guns themselves, but the majority of people you will see that believe in an individual having the Right to Arms are gun owners. & hell, even some gun owners aren't our friends. We do have a lot of enemies, both in ideology & fact.
So what I would recommend is if you know anyone who advocates civilian disarmament or who actively advances it (such as those people named above) then politely try to change their minds. Convince them that what they're doing or encouraging hurts not only themselves but everyone in our society. If you honestly attempt to sway them & they still persist in their encouragement of civilian disarmament then politely but firmly tell them that you've got no choice but to take it personally & as such you'll be disassociating yourself from them. Don't do business with them; don't go to social events with them; don't invite them to dinner, etc. Leave an invitation open to discuss their views on civilian disarmament but make it clear that that's it.

A little harsh you might think? No. After all if you're neighbor was actively lobbying for your taxes to be jacked up by 20% more than you're paying now & he was behind organizing special audit teams in the IRSS to check on people like you then you wouldn't think snubbing them socially or professional was too harsh at all, now would ya? If you're neighbor was advocating a Nazi-like "solution" to a minority group that you were a member of then ostracizing them wouldn't even be a question would it?

& I don't see why it should be any different for gun owners. Gun control proponents are in favor of disarming you; they wish to make it illegal for you to have the means to defend yourself & your family. I'd say that is pretty harsh - far harsher than making them find a new golf partner or buying their groceries from another store. & remember that this is a practical decision as well: if a law was passed banning a certain type of firearm & your anti-gun neighbor/co-worker knew you had one of those banned weapons it'd be more consistent for him to rat you out than someone who thought the law was unjust (well, except for those ATF "informants" who are usually given the choice between facing criminal charges or "informing" on someone else to be prosecuted in their place).

So try to convince people that civilian disarmament is a bad thing. But if they still persist then cut them out of your professional & personal life. It's sad that it might be necessary to do this but I'm afraid it is necessary.



Friday, March 26, 2004


This week on Armed Females of America, I wrote an article called "Turning schools into victim disarmament zones." When I sat down to write, I tried to control my ever rising temper from boiling over and spilling onto my keyboard. But now that I think about it, more needs to be said...

...not just about school victim disarmament zones, but about stupid, worthless, gutless, clueless, tyrannical politicians who breed this atmosphere of paranoid hoplophobia in which we live. So here goes ...

The schools are just the beginning. Schools are a way to indoctrinate the population into the mindset of government dependence, destruction of freedom and mindless obedience from a very young age. Public schools are under the control of the politicians - both local, state and federal. Their funding depends on how well they parrot the political agenda of the moment and how loudly and wetly they kiss the derrieres of the politicians setting the political agenda. They are taught that armed guards in schools are there for their protection, but students themselves are not worthy enough, intelligent enough or responsible enough to also take a modicum of responsibility for their own safety. They are taught that firearms in the hands of the armed police are necessary tools, while firearms their parents may own must be locked away, because in the hands of the "civilians" they aren't. The children are pounded with propaganda about the absolute need to lock up your tool of self defense and encouraged to nag their parents into using government-provided locks (obtained by stealing money from the taxpayers, of course) to disable their firearms. They are taught that water guns, GI Joe guns, small knives to cut their fruit, laser pointers and even rubber bands can be used as weapons and must not be tolerated.

These same children, who are endlessly inundated with hoplophobic, paranoid, bigoted garbage about the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, citizen militias, guns and freedom, grow up to be paranoid, bigoted college students who spend their days growing their armpit and leg hair (for women) and facial hair (for men -- and even some women) as long as possible, washing as little as possible and spewing socialist propaganda disguised as "progressive," for the children, for a better world, common good policy for a brighter future and a sunny, green world filled with rare insects, tropical birds, killer cougars and a few unwashed humans.

Is it any wonder, then, that the bureaucrats and government flunkies of today are so indoctrinated into the disarmament mentality? After all, you cannot impose your version of utopia on an unsuspecting public without quelling insurrection, can you? You can't force an entire population to be dependent on the omnipresent, ever-benevolent state, without taking away their means of smacking down or destroying that state should it become tyrannical, can you? And you certainly can't expect the sheep to worship the state without removing the concepts of freedom, of personal responsibility and of individual rights from their minds.

I am convinced that this is the true purpose behind the increasingly absurd zero-tolerance policies of our public schools. This is why they expel gold twinkies from their rectums at the very thought of a kid wearing a shooting sports T-shirt to school. This is the real reason why they force the children and teachers alike to worship at the altar of victimhood, disarmament and government dependence. That's why they lock down schools at the mere thought of an armed intruder, locking every disarmed and helpless body inside with the potentially dangerous criminal and force the frightened, vulnerable students and teachers to wait for the armed police protectors to arrive, compelling them to depend on government guns for their very lives.

Because once they take away every last shred of dignity, personal responsibility and freedom, individuals who have the gall to shake off the tentacles of government control can be easily beaten down by the state without too much protest from the rest of the sheep.

Think about it -- aside from the gun rights community and freedom advocates, who raised an eyebrow when Ron Dixon was prosecuted by NYC for defending his family against a violent repeat offender who broke into his home without getting several-hundred dollar permission from the tyrannical panty wetters of New York? Who was outraged when Hale DeMar was harrassed by the foul, cowardly, statist cops in Wilmette, IL for daring to protect his family with a firearm, instead of cowering in his locked bedroom and waiting for the donut munchers to arrive? Who protested when Melvin Spaulding had to spend time in jail for using a firearm to protect his 63 year old friend from being kicked to death by a band of thugs? And who is raging now, as Edwin Marte, who had the nerve to stop an armed robber from robbing the Ramon Food Market in Queens without getting permission from the nanny state, is being prosecuted for using an "illegal" tool of self defense to protect life and property?

Are the people of America angry? Are they incensed? Are millions of Americans angry at this injustice? No. A few thousand dedicated gun owners and gun rights advocates are. The rest of the indoctrinated American sheep, go about their daily business, watch Friends, gorge on McDonald's burgers and delude themselves into thinking they are free.

Whew! I feel better now.



Thursday, March 25, 2004



In the comments to the post below I found the following from Linda Seebach:

"I am distressed when people I generally agree with behave in a disgraceful manner to advance our shared views.

Threatening the newspaper's staff members, most of whom have nothing to do with the decision, if it publishes something you do not approve of is beneath contempt.

As you probably know, the Rocky supported making Colorado a shall-issue state, so we have no animus toward guns. And as far as I know, no one here has ever contemplated putting the state's list of concealed-carry permit holders online. We have, however, opposed measures to make the permit list secret (in furtherance of the principle that government records should be open whenever possible). And we opposed a bill to end the sharing of permit data between counties (it lost).

You could threaten us with harm for some of our positions, and the anti-gun people could threaten us for the rest. In either case, the tactic would be thuggery. It discredits your views."


There are a few factual discrepancies that keep me from agreeing with her admonition.

For starters the idea that I or any other blogger threatened a newspaper's staff because they were going to publish something I or we didn't like is an oversimplified & inaccurate representation of what happened. I point this out because of the typical negative connotation of ?threat? which I don't believe applies: in the sense that a threat is a warning then it could be used accurately, but I think "ultimatum" better describes what was relayed than to say we "threatened" anyone.

If an ultimatum or threat was offered solely because a newspaper's intended content would offend, then I would agree that using any coercion beyond persuasive logic or consumer retaliation (a boycott) would be unacceptable in that circumstance. A punitive response (other than the boycott) wouldn't be generally acceptable if the issue was only a papers' intellectual content.

But the issue wasn't about publishing an opinion that I don't agree with; it was about publishing a list of names which in a pragmatic sense could be directly harmful to those whose names are published & in a principled sense would cause harm to the people's privacy. That differs greatly from an op-ed that calls for more gun control. One affects everyone who may or may not agree; the other affects a specific group of people who have no choice in the matter.

Put another way: I don't agree with wearing sandals with socks. I also don't agree with unprovoked violence against an elderly person. It would be unacceptable if I smacked down someone just because of a serious lack of judgment in footwear options, but justifiable if I smacked down someone who was beating up their grandmother. What the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel was about to do was much closer to beating up their grandmother than it was to making a fashion faux pa. & since I don?t think it's "thuggery" to stop someone from beating up their grandmother I have to disagree with that characterization of my actions as well.
Now what was "threatened" would not cause any harm to the newspaper staff if their reasoning about publishing the list of permit holders was valid. After all, if publishing public records is no cause for concern then publishing legally obtainable info on the staff of a paper shouldn't cause a problem right?

But we all know this is not the case. What would be substantive is the loss of privacy suffered by both parties. Now to say that it's acceptable to compromise the privacy of gun owners because the law allows it is bullshit pure & simple. To go further & say that finding legally obtainable info on a newspapers staff is somehow different is also bullshit. There simply is no difference in publishing permit holder's info & publishing newspaper staff info. Neither was accused of any crime or claimed to be a threat to the public & the public can gain no useful insight in finding out how & who doesn't have permission to carry a concealed weapon.

Why would I have done it if the actions in general aren't cool? By publishing names they would have crossed the line from making flawed policy recommendations into causing substantive harm to gun owners. The only way to counter such a direct affront is in kind.
My goal was not to publish the info of the staff out of spite or vindictiveness, but to make the paper aware that if their actions were acceptable then I wouldn't have qualms about stooping to their level. In doing that I hoped the paper would see that if it's wrong for me to publish the info of their staff then it'd be at least equally wrong for them to publish the names of the permit holders.

There simply is no public interest whatsoever in publishing a list of people who have concealed carry permits. The only things such a list could be used for would be to discriminate against people with such a permit & to discourage the more privacy conscience people from applying for a permit. I can see no pragmatic argument which outweighs the privacy & safety concerns of permit holders. & in principle what they were advocating is making a list public of those who would exercise a distortion of a Right. I cannot fathom that a list of library card holders or church members would be seen as "newsworthy" by any paper in this country. Despite at least one reporter missing the point entirely, y'all wouldn't dream of publishing info that's perceived as being available through the Patriot Act, would ya? & despite the name & photo of Kobe Bryant's accuser being widely available on line & in the tabloids the Rocky wouldn't publish it would they? That's cause despite the info being available to the public it would serve no public interest to make that info available in a paper & could possibly cause harm to those whose info was published. So again I come back to an attempt to discourage & demonize permit holders as the only valid reasons for publishing such a list.

Luckily, everybody won: the permit holder's info was not published by the paper & I didn't feel i had to publish the info of their staff. They decided (quite correctly) that their actions would be inappropriate. Whatever the cause I'm glad for all concerned that no info was published.

Now about the Rocky Mountain News:

I'm usually much more severe with their sister publication* the Denver Post. That doesn't mean the Rocky is without fault - not by a longshot.
Now have you or anyone at the Rocky staff really examined the "shall Issue" law we have in Colorado? Have you ever studied the law it replaced? Or did an in depth look at proposals to replace both of them? I have & you're more than welcome to view my conclusions here. The short story is that the "shall issue" CCW is a step backwards from the "may issue" law it replaced. & both were inferior to a proposed but quickly tabled CCW law that was introduced around the same time. & All three are inferior to the Vermont/Alaska style law that was proposed but killed in committee a little over a month ago.

The NRA backed the "Shall Issue" law & opposed the others so to most people they assume that the "Shall Issue" law was a good idea. But as far as the interests of gun owners are concerned the NRA is falling short in a lot of areas. You're welcome to view my previous posts on the NRA here. In fact I'll go so far as to advice you or any other newspaper that if you want to make the NRA look bad in a story you're wasting your time with the anti-gun groups. You'd be far more effective talking to gun owners who are disgruntled with the NRA's tactics & strategy.

But all this is to say that equating support for Colorado's current "Shall Issue" law is not effective proof that the Rocky is not hostile towards guns or gun owners.

You go on further to state your opposition to making the list of permit holders "secret". Now here's the deal: I am not a fan of CCW permit laws. They compromise what should be considered a Right & place undue burdens on those who would simply want to protect themselves w/o having to run afoul of the cops. They're nothing more than prior restraint based laws designed to desensitize a populace as to their Rights. That being said I disagree wholeheartedly that a list of any gun owner who is not a violent habitual felon should be publicly accessible. It's making public a system of gun owner registration & were the objects of said registration exercising any other Right enumerated in the federal & state constitutions respectively then there'd be all kind of hell raised at the idea of it being part of a law.

Let's suppose a law was passed that required all newspaper staff to be licensed. Would you honestly say that this information should be a matter of public record? How about a license to belong to a religious organization? Again, would a public record of whose Muslim, Buddhist, Protestant, Catholic or Hindu be acceptable? Would there be any valid reason whatsoever for you to be able to look at a record & determine whether your neighbor works for a newspaper & what religion they practice considering the state ran a background check & determined them to be okay people?

& the law you refer to about sharing permit holder information is described inaccurately. I assume you were referring to Rep. Crane's HB1205. The bill would not have ended the "...sharing of permit data between counties...": rather it would have eliminated a statewide gun owner data base. Now in the "Shall Issue" law we now have a sheriff may at his/her discretion share info with another law enforcement agency for the purpose of confirming the validity of a permit. That wouldn't have been changed. What would have changed is that instead of 2007 as originally specified in the law, the date would be moved to 2004 to abolish a statewide database on permit holders.

Now why the hell would you oppose a bill that merely moves the abolishment of a statewide database up 3 years but still allows for confirmation that a permit is valid? Did you or anyone at the Rocky staff actually read the bill & attempt to understand what it means? The language is very plain & fairly simple. It's a two page bill that changes the law by invalidating one sentence in one paragraph & changing the year from 2007 to 2004 in another paragraph.

The only reason for opposition to said bill would be if you were also opposed to the statewide database of law abiding gun owners being done away with in 2007. So in 2006 are we going to argue the merits of gun owner registration all over again, or did the Rocky simply make a knee-jerk reaction to what it perceived to be a pro-gun law?

As I've said the Rocky is by comparison a decent paper as far as gun issues go, but it's by no means perfect & I'd spend more time on the Rocky's errors if the Denver Post weren't as bad as they are.

But I'll make you an offer (don't get all happy I make the offer to any & every paper that will listen) if you wish to discuss the situation with publishing the names of CCW holders, Colorado's gun laws or any & every other firearm related issue I'll be more than happy to accommodate you. I can meet you in person, call you, have you call me, or simply exchange e-mails. It can be on the record, off the record or anything in between. I'll be more than happy to publish anything that we discuss here unedited. This is open to you or anyone at the Rocky or any other newspaper so your anonymity can be preserved. & I'll even go so far as to grant you amnesty if your paper publishes CCW holder names & I respond in kind (well as long as you're not the one pushing for it). & to make the offer even sweeter I'll be more than happy to take you or any other newspaper employee to a range & teach you &/or them about safe firearms handling, marksmanship & perhaps most important to your line of work the actual differences between types of firearms.

& in case you're wondering what's in it for me, it ain't the publicity. The way I see it if I can make some headway into changing the attitudes of one reporter in a (& I'm being generous here) paper that's only moderately biased &/or ignorant about firearms then perhaps it'll cause factual articles to be published at least occasionally instead of the usual gun control organizations press releases being printed as news articles.

Update:

*Ms. Seebach has informed me that I am mistaken in the nature of the relationship between the Rocky Mountain News & the Denver Post:

"...the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post are not 'sister papers.' They are owned by different companies and fiercely competitive in the field of journalism. Only the non-journalism part, advertising, circulation, printing and the like are shared, but all that is outsourced to a third company, the Denver Newspaper Agency, which is in turn jointly owned by the companies that own the papers."

So I stand corrected.

Another thing that was brought up was that my attempts to differentiate between "ultimatum" & "threat" were unconvincing to Ms. Seebach. Hopefully this will make it clearer:

The word "threat" is usually perceived as an unprovoked & unjustifiable preemptive measure (i.e. "I'm gonna kick your ass"). The word "ultimatum" is generally perceived as a retaliatory warning dependent upon another's action (i.e. "if you don't drop the gun I'll shoot you"). I simply feel that because my actions were an attempt to respond in kind to what the paper in question was considering that the word "threat" was an inappropriate description in the context Ms. Seebach meant it. (The dictionary will point out that "threat" can be defined as merely "an indication of something impending" with no other implications, but from her later use of "thuggery" I assume Ms. Seebach was not referring to "threat" in that sense).




An Indiana newspaper was thinking about publishing a list of CCW permit holders. For some background please see this previous post by Nicki & this previous post by me. The Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel decides to do the right thing.

"After listening to many of you and reading pages and pages of e-mails, as well as consulting experts in ethics and law enforcement, we've decided not to provide easier access to this public record on our Web site. The prospect of harm seems to outweigh the potential for public good. Those who want the information will have to request it from the State Police and pay $25 for it."

About 3,000 people contacted them & the vast majority of them opposed making the list public. What they didn't mention was that some bloggers contacted them & said if any CCW permit holders names are published then all the legally obtainable information of the newspapers staff will be posted on the net in blogs, message forums & any other venue that it can be posted in. I have no idea if that had any effect at all on their decision but I'd like to think so.

There were a few disturbing things mentioned in this paragraph towards the end of the article:

"While we reached this conclusion after much thought and discussion, anyone with programming skills could purchase the list from the state and provide searchable access to it online. So, while the debate over what The News-Sentinel does with the list is over, perhaps we've started a useful conversation about who should have easy access to this information. Twenty-one states allow the public at least some access to this data, and 23 close the records, while six states issue no permits, according to research by The Plain Dealer in Cleveland."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is a paper in Ohio that threatened to do the same thing & bloggers responded appropriately. But that there's contact between the two papers is interesting.

But the first two sentences could be taken as a request from the newspaper for an anonymous individual to post the list on the net. Hell, I'm damn sure it is. If they feel that they shouldn't publish the list because the "...prospect of harm seems to outweigh the potential for public good..." then why are they suggesting that some other person or entity could post the list? It seems to me that they just want to avoid the responsibilty & consequences of publishing the list but they'd still like to see the list published.

They did list some of the more compelling pragmatic arguments for not publishing the list (while ignoring the principled ones) but then they turn around & mention that anyone with some basic computer knowledge could publish the list & perhaps the topic is still open for public discussion.

I'm glad (for a number of reasons) that they decided not to publish the list, but I am disappointed in their veiled plea for someone else to publish it for them.


NYC is at it again. No, they weren't handing out tickets to people helping with traffic control in an emergency again.They didn't arrest another person & his 1 month old friggin' kitten again. They didn't scare anyone else literally to death in a no-knock raid again. They didn't even suspend a cop because he refused to obey an unlawful order again. They have done this kind of thing before, most notably in the Bronx to Mr. Dixon. This time the bastards in Queens are prosecuting a person solely because he had the means to defend himself.

"Devin Keitt, 26, allegedly tried to rob at gunpoint the Ramon Food Market on 107th Avenue in Ozone Park at 8 p.m., cops said.
But he was foiled by Edwin Marte, 35, who shot Keitt once in the head with an unlicensed gun, police sources said."


So a guy shoots someone that's robbing him at gunpoint. But instead of being lauded or at the least left alone guess what happens to the good citizen:

"Police sources said Marte is facing a weapons charge and Keitt is facing attempted robbery and weapons charges."

WTF??? The guy was defending himself but because he did it without having his papers in order he faces persecution prosecution. I'll grant that NYC isn't as bad as England yet but you have to remember England didn't just morph overnight into a place where exercising a basic human Right was verboten; they got there through incremental policies that eventually culminated into what it is today: a victim disarmament/criminal encouragement zone.

Now I'll grant that there could be more to the story than was reported, but unless the clerk was holding the guy's infant at gunpoint immediately prior to the robbery then I just don't see how it'll make this anything less than a sick & twisted version of what should have happened.

As I was searching for contact info I happened upon this page from the NYPD site. If you'll note at the bottom they have a banner ad offering a $1000 reward for anyone who rats out a person with an "illegal" handgun. The phrase "self-serving, elitist, statist bastards" comes to mind but more importantly it probably guarantees they'll be less than sympathetic. In fact, here's an interview Angel Shamaya had with a NYPD officer about this bounty on unlicensed self defense tools. Now to shed some more light on this I refer you to this page which is nothing more than an advertisement for the NYPD's rent-a-cop program! Those elitist bastards have a vested financial interest in making sure the populace is disarmed: $30 per hour for the cop plus an additional 10% of the total to NYC.

& on top of that, the NYPD gets the cash from the handgun licenses:

"$255.00 - Made payable to the New York City Police Department, must be paid by certified check or money order.
$99.00 - Made payable to the New York City Police Department, must be paid by certified check or money order."


Capone wished he had it so good.

In NYC you're forced by law to obtain a permit to have a handgun in your own home or place of business. The permit process is expensive, invasion & time consuming. I can't speak for most of New Yorkers but if I was paying damn near $8 a pack for smokes I sure as hell couldn't afford the $400 for a permit. & that's even if you find some way of justifying licensing a Right. This previous post on concealed carry permits explains some of the reasons why permits in general are violative of our Rights. Though it's focus is concealed carry I don't see much difference between the situation with NYC's handgun possession permits.

But if you won't believe me then perhaps you'll believe SCOTUS:

"A state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution... The power to impose a license tax on the exercise of these freedoms is indeed as potent as the power of censorship which this Court has repeatedly struck down... a person cannot be compelled 'to purchase, through a license fee or a license tax, the privilege freely granted by the constitution." MURDOCK V. PENNSYLVANIA 319 US 105 (1942)

What should happen is for the officers making the arrest & subsequent theft of Mr. Marte's property be arrested themselves for the violation of Mr. Marte's Right to Arms. And any DA who gave the word to press charges against anyone for exercising their Right to Arms without the required government permission slip should likewise be arrested along with any of their inferiors who carried out their orders. But at the very least Mr. Marte's property should be returned to him & all charges dropped immediately.

I encourage each & every one of you to take a few minutes & let the statist bastards government officials of NYC know that you, as a potential tourist, aren't making any plans to visit as long as they disrespect the Rights of U.S. citizens.

Now I'm not exactly sure how things work in NYC so if anyone has any advice on how to streamline the following list to be more effective feel free to let me know.

What I can give you is the following info:

Queens Police Dept contact page

Queens DA Richard Brown's contact page
E-mail: pbclark@queensda.org
(718) 286-6000

Mayor Bloomberg's contact page
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)
FAX (212) 788-2460
E-MAIL:
http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html


NYPD Police Commissioner Kelly's site (Kelly is a Vietnam vet Col. USMCR)

I would assume that the mayor & the Queens DA would be the people who could potentially get things done, but I could be mistaken.

Call them & demand that A: Mr. Marte's weapon be returned (as I assume they've stolen confiscated it) & B: they drop all charges based on any weapons possession laws. Then tell them that you & your family (remember they'll probably think we're all inbred interrelated so let's use it to our advantage) will not set foot or spend any cash in NYC until flagrant infringements of a person's Right to Arms are stopped.

Update: I received the following from a fellow over at Brutal Hugs

"One person you might want to add to the list of people to contact is City Council Speaker Gifford Miller - he's planning on running for mayor. As for somebody that might actually
do something to help this guy, I'd suggest Helen Marshall, Queens Borough
President. Intervention in situations like these is pretty much the kind of thing she's in office for."


If anyone has contact info for these people lemme know & I'll post it here. & much thanks to the guys at Brutal Hugs for dropping the info to me.

Further Update:

Brutal Hugs is on the ball again. Here's the contact info they sent.

Helen Marshall is at 718-286-3000 Her website is
http://www.queensbp.org/

Miller's contact info:
District Office
336 East 73rd Street (Suite C)
New York, New York 10021
Tel: (212) 535-5554
Fax: (212) 535-6098

e-mail: miller@council.nyc.ny.us

City Hall Office
City Hall
New York, New York 10007
Tel: (212) 788-7210
Fax: (212) 788-7207





Well I can finally say that I've heard "Ready on the right; ready on the left; all ready on the firing line" shouted over Camp Perry as the National Matches begin. Granted it was said something close to 60 years ago & I've never actually been to Camp Perry, Ohio but beggars can't be choosers.

From this post at No Quarters I found a site that has thousands of downloadable & streaming movies. (No - not those kind of movies!) The majority of them aren't feature films but if you dig a little you can find soem that are entertaining.

For example I stumbled across a movie that shows kids using guns.< sarcasm > Kids, I tell you! < /sarcasm > It features a boy named Jimmy & his sister Mary. I'd assume Mary is about 16 or 17 but Jimmy is at most 15. < sarcasm > It was made around 1946 by those evil gunmakers. Imagine, even way back then subjecting a porr innocent teen to the horrors of firearms! < / sarcasm >

In truth it was made by SAAMI & shows a boy whose father sends him to various shooting tournaments to gain instruction from some of the top shooters of the day & then the father takes the kid hunting. It's called Making of a Shooter. The journey includes (but is not limited to) the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio where his sister Mary is shooting in the rimfire class. ( sweet little innocent Mary - forced to hold & use one of those evil objects! have they no shame? < /sarcasm > The main focus of the film is gun safety but seeing the matches back then was what made it worth it to watch.

There's another one that looks interesting called Bird Dogs. I haven't watched it yet But I definitely will after I get done posting. I had some cousins back home who raised bird dogs & as a result have a weakness for watching bird dogs in action. To give you an idea how bad I am I have watched Biscuit Eater every time I've seen it was playing.

There's another oen I have yet to see called Man to Man. It was made by Remington Arms Company Inc. & Peters Cartridge Company in 1947 & is supposed to be about "Salesmanship and psychology instruction for gun dealers".

There's a section which has newsreel-type films of the Korean War & both World War 1 & World War 2 as well as actual newsreels.

There are also sections about the military, the atomic bomb tests, patriotism, political campaigns & elections, political science, & propaganda (mainly U.S. WW2 era films).

The ones that look most interesting to me are The Truth About Taxes which is described as "Republican party campaign film on behalf of Wendell Willkie for U.S. president in the 1940 elections"; Despotism, which measures where a society stands between democracy & despotism; The Powers of Congress in which "Mr. Williams drops off to sleep for a few minutes to find himself confronted with a world in which Congress has been suspended and federal authority dissolved"; & a Newsreel film that's listed as [Knife-Thrower and Children] where a Texas knife thrower gets his kids into the act - well sort of. The last one seems interesting just because it should give a massive coronary to any of those people who think anything less of complete nannyism is child endangerment. < sarcasm > Ya think ya know about child endangerment? well we got your child endangerment right here & it ain't got nothing to do with their "feelings" < /sarcasm >

But hit the main site & browse around if you want to see some rather interesting old flicks without turning off the PC.



Monday, March 22, 2004


SCOTUS heard oral arguments today on Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of the state of Nevada. I posted previously about Mr. Hiibel's case but the short version is that a cop asked him for his I.D. & he refused to give it. He & his daughter were subsequently arrested. Her charges were dismissed when it was brought up that her resisting arrest was legally impossible since she committed no offence to be arrested on in the first place. Mr. Hiibel however was found guilty of "delaying a piece officer". Through the wonders of modern technology you don't have to take my or anyone else's word for what happened; Mr. Hiibel has a site that has video, audio & a transcript of the arrest as well as copies of the legal documents involved.

Now let's look at some of the things reported from the oral arguments:

"Nevada senior deputy attorney general Conrad Hafen told justices that 'identifying yourself is a neutral act' that helps police in their investigations and doesn't - by itself - incriminate anyone."

The smart ass in me would be quick to point out that prostrating yourself while chanting, "Hail ye blue defender of the state for you are armed" is a neutral act, yet I'd love to see a judge foolish enough to uphold a law requiring it in this country.

But the more reasoned approach is to point out that identifying yourself is not a neutral act. Hell, the statement he made contradicts itself. How can an act be neutral if it helps an investigation? & suppose the cops have an outstanding warrant for you: identifying yourself would lead to incrimination now wouldn't it? Going a little further let's say you're a gun owner who has a CCW permit in a state where the CCW records are available to the cops. By identifying yourself you're letting the cop know you have more than a reasonable chance of being armed. Now if you're in a school zone or other safehaven for criminals where being armed is a no-no, then you've just provided Officer Friendly with probable cause for a search. So by identifying yourself you are giving the state a leg up if it decides it wants to prosecute you.

Also let's be clear: the 5th amendment to the U.S. Constitution says in it's relevant part "No person...shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself..."

This is erroneously referred to as the clause against self incrimination. While the purpose of the clause may be to prevent compelled testimony which may be used against a person in a court of law it's a misnomer to use "incrimination" in the description. Here's why:

If we assume the protection to be solely concerned with preventing compelled testimony that will incriminate a person, then we have to have a presumption of wrongdoing on the person's part. In effect no one would use this unless they were guilty & it would be taken as an admission of guilt. But the wording is clear in that it simply refers to testimony without making any distinction between incriminating testimony & general testimony.

The whole idea is that you may testify about yourself & by doing so give the state justification for prosecuting you even if you were not aware you could be prosecuted. A perfect example is if you're asked to testify about your whereabouts on a particular day at a particular time. If you respond that you were in a certain area alone around a certain time then you could be made a suspect in the investigation of a crime committed by a person that meets your general physical description. Now you would not have to be aware that the crime happened at all but by providing testimony you could have given the state enough cause to prosecute you for that crime despite your being innocent.

If "self incrimination" were taken to heart then you could be compelled to testify because you would not (in the example above) be aware that your testimony could incriminate you & you wouldn't think you could assert the 5th amendment as a reason to not testify.

& any use of the clause against "self incrimination" would render any pleadings of "not guilty" irrelevant: if only those guilty of the stated charge could refuse to answer, then what juror wouldn't see this as anything less than an admission of guilt to that act?

So it's more appropriate to understand that a clause preventing compelled self incrimination would be a self defeating clause since only those that are actually guilty may use its protection & by consequence it would offer no protection at all for anyone.

Findlaw.com has a much more in depth examination of the clause against self testimony & you should give it a read if you want to know more about its history & the way the courts currently treat it.

Responses in a different vein were supplied to the deputy attorney generals statements:

"But if that is allowed, several justices asked, what will be next? A fingerprint? Telephone number? E-mail address? What about a national identification card?
'The government could require name tags, color codes,' Hiibel's lawyer, Robert Dolan, told the court. "


Now Dolan's response was good simply because of its subtlety: he didn't come right out & say that this was the tip of a slippery slope that would led America to resemble Nazi Germany, but I have little doubt that visions of a yellow star with the word "Jude" written on them didn't pop in the minds of all who were present.

Unfortunately the deputy attorney general from Nevada wasn't the only one making arguments for compelled self identification:

"Justice Antonin Scalia, however, expressed doubts. He said officers faced with suspicious people need authority to get the facts.
'I cannot imagine any responsible citizen would have objected to giving the name,' Scalia said."


Justice Scalia probably can't imagine a lot of things. I'm sure he can't imagine that despite his being a constructionist & openly opposed to the arguments in favor of a "living constitution" that a lot of freedom loving people would question his judgment because of statements like the one above. Justice Scalia is probably the best friend that gun owners have in SCOTUS right now, but that is more because of the assumed anti-gun/pro-government make-up of the court rather than his purity when it comes to the Right to Arms. It would have been interesting to hear if he wanted to grant cert to Silveira or not & the reasons why, but odds are that won't happen anytime soon.

"Justice Sandra Day O'Connor pointed out the court never has given police the authority to demand someone's identification, without probable cause they have done something wrong. But she also acknowledged police might want to run someone's name through computers to check for a criminal history."

Though her statements seem cool on the surface (at least the first one) if you look closer you'll see that she sees no problem with compelling identification if there is probable cause of a crime or for a general records search. In can be inferred that she does not view self identification as being protected by the 5th amendment, since the 5th would apply even in the face of probable cause. Her last statement assures us that she feels compelled identification can be justified. But if the court were to apply a probable cause standard for compelled self identification then I assume identification would still fall under the 4th amendment's protection.

Needless to say I disagree with Justice O'Conner's statements. Identifying yourself is a form of testimony & falls under the 5th amendment's protection against self testimony. To attempt to nullify the 5th amendment arguments yet support the 4th amendment arguments is simply inconsistent with the nature of providing I.D. One could argue that a warrant could be issued in accordance with the 4th amendment that requires a person to I.D. themselves but compelled self testimony concerning identity would do an end run around that. Then again the courts have ruled that giving fingerprints aren't a form of self testimony so this isn't a big surprise. (Needless to say I disagree with that as well). The only way an argument based on the 4th but negating the 5th could work is if an I.D. is not a form of testimony & to arrive at that conclusion we'd have to simply ignore the arguments where a data base error leads to prosecution, or a list of warrants leads to an arrest, or where a license of some sort in that person's name (such as an occupational license or a firearms license) gives probable cause.

Oh, lest I forget, guess who was on Nevada's side in this case:

"Nevada is supported by the Bush administration and two criminal justice groups..."

Bush opposed Haney, Bean & Emerson but supports a case that penalizes those who don't have their papers in order. Wait, that's a common thread, not a distinction isn't it?

I don't really want to make any predictions in this case. I'll leave that to the various lawyer-bloggers who care to comment on this. But I will say that I don't have much more faith in the courts to respect our Rights than I do in the legislature. So let's just leave it at my being more than a bit concerned about the outcome.





Why is it that everytime I think I can leave the NRA alone for a while they go & say something "ig'nent"?

Chuck Mikel is an attorney & member of the California Rifle & Pistol Association. The CRPA is the state affiliate for the NRA. In a story about the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors considering a ban on the sale of .50 rifles we find this gem from Mr. Michel:

"The message that legitimate hunters and target shooters get from this is that 'you don't count and that we don't care about your sport,' he said"

First of all, what exactly constitutes a "legitimate" hunter? Is it simply someone who is not a poacher? Is it someone who hunts for meat instead of a trophy? I assume he intends to insult millions of children here & abroad by insinuating that Robin of Locksley was not a "legitimate" hunter. (if you've forgotten, re-read almost any Robin Hood story & you'll see he became an outlaw for poaching the King's deer.)

But the bigger picture is that Michel only attempts to justify "sporting" use of firearms. Self defense isn't something anyone could legitimately call "sporting" & resisting a tyrannical government through force of arms is definitely not "sporting". (although it's better to have a "sporting" chance than an unsporting one.)

& if you look closely, most gun control laws claim to protect arms for "sporting" use. The other side of that is that any arms which don't have a "sporting" use are fair targets for licensing, registration or outright prohibitons. Does anyone wish to look through the records & count how many times someone said that "assault weapons" have no "sporting use" back in the early 1990's? Legitimizing a "sporting use" ideaology is just throwing the door open a little wider for gun control laws.

Now hopefully this next part will scare the hell out of you: go through your house & list every firearm you own that does not have a specific sporting use. Most of your shotguns & .22 rifles will be okay, as will any single shot, lever action, double barreled or pump action rifles. Some bolt action rifles & possible a semi-automatic rifle like the Remington 7400 or Browning BAR (definitely not to be confused with the 1918A1 or A2 BAR) will be okay. (note: is it just me or does the autoloaders that are likely to have a "sporting use" look more like air rifles than real firearms?) Certain revolvers will probably make the grade as well as long as they have a barrel that's over 5" &/or have special features such as a thumb rest for use in pistol matches (think bullseye competition).

But any military surplus rifles (even bolt actions), most semi-automatic rifles (except the Remington & Browing mentioned above), all pistol caliber carbines (with the sole exception of Ruger's carbine in .44 magnum), all semi-automatic pistols & any concealable revolvers not chambered for .44 magnum or some other appropriate hunting cartridge will not have any legitimate sporting purpose. & don't come whining to me about High Power Rifle or IDPA matches - they won't care. If you cannot hunt with it or shoot in a recognized target compeititon (& remember the ones who write the laws don't even realize that High Power matches have used military arms since their inception 100 years ago or that handguns can be used for hunting) then it won't be protected under the "sporting use" doctrine & will be subject ot bans at the whim of the legislature. Self defense &/or defense against a tyrannical government won't be considered "sporting use".

When The NRA & its state affiliates start arguing that "sporting" is a secondary defense of the Right to Arms while the main one is simply defense then I'll consider joining them.

a big deal has been made about another quote from Mr. Michel in the same article:

"A .50-caliber rifle is a pea shooter for a terrorist," he said. "The real problem is not the gun, it's the ammunition. If you use explosive ammunition, it doesn't matter what the caliber is."

The next paragraph includes the following:

"Such explosive, armor-piercing ammunition is already illegal, he noted."

So taken altogether I don't see this as being incorrect. However while technically he may be correct this has got to be one of the worst examples of a quote in defense of gun ownership.

First of all he admits there is a problem. He then attempts to shift the focus from the firearm to the ammunition. Then he attempts reassurance by pointing out that explosive ammo is already illegal.

He takes the defensive & gets tangled up in doing so. If I were a gun control advocate I could teach any 7th grader how to pick apart his statement. It's a shame when both sides are able to use your own statements against you isn't it?

I don't know how many times this must be repeated, but there is no "problem" with .50 caliber rifles. Hell, there's no problem with any firearm. I have yet to see one isntance where a .50 caliber rifle has been used by a criminal or a terrorist (government agents excluded) against a civilian target in the U.S. Now potentially it could happen, but potentially covers a lot of ground. The potential is there for a person to hijack a bus (another mobile civilian disarmament zone I might point out) & run it into some sensitive structure such as "...(t)elecommunications towers, industrial plants such as oil refineries, and railroad cars..." to name a few examples that were listed by proponents of the .50 caliber ban. But we don't go around banning buses do we? Hell, we haven't banned airplanes & they were the instrument used in a terrorist act that resulted in the murder of 3,000+ people in NYC! So banning something that has the potential for use by terrorists makes no sense especially considering that we don't ban things that have actually been used by terrorists.

But Mr. Michel took the low ground & consented that there is a "problem" to be dealt with. He shifts the blame to the ammunition that could be used in a terrorist attack. Now would you like to know the biggest "problem" we have with ammunition in this country? Mil-Surp .30-06: sure, it's $0.20 someodd a round now but the supply is drying up. That's what I consider a "problem". Again I have seen no examples of "...explosive, armor-piercing ammunition..." being used by a criminal or terrorist in this country (government agents excluded). I haven't even seen any meaningful examples of armor piercing ammunition being used by a criminal or terroist (government agents excluded). Any armor piercing ammo that has been used in any way did not affect the outcome any differently than non-armor piercing ammunition would have. I don't want to repeat myself so I'll refer you to this previous post. Scroll down a bit & you'll see where armor piercing ammo is discussed. The gist of it is that almost any rifle, including those chambered for cartridges that are over 100 years old, can pierce armor with ordinary hunting ammo. In the post I'm mainly discussing bullet proof vests, but any light armor can be pierced by a common hunting rifle using common hunting ammo at certain ranges. It's simple physics that a projectile with a certain amount of momentum has a certain amount of energy & if sufficient it will cause the projectile to penetrate a certain material such as steel. Now of course there is ammo made specifically to penetrate armored targets. But no civilian target in the U.S. has ever been attacked succesfully with armor piercing ammo when regular hunting ammo would have failed.

So there is no ammunition "problem" unless you feel that all ammunition should be banned. (well of course there is that faction of gun owners who think that ammo prices should be lower than they are, but that's another topic altogether).

But the final mistake he made was in stating that explosive, armor piercing ammo was already illegal. In doing so he knowingly or unknowlignly gives credence to the idea that prohibitons work. He simply cannot argue that prior restraint based gun control is ineffective after saying that.

Not to mention he's incorrect unless he's simply referring to California. It doesn't include an "in California" qualifier to his statement about the laws concerning ammo so if one assumes he meant a Federal law then he'd be incorrect. API, or Armor Piercing Incendiary ammo is still available through legal channels in most states. There's not much of it left but API rounds are available except in states which have banned it. Now before you get all upset let me reiterate that there has never been an instance of API ammo being used in any violent criminal action by a criminal or terrorist (government agents excluded). I do believe that California bans any ammo that can start a fire & if so that would include incendiary ammo. If there is a California law banning explosive &/or incedniary ammo (like I seem to recall) then Mr. Michel would be correct in his statement, although it'd have been helpful if the reporter made it clear he was referring to a California context & not a national one.

But Mr. Michel did not help as much as he thinks he might have. His statements could easily be used against him & gun owners in general. In a single article he's legitimized the "sporting use" mindset of moderate gun control laws; he's admitted there's a problem concerning ammunition (when there isn't one) & he's claimed that gun control has solved that problem (the explosive ammo ban).

I admit I'm pretty hard on the NRA. I don't approve of their actions concerning gun control & their actions lead me to believe that through ignorance or malice they are more of a hinderance than an asset to the Right to Arms. I really wish this wasn't the case. I wish the NRA would turn themselves around & start fighting the good fight. But with statements like those of Mr. Michel my belief is reinforced that the NRA management (both state & national) is out of touch with the gun owners they claim to represent.




I've been discussing Bush, Kerry & the election with some friends as of late. Aside from trying to figure out who in the Democratic Party thought Kerry was a better contender than Edwards or Dean (& more importantly why they thought so) the question of whether to vote against Kerry or to vote against Bush has been at the forefront of the conversations.

There are many arguments for & against voting for Bush which I won't go into yet. I will say that I'm not a one issue voter - at least not in the traditional sense. However I have one issue which is a litmus test & that's the Right to Arms. My reasoning is that if a person isn't going to respect the Right to Arms, then odds are he won't respect any other Rights unless it's to his/her advantage. If they pass the Right to Arms test then I'll look deeper to see if they're acceptable to me.

Kerry definitely isn't a "Right to Arms" kinda guy. But then again neither is Bush. Angel Shamaya of KABA.com published his response to a fund raising letter for the Bush/Cheney campaign which hits some of the highlights of Bush's unfriendliness towards gun owners.

All that being said is to explain why I find the following amusing:

"Ireland Lawmakers Want Unarmed Bush Visit"

Leftist lawmakers in Ireland don't want Bush's Secret Service agents to be armed while he's in their country. They said Ireland's police will protect him.

Why do I find it amusing? Well, cause when Bush was Governor of Texas he supported the idea of requiring prior government permission to carry a weapon for self defense (yes I know most people view Shall Issue CCW laws as an improvement, but it's still gun control & it's not ther best solution available). Then there's the statement made by Ashcroft that is supposed to reflect the White House policy on the 2nd amendment. Ashcroft said that the 2nd amendment protects an individual Right to arms, but that it's subject to "reasonable" government regulation. The qualifier makes the new policy different from the old one only in the means: the end is still the same. Then there's Project Exile & its variants which strictly enforce every unconstitutional federal gun law on the books. Bush was oppossed to arming pilots & now even though the pilots are "Federal Flight Deck Officers" as oppossed to ordinary peasants subjects citizens the Justice Department is still dragging its feet & making it difficult for a pilot to carry arms. Add onto that the Iraqi constitution which says arms can only be had with government permission & Bush's support of the "assault weapons" ban & I find it funny that Bush is being faced with the same kind of gun control that he thinks is reasonable: prior government approval required for owning &/or carrying weapons.

After all, what's good for the goose etc...

So the big question is will Bush submit himself to "reasonable" gun cuntrol as imposed by a duly authorized government, or will he take the stance he took when he said that America doesn't need a permission slip to defend itself?

He could gain a lot of votes from gun owners who aren't happy with his stance by refusing to go unarmed & using that as a basis for turning around his domestic policies regarding guns. Hell, if ol' Dubya came out & said that he'd leave the Secret Service agents at home if that's what they wanted, but if they wanted him to attend that he'd just strap on a pistol his damn self. After that if he turned around & demanded that congress & the states repeal any & all laws which make carying a weapon for defense subject to government approval I see no reason why he'd have to campaign any further to make it to '08 in the White House.

The odds of him pursuing that course of action approach zero, so he'll have to hti the campaign trail hard & spend a lot of cash if he wants to squeak by in November.

Let me be clear in case any of you have any contacts with anyone in the Republican Party who might be able to get a message to Bush: if he wants to win this upcoming election there's nothing he could do better than to repent of his views on gun control & actively pursue the repeal of (redundancy alert) every unconstitutional federal gun control law on the books. Unless he does that he's going to lose far more gun owner votes than he'll ever hope to gain in gun control advocate votes. & if any - I repeat any - more federal gun control laws are passed then in 2005 he'll be looking for work.

Bush the Elder made two mistakes that cost him the election in 1992: he reneged on his "no new taxes" promise & he alienated gun owners by signing an executive order that banned the import of "assault weapons". Ruby Ridge didn't help a bit either. So gun owners & a lot of people who didn't care for increased extortion Government sponsored theft taxation sat that one out. The result was Clinton.

In '94 there were some major changes in Congress cause a lot of gun owners were upset about the Brady Bill & the "assault weapons" ban.

In 2000 Bush won because Gore was seen as being a gun owners' nightmare. The Republicans also gained control congress in no small part because gun owners felt the Republicans would do a better job of not passing gun control laws than the Democrats would.

So now it's 2004 & things are gonna be close. There are quite a few Senate races that are going to be decided by how the incumbent voted on the renewal of the "assault weapons" ban a month ago. I wouldn't want to be a PR man on the campaign staff of any Republican Senator who voted for adding the renewal of the AWB to the Lawful Commerce in Arms bill. That'd be doubly true if he/she also voted to add McCain's gun show "loophole" amendment to it.

So we have Bush on one hand & Kerry on the other. I have no doubts that Kerry would be the worst choice for a president we've had in a while as fas as international affairs are concerned. Domestically though I see very little difference between the two. & other issues aside they both fail my litmus test.

Kerry is unlikely to see the light. Bush however has a chance. A slim one but a chance nonetheless. That chance is solely dependent on his supporting the Right to Arms. Flowery cmpaign promises or pics of him hunting ducks won't fool anybody: he would have to become an actual defender of the Right to Arms. He'd have to make some efforts at progress - not just saying the words but acting on them. & he'd have to do some things that would contradict his current & earlier views & statements. But he could pull himself up by the bootstraps & be a two term president - the first two term president whose name starts with "B". (Note: it would be incorrect to say that G.W. would be the first two term president in his family. Althugh the relation is distant, the Bush family is connected [several cousins down the list & several removals] to the Lincoln & Roosevelt families).

& he could pull it off by the proper handling of Ireland's request that he comes to their country defensless & following through on it domestically. It'd be interesting to see if he does the correct thing but to my skeptical mind it'd be interesting to find out if he even is aware of the concerns of gun owners.



There are two new posts over at The Shooter's Carnival which may be of particular interest to those of you who prefer Mil-Surp rifles.

One is about the correct ammo for the M1 Garand & the other attempts to explain the differences between 308 Winchester & 7.62x51mm NATO.

Other articles of interest to Mil-Surp lovers out there would include:

Shootin Cheap: Surplus Guns In General by James Rummel

Assault Weapons Ban Primer by Say Uncle

Build An AR15 by Say Uncle

To Be Alive Under A Perfect Sky by James Rummel (about the .30-40 Krag-Jorgenson rifles)

Range Report: Bulgarian Makarov by The Smallest Minority

The Proper Use of the Rifle Sling by Publicola

The 5 Main Firing Positions For Rifle by Publicola

Plus a host of other articles covering everything from gun safety to economical purchasing to maintenence to range reports. Go give it a read.



Not only do we have a winner in the trivia contest, but we have a winner who provides links to substantiate his answers!

Gunner of No Quarters correctly answered the following questions:

Which firearm was used as the basis for the Blas Tech DL-44?

Gunner: DL-44 (was the) German model 1896 "Broomhandle" Mauser

Which firearm was used as the basis for the Blas Tech E-11?

Gunner: E-11 (was the) British Sterling Mk4/L2A3 submachine guns

Which firearm was used as the basis for the Blas Tech DLT-19?

Gunner: DLT-19 (was the) MG-34

Unfortunately we have no prize for the winner which is a shame cause he provided the correct answers (& links) in record time (especially considering these were the first trivia questions I've had on here) but I will encourage everyone to hop on over to his blog & not only read his further thoughts on the freedom to travel, but check out his spirited defense of Homer Simpson against the health food police as well.



Sunday, March 21, 2004


For those of you who don't have a lot of time & must choose between gun pics & girlie pics I have some solutions for you:

Courtesy of Rocket Jones we have Babes & Guns.

On a more serious note there's Armed Females of America (no pics but great articles)

The Liberty Belles site does have a pics section.

The Gun Zone offers us Racy Firearms Images.

For actual gun & girl porn (membership required) you can always visit Guns-and-Girls.com

This has been your weekly public service announcement (like anyone's still on this page.)




The lovely (& talented) Annika has some gun trivia up this morning.

Seeing her post has inspired me to post some trivia here. But there'll be a slight departure. Some people like gun trivia. Others like movie trivia. So I thought I'd try to cater to both tastes.

Break out your VHS copies of Star Wars. (for you Star Wars geeks that'd be Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope)

George Lucas essentially took all the elements of a classic action/adventure story & melded them into his 1977 space fantasy. But that's not all he borrowed.

There are 3 weapons I'm thinking of that appear in Star Wars Ep. IV - ANH. In the movie they were "blasters" which fired a bolt of energy, but they were based on real world firearms.

One was the Blas-Tech DL-44. Han Solo carried a modified version of this blaster. For the helluvit here's a pic of Han Solo's rig.

Another was the carbine used by Imperial Stormtroopers which I believe (though I could be mistaken) was called the Blas Tech E-11 Trooper Rifle. Here's a schematic of it that shows its configurations.

The final one is not as common as the previous blasters. I am not sure of it's nomenclature (I think it's either the Blas Tech DLT-19 or the Blas Tech A-280) but I have seen it simply referred to as an Imperial Repeater Gun. For simplicity?s sake I'll just call it the Blas Tech DLT-19. The places where it's clearly shown are in the scenes where the Imperial Stormtroopers are searching for the escape pod on Tatooine (although this pic was the best I could find & it only shows the Stormtrooper in the background as having one), the scenes where they are searching for the droids in the Mos Eisley space port & aboard the Death Star when Han Solo & Luke Skywalker are masquerading as Stormtroopers with Chewbacca as their prisoner (Han is carrying the Blas Tech DLT-19).

As I've said all three blasters are based on actual firearms. So here are the questions (like you didn't see them coming already).

Which firearm was used as the basis for the Blas Tech DL-44?

Which firearm was used as the basis for the Blas Tech E-11?

Which firearm was used as the basis for the Blas Tech DLT-19?

I'll post the correct ones when I see them appear in the comments (or if more than a few days elapse without anyone participating).



Saturday, March 20, 2004

Friday, March 19, 2004


Triggerfinger has a page up that deals with Silveira v Lockyer. It provides links to about 23 documents of relevence to that case. So if you're interested in reading almost all there is to read about Silveira this would be the place to go.


As Say Uncle & Geek With A .45 have already mentioned, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Self Defense Gun Violence along with the Dozen Million Mom March has filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General & the BATF.

In essence the lawsuit boils down to this: because the ATF & by extension the AG have allowed manufacturers to replace &/or repair pre- "assault ban" firearms they have thus allowed new manufacture in "assault weapons" & have violated the ban.

From the Brady Campaign's press release:

"The documents obtained through FOIA included private correspondence between ATF and Bushmaster Firearms of Windham, Maine in which ATF repeatedly gave Bushmaster permission to manufacture new "receivers" to replace damaged receivers for semiautomatic assault weapons that were possessed before the Assault Weapon Act went into effect in 1994 and thus were protected by the Act's 'grandfather' clause."

Now if you follow the link in the Brady Campaign's press release you'll note (as Geek With a .45 so aptly pointed out) that the correspondence in question occurred in 1996 & 1997. That would mean that Reno would have been the Ag at the time - not Ashcroft. Lord knows I'm not happy with our current AG but it'd have been much more appropriate if they dragged Reno's name into the suit since this happened under her watch.

& the above paragraph is merely a non-relevant aside, as nothing illegal was done! There have been procedures in place since unique serial numbers were required on firearms to deal with replacing damaged firearms. It's simply a way of repairing &/or replacing a firearm while maintaining records required by law.

Now firearms will perhaps always contain a unique serial number. This is as much for inventory control on the part of the company as anything. If all federal firearms laws were wiped off the books tomorrow (hey - a guy can dream can't he?) manufacturers would still stamp a serial number on some main component of the firearm just so they can keep track of production, sales, & other accounting concerns.

But the practice decried here by the Brady Campaign is simply a way of doing business in firearms that is mandated by federal law: if a damaged receiver is replaced then it must be replaced with a receiver that contains the serial number of the original, damaged receiver (or for some reason barring that much paperwork must be filled out & approval granted to use a different serial number).

I must stress that the damaged receiver is not used again in manufacturing. So it's not like a person trades in one receiver for a new one & the gun manufacturer turns around & sells the damaged receiver again. It's an exchange which does not add to the number of pre-ban "assault weapons" currently on the market.

"When Congress 'grandfathered' assault weapons legally possessed when the assault weapon ban was passed, it expected that over time the number of grandfathered assault weapons in circulation would gradually decline, as the guns became nonfunctional due to wear and tear. According to the lawsuit, the Justice Department's enforcement policy ensures, instead, that thousands of grandfathered assault weapons will remain functional into the foreseeable future. At the time the statute was enacted in 1994, ATF estimated there were approximately two million assault weapons in circulation."

Note the scare quotes around grandfathered.

But here's the underlying reason why the Brady campaign filed the suit: it hoped that attrition would reduce the number of grandfathered "assault weapons". When they discovered that it was perfectly legal to replace a pre-ban receiver, they started to have visions of loopholes dance in their heads & did what they usually do when the legislation they demanded fails to ban each & every firearm in civilian possession: they take it to court.

Now if it was the intent of Congress to not allow for the repair &/or replacement of the grandfathered "assault weapons" then I would assume that someone would have introduced language in the "assault weapons" ban to that effect. But considering that they didn't & that the ban was destined from the outset to expire in ten years I'd have to say that Congress did not intend to prevent replacement of worn or damaged pre-ban receivers.

& this makes me wonder how many bank robbers, gang bangers & other people with harmful, criminal intent are sending in their damaged pre-ban receivers to the gun manufacturers to be replaced? After all the whole premise of the Brady Campaign is that these pre-ban "assault weapons" are used extensively by criminals to gun down innocent citizens & cops alike, so do any of you know if the Cryps or any other criminal organization is sending in their pre-ban AR-15's because they're shooting them so much that the receiver's are wearing out? I'd imagine worn &/or damaged parts would happen much more frequently on the full auto firearms they got through the black market, but perhaps the Brady Campaign has more info on this than I do.

The fact of the matter is that firearms that are built & designed properly & cared for appropriately do not wear out major components in anything close to a short amount of time. Barring neglect &/or misuse (using improper ammo or inadequate maintenance) a firearm that was built when your grandparents were youngin's will still perform as designed today. Just off the top of my head I can point to two firearms that I own as examples of this: one was made in 1917 & the other in 1943. They both fire cartridges far more powerful than the typical "assault weapon"; both have been used in war (which is usually a bit harsher on a firearm - or any piece of machinery - than monthly trips to the local range & the occasional hunt) & both still put 5 shots into a space less than two inches at 100 yards. & one of them is a semi-automatic which functions identically to most of the banned “assault weapons”.

So for Congress to assume that a firearm manufactured a decade or two before the ban would cease to be operative prior to the expiration of the ban (again - ten years from enactment) they would have had to have less knowledge about metallurgy & firearms design than the average 16 year old in rural North Carolina. (This is purely anecdotal but when I was growing up in NC I heard many an adult tell their kids that if they took care of their rifles that they’d be able to pass them on to their children. Many of the rifles in question were passed on by the grandparent to the father to the son.)

So again, the practice of replacing worn &/or damaged receivers does not add to the number of "assault weapons" available on the market & it cannot be reasonably said that Congress intended in the space of ten years for the number of grandfathered firearms to be reduced through normal wear & tear.

Now would you like to know what type of person does require a periodic replacement of a receiver on an AR-15 type firearm? Competitive shooters. The AR-15 style firearms (which are mainly what Bushmaster manufactures) are by far the most popular type of firearm found in High Power matches. High Power matches have a few variations, but the mainstay is the Service Rifle competition. That particular discipline is limited to using rifles identical in form & function to rifles the U.S. military uses (with exceptions to cover civilian versions of military weapons). I'm a bit old fashioned as I shoot the M1 Garand in these matches. A few others still use the M1A (which is the semi-automatic version of the M14). But most people use an AR-15 type rifle. The only differences between the AR-15 used in these matches & the M16 issued by Uncle Sam are that the AR-15’s are semi-automatic only & since 1994 can be used in post-"assault weapons" ban configuration (i.e. not having a bayonet lug or flash hider is permissible). Other than making it possible to compete with firearms that don’t have certain banned features the rules of Service Rifle matches dictate that the firearm be identical to the firearms issued by the military.

Now depending upon where you live the season for High Power Rifle can last from 6 months to 9 months. Here in Colorado there are 3 clubs that hold High Power Matches. In January, February & March only one club holds matches & that's one match per month. Likewise that same club has a monthly match into November whereas the other clubs usually stop having matches in September or October. But let's say 6 months have 3 clubs holding one match per month, with one club holding 4 other matches in 4 other months. That's 22 matches per year excluding state, regional or national championships. Each match consists of 80 shots being fired for record, with the possibility of 8 rounds fired to adjust your sights. 88 rounds x 22 matches = 1936 rounds fired in matches alone. Double that to account for practice & we arrive at 3872 rounds fired per year. Over 5 years that'd be 19,360 rounds & over a decade it'd equate to 38,720 rounds fired.

Now some people won't fire that many rounds through the same firearm (either because they use different firearms for different matches or they don't compete in all available matches) but then again some people will fire many more rounds than that. Now if you're serious about competing you'll change the barrel every 6,000 to 8,000 rounds or so (sometimes more often or less often than that depending upon the level of accuracy you expect). So let's say you change the barrel out at the 8,000 round mark. That'd mean you'd be close to buying your 5th barrel in a ten year period of competing. Now to be honest I do not know what the typical AR-15 type receiver is capable of withstanding in terms of rounds fired through it. But I'd say the possibility of a receiver becoming worn through almost 40,000 rounds & 4 barrel changes in a decade is not unreasonable (of course if any AR-15 shooters wish to correct me I'd appreciate it). & it is possible to damage the receiver during a barrel change (not very likely, but it is possible), so perhaps in much less time a receiver replacement or repair would be necessary.

All this is to demonstrate that those with the most potential for having a damaged or worn receiver (barring a manufacturing defect of course) are competition shooters. The very same "sportsmen" that gun control groups such as the Brady Campaign claim to not be the targets of their disarmament efforts.

BTW, have y'all forgotten that the "assault weapons" ban has a name that immediately screams of hypocrisy? Its title as a bill was The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994. Funny isn't it how the main use for the most popular "assault weapon" is in legitimate sporting competition. High Power matches have been around since the early 1900's & an act of Congress created the first national championships in the early 1900's. Its purpose (then as now) was to encourage the practice of marksmanship with rifles & pistols identical to those issued by the U.S. armed forces. Yet in 1994 they banned the new manufacture & sale of the AR-15 because it had a bayonet lug, flash hider, pistol grip & could accept a magazine with a capacity over ten rounds. Never mind the rules of a 90+ year old sport had to be altered to accommodate this new law & the main affect it had was on making the people who participated in this sport spend more money on pre-ban rifles or make adjustments to their technique (as removing the bayonet lug & flash hider, while minor things by themselves, do have an effect on the point of impact as it changes the harmonics of the barrel), they figured that having something in the title about protection sports shooting would make everything okay.

In any event, here's a copy of the complaint the Brady Campaign filed. In it you'll find the usual allegations about "assault weapons" being the weapon of choice of criminals & their mere presence (the "assault weapons" - not the criminals) increasing the danger for everyone, especially cops. There is an anecdote about a cop in Detroit who was killed while wearing a bullet proof vest, but they did have the decency to point out that the projectiles entered gaps in his bullet proof vest (although odds are his vest wasn't rated to stop rifle fire, so if a rifle was used the point of impact wouldn't have mattered).

Aside from the statements about various members of the Brady campaign that live in bad neighborhoods & have to lock their doors at night as well as supervise their children while they play (all because of "assault weapons") there is one factual error I must point out.

From the complaint:

"24. The Assault Weapons Act makes it unlawful “to manufacture, transfer or possess a
semiautomatic assault weapon” or to transfer or possess a “large capacity ammunition feeding
device.” 18 U.S.C. § 922(v)(1)."


Now this is taken out of context. While in & of itself it is factual its meaning is misconstrued if one fails to include 18 U.S.C. § 922(v)(2) which states:

"Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the possession or transfer of any semiautomatic assault weapon otherwise lawfully possessed under Federal law on the date of the enactment of this subsection."

& further in 18 U.S.C. § 922(v)(3)(A)

"any of the firearms, or replicas or duplicates of the firearms, specified in Appendix A to this section, as such firearms were manufactured on October 1, 1993;"

& further if we look in 18 U.S.C. § 922(w) we will find the following:

"(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall be unlawful for a person to transfer or possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the possession or transfer of any large capacity ammunition feeding device otherwise lawfully possessed on or before the date of the enactment of this subsection."


But if you doubt me you're more than welcome - nay, you're encouraged to look at 18 U.S.C. § 922 for yourself. Just scroll down to the appropriate sections.

Now the complaint does finally make this clear at Item 29 & I would hope any sitting judge would be able to make the connection between Item 29 & Item 24 but it could have been written a little more clearly: rather than reading item 24 & thinking the "assault weapons" ban dealt with possession only to find out at Item 29 that the ban was solely on new manufacture for the non-LE0 market (yes there are exemptions for retired LEO's in the "assault weapons" ban - you'll find them at 18 U.S.C. § 922(v)(4)(c) & 18 U.S.C. § 922(w)(3)(c) respectively) it could have been included in the same item to make the law clear, both for the convenience of judges who aren't familiar with the law in question & for the laypeople who might read the complaint.

Now further in the complaint it reveals the exchange between the ATF & the Brady Campaign. The Brady Campaign contacted the ATF in 2003 & told them they must not only stop the practice of allowing damaged receivers to be replaced by the manufacturer, but must order all the replacement receivers made & distributed since 1994 be deemed contraband & confiscated.

What follows is more or less the ATF saying they won't do that & they're complying with the law & the Brady Campaign saying that they aren't. But here's the gist of the Brady Campaign's argument with the ATF:

They feel that since a receiver made after the effective date is an "assault weapon" all by itself then the ATF is allowing the law to be violated.

Now the ATF counters with the idea that a receiver in & of itself is not an "assault weapon". It's only a completed rifle that qualifies as an "assault weapon". Now if receivers were considered "assault weapons" all by their lonesome, then no AR-15 type rifles or AK-47 type rifles or Ruger 10/22's would have been made since 1994 as all three examples can be easily made into an "assault weapon" by adding certain features (such as a flash hider & folding stock)

Now if we look at 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30) we'll find the definition of "assault weapon" as it is to be applied to 18 U.S.C. § 922(v).

18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(A)(i) through (ix) lists specific firearms by name. Among the notables are the Colt AR-15 as well as the Steyr AUG & Fabrique National FN/FAL. It says copies or duplicates of the named firearms are included. But what's lacking is a description of what is considered a copy or a duplicate. One would assume that if FN Herstal manufactured an FN/FAL but called it Model X1094 it would be considered a copy or duplicate. So how is it that AR-15 or FN/FAL type rifles are being manufactured legally?

In 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(B) we find a description of proscribed items:

"a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of -
(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;
(iii) a bayonet mount;
(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor; and
(v) a grenade launcher; "


Now if they manufactured an FN/FAL but made some significant change, such as omitting the flash hider, bayonet lug & giving it a thumbhole stock then you couldn't really call it a copy or a duplicate since it differs enough from the original to be considered a variant based on the original, but not a copy or duplicate thereof. & since it doesn't include the features specified in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(B) we can make a reasonable inference that the objections to the rifles specified in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(A) were that they possessed the specifically mentioned features. Since the post-ban rifles are not duplicates or copies, but variations of the named firearms, & since they do no contain the objectionable features they simply don't violate the law.

& the key thing is 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(B) since it mentions features which are common to all the rifles mentioned in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(A).

So a post ban receiver could be used to make either a post ban "assault weapon" or a post-ban firearm. The law simply does not confuse potential use with actual use in this case, therefore it would be erroneous to say the law prevents the manufacture of any receiver which could be used to assemble a post-ban "assault weapon".

To further illustrate this point anyone who is eligible to purchase a firearm could go to Wal-Mart & spend $160 on a Ruger 10/22. Through a little judicious shopping one could then spend $80 or so for a folding stock for a Ruger 10/22. Mating the Ruger 10/22 to a folding stock would be creating a post-ban "assault weapon" & thus violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(v) as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(B). So to follow the Brady Campaign's logic the ATF would be forced to deem all Ruger 10/22 receiver's as contraband & start confiscating them since the receivers are capable of being used in an “assault weapon” & are not marked in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 923(i) which reads in its relevant part:

"...The serial number of any semiautomatic assault weapon manufactured after the date of the enactment of this sentence shall clearly show the date on which the weapon was manufactured..."

I just checked mine & Ruger does not have the date stamped on the receiver, even though according to the Brady Campaign's argument my Ruger 10/22 is an "assault weapon" since the receiver has the potential to be assembled into a complete firearm that violates the ban.

Only rifles that are assembled can qualify as an "assault weapon". Further if you were to remove the features that made a rifle into an "assault weapon" then you would clearly not have an "assault weapon" as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(B).

Now another flaw with the Brady Campaign's logic is that all the replaced receivers will be used for assembling an "assault weapon". For example let's look at the AR-15 type rifles which Bushmaster primarily manufactures.

By their design they come with a pistol grip & the ability to accept a detachable magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds so one more proscribed feature would make this into an "assault weapon". But let's assume that the owner of said rifle is a High Power Rifle shooter. Let's further assume that he has been using custom made barrels which do no utilize a flash hider or a bayonet lug. & since he's shooting in competitions the odds of him having a collapsible or folding stock are nil (I believe they're not legal in match use according to the rules of the game, but I could be mistaken). Now despite his having a pre-ban receiver that was originally used on an "assault weapon" his replacement receiver may in fact be used to assemble a firearm that would not violate the "assault weapons" ban even if he had used a brand new receiver instead of a pre-ban receiver. He merely has the option of assembling it as an "assault weapon". So it's entirely possible that the bulk of these replaced receivers are being used to facilitate the continued use of firearms that do not meet the definition of an “assault weapon”.

The Brady Campaign's argument, if taken to its logical conclusion, would cause virtually every semi-automatic firearm manufactured since 1994 to be deemed contraband & become subject to confiscation. Hell, if we apply this reasoning across the board then ever firearm ever made (excluding muzzle loading firearms) would be in violation of the NFA of ’34 as they could be made to have a barrel less than 16” (or less than 18” for shotguns); be fitted with a sound suppressor or in the case of handguns be fitted with a detachable shoulder stock. Now this result wouldn’t bother the Brady Campaign as it would expedite their main goal which is to disarm everyone except those who work for the government, but I guaran-damn-teeya it would not be a popular concept amongst most Americans.

Now at Item 64 we find the following:

"Despite the fact that the Assault Weapons Act defines a frame or receiver as the 'firearm' for purposes of the ban, see 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3)(B), ATF stated in its October 30, 2003, letter that '[t]he definition of a SAW necessarily involves a complete firearm, with specified parts. Until the frame or receiver is assembled with all the component parts necessary to make a complete weapon, it cannot be determined whether the weapon is a SAW or a sporting firearm.”

Now 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3) has the following definitions:

"(A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;
(B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; "


But those definitions were in 18 U.S.C. § 921 long before the “assault weapons” ban was drafted. So it is incorrect to say that the “assault weapons” ban defined a receiver as a firearm since the definition of “firearm” already existed in 18 U.S.C. § 921. The reason a receiver was defined as a firearm had nothing to do with the “assault weapons” ban; it was simply to clarify which part of a firearm would carry the serial number & be subject to (unconstitutional) federal regulations such as the NFA of ’34 & the GCA of ’68 to name a few.

As I pointed out earlier the Brady Campaign is using flawed logic to claim that a receiver by itself constitutes an “assault weapon” since a receiver that can be used to make an “assault weapon” can be made into a firearm that does not fit the definition of “assault weapon” as found in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(B).

The Brady Campaign doesn’t seem to understand that a receiver manufactured before the effective date of the “assault weapons” ban can be made into an “assault weapon” or a firearm that isn’t considered an “assault weapon”, just as they can’t seem to understand a receiver made after the effective date of the “assault weapons” ban cannot legally be made into an “assault weapon” for civilian use. They seem to be reasoning that since receivers are identified as “pre” or “post” ban that this supports their theory that the receiver itself is subject to the “assault weapons” ban no matter what type of firearm it is actually assembled into. Or at least that’s what their arguments would have us believe.

At Item 70 the Brady Campaign alleges that the ATF violated the law by allowing Bushmaster to issue replacement receivers that did not have the exact same serial number as the damaged receiver. But if we look at 27 C.F.R. § 478.22 we find that there are alternative & emergency measures which may be applied for & granted under certain circumstances when dealing with administrative issues. So for their claim to be valid in this regard they’d have to demonstrate exactly how the variance that was granted Bushmaster was not in accord with 27 C.F.R. § 478.22(a) which states:

"(1) Good cause is shown for the use of the alternate method or procedure;
(2) The alternate method or procedure is within the purpose of, and consistent with the effect intended by, the specifically prescribed method or procedure and that the alternate method or procedure is substantially equivalent to that specifically prescribed method or procedure; and
(3) The alternate method or procedure will not be contrary to any provision of law and will not result in an increase in cost to the Government or hinder the effective administration of this part. Where the licensee desires to employ an alternate method or procedure, a written application shall be submitted to the appropriate Director of Industry Operations, for transmittal to the Director. The application shall specifically describe the proposed alternate method or procedure and shall set forth the reasons for it. Alternate methods or procedures may not be employed until the application is approved by the Director. The licensee shall, during the period of authorization of an alternate method or procedure, comply with the terms of the approved application. Authorization of any alternate method or procedure may be withdrawn whenever, in the judgment of the Director, the effective administration of this part is hindered by the continuation of the authorization."


They do not seem to make any case other than the ATF granted variances from the usual procedure therefore it violated the law.

In Item 76 they cite 27 C.F.R. § 478.92 as having been violated as Bushmaster was not told they had to stamp the replacement receivers with either the date of manufacture or “Restricted Law Enforcement/Government Use Only” or “For Export Only”. But if we look at 27 C.F.R. § 478.92(a)(3) we find the following:

"Special markings for semiautomatic assault weapons, effective
July 5, 1995. In the case of any semiautomatic assault weapon manufactured after September 13, 1994, you must mark the frame or receiver ``RESTRICTED LAW ENFORCEMENT/GOVERNMENT USE ONLY'' or, in the case of weapons manufactured for export, ``FOR EXPORT ONLY,'' in a manner not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered, or removed. For weapons manufactured or imported on and after January 30, 2002, the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of the special markings prescribed in this paragraph (a)(3) must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch."


Please note that it speaks of marking the receiver when an “assault weapon” is made. Now if the receiver itself is an “assault weapon’ under the law then why would the regulations state that when an “assault weapon” is made the receiver must be stamped? Wouldn’t it have said that when a receiver is manufactured that is defined as an “assault weapon” it must be treated in the described manner? By implication the regulation itself differentiates between a receiver & an “assault weapon”.

But the most substantive rebuttal to the Brady Campaign’s argument concerning how the receiver is to be marked can be found in 27 C.F.R. § 478.92(a)(4)(i):

"Exceptions. (i) Alternate means of identification. The Director may authorize other means of identification upon receipt of a letter application from you, submitted in duplicate, showing that such other identification is reasonable and will not hinder the effective administration of this part."

If they would have just bothered reading the paragraph below the one they claimed was violated, they might have seen that it wasn’t violated as there is a provision that allows exceptions.

But I sincerely doubt that the Brady Campaign filed this due to a misreading of the law. Their complaint is simply an attempt to expand the scope of the “assault weapons” ban through the judiciary & I’m a firm believer in never attributing to ignorance what can be explained by malice.

The lawsuit filed by the Brady Campaign & the Dozen Million Mom March stand a fair chance of proceeding to trial if they can get it before the right judge. & filing in the District of Columbia won’t hurt the odds of that happening one bit.

Now I hope that this will be dismissed with prejudice as it’s based on some fairly obvious misreading of the law. Then again all of the gun control laws on the federal level are based upon blatant misunderstanding of the 2nd Amendment & few if any judges seem to recognize that. If this case did make it to trial & was presided over by a fair & competent judge I wouldn’t doubt for a minute that I could argue against it & win decisively even though I’m not a lawyer. But considering the difficulty in finding a fair & competent judge in that particular district (especially when it comes to firearms related issues) then I’d say that the case has a chance of being successful.



Thursday, March 18, 2004


"Fort Wayne Outs the Gun Nuts"

Here's a bit of a follow-up to that Indiana story by ChronWatch's Doc Farmer.

As Publicola mentioned below, this podunk, fish wrap of a newspaper decided that since the list of people with concealed carry permits is public domain, they'd dig it up and publish their information for all the world to read. I kept wondering why they would do a thing like this.

Why would they lump those who choose to carry concealed with rapists and murderers - the types of people you would definitely want to know about if they decided to move into your neighborhood.

Why would they publish personal information about people whose only "crime" is that they had to ask the government permission to exercise their constitutional rights?

Why would they subject law-abiding citizens to unnecessary scrutiny, bigotry, possible employment problems at the hands of gun bigots, etc.?

Doc Farmer finally got the editor, Linda Austin, to admit that the reason they did it "to foment debate." That's right, folks! They didn't threaten to expose thousands of gun owners out of any misguided sense of duty or even paranoia. They planned to put lawful, peaceable citizens on the same platform as perverts and murderers to get people talking about their podunk, fish wrap of a newspaper.

Farmer has another viable theory about why these gun bigots would pull this stunt:

However, I think it’s much simpler than that. The News-Sentinel, as I said earlier, is not quite as left leaning as the morning paper here. Moreover, since both newspapers work in the same building, this must be the cause of much embarrassment for the evening paper staff. The Doonsbury crowd from the Journal Gazette must pelt their News-Sentinel counterparts with croissants and tease them mercilessly for not being rabidly left-wing enough. The News-Sentinel journalists, tired of using the same ''Aw, your mother wears Birkenstocks'' retort, decided they were going to regain their lib/dem/soc/commie ''street cred'' and call some much-needed attention to themselves. I’m sure they’ll get all kinds of plaudits in leftist ''journalism'' reviews and magazines like the CJR and AJR, and they won’t be so lonely at newspaper awards ceremonies.

Possible. Very very possible.

In any case, you might want to contact the Fort Wayne News Sentinel and inform Linda that you aren't impressed with her little paper-selling ploy.

Linda Austin
laustin@news-sentinel.com




Monday, March 15, 2004


I may need some help from any & all of y'all in Indiana. It seems that Fort Wayne.com is thinking about publishing the names of concealed carry permit holders. They have received some negative responses after they mentioned they intended to make the names available online so now they're going to think about it some more.

Quite honestly the idea of publishing the names of gun owners because they were forced to aquire a license is adding insult to injury. The violent criminals don't usually apply for licenses yet they carry when & where they wish. But peaceful citizens have to grovel & bribe their government to let them have permission to exercise what should be respected as a Right in the first place: having the means of defense.

From the second article linked above written by Miss Austin:

"...They said by putting the information online or in the paper, we're just making it more convenient for people to exercise a right they already have to examine the records."

I do not recall any philisophical, legal or moral theory that lists knowing which peacable people have arms is a Right. I do know of several theories as to why carrying & owning a weapon - even if concealed - is a Right & not subject to licensing or registration requirements.

"Another argument advanced for posting the list is that the state has determined that there's a public good in licensing people to carry handguns and making such information accessible to others."

There is no public good in licensing gun owners & there is no public good in publishing their names. The only - I repeat only reason for licensing & registration is to make confiscation easier. Now it may well be viewed as good for the state, but what's good for the state is often bad for the people.

But I would be curious as to how they think it is good for the public. As a journalist shouldn't Miss Austin have made some effort to explain why making those names available to the public is good rather than just relying on the generalization that the state made it so therefore it is good?

"The information has the potential to warn people about others who may be carrying a gun. If you're sending your child to my house to play, perhaps you'd like to know if I have a permit to carry a gun."

Here we have a logical disconnect. How would a list of concealed firearm permit holders clue anyone in to who has & doesn't have a firearm in their home? I don't recall Indiana requiring a Firearm Owner Identification Card & even if they did that's not the permit in question: it's concealed carry permits that are being discussed.

So it is very possible that if a hoplophobe wishes his or her child to play at a neighbors house who has no effective way of protecting their kids then they still would be allowing their kid to play at a house with firearms if the owner simply decided that they didn't need a permit to exercise a Right. To put it more plainly - not every gun owner applies for a concealed carry permit so the argument is flawed (to put it kindly).

"Or maybe you're curious about whether a potential business associate, or a neighbor or new acquaintance has a permit.
'There is danger for children when there is a gun present, and that is a strong point,' said Gregory E. Favre, distinguished fellow in journalism values at The Poynter Institute for journalism training in Florida.
'There are too many cases when youngsters have been killed or when parents' guns are used to kill others, as has happened in the school shootings. Will knowing about the gun permits completely stop this? No, but it might prevent some. Even one would be worth it.
'And while I am a strong advocate that people have a right to a private life, these folks have interjected themselves into the public by purchasing a gun permit,' said Favre, former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors."


I'm sure a lot of people are curious about how people exercise other Rights, such as religion, speech, procreation, etc... but that does not mean I or anyone else is justified in satisfying our curiousity against another person's wishes.

& as to the danger to children when guns are present that is nonsense.Millions of children are around millions of firearms every day yet there are less than 1,00 accidental shootings & only a small precentage of those involve children under 14. Where the danger comes from is hoplophobic parents who fail to teach their children the proper & safe handling & use of firearms. Those kids who have never been exposed to firearms are naturally more curious & tend to be the ones who figure out how to acidentally discharge one.

& if applying for a permit to exercise what should be considered a natural & inherent Right thrusts a person into the public eye, then perhaps Mr. Favre wouldn't be upset if his home phone number & address were published since he has thrust himself into the public eye by exercise Rights that fall under the First Amendment? Of course I tend to think he would raise hell about that if it happened & perhaps rightly so. But considering his statement about gun owners that would make him little more than a misinformed hypocrit if his personal info was published & he objected to it.

"The list doesn't include everyone who has a gun. Plenty of people carry guns illegally. No permit is required for rifles and shotguns. And just because you have a permit doesn't mean you have a gun."

Why didn't they mkae the connection between that & their foolish argument about knowing who has a firearm at home in case they didn't want their kids around a means of defense?

"Some argued that because the list is a public record available to everyone, we should post it."

If that is how they truly feel then they shouldn't say nary a damn word when I & other bloggers publish all the information we can find on the staff of this publication.

Which is where any & all readers from Indiana come in. I need you to e-mail me at publicola_rd@yahoo.com with any & all legally obtainable information you can find on any & all of the staff at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinal.

Next I need you to call the appropriate numbers below & politely inform them that if they start indiscriminantly publishing the info of gun owners without each individual gun owners consent then I & other bloggers will post any & all information we can legally obtain on the staff of that publication.

I really would rather not publish anybody's info as I know damn skippy I wouldn't like mine published, but if they want to abuse their position by violating the privacy Rights of gun owners then I'll have no qualms about retalliating in kind.

Currently they're solicting feedback on the idea. Call 423-4646 if you want the list of permit holders published or 423-4793 if you don't want the list published.
I also found the following contact info which I believe is for the parent company which owns a few other publications:

Phone: 1-800-324-0505
Address:
Fort Wayne Newspapers
600 W. Main St.
Fort Wayne, IN 46802


Here is a list of links to contact various members of the staff:

Melody Schmitt-Foreman - Assistant Online Manager

Mary Jacobus - Publisher

Linda Austin - Executive Editor (The author of the above fisked piece where they ask for feedback as to whether they should publish the names or not)

Kerry Hubartt - Senior Editor

Mike Dooley - Metro Writer (who wrote the first piece on publishing the names of permit holders)



Eugene Volokh has pointed out some factual errors in the State Department's publication entitled Rights of the People: Individual Freedom & The Bill of Rights. As you might have guessed the errors Prof. Volokh discusses occur in the chapter entitled The Right to Bear Arms.

Now to be fair there was a government publication that did a better job of discussing the Second Amendment & the Right to Arms. It was published a while back & is known as The Right to Bear Arms: Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the U.S. Senate 97th Congress Second Sessions February 1982. Unfortunately no one in government has been able to find & read a copy of it since it was written.

But go read Prof. Volokh's post to see what kind of quality work you can expect for your tax dollars.




For you legal types out there I have two items of interest. The first is a copy of a search warrant & the second is the SCOTUS decision concerning the legality of said warrant & the accountability of those who served it.

The short story is that SCOTUS decided that the warrant was no good & therefore the search executed was illegal, & further that the agent in charge of the search was not protected by the (overly broad) immunity given to most agents of the government when acting on the government's behalf.

I'd like to do a detailed post on the decision (particularly the dissents) but I'm just not sure if I'll get around to it anytime soon. So in case I don't you have the decision as well as the warrant in question if this type of thing interests you.

I will point out that the warrant was served by a joint force of local & federal agents with the ATF leading the search. Also the search turned up nothing. Seems the "reliable informant" that the ATF got its info from wasn't that reliable after all. Typically the ATF will threaten someone with prosecution over a bogus & trivial matter (then again all federal firearms laws are bogus & trivial) but offer him/her a deal: they'll graciously not prosecute if he/she will just rat out his/her friends "inform" on other gun owners. As you might imagine this can lead to a person making up something about an innocent person to get him/herself off the hook, which I suspect is what happened in this case.

But as I said, I'll try to get around to a more in depth post on this if I can. In the meantime thanks to KABA.com for obtaining the documents & making them linkable.


As reported over at Say Uncle & at this thread at The High Road a 16 year old kid killed a deputy & after a lengthy stand off killed himself. From what I gather the kid had gotten drunk the night before, & attacked his mother with a pipe when she refused to let him take her car to school. She called the cops & the kid shot the first deputy out of the car 4 times. That deputy died. SWAT teams from a few different counties converged on the house. They exchanged gunfire with the kid & then shot tear gas & sent in robots but had no luck. Turns out the kid was probably dead a few hours after this whole thing started. The kid had a history of mental problems. The kid was also the son of an Assistant District Attorney for the county.

The deputy's death is sad & my condolensces go out to his wife & family.

But there is another troubling aspect to this: most reports I've seen aledge the kid was using an AK-47 with 30 round magazines. Add to that the fact that he was a minor who had access to it & used it to shoot a cop & the anti's have a lot of ammo in one package.

Gun lock laws will be pushed since they'll claim that if the AK-47 in question was locked up then none of this would have happened.

AP ammo bans will be pushed since a cop was killed. Never mind that the cop probably wasn't wearing a vest & even if he was it most likely wasn't rated to stop rifle ammo, or that the bullets that killed him may not have been armor piercing: facts will not get in the way of exploting this to the greatest extent possible.

& of course the "assault weapons" ban will be pushed. At minimum they'll use this case to justify an extension of the current ban, but I wouldn't doubt for a minute that they'll try to strengthen the ban as well, esepcially if the AK-47 in question was a post-ban model.

So out of one tragic event they'll try to get 3 gun control laws passed.

If you go to the Violence Policy Center you can see on their front page that renewing &/or strengthening the "assault weapons" ban is a priority for them. Same with the Brady Campaign to Disarm Potential Victims to Prevent Gun Violence. They haven't picked up on the story about the kid yet (at leats they haven't printed anything about it) but expect to hear about it in depth over the next few months.

The facts are the kid (or anyone else) could have killed the deputy with any repeating weapon: a semi-automatic with a high normal capacity magazine was not a requirement. A pump action, lever action, or even a bolt action could have been used.

& any rifle ammo will penetrate all but the heaviest & bulkiest vest that are designed specifically to protect against rifle fire (& even those won't protect against all rifle fire as rifle ammo can generate tremendous power depending on the catridge used). So unless they think that banning all rifle ammo is acceptable then any type of AP or bullet proof vest pentrating ammo bans would have been ineffectucal.

& if the firearm in question would have been locked up it could have prevented the kid from gaining immediete access to it. However no lock or safe is immune to the efforts of anyone with determination. With the right tools it takes a few minutes to defeat all but the heaviest gun safes. With the wrong tools it takes a minute or two more. Assuming that the response time (from the time the mother called the cops to the time the deputy showed up) was 4 mintes or longer (which 5 to 10 minutes is very reasonable) then the kid could have defeated all but the heaviest of locking measures. So a simple trigger lock or even a wooden gun cabinet that was locked wouldn't have prevented this.

Now there should be some inquiry into the kid having access to any weapons. I presume the AK-47 was his fathers' firearm but it's not for certain that this is the case. If it did belong to his parents then I would question their judgement in allowing access to any weapons to a kid with a history of mental problems. However a mandatory gun lock law is not the right solution.

If a person is of the mind that locking up his arms is the prudent thing to do then a law will not make it any easier for him. Conversely if a person is not of a mind to lock up their arms (even when there is a reasonable justification to do so) then a law will not compel them to act. All you accomplish with gun lock laws is creating a prosecutable offense. It puishes rather than prevents. Also depnding upon the wording it can create liability for those who have done nothign criminal or negligent: it could open up to prosecution a person whose house was broken into & his arms stolen.

Now I have no kids & there are no people in my home who I do not explicitly trust, so as a consequence I don't see the need to lock anything other than my front door. But if a gun lock laws is passed (again, depending on the wording) then if someone breaks into my house when I'm not home & steals any or all of my arms then I could be charged with violating the gun lock law (again, I stress that this scenario is dependent upon the wording).

The other downside is that people who comply with the law will in essence give any criminal intruders a 60 second (minimum) head start. & in at least one case a gun lock law prevented a kid from having access to a weapon that she could have used to prevent her siblings from being killed.

& as I've said gun lock laws only offer prosecution after the fact - unless of course random unannounced inspections are mandated. & I heartily second the statement of Sen. Craig (R-Idaho) on this subject:

"I would hope that Americans would rebel at the possibility of the police entering their home to determine if they were fit to excercise what I believe is a Constitutional right..."

As to banning ammo that will penetrate a bullet proof vest: they'd literally have to ban all but the weakest rifle cartridges that exist. Even muzzle loading firearms can penetrate the majority of bullet proof vests. It's very simple physics: the ability to stop a projectile from penetrating is limited by the strength of the material when pitted against the energy, shape & composition of a projectile.

The vast majority of bullet proof vests are designed to stop handgun cartridges such as the 9x19mm & .38 Special from penetrating. Now if we look at the 10mm (which is more powerful than the two cartrdiges aforementioned) we find that a 150 grain bullet traveling at 1325 feet per second produces about 585 foot-pounds of energy. Now if we assume the vest is designed to stop cartridges with an energy level of around 700 foot-pounds then we can reasonably assume that it will stop a 10mm loaded to the specifications listed above. (well, barring any other factors such as projectile shape &/or bullet alloy that increase its penetrative potential).
However if we look at two rifle cartridges from the late 1800's & one from the 1940's we find that the bullet proof vest is outclassed:

The .30 Carbine that fires a 110 grain bullet at 1990 feet per second generates 967 foot-pounds of energy.
The .32 Winchester Special firing a 170 grain bullet at 2250 feet per second develops 1911 foot-pounds of energy.
The .45-70 cartridge that launches a 300 grain projectile at 1810 feet per second will have 2182 foot-pounds of energy.

The .45-70 was introduced in 1873. That's 13 years prior to the introduction of the first smokeless powder cartridge: the 8mm Lebel. The .32 Winchester Special was introduced in the late 1890's. The .30 Carbine was introduced in 1941 & its intended role was as a substitute for the 1911 pistol.

So a cartridge designed for blackpowder; a cartridge designed very early in the smokeless powder days & a cartridge intended to replace a handgun cartridge all produce energy in excess of what a bullet proof vest (designed for handgun cartridges) can handle.

I will note that other factors aside from kinetic energy come into play: projectile shape & construction will affect the ability of a projectile to pentrate a vest. But this is only relevant when dealing with a projectile with an energy level below what the vest was designed for. Here's a chart of cartridges that the two most popular levels of bullet proof vests are designed to stop.

Also according to my rough estimates the most powerful ammo that a Level IIIA vest will handle is the .44 magnum with a 240 grain bullet at 1400 feet per second which produces around 1,044 foot-pounds of energy. So it's entriely possible that a Level IIIA vest would stop the .30 Carbine cartridge (if projectile shape & construction don't come into play) but it would still be ineffective against the two other rifle rounds that are each over 100 years old.

Now it should be noted that bullet proof vests are rated according to the National Institute of Justice standards which have been called into question in the past. The gist of it is that the NIJ tests were based on faulty science suspect criteria & has led to bulkier vests than necessary to stop pentration of a projectile. This led to the vest being more unconfortable than necessary & thus not worn as often. While the theory about the NIJ standards being less than ideal makes sense to me I admit I am not as knowledgable as I should be to firmly support or refute this theory.

What remains though is that bullet proof vests which are designed to stop rifle cartridges are simply impractical for everyday wear - well, unless you know that everday there's a significant chance that someone will fire a rifle at you. A NIJ rated Level IV vest will in theory stop a single .30-06 cartridge but you're looking at a minimum of 6 pounds per plate. So a front & back plate with the carrier vest will mean your "shirt" now weighs around 14 pounds or so. Not something you'd want to wear 8 hours a day is it?

So again I would submit that the more common bullet proofs vests are simply incapable of stopping 100+ year old black powder rifle cartridges & it is unreasonable to justify an ammo ban of any sort on a vest not stopping a projectile it was never intended to stop.

& just to be clear I have seen absolutely nothing that indicates the deputy who was killed was wearing a bullet proof vest of any sort. But facts haven't stopped gun control advocates yet & i don't expect this to be an exception. At the most you can expect to hear that "even if he was wearing a vest it wouldn't have stopped these dangerous armor piercing rounds". Which to be fair is almost true - if he'd have been wearing a vest rated for handgun rounds as most vests are then it wouldn't have prevented his death. But if he was wearing a vest designed to stop rifle rounds then it would have. They'll rely on the assumption by most people that a bullet proof vest is actually bullet proof under all circumstances - well, except when special "cop killer amror piercing ammo" is used.

But consider this a warning: the gun control advocates will use this tragic event in an effort to justify more gun control laws. It'd behoove us all to learn what actually happened & be prepared to counter the flawed arguments in support of gun control that will come from this.



No Quarters is a blog run by Gunner. Gunner was a reader here & probably the most frequent commenter we had; then he figured out how easy it was to blog. So I don't think of it as losing a reader (as I hope he still has time to check us out every now & then) but gaining a valuable (& most important) linkable source of info & insights.

That being said he has a post up about Australlians not going far enough in their victim disarmament weapons prohibition efforts.

Give it a read & then check out the rest of his blog as it'll be more than worth your time.


End The War on Freedom has this post which links to a Vin Suprynowicz article that calls for the repeal of every federal law passed since 1912. He estimates we could cut our prison population by about two thirds which would make more room for violent offenders.

"Was murder illegal by 1912? Of course. Rape? Of course. Kidnapping, armed robbery, bunko fraud? All serious criminal behaviors had been outlawed by 1912. So why have the number of lawbooks on the shelf multiplied tenfold in the past 92 years?
Release everyone jailed on a drug law (unknown before 1916), for income tax evasion (impossible before 1913), for any kind of illegal possession of or commerce in firearms (laws unimagined a century ago), or for violating any kind of regulatory scheme or edict erected since 1912, and the federal prisons would be virtually empty, while even the state pens would probably see their populations cut in half.
Now declare that -- instead of having their guns taken away and being considered for prosecution -- any law-abiding citizen who shoots and kills (or at least permanently cripples) a felon during his commission of a felony will be given a free Browning Automatic Rifle and a $30,000 government reward (the current cost of jailing the culprit for a year while he awaits trial), be declared immune from any civil lawsuit, and will additionally be given a tickertape parade and a medal."


Give it a read.


Wednesday, March 10, 2004


I have heard some talk of supporting Colin Powell should he venture into the '08 presidential race. Here's a good reason to re-think that:

"Powell next talked positively about arms control in a new Iraq, followed by mention of "rights" and 'liberty.'
'Read what it says about arms not being allowed within the society except under the control of civilian authorities,' he said. 'Read what it says about democracy, rights, liberty, and what the new Iraq will look like. ?…"


One sentence talks favorably about the restriction of an inherent, natural Right (the means of self defense) & the very next goes on to speak of liberty & Rights. & the most troubling part is that he probably doesn't realize that his views are self-contradictory.

& the Iraqi Constitution that Powell referred to? Here's what it says about arms in Article 17:

"It shall not be permitted to possess, bear, buy, or sell arms except on licensure issued in accordance with the law."

Hell, that's all Sarah Brady, DiFi, Schumer & Boxer could ever ask for.

But there'ssomeonee else we should give credit for the Iraqi Constitution's views on arms:

"The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority under the leadership of Paul Bremer has had significant input into the drafting of the new law. The preamble mentions the United Nations, saying the Iraqis are 'working to reclaim their legitimate place among nations."

Paul Bremer. The same Paul Bremer who announced the partial civilian arms confiscation program in Iraq just last May. & lest you think he's just the messenger I offer the following from the post I just linked to on the attempts at civilian disarmament in Iraq:

"The new weapons policy appears to be the outcome of a debate among top military officials in Iraq. Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, commander of U.S. and British land forces in Iraq, told reporters two weeks ago that he was skeptical about simply trying to disarm Iraqi civilians.
'For one thing, I don't think it would be enforceable,' McKiernan said at the time.
But Bremer, keenly aware that his political priority in Iraq is to restore law and order, strongly suggested that he wanted to prohibit most weapons in civilian hands."
(emphasis mine)

The bright side is that this Constitution is temporary. A new one is supposed to be in the works as we speak & will replace this interim one when Iraq is ready to govern itself.

Of course there's no guarantee that Bremer, Powell &/or other gun control advocates won't influence the next constitution as well. I'm reminded of one of the most puzzling things I learned in my youth: Gen. Douglas MacArthur wrote Japan's Constitution in 1945. In it he included almost all of the U.S. Constitution's Bill or Rights. Can you guess which amendment he left out? Now you'd think that as a military man with hisexperiencee he'd be in favor of an armed citizenry. If everyFilipinoo had a rifle, ammo & some training in 1942 MacArthur probably wouldn't have had to take his unwanted detour inAustraliaa. But perhaps he feared a covert re-militarization of Japan. Maybe he just thought how badly it could go for him as an occupier if all the citizens had arms & decided they didn't like his presence there. Perhaps he had a fear that another Bonus Army scenario would happen but this time with deliberate & effective resistance to his troops. (in 1932 Gen. MacArthur & his aides Maj. Eisenhower & Maj. Patton were ordered to break up a group of WW1 veterans that were protesting in D.C. Their orders were to clear an area of the veterans as the protests were turning violent. MacArthur one upped his superiors & not only forced the veterans to move to their make-shift camp across the Anacostia River & burned them out. This played no small part in getting that socialist bastard FDR elected. For more look here, & here as well as here.)

But at least our government is consistent: they try to ignore the 2nd amendment here as well as abroad.




Australia: SWORDS TO BECOME PROHIBITED WEAPONS

And just when you thought things couldn't get any more absurd down under, the Australian government presents.....

SWORD CONTROL!

Yes, folks! Not satisfied with their ban on virtually every gun...

...thinking that having jack booted thuggies knocking on gun owners' doors to check if their firearms are stored properly is just not enough to keep the kiddies in Australia safe, dependent on government and virtually catatonic...

...the petty insane tyrants have decided that swords are a no-no!

All for the children, of course.

I'm thinking maybe the next step is to ban knives, scissors, nail files, razors and some keys that are just too sharp. After all, food can be pre-cut before sale, also creating the favorable side effect of manufacturing low-paying, taxpayer-footed jobs for those who are too stupid to get a job scraping up road kill from the nation's highways. After all, who wouldn't want an exciting career as a food pre-cutter, right? Body hair can remain long. Who cares if the entire population of Australia begins to look like Cousin It? It's for the children, after all! And people don't need keys anyway. They can just leave their homes unlocked to make it easier for the burglars to make a living. Nails can be bitten off - chewed to the quick. Oooh - wait a minute. Can't have that. Better ban teeth while you're at it. Who cares if a few thousand dentists are out of a job! They can obtain gainful employment as food pre-cutters.

Absurd? Perhaps. But not any more absurd than this sword ban.


UK: MP faces calls to resign over gun speech

Can the Brits get anymore charmingly stalinist?

After one of their conservative government officials had the brass hemorrhoids to speak the truth about the ineffectiveness and downright absurdity of their gun ban, the sheeple, hanky-wringing mommies and idiot bureaucrats are now calling for his resignation.

For the record, here's what Patrick Mercer said:

"It is clearly highly undesirable that people get killed on the roads by motor cars. But we don't ban motor cars. People need to learn how to drive a motor car safely and have respect for it."

Mercer also stated that instead of teaching children to be afraid of guns and banning them, the British should be teaching kids to have a respect for firearms and giving them the knowledge of how to use them safely.

He described the ban on handguns in the wake of the 1996 Dunblane massacre as "nonsense" and "a kneejerk reaction."

Well.................... That just set off the British panty-wetters in an uproar! The British equivalent of the "Thousand or so posing as million Moron Mommies" - something called "Mothers Against Murder and Agression" - called Mr. Mercer's comments "crass" and "appalling." As if giving children the knowledge about how to properly use the most effective tool of self defense on the market was an insult. As if teaching personal responsibility rather than using government force to impose ignorance is horrifying.

So in response to the few vocal sheeple who got their panties in a wad because of his comments, Patrick Mercer backpedaled faster than a circus clown on a unicycle.

"Mr Mercer responded to criticism yesterday by saying that his comments had been taken out of context. The politician claimed he had said that only children in rural communities should be taught how to use 'non-lethal' weapons such as air rifles as a prelude to using shotguns in later life.

He said: 'I made no mention of children being taught to use handguns. The only thing I said was that in rural areas it made sense for things like airguns and BB guns to be handled by children so that in later life, when they have access to shotguns, they knew how to handle them safely and with respect.' "


It's so sad to see how far the British have slid into the mire of ignorance, cowardice and general lack of decency. Their insistence on closing their eyes to the blood running in the streets caused by their government's unilateral victim disarmament and insistence on further pushing government dependence despite their government's very pronounced failure to protect the citizenry just stresses how absolutely crucial our battle for our rights is.

Lest we wind up like the Brits, cowering, wallowing in our own pathetic inadequacy and impotence and relying upon government bureaucrats and their armed thug agents for our very lives.





Tuesday, March 09, 2004


The NRA's management made the 1994 AW ban possible

Well, the NRA apologists can spin this all they want. They can claim that the NRA is the biggest dog in the fight. They can attack the writer, KeepAndBearArms.com Executive Director Angel Shamaya, as being divisive, which they most likely will. But they cannot dodge the truth. The truth is that either through incompetence or deception, the NRA allowed the 1994 AW ban to pass. And they almost did it again this year with last week's S.1805 fiasco.

According to three U.S. Senate staffers — who worked on The Hill during the original 1993/94 semi-auto rifle and magazine ban and still work as Senate staffers today — in November of 1993 the NRA asked their bosses not to object to a unanimous consent agreement on the crime bill. (The unanimous consent agreement happened on November 19, 1993. The bill had had the Feinstein semi-auto ban amendment attached to it two days earlier, by a vote of 56 to 43.) No objection meant that no filibuster would be possible. An objection to the unanimous consent agreement would have delayed the crime bill at least through the holidays and into the next year, giving the grassroots critical time to mobilize against the bill.

According to these Senate staffers, the NRA explained that they did not mind the gun ban passing the Senate and going to a conference committee — where NRA officials felt the gun ban could be killed. (Of course, this strategy failed.) NRA officials' strategy was to keep the legislative process moving so they could get to the Brady Bill and make sure the instant background check was nailed down in it.

The House Committee assigned to “clean” the bill had an NRA Director on it back then — and it clearly did not get “cleaned” of the gun ban. In fact, when the bill left that committee, that same NRA Director even voted for the final passage of the gun ban, too.


Fact is the NRA's strategy of "pass the bill, and clean it up in committee" didn't work with the 1994 AW ban, but some, like Neal Knox, promoted this strategy almost to the very end, despite it being a historically BAD strategy.

Fact is that the NRA does give good grades to those who support gun control, and even supports them many times over more pro-freedom candidates.

Fact is, that despite NRA attorney Stephen Halbrook's protestations to the contrary, he did proudly voice his support for the registration of handgun owners in DC during the Seegars battle. And while Mr. Halbrook may claim that this is a necessary step in his gradualist model of regaining our rights, I vehemently disagree with this particular aspect of his strategy. And while Mr. Halbrook compared his strategy to the NAACP's gradual approach to the fight for equal rights for African Americans, I do point out AGAIN, that at no time in their gradual fight did the NAACP admit that any portion of the onerous laws that kept blacks inferior for so long were desirable or acceptable.

And fact is that while Larry Craig did a superb job fighting for S.1805 in the Senate last week, he came to the floor prepared to make concessions, having already developed a way to demonize one type of ammunition over others, and voted to create an elite class of citizens, whose only qualification for legally carrying a concealed weapon nationwide would have been a badge.

Those facts are unfortunate, but they are irrefutable. The NRA's allowing the unanimous consent agreement, so they could ensure background checks for Americans wishing to make a constitutionally protected purchase led to the passage of the Clinton AW ban. Their strategy of allowing a committee to clean up the bill cost us our freedoms then, and history almost repeated itself last week.



Monday, March 08, 2004


If you're in Colorado or willing to travel you might want to make sure you have May 14th, 15th & 16th free. That's when the Rocky Mountain Fifty Caliber Shooters Association is holding their machine gun shoot. It'll take place in Cheyenee Wells, Colorado which is about 185 miles east of Denver.

Now the cool thing is you not only get to watch other people sending vast amounts of lead & copper downrange, but most people on the firing line will let you shoot their firearms for a small price. This may not be exact but you're looking at $10 for 30 rounds of a 9mm subgun, $5 for 3 rounds of .50 BMG (either through a rifle or a Browning M2) & if I recall the 20mm (Soluthurn or Lahti) was around $5 per round. Thye also have mortars that shoot bowling balls, a musket that shoots bowling pins (as in the bowling pin is the projectile - not the target) & last year a fellow brought out his 25mm & 37.5mm (the show off - wonder how much factory ammo costs for him?).

Plus military vehicles & people dressed up in varous period uniforms.

Did I mention the reactionary targets (dynamite, propane cylinders & a gas filled wrecked car) & the Saturday night tracer shoot (imagine a horizontal 4th of July)?

If you need more encouragement click here for pics from previous shoots.

& holler at me if you plan on attending.




Thursday, March 04, 2004


A Nazi - a friggin' Nazi - is serving a life sentence because he killed a few hundred civilians & some Italians are protesting it.

"To his supporters, Erich Priebke is an old man who paid for his mistakes and should be pardoned. To his foes, the 90-year-old convicted Nazi war criminal, who is serving a life sentence under house arrest, should never be free again."

House arrest???? The bastard should be serving his sentence under a house not in one.

"Priebke, a former SS captain, was convicted in 1997 for a wartime massacre in which 335 civilians were killed. He says he was only following orders.
'This execution was a tragedy for us,' Priebke said in an interview published Thursday in the right-wing daily Il Giornale. 'I don't feel the responsibility to repent for something I didn't want to do. I was against it. I had to obey like every soldier must do."


I bet the execution was a tragedy for the civilian victims & their families. & didn't anyone clue him in that the "just following orders" excuse was ruled bullshit a long time ago?

"Priebke's supporters insist the German national should be pardoned because of his age and because his crimes date to 60 years ago. They say his human rights are being violated. "

They want to pardon a convicted mass murderer. A convicted Nazi mass murderer. A convicted Nazi SS Captain who admits to mass murder. His age? Have they thought of how old any of hsi victims would be? They claim his human rights are being violated. These people would see someone swing for carrying an unregistaered pistol yet they're worried about a convicted Nazi/mass murderer's human rights being encroached because he's living under house arrest?

"Priebke's detention is against the Italian constitution and all principles of civilization,' Giachini said in an interview Thursday, referring to a constitutional provision saying penalties cannot be contrary to a sense of humanity."

Well if the first part of the sentence is true then it's bloody friggin' obvious that they need a new constitution in Italy & we need new principles of civilization. But didn't it strike anyone of these Nazi defenders that a murderer under house arrest for life only offends a sense of humanity because it implies he's still comfortable & alive?

"The March 24, 1944, massacre was ordered in retaliation for a bomb attack by Italian resistance fighters that killed 33 German soldiers. The victims, who included old men, young boys, Jews and Roman Catholic priests, were led one-by-one into the Ardeatine Caves outside Rome and shot to death.
Priebke has admitted to shooting two people and helping round up the victims. He has said he would have faced a firing squad had he refused."


He should face a firing squad for his compliance with an order to murder civilians. & since he pbviously has no problem killing old men then he shouldn't have any objections when they blindfold him.

this bastard lived in Argentina until he was extradicted in 1994. That's 50 years longer than any of the old men & boys he killed lived.

Now I might feel a little different about all this if there was some question as to his guilt: if there wasn't a positive I.D. of him or if he swore he was innocent - but the friggin' bastard admits to commanding the troops that did it as well as pulling the trigger twice himself! He's trying to claim that he was juts following orders & therefore isn't responsible for his crimes.

I can understand how he thought that would work - cops here do all sorts of unconstituional & vile things because they follow orders. So it's natural that in a country such as Italy he thought correctly that it would work.

Which is why we must nip this in the bud. Any & all Italians who happen to read this could do us all a big favor: get the death penalty re-instated in Italy, review his sentence & have this bastard shot. Have him shot in the arms & legs a few times before you gut shoot him & leave him to die. & then soundly bitch-slap all those who protested his inhumane treatment under house arrest. Take them to the victims' graves & then to their surviing relatives. & after hearing stories from eyewitnesses about what the bastard did then have them try to reason with them & convince them why the bastard should be freed from the inhumane treatment of house arrest. Then let the victims' relatives bitch-slap them.

Hopefully Kim du Toit will be back soon as he's much better at these kinds of rants than I am. Then again he is in Germany. Maybe he could make a day trip & straighten these misguided Italians out. Besides, that give our Ambassodor to Italy something to do for the next few weeks. Well, after the U.S. Marines save Italy from Kim.




KABA.com has outdone itself. They've done some digging, found & posted the testimony from the president of the NRA during the debates over the National Firearms Act of 1934.

I'll give you this question & answer to whet your appetite:

"The following question was asked by Congressman CLEMENT C. DICKINSON, Missouri, of the Committee on Ways and Means:

'Mr. DICKINSON. I will ask you whether or not this bill interferes in any way with the right of a person to keep and bear arms or his right to be secure in his person against unreasonable search; in other words, do you believe this bill is unconstitutional or that it violates any constitutional provision?'

...'Mr. FREDERICK. I have not given it any study from that point of view. I will be glad to submit in writing my views on that subject, but I do think it is a subject which deserves serious thought."


Read the whole thing. & please keep in mind the NFA of '34 originally included pistols but they were excluded from the final draft of the bill as there was concern that the people may not particularly stand for it.




Wednesday, March 03, 2004


Damn. Helluva week wasn't it?

I'll have more in a day or two but just wanted to jot down a few thoughts in no particular order:

The NRA actually did the right thing. Of course they waited till right before the vote to make up their mind to do the right thing, & odds are that they acted out of self preservation as many people would have left them in a heartbeat if their gamble had backfired. But still they did the right thing in the end.

Something screwy was going on. There were enough votes in the Senate to pass the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. A filibuster might have been attempted but then again considering how many voted for cloture it's not certain it would have succeeded. So what do they do? They get the motion for cloture passed & then announce a deal at 11 p.m. EST that instead of 30 hours with limited amendments & Frist being able to shoot down an amendment all by his lonesome, they're gonna chat about things for 4 days & allow damn near any & all amendments to be proposed. WTF?!?!?!? I don't know who's coming up with the strategies for our side, but I'd love to play some poker with them.

It may not be over. DiFi wants the AWB extended & expanded. She thinks (& she's probably right) that she has enough votes in the Senate to pass it & it very well could pass the House. Bush hasn't vetoed anything yet & I doubt he'd veto something he promised to sign. So don't be surprised if DiFi soemhow gets the AWB on the table again. I doubt it would be on its own as offering it to a bill that everyone wants would be the way to do it, but then again proposing it by itself might happen. Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade but unless I'm missing something in the Senate rules we have to accept that it's possible it'll be voted on again.

The AWBextension didn't pass. I've heard Senators, gun control advocates & even a news story on some AM radio station say that it passed (actually the AM radio station was real screwed up - it claimed the AWB extension was passed as in it was now law & the AWB itself wasn't going to sunset in September). What passed was the AWB extension being added onto a bill that was yet to be voted on. Not that we shouldn't punish those who voted to add it on at the polls this &/or any November or that it doesn't have support in the Senate, but adding something onto a bill you want to see voted down is not the same thing as passing a bill outright.

Y'all made a difference. You called your senators & you called the NRA. It got the NRA to address accusations of treachery for the first time ever & it pressured them into doing the right thing. With the Senators we may or may not have been as influential as some were lost causes. But we let them know that we were not only watching, but we were reacting.

Blogs, internet message borads, Forums, non-mainstream news sites & C-Span2's streaming feed = a whole new world.

10 years ago we wouldn't have known what was going on unless we were in DC watching the Senate in person or had a friend who was a lobbyist &/or Senator. Now we can cuss the bastards out in real time & call "bullshit" as they lie - not merely afterwards. whent hey figure this out I'm sure they'll try to figure out a way to shut us down: politicians don't like being watched in action. But for now we have the most useful tool weapon that we've ever had that doesn't spit lead: connectibility. we can watch what's being said & done while looking up the Senate rules ot make sure it's legal & then e-mail each other & post on Forums & Message Boards to let eveyone know something's wrong (or right).

10 years ago you needed a full time lobbyist to know what was going on & why. Now a lobbyist is still a good asset to have, but a lot of the info we'd have been missing is now right here on our screens.

Schumer is an irreversible ass.

So what will happen? Who knows? But it's much easier to keep track of things & much, much easier to organize & carry out actions that could sway things.

Go read SayUncle & GeekWithA.45. The Countertop Chronicles & Triggerfinger have some interesting stuff as well. KABA.com was & is an irreplaceble source of news. The High Road had play by play posts & really helped spread the word. Alphecca was doing his best a susual making sure we knew not to trust everything we read in the papers, as well as spreading the idea that action beats inaction everytime. & for their (& many others') efforts to keep us all informed hit their tip jars &/or wish lists. If they don't have them, write them & tell them to get one or the other if not both.

I'll have more in the next few days. Right now I need to catch up (& clean up) with the mess I left untended while I was watching what was going on in the Senate.




Tuesday, March 02, 2004


It looks like S.1805 is dead. R.I.P.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to kill it. I'm assuming most supporters voted it down because it was laden down with too much gun control. Most gun banners simply wanted it to go away, but saw its popularity a convenient way to force yet more unconstitutional gun control down our collective gullets.


I'm in a rush so forgive the brevity...


This bill has an extension of the assault weapons ban & the McCain-Reed gun show amendments attached to it. Cleaning it up in ther House is too risky & there's not anything solid that would guarantee we can kill it in the House. we have to stop it in the Senate.

Do not believe that it can be worked out later on. Stripping amendemnts in the Hous eis a very tricky process & our support in the House is not nearly as solid as the NRA would have you believe.

Call your Senators - call not e-mail - & let them know you want this damned thing killed. Ask them to withdraw it from the table if that's still possible or to vote against it.

800) 648-3516 or (202) 224-3121. That'll put you in touch with the Senate - just ask for your Senator. Go here if you need to find out who they are.

Again it is imperative that we stop this bill from passing the Senate. Call your Senators now!



Gun Ban Amendment Passes in U.S. Senate

And here you have a list of the Senators who voted in favor of including the so-called "assault" weapons ban along with S.1805.

Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Murkowski (R-AK), Nay Stevens (R-AK), Nay
Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Allard (R-CO), Nay Campbell (R-CO), Nay
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Delaware: Biden (D-DE), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Graham (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Miller (D-GA), Nay
Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Craig (R-ID), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Fitzgerald (R-IL), Yea
Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Breaux (D-LA), Yea Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland: Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Sarbanes (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Yea Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota: Coleman (R-MN), Nay Dayton (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay Lott (R-MS), Nay
Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Nay Talent (R-MO), Nay
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Nay Burns (R-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Hagel (R-NE), Nay Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Yea Sununu (R-NH), Nay
New Jersey: Corzine (D-NJ), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Domenici (R-NM), Nay
New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Dole (R-NC), Nay Edwards (D-NC), Yea
North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Ohio: DeWine (R-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Nickles (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Smith (R-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania: Santorum (R-PA), Nay Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island: Chafee (R-RI), Yea Reed (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Nay Hollings (D-SC), Yea
South Dakota: Daschle (D-SD), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Frist (R-TN), Nay
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Vermont: Jeffords (I-VT), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Virginia: Allen (R-VA), Nay Warner (R-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming: Enzi (R-WY), Nay Thomas (R-WY), Nay



More details on the McCain Anti-Gunshow Amendment

Here's a list of how your Senators voted. I, personally, have contacted George Allen and thanked him for listening to gun owners' voices. My next call will be to John Warner telling him I'm making it my personal mission in life to see his old, shrivelled rear end defeated in the next election and sent home humiliated.

Grouped by Home State
Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Murkowski (R-AK), Nay Stevens (R-AK), Nay
Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Allard (R-CO), Nay Campbell (R-CO), Nay
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Delaware: Biden (D-DE), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Graham (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Miller (D-GA), Nay
Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Craig (R-ID), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Fitzgerald (R-IL), Yea
Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Breaux (D-LA), Yea Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Nay Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland: Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Sarbanes (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Yea Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota: Coleman (R-MN), Nay Dayton (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay Lott (R-MS), Nay
Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Nay Talent (R-MO), Nay
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Nay Burns (R-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Hagel (R-NE), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Nay Sununu (R-NH), Nay
New Jersey: Corzine (D-NJ), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Domenici (R-NM), Nay
New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Dole (R-NC), Nay Edwards (D-NC), Yea
North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Ohio: DeWine (R-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Nickles (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Smith (R-OR), Nay Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania: Santorum (R-PA), Nay Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island: Chafee (R-RI), Yea Reed (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Nay Hollings (D-SC), Yea
South Dakota: Daschle (D-SD), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Frist (R-TN), Nay
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Vermont: Jeffords (I-VT), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Virginia: Allen (R-VA), Nay Warner (R-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming: Enzi (R-WY), Nay Thomas (R-WY), Nay



ANOTHER UPDATE

Looks like our pals in the Senate also voted in favor of attaching John McCain's gunshow "loophole" amendment to S.1805 as well. Final vote 53-46. This cow of a bill is now so laden with anti-Second Amendment garbage, that it's absurd to even think about passing it through the Senate in hopes of it being reconciled later. Again, this is the time to call your Senators and urge them to kill this bill. Sending this legislation and depending on it being "cleaned up" is sending the wrong message that gun control is in any form an acceptable compromise!

Again, start calling and writing now!


Well, it's official, boys and girls. The AW ban renewal is part of the NRA bill that would provide some protection from frivolous lawsuits to the gun industry. The vote in favor of attaching this onerous legislation was 52-47. Now is the time to call and urge the Senate to kill S.1805. We must not rely on the House to clean it up, as some have urged. No amount of frivolous lawsuit protection is worth the renewal of an unconstitutional gun ban.

Start calling and writing now!


things should start in the Senate at around 9:30 a.m. EST. Go to the Geek & Uncle for updates.

& be prepared to change the message to your senators to "vote against the bill" should the "assault weapons" ban or gun show amendments be added on. If either of those gun control laws are succefully added to the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act we won't have long to call & try to sawy Senators to kill it in the Senate, so have ye olde speed dial ready.

But watch the Geek & Uncle as they'll let you know what's happening.


Monday, March 01, 2004


There have been many many arguments over the past week. Most of which were betwixt gun owners about what startegy is best & who is working in our interests.

Later on this week we'll know more & be able to hash things out again. There'll be plenty of time for the squabbling that is so unfortunately neccesary.

Right now we don't have time for that. The Senate will vote tomorrow morning on amendments to the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Those amendments will include an extension of the "assault weapons" ban & a bill that will negatively affect gun shows. There may be more. I wouldn't be surprised if another amendment was proposed that could arguably do more damage to the Right to Arms than the two previously mentioned.

It is not certain that all the amendments will be attached but it is likely that at least one of them will be. Then comes the vote on the entire package - the Lawful Protection in Arms Act as amended.

Some of y'all have been here before & have a pretty good idea about my views. & Some will agree with me, others won't. That's part of life. Disagreements happen even between the closest of friends.

All the info that's available on the issue has been laid out for your dissemination between here, GeekWithA.45 & SayUncle. Between the three of us I doubt there's much we missed.

Now some of you may believe that an amended bill can be cleaned up in the House. I don't & I think I've made the case that our support in the House is not nearly as strong as some would like to believe.

The only chance we have is to stop these gun control amendments from being added in the Senate & barring that to kill the entire legislative package in the Senate. If it goes to the House with gun control on it then we will lose.

So I ask that you call your Senators & deliver a very simple message:

I want a clean bill or no bill from the Senate. If any gun control laws are passed I'll withdraw my support for you & your party. I will not accept excuses, even that you voted against them. If you & your party want my vote in November of '04, '06 or '08 then you'll chat with your fellow Senators & convince them to not pass any gun control laws. If you vote for gun control you'll lose my support, but if any gun control laws are passed you & your entire party will lose my support no matter how you vote.

Make this known to your Senators. You can reach them at (800) 648-3516 or (202) 224-3121.


As well as to VP Dick Cheney
vice.president@whitehouse.gov
(202) 456-9000

& make sure the NRA knows you don't want them taking any risks. Tell them if any gun control laws are passed you're dropping your membership &/or support of them & their state affiliates.

Now if you wish to sit around & tell yourself that the NRA knows what it's doing (that the Senate will do the right thing & if not then the House will sort it out) then fine. I cannot convince you if I haven't already.

But if you'd at least want to attempt to do something to protect your Right to Arms then call & tell them what you want & what you will & will not accept.

The choice is yours. But if in October I still cannot buy brand new factory fresh 11 round magazines or a folding stock for a Ruger 10/22 then don't you dare come bitchin' to me when someone wants to ban your wabbit gun.




I just saw this from RMGO & thought I would pass it on. I'll paste it below in it's entirety.


"Rocky Mountain Gun Owners

Oppose Gun Control -- Kill S.1805

March 1, 2004, 1700 hrs Mountain - Please read the following communication and then call your US Senators.

Senator Wayne Allard can be reached at (202) 224-5941.

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell can be reached at (202) 224-5852.

Also call the NRA -- tell them that S.1805 already has gun control attached to it (the Kohl Trigger Locks amendment), and, according to former NRA muckety muck Neal Knox, "Let me assure you: S. 1805 WILL CONTAIN A LOT MORE GUN CONTROL."

Call the NRA-ILA immediately toll-free at 800-392-8683 and/or e-mail them at Federal-Affairs@nrahq.org

Urge the NRA to pull the plug and kill S.1805 in the Senate, before it has any more gun control on it. Tell them to STOP approving anti-gun amendments like Kohl's gun lock-up law.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More and more it's looking like S.1805 is a turkey that can't be saved.

We are already facing the ridiculous reality that the "gun liability" bill, which was supposed to PROTECT dealers and manufacturers from baseless lawsuits, now has a brand new liability built into it; penalties if handguns are not provided with gun locks.

As you know, we have fought and defeated similar proposals that would require that you render your guns useless, here in Colorado.

Though we've defeated this kind of law in the Colorado legislature, we are having this irrational requirement shoved down our throats by the Feds. What's worse, it seems like the NRA has bought off on this crackpot scheme.

In an alert dated Feb 27 '04 the NRA describes the Kohl amendment which mandates this new intrusion into your rights this way:

"The Kohl amendment is much less restrictive and also provides liability protection for gun owners."

But that "protection" is only for people who lock up their guns and render them useless!

If you read the amendment, it only provides liability protection IF YOU LOCK UP YOUR GUNS. In other words, the NRA is buying into the argument of the gun-grabbers -- that locking up your gun makes you safer.

According to Professor John Lott (in "More Guns, Less Crime", page 199):

"Safe storage rules also seem to cause some real problems. Passage of these laws is significantly related to almost 9 percent more rapes and robberies and 5.6 percent more burglaries. In terms of total crime in 1996, the presence of the law in just these fifteen states was associated with 3,600 more rapes, 22,500 more robberies, and 64,000 more burglaries."

Page 201 of the same book says "We find no support for the theory that safe storage laws reduce either juvenile accidental gun deaths or suicides. Instead, these storage requirements appear to impair people's ability to use guns defensively."

As more people are forced to get these "locking devices" the anti-gun politicians will take the next step: a law making you use them to lock up your guns or else you'll be a criminal. Then they can arrest you and confiscate your guns, which is what they wanted all along.

Later in the NRA-ILA alert they state :

"The Senate then debated and voted upon two amendments seeking to gut S.1805. The first related to the D.C. sniper case, but the proposal by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) was defeated, 56-40. A so-called "law enforcement" exemption offered by Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) was soundly defeated, 56 to 38.

NRA strongly opposed both amendments."

Why then, we must wonder, didn't the NRA oppose the horrible Kohl amendment? Is it because the two amendments "seeking to gut S.1805" were defeated and the Kohl amendment, which they don't even criticize, passed? Is this the strategy of the NRA, to claim, after the fact, opposition to bad amendments that fail, while giving tacit approval to bad amendments that pass?

Many of you have no doubt seen the internet traffic where some have accused the NRA of having cut a deal going into this bill. You may have also seen the strongly worded denials from NRA. But now we must say our concern is greater than ever. If there is no deal, as NRA has repeatedly stated, why the approval of Kohl's gun lock-up amendment? What are they willing to compromise next?

In the NRA alert described above, the NRA states :

> "NRA-ILA stands committed to enacting into law, a "clean" (without any
> anti-gun amendments) S. 1805. And, as we have from Day One, we will
> continue to vigorously oppose any anti-gun amendments to S. 1805,
> specifically, reauthorization of the 1994 Clinton gun ban in any way,
> shape, or form, and imposing restrictions on gun shows."

But the bill ALREADY HAS AN ANTI-GUN AMENDMENT AND THE NRA HAS NOT OPPOSED IT!!!

Already today (Monday, March 1) an amendment to reauthorize the so-called "Assault Weapons" ban was made (and will be voted upon on Tuesday). Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell voted for that inital ban. We also know that NRA endorsed- and- supported George Bush has promised he would sign a renewal of the semi-auto ban. Yet not one word has been written by NRA distancing themselves from Campbell and in same alert referenced above they state:

> Using the bully pulpit of the White House, President Bush offered the
> following statement highlighting his support for the lawsuit bill
> without
> any anti-gun amendments: "The Administration strongly supports Senate
> passage of S. 1805. The Administration urges the Senate to pass a clean
> bill, in order to ensure enactment of the legislation this year. Any
> amendment that would delay enactment of the bill beyond this year is
> unacceptable.

But Bush NEVER says he won't sign it. Why would a new semi-auto ban "delay enactment" if he's already promised to sign it?

As NRA muckety muck Neal Knox wrote, "Let me assure you: S.1805 WILL CONTAIN A LOT MORE GUN CONTROL."

Much has been made of the promise that this bill will be "fixed" when it goes back to a conference committee with the House. That is pure speculation and wishful thinking. We were made similar promises about other bills like "campaign finance reform" and now we face penalties if we dare discuss candidates in the months before an election!

Please call:

Senator Wayne Allard (202) 224-5941

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (202) 224-5852

Also please call the NRA -- tell them that S.1805 already has gun control attached to it (the Kohl Trigger Locks amendment) and urge them to kill S.1805 in the Senate.

NRA insiders are now privately whispering that NRA leadership is nervous, and the grumblings are that this bill is out of control and growing its own legs.

Call the NRA-ILA immediately toll-free at 800-392-8683 and/or e-mail them at Federal-Affairs@nrahq.org

Urge the NRA to pull the plug and kill S.1805 in the Senate, before it has any MORE gun control on it.

The standard (public) NRA response is that they're working hard to pass a clean bill. Tell the NRA that the bill is already dirty, and needs to be defeated NOW -- before it gets even worse."







okay - nothing passed today but tomorrow is the big one.

The "assault weapons" ban renewal & the McCain-Reed gunshow bill will be voted on.

This is bad. If they would have been voted on today then there would have been enough time to get people to call their Senators & demand that they kill the bill. Now if the AWB or the gunshow amendment (or both) get tacked on then will have an hour or so (maybe less) to let our Senators know we don't want the bill to pass.

From what I read & saw (I caught the last hour or so of it on C-Span2) it was the same ol' same ol' - anti-gun Senators lying their asses off (& that was quite a feat considering the last time some of them saw a treadmill was in a bad dream) & urging other Senators to vote for the AWB & gunshow amendments. Kerry & Edwards will both make a special guets appearance in the Senate to add their votes for the AWB & any other anti-gun BS that gets voted on. & there was much talk urging Bush to stand by his campaign promise fo supporting the AWB & more urging of Cheney to be on hand in case there's a tie. (Yes - it's that close)

Craig would step up every now & then & call them liars without using the word "liar", correct some of their "facts", reiterate on the Right to Arms & then let them have at it again.

Folks, the anti's think it'll be a close vote. I think they're right, but whereas they're thinking they're one or two votes shy I'm thinking that a few will defect from our side & send them over the top. My own Sen. Campbell is a likely candidate for this & I must apologize in advance because if he does then it's my fault for not having a long chat with him when I moved into his state.

There's been a lot of talk about cleaning the bill up in the House or killing it in the House. That's like trying to rescue the hostage after the bad guys have got in the getaway car - sure it's possible but hell anything's possible. It's not probable & it damn sure ain't preferable.

There's also been talk that the Lawful Commerce in Firearms act is the "killer bill" that gun control folks won't vote for. That's incorrect. I don't know any anti-gunner alive who wouldn't trade protection for gun makers in the courts for a renewal of an actual gun ban &/or a prohibition concerning gun shows. Either one is much higher up in the deck than being able to sue the gun makers. & hell, they might have figured a way around its language that'll allow most of the lawsuits to proceed anyway. Judges have been misinterpreting the constitution for how long now? Think they'll all of a sudden become stand up guys because of a mere law?

So i'm not ready to urge it's killing just yet. I'm not happy about the gun lock thing but if we could slip in a pro-gun amendment - like a repeal of the Hughes Amendment to the FOPA of '84 - then I could live with it. But let me be clear: the second (& I mean the very second) that an AWB renewal or the gunshow amendment get added on then Cmapbell & Allard will get a phone call from me demanding that they vote against the entire bill. The AWB &/or the gun show amendment are too high a price to pay for legislative protection from erroneous tort actions.

Anyway, go read Geek & Uncle if you haven't already.

Also Alphecca has his weekly check on the bias up. I was shocked at the way they treated the gun stories this week, what with the Senate debates & all,

Countertop Chronicles has also been keeping up with the Senate - go give him a read.

Triggerfinger is another place y'all should check out.

& call your Senators if you haven't already. New or renewed gun control laws = withdrawal of votes & support for them & their party. No excuses!


I'm just getting in & I'm not caught up. Just had to mention that Schumer is a lying bastard.

More in a bit.


As per usual I'll pass thing off to SayUncle & GeekWithA.45 until later this afternoon. Go check them out for coverage of the Senate today.


Sunday, February 29, 2004


It's not as cool as the TFP* kit, but at least they have the right idea.

Nicki Fellenzer writes about the plan hatched over at The High Road to mail gun locks (minus the keys & combinations of course) to Sen. Boxer.

Gotta love the internet.




* Tar, Feathers & Politicians kit - some assembly required.


In Colorado the heads of law enforcement in 7 respective cities have urged Sen. Campbell & Sen. Allard to vote for extending the "assault weapons" ban & to place federal restrictions on gun shows.

"In a recent letter, the chiefs of police in Louisville, Gunnison, Sheridan, Arvada, Colorado Springs and Denver, and the Boulder County sheriff urge Republican Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Wayne Allard to vote for the measures."

Bastards. Make sure to let them know how you feel about their disrespect for your Rights.

Now I could be mistaken but I thought I saw where Sen. Campbell was planning to propose a natiowide cops only CCW amendment. If so that would seem to indicate that law enforcement groups have some influence with Sen. Campbell which means it's very important to let him know how we feel.

Sen. Campbell is up for re-election this year. Call his office & let him know that if any gun control is passed into law that he not only lost your vote in his race, but your vote for his party. & don't neglect Sen. Allard; in fact don'
t neglect any of your Senators. They need all the guidance they can get.

Oh, lest I forget Amercians for Gun Safety is behind this particular push.

"Our nation's top law enforcement officers know better than anyone the importance of passing these bipartisan gun safety bills,' said Jon Cowan, president of Americans for Gun Safety, a group that says it supports gun-ownership for law-abiding citizens and tougher laws aimed at the use of guns in crimes.
'Keeping assault weapons out of the hands of criminals has helped to ensure that our nation's law enforcement officers are not outgunned on our streets,' he said. 'Likewise, closing the gun show loophole is one of the most important steps Congress can take to stop the illegal trafficking of firearms."


Bastards. (Yes - I'll be using that word a lot over the next few days) Lying bastards. (that phrase too) But let any doubts be removed from your mind that Americans for Gun Safety is anything other than a gun control group who tries to fool the unknowing.


Here's a list of Senators that are up for re-election this year. Make sure they know that your support for them & their party depends on no gun control laws being passed.

Here's GOA's legislative Action page. Use it to find & contact your Senator.


Pejmanesque has a very relvant question that we all should ponder:

"What good is a Republican Senate on Second Amendment and gun use issues if it keeps falling for the peddled myths of the gun control movement?"

Now Pejman confuses the issue of "smart guns" & safety locks a bit, but I don't think so much that it invalidates any points being made.

It's my opinion that if the safety lock amendment gets passed into law then it will take us one step closer to a "msart gun" law on the national level. The idea is that once Congress extablishes the authority to regulate something it won't stop at the initial thing. So this year it might be safety locks required with the purchase of a handgun. Next year when the accidental death rate of children under 12 doesn't shrink considerably they'll extend it to long guns, then when that fails to produce results they'll have some precedent to justify their intent of requiring "smart gun" techinology in all new firearms.

Now the reason the accidental death rate won't be affected by any of these measures is that trigger locks are currently available relatively cheap in all gun stores. Any place you buy a firearm will have a gun lock that will work on it. But possessing a lock does not mean that it will be used. & a lot of times a lock isn't necessary.

The only thing that will reduce the accidental death rate in children (from the 80 or so a year it is now) is education. The Eddie Eagle program from the NRA is a good start, but the best solution is to have the parents teach their children (starting at a very young age - like 4 or 5) about the dangers of careless gun handling. For the kids under 14 or so make it clear that they're never to touch a firearm without an adult present, & most importantly have an adult preent every so often who will watch & instruct the child as he/she handls the weapon.

Most accidental shootings are simply the result of ignorance on the part of the kid as to how the firearm works. whether the kid just wants to examine the gun & inadvertently pulls the trigger or if the kid is playing with the gun & pulls the trigger the motivation is usually the same: curiousity.

Kids love seeing how machines work. They like learning how to operate a toll that seems complex & myusterious & this curiousity is increased dramatically when the kid is denied even supervised access to said tool.

think about it - most homes in America have an assortment of knives & other cutting implements. They're not locked up & the kid frequently knows exactly where they are. But the kid is not completely denied access to them & at some point the parent even teaches the kid how to use it & the dangers of its misuse.

If parents would take the same steps with firearms as they do with knives then we could probably cut the accidental death rate in half. But as long as "gun" is a dirty word & kids are forbidden from learning about them then simple curiousity combined with ignorance is going to result in accidental shootings.

Now I'm not a proponent of government schools. I feel it'd be in everyone's best interest if we privatized education across the board & let the market do its thing. But as long as we have government schools we should try to make them work to our benefit. One thing would be to have a class held once or twice a year with age appropriate curriculum dealing with the proper use, handling & storage of firearms. In elementery schools start off with the basic safety rules & by the time they get to the high school level have them take a clas similar to the state required CCW classes - including the range training & testing.

This would knock out two things at once: it would increase a child's knowledge about how to safely handle & be around firearms & it would negate the requirement for classes in order to get a CCW (& if we can elimate the class requirement as being redundant we're one step closer to getting people to understand that CCW permits are mainly a form of gun owner registration).

So if the Senators who voted for the safety lock requirement are serious about safety, then let them pass a law requirig firearms education in the public schools, & let them pass laws which make it easier for a responisble adult to take a kid shooting, & let the state legislators eliminate the class requirements for CCW permits.

But the fact is they won't. No matter how much they blather about safety & it being "for the children" their real goal is civilian disarmament. Don't believe me? bring up my suggestions th enext time someone supports mandatory locks with purchase or "safe storage" requirements. You'll find it's only "for the children" if it fits their other goals.




Here's RMGO's after action report on the no-permit required concealed carry bill in Colorado.

Here's the deal: The NRA had promised not to push any pro-gun legislation this year. Their justification was that pro-gun votes hurt Republicans in elections. Now, call me crazy, but I had for some reason always assumed that pro-gun voters made up a large part of the Republican base. In any event that's the lie explanation the NRA offered.

In steps RMGO, who gets Rep. Brophy (R-District 63) to sponsor a pro-gun bill that would eliminate the permit requirement for carrying concealed as long as you'd be qualified to get a permit. It leaves the permit system in place for those who want a permit to travel to other states that recognize Colorado's permits, but for in-state carry it's no longer required. This means you could carry immediately & much less expensively if you'd meet the other requirements. Here's the text of HB 1281.

The bill was sent to the Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs. It was made up of 7 Republicans & 4 Democrats, with Rep. Sinclair (R-District 16) chairing the committee.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Two members of the committee were absent. Rep. Fairbank (R-District 22) was out of the country & Rep. Mitchell (R-District 33) was ill. That left the committee with 5 Republicans & 4 Democrats.

Speaker of the House Spradley (R-District 60) appointed Rep. Briggs (R-District 29) to take Rep. Fairbank's place. Rep. Brigg's is considered by RMGO as a left leaning big government type Republican: in other words a RINO. Speaker of the House Spradley appointed him despite this. Her running for governor may have something to do with it. The RINO we have in office now would have approved of her actions & it?s possible she sees this in the same light he does: a way to appeal to the moderate & left leaning voters.

Rep. Sinclair had signed a pledge to support a no-permit required concealed carry law as well as telling the bill's sponsor Rep. Brophy that he would support it, but keep in mind he is term limited & cannot run for election again.

As for testimony on the bill, Arvada's Chief of Police Ron Sloan testified against it on behalf of the Chiefs of Police, the County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Denver Police Department. He even went so far as to quote Handgun Control Inc. The League of Women Voters testified against it, as did the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Rep. May (R-District 44) gave a spirited defense of the bill, as did a few unnamed pro-gun committee members. Dudley Brown of RMGO & some private citizens testified on behalf of the bill.

& what about the NRA &/or its state affiliate the CSSA?

Dave Gill, VP of the CSSA was contacted by Rep. Brophy & when asked about the CSSA's stance on the bill said he would support it next year, but not this year. This would seem to confirm the notion that the NRA did promise not to push any pro-gun bills this year.

Dudley Brown reports that Speaker of the House Spradley was seen talking to Rep. Sinclair minutes before the vote, leading him to believe that the outcome of the bill was fixed.

& how did the vote turn out? Rep. Sinclair, Rep. May, Rep. Schultheis (R-District 14), Rep. Lundberg (R-District 49), Rep. Cadmen (R-District 15) voted for the bill.

Rep. Briggs, Rep. Frangas (D-District 4), Rep. Ragsdale (D-District 35), Rep. Weddig (D-District 36), & Rep. Weismann (D-District 12) voted against the bill.

That left us with a tie vote. Now what is normally done in such a situation is the bill is held over for a week or two until the absent committee member(s) can return, but Rep. Frangas moved to indefinitely postpone the bill with Rep. Weddig seconding it. "Postpone indefinitely" is legislative language for killing the bill. Rep. Sinclair voted to "P.I." the bill & the motion to "P.I." was passed 6-4-1. Thus the bill to stop the infringement of the exercise of a Right was killed.

According to this story from the Denver Post, Rep. Brophy doesn't think it was simply a policy disagreement that killed his bill.

"Brophy said after the vote that he doesn't think the bill died on its merits. He said House leaders don't think the gun issue is good for Republicans, a position he disagrees with.
'Republicans shouldn't run from this issue,' Brophy said. Votes on loosening gun rules can energize the party's conservative base, he added."


More from the article:

"House Speaker Lola Spradley, R-Beulah, would not say whether she wanted the bill killed."

Odds are she thought openly opposing the bill would adversely affect her chance of getting moderate & left leaning support for her gubernatorial campaign, but openly supporting it would have eroded support from her conservative base.

"However, she did appoint Rep. Bob Briggs, R-Westminster, to fill a temporary committee vacancy Tuesday, and he cast the deciding vote that killed the bill. Had Spradley left the seat open, the bill would have survived the committee and been debated on the floor."

Which shows that even though she would not speak the words publicly, her actions clearly show where she stands on the matter of Rights.

"The bottom line was that the bill was not going to make it through the Senate - it's an extremely controversial bill, and it died in committee,' Spradley said."

Sounds familiar doesn't it? The outcome of the bill was already decided thus there was no point in opposing the outcome. I believe that's from page 17 of the NRA lies Excuses Manual, under the section entitled Why We Sold You Out Why We Opposed Or Didn't Support Pro-Gun Legislation.

"Committee Chairman William Sinclair, R-Colorado Springs, said he supported the bill and would have liked to see it pass.
'It's no question if it got out on the floor it would have been one (heck) of a fight because the Democrats would have lined up against it and some Republicans, but that's not what happened,' he said."


Nope. That's not what happened. & the reason why that's not what happened is because Rep. Sinclair bowed to political pressure & voted to "P.I." the bill. After all, he voted for it the first time around, thereby fulfilling his promise, so he obviously felt free to vote to kill it.

Rep. Rose (R-District 58) has pulled a bill he introduced that would have corrected some infringements of contract Rights in Colorado's gun show law. His reasoning was equally questionable:

"Why should I put all my fellow representatives on record on a very contentious vote in an election year when I don't have to - when I know the bill is going to die?' he asked."

I guess "because it's the right thing to do" wouldn't be a valid reason for taking risks according to Rep. Rose's philosophy.

Senate President John Andrews hedged on this year's gun bills.
'I feel as though we accomplished a great deal with our carry bill and pre-emption bill last year. I think the general mood of both the House and Senate is to digest both those bills,' he said."


What all this means is that the NRA has talked Colorado legislators into not pushing any pro-gun bills on the misguided belief that it will make the elections tougher. Here's RMGO's Billwatch page which shows the legislation, both alive & dead, in Colorado this year.

(Of note is that the bill to increase hunting & fishing license extortion fees has passed the house & is currently in a committee in the Senate.)

& from this story in the Rocky Mountain News we find out what Rep. Briggs thought son the matter were.

"...Republican leaders don't want legislators voting for controversial bills for fear that their voting records will be used by challengers in the November election.
'That concern was expressed to me,' said Rep. Bob Briggs, R-Westminster, who was a last-minute appointment to the House State Affairs Committee and voted against the bill"


I wonder in what manner that concern was expressed to him. & by whom?

Now according to this post by Billll at the High Road, we find an equally absurd line of justification for not supporting pro-gun bills;

"Bill, Be careful what you ask for. I think the passage of this bill will
only excite the anti-gun people who will then go to the ballot with an
imitative banning all forms of concealed carry. Just look at what they
accomplished with Amendment 22, remember they have the numbers. It will only take a bill like this to really get them energized. "


That was from Rep. Stengall (R-District 38). Rep. Stengall is also the sponsor of the bill that would increase hunting & fishing license extortion fees from between 50% to 100% (depending upon the specific license) that's already been passed in the House & is in a Senate committee.


Here's my take on things:

The Republicans either bought some BS from the NRA or convinced the NRA to go along with some BS they thought of on their own about pro-gun votes hurting Republican re-election efforts. In either case the NRA & CSSA decided to take a break from pretending to fight for your Rights. The Republicans did as well.

So when pro-gun bills crop up, they get sent to committees which will kill them w/o having to have the entire House vote one way or the other. Speaker of the House Spradley has ambitions for the governorship & obviously doing favors for her now is akin to career advancement in some legislators eyes. Rep. Briggs would be one of them, & I suspect that it caused him no grief to put a political favor above the Rights of the people who allegedly represents.

Now I agree that a vote on a gun bill could be bad for Republicans seeking re-election, but that would be a ?no? vote on a pro-gun bill or a "yes" vote on an anti-gun bill. Sad when a political party thinks a vote for freedom or against an infringement of a Right would hurt them politically isn't it?

So if you live in Colorado & won't subject yourself to groveling for permission & paying a fee to exercise a Right, thank Speaker of the House Spradley, Rep. Sinclair, Rep. Briggs, the NRA & the CSSA for ensuring you'll be arrested & charged if you?re caught.

In fact, here?s the contact info for all concerned.

Be sure to thank those who were
Pro-Rights

Rep. Brophy
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2906
E-Mail: greg@gregbrophy.net

Rep. Cadman
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-5525
Email: bill.cadman.house@state.co.us

Rep. Lundberg
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2907
E-Mail: kevin@kevinlundberg.com

Rep. May
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2933
E-Mail: mike.may.house@state.co.us

Rep. Schultheis
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2937
E-Mail: dave.schultheis.house@state.co.us



& be sure to expres your disappointment in those that were
Anti-Rights

Rep. Briggs
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2950
E-Mail: bob.briggs.house@state.co.us

Rep. Frangas
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2954
E-Mail: kjerry.frangas.house@state.co.us

Rep. Ragsdale
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2843
E-Mail: ann.ragsdale.house@state.co.us

Rep. Sinclair
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2965
E-Mail: bill.sinclair.house@state.co.us

Speaker of the House Spradley
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2346
E-Mail: spradley@fone.net

Rep. Stengall
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2953
E-mail: joe.stengel.house@state.co.us

Rep. Weddig
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Capitol Phone: (303)866-2942
E-Mail: frankweddig@coloradohouse.org

Rep. Weismann
Office Location: 200 E. Colfax, Room 271
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-2920
E-Mail: reppaul@aol.com

In addition to the legislators, The Denver Post was opposed to the bill as they?re opposed to most pro-gun bills & supportive of most anti-gun bills. Here's the link to The Denver Posts contact page.

The CSSA declined to support the bill & seems to have been in league with Lucifer the NRA in having it killed. Here?s the link to the CSSA's Directory page CSSA Vice President Dave Gill can be reached at vice_president@cssa.org
CSSA President can be reached at president@cssa.org.
CSSA Legislative Director Tim Brown can be reached at legislative@cssa.org

The NRA seems to have been a major force in getting pro-gun bills such as the Colorado Freedom to Carry Act killed. The contact info for their Field Rep. for Colorado is:
David Lee
P.O. Box 458
Fort Morgan, CO 80701-0458
970-867-1916 (office)
970-867-1917 (fax)

I urge you to withdraw any & all financial, emotional, spiritual &/or material support from the people & organizations listed until such time as they have proven they're not going to sell you out for their own agenda. If you have 1 day to go before your membership expires, call them up, cancel & explain why.

Rep. Sinclair is term limited, so threatening to not vote for him won't do much good. However there is always the traditional approach; ostracize him. Don?t engage in any social interaction with him, except to express your disappointment in his betrayal of Colorado?s people. Similarly don't do business with him. If he comes to you offering to purchase a service tell him you don't do business with people who betray you. If you need a service & find out he's selling, then tell him you don?t trader with people who betray you.

Speaker of the House Spradley is in a different position. She's running for governor. So in her case by all means inform her of why you won't vote for her, & why you're planning to ostracize her, but give her an out: if she'll apologize for her betrayal & make up for it (as in actively, if not downright viciously promoting & supporting pro-gun & pro-individual Rights legislation) then you'll not actively support her opponent & you'll consider doing business with her.

I?m not hip to the situation of the other anti-Rights legislators, but depending upon their situation I'd recommend applying either the first or second tactic. & yes, even to the Democrats. Traditionally the Democrats are an anti-gun party & odds are they don't count on many Republican votes, but it never hurts to try. Besides, the look on their face when you tell them to get the hell out of your store (or whatever equivalent is appropriate to your line of work) because they disrespected your Rights will be at least some consolation until the election comes around.

& spread the word to your friends & neighbors, especially about Speaker of the House Spradley. I know many who think she's the best choice for governor, but odds are their view would change if they knew she had part in the killing of a pro-gun bill.

& by all means, this November remember who was supportive of your Rights & who sold them out. Even if it means having a Democrat in office it's important to politically punish those who betray you. Until you & a bunch of others are willing to do that the Republicans will continue to be a party that is a little less anti-gun than the Democrats. Vote Libertarian, or Constitution Party, or any other political party whose candidate in that race promises to support your Rights. If you think it's wasting your vote then get off your ass & try to drum up support for the pro-gun candidate that the third party offers. But remember that the lesser of two evils is still evil, & if you let any party betray you once they'll damn skippy do it again.

Addendum:

The situation in the U.S. Senate concerning the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act makes what happened in Colorado seem a bit more odd than it initially did.

For those of you who haven't been paying attention to the U.S. Senate, last week a bill was introduced to provide immunity for firearms manufacturers & dealers from what are best described as frivolous lawsuits. The short version of it is if a manufacturer or dealer was criminally negligent or violated the law then they could still be sued for damages that resulted from their actions. If the manufacturer or dealer was not criminally negligent & they did not violate any laws then they could not be sued for damages resulting from the use of their products. In other words if you are hurt because a dealer was selling guns illegally & one of those guns was used by a criminal to harm you or if you suffer injury because the firearm blew up through no fault of your own you could still sue the manufacturer &/or dealer. If a person legally buys a gun & that gun is used by him or anyone else to harm you, then you couldn't sue the manufacturer or dealer.

Now the bill is a good idea & would be beneficial to the firearms manufacturers, dealers & those who purchase firearms. It would stop lawsuits that are intended to bankrupt the industry & wouldn't effect any suits with merit. But it is not so important as to justify an extension of the "assault weapons" ban or any other attachment to it that would further restrict our Right to Arms.

Anyway, the bill was introduced & there was strong bi-partisan support of it. They voted for cloture (which prevents a filibuster & limits debate & amendments) & it passed easily. However a deal was struck between the majority & minority that negated all the benefits of cloture & allowed many more amendments to be proposed & debated with a final vote on the bill as amended on Tuesday.

Now what strikes me as odd is that some Colorado Republicans have said that the gun control issue is to be avoided in an election year & it's alleged that the NRA either gave them or strongly agreed with that idea. Yet on the national level they're actively pushing a pro-gun bill despite any election risks.

Further it's been alleged that the NRA cut a deal so the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act could get a vote at the risk of having gun control measures attached. The details of the alleged deal itself aren't known but the two possibilities are that they agreed to have a lot of gun control measures proposed & voted on if the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act got a vote or that they agreed to let some gun control measures be added on in exchange for passing the bill. They deny this but they've cut deals in the past that have been harmful to gun owners & everything I've seen seems to back the conclusion that the most recent one was right here in Colorado.

So the NRA is pushing a pro-gun bill at the national level, but it's alledged they are behind the lack of support for pro-gun bills in Colorado.

Also they are alleged to have cut a deal on the national level which could be harmful to the pro-gun movement (which they deny) but evidence seems to suggest that they've cut just such a deal here in Colorado.

On the national level we'll have a better idea of what did & didn't happen after the vote on Tuesday. It's my belief that if any serious gun control is passed along with the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that it will be a result of the NRA's efforts to get this bill passed. Whether their intent was good but negligent or malicious would be debated for some time.

Whether or not you agree with my assessment of the NRA that should not stop you from urging them (as well as your legislators on the federal & state levels) to do the right thing & not give in to the urge to compromise.

For further reading, analysis & updates as they happen on the U.S. Senate debates concerning the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act check back here & also visit GeekWithA.45 & SayUncle.



For those of you who haven't seen it, here's the NRA letter sent out in response to allegations that a deal was cut to get the Lawful Commerce in Arms act passed.

"February 26, 2004

Recent internet alerts from some 'pro-Second Amendment' groups have suggested that the National Rifle Association has either accepted a compromise that would include reenactment of the 1994 Clinton Gun ban and/or the McCain-Reed gun show restrictions, or will not actively fight against their passage in the Senate. Not only are these claims completely false and ridiculous but they are also extremely counterproductive to our legislative strategy and agenda. Gun control groups are spreading the same rumors in hopes of confusing pro-gun senators as to our position in hopes of gaining their support."


Actually it's not ridiculous considering their behavior over the last 70 years or so. & I think it's amusing that they use quotes when they describe the groups who published these allegations as pro-second amendment.

As to gun control groups using it to confuse our position to the Senators I simply don't agree. By getting people to call & tell their Senators that they want a clean Lawful Commerce in Arms Act without any gun control amendments this helps, not hinders the position the NRA claims to have. But there's a matter of distinction that I'll touch on in a bit.

Nevertheless it's good, for whatever reason, to see the NRA responding to the allegations & stating that they will fight against gun control amendments.

"The National Rifle Association led the fight in opposition to this ill-conceived ban in 1994, led the efforts to repeal the ban two years later, and is leading the fight to ensure the Clinton gun ban expires on time on September 13. From public speeches, articles in NRA publications, communications to lawmakers and the development of a website (www.ClintonGunBan.com), the National Rifle Association has been vocal and unambiguous about our position on this issue."

That's misleading. The NRA said it opposed the AWB but it did not act on that statement. They had the opportunity to get their Senators to initiate a filibuster, but they chose to not actively oppose the AWB so they could get it out of the way & get the Brady Bill (which they wrote a part of & supported) passed. They may have talked a good game, but when it came down to doing something they were more anxious to get the Brady Bill voted on than to actively oppose the AWB. So while technically they may have been vocal in opposing the AWB before & since I wouldn't say they led the fight when they put up little if any fight at all.

Further Rep. Dingell at the time of the vote for the AWB was an NRA director. He voted for the AWB. He resigned from the NRA position the following day, but a few years later the NRA gave Rep. Dingell an award for being a supporter of the 2nd amendment.

"It is our hope that supposed 'friends of the Second Amendment' will cease to provide ammunition to the enemy by disseminating this false information. Unfortunately, some of these groups seem intent on finding or creating any excuse to defeat S. 1805, perhaps because its passage has been a priority of the NRA for four years. The anti-gunners are seeking to undermine the Second Amendment and the legislative process by seeking to bankrupt firearms and ammunition manufacturers or get gun control restrictions through the courts through dozens of pending municipal lawsuits -- blaming the gun industry for the acts of criminals -- initiated by anti-gun big city mayors and greedy trial lawyers. A single judgment by a rogue judge or jury could wipe out the entire firearms industry making our gun rights worthless. Passage of S. 1805 is critical -- but not worth allowing legislation going to the President including either an extension of the Clinton gun ban or restrictions at gun shows. There will be no compromise. The only choice is a 'clean' bill or no bill."

Again they have the nerve to use quotes considering their track record.
Ammunition to the enemy? I still fail to see how encouraging your Senators & even the NRA to do the right thing is helping the enemy.

Now what is of an immediate concern is the emphasis they place on getting the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act passed. They make it sound as if the entire firearms industry will shut their doors permanently if one lawsuit is lost. Now depending on the size of the award it could most definitely hurt a company or several companies & the aftershocks would seriously damage the industry as far as civilian sales are concerned. & don't get me wrong - I don't want to see that happen. My concern is over the way they paint a very dramatic picture (which may or may not be an accurate assessment of things) but then turn around & say it's not worth an extension of the assault weapons ban with no elaboration on why.

In a practical sense I could actually understand an argument that the Lawful Commerce in Arms act would be more important than letting the AWB sunset. I wouldn't agree with it at all for a number of reasons but I could understand how some would think that it was more critical to keep the industry from going under than repealing a law that we've lived with for the last ten years or so. & of course if I was a gun company I could easily come to the conclusion that preventing baseless lawsuits is more important than being able to throw a bayonet lug on a barrel.

But to then turn around & say that it's not worth extending the AWB after the build up on the critical nature of preventing these lawsuits leaves me a little cold. It could just be that the NRA didn't feel they had to elaborate, or that the person writing this letter for them overlooked the explanation.

One thing I did get a kick out of was seeing the words "no compromise" in an NRA letter. Now that's funny.

"The legislative process in Congress is complex and far from perfect. Fortunately, Congress is a bicameral (two house) legislative body and both the House and Senate must agree on the same bill before enactment. While we are uncertain of the outcome of several pending anti-gun amendments in the Senate, the House is strongly pro-gun and it (or a conference committee) will not accept any anti-gun Senate-passed amendment as part of the final product to be sent to the President."

Now this is BS. In effect they seem to be saying that the ways in which laws are made are real tricky & implying that we can't or don't understand it & they?re asking us to blindly trust their judgment.

But the main thing is that they seem to be relying on the House to get rid of any gun control attachments & that is either foolish or intentionally deceptive. Hastert is no friend of gun owners & he, not Delay is the one who decides what gets voted on & what doesn't. Add to that the high number of "F" & "D? & "Not Rated" Representatives & we're looking at being shy of 13 or so votes to pass an AWB extension. & there's over 50 "C" rated Representatives to choose from. That's based on GOA's rating system as I have found them much more accurate than the NRA's system of grading congress critters.

What it seems the NRA is counting on is that they can clean up a bill in the House & that is just not the case. It's possible but not very likely considering the nature of the House & the rules that must be followed to clean up such a bill.

"Pro-gun grassroots activists who want to advance our cause should not be distracted by misinformation and disinformation by our 'friends.' Instead, gun owners and sportsmen must keep our focus on the real action and contact -- by calls, e-mails, and faxes -- their two U.S. Senators urging them to vote for S. 1805 and against any and all anti-gun 'poison pill' killer amendments including, but not limited to, the Clinton gun ban and gun shows. Use the 'Write Your Representatives' (www.capwiz.com/nra/home) tool at www.NRAILA.org to contact your Senators and call them at 202-224-3121. We appreciate your active support in our cause to defend the Second Amendment and freedom itself."

I can't speak for any of the major groups but I for one have never implied that I was a "friend" of the NRA. They've screwed me over too much to even feign friendship. Now if they repented & changed their evil ways I would be, but as it stands now they're the gun owners? equivalent of having France as an ally in a war.

But it was not "misinformation" or "disinformation"; it was an allegation.

Also I would have liked it if instead of referring to "poison pill" amendments they would have said gun control amendments. But seeing as how they didn't & how they did say that other gun control besides the AWB extension & the McCain gun show amendment wouldn't be acceptable I'm wondering exactly where they'll draw the line.

Also they should have stressed that calling as opposed to writing is the best & possibly only way to get a message to your Senators in time. Odds are by the time a Senator's staff gets around to reading your e-mail it'll be a week after the vote has happened. Much better to call as the message is delivered to the Senator's staff immediately.

Now about that fine distinction I mentioned earlier: the NRA implies that it will be counterproductive to call your Senator &/or the NRA & express your concerns on the alleged deal that was cut. The claim is that it will hurt their legislative strategy.

But how can you hurt a legislative strategy that opposes gun control attachments to a pro-gun bill by telling your Senators that you don't want any gun control attachments added on & you'd rather see the bill fail than be passed with such attachments?

So that leads me to believe that there is a distinction between what they say & what they want you to believe they say. That distinction is between actively fighting against gun control attachments & stopping gun control attachments.

The NRA carries a lot of influence in Congress & if it chose it could ask the Senators who introduced the bill to withdraw it. The Senators would more likely than not do as the NRA asked.

What I think the NRA is doing is it's planning on actively (& more important publicly) fighting against passage of most gun control amendments. Some gun control they find acceptable as will bear out by amendments offered by Craig & Frist over the next few days - but that's another discussion. However their plan is not to stop the gun control amendments in the Senate but to attempt to strip them off in the House.

So they're going to play a very risky game with amendments that if passed will violate the Constitution & your Rights. They imply that they will fight for it, but they never directly state how hard. Now you can chalk this up to a risky strategy or malicious intent or anything else, but for our purposes the motive doesn't matter right now. What matters is their actions & while I have no doubt that they will publicly & openly oppose any gun control amendments on the scale of continuing the AWB or shutting down gun shows across the nation, I doubt seriously if they will withdraw the underlying bill to keep gun control from passing.

The distinction is between trying & doing. They're saying they'll try but not saying that they'll do.

Now on the whole I'm glad the NRA has answered the allegations. I'm not inclined to trust them but them stating something publicly obviously means they're aware of our concerns for a change.

But the proof will be whether or not they withdraw the bill if any major gun control provisions are attached. I'm thinking they'll claim they can clean it up in the House, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong & see them withdraw the bill if it's amended with gun control provisions.




Friday, February 27, 2004


Hopefully y'all have been tuning in to Geek & Uncle. If not go there now & catch up.

Short version is that nothing was voted on today. At least nothing gun related. A few amendments were introduced but no votes.

Monday will be a big day & I expect Tuesday is when they'll pull out the amendments we're all dreading. And as usual Geek & Uncle will be on top of things during the day & I'll try to spell them at night.

The NRA released a statement that says they want the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, but won't accept an assault weapons ban renewal or expansion, or a gun show bill.

Over the weekend I'll try to address some concerns about the statement but if they stick to it then it's definitely a good thing.

Now here's something to think about: what would have happened if the net was as widespread ten years ago as it is today?

Senators are getting flooded with calss & e-mails, coverage of the Senate is taxing C-Span's system & pro-gun blogs, message boards & other internet medium are all getting much much more traffic than they usually do.

Ten years ago all we could do was read the papers account of how the new laws were passed (unless you lived in D.C.) & cuss. Now you get to cuss the Senators in real time as they're putting the knife in your back. (hey- at least it's progress!)

Ten years ago the NRA could cut any deal they wanted & issue a statement telling us how they tried but just couldn't do anything about it. Now they're issuing statements addrssing our concerns.

So with all the attention this has been getting, & all the feedback (positive & negative) it has generated I'm thinking that if the net was as prevelant ten years ago as it is today we wouldn't have an assault weapons ban to worry about.

Course I could be wrong & the only benefit is merely for us to see what's happening, but I think that at least to a small degree we are influencing things instead of just commenting after the fact.

For that I can't thanks Geek & Uncle enough - both for their on-line coverage & keeping me up to date whilst I'm away from electricity. The pro-gun Forums & websites deserve gratitude as well everyone who has e-mailed a blogger, commented on a blog, or posted on a Forum.

Another thing about the NRA - a few people are claiming that the "deal" they alledgedly cut was just a nasty internet rumor spread by those biased against the NRA & possibly by anti-gunners attempting to drai the NRA's resources.

Here's the thing: whether or not the NRA has or had plans to sell us out they are concerned that so many are watching & questioning them. Now it is entirely possible that they did not have plans to sell us out & were trying to do what they thought was best. As I've said before (though I can't remember if it was here or on a message forum - the last few days have been hectic) we can sort out the details later. I'll be more than happy to admit I was wrong for believing the allegations that the NRA was selling us out again. (in this instance that is). Likewise I'll not be timid about calling them on anything they tried to pull.

But what matters right nwo is that we make sure they know our thoughts. If they weren't cutting a deal to betray us then their members letting them know that they won't accept an extension of the assault weapons ban will be redundant, but certainly not draining. & if they were attempting to sell us out, then perhaps the members letting them know how they felt prevented that from happening or at least diminished its intensity. Other than the NRA feeling offended that anyone would think they'd support gun control there is no harm in making your feelings clear to the NRA. Ditto with Senators: if they're pro-gun to begin with then hearing from those who want them to be pro-gun should be an encouragement, not a hinderence. If they're anti-gun then perhaps it will help steer them back towards the light.

So when this is over one way or another we can discuss what the NRA did, didn't. was going to & wasn't going to do in depth. Right now we need to focus on keeping them on the straight & narrow. The hardest days are yet to come & who the hell knows what will happen.

I'll try to summarize things more in depth over the weekend. Right now I'm gonna shut down the PC for a while & hope they don't convene all secret like & pass a bunch of bad things.

I do thank all y'all for coming here & hope something made it worth your time.




It's possible that I could have missed something overnight but far as I can tell all was quiet on the eastern front.
From what I understood from last night they said there wouldn't be a roll call vote today. I could be wrong but this would lead me to believe that the debates today will not be followed by a vote - at least not first thing. But they resume at 9:30 a.m. EST & being the cautious fellow I am I'd urge everyone who can to watch them & make sure they don't try to slip anything by us.

I now send you over to the GeekWithA.45 for any word on anything important that happens in the Senate today.


Thursday, February 26, 2004


several things bother me about what's happened in the Senate. The first is that, unless it was part of a prior agreement, there needn't have been any votes at all on any gun control amendments. They got cloture which limited the debate to 30 hours & limited amendments that could be offered as well as giving Sen. Frist the power to deny an amendment out of hand. But now we're having amendment after amendment offered up & it'll be Tuesday before a vote happens on the bill as its amended.

If a deal was necessary to bring it to a vote, I'd have reconsidered pushing it through the Senate. However at the least they could have set a limit on the number of amendments offered up. They let our bill get a vote, in turn we let one amendment of theirs get a vote. But offer as many as they want?

Another thing is the Boxer trigger lock amendment: most people will say it's an aggrevation but practically it's harmless. However the danger lies not in paying $10 to $10 more for the trigger lock (you didn't think the gun industry was gonna give them away as a thank you for risking our rights like this did ya?) but in the precedent it sets. This is a perfect set up for a smart gun bill. The Boxer amendment was passed under the guise of safety & that's the same BS they'll use to push a smart gun law. This Boxer amendment if made into law will establish firmly congressional authority over this area & they'll use it. Now it's not like they wouldn't use any number of other excuses to do what ever the hell they want, but this makes things a little more legit; a little easier & most important less startling.

The main danger in this amendment is that it conditions us yet further to accept government regulation of our Rights in the name of safety.

& for what it's worth Frist voted for the Boxer amendment. Makes ya feel all comfy about our "pro-gun" leadership doesn't it?

The other two gun related amendments were basically nothing. they identified two groups of people & said they were excepted from the provisions of the underlying bill if they met the requirements for exception in the underlying bill. Just a little political word play to legislatively shout down two very bad amendments that would have made the underlying bill worthless.

Now here's something from the AP.

I'll just give you some higlights from it:

"Kohl said the bill 'is not a panacea. It will not prevent every single avoidable firearm-related accident. But the fact is that all parents want to protect their children. This legislation will ensure that people purchase child-safety locks when they buy guns. Those who buy locks are more likely to use them. That much we know is certain."

True - those who buy locks are more likely to use the locks they buy than those who don't buy locks, who aren't terribly likely to use the locks they didn't buy.

Sadly that was probably the thing from the anti's that made the most sense.

"A test vote earlier this week garnered 75 votes for the measure, with Democrats agreeing to vote for the measure after the GOP agreed that firearms makers and distributors would not be immune to suits involving defective products or illegal sales."

Now if that's accurate then why the hell did we need to work a "deal" where every gun control idea under the sun gets to be offered as an amendment to our 1 pro-gun bill?

"For example, leaders in the GOP-controlled House already have said they do not plan to approve an extension of the expiring assault weapons ban. But Senate Democrats say they are close to getting enough votes to add that measure to the gunmaker bill."


lemme repeat the key part in case ya missed it:

"...Senate Democrats say they are close to getting enough votes to add that measure to the gunmaker bill."

'nuff said.

"The Senate's overwhelming approval of the gun lock amendment shows that senators are not listening to that advice and could be convinced that the assault weapons ban and other Democratic legislation should be added to the package, Boxer said. 'Senators are not buying the argument that the bill should be clean."

More than enough said.

"Democrats are very close to having enough support to reauthorize the assault weapons ban for 10 more years, she said. The ban expires in September.
'We believe we can get to 51,' said Boxer, referring to the number of votes needed to add the measure to the gunmaker immunity bill."


Is the message getting through yet?

So the way things are looking an assault weapons amendment is likely to be added to this bill, in which case I urge you to call your Senators & the NRA & demand they oppose any bill so amended.


But tell ya the truth I'd rather they just went ahead & pulle dthe thing right now. Whiel the anti's are offering up everything under the sun, all our side is pushing for is getting the underlying bill passed w/o too many objectionable amendments. This epitomoizes our strategy as gun owners & why we're int he shape we're in: we go for one thing that's beneficial but on the periphery while our opponents are allowed to make a wish list & see what they can get away with in exchange for considering our 1 thing.

If they want to make things interesting, then why don't they propose an amendment to eliminate the Hughes Amendment to the FOPA? Or to repeal the GCA of 68? Or dismiss the NFA of '34? No. Our bold move is to use wordplay to defeat anti-gun amendments (it is a cute strategy I'll admit). We're playing defense yet again & no matter how good the defense is (should be great since that's all we ever practice) a few are always gonna slip by.


The Senate picks thing up again at 9:30 a.m. EST. Head over to GeekWithA.45's place & SayUncle for the latest on what'll be going on tomorrow.



Not entirely sure what happened - they adjourned for the day & it looks as if the cop exception was rejected.

Will post more in a bit - mainly it'll be trying to sum up & dissect what has been passed so far. You cna probably beat me to soem major points by going here & reading the summaries of what was passed & what was rejected. & click on the number under the "vote" column for any bill to see who voted yea or nay on it. Then call your Senators & either congradulate them & remind them that their entire party has to keep up the good work or you'll bail on them or remind your Senators that you're not bluffing & if they keep screwing up their party can kiss your vote & your donations good-bye.

Correction:

There was a law enforcement amendment passed. Frist was its author. No idea what it contained. I'll post more as I find out.

Update:

Word on the street is that the Frist cop exception amendment is similar to the frist victims of the DC sniper exception: am leo is excepted if they can meet the requirements of the Lawful Commerce in FireArms Act. Haven't seen any copy of it floating on the net as of yet though, so it could be something else. We'll have to wait for a copy to hit the net to see for sure.


For those of you who have never watched the Senate in action before now, let me just relate that I always thought a good analogy was that it's just like a pacifistic vegetarian with a nervous stomach watching a pack of coyotes start in on what's left of the fawn that the mountain lion just took down.

There's a quorom call going on then they'll vote for I beleive the third time on the law enforcement officer exception. I'll let y'all know what's up when I find out.



Here's a link to the amendments voted on in the Senate today.

It seems there was a mistake & that the Craig AP ammo bill was not passed as of yet.

However a Frist amendment that looks eerily similar to the Mikulski amendment was passed.


Agreed to
Frist Amdt. No. 2628; To exempt any lawsuit involving a shooting victim of John Allen Muhammad or John Lee Malvo from the definition of qualified civil liability action that meets certain requirements.


compare that to this:

Rejected
Mikulski Amdt. No. 2627; To exempt lawsuits involving a shooting victim of John Allen Muhammad or Lee Boyd Malvo from the definition of qualified civil liability action.


Matter o' fact, fresh from KABA.com here's the Frist amendment that passed. Page 1 & Page 2

For comparison here's the Mikulski amendment. Page 1 & Page 2.

Y'all can read right? Looks similar right? More or less there's only one difference - The Frist amendment says that vicitims of the DC snipers are excepted if they can meet the requirements of the Lawful Commerce In Firearms Act.

Look at the text of the Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act (as proposed) here. Note the requirements specified in the Frist amendment - "...meets 1 of the requirements under clauses (i) through (iv)" Now look at Section 4 (5) (A) i through iv. Any case that meet those requirements would not be prohibited from filing a lawsuit - so if my take is right they just said the DC snipr victims are excepted as long as they meet the requirements that anyone else has to meet to be excepted.

Good news don't last long though - they're voting on an exception for law enforcement which again would gut a substantial part of the bill. Two NJ cops are suing some gun makers because they were shot by a criminal a while back. If this gets through then the Brady's will simply start picking cops to use for their lawsuits against gun makers.

I'll have more when the vote's are totaled.





Okay... go see Da Geek to catch up if you haven't been already.

This won't be the blow by blow, as you might be used to from Geek - but any votes will be reported.

Currently they're voting on an amendment that would create a broad exception to the Lawful Commerce in Firearms bill...Which if it passes woudl totally negate the purpose of the bill & they'd be better off just killing it - if they can. Problem is despite the strong Republican presence the Senators of today have a majority of anti-gun votes under their respective belts.

So it's entirely possible that this bill could pass on Tuesday with a bunch of anti-gun amendments even though the original bill itself is stripped of any real impact.

To recap best I can tell an amendment to require trigger locks with new handguns & a bill to enhance penalties for using armor piercing ammo in crimes have been added.

Problem with the bills, aside from the camel's nose getting further inside of the tent is that they do nothing to actually effect sagety or prevent crime. What they will do is cause an inconvenience in the case of the trigger locks (yep, the gun companies will up their price by the appropriate amount - well, those 5% of gun companies that don't include trigger locks currently) & in the case of a person using their firearm defensively in an anti-gun jurisdiction (D.C., Chicago, etc...) they'll be looking at hard time if convicted.

For example - say you wake up in the middle of the night to hear undistinguishable shouting & your door being broke down. You grab your rifle or shotgun & shoot at a masked man in the hallway. You hit him , he dies & then you realize its the frinedly neighborhood ATF agent who wanted to make sure you didn't have any lethal 11 round magazines made after 1994. So now in addition to murder/manslaughter (yes - they will charge you) you're looking at an enhanced penalty if convicted because that .30-30 or 12 guage you just used to rightfully repel the boraders fires ammo capable of piercing a ballistic vest.

Granted, this is all from summaries of the bills - I'll have to read them in detail to make sure everything's accurate - but from the general description that's what we're looking at.

Cool - the amendment didn't pass. The underlying bill won't be gutted.

Now they're talking about an exception for two NJ cops who were shot by a criminal.

Again, any exception such as this will severely limit the effectiveness of the underlying bill.

More as it happens. (i.e. after Corzine stops lying & Craig stops setting them straight I'll let ya know how the vote goes.






The Senate will get things going in about 40 minutes. For the latest on what's happening I refer you to the day shift - GeekWithA.45 & SayUncle.

Also Alphecca has a post on the media bias concerning this. Not a big shock but Jeff summarizes things nicely.

Call your Senator & your NRA rep if you haven't already. Give them a very simple, concise message:


Any law limiting or restricting firearms &/or ammunition will result in a withdrawal of support for the party.
Any law limiting or restricting firearms &/or ammunition will result in a withdrawal of support for the NRA & its affiliates.

Here's the contact info:

Here's GOA's Legislative Action Center page. Use it to find your congresscritter.

Here's a link that'll give you contact info for NRA state affiliates.

Here's the NRA's contact page.

Here's the contact page for the NRA's field reps.

Here's the contact page for the NRA-ILA. (The NRA's political & legal department more or less)


Wednesday, February 25, 2004


At roughly 11 p.m. E.S.T C-Span showed the announcement of a deal.

Details are a bit vague of the specific amendments, but an agreement was reached to allow limited debate & consideration for several amendments. An assault weapons extension was one of them. Also troubling was something concerning Frist* Kennedy proposing a bill about "cop killer bullets".

Again, no specifics on the amendments themselves but a deal has been cut. Sen. Craig who had so eloquently argued against an assault weapons ban extension earlier today was one of the ones who brokered the deal. He also mentioned that there were enough votes to pass some of the amendments.

Burn up the phones. Slightly different message:

Any law limiting or restricting firearms &/or ammunition will result in a withdrawal of support for the party.
Any law limiting or restricting firearms &/or ammunition will result in a withdrawal of support for the NRA & its affiliates.



The Senate is adjourned until 9 a.m. tomorrow.


* Originally I thought it was Frist offering the "cop killer bullets" bill, but several people corrected me.

Update:

This is the bill with a few possible amendments at the bottom.

This post at The High Road by Bartholomew Roberts has more detail about the Senate schedule.

Looks like this is going to stretch out until Tuesday.




I just received this from RMGO.

Pressure working -- time to double down against gun control!

Insiders from Capitol Hill in Washington are reporting that our
efforts,
which are being duplicated by dozens of no-compromise gun control
state-level gun rights organizations across America, are working. The
silent deal cut by the NRA is starting to unravel due to the pressure
put on both the NRA and members of the U.S. Senate.

The politicians and insiders are scrambling for cover in D.C. and we
need to immediately DOUBLE the pressure.

But the US Senate is debating the bill as this e-mail is being written.

PLEASE call the NRA-ILA immediately toll-free at 800-392-8683 and/or
e-mail them at Federal-Affairs@nrahq.org

Tell the NRA to immediately drop this idiotic plan to let the Assault
Weapons ban -- or any other gun control -- be tacked onto any
legislation, and to pull out all the stops to defeat these gun
controls,
or lose your membership forever. If you are not an NRA member, tell
them you are not a member because of these kinds of appeasements of the
gun-grabbers.

Also contact both of Colorado's US Senators.

Senator Wayne Allard
Phone (202) 224-5941

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Phone (202) 224-5852

If we exert enough pressure, we may still kill this silent deal.

But like any silent deal, the NRA is careful that it leaves no paper
trail.

If you think the NRA is (as they claim) still working as hard as
possible against the Assault Weapons ban and Gun Show Loophole
amendments to S.659, consider these facts:

1. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn), who is tasked with
running the US Senate and is supposedly "in the pocket" of the NRA,
could have stopped the gun control amendments by setting up an
"Amendment Tree". He didn't -- he chose to put the bill on the floor
and leave it open for amendments, giving the anti-gunners the chance
they needed.

2. Senator Frist, at the behest of the NRA, also could have delayed the
debate and vote on S.659 until the NRA had time to mobilize their
grassroots against the Assault Weapons ban and Gun Show loophole
amendments with mail, e-mails, magazine articles, etc. Instead, the
NRA
has been virtually silent on the Assault Weapons ban (how many pieces
of
NRA mail have hit your mailbox, telling Senators to vote against the
reauthorization of the Assault Weapons ban?).

What is most telling is that the NRA has spent countless thousands, if
not millions, of dollars fighting for a measure that may or may not
stop
the ludicrous lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, but have done
virtually nothing to oppose the two biggest gun issues in this
millenium.

Remember, before S.659, the Assault Weapons ban and the Gun Show
Loophole bills were considered dead by Washington insiders, and were
being reported as such by the Washington Times. S.659, and the
desperation of the NRA to pass it, has breathed new life into these
insidious gun control schemes.

It's the case of the dog that didn't bark.

Yes, the NRA is publicly saying they oppose these amendments, but they
left their gun in their holster.

If you haven't taken action, do so below.

If you have taken action, do it again -- they're getting the message!



There has been some question as to whether or not RMGO is correct in their info that the NRA had cut a deal. It's often said that a really good conspiracy theory is not provable. well, sometimes real live conspiracies aren't provable either.

I've spoken with Dudley Braon - Exec of RMGO - & for what it's worth he seems trustworthy. Now whether his info is correct or not - there's no proof. He readily admits that. However there's also no rpoff that it's not true.


One thing that can be criticized is his assertion that the NRA sent out no material on this. several people have written me telling me that they've received e-mails about this within the last few days. & so on that it seems like RMGO was incorrect - the NRA has sent mail about this.
However I think the point was mistated. There's proof the NRA has sent mail about this, but not a great amount if what I'm hearing is true. So perhaps it would have been better to say the NRA hadn't sent massive amounts of mail, which would probably be more correct to the RMGO's point & the facts as I can determine them.

But okay let's chalk them up as being wrong on that one.

That still doesn't detract from one thing that leads me to believe they may be correct: the NRA's done this sort of thing before. Don't believe me? Look here as well.

So without any proof other than RMGO's words I believe them simply because it fits what I know of the NRA & seems entirely plausible. the NRA wants this protection from frivilous lawsuits passed & no doubt they're getting pressured by the gun industry to pass it even with an assault weapons ban attached. The GCA of 68 was passed with the full support of the gun industry because they saw it as a way of stopping the mail order sales of surplus rifles ("sporting purposes clause" sound familiar?). Now if the gun makers would support the GCA of 68 in order to get the market that was going to mail-order surplus rifles they damn skippy would support a bill to stop frivilous lawsuits even if it meant no more bayonet lugs.
& the NRA was behind them in '68.

So personally I think the RMGO theory was more correct than not. Thanks to the net though it may have caused the plan to change, or at least caused the NRA to start issuing statements to cover their ass.

But we can sort all this out after this legislative crisis is over. No one is asking you to do anything now except call your Senators & the NRA (& their state affiliates) & tell them you'll withdraw all support from them if an assault weapons ban is passed. Not if they voted for it, but if it passes despite their individual efforts.

It's not over yet. whether you think the NRa is innocent or not, call them & your Senators & tell them you'll accept no excuses; the assault weapons ban must not be renewed.




GeekWithA.45 & SayUncle have been on top of things all day. Go read them.

Of note is that the Geek has links to to streaming C-Span so you can listen in on what's happening (or not happening as the case is now).

Now to sum up from what I understand, there is a time limit. They have until 6 p.m. E.S.T. to do whatever debating they're going to do. Also there's a limit to the amendments that can be proposed & Sen. Frist has final say on whether any amendments get voted on or not. Sen. Frist has a "D" rating from GOA.

I have heard that 4 amendments have been offered. One of them is supposedly a bill to lift D.C's gun ban. The other three are unkowns, but Mccain's gun show bill & Boxer &/or Feinstien's Assault weapons bill are the most likely candidates.

Now let me be clear - the exact nature of the amendments is not known. It's only rumor (albeit from reliable sources) that there are 4 amendments that could be considered. & the content of any of the amendments is not known.

But taking an educated guess, an asault wapons bill is going to be one of them. The big question is whether it's a simple extension or if it's an extension/expansion of the current ban.

to mkae things even scarier, here's GOA's page that lists current gun related bills in congress. Scroll down to the Senate section. There's a lot of possibilities for the 4th bill (assuming the first three are what I've guessed).

There's been some talk about things looking up because of the 75-22 vote for cloture. But all cloture does is limit debate, prevent fillibusters & close the floor to any amendments not previously filed. There's a bit of confusion but my understanding is that as long as a bill is filed with the Senate it can be brought up for attachment to the bill under coture. The only thing is that the Senate Chair can declare a proposed amendment "out of order" & his word is final.

So more or less the majority wanted to get a vote on this soon with limited amendments. That's not quite the same as having no amendments & an anti-gun Senator could have easily voted for cloture w/o it damaging their efforts. It's not like DiFi was gonna sleep through this one & miss a deadline. They made sure all the anti-gun bills they wanted to try & attach were filed in time.

Now one thing that is kind of curious - it was a 75-22 vote from what I heard. That's 99. there are 100 Senators. I was under the impression Kerry & Edwards would both be out campaigning & miss this vote - but if the count is correct then at least one of them stopped by.
there's also been talk of the NRA saying it can clean up the bill in the House if any anti-gun amendments get attached. However my sources tell me that's damn difficult nigh on impossible. & what makes matters worse is that Rep. Haster (R-Ill.) as Speaker of the House decides what gets voted on & what doesn't. Hastert has a "C-" from GOA's rating system & I seem to recall him being in favor of the assault weapons ban. Rep. Delay (R-Tx.) may have an "A" rating from GOA, but unfrotunately he isn't calling the shots. He's the Majority Leader in the House but it is up to Rep. Hastert whether something gets voted on or not.

But back to the Senate...

Here's how it breaks down using GOA's rating system:

SHELBY (R-Al) B
ALLARD (R-Co) B
CAMPBELL (R-Co) B-
CHAMBLISS (R-Ga) A
CRAIG (R-Idaho) B
CRAPO (R-Idaho) B
BROWNBACK (R-Kansas) B
BUNNING (R-Ky.) B
TALENT (R-Missouri) B
BURNS (R-Montana) B
ENSIGN (R-Nev.) B
SUNUNU (R-N.H.) B
INHOFE (R-Okl.) A
NICKLES (R-Okl.) B-
GRAHAM (R-SC) B
HUTCHISON (R-Tx.) B-
ENZI (R-Wy.) A
THOMAS (R-Wy.) B



That's 18 "A" & "B" rated Senators.

CORNYN (R-Tx.) NR
EDWARDS (D-NC) NR
CORZINE (D-NJ) NR
NELSON (D-Fl.) NR
MILLER (D-Ga.) NR
PRYOR (D-Ark.) NR
MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska) NR


That's 7 Not Rated by GOA. (NR is given when a Senator has not voting record to go on & hasn't answered GOA's questionaire)

SESSIONS (R-Alabama) C
KYL (R-Az) C
McCAIN (R-Az) C-
GRASSLEY (R-Iowa) C
ROBERTS (R-Kansas) C
McCONNELL (R-Ky) C
SNOWE (R-Maine) C-
LOTT (R-Mississippi) C-
BOND (R-Missouri) C
HAGEL (R-Nebraska) C
GREGG (R-NH) C-
SANTORUM (R-Pa) C
SPECTER (R-Pa) C-
ALEXANDER (R-Tn) C
HATCH (R-Utah) C-
ALLEN (R-Va) C


That's 16 "C" rated Senators.

The rest are rated "F' & "D". That'd be 59 "F" & "D" rated Senators going by GOA's ratings.

18 "A" & "B" rated
7 "NR"
16 "C" rated
59 "F' & "D" rated

Now if we count the "C's" & "NR's" as being on our side, we'd still lose. & I wouldn't count on having the "C's" on our side.

It is entirely possible that for some reason or another we get enough votes for a clean bill passed, but I trust GOA's rating as they're based on actual voting records when possible, or very pointed questionaires when no record is available.

Anyway, go to the Geek & SayUncle to catch up on things if you haven't already.




Tuesday, February 24, 2004


GeekWithA.45 points us to this from Neal Knox. It was written on sunday & basically says that the NRA won't sell us out.

He also points to this Neal Knox report that says the White House has urged passing of the Lawful Commerce in Arms act without any amendments.

As I've told several people with regards to the firts Neal Knox piece, it was dated on Sunday. It mgith be accurate, but it might be inaccurate because of the date or because of misinformation.

As far as the second, there could be a number of explanations. Bush could have finally learned from hsi father's mistake. Bush could have had an divine revelation that involved actually reading the Bill of Rights. Bush could have gotten word that a lot of gunowners were threatening to leave the party over this. Bush could have figured that he could cover his ass by putting out this statement publicly while urging support privately (hey- it's the exact opposite of some theories I heard about why he supported the assault weapons ban in the first place).

I've also had several people tell me that they've received an e-mail from the NRA urging them to ask their Senators to support a clean Lawful Commerce in Firearms act. However it's just now (within the last few hours) getting sent & it says nothing about what to do if an assault weapons ban amendment does get attached.

Truth is, there just ain't no way to be positive about what's happening. You either trust the players involved, you don't trust the players involved, or you're in between.

Personally I think that the Republicans were gonna make this thing work even if it meant passing a renewal of the assault weapons ban. The NRA probably had something to do with it as they've acted shadey like this before.

But something has them spooked enough to at least be attempting to cover their asses. & I would thank y'all for it, but y'all didn't do this for me; you did it for yourselves & your youngins & your youngins' youngins.

Here's my take - strictly opinion with nothing to back it up except what I have read & heard:

The NRA did cut some sort of deal. Might have been to outright pass an amendment Lawful Commerce in Arms bill but then again they could have thought they coudl clean up an amended Senate bill somehow once it was passed. No idea.

The Republicans were under pressure from the NRA &/or the gun makers to pass this legislation. Seeing as how most Repubs have as much familiarity with the 2nd amendment as most Dems this was a no brainer.

Stories were told to save the reputation fo the NRA & the Repubs in question.

But it's possible that enough of y'all called, wrote & genrally let them know that an assault weapons ban means a ban on your support for their party. That may have caused a re-think.

In any event the NRA is sending out alerts & Bush is saying to pass this bill clean. Sounds like they're just playing cover their ass to me since they could have (& should have) acted earlier but the important thing is that they wouldn't be trying to cover their ass if they weren't worried.

It ain't over yet. There'll be a vote tomorrow & it might not be just one. The important thing is to keep the pressure up. & don't let them think that they can make thing sright by voting against an assault weapons ban while their buddies vote for it. No excuses (if I keep repeating that it'll either become catchy or I'll know what it feels like to be an irritating activist protesting in the middle of rush hour).

If you haven't called yet now would be the time. If you have friends, relatives, pets, anyone or anything that hasn't called yet, urge them to do so. If they have paws, then dial for them.

I'll have more tomorrow, but odds are not until late in the afternoon. In the meantime I refer you to SayUncle & GeekWithA.45 for the latest on this.




There's a little good news tonight. Unfortunately it's not about the AWB.

From Say Uncle comes a link to this story:

"A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a federal agent can be sued for violating the constitutional rights of a couple during a search of their ranch, refusing to shield officers from personal liability when they make mistakes on search warrants."

The agents in question were from the ATF & their transgression was a common one - the warrant did not name anything to be seized.

From what I've heard over the years, the ATF have a bad habit of serving warrants just like that. Hopefully this will put a stop to it.

Here's why it's a bad thing to have a blank space like that in a warrant:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Emphasis added by SCOTUS. :)




From this thread at the High Road we find more disturbing news. It seems that Sen. warner (R-Va.) is on board with Difi & Schumer to amend the Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act with anti-gun attachments - most notably an extension of the "assault weapons" ban.

"I have just confirmed with Senator Warner's office in DC that he is
putting in a bill with DIANNE FEINSTEIN and CHUCK SCHUMER to extend
the Assault Weapons Ban, as is, for another 10 YEARS!!!
The aide that I talked to didn't know the difference between a
flash-suppressor and a silencer, asked why I needed a bayonet lug
(this is America - I don't need one, but I want one), and basically
said that Warner was just doing something that the Administration
wanted!
I told him there WOULD be a price to pay at the polls in November for
anyone who supports the AWB in any shape or form. He asked, 'What
would you do, put a Democrat in as President?"


This is a post from a public message board so take it for what you will. If you're in Virginy call Sen. Warner & make him see the light : "assault weapons" ban renewal or expansion = no support for his entire party. No excuses!



I just got this in the mail from a friend. I'll paste it in it's entirety:

NRA Oks Strategy to Force Pro-Gun Senators to Support Assault Weapons
Ban, Gun Show InstaChecks


Your worst nightmare has come true!

Tomorrow morning (10 am Eastern Time), the Senate leadership -- headed
by the feckless Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn) -- is prepared to push a
comprehensive gun package which includes:

-- the gun liability bill (S. 659);

-- an extension of the so-called "Assault Weapons" ban;

-- a "Gun Show Loophole" bill, which will kill all gun shows.

And the NRA-ILA is getting ready to urge supposedly pro-gun senators to
vote for the entire package!

When the bill comes to the Senate floor, Senators Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif) and John McCain (R-Ariz) are expected to offer amendments to
re-enact the so-called "Assault Weapons" ban and to "close the gun show
loophole."

Insiders with decades of experience lobbying Congress on gun issues
report one or both of these amendments are likely to pass with the
NRA's
silent backing.

The "gun show loophole" amendment would effectively eliminate gun
shows.
This is because it would be a felony to fail to notify each and every
"person who attends the [gun show] of the [requirements of the Brady
Law]." Thus, if the person responsible for handing out "Brady Law
pamphlets" goes to the bathroom, each and every member of the board of
the sponsoring organization could go to prison.

What everyone on the Hill knows is that, if the the NRA's silent deal
stands, there are a majority of votes in the US Senate to reauthorize
the Assault Weapons ban, and there may be the votes to close the "Gun
Show Loophole."

The NRA and Frist will quietly pressure pro-gun senators to vote for
these amendments -- complete with an extension of the Assault Weapons
gun ban and the McCain language to eliminate gun shows.

Of course, the NRA is publicly opposing the Assault Weapons ban
amendment, but know quite well that their silent deal will enable it to
pass.

The gig is up -- the NRA has crossed the line. The Assault Weapons ban
is the most important piece of legislation to ever face gun owners, and
they are playing games with it, all for a bill that will have only
limited effect on manufacturers of firearms.

The gun liability bill is a big priority for the NRA and the Senate
leadership. It would supposedly limit frivolous lawsuits against gun
dealers and manufacturers. BUT it would CONTINUE TO ALLOW SUITS FOR
NEGLIGENCE (dubbed "negligent entrustment" in the bill) AND FOR DESIGN
DEFECT.

Since 34 (out of 34) local government suits raise charges of
"negligence" -- and 27 out of 34 raise allegations of "design defect"
--
S. 659 may not do much, and shouldn't be considered on the same plane
of
importance as the "Assault Weapons" ban reauthorization.

The NRA's strategy is to risk the permanent ban of all military style
"assault weapons" so that they can pass a liability protection bill of
dubious merit.

But their risk is our loss.

As part of the NRA silent deal, not one piece of mail has been dropped
by the NRA to their members alerting them to the upcoming attack by the
anti-gunners. Their silence has allowed the anti-gunners a golden
opportunity to forever ban dozens of semi-auto firearms (and large
capacity magazines) and destroy gun shows as we know them.

Of course, as all pro-gunners know, the only way gun owners win is when
we all mobilize to defeat gun control. That's what we are doing right
here, and right now.

This is a classic case of the dog that didn't bark. The NRA didn't
warn
members: as of the writing of this e-mail, there is nothing on their
website regarding this deal.

Right now the only pressure on the US Senate is from the anti-gunners
and the anti-gun media.

This will allow NRA operatives to quietly cut the deal to pass gun
control, and say "This is the best we can do."

They'll chalk up one victory (the liability portion) and two defeats
(assault weapons and gun shows), and hope the bill gets better in
Conference. This kind of cavalier gambit is what they have used for
decades, and gun owners always lose on these insider games.

What you can do:

Call the NRA-ILA immediately toll-free at 800-392-8683 and/or e-mail
them at Federal-Affairs@nrahq.org

You can also e-mail one of the NRA-ILA Director of Federal Affairs,
Chuck Cunningham, at ChuckC@visi.net.

Tell the NRA to immediately drop this idiotic plan to let the Assault
Weapons ban -- or any other gun control -- be tacked onto any
legislation, and to pull out all the stops to defeat these gun
controls,
or lose your membership forever. If you are not an NRA member, tell
them you are not a member because of these kinds of appeasements of the
gun-grabbers.

Also contact both of Colorado's US Senators. Don't wait until later:
use the below sample communication to e-mail, fax, or call our US
Senators immediately. Or better yet, contact them in all three manners

Senator Wayne Allard
Phone: (202) 224-5941
Fax:(202) 224-6471
Contact via internet: http://allard.senate.gov/contactme (paste this
url
into your browser, and type letter in the online form, or paste the
text
below)

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Phone(202) 224-5852
Fax:(202) 228-4609
Contact via internet: http://campbell.senate.gov/email.htm (paste this
url into your browser, and type letter in the online form, or paste the
text below)

-------------------------------------------------------------
SAMPLE COMMUNICATION

Dear Senator:

Senator Bill Frist will ask you to vote for an anti-gun package
containing:

-- S. 659, the gun liability bill;

-- an extension of the so-called "Assault Weapons" gun ban;

-- a gun show amendment which would effectively put gun shows out
of business.

S. 659 is not worth swallowing an extension on the Assault Weapons ban
or restrictions on gun shows. Both of these measures would constitute
very egregious violations of Congress' constitutional authority. I
hope
you will do everything in your power to make sure these amendments do
not end up in the bill.

Please know that any senator who votes to extend the Assault Weapons
ban
-- in whatever form -- or to restrict gun shows will be recognized as
the anti-gun politician that he is. I will be watching how you vote.
Thank you.

Sincerely,

-------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners
Colorado's Largest Gun Rights Organization
PO Box 3114
Denver, Colorado 80201
Phone & Fax (888) 874-3006
http://www.rmgo.org exdir@rmgo.org

------------------------------------------







Like I said - just received this. Will post more in a bit. Meanwhile hit GeekWithA.45 as he has some updates worth checking out.


Monday, February 23, 2004


I found the following over at SayUncle's place about halfway down the post:

"The gun industry protection bill may have the Assault Weapons Ban attached to it."

From the linked story we find this:

"A Republican-led bill to immunize gun makers from wrongful-death claims is expected to hit the floor tomorrow, but Democrats and liberal Republicans will propose an amendment to extend the federal assault-weapons ban, possibly setting up a showdown with the House.
President Bush supports the assault-weapons proposal as well as the overall immunity bill.
'With regard to the assault-weapons ban, he supports the extension of the current ban,' White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. 'On immunity, he doesn't believe manufacturers of a legal product should be held liable for the illegal use of that product."


That's our "pro-gun" president???

"The ban is set to expire Sept. 13, and a split could arise between the White House and House Republicans backed by some of the conservative movement's most powerful interest groups.
The president wants the extension to make good on his 2000 campaign promise to continue the "common sense" legislation. But he also wants to protect the gun industry from trial lawyers, a position supported by the National Rifle Association."


Please remember that the Gun Control Act of 1968, with it's sporting purposes clause & prohibition on mail-order firearms was backed by the gun industry because they thought they could use the market that was being occupied by mail-order (often foreign) surplus gun dealers. Now think about this - if the gun industry supported the GCA of '68 so they could create & then fill a relatively small vaccuum in the market to increase their profits do you think for one second that they'd want ot kill a bill offerring them protection from frivilous lawsuits just so a handful of companies could go back ot making hi-capacity normal capacity mags & rifles with bayonet lugs on them?

So that's where at least one pressure point is located.

"Our position is very clear. This is not about extending the Clinton gun ban and it shouldn't muddy the waters,' said Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president.
'The issue is, do we want to save the American gun industry or kill it ... and we oppose any expansion of the Clinton semiautomatic gun ban,' Mr. LaPierre said."

Not really encouraging, but not damning either. He says the NRA is against the AWB & for the frivilous lawsuit protection bill, but he doesn't say outright which is more important.

"House Republican leadership has vowed to see the ban expire. And the friction between House and Senate Republicans over legislative compromises on the energy and Medicare bills could worsen if the bill for gun makers' immunity enters the House chamber with unwanted amendments.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said last year that there weren't enough votes in the House to reauthorize the ban, and he has vowed not to fight for votes to push the legislation."


I hope that was a misprint. "...vowed not to fight for votes to push the legislation..."? That is certainly better than fighting for votes to push for the AWB, but less encouraging than fighting for votes against the AWB.

Still, Delay is the Republican leader in the House, but it's Hastert who controls things & he's open to discussion last I heard. Perhaps Delay will have enough influence to sway people to not vote for the AWB in any form. If he actually tries to sway them that is.

"But Senate Democrats will not let the immunity proposal pass without extending the ban and may hold the overall bill hostage using amendments.
Howard Gantman, spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said the California Democrat 'has said that she would offer this bill [as an amendment] to the Republican gun-liability bill.'
Mrs. Feinstein introduced a bill last year to extend the ban. It had several co-sponsors, including Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and has the support of federal and local law enforcement agencies.
'We've urged President Bush to push this,' Mr. Gantman said."


Usual cast of bad guys with the usual evil plan. But the big question isn't whether or not they'll try to attach the AWB to the frivilous lawsuits bill, but whether or not Bush will actively push for it. I've opined before that Bush may be subject to leverage & it's entirely possible that he's holding out for a good deal before he starts throwing presidential weight towards passing the AWB extension.

"Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, New York Democrat, introduced a bill in May to place more guns on that list. A similar bill in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenburg, New Jersey Democrat, is expected to hit the floor this week.
Scott Roliston, a spokesman for Mrs. McCarthy, said his boss would bring more amendments to the gun bill.
'Congresswoman McCarthy ran for office for stricter gun laws. The president said he would sign an assault-weapons ban if it got to his desk. He has 208 days to do this, and it is going to be an issue,' Mr. Roliston said."


It's an issue now. Bush may very well think that he can keep his base (What are they gonna do; vote Democrat?) while getting some swing votes by signing this "reasonable" gun control law. I don't think he realizes that there are enough Bush supporters who will sit the next one out if the AWB gets extended or expanded to make Kerry or Edwards the next Pres.

But Bush may not be in touch enough to realize what he's doing. Like father, like son I guess.

"A final wrinkle in the debate will be a bill from Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, for tighter regulation of the private sale of firearms at gun shows. Federal laws and those of numerous states require licensed gun dealers to conduct thorough criminal background checks of buyers, but guns sold by individuals at shows require no extensive checks.
Lobbyists say the proposed regulation, also opposed by gun-rights groups, has the votes to pass the Senate, either on its own or as an amendment to the gun makers' immunity bill. Its prospects in the House are less clear."


Not AWB related but thought y'all should prepare for that fight as well.

So what's gonna happen? No idea. The House & Senate have enough anti-gun votes to pass damn near anything short of a total ban (& I'm being optimistic), however if enough pressure is applied to the Republicans then they may firm up their votes to a more pro-gun position.

Here's what you have to do:

1: Communicate with your congresscritter (especially your Reps as the Senate is damn near hopeless) & tell him/her that if the AWB gets passed then you will withdraw support from their party!

Most congrescritters figure that either your individual vote won't matter that much in their race (especially if their next election is over a year away), or they can vote to kill the AWB while their buddies who aren't up for re-election can pass it.

Tell them it's a Party thing - we get an extended or expanded AWB & the other Party gets your votes & your friends' votes as well. No excuses!

This might make them pressure their buddies into killing any AWB bills or amendments.

Next - & this is perhaps most important - tell the NRA that if the AWB passes in any form for any reason whatsoever that you'll drop them & switch all your donations to GOA, JPFO & other no compromise orgs. Tell them you'll also drop membership in their state affiliate & throw your local support & donations to local no compromise groups.

This will get them off their ass (hopefully) & make them act like the 800 lb. gorilla that everyone thinks they are.

The reason the NRA is so critical is because they have lobbyists who are more immediately convincing than a couple thousand or tens of thousands of letters from across the country.

Now some of you know I detest the NRA. I wouldn't encourage anyone to join them no matter what because of the way they stab us in the back. But there's no doubt that they are influencial. we just have to grab them by the ear & make sure they don't use their influence to betray us again.

So with the congresscritters thinking about losing votes for their entire Party, & the NRA looking at losing a significant percentage of its members, then something might happen.

Oh, CC a copy of any e-mail to Bush & add a note that says you will not vote for Bush if the AWB passes. & you will not vote Repub again until the AWB is gone.

One last thing: mention to the NRA a boycott of any gun manufacturer who is part of any effort (group or individual) to get the protection from frivilous lawsuit bill passed despite an AWB attachment. The NRA will pass enough of those along to the gun industry groups should any disagreement about killing a bill with the AWB attached come up.

If enough of us do that we may have a chance of seeing the AWB die.

Let's review:

A passed AWB means no votes for that party regardless of individual votes. No excuses!

A passed AWB means resignation & no more cash for the NRA or its affiliates. No excuses!

A passed AWB means a boycott of any gun manufacturer who pushed for it or is a member of a trade organization that pushed for it. No excuses!

Here's GOA's Legislative Action Center page. Use it to find your congresscritter.

Here's a link that'll give you contact info for NRA state affiliates.

Here's the NRA's contact page.

Here's the contact page for the NRA's field reps.

Here's the contact page for the NRA-ILA. (The NRA's political & legal department more or less)

Update:

GeekWithA.45 has a post up y'all should read. He also has this follow up post which y'all should check out the links listed therein.

Clayton Cramer is much more optimistic than I am. I respect Mr. Cramer's research immensely but I quite often disagree with his views on things more recent. To sum up the nature of our disagreement in this case: he feels the NRA & the Republicans will do the correct thing - that is, kill the protection from frivilous lawsuits bill if an AWB is attached to it, while I don't share his faith in the NRA or the Republicans (& it's not from some hidden agenda about bashing the NRA - I've always been pretty open about why I bash them). It's simply that the NRA has supported gun control bills in the past, as have the firearms manufacturing industry. The Gun Control Act of '68 is the most prominent example.

In any event whether you're as optimistic as Mr. Cramer or as pessimistic as I am, contact the NRA & your congresscritters. If they're going to do the right thing anyway then politely but firmly making your feelings known to them won't hurt a thing. However if they were thinking about doing something naughty then enough contact with polite but firmly relayed ultimatums may get them back on the straight & narrow.




It gets better.

David Codrea received a very hateful e-mail from a Canadian acedemic. In this letter the author told Mr. Codrea, "...Better yet, use your gun to prevent your genes from being passed on to future generations."

It seems to have been initiated because someone posted a copy of Mr. Codrea's open letter to the Mayor of San Francisco on a usenet forum.

Now the writer of the letter, one Craig Levine, has e-mailed the FBI in an effort to get Mr. Codrea investigated by them.

& this coming from the land that gave us John Cantius Garand.


Sunday, February 22, 2004


Schwarzenegger was interviewed on Meet The Press & while most of the attention was focused on his making arguments that people born outside of the U.S. should be eligible for the presidency, he did manage to slip this in concerning the homosexual marriage situation in San Francisco:

"In San Francisco it is license for marriage of same sex. Maybe the next thing is another city that hands out licenses for assault weapons and someone else hands out licenses for selling drugs, I mean you can't do that,"

& ya know he's correct: they shouldn't hand out licenses for "assault weapons". After all, owning & carrying an "assault weapon" is a Constitutionally enumerated Right & a license &/or fee should not be required. Although I doubt his statement was based on the same reasoning.

I'll leave some words from those much wiser than myself. If someone has his e-mail ya might wanna CC these to Schwarzenegger.

"One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purpose without resistance is,
by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms ..."
Joseph Story, U.S. Supreme Court Justice


"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State. Our opinion is that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right." [Nunn vs. State, 1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243, at 251 (1846)]

"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." — Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

"The maintenance of the right to bear arms is a most essential one to every free people and should not be whittled down by technical constructions." [State vs. Kerner, 181 N.C. 574, 107 S.E. 222, at 224 (1921)]

"A state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution... The power to impose a license tax on the exercise of these freedoms is indeed as potent as the power of censorship which this Court has repeatedly struck down... a person cannot be compelled 'to purchase, through a license fee or a license tax, the privilege freely granted by the constitution." —Murdock v. Pennsylvania 319 US 105 (1942)




Saturday, February 21, 2004


Apparently it's not unanimous that the treatment of David Codrea for his letter was wrong.

We have Bob who relayed this in the comments box:

"well DUH..you send a letter to an official threatening to show up at their door with a loaded rifle and (oh my) they arent going to investigate? The letter had merit in its content however until it reached that point."

Eugene Volokh takes a similar view:

"I generally have a hard time getting particularly outraged about stories like this...

The police might strongly suspect that the letter is rhetorical, but it's hard to tell that for sure. And if it isn't rhetorical -- if the writer does want to show up with those guns -- and the writer also wants to do something with those guns when he shows up, then we could have a bad scene.

If you were a responsible, freedom-loving police officer, would you just say 'Nah, sounds like nothing to me'? Or might you think it's worth some more investigation? The letter-writer writes, as a follow-up, 'I do find it bizarre that civil authority is so fearful of an armed citizenry that if they feel there is any chance of it happening, their response is to send armed men.' Why is it so bizarre? Armed citizens have at times done quite a bit of damage, including to a past Mayor of San Francisco. That's not reason to disarm them or throw them in jail for writing letters -- but it is reason to look closely at people who say they want to carry an arsenal to city hall.

But freedom of speech can't mean freedom from even disquieting investigations based on your speech. You can't be convicted for that letter; you can't be fined for it; but the police are entitled to talk to you to see whether you seem like an upstanding citizen (which by all accounts the author is) or someone who seems like a John Hinckley, and who therefore bears closer watching. Extremist groups are entitled to express their views; but I certainly hope that the police are investigating them more closely to see whether there might be extremist action, and not just extremist speech, in the offing. Likewise even for perfectly reasonable people who make statements that are also of the sort sometimes made by unreasonable people. It's part of the police department's job to investigate a bit more closely to see whether the speaker seems reasonable or unreasonable."


I would be remiss in not pointing out that Prof. Volokh does say this kind of thing could be troubling (if for instance Mr. Codrea received any sort of punishment) it's just that he feels the level of intrusion &/or the chilling effect in this instance is more or less outweighed by the need to protect the public safety.

& over at SayUncle there's been a similar disagreement about the appropriateness of the response:

"I like it. However, I do feel compelled to point out that it would awfully difficult for somebody to kill me with their homosexuality, so it's not exactly a valid comparison..." - Tom aka Tqirsch

"That guy made the classic apples & oranges mistake, so no wonder someone cried foul fruit.
(heh)." - Peggy from A Movable Beast


Tom/Tqirsch then adds this:

"Let me clarify. My comment was not based on the legality of the actions described. My comment, rather, concerned the justifications for banning those activities. Constitutionality and current law aside, it's very difficult to argue that homosexuality poses anywhere near the sort of public safety risk that guns potentially could. And whether or not they do a good job of it, protecting public safety is a valid function of government. That, to me, is where the comparison falls flat."

So let's start with a review of the relevant paragraphs from the letter that started all of this.

"You have shown progressive thinking and tolerance for that which the majority condemns. So I was thinking of coming up to San Francisco and exercising my right to keep and bear arms, maybe showing up at City Hall with a state-banned AR-15 and a couple 30-round magazines, and also carrying several pistols concealed without a permit.
Yes, I know, it will be a violation of California laws, but you've shown that you're willing to disregard those when it serves your goals. And because I am a peaceable citizen, I should easily meet Judge Warren's criterion that no immediate damage would be done by allowing this.
So what do you think, if I visit your city and proudly display my lifestyle choices, can I count on your support? As a private citizen, don't I have as much right to disregard laws I find reprehensible as you public officials? Isn't that what equality is supposed to be all about, where no class of citizen enjoys privileges and immunities not extended to all?
How about it? You wouldn't have me arrested, would you?
Please let me know if I have your support."


Now to Bob's concerns -

"well DUH..you send a letter to an official threatening to show up at their door with a loaded rifle and (oh my) they arent going to investigate? The letter had merit in its content however until it reached that point."

I fail to see where he said the rifle would be loaded. He mentioned magazines but never said whether or not they'd be holding ammo. & keep in mind the rifle (if you really want to call an AR-15 a rifle - shudder), the magazines, & the manner of carry he described for the pistols are all illegal under California law (to the best of my knowledge at least). However there is no additional penalty for the rifle (shudder) or pistols or magazines being loaded or unloaded (again according to my admittedly limited knowledge of California firearms law). So the illegal acts could have been performed without any ammunition at all (unless for good measure you wanted to bring some ammo that Cali has banned for some hoplophobic reason or another, in which case they could be in your pocket or in the firearm & the point would be made)

Now I bring this up because he also mentions that he's "...a peaceable citizen..." & therefore "...should easily meet Judge Warren's criterion that no immediate damage would be done by allowing this."

Given the general nature of the paragraphs in question where he is asking for an answer (although I'm sure expecting none) & the information I pointed out above, it's perfectly reasonable to conclude that A; he wasn't actually planning on doing those things B; He was seeking advice on the nature of the reception he'd receive if he were serious & C; he had no harmful intent.

That does qualify as "...threatening to show up at their door with a loaded rifle..."

Prof. Volokh thinks that under the circumstances this was a reasonable action: investigating someone who made remarks that could be the indication of a threat to public safety.

However what Prof. Volokh views as a potential threat is simply no more than a person threatening to exercise their Right to Arms. Now I don't doubt that many people in a city would feel a bit uneasy about seeing someone with an AR-15 on their shoulder walking down the main street (I would too: imagine taking an AR-15 to town carrying it like it was a real rifle & you were proud of it - shudder). But then again many people might feel uneasy if they saw two men kissing on the main street in town, or a person passing out religious &/or political literature. All have the potential to create harm: the guy with the AR-15 might attempt to shoot someone, the men kissing could be exchanging mononucleouses, & the people passing out literature could start a riot by the material contained therein. But potential is not something we should view as grounds to condemn, or even intrusively investigate people for.

For example, if Kim du Toit was investigated everytime he mentioned that he'd like to kick Sen. Schumer in the genitals, do you really think they're be anything left in the SS Secret Service budget for anything else?

& take me for instance. If Prof. Volokh is comfortable with calling an AR-15 & "several" handguns an arsenal then I suppose my modest collection would be akin to an armory. & I guarantee that my potential for causing damage is much greater than anyone whom merely has an AR-15 & a few pistols. Yet I have no harmful intent & the actuality of it is that I am as dangerous to the public at large as someone with no weapons, no arms, no legs & is unable to communicate.

Now I don't think it unreasonable for cops to look into something. & if they'd have simply ran a google search, found out that Mr. Codrea was a big name in the pro-2nd amendment community & possibly even looked up his criminal records to see if he had done anything rash in the past then I don't think the level of attention would have been inappropriate - well if you get over the fact that all Mr. Codrea talked about doing is illegal because of laws that are violative of his Rights & conflict with the U.S. Constitution (& I'd be more than happy to discuss at great length the flaws of the incorporation theory). But keep in mind to me & quite a few others that Mr. codrea's actions would have been no more shocking than a person going hunting in a National Forest, or a person saying he/she might attend a particular church this Sunday. So even the unintrusive investigation would be questionable if you accept the fact that the laws in California regarding firearms are quite unconstitutional & violative of the people's Rights.

However let me point out again that Mr. Codrea did mention that he was a peaceable person & that in his view his actions, were he to undertake them, would meet a judge's standard for not creating any immediate danger. So the phone call asking potentially incriminating questions (such as whether or not he has a firearm verbotten under California law) & sending two armed agents to his residence was completely unwarranted (bad puns are always intended).

& keep in mind that the police department in question had told KABA.com that this was an ongoing investigation. That would seem to indicate that this may not be over for Mr. Codrea.

So while not equal to the crushing of dissent in the old Soviet Union (or present day Boulder, Co.) I think it should trouble us all that a man is being investigated because of his letter objecting to the disregard of some laws because the official in question views them as unconstitutional yet upholding other laws which are blatantly unconstitutional.

& it does beg the question, "What action would have been taken if Mr. Codrea had refused to talk with the cops?" (as is prudent for anyone to do - that ol' 5th Amendment was in there for a reason ya know). Would they have simply left him alone, or would they have thought his words constituted probable cause or suspicion sufficient for an arrest? & don't tell me you don't know of any judges in Cali who wouldn't have signed an arrest warrant because someone spoke of carrying prohibited firearms contrary to state law. The BATF has a whole string of "conspiracy" convictions based on much less than that in much more firearm tolerant states & I have no doubt that the mention of "firearm" by any other than the police is close to an arrestable offense in the minds of some judges out there.

Now for Tom/Tqirsch:

"I like it. However, I do feel compelled to point out that it would awfully difficult for somebody to kill me with their homosexuality, so it's not exactly a valid comparison..." - Tom aka Tqirsch

"Let me clarify. My comment was not based on the legality of the actions described. My comment, rather, concerned the justifications for banning those activities. Constitutionality and current law aside, it's very difficult to argue that homosexuality poses anywhere near the sort of public safety risk that guns potentially could. And whether or not they do a good job of it, protecting public safety is a valid function of government. That, to me, is where the comparison falls flat."

It is entirely possible to kill someone else with their homosexuality. It's possible to kill someone else with their heterosexuality as well. It's not unreasonable to admit the possibility of spreading a fatal disease through a sexual act. Now it's not all that likely, but it is very well possible.

& let me point you to this admittedly dated study that blames Aids for more deaths in 1994 than homicides.

Now keep in mind that I am not saying that we should regulate homosexuals or others who may potential carry fatal communicable diseases. I'm simply pointing out that the comparison between gun owners & homosexuals is valid because only the potential for harm exists, not necessarily the actuality.

& while protecting public safety is a legitimate endeavor of government, doing so at the expense of the public's freedom is certainly not within that realm. Restraining actions that cause direct & immediate harm would be acceptable, but limiting behavior because of only the potential (& a slim potential at that) is not. If we accepted Tom/Tqirsch's reasoning then it would be viewed as a legitimate action of government to make men & women wear chastity belts because men have the potential to become rapists & women the potential to become prostitutes.

One last thing about the justification for both laws in question (outlawing homosexual marriage & carrying firearms) - it's possible that two people being married may have saved one or the other (or possibly both) of their lives. However the estimates of defensive firearms use in this country range from 80,000 on the low end to 2,000,000 on the high end. Considering there are only about 28,000 firearms related deaths per year, of which about 16,000 are suicides, under 1,000 are accidental shootings & the rest are intentional (with no valid break down of justifiable v. unjustifiable shootings known to me at this time) I'd say the justification for prohibiting arms is very weak.


& now for Peggy -

"That guy made the classic apples & oranges mistake, so no wonder someone cried foul fruit.
(heh)." - Peggy from A Movable Beast


Hmm, let's see... one person is defying state law because he feels that said law conflicts with a constitutionally protected Right. The other person ask if it'd be okay to violate a state law because such law conflicts with a constitutionally protected Right. Both actions if allowed have the potential to create harm but do not actually cause any harm in & of themselves (marriage leads to emotional & financial problems on occasion, & firearms could be used to shoot innocent people). The only difference I see (in theory at least) is that one is implied to be a constitutional Right & the other is specifically enumerated as a constitutionally protected Right.
You could get into the obvious differences - one is between two adults & the state while the other is just between an adult & his/her conscience; one is being done by an elected official & the other is merely asking that official if he'd be supportive if a citizen done the thing in question.

But in theory they're the same: an act of civil disobedience that hopefully will either assert what is considered to be a Right by the inaction of the government or by action of the government (through the courts). They vary in details but not in principle.


Well I think that's everyone for now. If anyone else wishes to argue that Mr. Codrea should have been investigated, or that his point was not the same in principle as the one being made by SF Mayor Newsom feel free to leave a comment.




Friday, February 20, 2004


Freedom of speech in Cali? Not if it's about firearms.

David Codrea wrote this piece in which he asks if SF is willing to allow people to exercise their Right to Arms since they are willing to make a stand on homosexual marraige.

Now Mr. Codrea is being investigated for questioning the civil authority.

"Did you know that writing a rhetorical letter to the civil authorities in California challenging their hypocrisy results in a police investigation that includes not only calls from detectives but two black and white police cruisers coming to your home?"

I'll leave it to you to hit the links & get the details.



Wednesday, February 18, 2004


The South Dakota Gun Owners are in disagreement with the NRA on another issue; carrying a firearm in your vehicle without permission.

From SDGO's alert on HB 1247:

"Current South Dakota law denies your right to arms by severely limiting your ability to carry a handgun for self-defense in any vehicle.
Only by securing a government permit can you legally defend yourself while in your car. If you carry a loaded, accessible handgun in any vehicle without a concealed pistol permit, you may be found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a year in jail and a $1000 fine. "


Of note is that they list the home phone numbers of the legislators so you can actually speak to them if their mailbox is turned off full. I doubt the NRA would approve, but I see nothing wrong with that approach.

So HB 1247 would have made carry in a vehicle permissable w/o a permit. You'd think that any pro-gun group would support it right?

Enter the NRA.

"But surprisingly, David Conway, lobbyist for NRA affiliated South Dakota Shooting Sports Association, opposed this pro-gun bill in committee, stating that he had a problem with repealing the permit requirement.

"If you’re going to carry in an enclosed motor vehicle, you better have a permit,' Mr. Conway stated. He then brought an amendment, supported by the NRA, which completely wiped out the pro-gun language of HB 1247 and replaced it with a minor adjustment to current law.
The only change the Conway amendment makes is to allow a handgun carried in a closed compartment to be loaded. Current law (SDCL 22-14-10) allows a person without a permit to carry only an unloaded handgun in a closed compartment or container too large to be concealed."


Now will someone please try to explain to me why the NRA is thought of as a pro-gun org?

Yet another example of the NRA arguing against a pro-gun position in favor of an anti-gun position. This isn't the first time the NRA has argued for registration & I doubt it will be the last.

If you're an NRA member, don't delude yourself into thinking that your helping gun owners.


I will be severely dissappointed in donations to the NRA from South Dakota residents do not decline after this.

"NRA distances itself from South Dakota Guns Owners group"

That's usually a good sign that the group in question is on the right track.

"RAPID CITY -- The National Rifle Association wants no part of a Rapid-City-based pro-gun group that charged Gov. Mike Rounds with supporting the confiscation of private firearms and drew an angry rebuke from state legislators for its aggressive lobbying tactics."

lmao. Of course the NRA doesn't want any part of aggressive lobbying tactics - after all, that might lead to a pro-gun victory.

"David Conway of Black Hawk, legislative affairs director for the NRA-affiliated South Dakota Shooting Sports Association, said Monday that the NRA had no connection to the group South Dakota Gun Owners and doesn't approve of its lobbying style. 'Their methods at the Capitol are not our methods,' Conway said. 'We choose to have a working relationship with state officials, whereas they choose to attack'. "

Working relationship usually means they'll stab gun owners in the back if it'll get them a little more clout in the capitol.

But let me get this starigh: in situations where state legislators are attacking a persons' Right to Arms the NRA would rather sit down & have a few drinks with them than call them for the treasonous bastards they are? The situation may be different, but the philosophy is not different than Chamberlin's diplomatic strategy with Hitler.


"Conway said he was concerned that people were associating the NRA with South Dakota Gun Owners and the organization's extremist rhetoric. Conway said South Dakota Gun Owners' spokesmen Ray Lautenschlager and his son, Zachary, have distorted the facts about legislative proposals and the positions of Rounds and some legislators on gun rights."

Extremist rhetoric? What? Were they quoting some constitution again? But in all fairness, the NRA has done much more distorting of 'facts' concerning gun laws than any other group that claims to be pro-gun. But I really wonder about the charge that SDGO is distorting the position of politicians on gun Rights; this is simply because I feel the NRA doesn't mean gun Rights, but rather refers to their willingness to cut deals with the NRA. It'd be interesting to see exactly what's going on.

"They come from a radical standpoint. They're on a perpetual fund-raising mission, too," Conway said. "They were out misinforming people in the state. The governor isn't out to grab anyone's guns."

Hold up!. Now wait a damn minute. The NRA...the N friggin R friggin A is accusing someone of being on a perpetual fund raising mission? That's like a convicted rapist accusing an octogenerian with erectile dysfunction of being a threat to women! Hell, even those I know who agree (for one reason or another) with the NRA get tired of getting calls & letters urging them to become members - especially after they've joined.

& again, the NRA shouldn't accuse anyone of misniforming poeple on gun related issues. Consequently their reassurances about the governor are not comforting.

"The Lautenschlagers maintain that their criticisms of Rounds and some legislators are based on their support for anti-gun legislation that threatens Second Amendment freedoms. They deny distorting any facts or trying to intimidate legislators, beyond expressing their views and holding lawmakers accountable for their votes."

Ya see, the legislation only threatens a gun owners Rights. It doesn't threaten the NRA's clout so therefore it's not really anti-gun.

"Let those who are making allegations of misinformation produce the evidence,' Zachary Lautenschlager said. 'We stand behind the truth of our information."

Ah, truth. Oddly enough it almsot rhymes with proof. I wonder if the NRA has either one?

"Some lawmakers complained about the manner in which they told their version of the truth. Republican Rep. Joni Cutler of Sioux Falls considered one e-mail from a member to be a threat and turned it over to authorities. Lautenschlager questions that because Cutler has declined to reveal what was said in the e-mail."

I have very little sympathy for a lawmaker who feels threatened because of holding a position contrary to the Rights of the people. That being said if it was threatening it should be investigated. But it is suspicious that claims of a threat are made but the details are withheld.

"Republican Rep. Larry Rhoden of Union Center, a hunter and longtime gun-rights supporter, said his family was disturbed at home by rude telephone calls from South Dakota Gun Owners supporters. Conway said that kind of lobbying reflects poorly on the entire pro-gun movement."

Hunter or Fuddite? In any case a legislator should be disturbed by rude calls if he supports legislation that would curtail a citizens' Rights. Again, I have no sympathy for the legislator.

I wonder if he would complain if he got angry calls because he was supporting a measure to make black people drink from seperate water fountains? would he then also claim it reflected badly on the civil rights movement?

"They were nailing and going after people who, for many, many years, had been my strongest supporters in the Capitol,' Conway said. 'I've never had even the slightest anti-gun legislation from these people they've been condemning."

So he's upset about his "...stongest supporters..." being heatedly questioned as to their stance on a bill that would infringe upn the Rights of the people. Does he not have a clue as to why people may feel so passionate about a law that would infringe upon their Rights?

& it is one thing to "...never [have]...anti-gun legislation..." from a legislator, but taken that at face value it simply means that his "supporters" have never sponsoered anti-gun legislation. It does not mean they never voted for it once it was introduced. & still we are left with the definition of "anti-gun". I'm quite sure the NRA's explanation would be markedly different from mine.

"Zachary Lautenschlager said he and his father couldn't control every contact a member of the organization made with legislators. But he believes most were done with 'polite phone calls and signed postcards."

That's a good point. Exactly how many rude &/or threatening calls were made as oppossed to polite &/or non-threatening calls?

"As for the implication that he and his dad are stirring emotions to raise funds, Lautenschlager said they are both volunteers. They run the organization out of an office in Ray Lautenschlager's business in Rapid City, Zachary said.
As for fund-raising, he said 'every organization raises money, including the NRA."


Especially the NRA. Lapiere's 6 figure salary doesn't grow on trees ya know.

"Lautenschlager said South Dakota Gun Owners is an unincorporated, nonprofit organization. A proclamation on its Web site, sdgo.org, says it is 'South Dakota's only no-compromise gun-rights organization."

No wonder the NRA is trying to distance itself.

"Before the legislative session, the group sent a letter to gun owners criticizing Rounds for defending a 'tyrannical law' previously approved by the state Legislature and former Gov. Bill Janklow to allow the state to confiscate private property during situations deemed emergencies.
The revision of state law came in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and was promoted as a way to strengthen state authority to act in such situations. Rounds, a hunter and gun owner himself, said it was a never a threat to private gun owners, even though some guns might be seized, at least temporarily, under extreme situations."


Some guns might be seized temporaily? Wait a sec - I thought the NRA said the gov. wasn't going to seize anyone's guns?

The law in question seems similar to laws in other states that provide for confiscation of firearms during an emergency.

But this is a threrat to private gun owners. Anytime the state says they may seize your firearms that's a threat. A very serious threat & one that should not be ignored.

"The South Dakota Gun Owners letter called the law a 'blatant trampling of the Bill of Rights' and asked for financial contributions to help 'stop this outrageous denial of property and gun rights."

& the NRA distances itself from that?

"The Lautenschlagers worked with Rep. Tim Begalka, R-Clear Lake to introduce HB1287, which would have prohibited seizures of any property, including firearms."

Don't they know that only the NRA is suppossed to work to get legislation introduced?

"Rounds pushed his bill to clarify that firearms would not be among the items that could be seized in such situations"

Of course the flaw with Rounds bill is that while the people can't have their firearms stolen from them by the state, then they have the means to prevent theft of other property. Bet he didn't think of that did he?

Sounds to me though that the bill protecting firearms specifically as well as other property would be more desirable.

"Legislators killed HB1287 in a House committee. Rounds' proposal, SB212, passed the House and a Senate committee and has action pending on the Senate floor."

Killing a non-NRA pro-gun bill in committee. Hmm, where have I heard that before?

"Begalka said he knows the existing law would never threaten firearms while Rounds was governor.
'The main focus was for the future,' he said. 'Thirty or 50 years from now, we don't know who the governor will be."


Well he makes a good point, but personally I wouldn't want anyone having that kind of power, whether he's a decent person or not. I think the trust in the current governor is misplaced.

"Begalka said he believes the Lautenshlagers are sincere in their work to protect the private ownership of guns. But he also understands why some legislators are upset with their tactics.
'The Lautenschlagers have been a little too loose with words on some of their mailings, a little bit too far out there,' he said. 'I believe they are very sincere and genuine. They're just a little too extreme for something in the Legislature."


I take this to mean they spoke the truth, politicians got uncomfy & the NRA got pissed.

"Zachary Lautenschlager said he and his dad are representing gun owners who need a strong, uncompromising voice. And they won't be run out of the Capitol by criticism, he said.
'We are not done,' he said. 'South Dakota Gun Owners is not finished."


That means there's still hope for South Dakota.

Here's the link to South Dakota Gun Owners

Here's SDGO's alert on Rep. Tim Begalka's HB1287. Outside of the bogus quote often attributed to Washington I don't see anything extreme in the language. Sure, they suggest contacting the reps at home on the week ends, but until the laws they pass onyl apply 9 to 5 while we're at work I don't see this as unreasonable.

Here's SDGO's alert on Gov. Rounds' SB212. Again other than the bogus quote attributed to Washington I don't see what's so bad.

Here's the SDGO's after action report on the bill they supported being killed in committee.

& thanks to Say Uncle who was again faster on the draw than I was.




Kids don't know their Rights according to this story in the Arizona Daily wildcat.

"Todd said the right that is being most threatened in today's world is the right to freedom of expression."

James Todd is senior lecturer for the political science department, & apparently clueless as to what state the 2nd amendment is currently in.

But the gist of it is that college kids simply don't know what cops can & can't do. There are a few appeals by students & cops for the kids to learn what their Right are.

& this is the correct way to go about it; a person should be entirely responsible for finding out what their Rights are & how far the government can go. But most kids are victims of government schools where basic Rights are denied while they attend & more or less they simply get accustomed to not having those Rights. You don't usually miss what you're never had & that tactic has been working well for government for some time.

But what happens when a person does know his Rights? Well, in this example he gets arrested & his daughter gets roughed up during the arrest.

Short version is this: a man was parked on the side of the road while arguing with his 17 year old daughter. Cops show up to investigate a domestic violence call (apparently some motorist claims they saw the man hitting the woman) & ends up arresting the man because he refuses to produce I.D. When his daughter steps out of the truck the cops throw her down & sit on her while they cuff her. It's only at this point do they ask her what happened.

He's appealing his conviction for "delaying a peace officer" to SCOTUS. Hopefully they'll hear the case & decide that a person's papers not being in order is not enough to justify an arrest, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks to Say Uncle for both of the stories.


Sunday, February 15, 2004


As part of the conditions of the 5 questions meme, I was obligated to ask 5 questions of any blogger who requested it.

Here are links to those who have answered the question so far:

Yellowdog of Yellowblog

Dave at Pervasivelight

Geek with a .45 from the aptly named Geekwitha.45

Go read them.


Okay, since no one offered to, I'll fisk the Denver Post article myself...


"Kill the Wild West gun bill"

Nice title. But for me it conjures up visions of making Colt 1873 Single Action Army revolvers illegal.

"Rep. Greg Brophy's attempt to turn Colorado streets into the gun-slinging Old West will only jeopardize the rights of responsible gun owners."

Now let's examine this for a second. What the Denver Post is saying is that if you assert your Rights you'll jeopardize them. Huh? I wonder if they'd say that if a bill passes to allow newspapers to speak ill of incumbents that it would jeopardize the 1rst amendment?

The "wild west" is partially a myth. True, it was a bit less regulated than most of the periods in american history that followed it, but not any worse than the periods which proceeded it. The mythical wild west was a creation of dime store novels, traveling shows & finally motion pictures. For further reading on he origins of the mythical wild west I recommend Cowboy: How Hollywood Invented the Wild West by Holly George-Warren.

But it's not surprising that the Denver Post would make such an assertion. After all, if they saw it in a picture it must be true right?

I will point out that in the wild west - both mythical & actual - open carry of firearms was not uncommon. The Denver Post has been against any citizen carrying openly & against people carrying concealed, so I suppose their paranoia about one mode of carry gets confused with the other.

So it's an inaccurate analogy in that the mythical wild west to which they refer was a place where people carried openly as opposed to concealed (although I'm sure small revolvers & derringers were carried concealed, the majority of arms were carried openly).

& don't get me wrong - if a person wants to carry openly or concealed that's their business - not that of the state or county or city or any other construct aside from an owner of private (i.e. non-government) property. My point is merely that the Post doesn't seem to know what the hell it's talking about.

"Lawmakers should promptly shoot down Brophy's House Bill 1281 when it's heard in committee next week."

I bet the writer patted him/herself on the back for 2 or 3 minutes over the "cleverness" of that sentence.

"The proposal allows anyone who can legally possess a handgun to conceal it in public. Brophy says it allows law- abiding citizens to conceal firearms 'without going through the burdensome and expensive process of acquiring a permit."

& the problem is...?

"In reality, it's a giant leap backward from the responsible concealed-carry law approved last spring."

Ah, they refer to the "shall issue" law that is more restrictive than the "may issue" law that it replaced.

But note the use of the word "responsible". In the context of the sentence another word such as "restrictive" or burdensome" would have been a better more concise. But that would have alerted readers to their true intent.

"For nearly a decade, The Post has prodded lawmakers to approve a reasonable concealed-carry proposal that respected the government-protected rights of gun owners while balancing the need for public safety."

note the keywords: "reasonable", "balance" & "safety". We've seen "reasonable" before & we'll see it again. It's the politically correct way to rebuke any attempts to retain something you have as selfish. By "reasonable" they really mean "more restrictive".

"Balance" is inappropriate, as they assume that there must be an equal share for something to be correct. This simply isn't reality. In this case however, they mean "imbalance". What they want to do is balance their feelings of public safety with your Right to carry the means to defend yourself. Balancing an actuality with a potentiality seldom accomplishes anything other than restricting the actuality. I wonder if they've ever contepmlated Aristotle's answer to the question of which came first; the chicken or the egg? Didn't he say that actuality trumped potentiality?

In any case the "balance" they desire is an unfair one as it seeks to make the exercise of a Right more burdensome so they can "feel" safer without being safer.

In reality the public safety is much better served by not interfering with a person's Right to arm his/herself. That's because in reality the cops cannot be everywhere at once & the vast majority of the time they show up after a crime has been committed. People with harmful intent do not obey laws about carrying weapons in a certain manner & those laws tend to put the people without harmful intent on unequal footing. The public safety is much better served when a person with harmful intent has to face the possibility that his victim may be able to fight back successfully.

"For too long, the state was a patchwork of inconsistent laws that varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. It was confusing and, in some cases, responsible gun owners were denied concealed- carry permits based solely on their residence."

I somehow doubt the sincerity of the Post being troubled by people not being able to get permits based solely upon where they live. & also the troubling aspect to the Post is not that the laws were varied & confusing (as they are big proponents of local control trumping individual Rights) but that some sheriffs were giving permits to people that weren't residents of their respective counties.

"But lawmakers continually closed their eyes to the problem."

Ah, not really. There were a few attempts at passing a more lenient concealed carry law than the may issue system that was in place. But to the Post this was not addressing the problem. The problem wasn't that the laws were too confusing or burdensome, but too lenient.

"Finally, the legislature last spring approved Sen. Ken Chlouber's proposal that required a criminal background check and fingerprinting of those wanting to carry concealed weapons. The applicants also must successfully complete a certified firearms-safety course and pay $100 for the license. The National Rifle Association joined The Denver Post in backing this responsible bill."

Don't get me started on the constant betrayal of gun owners by the NRA. But may I point out that fingerprinting & criminal background checks were present in the may issue system that this new law replaced. The training classes are new as is the permit fee, making the process more expensive as well as burdensome on the applicant. But I assume that the Post feels that the economically challenged don't need to defend themselves since they have raised no objections to this or any other firearms related fees imposed by the government. In fact they were upset when a bill was withdrawn that would have charged gun purchasers for the redundant background check performed by Colorado.

"Chlouber's bill also included a "naked man" exception to allow denial of a permit to those who have no criminal records but are demonstrably unstable. His bill was essentially the same one the legislature passed in the spring of 1999 but which was prudently withdrawn right after the Columbine massacre."

Ah yes - the "naked man" exception, which makes the "shall issue" concealed carry law no different in principle than the may issue law it replaced.

But now if their Post had really been upset by the may issue system's unfair & disproportionate treatment of gun owners & had backed it being replaced for a decade, & further approved of the law which replace dit, then why was it "prudent" to withdraw a proposal to change the old law with which they disagreed? Feelings trump reality for most anti-freedom people. I see the Post as no exception. I simply see no reason whatsoever that would justify withdrawing a bill they claim to support because of the Columbine murders.

"Unfortunately, the legislature didn't stop there. It also passed Senate Bill 25 - an offensive intrusion on local affairs. It strikes down local rules on where and how firearms can be carried, including the ban in Denver and other cities on carrying a gun openly."

As I said earlier, the Post openly supports a city or county impeding &/or prohibiting your Right to Arms as an individual. Don't believe that they find one manner of carry preferable to another - they detest the idea of a mere peasant being able to defend his/herself. Contrasting one method with another is just a subtle tactic in their overall desire to have us all defenseless.

"It also voids Denver's ban on certain assault-rifle 'look-alikes,' a law already upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court."

Since Dred Scott v. Sanford upheld that a black man wasn't entitled to individual rights that slavery was morally justifiable? Or that since courts convicted people in the 20's of drinking or possessing alcohol that Prohibition was a good thing?

The Denver Post was correct in referring to the ban on "...assault rifle 'look alikes'..."

Assault rifle is a phrase coined by Hitler to describe what had been called the Machinenpistole 43. Hitler thought that this was inaccurate & christened it the SturmGewehr 44 which translates into Assault Rifle 44. Since then the practical definition of assault rifle has been a compact rifle or carbine that fires a cartridge of intermediate power & is capable of fully automatic fire. The ban Denver had was like the federal ban in that it only affected rifles with cosmetic similarities to assault rifles, but it erroneously called them assault rifles just as the federal ban does. Denver (& the feds) view certain aesthetic features as constituting an assault rifle despite the fact that the mechanism employed by these alledged assault rifles is no different than the mechanism employed by countless rifles that have been used for hunting for the last 100 years.

For instance the Remington Model 740 is not considered an assault weapon by most assault weapon bans, even though it is semi-automatic & feeds from a magazine. (From the factory it comes with a 4 round magazine, but I've seen after market magazines available with up to a 10 round capacity. It wouldn't surprise me if there were some after market magazines that had a capacity higher than that.)The Olympic Arms GI-20 Model would be considered an assault weapon by most bans because it has the politically incorrect pistol grip as well as a 20 round magazine. This despite the fact that it functions with a similar mechanism & is capable of only firing in the semi-automatic mode. & what is seldom brought up is that most of those alledged assault rifles &/or look alikes are chambered in cartridges less powerful than the cartridges available in lever action rifles in the 1890's. But if you have a pistol grip, telescoping or folding stock, flash hider (which doesn't actually "hide" the flash but rather diverts it to the side so it won't interfere with the shooter's vision) &/or can accept a magazine that holds more than 10 cartridges, it's feared as an assault rifle by most firearms ignorant politicians & the media.

Another example is the lowly Ruger 10/22. From the factory it is not usually considered an assault rifle, but if you add this stock (& take out the weld so it folds as it was designed to) then it's an assault weapon. The rifle would function the same regardless of which stock it was in; it just looks scarier to some people in a folding stock with a pistol grip.

But what the Post is advocating is that a city or county should have the authority to prohibit possession or ownership of a certain type of firearm based solely on arbitrary aesthetic standards - this despite the Colorado Constitution's prohibition on interfering with the Right to keep & bear arms.

"Colorado Constitution Article 2 Section 13. Right to bear arms.
The right of no person to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall be called in question; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons"


Aside from the last part (about concealed weapons) I'd say Colorado's Constitution is spot on. Clearly it prevents any interference with an individual's exercise of said Right. But the Post would rather assert the idea that a city or county can negate the Rights of an individual.

"Senate Bill 25 is being challenged in court."

& that means the tax dollars of the good people of Denver are going towards a lawsuit designed to take away their Rights.

"The Post supports Coloradans' right to protect themselves, but Brophy's proposal removes the valuable safeguards now built into Colorado law."

That's a lie; the Post does not support a Right - rather it argues in favor fo a privilege. Anytime you have to ask (or in this case beg & bribe) permission it's not viewed as a Right, but rather as a privilege graciously granted by government. Rep. Brophy's proposal would actually make Colorado treat individual Rights with the proper respect. So to oppose it but yet claim you support an individual's Right is contradictory.

& those safeguards that are currently in place now? What safeguards? The concealed carry law here merely erects hurdles for those who have no harmful intent while doing nothing - I repeat nothing - to prevent someone with harmful intent from carrying. In fact since it's a bit of a chore & expense in getting a permit to begin with, most with harmful intent can be reasonably sure that their victim will be unarmed.

Has anyone ever not broken a serious law because to do so would entail breaking a minor one? Does the Post really expect us to believe that someone who wants to rob a liquor store or shoot up a school is going to change his/her mind because he/she couldn't get a concealed carry permit???

The only safeguard society will have is that every person has the unfettered Right to carry the means of self defense. It won't decrease crime but it will cause a shift from confrontational crimes to non-confrontational crimes. It's basic logic; a person who wishes to steal will try to find the path of least resistance. Now that path is someone whom they're reasonably sure isn't carrying. If Rep. Brophy's bill hadn't been killed by the cowards in the Committee of State, Military & Veteran's Affairs at the urging of the hypocrites who claim to be gun Rights groups (NRA, CSSA) then the person intent on stealing would be more tempted to wait until your car was unattended before trying to steal it, rather than slapping you around until they got the keys from you.

"We have always opposed Vermont-style 'warm body' concealed-carry bills. In that state, anyone who can legally own a firearm can conceal their weapon."

Which means they have never supported the Right to Arms. By the way, what problems has it created for Vermont or Alaska for that matter? Granted, the cultures of those two respective states differs somewhat from Colorado, as does the population & economy, but I have seen nothing to indicate that no-permit-required carry laws have affected Vermont or Alaska adversely.

"This bill should be killed in committee. It doesn't meet the standards Gov. Bill Owens has set for gun laws, so it's likely to be vetoed if approved, anyway."

So because an anti-Rights governor with a pro-gun image won't approve it then it's a bad law? I've seen weaker reasoning, but not since elementary school. The "standards" our governor has set for gun laws are atrocious. One of his standards for a concealed carry bill was that no carry would be allowed in schools. That means instead of a parent or teacher being able to nip a Columbine-like incident in the bud, the school would be locked down while waiting on the sheriff's department & then further waiting would ensue as the sheriff's department would discuss how best to approach the situation for a few hours. I'd trust the governor's judgment on anything "gun" right after I took singing lessons from Yoko Ono.

"Lawmakers should save Gov. Owens the extra work and put an end to this bill now."

The Denver Post should save it's almost irreparably shattered reputation (along with trees & ink) by not writing anonymous editorials that attempt to justify why I should continue to be a criminal should I exercise a most basic, fundamental Right.

The Post contradicts itself in its own article. It either hasn't clearly thought out the issue, or it's dealing from feelings & other abstract motivations rather than facts & sound logic.

The Post got its wish as the bill was killed in committee, but rather than rejoice they should mourn. I guess they still fail to realize that an assault on one Right is an assault on all. I wonder if they'd have felt differently if the bill was trying to correct a law that made the carrying of a newspaper concealed in a briefcase a crime?

& as usual here are the names of those on the editorial staff:

"The members of The Post editorial board are William Dean Singleton, chairman and publisher; Bob Ewegen, deputy editorial page editor; Todd Engdahl, assistant editorial page editor; Peter G. Chronis, Dan Haley and Penelope Purdy , editorial writers; Mike Keefe, cartoonist; Barbara Ellis, news editors; and Fred Brown and Barrie Hartman, associate members."

Since it was not a signed editorial I assume that all those named agree with the opinions expressed in the editorial. So as usual I encourage anyone who has business dealings with these people to refuse to trade with them as long as they hold such a disrespectful view of your Rights.




Tuesday, February 10, 2004


The Colorado Freedom to Carry Act (House Bill 1281) has been indefinitely postponed by the House Committee for State, Veteran & Military Affairs.

Translated this means that a committee of 7 Republicans & 4 Democrats that can pass a bill about designating Yula marble our state rock failed to even allow a House vote on a law that would assert an individual Right.

More on this later. Right now I have to shop around for wholesale priced tar & fathers.


Sunday, February 08, 2004


From RMGO comes this:

"This Tuesday, the House State Affairs Committee will hear HB1281, State
Rep. Greg Brophy's "Colorado Freedom to Carry Act." It's a
Vermont/Alaska concealed carry bill, and it is by FAR the most pro-gun
bill ever offered in Colorado."

"Before Tuesday, we need everyone -- repeat, EVERYONE -- who cares about
our right to keep and bear arms to call a key member of the committee.
State Rep. Bill Sinclair is the chairman of the State Affairs committee, and THE key vote to getting this bill to the House floor."


RMGO also provides contact info for Rep. Sinclair.

"Call Rep. Sinclair toll-free at 800-811-7647 (or
directly at 303-866-2965) and POLITELY urge him to live up to his
pledge
and support House Bill 1281. You can only call the toll-free number
during work hours (a live operator transfers you to Sinclair's office),
but you can call the direct line and leave a voice mail at any time.
You can also e-mail Rep. Sinclair at: bill.sinclair.house@state.co.us "


They encourage you to call, as RMGO feels e-mail may not reach Rep. Sinclair in time.

Now here's the skinny: as far as a no permit required concealed carry law we're on our own. The NRA isn't going to help & neither is their Colorado affiliate CSSA. Why is that you may wonder? Well, they'll offer a host of reasons; the most popular being that this law won't pass & will just stir up the anti-gunners to pass more gun control laws. Of course there'll be the occasional excuse that a permit law is better than a no permit law because of the training requirement.

Now as to the second excuse - don't get me wrong; I think professional training is a wonderful thing. I just don't recall anyone ever justifying denying some the ability to speak on a political matter because he/she didn't have professional instruction in discourse. Similarly I fail to see how lack of state mandated training is a legitimate reason to deny someone the ability to defend themselves. If state mandated training is so vital, then it should be taught in the government schools. That way the registration process involved in a permit system is bypassed.

The registration excuse is also flawed because it seeks to make a Right conditional. Now the Colorado Constitution does recognize that owning, possessing & carrying arms for the defense of life & property is a Right, but it errs in that it differentiates carrying a concealed weapon as not being protected. Practically I can see no reason for a distinction between carrying concealed & carrying openly. The logic assumed at the time of most concealed carry laws' adoption was that an honest man wears his guns in plain sight, whereas a man up to no good hides his piece. If you'll look at it objectively it's not that far a stretch from the logic that says if you have nothing to hide you won't mind being search. After all if you're not up to something, then your private affairs should be visible to the public shouldn't they?

Nevertheless the U.S. Constitution does not have such an illogical provision in its assertion of the Right to Arms. Further the 14th Amendment makes the Right to Arms provision of the U.S. Constitution applicable to the states. (yes I know that the Supreme Court has not held so, but the rather heated explanation of the court being out to lunch when it came up with the incorporation theory is a whole 'nother topic). Requiring a permit therefore is a violation of the 2nd Article of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution.

But whether a constitution declares it or not, we all have the Right to carry any arms in any manner we see fit. Requiring a permit or even a training class conflicts with that Right in that it places a burden on the exercise of said Right. Some will not be burdened much by this or even more restrictive requirements, but many - especially the poorer amongst us - will.

Now the first justification that these so called pr-gun groups give is just BS. First of all whether a bill stands a chance of passing or not is at least sometimes determined by the effort or lack of effort demonstrated by its proponents. They offer an almost self fulfilling prophecy & hope you won't realize that it?s almost a guaranteed outcome because of their inaction. If they'd actually develop a vertebra then the odds of many truly pro-gun bills passing would increase dramatically.

Secondly the idea that the anti's will leave us alone if we don't stir things up is ignorant. Let me repeat that: ig-no-rant. For anyone from back home that'd be ignent. That's the exact sort of ignorance that made the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 damn near miraculous. I wonder if perhaps they'd have told one of the Jewish resistance leaders to not fight the Nazi's cause the Nazi's might try to hurt them if they did?

Let me 'splain this to you: There is a faction of government & society that wants to disarm us. Not partially, not conditionally. They will settle for nothing less than complete & total civilian disarmament. They will accomplish this in great part due to the concessions that alleged pro-gun groups & people make. They simply will not be appeased. If they appear to be slowing down in their efforts it?s not because they're becoming satisfied with the level of gun control; it's because they're contemplating their next move.

What has been sorely lacking in the gun control debate is any offensive action on the part of pro-gun people, especially allegedly pro-gun people. We?ve been playing defense: reacting to the moves of the anti's. The best you can hope for is to stalemate your opponent with such tactics. Strictly defensive actions are not designed for winning the battle or even gaining ground; they're designed merely for surviving. But the problem is that in a contest of endurance, the defense will wear down quicker than the offense. Defenders have to be constantly ready to defend when they're not actually defending. Attackers can take a time out or two as long as they maintain the appearance that an attack is eminent.

But refusing to go on the offensive because it might provoke your enemies? That makes sense if you're a French military general, but not if you want to actually gain back some ground you lost, let alone win the bloody war.

According to Billll over at The High Road, a Colorado Rep. gave him the following reply when Billll urged support of the Colorado Freedom to Carry Act:

"Bill, Be careful what you ask for. I think the passage of this bill will
only excite the anti-gun people who will then go to the ballot with an
imitative banning all forms of concealed carry. Just look at what they
accomplished with Amendment 22, remember they have the numbers. It will only take a bill like this to really get them energized. Joe Stengel HD 38"


So here we have a Rep. who is not afraid of the anti's fighting the bill & defeating it, but getting pissed off if we win!
Rep. Stengall was one of the sponsors of the current Colorado Shall Issue CCW law. I do not know much about him or his record, but I can safely say that either he is sorely mistaken as to the nature of the battle we're engaged in, or he's more concerned with pleasing the NRA than doing the correct thing. In any case if his attitude doesn't change then you cannot count on him as an ally.

As I said - the NRA, CSSA & other alleged pro-gun orgs & people will not be on our side on this one. RMGO is the only local ally we have. On the national level we have GOA & KABA.com among a few others that will do for us what they can, but they cannot fight this thing for us.

If we win this thing it's going to be because of one thing: you getting off your ass & giving ultimatums. Politely, but pointedly explain to your Colorado congresscritters, friends, family & any alleged pro-gun or sportsman's groups you belong to that if they do not support this bill you will withdraw your support from them utterly & completely. & what's more important if a person of group fails to support this bill & it loses, withdraw your support. Get that "lesser of two evils" BS out of your mind. 98% evil may be better than 98.5% evil, but that's no excuse to support it. After all, bigamy is better than polygamy right? But would you stay with your spouse if their other spouse showed up one day?

Don't just sound serious: be serious. Offer to explain the situation if they're willing to listen. Do whatever you can to change their mind. Hell, if they're a tough sell & you think it'd help I'll be happy to make some time to try to persuade them through e-mail, over the phone &/or in person. But be clear to them & yourself that if they do not support this then you cannot support them in any way shape or form.

& don't neglect to support RMGO, GOA, KABA.com & other actually pro-gun orgs who are doing what they can in your place. Remember it's your freedom along with theirs that they're fighting for.

That is the only way we'll get our Right to carry recognized.

For more reading on why Shall Issue CCW laws are bad for gun owners, please look here.

For a piece explaining the difference between yelling fire in a crowded theater & concealed carrying of arms look here.

For a relatively brief discussion of why the Right to Arms is absolute look here.

For a good read from GOA on why no permit required laws are the best course of action look here.

& to keep up with the Colorado Freedom to Carry Act & other gun related bills in the Colorado legislature this year look here (courtesy of RMGO).

& once more, here?s the contact info for Rep. Sinclair

"Call Rep. Sinclair toll-free at 800-811-7647 (or
directly at 303-866-2965) and POLITELY urge him to live up to his
pledge
and support House Bill 1281. You can only call the toll-free number
during work hours (a live operator transfers you to Sinclair's office),
but you can call the direct line and leave a voice mail at any time.
You can also e-mail Rep. Sinclair at: bill.sinclair.house@state.co.us "


It won't be easy but it'll be impossible if you sit there all day reading this. Jump on the phone now. Don?t do this for me, or your neighbor or anyone else. Do it so you can have a taste of freedom that you might be able to pass on to your kids & grandkids. & please do it now.







Saturday, February 07, 2004


In an interesting development, I'm almost inclined to believe that ballistic fingerprinting could be theoretically as accurate as biometric fingerprinting.

"...At present, there is virtually no accurate information on just how often fingerprint examiners actually make mistakes -- and unlike DNA experts, fingerprint experts routinely testify that their matches are '100 percent certain'."

Hmmm. I see the parallel between biometric fingerprint examiners & the BATF already. Here's a quote from BATF agent Thomas A. Busey (actually he was Chief of the National Firearms Act Branch of the BATF when he made the statement)

"...when we testify in court, we testify that the data base is 100% accurate. That's what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true."

Nothing like a little honesty in dishonesty government. Back to the biometric fingerprint piece:

"Fingerprinting is often said to be be infallible, a forensic 'gold standard.' But if we ask how often declared fingerprint matches are actually wrong, the only honest answer is that no one has any idea...There are no systematic proficiency tests to evaluate examiners' skill. Those tests that exist are not routinely used and are substandard. In another recent case, even the FBI's proficiency tests were acknowledged by another fingerprint examiner to be absurdly easy."

Sounds as if they've taken the scientific approach that many gun control advocates use. Say you're right about a subject, but fail to provide any credible documentation to back your claims. But be sure to label someone an "expert" if they agree with your claim, despite their qualifications.

"...there are no uniform standards, locally or nationally, about what counts as a fingerprint match. Different jurisdictions, and even different examiners, have different criteria, and the courts have simply left it to the experts' judgment."

Again, not that different from the "assault weapons" legislation across the country.

"In addition, we have no idea how often two individuals -- whose prints would indeed look different if we had access to a complete set of 10 undistorted prints -- might have partial fingerprints that resemble each other enough for an examiner reasonably to mistake them as coming from the same person, especially when the print lifted from the crime scene might be smudged and distorted."

& similarly this is a flaw in the ballistic fingerprinting concepts that have been pushed around: the idea that a partial match is conclusive proof that the two prints came from the same source.

Here's ballistic fingerprinting in a nutshell:

Ballistic fingerprinting is suppossed to match the "unique" markings left on the projectile to the barrel that made them.

However, one must remember that the markings a barrel will leave on a projectile will change over time. A projectile of lead or any other metal travels down a steel barrel at great speed - often faster than the speed of sound. This creates friction which wears on both the projectile & the barrel. The same process that imprints markings from the barrel on the projectile wears down the barrel itself. The rate of this wear is dependent upon several variables not the least of which is projectile speed. Some cartridges are more wear intensive than others, but all cartridges cause this wear to some degree or the other. In fact, many gunsmiths could make a decent living off of rebarrelling alone. Some cartridges in common use for certain shooting sports (namely benchrest competition) will wear down the rifling in a barrel to the point that accuracy suffers because the bullet no longer tightly fits the barrel. This can happen in as little as a few hundred rounds, although most rifle cartridges will not degrade accuracy of a barrel for at least a few thousand rounds.

So the markings left by the barrel itself tend to change with use.

Another variable is intentional alteration of the barrel. A piece of No.4 steel wool run down a barrel a few times will alter a barrel enough that it cannot be matched with 100% certainty to the projectile that it shot last. A pocket knife, coat hanger or any other piece of metal can later a barrel's "unique" markings in a matter of seconds.

& this notion of matching a projectile to a barrel is further nullified when dealing with shotguns, which with a few exceptions, have no rifling at all to make a mark & typically fire shot (many projectiles) in a protective plastic cup.

Ballistic fingerprinting is completely erroneous, except as an example of how unscrupulous or ignorant politicians will use junk science to further a prejudicial goal.

Professor Jennifer L. Mnookin's article is an excellent response to those who keep insisting that ballistic fingerprinting is as accurate as biometric fingerprinting. They may in fact even be correct. Ballistic fingerprinting may be as accurate as biometric fingerprinting in certain cases. They just don't realize that those cases would be where biometric fingerprinting is as accurate as the witch dunking test abandoned in the 17th century.





Thursday, February 05, 2004


A meme is floating around that asks 5 questions of a blogger. I first happened upon it over at Walter In Denver's blog. It's more or less a short interview initiated at the request of the interviewed party. I'll post the rules to this at the bottom.

Walter was gracious enough to ask me 5 questions & here are the answers:

1. If you could choose either a) modern America or b)a new country that
completely bans guns but has no taxes or other restrictions on civil
liberties, which would you take?


Modern America. Not that I'm particularly happy with the way things are & seem to be headed, but it is inevitable that a disarmed populace will be subjected. So while this gunless utopia may seem cool now, odds are it won't stay that way for long & the people won't have the means to resist forceful degradation of their Rights.

2. Where is your favorite camp site in Colorado?

I haven't actually had a chance to camp since I've been out here, but there's a spot I have my eye on near where I go turkey hunting. So forgive me if I can't disclose the exact location. It's around the wet mountains of the Sangre de Cristo range.

3. Is there anyone currently in the State Lege who would make a good US
congresscritter?


I would say Marilyn Musgrave, but she's already made the jump from state to federal politics.
I have little experience with the Colorado legislature, aside from the form letters I get when I write my reps. So I can tell you more than a few who shouldn't be public servants (especially since they don't act like public servants now) but the only current Colorado congresscritter I could say might be an o.k. federal congresscritter is Greg Brophy. I say this with some reservation since I don't know much about his stance on other issues, but anyone who introduces a bill to make concealed carry without a permit legal is probably closer to being a good guy than a bad one.

4. What's an appropriate prison term for the average member of
congress?


Well, I think prison might be the wrong punishment. Lately I'm thinking more & more that the "tarred & feathered" approach was abandoned way too early.
But to answer the question let's say 1 year for every vote for an unconstitutional law, & 1 year for every vote against a repeal of a constitutional law. So a life sentence in most cases.

5. What music do you listen to which would suprise people if they knew,
i.e. disco?


Yep - disco. Earth Wind & Fire did some technically impressive stuff. I listen to Funk as well as Light jazz, R&B; (old & new), Country, Blues, Classical, Reggae & a few other genres. But perhaps the most surprising is Beach Music. No, not Jan & Dean. Beach Music. You know - music to Shag to. That good ol' beer drinking music. (even though I don't drink beer - I'm more partial to Bourbon, Amaretto & other fine spirits.) This probably comes from spending too many years playing in beach bands on the country club circuit in the south. It grows on ya after a while.

Thanks to Walter in Denver for taking the time to ask 5 questions.

THE RULES

1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3. You'll update your blog with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. You'll include this explanation.
5. You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.



The Denver Post has once again, through its editorial section, proven that it is of less value than a used roll of Charmin for any of your paper product needs.

They want to stop the "Wild West" bill that would allow people in Colorado to not have to beg for permission & pay fees to exercise a Right.

The bill is to be heard in a house committee next week.

"Rep. Greg Brophy's attempt to turn Colorado streets into the gun-slinging Old West will only jeopardize the rights of responsible gun owners."

The rest of the article goes along those same lines.

All I can really say is that when the revolution comes I hope those statist worshipping bastards at the Denver Post think their names will be on the list of friends of the people.

It's really just becoming too damn easy to fisk assholes such as those who hide behind the name of the editorial board of the Denver Post*. I just don't have the heart (well, time actually - I always have the heart to correct this kind of erroneous BS) to do it right now.

Tell ya what: any of y'all care to fisk this article send it to me & I'll post it here (depending upon quality of course). Just try to keep it clean.


Now one thing about this bill: it ain't just the idiocy at tyhe Denver Post we have to contend with. Odds are the NRA's state affiliate (The Colorado State Shooting Association) will oppose it as well. The reasons are long & complex but here's the simple version of the plan (This would apply concerning the bill to almost double the hunting & fishing license fees as well):

Write letters to the editor, talk to your neighbors, etc... but do something a bit more difficult. Instead of just threatening your congresscritter to note vote for him if he votes the wrong way, you have to call your por-gun org & tell them in no uncertain terms if they don't back up your Rights on these issues no amount of justification, excuses or other forms of BS will get you to continue being a member. Any org, & I don't care what their reputation is, that will oppose a Vermont-style CCW law &/or support jacking up hunting costs by over 66% is not an org whose association you'll miss in life.

The hard part is following through. If any org you belong to tries to back out, compromise, or generally seel you down the river for their own gain, leave the bastards. Resign your membership even if it expires next week, explain why, explain why yet again every time they call you asking for donations or membership renewal & most importantly tell them nothing will alter your disgust with them short of them delivering Vermont-style CCW & a decrease in hunting fees.

It's tough cause we not only have to fight the anti's, but we have to fight the groups that claim to be on our side. Hell, I'd feel better being backed by the French.

More on all of this as I can get to it.

* The names of those statist worshipping bastards on the editorial board of the Denver Post are:

William Dean Singleton, chairman and publisher;
Bob Ewegen, deputy editorial page editor;
Todd Engdahl, assistant editorial page editor;
Peter G. Chronis, Angela Cortez, Dan Haley and Penelope Purdy , editorial writers;
Mike Keefe, cartoonist;
Barbara Ellis, news editors;
Fred Brown and Barrie Hartman, associate members.

Please remember that the next time one of them walks into your space to do some business. Smile when you tell them to get the hell out cause you don't trade with vermin who'd have us all on all fours like common beasts. (feel fre to insert your own colloquialisms though).



Unfortunately I'm still pressed for time, but this post & the one that follows will be about virtually self fisking subjects.

First of all Sen. Feinstein has done the unthinkable; she's added a rider to the firearms manufacturers immunity bill. The rider, which can be viewed here, will make the "assault weapons" ban permanent, along with a provision banning the import of "high" capacity magazines. Now from what I understand the rider is not definitively attached, but it has 12 co-sponsors so far & odds are it'd get approved by the Senate.

No big surprise. The real question is will the NRA withdraw support from this bill if the rider isn't removed or will they compromise away our rights for another political feather in their cap?

Bug 'em about doing the right thing, & drop a dime to your senators as well. Least that way you can say you've tried.

But the way things are looking, the NRA will probably continue to support the bill despite the rider & try to make excuses to us about having a tough choice or that the AWB would have been renewed anyway.






Monday, February 02, 2004


If you're living in Colorado there's a couple of things that you should know about.

The first is that the Colorado Department of Wildlife wants to increase fees for resident hunting & fishing licenses. & they've convinced a legislator to introduce a bill in the house that would do just that. Initially they were going for a 100% increase of most fess, but realized that would tick off a lot of people, so they dropped it to a 66% increase for some fees in an amended form of the bill.

What's worse is that the premise for this is that the DOW feels that it's underselling its "resource" & thereby not making as much profit as possible. Now this is a fine thing for a private business dealing with privately owned property, but in effect they're saying that the government owns the wildlife & will charge what it wishes for it. It's been recommended to proceed to the House for a vote.

They're also a bill that would decriminalize unlicensed concealed carry. It seems to be similar to Alaska's recently passed law in that it would leave the permit system in place for those who wish to carry in states that honor Colorado's CCW permits but would not require a person to have a permit to carry concealed in Colorado. It's been assigned to the States, Veterans & Military Affairs committee of the House. Here's a summary of the bill from Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.

There are some other bills, such as one to get rid of the database of CCW holders & another to remove the SS# requirement for hunting & fishing licenses. You can find info on all the pertinent firearms related legislation here courtesy of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners.

I'll try to have more on these a bit later on, but in the meantime call your Reps & Senators & make sure they know how you want them to vote on these bills.



Sunday, January 25, 2004


My posting has been sporadic & will probably continue to be so for a short while. I regret this as this blog has helped me feel like I've been doing something (albeit a very little something) good for the cause. So I offer my apologies to those who stop by regularly & are dissappointed at the lack of recent posts.

It was a year ago today that this blog started. Not the most impressive first posts on the net, but hey- we all gotta start someplace. I would prefer you remember some other posts from the first few weeks & I'll list them at the bottom of this post.

I had envisioned this as a group blog, not a solo project. & in fact I have two co-bloggers. One is a friend from the G&A; 2nd Amendment Forum named Mark, the other is a very talented writer named Nicki. Mark has only been able to post once (due to a very busy life) but he was the one who turned me on to blogs & told me where to look to set this one up. Hopefully he'll get hold of more free time & when he does you'll be treated to a very insightful perspective concerning all things gun. Nicki has written for the NRA & Armed Females of America. She's another one with a busy life but her posts have been insightful & a much welcome addition.

I would also be remiss in not mentioning Jeff, Rachel, Kevin, Jen, Matt, Uncle & Miss Annika (to name a few) who helped promote this blog & who may have actually stopped by to read it once or twice.

& special thanks to Jen for being the first commentor & Gunner for being the most frequent.

So thanks to all of you who have stopped by &/or commented &/or linked to Publicola in the last year. It's been a slow start to 2004 but posting will pick up. Although I sincerely hope that within the year there won't be a need for blogs such as ours & we can revert back to talking about more pleasant issues. (hey- it's possible. Unlikely as hell, but possible.)



Reasons against CCW permits From February 03, 2003

Concealed carry & prior restraint: why it's not like shouting fire in a crowded theater From February 16, 2003

Fuddite From February 17th, 2003

Rights are Absolute From March 9th, 2003

Colorado's new CCW vs. Colorado's old CCW vs. Colorado's proposed but tabled CCW From April 03, 2003

The Means, Knowledge & Will to Resist From April 10, 2003

From the co-bloggers:

On the Illinois Democrats' issuance of a call for the ban of the .500 S & W Magnum revolver By Mark From February 20, 2003

Dissent at the G&A; board will not be tolerated By Nicki From November 03, 2003

Allison Brown converts By Nicki From November 12, 2003

There are some really scary people among the enemies of freedom By Nicki From November 26, 2003

A New Study Says Gun Laws do Not Reduce Criminal Violence By Nicki From November 30, 2003

The Travesty of Justice Continues in Florida By Nicki From December 04, 2003

Florida citizens have some strong words for the tyrannical bureaucrats who continue to victimize Melvin Spaulding By Nicki From December 04, 2003

Reaction to Peter Mancus' Reflections Upon the U.S. Supreme Court's Rejection of Silveira By Nicki From December 04, 2003



Wednesday, January 21, 2004


I missed the State of the Union speech last night, but thanks to Spoons & many others I think I've gotten the gist of it.

Of interest was the following from Bush:

"There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."

Hmm. So he says the U.S. does not need permission slips to defend itself yet in this very nation U.S. citizens need & often do not receive permission slips to defend themselves, their families & communities. D.C., NYC, & Chicago come to mind, as do national parks & airports. Odds are this irony completely slipped by his speech writers, and was apperently missed by Bush himself.

Via The Volokh Conspiracy I found a link to a post on the Constitutional nature of the State of the Union Address. No permalinks as Mayerblog seems to be brand new, so scroll down to the post from January 20th entitled The Unconstitutional State of the Union Address. Give it a read.





Sunday, January 18, 2004


Now this is funny. In this thread from The High Road a rather amusing story about a pro-Kucinich website unfolds. The website original used this picture entitled "Guns Kill" (found at the top of the article) to emphasize Kucinich's willingness to "save the children" from unregulated gun violance. It was found about halfway down the page underneath yje "On Gun Control" section next to a link that explained how Kucinich had voted "no" on a bill reducing the NICS waiting period for guns show purchases to a maximum of 24 hours. The link carries you here where you'll find out more in depth about Kucinich's stance on gun control. (Please note it states that Kucinich is in favor of "Renew[ing] the ban on the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns.")

In any case, the picture that was linked to was from a pro-Right to Arms site & was used to denounce the picture & its intent, whereas the pro-Kucinich site intended it to stress the need for gun control. The pro-Right to Arms site wasn't too happy when they discovered that the pro-Kucinich site hijacked their pic, so they made a little switch. Here's the pro-Right to Arms site's explanation of event, along with the original pic & their replacement.

BTW, the pro-Right to Arms site is called Orange County Shooters.com, & that'd be Orange County, New York. While I was there I found this link which is guaranteed to make every gun owner drool.

There's another graphic in the "On Gun Control" section which also appears to be a replacement of the one originally used. It's next to a link that leads to a page that talks up an effort for Dean to get an NRA endorsement. I believe the original graphic was an NRA logo that was swiped from another pro-Right to Arms site; Students for the Second Amendment.

Here's a Yahoo cache of the website which has a slightly different graphic than the one currently replacing the NRA logo.

Ah, going back it appears they replaced the first replacement graphic with something less profane. Those crazy kids.

The pro-Kucinich website operators haven't seemed to notice the switch in graphics. & judging from their original intent they haven't noticed that pro-gun control is not how the Democrats are wanting to spin things, as it can lead to lost elections.

Hope y'all find all this as amusing as I did, & I hope the pro-Kucinich website's webmaster has other accounts as I think he'll lose this one. Once they figure things out that is.

Update: The guys at the pro-Kucinich site have figured things out & replaced the linked graphics with ones embedded on their site. (Do I get bonus points for using the word "embedded"?)

However the link above to the Yahoo cache of their page still displays the switched graphics as does this link to a screen capture of the page provided generously by The Patriette in her post about said events.



Sunday, January 11, 2004


In Ohio they've passed a Shall Issue Concealed Carry Permit law. I'm no fan of CCW. It takes what should be an unfettered Right & reduces it to the legal status of privilege. For more on my problems with CCW laws, even Shall Issue, please look here, as well as here & here.

The full text (& I mean "full") of Ohio's CCW law may be found here.
Of particular instance is something stated at the end of the law on page 138 & 139:

"Section 6. In amending sections 1547.69, 2911.21, 2921.13,
2923.12, 2923.121, 2923.123, 2923.13, 2923.16, 2953.32, and
4749.10 of the Revised Code and in enacting sections 109.69,
109.731, 311.41, 311.42, and 2923.124 to 2923.1213 of the Revised
Code in this act, the General Assembly hereby declares its intent
to recognize both of the following:
(A) The inalienable and fundamental right of an individual to
defend the individual's person and the members of the individual's
family;
(B) The fact that the right described in division (A) of this
section predates the adoption of the United States Constitution,
the adoption of the Ohio Constitution, and the enactment of all
statutory laws by the General Assembly and may not be infringed by
any enactment of the General Assembly."


It further states:

"Section 7. In enacting sections 109.69, 109.731, 311.41,
311.42, and 2923.124 to 2923.1213 of the Revised Code in this act
and in amending sections 1547.69, 2911.21, 2921.13, 2923.12,
2923.121, 2923.123, 2923.13, 2923.16, 2953.32, and 4749.10 of the
Revised Code in this act relative to licenses to carry a concealed
handgun, the General Assembly hereby declares that it is not its
intent to declare or otherwise give the impression that, prior to
the effective date of this act, an individual did not have an inalienable and fundamental right, or a right under the Ohio
Constitution or the United States Constitution, to carry a
concealed handgun or other firearm for the defense of the
individual's person or a member of the individual's family while
engaged in lawful activity. Further, the General Assembly declares
that it is not its intent to invalidate any prior convictions for
violating any section of the Revised Code or a municipal ordinance
prior to the effective date of this act or to prevent the
prosecution of any violation committed prior to the effective date
of this act."


So it states that defense of self & others is an inalienable, fundamental Right, & that while it is not claiming that the Right to carry a weapon concealed was not inalienable & inherent prior to this law, neither is it claiming that any convictions for carrying concealed were in violation of that Right!

In other words, Ohio has said that self defense & the defense of others is a Right that they cannot touch, & that carrying concealed is an extention of that Right, but they're not going to correct errors made in prosecuting someone for simply exercising a Right!

This is all beside the point that a law requiring a permit to exercise a Right is repugnant to the whole concept of natural inherent Rights, & if they can concede that self defense & carrying arms are in fact Rights which pre-date the respective applicable constitutions, they should also concede that no permit is, has been or should be required merely to exercise an existing fundamental Right.

Regardless of my problems with CCW laws, there is something else in Ohio's law that is particularly nasty: at the request of the governor & the Ohio police unions, the names & addresses of Ohio CCW permit holders will be made public on request to journalists (actually this is a compromise as initially the idea was to have the names & other info about CCW permit holders available to anyone). & we all know how fair & objectively the press have treated self defense issues, particularly those involving firearms in the past. & we'd expect more of the same in the future.
In any event the practical ramifications should not take a back seat to the principled one: a person should not have his name subject to public information searches merely because he/she wishes to defend his/herself.

Here is the relevant language from page 69 of the Ohio CCW law:

(2) Upon a written request made to a sheriff and signed by a
journalist on or after the effective date of this section, the
sheriff shall disclose to the journalist the name, county of
residence, and date of birth of each person to whom the sheriff
has issued a license or replacement license to carry a concealed
handgun, renewed a license to carry a concealed handgun, or issued
a temporary emergency license or replacement temporary emergency
license to carry a concealed handgun under section 2923.125 or
2923.1213 of the Revised Code. The request shall include the
journalist's name and title, shall include the name and address of
the journalist's employer, and shall state that disclosure of the
information sought would be in the public interest.
As used in division (B)(2) of this section, "journalist"
means a person engaged in, connected with, or employed by any news
medium, including a newspaper, magazine, press association, news
agency, or wire service, a radio or television station, or a
similar medium, for the purpose of gathering, processing,
transmitting, compiling, editing, or disseminating information for
the general public."


An Ohio newspaper, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, has threatened to publish the names of all who receive concealed carry permits.

"It is this newspaper's intention to obtain this information and publish it. Our readers deserve to know the identities of those who obtain permits to carry their guns in public. We hope other news organizations will do the same in their communities." - From The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

To counter this KeepAndBearArms.com has decided to publish the names, addresses & home phone numbers of every person working at said newspaper when they start publishing the names of CCW permit holders. What makes things even more interesting is that Ravenwood as well as The Smallest Minority have decided a preemptive strike is called for.

On the links to their respective blogs you'll find the following:

I say, why wait. Lets start at the top. The Editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is Douglas Clifton. Here is his address and telephone number:
Douglas Clifton
19 Shoreby Dr
Cleveland, OH 44108-1161
Tel.: (216) 761-6577

Here is his bio. For a map to his home, click here.


& since the Cleveland Plain Dealer has urged all other Ohio newspapers to publish information about people who wish only to protect themselves, I would urge all bloggers & any others with a web site to publish the names & information of all on the Cleveland Plain Dealer's staff as well as any other newspaper which follows the Cleveland Plain Dealer's advice. Needless to say if you're in Ohio I'd also suggest dropping nay subscriptions to such "newspapers" after explaining why.

But thanks to KeepAndBearArms.com, Ravenwood & The Smallest Minority for being on top of this. & thanks to Clayton Cramer for having a link to the text of the Ohio CCW law.


A Vermont town wants to secede. Secession is not a new concept in the world, nor was it confined to the Southern States in America in the mid-19th century. In fact there are several secessionist movements in the U.S. today. What is notable is that since the War of North'en Aggression the "question" of secession was presumed to have been settled by the force of the federal government. Of course I find this erroneous just as most people would find that because someone is stornger than another that person is not in fact stealing when he takes the weaker person's possessions by force. Here's an earlier post I did on secession & some reasons why it's still a legitimate idea.

Getting back to this particular case, we find that the source of the discontent with Killington is that Vermont seems to be taxing the town as if it were just another revenue source, thus causing their desire to secede & ally themselves with New Hampshire which lacks the taxation they find so burdensome.

Of course the town is drawing parallels to the various taxing measures brought about in the colonies by Great Britain in the mid-18th century.

"It kind of reminds us of Colonial days,' Town Manager David Lewis said Thursday. 'The Colonies were being faced with the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Sugar Act. England wasn't giving them any rights. They were treating the Colonies as just a revenue source."

So perhaps it's understandable why they wish to leave Vermont. They plan to put the issue of secession before the townspeople in the March elections.

But in steps Vermont:

"Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said Killington has little chance of secession 'absent an armed insurrection type of thing. ... A town is a construction of the state and exists at the pleasure of the Legislature."

A town exists at the pleasure of the state? If Killington's desire to leave Vermont garnered little sympathy before I'd assume that statements such as that would cause a change of heart. A town is an organization of communities that have bonded together for their common interests, usually bigger than a village but smaller than a city.

From Merriam Webster we find a unique definition as pertaining to New England:

"6 : a New England territorial and political unit usually containing under a single town government both rural areas and urban areas not having their own charter of incorporation; also : a New England community governed by a town meeting"

I have seen nothing that would define a town as a place, unit or organization that is constructed by & for the state. To suggest that is very insulting to the town in question, & should be taken as offensive by all towns within that state.

So if Killington wishes to leave Vermont, I see no reason why it should not. & if Vermont's Secretary of State has an attitude typical of Vermont's governing body, then I can hardly blame them, nor could I fault Killington if an armed insurrection were the course they had to pursue to achieve it. I would even go so far as to offer any assitance possible to Killington, not so much because I agree with the specific issues they have, but because if a community wishes to shatter the political bonds that they feel are no longer beneficial, then that is their Right.

Odds are though that the Secretary of State's insults will be overlooked by most people & Vermont will strong arm any thoughts of secession out of the townsfolk of Killington. Hopefully I'll be mistaken, but chances of Killington actually seceding are slim, despite the townsfolk's wishes.



End The War On Freedom reports of a man who seems to have received less than a fair trial in a tax evasion case. What's worse is that after the miscarraige of justice that the judge attempted to pass off as a trial, the man was convicted of 29 counts.

USDC Judge John McBryde & Assistant US Attorney Jarvis are the ones who should have been on trial. Fortunately an appeal is planned & barring any prejudice on the courts part should be succesful.

Here's an account of the trial so y'all can decide for yourself.


Thursday, January 08, 2004


Just added some more folks to the ol' blogroll. Of particular note is the link entitled "North State Blogs". Nope, it ain't a group of Yankees. This is a link to a group of bloggers that come from or live in North Carolina. Ya see, North Carolina was called "the Old North State" way back when & it's still something taught in the local schools. I wonder if they're still teaching about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence? Hopefully at least in Mecklenburg County, but who knows the way the government schools are nowadays.

So in honor of that (& because I'm feeling kindly homesick) I offer you the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independance in it's entirety

"1. That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted or in any way, form or manner countenanced to unchartered & dangerous invasion of our rights as claimed by G. Britain is an enemy to this County - to America & to the inherent & inaliable rights of man.

2. We the Citizens of Mecklenburg County do hereby desolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother Country & hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown & abjure all political connection, contract or association with that nation who have wantonly trampled on our rights & liberties & inhumanely shed the innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington.

3. We do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people - are & of right ought to be a sovereign & self-governing association, under the controul of no power other than that of our God & the general government of the congress, to the maintainence of which independence civil & religious we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation, our lives, our fortunes & our most sacred honor.

4. As we now acknowledge the existence & controul of no law or legal officers, civil or military, within this County, we do hereby ordain & adopt as a rule of life, all, each & every of our former laws - wherein nevertheless the crown of great britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority therein.

5. It is also further decreed that all, each & every military officer in this County is hereby reinstated in his former command & authority, he acting conformably to these regulations. And that every member present of this delegation shall henceforth be a civil officer, viz. a Justice of the peace in the character of a 'Committee-man' to issue process, hear & determine all matters of controversy according to sd. adopted laws - to preserve peace, union & harmony in sd. County & to use every exertion to spread the love of country & fire of freedom throughout America until a more general & organized government be established in this province. A selection from the members present shall constitute a Committee of public safety for sd. County.

6. That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted by express to the President of the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, to be laid before that body.

Ephraim Brevard
Hezekiah J. Balch
John Phifer
James Harris
William Kennon
John Foard
Richard Barry
Henry Downs
Ezra Alexander
Charles Alexander
Zaccheus Wilson
Waightstill Avery
Benjamin Patton
Matthew McClure
Neil Morrison
Robert Irwin
John Flennegin
David Reese
William Graham
John Queary
Hezekiah Alexander
Adam Alexander
John Davidson
Richard Harris
Thomas Polk
Abraham Alexander
John McKnitt Alexander"


& so as not to be without thoroughness in the matter, here's a link to the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 31rst 1775.

Ya see, when Mecklenburg County of North Carolina declared her independence from Great Britain, that effectively nullified every law in place at the time. But the declaration also adopted all former laws. what was lacking was a system of enforcement since all ties to the crown (including constables) had been severed. So the Resolves were necessary to create some kind of system of enforcing order.

I will repeat a few sections of the Resolves:

"4. That the Inhabitants of this County do meet on a certain Day appointed by this Committee, and having formed themselves into nine Companies, to wit, eight for the County and one for the Town of Charlotte, do choose a Colonel, and other military Officers, who shall hold and exercise their several Powers by Virtue of this Choice, and independent of Great-Britain, and former Constitution of this Province."

"19. That the several Militia companies in this county do provide themselves with proper arms and accoutrements, and hold themselves in constant Readiness to execute the commands and Directions of the Provincial Congress, and of this committee."

"20. That this committee do appoint Colonel Thomas Polk, and Doctor Joseph Kennedy, to purchase 300 lb. of Powder, 600 lb. of Lead, and 1000 Flints; and deposit the same in some safe place, hereafter to be appointed by the committee."

Now there is some debate as to whether or not the Mecklenburg Declaration existed. As I remember hearing it one Captain James Jack arrived in Philedelphia on June 3rd, 1775 with the purpose of informing the Second Continental Congress of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. But Captain Jack does not. The most credible speculation I've heard for his not mentioning the mecklenburg declaration is that he was afraid it would nto be received well in Congress, since they were still contemplating peace with Great britain & the wording of said declaration was fairly hostile.

But what is not in dispute is the Mecklenburg Resolves. It never crossed my mind until I re-read them a few minutes ago, but it does seem to indicate that the militia was to provide its own arms doesn't it? It provides for a general purchase of powder, shot & flint by the militia as a whole, but it seems to state that the arms are to come from the militia members themselves.

Not that this is conclusive, but it does question the idea that arms were provided for the militia by the state (or county in this case). Or more accurately, it adds more evidence against the idea that militias of the time were not privately armed.

In any event, this is the end of my reminiscing about home & its history. Please check the blogroll as there are several new blogs (new to me at least) over there. Not all are in line with my politics, but the writing & discussions offered are good enough that this isn't an issue. & check out the North State Blogs link, as it has some very well written blogs from what I've seen so far.



Monday, January 05, 2004


This will be a brief post. I plan on elaborating on it, but time constraints prevent that for now.

This thread at The High Road (mentioned below in this post about Mr. Jordan's plight) we find an interesting discussion.

You have people expressing resentment at Mr. Jordan's situation as you'd expect. But you also have something else that is not uncommon; people condemning Mr. Jordan out of hand because he broke the law.

It ranges from berating Mr. Jordan's intelligence to justifying the idea that even unjust laws should be obeyed until they are repealed. You also have those who are worried that Mr. Jordan's actions will reflect badly on the pro-gun community & those that think concealed carry laws themselves are acceptable & thus Mr. Jordan is nothing more than a common criminal.

There are also those who take these fools to task for their erreneous logic & conclusions, myself being one of them.

So if you're looking for an interesting interactive discussion, then mosey on over there & give it a read. Just don't say I didn't warn ya about what some posters are saying. Oh, & please remove any breakable objects from arms reach. Better make that two arm lengths if your last name rhymes with Bu Poit.


Lest I delay mentioning it any longer, a gentleman in Ohio needs your help.

Mr. Jeff Jordan of New Hampshire was traveling through Ohio. A state trooper claims he was speeding & pulled him over. Mr. Jordan was then searched because the trooper claims he saw a magazine pouch on Mr. Jordan's belt. Mr Jordan was arrested after it was discovered that he was wearing concealed weapons.

Naturally the press moved in to make Mr/Jordan out to be some sort of arsenal carrying extremist.

In Ohio the law is funny. If you have a weapon in the car it's a misdemeanor, but if the weapon is concealed on your person then it's a felony. Mr. Jordan is facing 2 counts of felony concealed carry.

Needless to say if he is convicted it will be bad for him, for according to federal law any conviction that could result in more than one year of incarciration disqualifies one from legal firearms possession, even if a sentence of less than a year was given.

But if Mr. Jordan wins then there's hope that the law in question which violates the U.S. & Ohio constitutions repsectively will be removed.

I won't try to decieve you: Mr. Jordan did not do this in order to challeneg Ohio's concealed carry law. He simply ignored a law that interfered with his Right to Arms. But don't let that stop you from helping him out if you are able. Despite this not being purposeful, it could still be helpful to those in Ohio & possibly those in other states. At the very least winning the case would help out Mr. Jordan, who was merely possessing the means of defense.

BTW, Mr. Jordan is known as Hunter over at The Liberty Round Table. while not a blogger Mr. Jordan is apperently a pro-Right to Arms activist with an online presence.

For more on this I refer you to this post, this post & this post (as well as a few in between) at End The War On Freedom, this post over at Musings of a Geek With A .45, & this thread at The High Road.


Donations to Mr. Jordan's legal defense can be made through

Keep And Bear Arms PMB # 141
15201 N Cleveland Ave.
North Fort Myers, FL 33903-2715
(239) 560-7566

(Checks should be made out to KeepAndBearArms.com, with a note in the memo field or attached letter stating that they are for "Hunter's Defense".)

KeepAndBearArms.com has said it will create a web page for donations & I'll update this when their page for said donations is up & running.



Fayetville Online writes a press release for the face of gun control in this country: the BATF.

"A timely phone call delivered the break lawmen needed."

The only break the BATF needs is a permanent one. Besides, calling them lawmen is like calling Satan an option provider.

"A man suspected of selling guns to drug dealers called a Fayetteville pawnshop while federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were there investigating a case. An employee tipped agents that the caller might be one of the men they were asking about."

Uh-huh.

"The man, who called himself Mike, said he wanted to buy some pistols the next day - May 22, 2003.
Agent Rick Samples got on the phone posing as a pawnshop employee and convinced Mike to come in that day. Samples sold four guns to the man, whose real name is Reginald Paul Currie."


So Agent Samples sold guns contrary to the law. But as usual the BATF are not restricted by the same laws they would enforce upon us peasants.

"Joe Lenczyk, the agent-in- charge of the Fayetteville ATF office, arrested Currie when he stepped outside.
'It was beautiful,' Samples said."


Hmm, I wonder how many Sicherheitspolizei commented on how "beautiful" the Kristallnacht was?

So Agent Samples thinks it's a beautiful thing that he causes a man's arrest through enforcing an unconstitutional law while enjoying immunity from said law himself. That's typical of the hypocrisy inherent in a special class of citizen.

"The case was one of the biggest in the ATF's continuing effort to stop the pipeline of guns from Fayetteville to New York drug dealers."

Wait. Hold up. Are they implying that despite NYC's draconian gun laws that those they deem criminals are still acquiring arms?
The most effective way to stop this "pipeline of guns" is to legalize their sale in NYC & stop illegally restricting sales in the rest of the state.

"Lenczyk said the men bought 32 guns at Fayetteville pawnshops, took them to New York City and sold them to middlemen.
The brokers sold them to Dominican drug dealers, Lenczyk said."


Well I can't really blame them. The prohibition against purchasing Arms in NYC has really driven the prices up & made the black market much more lucrative than it'd otherwise be. Funny how prohibition always seems to do that.

"U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft highlighted the Smith case during remarks he made in December about gun crime prosecutions."

Too bad he didn't read the bloody Constitution before he went around braggin that he was vigorously enforcing unconstitutional laws.

"The practice, called straw purchasing, is illegal, relatively easy and lucrative, Samples said."

Of course Agent Sample, being the good little NAZI he is fails to mention that the law against straw purchases is itself illegal, being it conflicts with the Constitution. But why on earth would he jeopardize his job security for the sake of honesty?

& it's easy as hell. In fact in some places it's so easy that most people don't realize they're doing it. They buy a lever action for their Great Uncle or an elderly relative & instantly they're felons.

& of course it's lucrative. The Feds created a lucrative market every time they outlawed a firearm, why would it be any different because a state or city does it?

"Guns are bought in bulk and usually cost $130 to $150. They sell on the streets for $500 to $700, Samples said."

Ayup. Although the numbers seem a bit off. It's probably closer to $200 - $250 per pistol they buy & $300 on the street when they sell. Again, this is because of gun control laws that prohibit free market trade.

"Gun dealers are required to notify authorities when they suspect someone is buying guns illegally, but often don't, he said.
'We do get notification on occasion,' Lenczyk said, 'but not as often as we like.'
'There are some (dealers) that are openly cooperative and some that are reluctantly cooperative,' he said."


Of course he doesn't get as much notification as he'd like. Ideally he'd sit on his ass while every person in his jurisdiction was spying on their neighbors to inform him the second they saw any potential gun crime.

& of course dealers often don't notify the BATF. First of all this is the agency that has dominion over who gets to sell guns & who doesn't. They can walk in & inspect a store at anytime during business hours (at least once a year) without a warrant & generally they have a reputation of making life hell for people who are just trying to make a living while following their bullshit regulations. Not to different than a Sicherheitspolizei bitching because not everyone is calling them to inform on Jews.

Additionally, think about it: a straw purchaser walks into a store, purchases a firearm & then hands it over to someone else. How the hell can you tell? Outside of the nervous, firearms ignorant type how exactly can a firearms dealer determine who is purchasing for themselves & who is purchasing for someone else? Yet Agent Samples would have you believe it's simply a willful refusal to comply that prevents dealers from reporting straw purchasers.

"Gun runners have high status among drug traffickers, the agents said. 'It's done for profit, power and prestige,; Lenczyk said"

Ya know what? If I was in a place where my Right to Arms was as disrespected as NY or NJ, I'd look to gun runners with high esteem my damn self. But note how throughout the article they constantly refer to these gun runners customers as consisting solely of drug dealers. That's a little bit disingenuous considering how many people in NYC are arrested every year for no other reason than they possess an unregistered firearm.

"Tougher gun laws in other states and criminals who can't buy guns legally because of felony convictions make for a lucrative market, especially in large cities."

Keep in mind it's not just violent felons, but any person convicted of a crime that carries a potential sentence of more than one year in prison, as well as those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors. Lord only knows how low the mark will be in ten years at the rate they keep passing unconstitutional gun laws.

But as I've said before, this is merely another example of how government regulation & prohibitions create a black market that's more lucrative than the government sanctioned one. You have restricted classes of people as well as restricted areas when it comes to gun possession or purchase, therefore the market will provide.

"The Fayetteville ATF office makes more arrests than any other ATF office in the Carolinas, Lenczyk said. Twelve agents and one lawman each from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office and Lumberton and Fayetteville police departments investigate gun-related and other crimes in 14 counties in eastern and central North Carolina."

& they seem proud of that? An agency makes more arrest based on unconstitutional laws than any other in the state & they think that's something to be proud of? What's worse is that the local cops are complicit in this slap in the face to the Bill of Rights.

"Illegal gun trafficking causes more crime and violence wherever the guns land, Lenczyk said.
'A bad guy on the street, ... he's looking for a reason to use that gun."


No, violent criminals cause more violence. "illegal" gun trafficking does not cause violence, just as "legal" gun trafficking does not cause violence.

Further the majority of gun crimes the BATF persecutes people for is of the non-violent nature. That means the record number of busts this office makes is comprised of mainly technical violations, such as mere possession, or buying/selling w/o the appropriate permits.

So again like the Sicherheitspolizei they make arrests because a person's "papers are not in order". This is the majority, perhaps the vast majority, of cases they pursue. Remember, they're a tax agency. (Yes, I'm aware they've been transferred to the Dept. Of Justice, but their main job is to enforce the NFA of '34 & certain provisions of the GCA of '68 which are primarily disguised as tax laws.)

& I'm sure I'd disagree with Agent Lenczyk's definition of "bad guy on the street". To him it no doubt would include any person with a non violent intent who exercisies their Right to Arms without the required permission of local, state &/or federal government. To me that would encompass soley those who seek to cause harm through force or the threat of force to someone with just provocation.

"A grant from the U.S. Justice Department will allow Fayetteville police to hire a full-time technician soon to trace the history of every gun involved in a crime in the city and Cumberland County."

Your federal tax dollars going to enforce unconstitutional gun control laws yet again.

"ATF will train the technician, Lenczyk said"

Well at least we know it'll be an inefficient use of your tax dollars then, considering their history of managing another database. The bright side is it will not be a complete research effort, so some gun owners may avoid persecution. The dark side is that some innocent gun owners will likely get tangled up by the BATF's incompetence.

"Samples and Lenczyk said they hope the recent arrests change the belief of some area lawmen that the ATF is interested in snagging, but not sharing, high-profile cases.
'We don't take over local cases,; Lenczyk said. 'We pride ourselves on being the Avis of federal law enforcement. We try harder."


I think certain sheriffs in Idaho & Texas would disagree. But in any case these assholes are proud that they work hard to infringe a person's constitutionally protected Rights?

"The agents also want to dispel what they said is another myth - that illegal gun trafficking is a low-risk business.
Gun runners and felons and drug dealers with guns 'will be found and they will be prosecuted,; Lenczyk said."


I wonder how many Sicherheitspolizei said the same thing about Jews & those who smuggled them in violation of NAZI law?

& I realize I keep comparing the BATF to the Sicherheitspolizei. In a way this is inaccurate as the Sicherheitspolizei were unfortunately very competent despite the evil they assisted & committed. But the comparison is valid in principle; both are enforcing laws that are contrary to the inherent natural Rights of the ones it is enforced against.
& if the BATF wants to keep acting so similar to the Sicherheitspolizei then I say that we citizen should play our role as well. Vive Le Resistance!

To sum up, this Fayetteville Online "story" is nothing more than a fluff piece designed to make people think that the BATF is doing something commendable. In reality they are enforcing the most heinous of the prior restraint based gun control laws on the federal level & each & every one working in the Firearms division should have had several "tar & featherings" by now. They are contemptible, not because they are bad people at heart, but because whether they realize it or not they are accessories to a bad system that does great harm to the people of this country. They should be disbanded as an agency & any employee or ex-employee should be barred from holding any public office or position of public trust. That would include being a flag waver on a government funded road work project.

But perhaps too many years of seeing too many laws that disrespect my Rights have made me a bit too harsh in my condemnation of the BATF. If y'all think they deserve leniency please lemme know.

Now the worst part is these damn revenuers (they're tax agents & that's what we call 'em back home) are occupying my home state! I'm not there presently but it's always sad to see the place you grew up in being occupied by a foreign force. Well, to any of y'all behind the lines (like there are any of us who aren't) Vive Le Resistance!


Wednesday, December 31, 2003


This thread over at Battlerifles.com led me to this story. It's about a family that goes by the surname of Pilgrim.

In summation they moved to Alaska for religious & ideological reasons. They simply wanted to live a very simple life away from the influence of modern society. They Found some land in McCarthy, Alaska & thought they'd found their promised land.

Enter the Federal Government.

The land they purchased is about 14 miles inside a National Park. The National Park Service is harassing them because they attempted to use a bulldozer to maintain the road that leads from their property to the outside world.

The Pilgrim family is trying to go through the proper legal channels. But as it stands now, the only access to their property is by snowmobile, horse & airplane. That's 14 miles by snowmobile, horse or airplane.

Sure, riding snowmobiles & horses is fun. But try it for 14 miles hauling supplies with ya. & planes can get expensive, not to mention a bit risky. One plane has crashed already trying to get supplies to the Pilgrim family.

."A key point of argument was the law that the Pilgrims have learned to pray about: RS 2477, an 1866 mining statute getting new attention as a way for states to claim historic rights of way across federal land.
'It took me so long to memorize those numbers, two four seven seven,' Papa Pilgrim said. The next moment he was describing his case with all the savvy of a veteran land-rights lobbyist.
'I have a whole map of all the 2477s in Alaska,' he said. 'We're simply using what's been here 100 years. This road is a perfect example of a 2477 right of way."


Now the state government of Alaska is generally supportive of having road access into & across federal land. But they aren't doing much on behalf of the Pilgrim family because they feel the use of a bulldozer will generate negative PR & thus the Pilgrims aren't the State's ideal test case

"The Murkowski administration is eager to press its RS 2477 claims with a friendly Bush administration. Unfortunately for the Pilgrims, the state would prefer to establish precedents without generating headlines about bulldozers in national parks.
'I am going to be the last one to argue they shouldn't have the right to go back and forth to their land,' said Murkowski aide Jack Phelps. 'But it's not a good test case for RS 2477, and that's why we've been fairly low key."


But what really should get your attention is the way the NPS has handled things. According to the Pilgrims they were merely maintaining a road that had been in existence for about 100 years. The Park Service claims that their bulldozer wandered off the road in a few places, & that part of their cabin & about an acre of oats was located on National Park land instead of their property. So we have a few things that the Pilgrims may have been in error on. & one would think it would be easily corrected.

Remember though, the NPS is a federal agency & they have a reputation to live up to.

"The Pilgrims might even have gotten a permit to run a bulldozer seasonally up the old road, since any lesser vehicle couldn't make the dozen or more crossings of the boulder-strewn stream, said Sharp, the chief ranger."

Seems here the Park Service is admitting that a bulldozer was a necessity, doesn't it? But like a lot of other necessities they must be government approved.

"Finally this summer, with the Pilgrims still insisting they had needed no permits, the Park Service got tough. Park officials said their patient, nice-guy approach seemed to be encouraging the Pilgrims to break other park regulations."

Well, first of all when the hell did requiring a permit for a necessary activity constitute being nice? Especially when there's a dispute about the legality of requiring said permit?

"Surveyors flown in by the park in June found that two-thirds of the family's cabin was over the five-acre parcel's line -- the kitchen's cookstove was in the national park. The family had also cleared an acre or so of alder to plant oats in what proved to be the park.
The Pilgrims blame Wigger, saying he assured them the buildings were on private property. Wigger says they never asked. He says the lines were always vague, based on long-lost corners, and the house was built on I-beam skids so it could be moved."


Again, this seems like something that could be chalked up to a misunderstanding of the property lines on the Pilgrim family's part. Move the cabin & oat field & the problem would be solved right?

"Ironies multiplied. The federal survey's lines, cut with chain saws, left a highly visible rectangle in the woods of the national park. And with Wigger's bulldozer padlocked, the family had no way to skid their building onto their property."

Well I guess padlocking the bulldozer would make moving the cabin a bit trickier now wouldn't it?

"For two weeks in late August, park biologists and other specialists were helicoptered daily to the Pilgrims' site and followed the old road to assess bulldozer damage and build a civil case against the family, noting particularly where the bulldozer might have strayed off the historic right of way. Armed rangers in bulletproof vests stood nearby to keep the Pilgrim children from meddling with investigators. Both sides wielded video cameras as well. Park officials said that without guards, investigators could never discuss the case in the field because the Pilgrims were always in their midst taking pictures and notes."

Let me repeat part of that last paragraph in case y'all missed it:

"Armed rangers in bulletproof vests stood nearby to keep the Pilgrim children from meddling with investigators. Both sides wielded video cameras as well. Park officials said that without guards, investigators could never discuss the case in the field because the Pilgrims were always in their midst taking pictures and notes."

Armed park rangers to keep the children from taking pictures & notes????

"We've kind of had it. We're not going to back up and go away," Sharp said. "I represent the people of the United States, and I'm going to do my job."

If he represents the people of the United States then I'll gladly renounce my citizenship. He represents the government of the United States, which, sadly to say, is very far removed from the people. Authorizing armed agents to keep children or adults from taking pictures or notes of said agents activities is not something to be proud of. Unless you were in the Hitler Youth program.

"Joseph, 26, was cited for trespassing and vandalism, accused of breaking into the park's mine shaft after rangers chained it shut. He was written up by a ranger who staked out the mine shaft entry from a nearby ridge with binoculars. Joshua, 24, and his mother, Country Rose, were cited for leading a commercial horse trip in the park without a permit or insurance after an undercover agent contracted for a ride. Park officials say the family was warned they needed permits to work in the park, just like other McCarthy businesses."

breaking into a mine shaft on park property may be something legitimate, if the family's claims that it is a historic access point is discredited. But the latter instance sounds more like entrapment to me. Being paid to guide someone through the park on a horse doesn't exactly strike me as something the government should regulate in the first place, but aside from my free market ideas, we're dealing with a relatively poor family & I'd argue that any offer of cash for what they'd feel is a reasonable & lawful activity is not as much an indictment of the Pilgrim family's guilt as it is of the NPS's desire to discredit the family in any way possible.

BTW, if you recall the NPS is a federal agency. Care to guess how much of your tax dollars have gone to their efforts to build a case against the Pligrim family?

"Critics are calling the park's response absurd. They estimate the cost of the investigation, including helicopters and staff time, at $200,000 to $500,000. The park superintendent, Candelaria, acknowledged the cost was in that range."

$200,000 because a family used a bulldozer to maintain a road, an acre of oats was planted in the wrong place & their cabin strayed a few yards off the property line??? Wonder what they charge to prevent a rape?

"The dispute reached the public eye in early summer, with Internet alarms sent out by Kenyon and others over a park plan to dispatch a special team of armed rangers with the surveyors. The park and its critics accused each other publicly of encouraging a "Ruby Ridge" type armed showdown, with children in the line of fire.
The Park Service quickly backed down and sent in the survey team without guards, according to a June 4 park memo, to reduce risk of a confrontation 'being deliberately constructed to serve the narrow interests of some of the citizens of McCarthy and the Hale family."


So they feel that if they sent armed guards to escort a survey team on another persons property, that could be used to serve "narrow interests" of said property owners & residents of the town? I suppose "narrow interests" means anything that the government doesn't approve of or can't get away with?

Concerning the support the Pilgrim family has received:

"They're allies of convenience,' said Sharp, the park ranger. 'I think we have people in this community who hate authority and the government. (The Pilgrims) are the poor pioneers just trying to live in the old-fashioned way. There are people who think you can drive the federal government out of here if you do this just the right way."

He wonders why people hate authority & government? He orders armed escorts for his armed Rangers, entraps the family, fines the family, & prevents them using equipment he states is necessary to travel the road to their property but yet he admits that the Pilgrims are basically good people? Are we to assume that this is the way good people must be dealt with?

"I felt like I was back in the 1800s scouting through hostile Indian territory,' Sharp said."

Ah, we see where his creed for dealing with non-government employed peoples comes from.
He made that statement after explaining that he felt the Pilgrim family members were tracking him & fellow agents. He also seemed a little surprised when he recounted how the Pilgrim family's eldest sons told him to stay off their property.

In summation, what it seems like is the NPS does have a few legitimate issues about the Pilgrim family's activities. However the NPS has a love of authority that is blinding it to the degree of seriousness to take the Pilgrim's actions as well as the appropriate responses.

They're acting like masters, not stewards.

Sadly that's all to common with government agencies - & agents.

Here's a page that has updates on the Pilgrim family's plight.




Monday, December 29, 2003


From this thread over at The High Road I found a link to a survey about gun control that's being conducted by a gentleman from Yale.

From the opening page of the survey:

"Thank you for taking part in this exploratory study on society and current issues! This survey is being used to develop a larger national survey, and it is important that you answer each question carefully. The questions vary widely, and there are now "right" or "wrong" answers. We want your opinion or best guess." (emphasis added)

Of course there's a Right & Wrong answer to these kinds of surveys. Odds are I flunked it. I'd be ashamed of myself if I didn't. :D

If you opt to take the survey, page 3 is where the gun questions crop up. Some of the wording leaves a lot to be desired, such as "As long as criminals, the mentally insane & those that are a danger to themselves are prohibited, would you support a law that allows private citizens to carry a firearm?" (Going from memory - the wording may not be exact, but it's close). Now a lot of people wouldn't want serial killers to own weapons, but criminals could mean jaywalkers as well as murderers. This is a flaw I've found on damn near every survey, so I'm not going to hold ambiguity of questions against them.

But if you have time take the survey. If nothing else it's always interesting to cause a person to alter their research to support their conclusions (assuming rather prejudicially that Yale means the surveyor is pro-gun control), but it might lead someone to discover that not all people are terrified of firearms & better yet it might help this fellow convince his colleagues that firearms aren't as generally feared & despised as they believe.

I'll try to post more on this when/if the results come out.


Glenn Reynolds opines in this post that the "assault weapons" ban will sunset.

I wish he were correct, but it still remains up in the air.

I refer you to this post for some background on the political theories concerning the ban, look at this post for some information on the 100 co-sponsors for the McCarthy-Conyers bill to make permanent & strengthen the "assault weapons" ban, & look at this post for how the Senate & House break down in terms of supporting or opposing gun control bills.

Bottom line is that there are enough votes in the Senate & probably enough votes in the House to pass any version of an extension of the "assault weapons" ban. Veto-proof isn't a concern as Bush promised to sign it into law & Bush always keeps his promises no matter how much it infringes on our Rights (In all fairness I'd have to go back before Roosevelt - not the good Roosevelt; FDR - to find a president who would stand up for the Constitution despite political pressure).

So what it comes down to is whether or not any of the bills that would make permanent & strengthen the "assault weapons" ban will come to a vote. If it does I'm pretty sure it'd pass.

But most people assume it won't come to a vote. This is mainly because of House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) said it wouldn't come up for a vote. This was said in May.

But House Speaker Dennis Hastert )R-Illinois) said a few days later that he hadn't yet decided whether the House would vote on renewing the ban. "'I need to have some discussions with the president and (Republican) leadership before I make that decision" were his words.

So we're by no means out of the woods yet. If Hastert brings any one of the "assault weapons" ban bills to the floor, it's likely to pass. The Senate's a done deal. & Bush will betray us yet again. The courts? Heh. SCOTUS has been ducking direct second amendment questions for almost 54 years. I doubt they'd grow some spine if someone challenged the "assault weapons" ban again.

I wish I could share Prof. Reynolds' optimism, but I fear I know too much about what's going on.

Here's the section of my archives that deal with proposed bans. Most of the stuff from halfway down to the end of that section deals with the "assault weapons" ban & proposals to renew it. It's not going to be an uplifting read, but if you would know all the details (at least all that I could find) feel free to browse. Of course if you see any flaws with my reasoning or know something to be different than I stated it, please drop me a line. I want to be wrong about this.




Sunday, December 28, 2003


In this thread over at The High Road, a rather interesting discussion was getting started. Specifically around page 4 it was becoming more interesting to me, but alas, it deviated too much from the original topic & was locked.

The orginal question was about answering or not answering an LEO's questions at a traffic stop. It morphed however into a discussion of what constitutes legitimate law enforcement (i.e. how can a cop vioate your Rights by merely enforcing the law) & what defines one as "pro-gun".

First let's look at the "pro-gun" definition.

A law enforcement officer made the claim that he was "...as pro-gun as anybody..." while going on to say that there needs to be some gun laws to keep the wrong people from having weapons & cops should not be blamed for enforcing those laws. He seemed a little miffed when i pointed out that he was not in fact pro gun, but simple not as hard core anti as others are.

But here's what I think is a workable definition of "pro-gun": Being oppossed to any prior restraint based gun control laws.

Simple, eh?

Of course that's not very popular as it would exclude those who think that we should enfocre the laws we have. In other words those who think the NFA of 34 &/or any firearm law since then would not fall under my definition of pro-gun. That's simply because they in fact support gun control. So it ticks people off who are not members of the VPC that they wouldn't be considered "pro-gun".

Folks there are varying degress of damn near everything, but generally being "pro" or "anti" means you're either in favor of something or against it. These are two extreme points with most people who label themselves one or the other falling in between. & labels do tend to take on their own meanings over time, especially to those on one side of the issue or the other, but for my purposes & from my perspective I see it as a person either being for gun control or against it, with those who support even minimal gun control as being less than "pro-gun".

& I'm sure there are die hard firearms prohibitionists who see anything less than a desire to confiscate all civilian owned arms as being "pro-gun". But I think that wanting most guns left alone while some are confiscated helps the anti's more than those who want most guns confiscated but some left alone helps us.

That's not to say they're necessarily bad people, or they're our enemies; just they lack either an understanding of the subject or that they are not absolutely on my side all of the time. Sure, they'd help out if an effort was needed to stop a bill that would ban all firearms, but maybe not one that let anyone carry concealed sans permit, or one that made short barreled shotguns legal w/o the extensive paperwork we know have.

Here's an old joke that perhaps illustrates my point:

A man walks up to a woman in a bar. he asks her if she'd sleep with him for $1,000,000. She says yep she would. He then asks if she'd sleep with him for $5. She looks offended & replies, "What kind of girl do you think I am?!?!?". He answers. "Ma'am, we've already established that; now we're bartering".

Similarly those who support prior restraint based gun control laws are offended if you dispute their assertions of being pro-gun. The fact is if you support a little gun control, then what you are is already established. What you're contending is the degree to whcih you are anti-gun. More or less you're attempting to use a relative standard to include yourself in an absolute definition.

But if you do support some gun control laws - fine. I'll argue with you all day long about the effectiveness of said laws, & they're Constitutionality & the degrees to which they violate our Rights. I won't spit on you or otherwise degrade you even if I do disparage your decision. But don't try to tell me you're pro-gun while wanting to infringe upon my Right to Arms.

So what is a good word or phrase to describe those who are not "pro-gun" by my definition but not "anti-gun" by the gun prohibitionists definition?

& I'll try to address the other topics covered in the aforelinked High Road thread at some point soon, as they tie in well with the post I've been thinking about for weeks concerning revolution.




Continue the discussion with Spoons concerning the reversal of the 9th Circuit's decision on waiting times for forced entry when serving a warrant by SCOTUS:

"Your response basically makes three arguments, as I see it. Two of them, I submit, were not relevant in this case. First of all, you object that the warrant in this case was based on an anonymous tip. To my understanding, this was not an issue in this case, and the Defendant was not arguing that the warrant was not supported by probable cause. Correct me if I'm mistaken on that. In any event, obtaining a warrant is not quite as simple as you suppose. When police go before a judge, they have explain in detail, under oath, the nature the facts which they claim give them probable cause. This is what the Fourth Amendment expressly requires. In most cases, an anonymous tip, without more, will not be sufficient to get a warrant. If, on the other hand, the police get information from an informant who has proven reliable in the past, or who is in a position to have specialized knowledge, this will be more persuasive to a judge, and may lead to the issuance of a warrant. In any event, this is the same sort of evidence that has always supported warrants -- going back as long as we've had a Fourth Amendment.

Your second argument is that the Feds don't have the power to make drug posession illegal. That's a more interesting argument, theoretically, but it was NOT an argument at issue in this case. This was a case about execution of search warrants. If you object to all drug prosecutions generally, that's fine. However, given the fact that the Supreme Court is not going to agree with you on that structural question (which the defendant didn't raise and which COULD NOT therefore be addressed by the Court), I think we still want to address the general warrants question honestly, and to create a rule that can apply in all sorts of cases.

So that brings me to the third issue; namely, the length of the wait. You propose:

'Now there are situations where cops busting into someone's house would be acceptable, but they'd be limited to demonstrating a serious & imminent danger to someone's life & limb if they didn't do it. Certain hostage/kidnapping scenarios come to mind, but little else.'

'What I would prefer is that except in those situations where life & limb are threatened by not acting, that cops simply not enter a person’s home without permission irregardless of any warrant. They shouldn't have merely increased their wait time; they should have simply not entered the home until permission was obtained.'

That's a completely unworkable rule. More importantly, it's never been the law in this country. It's not what the Fourth Amendment says, nor what the framers intended. We rightly pillory liberals for making up new rights in the Constitution -- we shouldn't get into the business ourselves. The rule you suggest would cripple legitimate law enforcement. Not only drug crimes, but many other crimes that you don't have a problem with, would become difficult or impossible to prosecute, as long as the criminal worked out of the home. Simply keep the shades drawn, and destroy all the evidence when the cops come around and announce themselves (as the Court has said they must do). Better yet, if you're out of the house and learn that police have been by, simply don't go home. Hit the road, and the cops will never be able to get in.

I find it odd, too, that you object to the police entering your home -- with a warrant -- when the suspect is not home. What about when the suspect IS at home, but refuses to open the door? Is that entry okay? If so, why?

You also misunderstand the Castle Doctrine. That doctrine never had anything to do with a homeowner's right to disobey a lawful warrant. Indeed, a warrant from the King would always permit the King's men to enter anywhere in the realm (for the past 500 years or more!).

In short, my objection to your proposed rule are twofold. One, the rule you propose is utterly unworkable, and would devestate law enforcement -- even with respect to crimes that you don't disagree with. Second, and more importantly, the rule you propose is rooted nowhere in the Constitution (or even in Common Law)."


To address the first point made by Spoons, anonimous tips are a lousy basis for a warrant. Even disregarding that it allows for a flagrant abuse (i.e. making up the informant to secure a warrant or paying an informant to "inform" to base the warrant on) it offers nothing more than heresay as a basis for deprivation of a Right. In a court of law assuming Spoons & myself had equal standing (i.e. clean records, "respectable" backgrounds, etc...) he could testify that I had proscribed drugs or guns & it shoudl have no bearing, as it would be his word against mine with no proof to back it up. It may sway a jury but objectively it should have no bearing on any matters. Further I suspect that most anonymous tipsters are of less than upstanding background themselves. Hence their credibility is somewhat suspect which further discredits them in a peron's word against another person's word context. & I would remind Spoons that our favorite gun control org, the BATF, uses "informants frequently. Typically they threaten to bust a gun owner for something & offer him the chance to rat out someone else in exchange for leniency or immunity.

But here's another thing that must be considered: revenge on the part of the tipster as a motive. Say Spoons & I are at a bar & both trying to attract the same girl. For some reason she prefers me over him (i.e. she's had a drink or twelve on an empty stomach) & Spoons gets ticked off. So he calls the local PD & gives an anonymous tip that I have a machine gun & am selling coke. Now suppose the local cops have read my blog & are less then happy with my rants about the inappropriate actions that they took in a matter. They take this anonymous tip to the judge & get a warrant based on it & the judge's deference to them. So the cops come a knocking & we have at minimum a real tense situation. All because of a desire for revenge. Yes, it's a straw man but one that is probably more accurate than any of us would like to believe.

So despite anonymous tipsters being an old & accepted method of basing warrants I contend that it's flawed in many respects & shoudl be discontinued.

As to the argument that the Feds lack authority to make drugs illegal, we probably both have heard more sides of this issue than we can remember. But to sum it up, I see nothing in the constitution that allows the Feds to make any drugs illegal. States may be a bit different, but the Feds simply lack the authority.

Now as to the irrelevance of thse two points, I disagree. A court should look at all aspects of the case, not just those whicht he lawyers bring up. If a person is fighting a conviction for carying a concealed weapon & his attorney is basing his defense on some regulatory provision that allows such in one's car, that should not disuade the judge or jury from examining the question of whether or not the state has authority to prohibit or regulate the carrying of weapons at all. In fact courts should first look at a law & decide whether or not it is indeed constitutional before even considering other matters. So as you might imagine I am no fan of the presumption of constitutionality doctrine that has misled the courts for the last several decades.

The courts simply should have looked at these issues regardless of counsel bringing them up or not.

Now as to the third point Spoons addressed concerning my proposal, I do not see it as unworkable or as crippling law enforcement. What I see it as doing is perhaps inconveninecing law enforcement, but to the benefit of law enforcement & the people.

Under my program cops would still be able to break down doors & dress up in their space ninja outfits, but only when doing so would attempt to save life. This business about busting down someone's door for suspicion of possessing an illegal substance or object would be eliminated. I do not see it as hampering legitimate law enforcement efforts. If you accept gun control & drug prohibition as acceptable then officers could still enforce those laws. They just would not be able to bust into someone's home to do it, unless said person was taking potshots at passers-by out of his window, or he was holding someone against their will.

Now I will grant you this: my idea would devestate law enforcement as we know it; it would strip away a lot of power from the government to enforce its laws. But it would do so to the benefit, not the detriment of the people. In short it would only be damaging to the system as it is now, not the system as it should be.

As to it creating new law &/or Rights, I don't see it as that. I see it as merely enforcing the Rights of the people as they should be enforced. Quite simple the idea of Federal government agents, or local agents acting on behalf of the Feds to enforce Federal law, was not seen as something essential to daily operations of the federal government. In short those accussed of counterfeiting & other legitimate federal crimes were to be the only ones subject to Federal search warrants. & I doubt it was seen as something that would or should happen with any frequency. Moreover I doubt that a statement from someone whose intentions may be suspect would have been viewed as a legitimate exception to the Fourth amendment when it was penned. Keep in mind that in 1791, the Feds were suppossed to have limited powers & a limited number of agents in its employ. States had a little more discretion but still there weren't even any organized police forces - at least not as we know them today.

I really do believe that any signer of the respective constitutions - State or Federal - would have serious issues with the way the courts have interpreted the Fourth amendment as it pertains to the granting of warrants & forced entry into a person's home just as much as they'd not be happy with the courts treatment of the Right to Arms provisions.

& if Spoons is saying that the Castle Doctrine was irrelevant if the King signed a piece of paper saying it was, then I think that would do more to support my point rather than refute it.

The idea that a person's home is off limits to the government embodies the Castle Doctrine. But saying that a King could merely sign a piece of paper & the sanctity of the home would be forfeit is to essentially make the Castle Doctrine useless. Now I know that this was the case in England - the King most certainly could make exceptions at whim to the Castle Doctrine, but this does not justify its continuance today in the form of court issued search warrants.

The Fourth amendment sought to address this by the use of certain words, such as unreasonable & probable cause.

Here's the Fourth amendment in it's entirety:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Now as to the first part, essentially what Spoons & I are arguing is what constitutes unreasonable. I feel that busting in someone's door for a non-life threteaning reason is unreasonable. Spoons does not view it in this light.

As for the probable cause, again we disagree. I do not feel the word of one other person constitutes probable cause. Spoons sees it as an acceptable way to enforce laws that he fears would be unenforcable otherwise.

Further I believe that courts have used too little discretion in the issuance of warrants, especially the no-knock variety, while Spoons feels that adequate procedural safeguards are in place.

These three things in esence sum up the disagreement that Spoons & I have. If time permits I'll attempt to expand further on these (but as y'all may have noticed, time hasn't permitted much blogging as of late).

But in the meantime check out the comments in this post as there's some decent discussion of this issue going on.




Tuesday, December 23, 2003


KeepandBearArms.com needs your help. They've been drained pretty heavily by their efforts on behalf of the Silveira vs. Lockyer appeal & more or less times are tough. So if you've this blog useful wander over there & give what you can. Most of the news items I have written about come from KeepandBearArms.com & without them I'd probably be blogging less than I have these past few months.

So if you're able throw some cash their way.

Support KeepandBearArms.com on-line

Support KeepandBearArms.com by mail

& don't forget the other fine groups that are doing what they can for your Rights. Visit GOA, JPFO & your local no-compromise orgs & give them what you can as well.




Monday, December 15, 2003

Sunday, December 14, 2003


First let me address a comment left by Spoons. It was concerning the SCOTUS decision reversing the 9th Circuit's decision involving forcible entry in the execution of a search warrant.

"I disagree. I distrust the gumm'int as much as the next guy, but the criminal-friendly Ninth Circus was wrong, and the Supreme Court was right. This wasn't a warrantless search. The cops had evidence that this guy was a drug dealer, presented that evidence to a judge, and got a warrant -- just like the 4th Amendment requires. They went to his home, knocked on the door and said "Open up! Police!" They then waited for twenty seconds (which is an astonishingly long time -- count it out) for the drug dealer to answer the door. When he didn't, they broke in, found the evidence they expected to find, and arrested the guy.

What exactly is the problem here? What rule would you like to suggest? Should the police have to wait 60 seconds? Five minutes? Should they assume he's not home and come back later? These cops followed the law and the constitution, and did everything right. It turned out (possibly) that this guy may have been in the shower when police knocked. The police didn't know that, though. He could have been flushing the drugs down the toilet, loading his gun, or hiding under the bed. The cops didn't do a no-knock raid here. They knocked and waited.

One of the problems I have with my pro-gun brothers is that sometimes we allow our (proper) distrust of government authority to automatically oppose the government in all things. That's counterproductive. We WANT the government to be able to arrest criminals. Gun owners, more than most people, perhaps, are keenly aware that there are bad guys out there and that they need to be dealt with. While we know that we can't (and won't) depend on the cops exclusively, we ought to support what they're doing when they play by the rules. Here, the cops played it straight and arrested a drug dealer. Good for them. And good for the Supreme Court for smacking down the Ninth Circuit's attempt to let yet another criminal go free.

Oh, on an unrelated note, the Silviera petition advanced SIX different issues to the Supreme Court, not three."


I concede that Spoons is correct in that the Silveira case posed six questions, not three. I should have clarified that but the point I was making concerned Clayton Cramer's assessment of things & he used the three questions to make his point.

But with Spoons assertion that SCOTUS was correct in this instance I have to disagree.

First of all, the "evidence" that formed the basis for the warrant in question was the word of someone else. No photos, no signed statements, no tape recordings - just someone else telling a cop that this guy had drugs.

Many warrants are based on such "evidence" & are flawed because of it. You, me, anybody could walk into a police station & claim that another person had illegal drugs, or illegal weapons. If the cops were interested in that person to begin with, or if they were having a slow day, the statement you or I made would form the justification for a search warrant. It's an extremely low threshold to climb over & one that wouldn't objectionably pass constitutional muster - if the constitution were to be taken literally.

So Spoons could claim I had a machine gun, a silencer & a couple of pounds of illegally imported plants. As long as Spoons seemed credible (i.e. told them what they wanted to hear) & they were sufficiently interested in either me or the objects Spoons claimed I had in my possession, then they'd seek a warrant. Odds are they'd get it.

This process does not take into account the possibility that Spoons could be lying. As long as he doesn't make the lie too obvious he could claim I had anything plausible without much scrutiny. Granted, I doubt they'd take him seriously if he said I had a homemade nuke in my garage, especially if I didn't have a garage to begin with, but barring that they'd deem it probable cause if the object was more common, such as drugs or proscribed weaponry.

Now the officers did in fact find drugs in the defendant’s home. This does not establish the validity of using third party accounts to establish probable cause. With the complexity of the legal system as we know it, odds are if they searched 100% of the homes in America, in 80% they'd find something proscribed, such as a gun or drugs. So more or less they rolled the dice & came up lucky. That does not condone their actions unless you're a Jesuit (i.e. the ends justify the means).

So I submit that the process for obtaining the warrant was much less burdensome than intended.

Now as for the substance of the warrant itself, pardon me but I see nothing in the Constitution of the U.S. that authorizes the feds to prescribe or proscribe any substance. In short the law that made it a crime for this gentleman to have the drugs in the first place exceeds the Constitutional limits placed on government. That is not even entertaining the arguments that if it were constitutional to prohibit certain drugs that it would be a good policy decision.

So I submit that their warrant was baseless on its face.

Finally we come to the waiting period. The cops waited 20 seconds before they busted the door down. I have issues that they busted the door down at all. There was no danger to life or limb of anyone concerned. The only thing at risk was disposal of evidence of a victimless crime. This is not sufficient justification for breaking & entering.

Let's look at how things could have turned out for a moment:

Let's assume Spoons was ticked off at me because I claimed that my cat was more feline than his (hey - there have been arguments about more abstract things!). He goes down to the local PD & tells them I have drugs & a machine gun. He further tells them I showed the machine gun to them & he saw the selector switch while we were smoking a joint & that I bought the gun through profits made from selling pot. The cops haven't been thrilled about my anti-cop (rather pro-people) writings on this blog, so they immediately apply for a search warrant. The judge grants it (after all, if I've got nothing to hide...etc) & they come knocking on my door.
It's early morning & I'm asleep so I don't hear the knock at the door or the statements that it's the police with a search warrant. What I do hear is my door being busted down. Since I have no drugs or proscribed weaponry I don't jump to the conclusion that it must be the cops. Further I catch a glimpse of a man with what looks like a submachine gun in a mask entering my place. 30 minutes & 4 seriously injured cops later I realize that they in fact are cops, but since I shot 4 of them (at least) thinking they were un-uniformed criminals I have the option of surrendering & going to jail for a long time (based on how the courts seem very protective of cops despite the circumstances) or fighting it out & at least dying like I was free.

All this because a person claimed I had proscribed objects, a judge thought that probable cause was satisfied & cops didn't realize that breaking & entering into a persons house after a 20 second knock time might be dangerous for them & best avoided.

Or alternatively Spoons reads about a militia member, gun nut, anti-government psychopath who shot a few cops before a police sniper took him out.

All over someone's assertion that someone has objects that are verboten.

It's simply not enough to justify the risk to the individuals or the officers to break into someone's house. & yes, I realize that many drug dealers, gun runners & others who are on the opposite side of the law will get away with their crimes. That's a very acceptable price to pay to ensure public safety.

But busting in someone's house is not the only way to catch someone committing such a crime. What would be objectionable about arresting someone as they leave their home or in some other such place? Yes, it'd be more time consuming, but again I see this as an acceptable trade off for ensuring the safety of the public in their homes.

Now there are situations where cops busting into someone's house would be acceptable, but they'd be limited to demonstrating a serious & imminent danger to someone's life & limb if they didn't do it. Certain hostage/kidnapping scenarios come to mind, but little else.

What I would prefer is that except in those situations where life & limb are threatened by not acting, that cops simply not enter a person’s home without permission irregardless of any warrant. They shouldn't have merely increased their wait time; they should have simply not entered the home until permission was obtained.

But what SCOTUS did was in effect say that as long as the paperwork is in order a person's home is not safe from government intrusion. It set the Castle Doctrine back several centuries by doing so, even if in this particular case you agree with the actions of the cops.

& change the circumstances around somewhat. It's easy to sympathize with the cops if you agree with the War on Some Drugs since they did in fact find drugs, but would your view be different if the object of the warrant was to find outlawed firearms (future tense, as a 6 shot revolver banned by some Republican-Democrat Smart Gun law ten years from now)? Or would it be different if the object described in the warrant was not found? Or perhaps if a radical such as myself didn't know or believe that they were cops & a gunfight ensued despite the objects not being on the premises?

So I object to SCOTUS' decision not because I think all criminals should go free (though in this case I do question the validity of the law making it a crime) but because there is an inherent danger to all parties when the state busts into a home without permission.

If you still disagree I'll be more than happy to publish your responses here & continue the debate.



Friday, December 05, 2003


As Nicki pointed out below, Mr. Spaulding was denied his Right to Arms as a condition of his release. No charges have been filed, no trial conducted, yet he had to agree to not possess weapons in order to secure his freedom.

This was done by a judge who has immunity in almost any action he takes upon the bench. He cannot be prosecuted, arrested, or detained. At most he could be held accountable for any wrongdoing by other judges; but this almost always involves an administrative proceeding that results at worst in the loss of his job.

The person Mr. Spaulding shot was not arrested for the attack he was shot in the process of committing. He was treated & released & then arrested after he attacked someone else that same night. If he wouldn't have been so foolish as to attack again the same night he'd probably still be free. Nothing has been said about his companions so I assume they're free as well.

Another thing judges are virtually immune from is being defenseless. Should the criminal Mr. Spaulding shot decide to attack a judge, odds are he'd face one who is armed as judges are routinely excepted from any state or federal prohibitions concerning carrying weapons. If a judge feels particularly nervous he has access to police protection. Not a patrol car driving by his house two or three times a night mind you, but actual police protection.

But should the companions of the man Mr. Spaulding shot wish revenge upon Mr. Spaulding then they're in for a much easier time of it than if they went after a judge. After all, Mr. Spaulding is defenseless; disarmed by a judge. disarmed by a system. Even more to the point - disarmed by us.

Why us? What have we done to cause Mr. Spaulding's disarmement? Nothing. & for that we should be ashamed.

We've stood by & let Congress pass laws that eroded our freedom. We've let judges interpret the Constitution in such a way as to disadvantage ourselves. We've let policeman bully us around with or without the law backing them up. We've stepped & fetched to hold onto a tenth of our Rights for the sake of getting along peaceably. We let them steal 25% of our money instead of causing a scene by telling them no. Hell, some of us pay money to have a permit to carry a weapon - as if it wasn't a Right in the first damned place.

Because of our playing by the government's rules - even when they change those rules to suit their position - we have devolved into a nation whose every action is judged by the government & those who aren't found guilty are too scared to speak up for the ones who are.

But you aren't scared: you write your congressman, you show up at city council meetings, you sign petitions, & you even write heated letters to the editor of your local paper. Hell, some of you may even blog. Lemme ask you something; do you think you're more free or less free than you were ten years ago?

What good has letter writing, e-mailing & arguing with the government done? In some states you can pay for a piece of paper to carry a weapon & that piece of paper says you've not only registered yourself as a gun owner, but kissed government ass to do it (that'd be a concealed carry permit in case the NRA has tricked you as well). In two states you can carry without groveling for permission. That's cause for joy - unless you don't live in one of those states. & that joy is bittersweet because those two states are only doing what they should, what they ought to do. They don't deserve sweeping praise because they don't rountinely round up their citizens & kill off a certain percent at random, & neither do they deserve praise for doing the right thing concerning their citizens Right to Arms. But compared to the rest of the nation, they seem to have a better idea of freedom.

How about taxes? Any letter writing stopped the IRSS from stealing your money before you even freakin' get it cashed? At most some people have seen a reduction in the amount stolen. Relatively speaking that's better but it's still not an improvement. They shouldn't be stealing your money at all, yet you're happy when they smile at you & promise to steal a little less next year?

No-knock searches. Ever heard a judge or politician promise to end this abysmal & dangerous practice because you wrote a letter to him? Or is it still possible that the break-in at 3:a.m. next door is really officers of the law serving their office?

Any of y'all bought a brand new assault weapon lately? How about a brand spankin' new submachine gun? Perhaps a silencer that didn't have a $200 tax & a months long wait to see if your groveling was sufficient to gain permission for it? A 12" shotgun for under $125 including tax? Or a factory fresh 20 round magazine?

My point is that as much as I'd like to believe that writing letters, e-mails, signing petitions & participating in protests is an effective tactic to regain our freedoms, I simply don't think it will be enough to do any of us any good.

Yes, things could be worse. & I guaran - damn - teeya they will be before it's over. Not because we didn't try to do things peaceably. No, I think things will be worse because we've tried things peacably for too damn long. Think about it; if our humble supplications, too numerous to count, haven't secured the freedoms that our Constitution acknowledged, then how the hell will they prevent the kind of tyranny it will take to wake most of the people up?

More to the point, being polite hasn't even gotten us the freedoms secured in the Bill of Rights. How will that same tactic prevent the kind of oppression we abhor when we see it in other countries?

A 71 year old man was arrested, held without bail, released on the condition of his disarmament & still could face attempted murder charges for defending a friend from violent attack by three people. This in the state most of y'all would point to as a great defender of the Right to Arms - the first state with a shall-issue concealed carry law.

A 17 shot .22 rimfire rifle can land the owner in jail for up to 5 years in a state that fought for its independance from England.

It costs $100 & requires groveling to some petty bureaucrat to own friggin' pepper spray, let alone a firearm, in the state whose citizens rose up against a trained army that came to disarm them in 1775.

The highest court in the land has for the past 66 years been refusing to even address whether or not we have a Right to Arms as it says in the Constitution, while lower courts routinely ignore said Constitution's acknowledgement of our Right to Arms.

Congress keeps passing prior restraint based gun control.

The President keeps enforcing prior restraint based gun control.

The IRSS forces your employer to rape your paycheck for the government eveyr week.

A War on Drugs justifies the invasion of your privacy as well as the confiscation of your property until you can prove your innocence.

Any cop can force you to do tricks for his amusement under the guise of the drunk driving laws.

The DEA will take your house if they find one proscribed plant in the smallest corner of your property.

The EPA will forbid you from altering your property for the sake of some animal that it claims is endangered & can only live on your land.

Agents of the Department of Agriculture & even postal employees are allowed to carry arms on planes, yet you'll get your swiss army knife stolen if you try to fly with one.

A victimless crime committed in defiance of the government will usually net you more jail time than a violent crime against a human being or his/her property.

To reinforce that last point, an attack on a government employee will carry a harsher senetence than the same attack, or in some cases a worse attack, on a private citizen.

In short, the government hasn't declared war on us. No, they'd have to respect us & think we're at least a half-way formidable adversary to declare war. They've bitch-slapped us & they continue to bitch-slap us as they force us down to lick the boot that kicks us.

In between bitch-slaps we write letters. If thos eletters are answered at all they usually just point out that we aren't really getting bitch-slapped; those are just love taps. Then they smile in our face as they bitch-slap us again.

So - & I ask this in all seriousness - is there anyone out there who can convince me that revolution isn't the only way we'll ever be free? Or is it too late even for revolution to work for our freedom?


Thursday, December 04, 2003


When I first read Peter Mancus' Reflections Upon the U.S. Supreme Court's Rejection of Silveira, my initial reaction was, "It bleeds."

"What do you mean?" asked KeepAndBearArms.com Founder and Executive Director Angel Shamaya when I told him my opinion of this piece.

"You can feel his pain when you read it," I explained. "You can feel his heart bleed."

Having read it again this evening, after Angel published it on our website, I stand by that assessment.

Mr. Mancus' words bleed. Every paragraph radiates hurt, anger, outrage and outright agony over the demise of our republic, the destruction of our Constitution, the enslavement of our society and the annihilation of our freedoms.

He writes with the passion and pain of a family member watching a loved one dying and unable to do anything about it.

"The United States Supreme Court rejected the Silveira v. Lockyer case, and I do not feel free. I have not felt that way for a long time. My brain’s rational thought processes convince me that I am not truly free. This is because I, and others, have been, and still are, denied one or more of our most fundamental rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Instead, we have only the illusion of freedom and the reality of oppression. Oppression is enforced via perverted rules, misleaders and their subordinates." ...

"What value is the “right to petition to redress grievances” or to file a lawsuit (which is a form of the right to petition government for a redress of a legitimate grievance) when the petition or lawsuit or both crashes into the solid legal wall of government immunity or the government refuses to hear the petition (lawsuit) or refuses to take it seriously or refuses to apply the applicable law correctly."

"This is ironic: Government “lives” as a legal fictitious person but it does not have lungs, it does not bleed, it does not have emotions. It is a non-air breather. But Government tells the air-breathers (citizens with lungs, who bleed when cut, who have a mortal existence) they must circulate in public unarmed and vulnerable to criminal predators."

It is ironic, Mr. Mancus. People have created government, not the other way around. And now these same people are told that they exist for their state, that the state is their master, that they must follow the state's rules.
Since free men created the state to serve them, the absurdity is clear. In her first novel "We the Living," Ayn Rand puts this absurdity in perspective:

"And what is the state but a servant and a convenience for a large number of people, just like the electric light and the plumbing system? And wouldn't it be preposterous to claim that men must exist for their plumbing, not the plumbing for the men."

Yes, wouldn't it be preposterous?

And yet, that is exactly what is happening in this country. Question is: Will anyone notice?


Florida citizens have some strong words for the tyrannical bureaucrats who continue to victimize Melvin Spaulding

Here are some of the excerpts of the letters they sent about Mr. Spaulding's plight.

"When three young men are beating the hell out of a 63-year-old man, that is not a simple fistfight. If you want to talk about "excessive force," I'd say that's what they were using. No one has the right to put his hands on anyone else against that person's approval. I applaud the actions of Melvin Spaulding. He should be given a good citizen award." ...

"It's a good thing our legal system is looking out for the rights of the alleged attackers. They sure aren't looking out for the rights of Mr. Spaulding or his friend, George Lowe."


One punch can be deadly

However, the police arrested the man on a charge of attempted murder, saying he should have called 911, and that he can only shoot at aggressors to prevent them from "killing someone or causing great bodily harm."

What short memories some people have. Forget the fact that a man can be long dead before the police respond to a 911 call. Have they forgotten Christopher Fannan? One punch was all it took to kill the 18-year-old kid. And Chris isn't the only person who has been killed recently by a punch to the head. How do we tell the family of Chris Fannan that being attacked by three men can't do "great bodily harm"?


There's little to study

"Once again Pinellas County has proven its stupidity by jailing an elderly man for protecting a friend from a group of teens. I am appalled that the state attorney has to even study, much less "carefully study," this to determine if the man being beaten was in danger of losing his life, which caused his friend to shoot one of the teens.

Maybe the state attorney should be put in a room and kicked by a group of teens to see if his life would be in danger. The state attorney would probably determine his life is in danger and would probably have no problem dropping all charges of attempted murder on this man and charge the teens with attempted murder.

Thanks, Pinellas County, you make me proud - not!"


A right to be a victim

"Call 911? That's a real joke! By the time the police got there, George Lowe could have been dead.

Come on - wake up, folks. It's tyranny when a person cannot defend himself but has a right to be a victim." ...



The Travesty of Justice Continues in Florida

Just when you thought Melvin B. Spaulding couldn't be treated any worse, after having defended his 63-year-old friend and neighbor against violent thugs, who had him on the ground and were mercilessly kicking him...

After holding this heroic man in jail for defending another's life, the authorities who claimed he should have dialed 9-1-1 and watched as his friend was being violently victimized, have now deprived him of his right to defend himself with the most effective tool on the market today.

According to the above-referenced story, "Spaulding has a concealed weapons permit, but as part of his release he’s been told he cannot have a gun."

Now, remember, no formal charges have been filed against Mr. Spaulding. As a matter of fact, the "benign public servants" who saw it fit to arrest Mr. Spaulding on charges of ATTEMPTED MURDER (completely disregarding the fact that he stopped three slimebags, who were kicking an elderly man on the ground), in their infinite benevolence "have not decided" whether or not they would file formal charges this heroic man. But nonetheless, in their tyrannical and constitutionally ignorant fashion, the authorities are treating Mr. Spaulding like a criminal and depriving him of his right to keep and bear arms, even as two of the three attackers are walking around, free to victimize yet more defenseless people.

Words fail me.

It's difficult to address this travesty without outrage.

Mr. Spaulding's ordeal is indicative of how far we have fallen as a society. Instead of praising and rewarding heroes like Mr. Spaulding, the system punishes them for being self reliant, for being courageous and for failing to depend on the nanny state or ask government for permission to defend a life. And while their public servants continue to wield the whip of tyranny over them, the ignorant, subservient sheeple simply bow their heads and obey and bleat in relief that they don't have to take responsibility for their own lives and well-being.

Melvin B. Spaulding's ordeal is a symptom of a gargantuan, black cancer that's eating away at the very fabric of our society and of our humanity. And unless we wake up and take immediate action, we will be swallowed next.


Wednesday, December 03, 2003


Via The Smallest Minority I found a link to Ravenwood which pointed to this story about a 71 year old man being held without bail for shooting a group of men who were beating up his 63 year old friend.

"ST. PETERSBURG -- A 71-year-old man was arrested for firing a gun at three men beating up his 63-year-old friend, striking one of the men in the arm, deputies said.
Melvin B. Spaulding held up his .22-caliber pistol and told the men to stop hitting and kicking his friend George Lowe. When they didn't listen, he fired the gun, Pinellas County Sheriff's spokesman Tim Goodman said."



Three men against a 63 year old man? Mr. Spaulding should have shot them all. Repeatedly. Then reloaded & repeated.

But then we get to these pearls of wisdom:

"I'm sure he was concerned for his friend's safety...,' Goodman said. 'The use of a weapon to stop a confrontation is not the right way. He would have been better off calling 911.''

Hmm. Three young men beating up a 63 year old; your options are shoot the little punks & stop the attack right now or call 911 & hope they get there before the 63 year old dies from the beating. I think I'd opt for the former, immediete solution.

& they actually pay this guy to be a sheriff's spokesman? I knew it was hard to find good help, but damn!

"Spaulding, who had no criminal record in Florida, acknowledged firing the gun, according to sheriff's records. He was being held without bail in Pinellas County Jail.
The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's office would carfully investigate the case before deciding whether to file an attempted murder charge against Spaulding, prosecutor Bruce Bartlett said."


Held without bail while they decide if they're going to prosecute him for attempted murder. All because this 71 year old man stopped some young punks from beating his friend to death.

I would not be at all oppossed to the good people of Florida getting some tar & feathers & paying a visit to the sheriff, sheriff's spokesman & the D.A.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's my hero,' said Lowe, who suffered a torn leg muscle, bruises and a sore back in the fight. 'He's my friend, but he's also my hero.''

At least the 63 year old has a clear perspective on things. Then again, it was his life that Mr. Spaulding saved.

Yep, I think we stopped using tar & feathers prematurely in this country. & I understand why they don't make lamposts strong enough to hold a rope anymore - it'd intimidate the government too much.

Update:
Please use the following contact info to tell these government officials what you think of their actions

Pinellas County Public Information Office
mpasha@pcsonet.com

Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice
wqueen@pcsonet.com

Be sure to mention that if Mr. Spaulding continues to recieve this abysmal treatment for exercising his Right to Arms in defense of his friend & community, that you'll damn sure reconsider vacationing in Florida.

Thanks to Henry at The High Road for the contact info.

Further Update:

Via the same thread linked above on The High Road we find the following:

776.031 Use of force in defense of others.
A person is justified in the use of force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to prevent or terminate such other's trespass on, or other tortious or criminal interference with, either real property other than a dwelling or personal property, lawfully in his or her possession or in the possession of another who is a member of his or her immediate family or household or of a person whose property he or she has a legal duty to protect. However, the person is justified in the use of deadly force only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.

776.08 Forcible felony
"Forcible felony" means treason; murder; manslaughter; sexual battery; carjacking; home-invasion robbery; robbery; burglary; arson; kidnapping; aggravated assault; aggravated battery; aggravated stalking; aircraft piracy; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.

Seems the sheriff & the prosecutor are not only acting immorally; they're acting illegally. Thanks to starfuryzeta at The High Road for being more on top of Florida law than the folks in the Pinellas County government.



Via The Volokh Conspiracy comes the news that SCOTUS has unanimously reversed a 9th Circuit ruling concerning forcible entry in the execution of a warrant.

To sum things up, the police were serving a search warrant on a man's apartment that was suspected of selling drugs. They knocked & announced their presence, but after about 15 to 20 seconds they decided to bust down the door. They discovered crack cocaine, weapons & what they refer to as "...other evidence of drug dealing". The man in question was in the shower when all this occurred & claims he didn't hear the police knocking or announcing themselves & first realized it was in fact police when he went out of the bathroom still dripping from the shower.

He moved to have the evidence suppressed because he was in the shower & argued that the police had no authority to bust down his door unless he actually refused them admittence or a more reasonable amount of time had elapsed. The 9th Circuit agreed & suppressed the evidence.

Enter the Supreme Court. Citing previous decisions which the 9th Circuit failed to acknowledge they determined that the officers actions were Constitutionally permissable as a reasonable amount of time had elapsed & there was a danger of the evidence being destroyed. They further opined that the main reason for knock & announce warrants was to give a person the chance to avoid having their property damaged by a forced entry of the police in the execution of the warrant, & that if a reasonable amount of time passed where there was a danger of the evidence being destroyed then they were justified in busting the door down. They further chastised the 9th Circuit for the test the 9th Circuit came up with, saying there could be no all encompassing test to determine the reasonableness of a warrant & it must be examined on a case by case basis.

Say Uncle doesn't seem happy about this. He cites 18 U. S. C. §3109 as well as the 4th Amendment & concludes that 15 to 20 seconds is not necessarily a reasonable amount of time.

But I'm afraid my good buddy Say Uncle misses the point: it's not what's reasonable for us - it's what's reasonable for the government. Whether or not a reasonable amount of time to answer the door is 20 seconds, it is unreasonable to make agents of the government wait 20 seconds (in some cases less than 20 seconds) in order to bust in your door & steal your property.

Say Uncle seems to think that the courts should value the protections of the 4th amendment over the needs of the state to confiscate property it deems innappropriate. & if the courts were to actually respect the Constitution he'd be correct. But what he & I & evryone else seems to forget (at least from time to time( is that the courts themselves are a branch of government. They are not accountabe to the people (in most cases judges are appointed for life - not elected) & their interest does not lie with the people. Think a Federal judge is going to jeapordize an important source of revenue (income takes, property seizures in regards to the war on drugs, etc...) just because it conflicts with constitutional protections guaranteed to the people?

Nope. The courts aren't the answer - they're part of the problem.

SCOTUS will reverse a 9th Circuit decision that would add some additional safeguards for the people against unreasonable enrty by government agents but it will refuse to hear a case challenging the 9th Circuit's assertion that the 2nd Amendment entails no individual Right & therefore it is not incorporated under the 14th Amendment.

There is only one reason I can think of that adequately explains this series of events: the Supreme Court is concerned with maintaining the federal government's power & cares not about the Rights of the people. It assumes that because enough evidence of probable cause is presented to a judge to sign a warrant that you are guilty. I mean if innocence was presumed then the court wouldn't have said it was justifiable to bust down the door if a reasonable cop felt evidence may be destroyed. It's saying that because a judge signs a piece of paper, you must be guilty & any steps necessary to prove your guilt will be taken. reasonable is determined solely by the government & if you don't run to the door & answer it promptly then it'll be busted down & the cops will treat you as a threat. So when the King's men come a callin' you best step'n'fetch lest they bust your door & Lord knows what else.

To say that government agents cannot enter unless entry is explicitly refused unless there is danger to the life of someone else (i.e. in a hostage situation) is to say that the government's interests do not outweight your Rights. Few courts will say that because , as part of the government, it hinders their power just as much as the government agents the courts send to execute warrants in the first place.

Ya see, the courts are as politically minded as the legislature; they're just not nearly as overt about it. That is why they only hear 2nd Amendment cases which do not require a judgement on the 2nd Amendment itself. They wouldn't hear Emmerson or Haney, but they did hear Bean (which was about a due process claim, not the 2nd Amendment). They decided that the lower court in Bean erred because it did not have jurisdiction to restore Bean's firearm Rights in relation to a felony in Mexico (that felony was possessing ammunition).

Kevin of the Smallest Minority thinks that the courts can't duck the 2nd amendment issue forever. I don't know if he's correct in the literal sense, but for the past 65 years they've been doing a bang up job of it. But whether or not they can duck the issue forever (as in until the end of time) doesn't matter. What matters is they've ducked it yet again. They refuse to take any sort of stand. They do not want government power to regulate weapons diminished, but they don't want to risk the anger of the people by coming out & saying so in an opinion.

Clayton Cramer thinks we're better off not having the Supreme Court decide Silveira, as he thinks the case is flawed. Clayton is a good historian. His research (from what I have seen) is impeccable. But I'm afraid he's off base on more current affairs.
Clayton thinks the 3 questions involved in Silveira were too complex & too numerous. He would prefer a slower approach with one question at a time addressed & the scope of the question narrowed.

& on that Clayton & I disagree. I also disagree with those who say it'd be better to wait for a more favorable court to bring these issues up at all. Newsflash - there's no way of knowing if this court isn't going to be the most favorable for decades to come. Bush may get to appoint a justice or two, but think about it - Bush himself is in favor of gun control; do you really think he'd appoint a justice who would strike down a federal power just because it intereferes with the Rights of the people?

As to the complexity of the questions presented in Silveira I don't see how they could be any more simple & still deal with the issue. The questions were:

1; Does the 2nd Amendment guarantee an individual Right?

2; Does the 14th Amendment incorporate the 2nd Amendment?

3; Are "assault weapons" protected by the 2nd Amendment?

Seems pretty damn simple to me.

& yes, SCOTUS could have answered "no" to all the questions in Silveira. I don't doubt for a minute that "no" to all questions was a possible outcome. But we'd have at least known with some finality that we have no recourse through the legislature or the courts, & it would have woke some people up who think they'll never have to give up their "wabbit" gun.

But it's a non-issue because once again the Supreme Court has decided that it's easier to avoid the issue than tell us where they stand.

Cowards.

So what to do? Wait for the CATO lawyers' D.C. case to go up before SCOTUS? Hold our breath while we pray they grant cert? That's soon to be a non-issue as well because Sen. Hatch is determined to get his D.C. gunowners legislation through & effectively kill the CATO lawyers' case.

So while we're waiting for SCOTUS to hear a 2nd Amendment case we'll just have to be sure to rush to the door every time we hear a knock - otherwise the cops might bust the door down.

Geek With a .45 has an idea: pepper your elected reps (from any & all parties) with copies of the Bill of Rights.

Mike Vanderboegh tells a story about a more radical strategy to try to keep your congresscritters in line.

My suggestion? Pick one or the other. I seriously doubt either will have any positive effect on the going on in congress &/or the courts. I don't think we're gonna see anything close to freedom unless there's another revolution. The government has too much of a hold on power & it will not let it go easily.

But I would suggest that if anyone busts down your door, defend yourself. It may be cops & it may not. But if I can't check out their credentials & read the warrant to determine its validity before they enter, I'll assume they're either criminals in disguise or just criminals in uniform & attempt to repel them accordingly.

In summation none of this bodes well for the Republic, or its people.



Sunday, November 30, 2003


A New Study Says Gun Laws do Not Reduce Criminal Violence

"Restrictive firearm legislation has failed to reduce gun violence in Australia, Canada, or Great Britain. The policy of confiscating guns has been an expensive failure, according to a new paper The Failed Experiment: Gun Control and Public Safety in Canada, Australia, England and Wales, released today by The Fraser Institute."

"What makes gun control so compelling for many is the belief that violent crime is driven by the availability of guns, and more importantly, that criminal violence in general may be reduced by limiting access to firearms..."

Violent crime is not driven by the availability of guns, but rather by opportunity. Criminals do not want to face an armed victim. This has been proven again and again, by the number of "hot" burglaries in the UK (nearly 60 percent) where the vast majority of the public is disarmed, giving the criminal ample opportunity to commit the crime with impunity, and by a survey of convicted felons by Professors James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi. According to this survey, when asked if the one reason burglars avoid houses when people are home is that they fear getting shot, the vast majority of criminals either agreed (39 percent) or strongly agreed (35 percent).

In other words, gun availability is not a deterrent, but the realization that the victim might be armed (lack of opportunity) is.

Additionally, a simple review of the law of supply and demand tells us that where there is a demand, there will always be a supply. In the UK, where private firearms ownership has been all but destroyed, criminals are modifying air guns to shoot real bullets. This phenomenon is contributing to the UK's rising gun crime.

This new study confirms what we already know.

Isn't it nice to know some academics are on our side?


Wednesday, November 26, 2003


There are some really scary people among the enemies of freedom.

It's amazing that someone would actually wish pain and death on a peaceable citizen who wants nothing more than to preserve our freedoms. The gun control advocates assert that we are the violent ones - we're the paranoid - we're the ones relishing the thought of shooting someone, while at the same time, some of their cohorts spew hatred from every pore.

Here is my reply to this particular psychotic:

Dear Mr. Bellamy,

Your sick, hateful letter to Mr. Shamaya of KeepAndBearArms.com has prompted me to do something I have NEVER done before: write a reply to someone with so little human decency that he actually wishes pain and suffering on another human being, his innocent infant son and his wife and mother just because he disagrees with that person's political views.

Why would anyone want to own an AK-47? The obvious answer is "why not?" Why should anyone who wants to own an effective tool of self defense have to justify their "need" to you, to the state or to anyone else? Who are YOU to tell peaceable, law-abiding citizens what they should and should not own? Who are YOU to determine anyone's need? All YOU need to know, sir, is that an AK-47 in the hands of a law-abiding citizen is no more dangerous than a sword, an axe, a power drill or a Ferrari.

But people like you don't understand tyranny, because they have never lived under its yoke. You don't understand what it's like to have to justify your reading habits, your purchases, your very existence to the state. You don't understand the meaning of freedom. You are afraid of it and the personal responsibility it demands. And your fear is causing you to lash out in hate toward those who are brave enough to embrace true freedom and treasure the responsibility involved in preserving it.

You have stated that Mr. Shamaya represents all that is wrong with America (and the world).

I'm wondering why it is you feel that a man who is fighting tyranny warrants such strong sentiments. I'm wondering why a man who treasures human life enough to fight for the people's right to protect it warrants your spite. And I'm wondering what kind of subhuman monster wishes death upon the innocent family of said man.

Many people have written me with sentiments similar to yours, hoping that I die a heinous, painful death by gunfire, hoping that my family is shot, my life ruined by guns. They then proceed to interrogate me about why I choose to carry my gun. "Are you paranoid?" they ask. "Do you relish the thought of shooting someone?" "Do you see bad guys around every corner?"

My only answer to people like you, who publicly threaten innocents - women and children, in particular - is, "Look in the mirror."

Nicki Fellenzer
Newslinks Director
www.KeepAndBearArms.com



Think you're safe from the Patriot Act on the net? Think again.

"A bill approved by Congress last week to extend the reach of the Patriot Act would expand the FBI's business document and transaction power to cyberspace stations like eBay, Internet logs, and Internet service providers, and without requiring a judge's approval."

I'm not that concerned about the Patriot Act itself, as it mainly just extends pre-existing powers in the name of terrorism. What concerns me is that government has those powers in the first place. So the Patriot Act is very similar to giving beer to teenage boys that already have whiskey & car keys. Still I hate to see anything expanded in the direction of the Net, as it will most likely have a chilling effect (to some degree) on activities that were previously thought to be beyond the reach of The Man.


Larry Pratt of GOA talks about the abuse of science at the FBI:

"Whitehurst also found that the FBI laboratory would often break a chain of evidence, thus making it impossible to prove that the "evidence" had not been planted. In some cases, it was planted. One example was that of the crime scene at Ruby Ridge, Idaho where U.S. Marshals and an FBI sharpshooter murdered a mother and her son and wounded two other family members. The physical record of the firefights did not support the depositions of the Marshals and FBI Agents, so one bullet was planted in a key spot to frame a family member and make it seem like he had been involved in the firefight when, in fact, he had not. Unfortunately for the government's case, the bullet was planted in two different directions in two different photographs."

"The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City resulted in the conviction of two perpetrators. Excluded from the stand were any witnesses who could not be dissuaded from reporting that they had seen middle eastern-looking men with Timothy McVeigh. "Working backwards" by one of the FBI's incompetent bomb experts, Dave Williams, excluded any investigation into why columns of the building collapsed which could not have been toppled by a fertilizer bomb parked on the street."

There's more. Check it out for yourself.


Sen. Lautenberg is pushing a bill to make sure terrorists don't get firearms. Sounds okay, right?

"The Act would:
Require the maintenance of records for certain handgun transfers to coincide with the current Homeland Security Advisory System during heightened terrorist risk; and
Close loopholes that have allowed terrorists to acquire firearms Strengthen the regulatory controls and enforcement of gun dealers who violate gun laws Implementing this rational approach to gun regulations for the security of our Nation is of paramount importance and needs to be addressed now before another disaster occurs."


What the first part means is that while the Homeland Security Advisory System is at yellow or higher, then gun buyers would be subjected to greater scrutiny & the FBI would have 20 business days to conduct the background check. So it could take 4 weeks as oppossed to 3 days before they get back to you & unlike the current system where you can buy the firearm if they don't respond one way or the other within 3 days, you would not be able to make the purchase until they sent approval. Hell if you start the paperwork to purchase a firearm on February 1rst they could make you wait until March 1rst as february only has 20 business days in a non-leap year.

BTW, the Homeland Security Advisory System has not dropped below yellow since its inception & I doubt it ever will. So the chances of it staying at green for 180 days & allowing us to revert back to the current system are slim.

The second part just means he would outlaw all private transactions concerning firearms - or as many as he can get away with - while making it tougher for licensed gun dealers to stay in business.

So the same old spin is used to push a gun control bill. Nothing new here at all.

He goes on to list some reasons why this reform is so badly needed:

"An al-Qaeda training manual recovered in Afghanistan entitled 'How Can I Train Myself for Jihad,' advised terrorists to 'obtain assault weapons legally' in the United States because firearms are readily available and gun laws are enforced inadequately."

He doesn't seem to be concerned that there's a black market where they could obtain weapons much easier than going through the "legal" channels. Nor does he seem to recall that firearms don't seem to be the weapon of choice amongst terrorists. Car bombs & box cutters used to hijack planes & turn them into missiles have been much more common implements of terrorism.

"On the evening of the September 11th terrorist attack, a federal jury convicted Ali Boumelhem, a known member of the terrorist group Hezbollah on seven counts of weapons charges and conspiracy to ship weapons and ammunition to Lebanon."

Note the subtle reference to September the 11th. He doesn't go into detail about it as it would not support his case, but he wants you to get emotional at the thought & be more susceptible to his BS.

But the guy was being charged with shipping weapons overseas? I'd have thought Lautenberg would've been happy that guns were leaving the U.S.

"In 1997, Ali Abu Kamal bought a Beretta handgun from a gun shop which he used to open fire on tourists on the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York City. Kamal killed one person and wound six others. Although he was not a U.S. citizen, Kamal was able to purchase the Beretta handgun only 37 days after his arrival in the U.S. by using a motel receipt as proof of residency."

He fails to point out that the Empire State Building - like the rest of NYC - is a victim disarmament zone. The reason Kamal did as much damage was that he had no opposition; his victims were disarmed by the same type of bastards as Lautenberg is. Nor does he mention that if Kamal had been denied a firearm at the gun store he could have purchased one on damn near any street corner.

"Last year, John Muhammad and John Malvo terrorized the Washington DC area for more than three weeks as they embarked on a shooting spree with a sniper rifle, murdering 13 innocent people before being caught. The sniper rifle was a Bushmaster XM15 rifle that was missing from the Bull's Eye Shooter Supply in Tacoma, Washington, but was never reported to local, state or federal authorities."

First of all, an AR-15 is a sniper rifle? Perhaps when compared to a flintlock musket.
Speaking of flintlocks, Iwonder if Lautenberg knows that they could have achieved the same rate of fire & the same level of accuracy had they used a flintlock with a rifled barrel? One shot per victim at a range of a little over 100 yards at most; almost any muzzleloading rifle can do the same thing. But to bring that up would blow the "sniper rifle" or "assault weapon" angle, wouldn't it?

& the firearm was stolen. What does he expect his bill to do; make stealing guns illegal again? Maybe if it's only illegal once that's not a deterent but if it's illegal twice then murderers will choose another weapon rather than doubke break a law? No; Lautenberg wants every gun store held ridiculously responsible for any crime that is committed with any weapon they sell even if that weapon is stolen. It's just a first step towards shutting down licensed gun dealers completely.

Here is the text of The Homeland Security Gun Safety Act of 2003.

In addition to what I've already pointed out, this bill would deal with explosives as well. Whereas under 50 pounds was the criteria in Section 845(a)(5) of title 18, United States Code, Lautenberg's bill would alter that to under 5 pounds.

& perhaps the most disturbing of all:

"There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2004--
(1) $50,000,000 to hire not less than 500 new inspectors within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Department of Justice; and
(2) $100,000,000 to hire not less than 1000 new agents within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Department of Justice."


500 BATF inspectors & 100 new BATF agents. At $100,000 a piece no less. Of course there salary would presumably be about half that & the rest would go into training & such. But spending $0.01 on a BATF agent is too damned much.

& yes, I know they're the BATFE now - but they'll always be tax boys with delusions of granduere to me so I omit the "E" on purpose.

So that's what happens when a state court disregards its own laws in order to allow a candidate they favor participate in an election. For those of you unaware, the NJ Supreme Court ruled that since it would deprive the people of NJ of a choice in the election, then Lautenberg could have his name on the ballot. This despite it violating NJ law for him to have enetered the race so late & despite the numerous third party candidates on teh ballot. But what do you expect from a state who views a .22 as an assault weapon?

So don't be fooled by Lautenberg's BS: this is simply more gun control under the guise of fighting terrorism. If they were serous about fighting terrorism then passengers wouldn't have been so disarmed that men with boxcutters could take them hostage & use their planes as weapons. So when they say it's about security, remember it's the government's security, not the people's that they are concerned with.



Thursday, November 20, 2003


Another tale of Fatherland..er, I mean Homeland Security, as related by J.J. Johnson:

"Seattle, Washington - 52 year old Desseria B. Whitmore had a pretty good life, some would say. After all, she had no criminal record, and was a Seattle bank executive. She and a travel companion were heading for a flight to Spokane, on the other side of the state... According to Port of Seattle police, federal screeners pulled them aside after finding what must have been something that was so dangerous to air travel, that it demanded immediate attention."

"The autopsy in this case is forth coming, but more than a few folks think this one stinks to high heaven. Right now, there are those ready to pound on the keyboards; fussing at the author for daring to question the police' actions in this case.
Before you do so, ask yourself, was stopping her for a marijuana pipe justified in the first place, or is that part of our new 'Homeland Security'?"


I would comment but I'm too disgusted. Go here if you're like to read Mr. Johnsons summary.

Edit - I happened across this just before I shut down the computer & thought it'd be an appropriate footnote:

As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms. — Tench Coxe in `Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution' under the Pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1



Rick Stanley writes from jail (via Liberty for All) He's not happy & I don't blame him one bit.

Pam Stanley has this update (dated Oct. 28th) over at Rick's blog. (permalinks aren't working but it's the first post as of today.)

Rick Stanley's website has more background info for ya.

Now I don't agree 100% with Mr. Stanley's tactics, but giving the circumstances I understand how he arrived at them. & it's not so much the idea of performing citizen's arrests on judges who violate the law (&/or constitution) that I disagree with; it's that his arguments tend to wander too close to a conspiracy theory for most people's taste.

That being said what really matters is that Mr. Stanley was arrested for openly wearing a firearm, prosecuted & sentenced in very questionable courtrooms by very suspect judges, & is now in jail because he told the judges (albeit in a crude way) that they didn't have the authority to do that to him, as his actions were protected by not one but two (count 'em; two) constitutions. He told them they were violating their oaths of office by continuing in this nonsense & they would be arrested if they kept it up.

Did he phrase it in the best way possible? Nope. But the basics of his sentiments are no damned different than any of ours would be were we in his position.

Mr. Stanley risked his freedom to challenge an unjust law in an unjust system. Perhaps he could have done it better, but before I berate him for his mistakes I must admit he made those mistakes in an attempt to defend our Rights.

Anyway, hit the links & read what the man has to say. & if you're in Colorado be sure to drop the appropriate parties a note. (Denver's mayor John Hickenlooper; Thorton's mayor Noel Busck; Colorado's governor Bill Owens; etc...) Hell, if you're outside of Colorado write the governor & remind him that your tourist dollars will probably go to the state least likely to jail you for exercising a Right.

& drop Mr. Stanley a note if ya can. Jail's a rather boring place to be from what I've heard. A letter might cheer him up.

Rick Stanley
Adams County Detention Facility
03-11884
Box 5001
Brighton, CO
80601



Here's an interesting explanation of why so many firearms in Iraq are malfunctioning:

"...But our investigation has found that a lubricant supplied by the military may be actually causing guns to jam. What's worse, soldiers say they were blocked from getting a better lubricant at a time when they needed it the most."

The report goes on to say that CLP (Clean, Lubricate, Protect), the military lubricant is causing sand to gum up the works of most weapons, particularly the M16, while Miltec is a better lubricant in this regard & was being denied to the troops by the military.

In a desert environment sand is a major problem for any weapon. To have lubricant in your weapon increases the ability of sand to get stuck in tight places on said weapon. Unfortunately because of friction some lubricant is necessary for prolonged use such as you might encounter in combat.

The problem is that most lubricants are oil based. This means that they do have a tendency to latch onto any small foreign particles, as they're sticky. CLP is oil based. Miltec appears to be some form of synthetic based liquid though.
There may be some truth to the articles (& Miltec's) claims; Miltec contains some formula that is supposed to impregnate the metal & still provides an adequate level of lubrication even when the liquid is wiped completely off.

So if they are correct then Miltec would be a superior lubricant to CLP. But they put too much weight on the choice of lubricant I'm afraid.

It's not that a good & correct lubricant won't make a difference; it most definitely will. But they neglect that the M16 design is somewhat problematic. It uses direct gas impingement to operate the action. This means there's a little tube that siphons off gas from the barrel & directs it directly towards the bolt. This in turn will foul up the action in short order, as residues from the gas are deposited in the receiver where the most critical parts must move.

The M16 design is basically the same, minus the automatic capabilities, as the AR15 style firearms. I have seen a lot of AR 15's in sporting use; from competition to varmint hunting. & in those roles they are good. They're lightweight, light recoiling, & accurate. But they do require more maintenance than other semi-automatic designs. This is mainly because the gas system fouls up the action more than another design of self loading rifle would, but the oddly shaped bolt head & chamber do present some minor cleaning problems, albeit to a much lesser degree.

In the civilian world there is usually time to clean the weapon at proper intervals & use enough preventative maintenance to minimize malfunctions. In the martial world there is not always going to be that chance to keep your weapon perfectly maintained.

So while a proper lube may have helped in general, they are still overlooking the fact that as a design the M16 is not appropriate for a combat role. & that is not even going into the cartridge the military uses in it; the 5.56x45mm NATO.

The nearest (but not exact) commercial equivalent to the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge is the .223 Remington. The military switched to the 5.56x45mm Nato round from the 7.62x51mm Nato round (whose nearest but not exact commercial equivalent is the .308 Winchester) based on the idea that the smaller cartridge would enable a soldier to provide more accurate fire, especially in fully automatic weapons & that the projectile would be sufficient for wounding enemy soldiers. Wounding is supposedly desirable as a wounded soldier ties up more of the enemies resources than a dead one.

However that avoids the issue of stopping power, which is where the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge lacks. In fact, its nearest commercial equivalent (the .223 Remington) is illegal to use on deer size game in most states. Coyotes are about the biggest animals that can be safely & legally hunted in most states with such a cartridge.

But I admit that I have little first hand experience with either the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge & M16 or their respective commercial equivalents. This is partially for the reasons I mentioned above concerning their respective shortcomings, but it's mainly because I've always been more partial to the .30-06 Springfield cartridge & the M1 Garand as a general purpose rifle & the humble little .22LR cartridge & the Ruger 10/22 carbine &/or rifle as a short range small game & varmint hunting round.

In any event while the choice of lube may be part of the problem by focusing on it they're ignoring the main problem, which is that the M16 is a design not suitable for general issue to front line troops.



Speaking of terrorists & guns, the Brady Campaign is wasting no time trying to raise awareness of this particular non issue:

"Although the Bush Administration claims to be using every tool to stop terrorism, there is clearly a problem when it comes to gun laws. Instead of aggressively using gun records, Ashcroft is misinterpreting a law regarding gun purchases at the expense of public safety. Last year, Ashcroft contradicted his legal counsel inside the Department of Justice when he testified in front of Congress claiming that the FBI can't audit the background check system to determine if suspected terrorists bought guns. He now stands in the way of keeping the FBI from learning when and where suspected terrorists bought guns."

Yes, if we'd have only stopped those terrorists from legally purchasing firearms then no one would have died on Spetember 11th. Oh wait - they used box cutters instead of guns didn't they?

However enforcing prior restraint based gun control laws kept those passengers on Spetember 11th from being able to mount a successful defense from said terrorists with box cutters.

Let me break it down for ya: the passengers were disarmed by their own government & unprepared to face men armed only with small knives, thus 3,000 or so died.

Now first & foremost the blame belongs with the terrorists that used boxcutters to hi jack the planes & turn them into missiles. But there's a fair share of the blame that rests with our own government for disarming people who could have fought back successfully with the proper equipment.

But as usual Brady & the other gun control supporters don't address this issue at all. Instead they encourage victim disarmement by our own government & then when they fail to protect the victims they call for more. I wonder if Hitler & Stalin had allies as good as these?




GOA has an alert concerning the anti-gun bills that are likely to pass in Congress, while pro-gun bills languish.

"To be sure, many top-level Democrats have finally realized that support for gun control cost them control of the House, the Senate and the White House.
Thus, given the politics of the issue, it is surprising that the only legislation likely to pass on firearms issues, as this session of Congress comes to an end, are anti-gun bills.
And Republicans are leading the charge!"


Whoda thunk it?

"The Republican leadership suspended the rules in the House and passed the plastic gun ban on a voice vote. Why not employ the same determination and pass any of the above-mentioned bills that would advance Second Amendment rights?
Why not force the Transportation Security Administration to REALLY start arming pilots, rather than letting them proceed at their current snail's pace? (At the agency's current rate of arming pilots, it will take 15 years to arm all the pilots who wish to defend their passengers and crew.)"


Did I ever mention that Republicans are thought of as pro-gun simply because they're better at hiding their anti-gun agenda than the Democrats are? It's not that they'r ebetter for us, they're just better are conning us on that particular issue.

But go read the thing in it's entirety & be sure to bring it up next time any Republican asks for money from you.




From Merriam-Webster;

Incremental: a policy or advocacy of a policy of political or social change by degrees: gradualism

See also Sen. Lautenberg.

Seems that democratically elected senator is trying to push another "common sense" gun law through the senate. It's a law that would require everyone who made a successful purchase of a firearm to be reported to the Justice Department if they're on a terrorism watch list.

From the CNN article:

"The Justice Department says the Brady gun control law prevents it from sharing information about successful transactions by suspects on its watch list -- or anyone else. The department says the law allows it to report attempted purchases only."

This is dangerous for a number of reasons. The biggest problem with the NICS or "instacheck" system is that until you try to purchase a firearm you may not know you're disqualified, but when you make that attempt you've broken the law. In other words a person thinks his record is clean & goes in to purchase a .22LR rifle for his son’s upcoming birthday. But the instant check (instant my ass!) denies him because unbeknownst to him his wife has filed a restraining order against him as the first step in a divorce proceeding. So not only does he not get to purchase the firearm he's now a criminal, because it's against the law to attempt to purchase a firearm when you're prohibited from doing so.

& that particular scenario was brought to us by Lautenberg, who pushed a bill through bearing his name that made restraining orders disqualifiers for purchasing a firearm.

"Government sources said 13 people named on the terrorism watch list have tried to buy guns, but the sources would not say how many of those attempts were successful."

Well unless someone's been breaking the law then since 13 attempted purchases were reported then none of them were successful, as a successful purchase wouldn't have been recorded. The reporter just stated that the Justice Department said it's illegal for them to keep records of successful firearms transactions. So if 13 people were reported as attempting to purchase then they bloody well wouldn't be mentioned if they were successful now would they? Honestly, can reporters not read their own freakin' stories?

"Law enforcement officials point out that not everyone on the watch list is a terrorist and that any purchases the officials would be informed of would be legal."

So they admit that they'd be keeping track of non-terrorists that complete a lawful transaction. But the problem is that if this bill passes, then the "watch list" would be expanded to keep tabs on people for other reasons. It's a nice little bait & switch; convince the people you need more power to watch terrorists & then use it to watch the people.

"What's more, they said, they are bound to work within the framework of the background-check system."

Be on the look out for cries to close the "instacheck” loophole"! & of course it'll be "for the children".

"Some critics suggest the Justice Department is being overly strict in its interpretation of the Brady gun control law, which mandates background checks for those buying handguns."

Of course they're being overly strict; after all they're still allowing sales to go through aren't they? Everyone knows a proper interpretation of the Brady law would negate all transaction by anyone who does not receive a government paycheck.

"Justice officials said the law does not allow personal information about gun buyers to be shared with law enforcement agencies.
'It flies in the face of everything John Ashcroft has said about fighting the war on terrorism,' one law enforcement official said."


Well there is a point to that; for some reason Ashcroft has been gentler on the 2nd amendment than the others when it comes to the war on terror. But he's still enforcing unconstitutional laws that violate our Right to Arms. This anonymous law enforcement official is possibly just bitter than Ashcroft didn't stop the sale of all firearms & outlaw their possession in the name of the war on terror.

"Lautenberg, a longtime gun control advocate, said he was perplexed by the Justice Department's position.
'I know the Bush administration has an extremist view of gun rights, but I never would have imagined that the attorney general would be taking specific steps to protect the rights of terrorists to obtain guns,' Lautenberg said in a statement.
He wants the Justice Department to tell law enforcement agencies when and where each gun is bought."


Remember that folks. Sen. Lautenberg feels if you are on a watch list that alone makes you a terrorist. Then again considering how he came to be in office this time around due process is probably not in his vocabulary.

But if he thinks Ashcroft, who is enforcing just as many unconstitutional gun control laws as Reno was, is an extremist, then I'd love to see what that (as we say back home) sumbitch thinks of this site, or most of those on my blogroll.

Sen. Lautenberg wants to push this through. I don't know if he is legitimately concerned or just ignorant about what he's doing. I frankly don't care. This bill would open up the door that has been so precariously shut; on the other side is a federal gun owner registry. They have it de facto now, & I wouldn't be surprised if they maintained an overt one. But the closer they get to not being restrained by law in keeping track of who has guns the more in danger we are. This would be a very big first step in that direction.



Saturday, November 15, 2003


A woman in Indiana is on trial for defending herself. But you won't hear much outrage at this from the mainstream media becase A; the mainstream media generally looks down on a citizen defending his/herself & B; the person this woman was defending herself from was a cop.

"...Jillian D. King, 30, is charged with criminal recklessness resulting in injury in connection with the Jan. 14 wounding of Muncie police officer Steve Cox. He was one of 11 SWAT team members about to raid King's home when she allegedly fired shots out of a window. Cox has since recovered."

Now what it seems like is the cop in question was part of a S.W.A.T. team who was attempting to serve a warrant on Ms. King's house. But Ms. King saw a bunch of masked people with guns trying to breech her house & opened fire.

But here's where things get interesting:

"Under Indiana law, unless they have exigent circumstances, police are required to knock, announce their presence, and wait a reasonable amount of time before they storm a home.
In April, The Star Press published a series of stories examining the SWAT team's rules and procedures after the team was involved in a police-action shooting. At the time, police officials acknowledged that the team generally waits about 5 seconds before breaking down a door but that there were occasions where exigent circumstances caused the SWAT team to raid a home without knocking.
In court Thursday, three SWAT team members testified that they didn't remember a time when someone actually answered the door."


5 seconds??? They wait 5 seconds between the first knock & breaking down the door??? & they wonder why no one has ever answered the door! I suppose they think the theme music should alert you to their presence & you should prepare to submit accordingly..
Personally it takes me at least 10 seconds to answer the door, but that includes a redundant loaded weapon check.

I would love to pay a visit to the person's house (with a group of masked cops & a warrant) who decided that 5 seconds was "reasonable". If that person has a large house a two story house, or a house with more than one room, odds are 5 seconds isn't gonna be enough time to answer an unexpected knock. & what if you're in the back of the house with the t.v. or radio on & don't hear the knock?

It gets better though:

"All of the team members testified that they are trained to wait. But they said there is no set time.
King shook her head several times while the officers testified.
At the end of testimony Thursday, the jury was shown a video of Cox being shot. In the video, SWAT team members can be seen on a well-lit porch trying to open up doors before knocking.
SWAT team members explained that the doors were storm doors and didn't lead to the inside of the home."


A video of the cops opening up doors prior to knocking. & since it mentions the porch was "well lit" we can safely assume this raid happened at night. Tell me, what would you do if you saw someone with a mask & a gun opening up one of your doors at night? Would you think it must be the cops & prepare to cooperate, or would you think it's time to repel boarders?

But storm doors don't lead to the inside of the home so they don't count? That's like claiming that since a hall way door doesn't directly lead to the inside of a bedroom you weren't attempting to invade someone's privacy. I wonder how the officer who said that thinks one gains access to doors that do lead inside a home? Perhaps by opening up a storm door to get to the main door or a window? A lot of homes have porches with doors. There are a number of reasons for this, but it cannot be discounted that adding another level of security, another step before you have access to the main door of the house, is a legitimate & common reason for having a door on the porch. The porch is part of the house itself, whether it's enclosed or not. & breaking & enetering is not limited to breeches of the house proper, but includes gaining unauthorized access to the porch of a house.

But the jury in this case couldn't make up its mind.

"After five hours of deliberation late Friday, Delaware Circuit Court 3 Judge Robert Barnet Jr. declared the jury hung and dismissed them.
Prosecutors said the jury was split 7 to 5 in favor of a guilty verdict."


So at least 5 people on the jury recognized that self defense trumps police privilege. But 7 thought that any assault on the King's soldiers is an assault on the King. Luckily a jury usually doesn't abide by democratic rules to decide outcomes.

"On Friday, a videotape of King being interrogated moments after the shooting was shown to the jury.
King kept insisting to detectives that she didn't know that two people she saw outside wearing camouflage and black masks were police officers. She said she thought they were would-be burglars.
'They never said they were the police,' King said in her videotaped statement. 'If I knew they were the police, I would have opened the door'. "


Personally it wouldn't matter to me whether or not the people outside were cops. It makes absolutely no difference whether the person trying to break into your house is acting in his/her own interests or acting in the interests of the state. Breaking & entering is still breaking & entering. Until I read the warrant & make sure it's proper, then no officer of the state has any authority to break into my home or seize people &/or things from it. Now if it's determined that the warrant is indeed valid that's another story. But I simply do not know of a police department anywhere that will knock & wait patiently for the owner or occupant of the dwelling to read through the warrant before bursting inside with guns drawn (guns that are mostly verbotten to us peasants I might add) & acting out there favorite scene from Miami Vice.

But most people aren't as "radical" as I am. They feel if the cops come a no-knocking the best thing is to suffer the invasion & fight it in court later. Which is why this kind of thing persists.

But in Ms. King's case, she didn't know the armed, masked people who were trying to break into her house were cops. At least 5 jurors agreed that her actions were justifible under the circumstances.

"In the videotape, detectives told her that the SWAT team didn't need to knock and announce.
'The law doesn't say you have to,' Muncie Police Investigator Jeff Lacy said while questioning King on video tape. 'They are going to sneak in.'
During the trial, Lacy testified that he had lied to King in the videotape as an interrogation tactic."

Wouldn't common sense dictate that if an officer is going to lie to a person at the scene of an incident, especially concerning police procedure, that the officer would also lie in court? What's the difference? If a cop at the scene is going to lie about the law for his or his department's benefit, how the hell can he be trusted to give accurate testimony in a trial?
If your girlfriend or boyfriend lies about being monogomous while y'all are dating, then what makes you think that "I do" at a wedding ceremony means anything? & how arrogant of a judge to think that a cop will be truthful in his/her presence after having admitted to lying to a ctizen about the law. Does the judge truly believe that lying to us peasants is acceptable, while it is impossible for an officer to lie in the presence of a court?

"On Friday, King testified that she fired the shots as a 'warning' to whoever was outside. Crying during most of her testimony, King told attorneys that she was afraid that the people outside were going to kill her and her three-year-old son."

First of all, warning shots are to be discouraged. They often do not cause the desired effect. If a criminal (in or out of uniform) was worried about armed resistance, they wouldn't attempt a confrontational crime in the first place.

Secondly, I urge all mothers (& fathers) out there who are in a similar situation, where unidentified armed intruders are attempting to break into where you & your child are at, that you shoot to kill. Phrase it as "shooting to stop" or "shooting to incapacitate" if you like, but a potentially mortal wound is the only way to ensure that a person is no longer a threat to you.

"Earlier in the trial, a videotape of the shooting was shown to the jury. In the tape officers are seen opening outer doors before shots are fired. One officer is seen getting ready to use a door ram before knocking."

I suppose the battering ram prevents injuries to the officer's knuckles that could be caused by knocking? After all, the law never said you couldn't use a heavy object to knock now did it?

"During closing arguments, Alexander compared the SWAT team to the military and said they didn't follow the law and his client was defending herself against an unlawful entry.
'Who created the circumstances that led to this problem? They did because they didn't follow the law,' Alexander said. 'They were in fact breaking into her house'. "


Ayup.

"Prosecutors argued that King could have done several other things - including placing a call to 911 - besides grabbing a gun and shooting it 'blindly' out a window.
'Frankly, folks, she has an itchy trigger finger,' Deputy Prosecutor Mark McKinney said."


A call to 911? Armed, unidentified persons are attempting to break into your house & this guy wants you to make a phone call? Richard Stevens wrote a book addressing this particular subject called Dial 911 & Die. It's obvious the persecuto...er, I mean prosecutor in question has never read the book, but sorely needs to.

I will agree though that Ms. King shouldn't have shot blindly under the circumstances. She should have used aimed, accurate fire to ensure her & her child's safety.

But "itchy trigger finger"? I wonder if Mel Blanc knows that a prosecutor is stealing his lines for use in closing arguments? I'm surprised he didn't steal a direct argument. It didn't say if he addressed the judge as "...Doc..." or the more formal "...monsiuer le physician...". Or if he referred to the defendant as that "...lily livered, bowlegged varmint..." or a "...no good bushwhackin' baracuda". but giving the intellectual level of the "itchy trigger finger" statement it wouldn't surprise me. I wonder if he got his degree from the Daffy Duck School of Law?

"After the jury was declared hung, McKinney said he was prepared to try the case again."

Heh. Seems he might have.

So this woman who was trying to defend herself from armed, masked unidentified intruders gets to go through a second trial because the prosecutor wants to have another go at winning.
Lovely. That's just lovely.


Edited to replace &/or remove some dead links.





Wednesday, November 12, 2003


I ran across this amazing editorial about a woman's metamorphosis from an ardent anti-gunner to an advocate of freedom and a defender of Second Amendment rights.

"...I’m not sure which is more embarrassing – the ignorance I displayed in my previous attitude, or the speed at which I was convinced how wrong I was by someone I barely knew. Oh, I tried to put up a fight with the person who started all of this, but I found out quickly how truly unarmed I was. I found nothing on the Internet to support my arguments, and everything to support his.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I tried to bluff my way through the debates, but I realized I was doomed when it wasn’t long before all I had left was "well, I’m against guns because, um, because, well, I just am!"

So, eventually I grudgingly admitted hell had indeed frozen over, and I was wrong." ...


This woman's epiphany was the visible result of what we all already know. There is absolutely no evidence to support the mantra that gun control saves lives. None. Nothing.

The anti-freedom movement has to manipulate its data in order to effectively push its agenda. Their research is full of misrepresentation, and their arguments are full of holes.

The British gun control experiment has been a complete disaster, making Britain the most violent country in Europe, and rendering its subjects defenseless against armed criminals. According to a 2001 report, a quarter of all English are victims of crime. Overall victimization in Britain ranked second in the world after another gun control "utopia" - Australia.

How much more proof do they need?

Allison Brown got it. When will the rest of them?


Friday, November 07, 2003


From this editorial which I fisked below comes this tidbit:

"Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., have introduced compromise legislation to close the gun-show loophole. heIt will be offered as an amendment to the gun-manufacturers immunity bill expected to come up for a vote this session. In addition, an amendment to renew the automatic weapons bill is expected to be attached."

& this:

"The problem is that the manufacturers immunity bill has the votes - TheRepublican votes are there, as well as and some key Democrats. Sadly, it is likely to pass, and President Bush has already said he'll sign it..."

This is the first i've heard about it. It's common to attempt to attach amendments to bills. But in case you miss the implications, here they are:

If both of these amendments gets attached to the S. 659; The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act then they would pass along with the parent bill. In other words a choice would have to be made between supporting a bill that offered some protection for legitmate firearm manufacturers & sellers, prevent private transactions of firearms at gun shows & extended the assault weapons ban or oppossing all three provisions.

Now what's likely? Who knows. The bills could both be attached to S. 659, or just one of them, or neither. Assuming one of them gets attached then it'd be a question of how many Senators thought the compromise was worth it.

Here is one thing to look for: no matter which bill gets attached, or even if both bills get attached, look for the NRA to still support passage of S. 659. Why? Because it's in the interest of the firearms manufacturers to pass this legislation at almost any cost. The gun show "loophole" attachment wouldn't create much of a stir, as it would actually increase business of dealers as they'd be running the background cheks on private transactions for a feee in most cases. & the industry is used to the assault weapons ban. They're l;aready working around it. They simply stand to profit more by preventing frivilous lawsuits than by manufacturing assault weapons. & the NRA has shown repeatedly that they care not for the Right to Arms, but their own self interests.

The GCA of 68 (two seperate bills that comprised what is known as the GCA of 68) was passed with the support & encouragement of both the NRA & the firearms manufacturers. Among other things the GCA stopped the mail order slae of surplus firearms & prevented the import of firearms without a "sporting use". This benefitted the manufacturers as they were receiving healthy competetion from mail order companies that sold surplus military weapons. The GCA of 68 stopped that competition. It benefitted the gun manufacturers fnancially & they supported its passage even though it interfered with our ability to exercise our Right to Arms.

The NRA will not go against the gun manufacturers without a very compelling reason. & that reason will not likely be found as a desire to protect the Rights of the people.

Also look for the NRA to justify any support of an amended S.659 by saying that either or both attachments would have passed regardless of their efforts & by supporting it they at least got a "partial victory" where they would have only had defeat. This is BS but don't say I didn't warn you.

To sum up, if either attachment gets attached to S.659 look for the NRA to betray us all again by supporting its passage while pretending to have fought the good fight. In fact I would not be surprised if it turns out a deal was struck by the NRA: support for S.659 in exchange for support for the attachments.

But at this point it's all speculation as I have nothing further to go on than the statements quoted above from a Denver Post article written by a gun control supporter. If anyone has info feel free to e mail me.


Now, a fisking...

Angela Cortez of The Denver Post writes about Taking A Stand On Guns

"Gun owners tend to have hardened views on where Democrats stand on gun issues, according to a recent poll.
But the Second Amendment doesn't belong to any political party.
"

I agree. republicans deserve just as much condemnation when they attempt to take away our Rights. But alas they have better PT than the Democrats, so the Democrats take more than their fair share of the blame.

"The poll, released by Americans for Gun Safety, a gun-rights organization that works to build bipartisan support for federal legislation to close the gun-show loophole, enhance background checks and aggressively enforce existing federal gun laws, found gun-owning voters often assume that Democrats, particularly if they are silent on the issue, are anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment and disrespectful of the values held by those who own firearms. In addition, the study shows that a plurality of gun owners define themselves as moderates who would likely flock to Democratic candidates with a moderate position on guns."

First of all, if AGS is a gun rights group then I'd hate to think what Ms. Cortez thinks of the KKK. Perhaps they're actually a civil rights group?

But it is correct to assume that any politician who is silent is anti-gun. After all if you don't speak up for something, then you oppose it , even if you're opposition is only in the form of your silence.

"I identify with the report. I have written about gun control, Many of my readers, and others, say they know I'm a Democrat, or a liberal, out to take their guns away. I guess there are some signs, but I don't think I've ever told anyone what my party affiliation truly is, and I've never threatened to take anyone's gun away (no one who didn't deserve it, anyway)."

Actually I have read some of Ms. Cortez's writing before & here views are left of center IMO. She may not be a Democrat, but she's damn sure not a Republican or Libertarian. However, she has lied already. In her advocacy for gun control she has threatened to take firearms away from thos who do deserve one. All gun control takes away the firearms of those who deserve it. It's a Right, remember? But I do find her statement that she advocates taking away the guns of those who deserve it to be a sign of ignorance or arrogance on her part. Hopefully it's ignorance, cause there's a simple cure for that. If it's arrogance then it's harder to deal with.

"No one really knows where I stand on guns - gun rights or gun control, depending on how one perceives the debate - but they think they do."

Actually I do know where Ms. Cortez stands. She's on the opposite side of the line that I am. What may be perhaps more accurate is that no one knows to what degree she supports gun control, even though her statements give us an idea. But proof of that will come in this fisking.

"In editorial board meetings, I probably come off "anti-gun," but it's my job to argue an additional point of view. I've written what seems like dozens of editorials - some award-winning - on closing the gun-show loophole as well as opposing other measures that would increase the proliferation of guns on the streets and in the wrong hands. But that doesn't mean I'm 'anti-Second Amendment'."

Actually anything she wrote concerning the denial of a person's Rights as acknowledged under the 2nd amendment would seem anti-2nd amendment for a very good reason: it is. Playing the devil's advocate is one thing, but promoting laws that restrict access or hamper access to firearms is what I'd call anti-2nd amendment.

"I do understand that constitutional right and will fight with all my might to protect it."

Ms. Cortez does not understand that Right as Acknowledged by the constitution. Nor does she understand what "hypocrisy" or "contradictory" means. She has admitted in supporting legislation to hamper a person attempting to excercise their rights as acknowledged by the 2nd amendment & then in the very next friggin' sentence claims to support it. I wonder if she'd support a law to close the "blog loophole" while claiming to defend the 1rst amendment?

"Many people who think they know me are taken aback when I tell them my father is a gun collector who taught me to shoot and how to handle and clean a gun in a safe manner. My dad even considered me a crack shoot."

Not suprising at all. I can make no assumptions about her father, but it sounds like she's a left leaning Fuddite. Unfortunately that's not a rare occurence.

"Whether I own one now or not is similar to my party affiliation, it's not something I'm going to reveal here. But I do believe that the public has a right to know if I have a gun in my home, or on my person. Public records should answer that question."

Public records? So this staunch defender of the 2nd amendment wants registration that's available for public review? The public has no Right to know anything concerning the activities of an individual who has caused no harm or attempted to cause no harm. But if she truly believes the public has a Right to know, why does she not come forward with the information?

"The bottom line is: I'm not anti-Second Amendment and neither are most people - Democrat or otherwise. I don't dislike people who own guns. But I don't necessarily like guns."

I can't really think of an inanimate object I like or dislike. There are some that I feel are more useful for certain tasks, & again some who perform those tasks better than others, but I have never for the life of me understood how a person can dislike a whole category of objects.

But again, she lies. She is very anti-2nd amendment. The 2nd amendment she asserts that she is a supporter of is not the 2nd amendment mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but some interpretation that totally miconstrues the clear meaning & intent of that amendemnt, as well as the concept of federlism itself.

"We're law-abiding citizens, and my father has every right to own and collect guns. I don't want to take that right away from him, or anyone else who posseses the legal right to own a firearm."

Really? but that qualifier makes all the difference doesn't it? "Law abiding". I do not presume that Ms. Cortez would shed any tears for a person whose firearms are confiscated because of a law that allows it. Nor do I see her fighting to prevent laws from narrowing the criteria of people who may legally own firearms. In other words, she claims to support legal gun owners to have firearms, while supporting laws that restrict the number & type of people who may own firearms.

"That said, I don't want people to have guns in their homes if they have children or suffer from mental ailments. I don't want people owning guns if they're not hunters. I don't like the idea of people walking around with concealed weapons. I want guns under lock and key. Like motor vehicles, I want them to be licensed."

Huh??? So this staunch defender of the Right to Arms thinks those with children or other dependent conditions should not have the means of defense? She doesn't want non-hunters to be able to protect themselves or particiapte in formal target shooting competitions? She disapproves of people who have the means to protect themselves outside their home? She wants them locked up? She wants them licensed like cars?

Well, many people have made comparisons of motor vehicle & car licensing. I think she doesn't realize what she's saying.

Anyone with the money can buy a car. No license required, no background check. They may only drive the car on public roads after they get a license, which is usually available to those over 16. There are no restrictions on the type of car one may purchase, own, & drive around on their own property. Further there are no prohibitions on one driving a car on their own property or getting a license to drive on public streets even if they are convicted of a violent crime. If they prove themselves negligent or dangerous in driving on public streets, their license to drive on public streets may be suspended or revoked, but they still have no barriers preventing them from buying a car, owning a car, or driving on private property.

If Ms. Cortex thought about that for a few minutes I'm sure she'd change her mind about wanting firearms regulated like vehicles.

"I believe victims should have the right to sue negligent manufacturers or dealers of firearms. I wish people didn't feel they need guns in their homes for protection because I think that during a burglary or a struggle between a homeowner and an intruder, innocent people are likely to end up at the wrong end of the barrel."

Victims do have the ability to sue negligent firearms manufacturers &/or dealers. But considering that firearms accidents are usually caused by negligence of the user & the number of accidents in general is at an all time low, I think Ms. Cortez is ignorant of the situation. I would advise she reads this post from Kevin at The Smallest Minority which deals with accidental firearms deaths & hte misue &/or understanding of the statistics involved.

Here's an excerpt from Kevin:

"Let's look at the facts, as unpleasant as they actually are. In 1999, as the piece says, 824 accidental deaths by gunshot were recorded. But how many of these were children? If you define it as I do as "under the age of 18" then the total number of "children" who died by accidental gunshot wound was 158. If you mean small children, such as the one in the picture - say, under the age of 10? 31. Not 4,000. Not 824. Thirty-one.

Compare that to the number of children under the age of 10 who died by drowning in 1999: 750. The number under the age of 10 who died in bicycle accidents? 81.

But we're told endlessly that they're no longer interested in gun-control any more, but now it's gun-safety they pursue. I'm sorry, but guns are apparently safer than water or bicycles, at least for small children."



Now as to Ms. Cortez' belief that firearms in the home are most likely to hurt their owners rather than protect them, I would suggets she read this. It's a page containing links to some of the self defense stories involving citizens with firearms. I fear that her own occupational bias has mislead her. Just because her paper, or papers in general don't report defensive firearms use does not mean it's a statistically insignificant occurence.

But stats aside, who is she to assert that we should not have a choice? If she feels firearms are more likely to cause problems, then she perhaps shouldn't have one. But it is arrogance that leads her to express the desire to make that choice for others.

"I wish society could evolve at a faster rate into one that is non-violent and has little interest in or need for firearms. But I'm also a realist, and I don't make the rules. Anyone who has the right to own a gun can do so. My thinking on the matter really is neither extreme left or right, but somewhere near the center, like most people."

Every gun owner out there wishes society would be non-violent. However even a non-violent society would still have legitimate interests in firearms. Target shooting is fun. there's a variety of disciplines to involve yourself in & it deserves its place as a sport just as much as baseball, football or hockey. Also hunting is an enjoyable & sometimes necessary activity. It can be accomplished without firearms in some cases, but not as effeciently & not with the same nostalgia that a firearm offers.

But her thinking is not like most people. I would opine that it's like most reporters, or perhaps most leftists. But even if it were like most people it would still not matter to me as long as she stopped attempting to impose her beliefs on others.

"So don't tag me anti-Second Amendment. Tag me a Democrat if you will, but don't tag all Democrats 'anti-Second Amendment,' or 'anti-gun'."

It seems that Ms. Cortez has tagged herself as anti-2nd amendment & anti-Right to Arms. whether she's a Republican, Democrat or third party supporter makes no difference. She wishes to take away part, if not all, of my Right to Arms.

"Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., have introduced compromise legislation to close the gun-show loophole. heIt will be offered as an amendment to the gun-manufacturers immunity bill expected to come up for a vote this session. In addition, an amendment to renew the automatic weapons bill is expected to be attached."

I'll get to those attached amendments in another post, cause it's very important news.

"This is where my sense of fairness and reality collide, because the immunity bill is rotten. 'This bill (gives) gun manufacturers and dealers total immunity from civil lawsuits,' says Sarah Brady. 'This means the gun business will enjoy a legal freedom that no other industry has ever gained'."

That's another lie. The immunity bill prevents lawsuits caused by the actions of thrid parties. It does not affect standing in cases of faulty or defective manufacturing. It more or less keeps you from suing a gun manufacturer if someone who is legally entitled to buy a gun shoots you or a relative, or if someone steals a gun & shoots you or a relative, or if someone legally owns a gun & shoots you through their own negligence. You can still sue the person who shot you, you just can't sue the manufacturer for the acts of a second or third party unless those acts were the direct result of negligence on the company's part.

But apperently this staunch defender of the 2nd amendment trusts information from the person who is the most visible supporter of removing all firearms from civilian hands.

"The problem is that the manufacturers immunity bill has the votes - TheRepublican votes are there, as well as and some key Democrats. Sadly, it is likely to pass, and President Bush has already said he'll sign it. The best we can hope for is that if it must pass, we get two good pieces of legislation out of it: Closure of the gun-show loophole - the gap that currently allows non-licensed dealers to sell their wares at gun shows without performing background checks - and the renewal of the automatic weapons ban."

Hmm this staunch supprter of the 2nd amendment is hoping that a bill that keeps frivilous lawsuits from bankrupting gun companies will pass with attachments that infringe upon our Right to private transactions involving firearms at certain locations & infringe upon our Right to possess newly manufactured firearms with certain cosmetic features?

She refers to it as a ban on automatic weapons. Either she is ignorant of what the ban she supports entails, or she is purposefully misleading. She is talking about the "assault weapons ban" which only affects certain firearms with certain purely cosmetic features. Automatic weapons have been heavily regulated since 1934. New manufacture of automatic arms was verbotten for civilian use in 1986.

"While we've closed the gun-show loophole in Colorado (thanks to voters, not the legislators), we need a federal mandate to close the loophole throughout the country. This is important legislation and - apologies to to Ms.Mrs. Brady - must be passed."

Again. she's not content that her views have been imposed on those in her own state, but wishes those views to be imposed nationwide. The gun show "loophole" was closed in Colorado by a majority of voters via a referendum. This is why democracy was not chosen as our form of government. I wonder if she would feel as pro-deomcratic as she does if 51% of the voters in Colorado passed a law requiring government approval of every news story & licensing of every reporter, even if they wrote something outside of their papers office? Or perhaps more appropriately a law that prohibited anyone from buying a newspaper at a news stand without a background check?

The gun show "loophole" is not a "loophole" at all. It's merely something that's not illegal. It's the ability of individuals to seel firearms to other individuals at gun shows w/o registration or governmental approval. what Ms. Cortez advocates is a federal intrusion into the private transactions of individuals. She wants Congress to strecth the overly broad definition of interstate commerce yet again & regulate transactions that they have no authority to hamper in the first friggin place.

"Unless, of course, something better can be worked out. But I doubt it."

What would be better in her opinion? I can only speculate but I wouldn't be surprised if it made Great Britain's gun laws look libertarian by contrast.

Ms. Cortez is either ignorant or a liar. Hypocritical is something that would describe this piece of hers despite motivation.

& this person is probably not uncommon in journalism, which would explain their anti-Right to Arms slant & their denying they have a slant in the first place. They're too absorbed in their own circles to realize that they are only moderate or center when compared to those of similar views. further they place too much importance on the majority of biews, as if Rights should subject to majority whim.

But in Ms. Cortez' case it saddens me that she is so ill informed & that through negligence or malice she seeks to spread that ignorance. I would be more than happy to calmly & rationally discuss her views with her & at least attempt to point out the factual erors she makes, if not the philosophical ones.

Ms. Cortez is a member of the Denver Post Editorial Board & may be reached at acortez@denverpost.com


On this thread over at The High Road, a member asks for help:

"A friend of mine voluntarily surrendered his weapons collection to police (why is a VERY long story), with the understanding that they would be returned. The chief of police has decided that they will instead be destroyed "in the interest of public safety". NRA has been notified, but any suggestions as to other things that could be done? Or anyone out in that area that may be able to help?"

He further explains the circumstances:

"A bit more detail might help, I suppose...

My friend had gotten a bit drunk, and was busy being sick in the bathroom after getting disconected from his wife on the phone (she works ren faires all over the country). When she couldn't get him back on the phone, she panicked and called the po-po. They asked on arival if there were any weapons in the house, and he told them where everything was and what condition it was in (loaded/unloaded). They asked if they could remove them temporarily, and he said yes (I know... BIG mistake)...
He was never charged with any crime, and volunteered to go to the hospital. He was told that, upon review, his weapons would be returned. The chief's letter said they would be destroyed "in the interest of public safety", barring an order from a court or the DA...
Is this making anyone else think someone's trying to pull something? Two of the weapons confiscated were a)Type 8 Arasaka and b)NCO's katana, both still possessing their crests..."


& further he states:

"there were no comments made at any point about hurting anybody. his wife called the police because she was afraid he was having a VERY bad reaction to the alchohol (which he was, just not as bad as she thought)..."

& still further:

"There's nothing barring him from owning/possessing a weapon. Zip, nada..."


If any of y'all know a gun friendly attorney in the St. Paul, Mn. area please drop me a line & I'll forward the info to him. Or sign up at The High Road & leave a reply to his thread.

I'll try to find out more details & contact info so we can attempt to use our great powers of inquiry & influence into the matter. Then again, this sounds like a job for Instapundit!




Jeff at Alphecca has a story & link up y'all should check out.

It's about an elderly man named Lester Campbell who was mugged in NYC. He pulled a gun, fired a shot & more or less came away unharmed (except for the cash that was stolen). But being NYC he now faces charges for having two unlicensed firearms. They took the one he used & another one in his home.

Kevin of The Smallest Minority has a more detailed account of what happened.

Dave at Pervasive Light has set up a defense fund for the gentleman in question.

Y'all do what you can.


Tuesday, November 04, 2003


Bill St. Clair, proprietor of End the War on Freedom, tells us of his experience on the G&A; Forum.

Meanwhile on the Gunnyragg Forum, Gunnyragg himself does a little venting about being kicked off the G&A; Forum. I should note that Gunnyragg had been a member of the G&A; Forum for some time before I found out about it, & that was several months before a moderator was appointed there.

For summaries of what has happened at the G&A; Forum, please look here for my account & here for Nicki's take on the matter.

In short it is as I feared: anyone with a dissenting view is banned. Feel free to check it out for yourself. Bill St Clair points to this thread which he started & subsequently was banned after only 6 paragraphs. In that thread you have the moderator himself argue that because of the majority of American’s, we will never have an unlimited Right to Arms, & that's as it should be, because 'Arms" constitutes more than just firearms. More or less he argues that reasonable is the way to go & anything beyond that is delusional.

So for the helluvit, let's explore that idea for a moment.

What would a literal interpretation of the 2nd Amendment mean?

From Merriam-Webster I offer you this definition of Arms:

Main Entry: 3arm
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English armes (plural) weapons, from Old French, from Latin arma
Date: 13th century
1 a : a means (as a weapon) of offense or defense; especially : FIREARM b : a combat branch (as of an army) c : an organized branch of national defense (as the navy)


So any weapons that can be used offensively or defensively are arms.

But what of the word weapon?

Again, from Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: 1weap•on
Pronunciation: 'we-p&n;
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English wepen, from Old English w[AE]pen; akin to Old High German wAffan weapon, Old Norse vApn
Date: before 12th century
1 : something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy
2 : a means of contending against another


So it's an object that can be used to injure, defeat or destroy. That is a fairly broad definition.

Just for the heckuvit, I found this definition for man-at-arms & offer it to you:

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: man-at-arms
Pronunciation: "man-&t-;'ärmz
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural men-at-arms /"men-/
Date: 1581
: SOLDIER; especially : a heavily armed and usually mounted soldier


So what we have defined arms as any object that can be used as a weapon. Now how does that fit in with the 2nd amendment?

Well, the 2nd amendment uses the term 'arms' & I believe there is a very good reason for this choice. Here's the 2nd Article to the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution:

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Now at the time of the American Revolutionary War the Brown Bess was standard issue amongst British regular troops (although the name Brown Bess wasn't found in writing until around 1785). The Brown Bess was a musket; a shoulder fired muzzle loading firearm. It was a flintlock with a smooth bore & an average soldier could expect to fire 3 shots a minute. Accuracy was abysmal, with little chance of hitting a specific man-sized target beyond 50 yards.

The Americans were armed in a slightly different fashion. The musket was the most common, but in numbers large enough to note were rifles. Rifles of the period were similar to muskets except for two things; the most notable is that their bores were rifled (or grooved in a curved line to impart a stabilizing spin on the projectile) but often overlooked is that most rifles had no provisions for a bayonet. Rifles were more accurate, enabling a doubling or in some cases a quadrupling of the maximum effective range (the distance at which an individual soldier could hit an individual target) but slower to load at 1 to 2 shots per minute.

Because of the nature of that particular war, where many soldiers supplied their own arms (especially in the beginning) rifles were supplemented with knives, tomahawks, hatchets, swords & just about any other edged weapon that could be carried.

Later in the war, rifles were replaced wherever possible by muskets. Why would the Americans do this when the rifle was more accurate? Because it was slower to load than the musket & it lacked a place to mount a bayonet, which was (& is) a very important weapon.

Pistols also had their place on both sides, as they were much more compact & much more effective at dispatching a charging enemy soldier than a sword.

Of note is the breech loading rifle. It was invented by a British officer named Patrick Ferguson. The Ferguson Rifle was patented in 1776 & tested successfully in battle shortly thereafter. It could be fired accurately at 200 yard distant targets at a rate of 6 shots per minute. Compared with the 50 yard accuracy & 3 rounds a minute of the musket it's obvious to see which weapon would be preferred. Luckily for us, Major Ferguson was mortally wounded at the Battle of King's Mountain, N.C. & with his death the British military abandoned the Ferguson Rifle. (I grew up around 30 miles from Kings Mountain so I learned about Major Ferguson very early in life - he was a great inventor & very clever, but unfortunately he was on the wrong team).

It should also be noted that cannons & especially ships of war were often privately owned & operated. (Speaking of ships, on this day, the 4th of November 1776, Congress authorized 4 vessels & crew for the American Navy - the first 4 vessels & crew for the American Navy). A sailor or captain could simply make more money as a privateer, so naturally private ships of war were more plentiful. In fact, according the link listed earlier in this paragraph:

"In 1777 alone, Colonial privateers took 143 prizes. For this reason, it was always difficult if not impossible, to find able seamen willing to join the American Navy and often navy ships remained tied to docks for months at a time with no crew at all. There was even talk in Congress of placing an embargo on merchant shipping during a critical time to encourage sailors to join the navy, but this was never enacted."

(For more on the weapons & tactics of the American Revolution, look here)

So in the founders’ day private citizens possessed the contemporary version of pistols, assault weapons, sniper rifles, howitzers & Destroyers. The founders saw the coming of the breech loader, which would be like comparing a semi-automatic rifle to a single shot breech loading rifle that used modern cartridge-type ammunition.

So why did they use the word 'arms' instead of flintlocks or muskets? Simple. They recognized that technology was changing, & muskets simply wouldn't encompass all that was necessary. In their time, in their own experience, muskets were the most common, but bayonets, rifles, pistols, swords, cannons, warships, knives, hatchets, grenades, tomahawks & other implements were used to wage war. The word 'muskets' would have been too limiting even then.

The primary purpose of the 2nd amendment was to ensure that the citizenry would never be disarmed & helpless should a government, foreign or domestic, attempt to enslave or kill them. As such it was meant that the average citizen should be able to possess the arms typical of the common soldier that he/she might have to face. In the 1770's that meant, but was not limited to, a musket & bayonet. In the 1870's that would have expanded to include a lever action repeating rifle & in the 1970's that would mean an M16 (although I would argue that any ten rednecks I know armed with Garands could equal 100 regular troops armed with M16's any day of the week & twict on Sund’ys). In 2070 this might mean the phaser rifles of Star Trek fame. But the founders’ intent was clear: the people should be able to be armed equal to or better than the average professional soldier.

Now this would exclude nuclear arms, chemical arms & other such weapons. Why? Aren't they still weapons & arms & therefore fall under the definition of arms in the 2nd amendment? Well, on a day when I have nothing to do, I'll entertain arguments that they could be included. But for our purposes here, no they wouldn't be.

Nuclear arms, chemical & biological weapons aren't the arms issued to a typical soldier. The difference is they are not discriminate weapons. They take out areas of people without distinguishing between friend and foe. Would it bother me if someone on my block had one of these types of weapons? Well, consider there may very well be someone on any of our blocks with these types of weapons, no. If that person has no harmful intent then it doesn't affect me. If that person does have harmful intent then there's not much I can do about it, & odds are I wouldn't be in any condition to do anything about it once I found out.

But what does make sense is for the citizenry to be able to have the same types of weapons that a small military unit, or in some cases a large military unit would possess. This means hand held weapons, shoulder fired weapons, & to some extent even crew served weapons should be privately owned. Grenades? Ayup. Same thing as with the nukes; if they have no harmful intent then why should it bother anyone? If they do, then they may kill a number of people, but no more than they'd be capable of doing now, with either a grenade bought on the black market (& thus illegal), a home-made grenade (& thus illegal), or a car (legal to own in all 50 states) driven on a crowded sidewalk at 30mph.

So while some cringe at the idea of common citizens owning weaponry fit for an infantryman, they do so in ignorance of history. There is little that's illegal to possess that cannot be had or its equivalent manufactured by those who really wish to cause harm.

For example, the shootings at Columbine High School a few years back brought bans of 'assault weapons' in various cities across the country. What they fail to realize is that the same effect could have been had with non-assault weapons - regular firearms. The murderers were walking through a school full of unarmed people unmolested, shooting at will. They didn't do anything that couldn't have been done with manually operated weapons. & to really put it in perspective, they murdered 13 people & wounded 21 others between 11:19a.m. & 11:35 a.m. That's 16 minutes. Assuming they hit each person with just one shot, that would be just over 2 shots per minute total, or just over 1 shot per minute per murderer. A musket from the revolutionary was could have provided that rate of firepower. In the library where they murdered 10 people & wounded 12 others, they did this all in 7 &1/2 minutes or so. That would have equated to almost 3 shots per total or 1.5 shots minute per murderer. Again, well within the capabilities of the Revolutionary War musket.

But of particular interest were the explosives. There were approximately 76 bombs planted in & around the school. Two large bombs were in the cafeteria & it's estimated that had they detonated they would have killed or severely wounded almost everyone in the cafeteria. That would have been over 400 students during the peak lunch break. Those bombs failed to explode, but if the murderers had spent a little more time on their explosives & instead of firearms had solely relied upon bombs, then many, many more people would have been murdered or injured. The bombs they made were illegal. That didn't prevent them from making them & attempting to use at least some of them.

The point of all that is that the weapons that some would be afraid of falling into the hands of those with harmful intent do fall into those hands right now despite laws aimed at preventing this. Fortunately when they're used they're used ineffectively relative to their potential. But more importantly is that they are typically only used where there is no fear of immediate & violent repercussion of their actions. Therefore the danger of the public having access to military weaponry is unfounded, as the criminals have access to them or their equivalents.

In case you still don't see the point, 2 of those bombs could have blown up the cafeteria, possibly causing enough structural damage to collapse it. That's less damage than two hand grenades would have done, or to some extent less than two 40mm grenades launched from an M203.

What matters most is not the weapon, because they can be bought on the black market, made or stolen right now. What matters is intent. Most people would not have harmful or negligent intent merely because they have access to military grade weaponry. The few that do have access to the same weaponry or their equivalents now, so denying access to the general populace is ineffective.

Prohibiting machine guns, grenades, even cannons use the same logic as prohibiting handguns: people will break the laws against murder with these implements so we'll make their possession illegal to stop the murders. Ask anyone in D.C. (a resident, not a politician) how well that's worked so far.

But one thing prohibiting grenades, machine guns & other military grade weaponry does is tilt the balance of power heavily to the military & away from the people.

Let us not forget that while personal self defense & hunting were taken for granted as being protected by the common law & therefore not mentioned, the protection of the use & possession of military grade weapons by the civilian populace was the primary objective of the 2nd amendment.

Firearms are essential, but they're not enough. Any item that could be useful to a soldier should be available for purchase to the civilian without restriction. That would include machine guns, grenades & artillery, but let's not forget the bayonet, knife, pistols & other implements of warfare. For those of you who shudder at the thought of grenades & machine guns being sold at the local hardware store, let me once again remind you that these items are available on the black market &/or their equivalents can easily be made right now. Those with harmful intent already have access to them, so absolutely nothing would change in that regards were the 2nd amendment to be interpreted literally. As far as artillery & other similar implements they are not available currently on the black market, at least not commonly enough to note. This is for two reasons; the price is prohibitive & the use of these weapons is limited. You actually think someone will attempt to wheel a field howitzer in place in order to shoot up a school? They'd be better served using a catapult, as most people would at least think it so quaint that they wouldn't see the danger at first. Although they would make the ultimate drive-by weapon. Tanks? Again, cost prohibitive & not particularly suited to the type of crimes that are most feared. I admit that any & every weapon (or the threat thereof) can be used in a crime, but some are more suited to certain crimes than others.

& considering that piracy is not something limited to old stories or complaints from record companies, I see not reason whatsoever why a pleasure boat should not have at least 1 heavy machine gun & a grenade launcher, doubly so if it's a sea-faring vessel.

So while the moderator at G&A; Forums might wince at the thought of being able to walk into the hardware store & buying a belt fed machine gun over the counter, if one thinks about it a little then one will (or at least should) realize that those are precisely the kind of weapons that the founders intended to protect from governmental intrusion.

The 2nd Amendment protects the ability of the individual to own & possess weapons suitable for military use. That encompasses a broad spectrum of weapons & weapon types. It should not frighten anyone if a civilian possesses martial arms.

It should frighten us that martial arms are only freely permitted to the military & police. After all, that idea frightened the founders enough to place the 2nd Amendment in the Constitution.



Monday, November 03, 2003


& y'all please welcome Nicki. I had asked her to join this blog a few months back, but between writing for several pro-Right to Arms groups, raising a family, going to school & working too many jobs, she's been a little pressed for time.

Needless to say that while the opinions of Nicki do not neccesarily reflect those of this blog or any other co-bloggers past, present or future, they probably should as they are well reasoned, articulate & generally correct on most things. Actually I find myself in agreement with her quite frequently & any criticisms of her opinions might as well be addressed to me.

I'll have a bio up of her shortly, & feel free to view her latest piece over at Armed Females of America called It's Time For ACOUNTABILITY when it comes to Firearm Safety

& on the good advice of Jeff at Alphecca, we won't change the name of the blog to PubliPundit or the Publicola Conspiracy as previously contemplated.




David Codrea writes about Arnold & the insinuations by some that he was a "stealth" pro-gun candidate.

In case y'all missed it, some people were urging California voters to abandon Sen. McClintock in favor of Schwarzenegger on the basis of Schwarzenegger really being adamently pro-gun, but downplaying it till he has the election won.

& one of the things that should really tick off people who fell for that would be the reports of Schwarzenegger promising to help Sen. Feinstein in her efforts to renew the "assault weapons" ban.

From the Sacremento Bee:

"Schwarzenegger pledged to 'work together' with Feinstein to reauthorize an assault weapons ban. Boxer pressed the governor-elect for more education funding. He said, 'Sure'. "

From The Marin Independent Journal:

"Schwarzenegger made few policy pronouncements, though he did vow to work with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to reauthorize a federal assault weapons ban. Asked if he would raise taxes to help defray the cost of the fires, he said 'Now is the wrong time to make that decision'. "

I have heard the argument that Schwarzenegger is making political promises which he has no ability or intention of keeping. I have also heard that he is biding his time & that once California's economy is under control then he can start making stands based upon principles.

Personally I think those that make or believe those particular arguments concentrate too much on politics & not enough on principle. They have more or less traded their desire to effect a principled change for the vehicle that is supposed to enable that change. It does absolutely no good if in order to change a wrong in government one must play along & even support that wrong until enough power is accumulated. This is the same trap that so many good people have fallen into. It is the same trap that has bred dictators & tyrants. While our political system tends to discourage this on the whole(tyrants & dictators that is), one should not accept using those same mechanisms just because the ultimate end is restrained to a degree.

In other words, it's BS from the apologists who would rather have victory at any cost than honestly fight a battle on it's merits.

The other argument I've heard is that Schwarzenegger was not quoted directly, therefore the stories about him saying he'd support the "assault weapons" ban is suspect. Now they may have a point, as the mainstream media has proven to be unreliable. Of course if they did misquote Schwarzenegger I'd think he'd have issue a statement on that by now. After all, didn't he go to the trouble of suing a car dealership in the mid-west because they used his image without his permission? I'd think that if he didn't say it & objected to being portrayed in that light, he'd have made some noise about it. So I'm lead to believe that either the paraphrasing was indeed accurate or that he does not object to them portraying him as a supporter of the federal "assault weapons" ban. After all, didn't he make statements to the press that he does in fact support the assault weapons ban previously? I don't have a record of any pro-"assault weapons" ban statements by Schwarzenegger, but I do offer you this excerpt from a previous post on a Sacremento Bee poll of the candidates' views on gun control:

"Mr. Schwarzenegger does approve of:

Forcing Californians to pass a written test before purchasing a firearm

Having records searched for a prior purchase of a firearm by a recently convcited felon

Requiring all pistols to have a loaded chamber indicator & a magazine disconnect feature

Banning/heavily restricting all .50 caliber rifles

The conclusion? Mr. Schwarzenegger seems to be for gun control except in certain instances where the financial impact would possibly be unjustifiable to achieve those ends. Lt. Gov. Bustamante is not concerned with the cost. & Sen. McClintock is against gun control except when he believes it applies only to convicted felons."


So I do not see Schwarzenegger objecting to anyone potraying him as a pro-gun control candidate, since he is in fact a pro-gun control candidate & not the "stealth" pro-gun candidate that his supporters alledged.

One last thing: Some have also alledged that Schwarzenegger has given money to pro-gun groups. Mr. Codrea addresses the factual basis (or lack thereof) of these claims. One thing he does fail to mention though, is that the NRA is the main alledged receipient of Schwarzenegger's donations. That would mean he was not contributing to a pro-gun group at all, since the NRA is not pro-gun.

Read Mr. Codrea's piece & be sure to follow the links.




I have been slack. No excuses, no reasos can justify my failing to point out Alphecca's weekly reports. Luckily he has them archived seperately for those of you who wish to see if you missed anything.

& let the archive not deter you from checking out his current check on the bias at Yahoo, which features Fuz & the results of his antelope hunt.


I'm not new to Internet message boards. I've been an avid participant for quite a few years, and while I do get a bit overzealous on occasion, I'm generally easy to get along with. My normal MO is to lurk for a few days, get a feel for the participants and then dive in head first. Sometimes I hit the bottom with a loud "THUNK!" but for the most part, I fit right in.

Not so with Primedia's G&A; forum. Publicola didn't direct me to that nest of fascists, nor did I go there with any preconceived notion about what to expect. I was directed there by Angel Shamaya of KeepAndBearArms.com as a point of interest. Apparently the moderator of that forum Dan Johnson had taken it upon himself to attack Mr. Shamaya, hurl wild accusations and impugn Mr. Shamaya's honesty and integrity. Mr. Shamaya is a well-spoken, intelligent man, who had no problem refuting every one of the moderator's accusations. I chose to stay out of the debate and simply watch him in action...

...Until the childish name-calling and ad hominem attacks began.

I will admit, I wasn't timid about letting these people know that I was appalled at their behavior. I compared the ad hominem insults hurled by one poster to an angry simian hurling excrement. In other words, I wasn't sugar and honey, OK?

But just as I thought I was beginning to settle in and make a few posts, the attacks started pouring in. When I questioned the NRA's wisdom in endorsing a local Republican over a GOA-endorsed Democrat, I was accused of having an anti-NRA "agenda." My words were twisted. I was accused of being a shill, a liar, a traitor to Second Amendment rights, and in a bout of delusional frenzy, one poster actually intimated a sexual relationship between me and Mr. Shamaya by calling me Monica and Mr. Shamaya Bill Clinton.

Instead of getting involved in a urination contest, I opted to leave. I don't take kindly to people whose idea of rational debate is sticking their fingers in their ears when their opponent speaks and yelling, "YOU ARE WRONG! YOU ARE A MORON! YOU ARE WRONG! YOU ARE A MORON!" at the top of their lungs. It's not my idea of "fun," and quite frankly, I have better things to do than waste my verbal skills on semi-literate hacks, who have trouble understanding simple sentences and words with more than two syllables.

I did, however, watch from the sidelines for a while, just to see what happens next. And that experience is what led me to describe this particular forum as a "nest of fascists."

It began with the moderator publishing a loaded, biased poll for the members of the board. This charming little thread was entitled: KeepandBearArms.com....friend or foe?

It featured such intellectual gems as, "I feel honest criticism is healthy, a tirade of mis-quotes, misrepresentations, half-truths, and twisted logic aimed at any organization or individual engaged in the fight for the Second Amendment is counter-productive to our cause." and...

"...can we afford to have our forum monopolized by hate mongers and doomsayers who have yet to accomplish anything in the fight..."

The thread attracted the usual slew of miscreants, half wits and semi-literates, who literally turned it into a bash-fest, with few facts and a lot of accusations. It reminded me of a gang of hyenas encircling its prey. Mr. Shamaya was once again forced to defend attacks against his character, his integrity and his organization on several threads. He defended himself quite civilly, with facts, not insults, using information from his website. He was promptly accused of trying to promote his organization and siphon money from decent, unsuspecting NRA supporters. His post was deleted. He reposted it with the intention of defending himself against attacks, and was once again deleted and banned.

In the next few days, anyone who stood up for Mr. Shamaya was promptly slapped down. If they continued, they were banned. And then, this morning, I read the following:

If you look around this forum you will notice some locked threads and a number of banned messages. We have had a flood of outside agitators come our way in recent days and I'm not going to tolerate them. I have also banned gunny. He has persistently criticized and undermined this forum for what...two years now..maybe more. I decided it was time to put him out of his misery and give him more time to tend to his own forum and stop worrying about this one.

That's about the gist of it. As always, I'll respond to direct questions from members whose opinion and motives I trust, but I'm not going to continue to argue with fools and agitators
.

Anyone who appeared to be a voice of dissent against the sacred NRA cow was promptly banned. Anyone who disagreed with Herr Johnson's actions was deemed to be an "agitator" and promptly silenced. Anyone exhibiting even the slightest tendency to criticize either the way things are run or the NRA was banned.

No dissenting view is tolerated.

Anyone exhibiting a tendency to question the NRA establishment was silenced.

Anyone tolerant enough to stick around and debate facts on their merits was insulted, attacked and smeared.

Some left willingly, but others were forced out


Now, do you understand why I call them fascist?

It's sad to see how blind, uninformed and completely indoctrinated some people are. There exists a plethora of documentation confirming the NRA's less than stellar record when it comes to the gun rights of Americans. And yet, some would rather vilify, defame and attempt to destroy the voices of dissent - those voices who have the courage to call 'em as they see 'em. It's much easier for them to exist in their little sheltered world, sending their money to the largest gun rights organization in the country and sit back satisfied that they have done their part in defending our Second Amendment rights.

But the largest doesn't always mean the best. And while this little fascist club sits around patting one another on the back, hootin' and hollerin' about the virtues of the NRA, there are smaller gun rights organizations working their rear ends off for their rights and exposing compromises for the sake of political expediency by their sacred cow. For that, they are called "traitors to the Second Amendment."

Now, let me ask you this: Who is the real traitor? Is it the organization that consistently panders for money from its members to the tune of 6 times per month and uses their money to compromise away their rights, while the donors look the other way, or the group that exposes such practices?


Friday, October 31, 2003


I started off my internet writing on a message forum. That forum was owned by Primedia & called the Guns & Ammo Forum. It got its name from a magazine that Primedia publishes. I spent the better part of three years on that forum, following it as its URL changed. I made a few friends, a few adversaries & a helluva lot of arguments. As of the 30th of October I no longer post there. This is my attempt to explain why, for my benefit, for my friends that I’ve made over the years at G&A; Forum benefit, & for those of you who know nothing about Primedia, the G&A; Forum & the NRA’s connection, power & influence & there apparent hatred of KeepAndBearArms.com.

As I said, I posted over there for quite a while. The Forum originally had 2 sections: the General Shooting Forum & the Second Amendment Forum. It is now a very large forum with many sections, but for our purpose I’ll mainly speak of the Second Amendment Forum.

Another thing that would be helpful for y’all to know is that I posted under the screen name miketgtr71. Though I doubt my writing style & my points would be too easily confused with many people over there, should you decide to visit for yourself then that’s the screen name I used.

When I first started posting there I was just waking up from the political slumber we are all born in. This was ideal because the Second Amendment Forum was slumbering as well. I forget the ratio, but the General Shooting Forum had ten pages or so of posts to perhaps 2 pages of posts at the Second Amendment Forum. It just wasn’t getting the traffic it should have received.

Being new to the message board system I started off rather cautiously. I posted simple questions & engaged in polite debates. Then I found another internet resource that seemed to be just what the Second Amendment Forum needed: KeepAndBearArms.com. (KABA for short)

KABA had news stories, organized by day, which related directly or indirectly to the Right to Arms. So I took what I thought was of interest & posted it on the Second Amendment Forum. Sometimes I’d post seven or more of their stories a day, but usually at least one or two. This picked things up over there. People started coming over & seeing what was going on. Most importantly they started commenting to the posts. I didn’t do it all by myself but I did do a lot to get the Second Amendment Forum going in the beginning.

Now one of the reasons I write is to help formulate ideas. Some people like to sit & think, others like to distract themselves, but when I have an idea or theory that is bubbling just below the surface & I want to explain it or expand upon it, I write about it. If it makes sense to me on paper, then I usually think it’s solid enough to test with more rigorous forms of scrutiny.

A lot of the ideas I believe about Rights, particularly the Right to Arms, were formed by writing about them on the G&A; Forums, & solidified by arguing their defense on those same forums.

But now here’s where it gets interesting: some of the arguments would last for months, & I believe a few of them are still going on despite my self-exile. In the summer of 2001 I remember months long debates with people who supported the wave of CCW laws that was washing over the country, while I & a few others argued that CCW permits were taking what should be a Right & transforming it into a mere privilege. Some would still bring those arguments over CCW up, even within the last few days & while discussing different subjects.

It was during those CCW debates that I realized a few things about people. One is that no matter how brief or elaborate your statements are, some people will always misunderstand them. The other is that when some people disagree with your ideas, the only recourse they know is to attack you as a person.

There were times when it got pretty nasty over there. No one threatened to kill me (that I’m aware of) but the level of name calling used by some in place of reasoned argument was beneath most grade school students.

Roughly around that same time, Primedia felt it was necessary to add a moderator to the G&A; Forums. Now as some of you may know, heavy handed moderation can literally kill a Forum. We were very fortunate in that the person chosen to moderate realized this as well. Basically he attempted to keep things civil, to some degree, & steer us away from topics that didn’t directly or indirectly relate to the Right to Arms. He did allow a lot of leeway in determining what was directly or indirectly related however, which was another wise decision on his part as it kept the Forum from being too dull.

One thing I did always wonder about though, was the personally directed attacks waged at me & those who agreed with me were never really addressed by the moderator. Not that I’m complaining, as at the time I took this to mean he thought I & the others could handle ourselves without his help, but it struck me as odd then & I believe I have a more credible explanation for that now. But that will come as the tale unfolds.

I kept posting & arguing with the people over there until Primedia decided to change the URL. I believe they did this twice in a few months, but truthfully I don’t recall exactly what the order of events was. I was e-mailed by a friend & informed the URL had changed. So I drifted on over there & started posting again. But one thing made me post less than usual at first. That was the old Forum had been almost completely erased. I complained to the moderator but his answer relayed that I shouldn’t be so sentimental, as nothing on the net is permanent. I spent countless hours arguing subtle points with people who argued passionately against those points. I was a bit put off at the thought of my writing being subject to a company’s whim & erased without a second thought. So my posting slacked off considerably solely because I didn’t wish to waste my words if they could be erased at a moments notice.

About the same time I was looking for a more active role in this whole Right to Arms struggle; something a little more immediately effective than trying to convince the choir that some tunes were off key as it were. I e-mailed Angel Shamaya, who runs KABA, & asked him about the possibility of getting a constitutional amendment passed that would shore up the Right to Arms. He then patiently explained the cost, in time & money that such a move would entail, along with the chances of success. I still think it could be done, but his answer told me that there was no backing available for such an endeavor, & when it comes down to it, you usually need at least as much cash as your enemies have in order to win. His answer told me, in short that the cash wasn’t there & to look for something else.

Then I found a blog. Actually a friend from the G&A; Forum, Mark, turned me onto a blog. I started reading them. Then, as you may have guessed, I started my own blog. Actually that’s not 100% accurate either. I envisioned this to be a group blog, with the same friend Mark as one of the group. Unfortunately he has a very busy life & has had time to post once, which is a shame because he’s a very insightful fellow.

I started posting on the blog & to varying degrees neglected the G&A; Forum. I’d still drop by & read, maybe posting a quick reply, but the months long ultra intense arguments were no more, at least not to any great degree. & the Forum was doing fine without me. There were a few who held somewhat similar views that would do a more than adequate job of expressing those opinions we had in agreement.

But now we get to the heart of the matter. The NRA has, of late, done some very, very questionable things. They’ve argued in court for firearm registration, they’ve called two specific legislators who consistently vote for gun control patriots, they’ve pushed for an expansion of a gun control law (namely the Brady Law); been supportive of strict efforts at gun control enforcement, & attorneys & various other employees of the NRA have been trying to undermine the Silveira vs. Lockyer appeal.

On the Second Amendment Forum a few people have posted copies of alerts they’ve received via e-mail from various pro-gun groups (such as RMGO & GOA) that told of these questionable actions of the NRA. Needless to say I was in on this. I probably didn’t start the majority of the posts that were critical of the NRA, but I participated in all that I could & definitely posted more in opposition to the NRA than all the other posters combined. This was due to NRA apologists who attempted to justify every action or statement the NRA made.

For the most part though, I wouldn’t post anything on a thread someone else started until there was opposition to it. Not that I didn’t instigate my fair share of arguments through being the original poster of things that were critical of the NRA, but I was never a lone voice arguing with myself. There were NRA apologists a-plenty to keep me occupied. I was frequently outnumbered & ganged up on as it were. This was all fine & good. I never minded arguing with multiple people at once, even if as a group they took me on instead of one by one. If you ever wish to hone your debating skills I’d recommend getting in as many of these verbal frays as possible.

A few things that did bother me about this particular bunch was they had a habit of resorting to name calling & other offensive tactics instead of refuting ideas logically & with reason, they frequently would drift off subject to bring up some other argument that was totally unrelated to the topic at hand, & perhaps the most aggravating was they never conceded when they were proven wrong or mistaken. Now this is not true for every one I argued with over there, but for more than a few. To illustrate imagine saying that a table has a plate with a sandwich on it & you feel the table isn’t stable enough to support the weight. Then imagine being attacked as a ‘table hater’ who obviously knows nothing about how to prepare lunch meat & listening to long invective-filled rants about how Oscar Meyer is the best bologna bar none. Then imagine having someone deny that the table is there at all, saying rather it’s a couch & you’re just not seeing it correctly.

Granted, this wasn’t true of every argument or every one I argued with, otherwise I’d have bailed long ago. There have actually been some very intelligent, productive debates. But when the NRA is the object of critique, they tended to be more like the example I provided than anything out of the collective works of Plato.

But then the really odd things began. First someone mentioned an article found over at KABA about the NRA referring to the aforementioned gun control supporting legislators as patriotic. That’s when the moderator, who had a long standing self imposed policy of neutrality stepped in. He had done it once before, & that was a few months back, but not since.
Now a few months back if I recall correctly I accused the NRA of being pro gun control as evidenced by their support of Project Exile. The moderator stepped in there & asked how this could be so since Project Exile was a law & therefore the NRA could not support it. To make a long story short I sent a few e mails to an NRA rep & he replied that he knew nothing about the NRA supporting gun control & that it was a silly notion. His answer was vague as hell though, & it turns out that the NRA does support Project Exile. By support I mean condone, although I do believe some of their money may in fact go towards advertising & promoting Project Exile as well. But that was the extent of his intervention at that time.

As I was saying, or typing rather, the moderator jumped in. His position was that he had looked at the site & the article contained within that site & concluded that it was a half truth, or some such distortion & the author of that article was being dishonest.

The article concerned a news story that showed Sen. Dingell, along with three other legislators, as they held a press conference to promote a bill, which would enhance the Brady Law by forcing the states through extortion to add every state record available to the NICS database. I believe it was Senator Dingell who said that all the legislators that were present, were patriotic Americans because of their support for this bill. Those legislators were Rep. Dingell, Sen. Craig, Rep. McCarthy & Sen. Schumer. Rep. Dingell is a former NRA Director & Sen. Craig is a current NRA Director. Rep. McCarthy is an ardent gun control supporter who currently sponsors a bill to extend & expand the Assault Weapons Ban, & Sen. Schumer is one of the most ardent gun control proponents to come along since firearms were invented.

Here is the exact quote that was in dispute:

"You're looking up here and you're thinking, 'Strange bedfellows,'" Dingell told reporters. "We're not. We're all patriotic Americans. We're all interested in one thing: Seeing to it that the law is enforced and that criminals are caught."

The nature of the dispute is this: in an opinion piece written by Angel Shamaya & found at KABA, Mr. Shamaya used the following words to summarize the situation:

“NRA's former and current board members took the stage with two of America's premier gun banners, smiling as they announced unequivocal support for this new gun control bill. Rep. Dingell called the two gun prohibitionists “patriotic Americans” and praised them in other ways.”

The moderator claimed that Mr. Shamaya’s paraphrasing of events & words was a deceitful summarization of what happened. So Mr. Shamaya appeared on the forum in his own defense. An argument ensued involving many members & the moderator himself.

Also other arguments erupted concerning the NRA & KABA respectively. Of particular note was a thread started by a notable second generation gun writer, also an employee of Primedia, who opined that the criticisms directed against the NRA were silly & their only purpose was to fuel some ulterior motive of those NRA "bashers". This is consistent with similar statements he has made on a radio show that he hosts. At the time I heard his statements on his radio show I just assumed he was speaking in generalities, but now I’m inclined to think he had specific websites in mind.

In general Mr. Shamaya & KABA were accused of lying in order to promote their site & solicit donations away from the NRA, while anyone who defended KABA, Mr. Shamaya, or in general criticized the NRA had their character attacked & their motivations questioned, in some instances by the moderator himself.

One other thing that may be worth mentioning is that two NRA apologists have appeared on the site within the last few days. One appears to be involved with the NRA, though whether he is just an upper level member or a paid employee is unknown to me. The other also appears to be affiliated with the NRA either professionally or socially. Now the former has appeared on several different forums & has a unique style: he starts a thread & then leaves. For some reason he does not stick around to discuss, pro or con, any of the comments he makes. In essence he’d best be described as an NRA spammer. The other seems…well…’bubbly’. She has posted a few times in threads started by the NRA spammer & seems so full of faith & optimism in the NRA that even if I agreed with the NRA it’d truly be sickening. She describes her self as an amateur NRA spokesman. I mention these two simply because their appearance seemed too well timed to be a coincidence, although this is purely speculative.

Through the course of the arguments & several other threads & too many posts to mention, it was concluded by the moderator that KABA was a site filled with distortions, lies & disinformation, most of which was aimed at the NRA for the purpose of promoting themselves. Further it was decided that the Second Amendment Forum had somehow been taken over by “radical hate mongers” & the Forum would be “taken back” for the mainstream reasonable members. No links "promoting" KABA will be allowed & anyone who persisted in such will be banned. However “reasonable” criticisms of the NRA will be allowed. & no solicitations will be tolerated, unless it’s a member urging another to join the NRA, which is excepted because they’re a “reputable non-profit organization”.

Which leads me to here; the site is owned & operated by Primedia. It’s a private site available for viewing by the general public without charge, & membership is required to participate in those forums. In short, it’s their dime & they can call what ever shots they wish. I am not in dispute with that & would not alter it were it within my power.

However I can see writing when it’s on the wall. I can even read some of that writing as the wall comes crashing down on me. I have no doubt “reasonable” criticisms of the NRA will be arguing over what color ball caps they should give with membership renewals as opposed to questioning why they support gun control. & any post that links to anything at KABA will be deleted, no matter the content of that info. I’m sure of this because a post of mine containing a non-NRA related link to KABA was deleted.

Here is what I believe happened:

The moderator may have honestly, but mistakenly felt that Mr. Shamaya had misled his readers with the aforementioned quotes. The second generation gun writer mentioned previously does not like those who critique the NRA. Chances are he stopped by, saw some of the NRA “bashing” that was going on & complained about it to the head honchos over at Primedia. Primedia in turn probably applied some pressure, though it’s uncertain how much was applied or how much was necessary, to the moderator & asked that those NRA “bashers” be taken care of. Then, to shore up the faithful, two pro or semi-pro NRA apologists show up. I somehow don’t think their appearance is mere coincidence, but whether they showed up on their own or at the request of a person or organization is unknown. I don’t generally believe in coincidences & I don’t get the feeling now should be the time to start, but I have nothing to go on except for the timing.

This explanation makes sense to me because prior to the second generation gun writer showing up over there, the moderator had been at least having a civil dialogue on the credibility of KABA. He was making some rather blunt accusations, but at least he was attempting to be friendly about it. Afterwards the moderator took on a different tone, which lead up to his conclusions & decisions. This could merely be coincidence, but then again it could be connected in the way I have just mentioned or perhaps in some different way. & then the outside NRA apologists suddenly start posting, which as I said leads me to believe there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.

I do not know how much of this involves chance, but as I said before I don't particularly believe in chance. I do know that another part of the equation is that KABA & Mr. Shamaya have been the targets of some vicious attacks because of their critiques of the NRA & their support of pro-gun causes the NRA doesn't care for. The moderator did mention KABA specifically in an attempt to discredit it as a source of information. So I would not be surprised if all this was orchestrated, at least in part, by some NRA official who has influence with Primedia.

Of course this is all speculation & I stress I have no credible evidence to back up the theory I have. The reasons that the events unfolded the way they did may be completely different than the reasons I have just speculated upon. & ultimately, reasons take second place to actions when judging a situation.

In any event Primedia &/or the moderator does not wish any credence be given to KABA &/or those with similar anti-NRA views such as expressed at KABA. They do not wish their forum to be a source of open debate nor its members to express sentiments that are not “reasonable” criticisms of the NRA. I don't mind going rounds with the other members, even when they become abusive. But when management starts picking sides things tend to become less than fair, or honest. I no longer feel welcome to post freely there, nor would anyone who questions the NRA or defends those who question the NRA. & I say all this with deep regret, as I spent a large amount of my time on those forums, particularly the Second Amendment Forum. It is with even more regret that, whatever the reason may be, Primedia wishes to stifle debate that doesn't reflect admiration for the NRA. In other words, Primedia sees censorship, as opposed to reasoned refutation & debate, as the solution to those who criticize the NRA.

So I won’t be posting over there any more. In fact I do believe I’m gonna have my subscription to Guns & Ammo cancelled. & I doubt I will spend any money on any Primedia publications. That’s a shame, cause I liked G&A; as a magazine, aside from the occasional NRA employee written article in their Second Amendment section. Also I am considering removing the G&A; links as well as the links to any other Primedia owned &/or affiliated enterprise from this site, but haven't yet made up my mind.

My readership is not large. & partly that is my fault, because I do not post nearly as often as I should, nor do I promote myself as I should. So I doubt this will rock Primedia to their knees. But sometimes you have to do things not because they'll be effective, but because principle demands it.

So that is the long, drawn out story about how I started writing on a forum, which lead to a blog, which lead to me blogging about the forum's desire for censorship & my leaving said forum because of that censorship.

If you wish to check out the Guns & Ammo Second Amendment Forum, feel free. But I think it would be more appropriate for them to change the name to the Guns & Ammo Pro-NRA Forum, since a debate on the true meaning of “…shall not be infringed” might offend someone.



This post came across my monitor a few days ago. It is an urging of support for what the blogger in question considers a worthwhile cause. That cause can be found by clicking on this link. It's a link to the "million faces" petition. It seems to be sponsored by Amnesty International among others, which is a group that deceitfully claims to support human Rights worldwide.

Now why would I accuse Amnesty International of deceiving people? Because that's what they do. They claim to be against violations of human Rights, but through this petition & the cause it supports, the seek to strip away one of the most basic human Rights that exist: self defense. The petition urges tough international arms control. Which means they want a UN enforced arms law that severely restricts who may or may not have weapons.

The problems with this are too many to detail, but the main point is that in the 20th century, around 170,000,000 people were murdered by their own governments. Part of the reason, but certainly not the sole part, that these murders took place is because the populace was disarmed.

Amnesty International & the blogger on whose site I found this info seem to be overlooking, through either ignorance or malice, that one of the basic human Rights is that of self defense. It is necessary to sustain life & without it you have no way to protect what most would call the most basic human Right, which is life itself.

So Amnesty International decieves when it claims to support human Rights. It obviously supports some human Rights, but it also supports the tactics of murderers & tyrants.

I will however give the blogger in question the benefit of the doubt & assume she was merely taken in by what most would consider a decent group with a decent reputation.

Needless to say I plan on not signing the petition.


Rep. Ron Paul tells us of The Looting Process

"appropriate(v): to take possession of or make use of exclusively for oneself, often without permission
~ American Heritage Dictionary

Every fall Congress goes through what is known in Washington as the “appropriations process.” The term really is inaccurate, as it should be called the spending process. After all, your money has already been appropriated, which is to say taken, through taxes. Once taken, Congress spends the autumn months doing what it does best: spending money."



Hopefully I won't have to type the words as your already over there Reading Rep. Paul's words. But for the sake of saying I said it: please go read the whole thing.



In Jefferson County, Colorado a county Treasurer by the name of Mark Paschall is creating a stir because he's passing out copies of a pamphlet entitled The Citizens Rulebook which informs a juror of their Rights & duties. Larry Pratt of GOA gives us his take on things:


"The Citizens Rule Book has such seditious documents as The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. It contains other similar information such as this quote from John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: 'The jury has a right to determine both the law and the facts'."

Naturally the good folks at GOA were so disgusted by Treasurer Paschalls efforts that they're offering copies of The Citizens Rulebook for sale. Price is $1 plus shipping.


Mark Gillepse has an article up called F**k the Law: Illegal Concealed Carry.

It's a short piece, so short in fact that the part I was planning to excerpt would have been 1/4 of the article. But give it a read.


Monday, October 27, 2003


Gary Gorski intends to file this response to California's Reply Brief on Monday. For the heck of it here's Gary Gorski's Petition for Writ of Certiorari in case y'all haven't read it yet. What the hell, here's everything KeepAndBearArms.com has on the Sivleira v. Lockyer case. & if you look here & scroll down a bit, there's more stuff on the Silveira case. & here is a list of Amicus Curiae briefs filed in favor of Silveira being heard by the Supreme Court. That should keep y'all occupied for a while.


Thursday, October 23, 2003


On a thread at G&A;'s Second Amendment Issues Forum someone asked why some people such as myself are always bad mouthing the NRA.

This will be an attempt to define the issues we have with them.

To start off the work the NRA has done in promoting the shooting sports is admirable. As a sporting organization they're very decent. Where the problems come into play is in their political stances, or more accurately in the actions they take that conflicts with their reputation.

For starters, they supported at the time or currently support every federal gun control law that was ever passed.
The NFA of 34, the GCA of '68, The FOPA of 86 (which was a relatively decent law until the Hughes Amendment was added), The Assault Weapons Ban, & The Brady Bill.

They will contend or most people will assume that they simply could not fight these bills, but the truth is they put up a very small struggle if any & ended up conceding to these bills if not openly supporting them.
Anecdotal evidence of this can be found simply by looking at their stance on current gun laws: enforce them. They want strict enforcement of existing gun control laws. Sounds odd if they oppose them doesn't it?

But more in depth, the GCA of 68 (which was actually two seperately passed laws condensed into one) was supported by the NRA & the firearms manufacturers. A key provision of the bill stopped mail order sales of surplus rifles, which was a beneficial move for the firearms industry.

I refer you to this portion of David T Hardy's rather extensive treatment of the FOPA

"...the early forms of the Gun Control Act were drafted with the assistance and encouragement of firearms manufacturers..."

The NRA oppossed this early form of the GCA as evidenced by a May 1958 NRA Bulletin.

But between 1958 & 1962 they changed their tune.

"66] 109 Cong. Rec. 13,945 (1963). Dodd said the bill "has been thoroughly discussed with the gun industry and the gun clubs, [and] they have approved and endorsed the provisions of our proposal." Id. at 13,946-47. He added that NRA had "worked closely with the Committee throughout its investigation and [had] participated willingly in the development of the bill." Id. at 13,947."

& in 68 we have the NRA fully supporting the GCA

"1968 General Franklin Orth, Executive Vice President of NRA, testifies before Congress in favor of the Gun Control Act (GCA'68) that "[NRA does] not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States," /2/ (a ban on the mail-order sale of firearms). His statement of NRA support generates heated opposition from the (presumably insane) portion of the NRA membership, creating split between "sportsmen" and "hardliners."

BTW, the preceeding was taken from an anti-gun site. Starnge how anti-gunners realize the NRA supports gun control but NRA members & apologists don't.

For the NRA's support of the Brady bill, i refer you to this

"Starting in 1989, the NRA, under Warren Cassidy, has chosen to fight gun control with . . . national computerized gun control. Jim Baker of the NRA was quoted by USA Today on October 26, 1993 (P. 7A) as saying: ' We already support 65% of the Brady bill, because it moves to an instant check, which is what we want."


Here's an excerpt regarding the gun control bills on the table in 1994

"To the astonishment of most experts, Senator Dole and his
fellow Republicans agreed to hurry up procedures for
considering all the gun control bills. Opportunities to
filibuster the legislation were mostly avoided. A number of
killer amendments could have been added to make the filibuster
work. For example, anti-gunners could have been forced to
vote first on imposing the death penalty in the District of
Columbia before they could vote for the Brady bill. It is
entirely possible that the Senate would still be stalemated
at that point, given such a choice.
This strategy had worked well in past years so GOA asked a
few Senate offices to have their Senators filibuster the bill.
But GOA was told by one Senate staffer, who wishes to
remain anonymous, that "The NRA asked us not to filibuster."
We were told that Senator Dole's vote count was the basis
for this decision."


Read the entire thing, as it gives some insights into other issues I & others have with the NRA.

One of those issues is the NRA's support for questionable candidates.
Russ Howard makes the case that, among other things the NRA's rating system isn't an accurate measure of pro-gun candidates.

Then we have the opposition to pro-second amendment lawsuits. Most recent of which is the NRA's opposition to the CATO lawyers challenge of the D.C. gun ban through judicial as well as legislative means & the NRA's opposition to the Silveira v. Lockyer case which is being considered for hearing by the Supreme Court. Also look here & here for responses to Dave Kopel's opposition to the Silveira case. Look here for info on the NRA attorney arguing for gun registration & restricted access in their D.C. gun ban challenge.

The NRA consistently backs inferior pro-gun bills, such as the recent CCW bill passed into law in Colorado.

And of course there's the anecdotal stuff, such as the NRA having an NRA member arrested for passing out pro-gun literature at an NRA event.

Add to that the NRA's current support for a strengthening of a gun control law.

So what do we have?

1. The NRA supports gun control laws.

2. The NRA supports questionable candidates &/or does not support solidly pro-gun candidates.

3. The NRA opposes pro-second amendment lawsuits, favoring challenges based on peripheral issues such as regulatory application of laws.

4. The NRA does not support pro-gun CCW laws, instead supporting inferior bills.

5. The NRA is currently supporting rigid enforcement of existing gun control laws as well as a strengthening of said laws.


Like I said, as a shooting sports organization I have no problems with them. But politically they're not helping us at all & in fact I believe they're hurting us.

I don't support the NRA because of their political stance. The NRA-ILA is a seperate wing of the NRA & it has been argued that joining the NRA & not giving money to the NRA-ILA is acceptable. I disagree. The NRA-ILA gets it's clout from having a large NRA membership. The NRA-ILA's ability to lobby is directly affected by the overall NRA membership. So under the current circumstances helping one is helping the other & that is unacceptable to me.

As an aside I do find the NRA's membership numbers to be artifically high. I'm sure they have the 4+million members they boast, but I know that severl gun clubs in my area require NRA membership in order to join. Also many shooting competitions require NRA membership for particiaption. If the NRA removed these requirements I think their membership would shrink considerably, since many members of gun clubs & many shooting competitors that I know disagree strongly with the NRA & are only members out of necessity.

So while the NRA has very good PR with most pro-gun people, the reality is that they're practicing some very shakey, if not contradictary policies.



California has filed a brief in oppossition to Silveira being heard by the Supreme Court.

It's 70 pages long so don't expect a two minute read.

I'm reading it as I type this. All the usual arguments you'd expect from a VPC or Brady Center press release is not just contained, but wholeheartedly embraced within. & yes, the obligatory 'for the children' is implied strongly.

I offer for your consideration what is found on Page 9:

"Statement Of The Case
At issue in this case is a State's regulation of the possession & sale of assault weapons, rapid-fire rifles & pistols that have been used on California's school grounds to kill children..."


In short the brief states that the second amendment applies only to the states & it only restrains congress. No individual Right. It brings up other issues, such as the court shouldn't hear the case because it doesn't have to (The Court had said that it should refrain from tackling complex constitutional questions until there is a direct & immediate need to do so) & the plantiffs lack standing since they are only contemplating the purchase of 'assault weapons' & aren't specific about possessing any currently.

So Lockyer gave what we'd expect - a VPC press release dressed up as a legal brief.

Now the question is whether or not the Supreme Court will hear the case. I'm not making any bets, but I wouldn't be shocked if they declined to hear it.


Neal Knox has some info on the latest string of BATF abuses. It involves a very hazy area of current gun control laws which makes it a felony to deal in firearms without a license & 8 collectors in the St. Louis area.

"Vaguely defined 'unlicensed dealing' carries more severe punishment than some willful violations by licensed dealers – plus the potential forfeiture of every gun in a collection, and the loss of gun ownership rights, firearms hunting rights, and often even voting rights – for life.
In addition to the ruinous legal costs of fighting a felony offense punishable by up to five years imprisonment and $250,000 fine, the St. Louis collectors – five of them 60 to 79 years old – have had 572 firearms seized.
Their guns were already the subjects of civil forfeiture suits. And the criminal indictments also demand their forfeiture – including antiques which are not subject to the Gun Control Act."


& you might be wondering why the individuals in question didn't just get a license to deal in firearms? Well, they can't.

"The eight collectors are in a Catch-22. They do not qualify for an FFL under the laws and regulations imposed during the Clinton Administration, which upped the $10 annual license to $500 and required licensees to have a locally sanctioned business with special security systems and regular hours.
Those changes succeeded in meeting President Clinton’s stated goal of reducing the number of dealers – which dropped from about 260,000 to less than 60,000."

This is nothing new to those who have been keeping up with the BATF's criminal antics. & to those who thought this kind of thing would change since the BATF made the move from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department - nope. Business as usual.

Read Neal Knox's article. But remove any breakable objects from your immediate area. Twice your immediate area if your last name is du Toit.


Next time you get a call asking for donations for the local police union, remember this.

"Police chiefs from major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Philadelphia urged Congress on Wednesday to renew the federal ban on assault weapons, which is set to expire next year.
Standing behind a table laden with semi-automatic rifles and other firearms seized from the streets of Philadelphia, the law enforcement leaders told a news conference that failure to extend the ban would cause a new surge in multiple killings and subject police officers to a greater risk of armed attacks."


The chiefs care more about their political influence than a person's Rights. The only increased risk of attack should come from the rank & file cops who demand the resignation of such fools.

"The idea that 10 years later we are even debating this is insanity,' Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said."

I agree. The ban should have been declared unconstitutional the day it took effect. The only debate should be how to punish those who voted for the ban & those who enforced it.

"As an illustration of the destructive firepower of assault weapons, which incorporate military features, the police chiefs cited a 1993 attack in California where they said a man with an assault weapon killed eight people and wounded six others in 11 minutes."

Hmmm... 14 people shot in 11 minutes. Yep. Musta been one ah dem dare scary looking A-salt rifles. Why heck, it'd take a single shot to equal that rate o' fire.

To illustrate how absurd that statement is, in High Power Rifle matches the last stage is 20 shots fired in 20 minutes at a target 600 yards away. Semi-auto's, such as M1 Garands & M1A's must be loaded 1 cartridge at a time, so in effect they're used as single shot bolt actions. Now depending upon your technique It's not that uncommon to be finished in 11 minutes or so. That's 20 shots fired at a target 600 yards away, loaded one at a time, & it can be done in 11 minutes.That's about 33 second per shot.
The murderer in question shot 14 people in 11 minutes which equates to 47 seconds per shot. Not exactly a compelling argument about the banned weapons high rate of fire now is it?

But I wonder if these statist bastards would feel differently about any & all gun control laws if they applied to police as well as us mere peasants?

Update: Seems like prohibiting police officers from having 'assault weapons' might make it harder for criminals to get them.

"A handcuffed man arrested for crashing a stolen car Tuesday morning surprised a California Highway Patrol officer by climbing into his squad car and driving away...
The squad car had been left running with the keys in the ignition. A shotgun and AR-15 rifle were also in the car."


So the cops can't keep a car thief they arrested from stealing their car with a shotgun & an 'assault weapon' inside, yet the chiefs say that 'assault weapons' are too dangerous for us mere peasants to possess?



Rick Stanley is being held on two felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant.

His bail is set at $50,000 but he won't be eligible for release until he's served a 90 day sentence which was handed down in his absence last week.

At the sentencing hearing last week, he didn't appear but instead sent a "Notice & Order" that directed the judges in question to dismiss the case & return his $1,500 bond money, his S&W; .357 Magnum revolver & the 6 cartridges that were in said revolver. The document also included a threat of issuing warrants for the judges arrest based on charges of treason.

As I keep saying I don't necessarily agree with the way Mr. Stanely has gone about things. But in prinicple he's correct. Any judge that would convict someone for exercising a Right acknowledged by two constitutions is being less than intellectually honest, to say the least.
Unfortunately our legal system is such that there is little action that can be taken through more appropriate channels, unless the judge is in an elected office.

So while I would have perhaps done things a bit different I totally understand the frustration that led Mr. Stanley to his actions, & while those actions may be questionable the base of his argument is sound. Judges who enforce laws that infronge upon constitutionally guaranteed Rights are not judges, they're merely enforcers for the jurisdiction they serve.

So I do find it a bit hypocritical that judges who would sentence people to jail for exercising Rights acknowledged by two constitutions would take offense at a person who threatens to issue warrants for their arrest over such actions. It's very much like a robber calling the cops on another robber who just happened to rob him.

What I would recommend is as complete a social & economic ostracisation as possible with the judges, or any public officals who would infringe upon our Rights.

As usual, more on this when I see it.




Tuesday, October 21, 2003


Rick Stanley has a blog. There's two audio posts on it which update the situation a bit. These posts were made by a fellow named Doug Kenline, who appears to be a friend of Mr. Stanley's & was more or less interviewing Mrs. Stanley in those posts.

For your convenience you can find the audio posts in which Mrs. Stanley discusses her husband's plight here & here.

The gist of it is around 12 P.M. on Saturday the 18th, the police executed a bench warrant for failure to appear in court. He's being held without bail. His wife is planning to go see him. She had tried to see him earlier but she was told there was a problem with the elevators at the jail & no visitations were being allowed until the elevators were fixed.

End The War On Freedom has even more details, most interesting is this item (scroll down to the 10.18.03 entry) from The Sierra Times:

"In case you haven't heard yet, a large SWAT team captured Rick today. He had left his compound to travel to Boulder to eat with friends that had come up from Austin Tx. to visit. They were in the car with him. He managed to get back to his compound when they crashed into his vehicle two separate times. Dozens of officers surrounded their vehicle with guns drawn. He chose to give up, out of concern over the three other passengers in the vehicle. A statement will be posted on his web-site and go out in the SCOOP alerts soon. As far as I know right now, they aren't calling for an armed Pact Alert, but rather for legal counsel from within the Pact."

& here is a Vin Suprynowicz column that discusses Mr. Stanley's original trial, just to remind you of what the main issue is all about.
& this is the Rick Stanley web page that details Mr. Stanley's original arrest & trial for carrying a weapon openly.

Hmmmm. Even more details can be found at Rick Stanley's web page. If you scroll down just a bit you can find a press release in the right hand margin that deals with a notice of Mr. Stanely's warrant for not appearing in court & his promise to issue warrants for two judges. That could explain the FBI presence during his arrest.

There's more on Mr. Stanley's site. Quite a bit involves his call to arms against the powers that be. A prosecutor would only need to submit Mr. Stanley's URL for a conviction on just about any conspiracy charge involving violence against the government you can think of.

Now personally I haven't hearf many good things about Mr. Stanley. Since those things are mainly unsubstantiated opinions I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I've seen some of his legal, political & philosophical arguments & I think he's on the correct path, just a little detoured. I definitely don't agree with everything he says.
However that is beside the point. With all his faults Mr. Stanley was arrested for carrying a weapon openly. That's a Right acknowledged by the U.S. & Colorado Constitution. He was arrested purposely because he wanted to challenge the denver law in court. He did so but under very suspicious circumstances.
So in the end whether you agree with his approach or not (I assume you at least understand his frustration) at least concede that he is one of the too many whom have been jailed for merely exercising a constitutionally acknowledged Right.

Of course, more on this as I find out.


Monday, October 20, 2003


Rick Stanley was arrested at gunpoint on Saturday.

This is the press release from Mrs. Stanley:

"This is a notification that Rick Stanley was arrested today, at gunpoint, by at least 30 Denver police, SWAT, and FBI agents. This occurred at approximately 12 pm Saturday 10/18/03. He is currently being held at Denver County Jail without bond and will probably be transferred to Thornton or AdamsCounty Jail within the next 24 hours.

This is not a militia alert, because it does not meet the criteria for a militia action. Any supporters that feel they can help in Rick's case in some way should proceed on an individual basis, guided by their own conscience. I will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.

Information and application to join the Pact is at Rick Stanley's Constitutional Activism website at www.stanley2002.org. We are 746 strong now. Rick's email address is rick@stanley2002.org, and can be reached by phone at 303-329-0481 or by fax at 303-329-0498.
Long live the fighters.
Pam Stanley"



I just did a quick check of the local papers but didn't find a story on this. I'll give y'all the details as I find them out.




Tuesday, October 14, 2003


There could be trouble in Denver. Rick Stanley is pretty fed up with judges who want him to do jail time for openly carrying a firearm, so he's saying he simply won't go. He's got 700+ people who say they'll back him up if law enforcement officers attempt to attack or arrest him. In addition he's talking of issuing warrants for the judges' arrest.

Yep, he sounds like he's a little touched. But if a judge found you guilty of doing something protected by two constitutions, wouldn't you be as well?

I hope it works out for him. Despite his ideas & character being less than perfect (to put it kindly) he is correst that judges should not be able to send a person to jail merely for exercising their Rights.

& honestly, can you say you've never thought it would come down to this?

Stanely may be a bit touched, & it's entirely possible that he'd lose his life. But some things are worth more than life itself, aren't they? It's just a question of what those things are to each person. For Rick it seems to be better to shoot it out with the cops than do time for exercising a Right guaranteed to him twice.

I'll try to keep y'all posted.


Run, don't walk to The Smallest Minority. He has a post up concerning the NRA's challenge to the D.C. gun ban. He asserts it's not really a challenge when the NRA is arguing for gun registration & restricted access.

I'm sure I'll post more on this at some point.


Saturday, October 11, 2003


Clayton Cramer & The Spoons Experience both link to this post from a blogger who shot an intruder in his home two days ago.

"About 1:25am EST on October 8th, I awoke to the sound glass breaking. It wasn't that drinking glass-breaking sound. It sounded like a window breaking. I proceeded into the family room (where I heard the sound). I peeked around the entrance and there is this guy just standing there looking around. Then I see another guy coming through the broken window. And then I noticed that the first guy is carrying a gun. Now I'm thinking at warp speed to myself, "Should I announce my presence or should I shoot?". But thinking about my family (wife and 7-month old downstairs, my 5 and 4 year old upstairs) won out. I quickly stepped out from where I was hiding and fired at the man with the gun approx. 10 feet away. He fell to the ground. I then pointed my shotgun at the broken window and I could see someone running away.
I looked at the man I shot. He was alive but in bad shape. He looked at me and said that I was lucky that I shot him since he was going to kill all of us niggers. I almost pointed my shotgun at his head and pulled the trigger. Thank God for my wife who lightly grabbed my wrist and said, "It's over baby, I called the police." All this time, my 5 and 4 year-old were watching from the balcony. They saw everything...
Come to find out that the man's motive was that he hated black people. I just moved in a little over a week ago. The neighborhood is about 70% white and 30% black but he picked me and my family."


I wish him & his family well. I am sorry that his children had to witness this, but not as sorry as I would have been for his children if their father hadn't stopped the bastard before he caused all of them harm.

His blog is S-Train Canvass & is definitely worth looking over.

Now let's examine why this man had two people attempt to break into his home & do him & his family harm:

1: They are racists.
2: He is Black.

Don't take much in this world now does it?

But fortunately even though the intruders were armed, S-Train was too.

Now according to the NAACP S-Train shouldn't have been armed, because firearms disproportionately harm the black community & all self respecting black people should disassociate themselves from these dangerous objects. Sounds like the NAACP would have been on the side of the racist bastards doesn't it? Wouldn't be the first time. Look here & scroll down for previous posts on the NAACP's lawsuit against gun makers & here for a JPFO alert on the same.

Matter of fact I see a pattern emerging. In that same link where I have previously posted about the NAACP's lawsuit I see I've also posted about Ronald Dixon who was prosecuted for possessing the gun he used to defend his familyin NYC. I've posted about Roderick Pritchett who was arrested for legally carrying a firearm in Chicago. Here I posted about William Gates who shot two armed men in the process of shooting at each other & promptly had all his weapons stolen (temporarily) by the police in Charleston, SC.

Y'all may not have noticed, but all of these men were black men attempting or merely possessing the means to defend themselves. They live in cities with a large population of black people. Yet S-Train, who lives in Detroit is the only one who was not (so far at least) subjected to further hassle. Am I implying that Mr. Dixon, Mr. Pritchett & Mr. Gates were treated badly by their respective police departments because they are black? Nope.

What I am saying is that in cities with large black populations, any person who has or uses a firearm for self defense is suspect. This is because of racism, but not racism directed, or at least instigated towards these people.

Here's how it happened:

After the War of Nothern Aggression the southern states & a few others weren't too thrilled about having large populations of newly freed slaves being able to carry arms. So they passed laws prohibiting black people from having arms. This didn't work out, so what they did was pass laws that kept either all people or at least the poor ones from having arms in theory. In practice if you were white it was cool. No cop would bust you for merely possessing a gun where prohibited. That's where permitting systems for firearms came from. A sheriff would deny all black people's permits while approving all white peoples. If you think that's history then look at the stats of concealed carry permit holders in California by race. Turns out even in places with a large black or hispanic population, relatively few black or hispanic people have permits, but quite a lot of white people do.

Fast forward to the post-civil rights movement America. Now those same laws are used to deny all people arms regardless of color. One thing that supporters of gun control abso-friggin-lutely hate is when someone brings up that gun control got its start in the states because of racism. Trust me, they can't stand it.

So places with higher populations of black people usually have stricter gun control laws or at least stricter enforcement of gun control laws. Gun owners are viewed with suspicion & distrust by the authorities. & this goes for white & black people alike.

Now most gun controllers will try to explain this away by saying that most urban areas have higher concentrations of black people than rural areas, & its the denser population which causes the (usually) higher rates of crime which make these stricter gun control laws necessary.

First of all, if that is the case, then its an ineffective solution. In the cities with the strictest gun control (D.C., NYC, Chicago, LA) the crime rates are still very damned high & not backing off disproportionately when compared to places with less restrictive gun laws. So on the surface it doesn't appear that gun control is effective in stopping the growth of the crime rate.

But the fact is that these laws are in place because of racism. 125+ year old racism, but racism nontheless. Name one place in the U.S. with a small minority population that has strict gun control laws? Name one place 125 years ago that instituted strict gun control laws that wasn't worried about newly freed black people or other minorities?

But the real question is why are these laws still in place? Easy. Cause in those respective places the government figured out a long time ago a disarmed populace is a dependant populace. & who does a dependant populace turn to for protection? The government. The reasons for stricter gun control in places with high minority populations may have been racist in the beginning, but they're completely statist now.

Here's a more detailed treatment of this subject called The Racist Roots of Gun Control written by Clayton Cramer.

An excerpt:

"Gun control advocates today are not so foolish as to openly promote racist laws, and so the question might be asked what relevance the racist past of gun control laws has. One concern is that the motivations for disarming blacks in the past are really not so different from the motivations for disarming law-abiding citizens today. In the last century, the official rhetoric in support of such laws was that "they" were too violent, too untrustworthy, to be allowed weapons. Today, the same elitist rhetoric regards law-abiding Americans in the same way, as child-like creatures in need of guidance from the government. In the last century, while never openly admitted, one of the goals of disarming blacks was to make them more willing to accept various forms of economic oppression, including the sharecropping system, in which free blacks were reduced to an economic state not dramatically superior to the conditions of slavery. "

And another excerpt:

"Today, the forces that push for gun control seem to be heavily (though not exclusively) allied with political factions that are committed to dramatic increases in taxation on the middle class. While it would be hyperbole to compare higher taxes on the middle class to the suffering and deprivation of sharecropping or slavery, the analogy of disarming those whom you wish to economically disadvantage, has a certain worrisome validity to it."

This excerpt is from another article, called The Racist Origins of Gun Control written by Steve Ekwall:

"Gun Control Act of 1968 passed. Avowed anti-gun journalist Robert Sherrill frankly admitted that the Gun Control Act of 1968 was 'passed not to control guns but to control Blacks.' [R. Sherrill, The Saturday Night Special, p. 280 (1972).] (GMU CR LJ, p. 80) 'The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed not to control guns but to control blacks, and inasmuch as a majority of Congress did not want to do the former but were ashamed to show that their goal was the latter, the result was they did neither. Indeed, this law, the first gun-control law passed by Congress in thirty years, was one of the grand jokes of our time. First of all, bear in mind that it was not passed in one piece but was a combination of two laws. The original 1968 Act was passed to control handguns after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been assassinated with a rifle. Then it was repealed and repassed to include the control of rifles and shotguns after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy with a handgun.... The moralists of our federal legislature as well as sentimental editorial writers insist that the Act of 1968 was a kind of memorial to King and Robert Kennedy. If so, it was certainly a weird memorial, as can be seen not merely by the handgun/long-gun shellgame, but from the inapplicability of the law to their deaths.' (The Saturday Night Special and Other Guns, Robert Sherrill, p. 280, 1972) "

Something else to ponder: why is the NAACP anti-gun? Because its the way they feel will best advance the organization. Not the people it purports to represent, but the NAACP itself. The NAACP, just like the NRA, is a self concerned entity who cares no more for the people it claims to represent than a person cares for the escalator step used to take it to another floor.

If it were up to the NAACP, black people would be disarmed & totally dependant on the government for protection. & naturally dependant on the NAACP for protection from the government.

S-Train, Mr. Dixon, Mr. Pritchett & Mr. Gates would have been disarmed & at the mercy of any attackers if the NAACP had been succesful with its agenda. They very well could have all been dead along with their families, but that would have been great publicity for the NAACP as it called for more police protection in those respective cities. Or they would have ignored it & pursued other avenues to advance its power.

It wasn't always like this. The NAACP was at one time, & for quite a long time a very effective organization who did make legitimate advances for the people it represented. But power is a strong drink & an addictive one. Tolerances are built up fast & that requires drinking deeper from that cup.

But even though they did do a lot of good work in the past, the NAACP was not the lone saviour of black americans that they'd have you believe.

There was a time when the Klu Klux Klan was a real threat to black people in certain places. What stopped the KKK? Was it litigation? Perhaps the laws passed at the urging of the NAACP & other civil rights groups? Nope. It was people oppossing the KKK with weapons. In many cases it was black people oppossing the KKK with firearms. That's right - what stopped the Klan from burning crosses in someone's yard wasn't a lawyer from the NAACP with an injunction in his hand. It was a black man who put a few ounces of buckshot into said klansmen as they were trying to bum a light. & in many cases, the NAACP of yesteryear recommeded that black people arm themselves. Back then even the NAACP realized that black people were safer when they had the means & the will to protect themselves. & it was also common knowledge that a klansman couldn't light a match with a hand full of buckshot. The people with FBI badges didn't stop the klan - free black people with Remington's did.

But todays NAACP has opted to encourage black people to be disarmed for the NAACP's ambitions. & i find it more than a little ironic that the NAACP sued the very same gunmakers whose products in the hands of black people dispursed many an attempted cross-burning or lynching.

The chances of racially motivated violence happening in most places in the U.S. is relatively low, especially compared with the odds of that happening 100 years ago. But odds are simply a form of gambling. Even if only .01 percent of all black people in the U.S. will become victims of racially motivated violence in their life, it's no comfort when you are that .01 percent. Ask S-Train how the odds would have treated him & his family if he'd have been foolish enough to play them.

I am not encouraging black people to go out, purchase a firearm, learn to shoot, become responsible for their own defense & piss off the NAACP because there's a great statistical probability that they'll individually be the target of racial violence. I encourage black people & all other categories (real or imagined) of people to do so because it's better to be prepared than to trust in the odds that no kind of violence will ever be used against them. I encourage everyone to arm themselves because that is the only way to remain free.




This is rich. In California a lot of support for various gun control laws have come from the police unions. Well, they're not happy about the recently passed law that requires magazine disconnect safety's on all firearms sold in Cali. Here's why:

"Davis' bill exempts cops from mandatory use of the new 'safety' features. However, even this exemption creates new dangers for police.
'Governor Davis' bill ... exposes California law enforcement and taxpayers to additional liability risk,' says the Sept. 25 LEAA press release. 'The law officially defines guns lacking these features as 'unsafe guns.' As a result, nearly every single handgun used by California law enforcement officers will be officially defined as an 'unsafe handgun,' a notion certain to be exploited in lawsuits involving police use of firearms.'
In short, California sheriffs and police chiefs must now choose between issuing mechanically unreliable guns to their officers or issuing guns deemed legally 'unsafe'. "


The article this excerpt comes from is called "Gray Davis' Cop-Killing Gun Law"

Well perhaps I'd have some sympathy for the cops if they hadn't been supportive of damn near every victim disarmament measure that affected California civilians.

The thing that burns me up is the whole article is bitching that police officers are beign subjected to the same treatment us mere peasants have been. A nationwide concealed carry for cops only bill is stalled in congress, the magazine disconnect law poses problems for the officers on the street. What about the friggin' civilian who has to put up with these bullshit laws & more every friggin' day?

& to top it all off:

"What is next?' asks Lott. 'Banning guns carried by on-duty officers?"

In places where mere citizens are prohibited from carrying arms, damn right. If it's such a safe world that the peasants don't need weapons, then the agents of government shouldn't need to carry them either.

The way I feel about cops is this: they're no different than the public at large. A small perecentage of them are really good people, a small perecentage are really bad people & the remainder fall to varying degrees in between. However they have been set up as a privileged class. They carry arms in places where us common folk cannot & carry weapons & ammunition that are prohibited from the common folk's possession.

This is mainly due to factors other than the cop on the street wanting to feel special. Unions are notorious for promoting these privileged class measures even when they're opposed by the cop on the beat. But the fact remains that they are treated as a privileged class. This is soley because of their function. Nope, it's not to control violent criminals, its to enforce laws. Those laws may be good or bad. Most cops I have met say its not their place to judge the law, only to enforce it. But motivations only affect blame & credit, not results. So untill the cop on the beat refuses to carry a gun where they are prohibited for everyone else, or at the very least refuses to use a brand new 15 round magazine because the mere peasants are denied them, then I won't feel much sympathy for them when compared to a common person who has to endure these prohibitions.

As for the argument that cops are in harms way more often than non law enforcement officers.... puh-leez. Cops make up a fraction of our population. Further cops are only fractionally involved in situations where violent, dangerous crimes are happening. They mainly show up after the fact & attempt to apprehend the suspect. Most of the time the suspect gets away.

Civilians who are not in law enforcement on the other hand make up a large percentage of the population. & they are more frequently involved in situations where violent, dangerous crimes are occuring. Remember that small percentage of violent confrontations that cops are faced with? The flip side of that is there are a greater number of violent confrontational crimes that happen when cops aren't around. Since we are dividing things up into two groups - cops & non cops - who do you think is around for most of those violent crimes? That's right. Non law enforcement officers.

Non law enforcement officers are subject, as a whole, to a greater risk of being around a violent, confrontational crime than cops as a whole are. This will always be the case until the cops outnumber the non-cops. So arguments that cops as a group lead more dangerous lives & require more protection don't convince me that we should treat them any different.

Further, even if the odds were in favor of cops being involved in more potentially dangerous situations that in no way means that non law enforcement officers should forsake the ability to protect themselves, even if the occasion for doing so may be much rarer.

But non cops are the target of most violent confrontational crimes. Therefore non cops should be as well armed as cops.

& don't get me started on cops who wear arms but arrest people for merely possessing them. That is hypocrisy in action.

So yes, disarm the cops where the people are disarmed & place the same restrictions on them that the people have on them. Or there is a better solution: stop preventing the people from exercising their Right to Arms & let the cops & non cops carry what they wish.

But don't try to invoke pity in a disarmed peasant for an elite class who suffer from a fraction of the restrictions I am faced with.




JoinTogetherOnline tells us that "...Congressmen Richard Gephardt (D-MO) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) have co-sponsored H.R. 2038, a bill that will renew and strengthen the federal assault weapons ban..."

Lovely, no? Seems like the Democrats may embrace gun control as a party platform once again. Not that they ever adandoned it, they just went Republican on us - supported it as discreetly as they could.
This is bad for two reasons, the first is that a lot of gullable democrats would suport it without thinking, the other is that when the Democrats are openly pro-gun control the Republicans don't draw as much attention to themselvs for being pro-gun control. They appear to be the lesser of two evils & get support from gun owners.

Another example of the Republicans exceptional PR department:

"...If the president doesn't read newspapers but relies only on his aides, then I wonder if they told him about Kimberly Requell Mari Brice, the Landover, Md., five-year-old first grader who was fatally shot by her four-year old brother...It was a tragic story that made a compelling case for gun control, something that Bush is totally opposed to..."

That comes from this story bemoaning the fact that Bush doesn't read the papers himself.

But did you catch that? "...a compelling case for gun control, something that Bush is totally opposed to..."

Anyone ever hear of Bush reading a gun control bill he didn't like? Ever see him take direct action to oppose a gun control bill, or support a pro-gun bill? Bush is not a friend of gun owners. He's a friend of government. But for a variety of reasons, most think Bush is pro-gun Rights.

So Bush supports renewing the assault weapons ban & asks the Supreme Court to not hear second amendment cases (Emerson, & a challenge to the NFA whose name escapes me) but gets labeled as pro-gun Rights.

There is a difference between Republicans & Democrats when it comes to gun control: the Republicans have much better PR people.

BTW, here's a link to a site called Candidates On Guns for your amusement.





I am oppossed to any law that requires you to obtain a permit & pay a fee merely to own, possess or carry a weapon.

That being said, Missouri's new concealed carry law is being challenged as conflicting with the state constitution. How you may ask? The proponents of victim disarmament assert that since the Missouri constitution says that concealed carry is not justified by its provision concerning the Right to Arms it is therefore unconstitutional for the legislature to make it permissable by law. Further a judge has issued a temporary injunction of the new concealed carry law until the Missouri Supreme Court can rule on the case.

"Attorneys for plaintiffs seeking to stop the concealed-weapons law from taking effect Saturday argued that the law is unconstitutional. They said it violates a 128-year-old clause in the Missouri Constitution, imposes a new requirement on counties without providing funding and contains vague language.
The lawyers, Burton Newman and Richard Miller, also claimed the Legislature overstepped its police powers to secure the general peace and safety of Missourians and usurped the power of the people by passing a law similar to one voters rejected in an April 1999 referendum.
...They cited a section of the Bill of Rights from the 1945 Missouri Constitution declaring 'that the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person and property ... shall not be questioned; but this shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons."


Even if I were to fall for the idea that carrying concealed is somehow different than carrying openly & should be restricted I could not buy the argument that the Missouri constitution prohibits it outright. It merely says that the constitution does not recognize that Right. It does not prohibit Missouri law from establishing a permit system, or even a non permit (i.e. Vermont style) system.

Seems like they're getting desperate. Problem is, this might work for them.


Friday, October 10, 2003

Thursday, October 09, 2003


Republicans. Not worth a damn. Not the individuals who call themselves republicans, but The Republican Party. Only thing worse is the Democrat Party. But not by much.

In California they recalled a Democratic governor who was screwing the pooch royally. What did the Republican Part do? Stabbed an actual conservative/libertarian republican candidate in the back, abandoned him & threw their support behind a right leaning democrat with an 'R' beside his name.

In D.C. we have a republican in the White House who lowered taxes. That's it. That's all he's done that the Republican Party is supposed to stand for.

Not that he's not done anything else; he just hasn’t done anything else that's supposed to be 'republican'.

For example, he (& by he I attribute acts performed by his administration which he either approved of or didn't stop, thereby implying approval) has increased not only spending but the size of government.

When parts of the country suffered attacks by terrorists what did he do? He created a new federal bureaucracy to deal with it. He (along with congress) federalized airport security & made damn skippy that the passengers couldn't bring nail clippers on a flight w/o facing charges if caught.
He opposed arming pilots & since congress told him to arm them anyway, the TSA (which, as chief executive officer he has authority over) has dragged its feet & set up so much red tape that less than 200 pilots are carrying weapons. & to add insult to injury, pilots who do pass through the multiple level hoops to get permission to carry are officially federal officers, thereby creating a distinction between us ordinary peasants who should never be allowed to exercise our Right to Arms & agents of the state, who are better than us & therefore can pack if they so choose.

Arm the passengers? You mean stop prohibiting individuals from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed Right to Arms when they fly? Puh-leez. That could be viewed as "pro-gun" & if there's one thing President Bush isn't, it's "pro-gun".

Assault weapons Ban? Bush likes it. Thinks we should give it another decade or twelve to see how it pans out.

& Bush isn't as far left as Schwarzenegger is. I feel for California.

But what really has me ticked off right now is not so much a direct action of Bush. Hell, there might not even be any republicans involved, although I doubt it. But it is of a direct concern to Bush, & it will be to Schwarzenegger & any other elected official remotely involved with state &/or national security.

A group of men detained 6 illegal immigrants at gunpoint. They handcuffed them, called the Border Patrol & turned them over once the Border Patrol arrived.

Now those men are felons. But CNN doesn't view it like that. Their headline reads:

2 border vigilantes go to jail in capture

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: vig•i•lan•te
Pronunciation: "vi-j&-'lan-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: Spanish, watchman, guard, from vigilante vigilant, from Latin vigilant-, vigilans
Date: 1865
: a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law appear inadequate); broadly: a self-appointed doer of justice


Now here's CNN's account of the terrible crime these men committed:

"According to an indictment, Hoffman, Dumas and a third man went out on July 31 and confronted a group of six undocumented immigrants in Yuma County and at gunpoint handcuffed them until the U.S. Border Patrol arrived."

Yep. Sounds like a lynch mob, don't it?

Actually if we go strictly by the Merriam-Webster definition they could be considered psuedo-vigalantes. They were members of a voluntary committee. They apparently thought the process of law was inadequate, at least in some respects. They did organize to suppress crime.

However, they did not organize to suppress & punish crime summarily, which is essential to the definition & connotation of the word vigilante.

One thing against them: they plead guilty. They didn't fight the charge. Normally I have no pity for anyone who pleads guilty. In that I mean I simply don't believe someone when they claim they plead guilty to something they didn't do in order to avoid a harsh sentence if they were convicted. I know it happens but frankly I don't have time to sort out the few honest people who succumb to this particular trap of our legal system from the many dishonest people who would attempt to cover their guilt in such a way.
But I make exceptions to laws that are unjust, or applied unjustly.

These men pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to commit unlawful imprisonment"

Where the application of this law is flawed is that it reduces the charge from a class 6 felony to a class 1 misdemeanor if "...the victim is released voluntarily by the defendant without physical injury in a safe place prior to arrest..."

So if they would have fought they could have convinced a judge &/or jury that a felony charge was inappropriate, considered no physical harm was done to the detainees & they released them into the custody of law enforcement voluntarily.

Also "restrain" is defined by this section of Arizona law thusly:

"2. "Restrain" means to restrict a person's movements without consent, without legal authority, and in a manner which interferes substantially with such person's liberty, by either moving such person from one place to another or by confining such person..."

So they could have, & should have been able to argue that since they were detaining people who were in the process of & intent on continuing a commitment of a crime (entering the country illegally) that they were acting lawfully in detaining them until the Border Patrol could arrive to pick them up.

But finally I think this little ditty from Arizona law should have settled the matter:

"A private person may make an arrest:
1. When the person to be arrested has in his presence committed a misdemeanor amounting to a breach of the peace, or a felony.
2. When a felony has been in fact committed and he has reasonable ground to believe that the person to be arrested has committed it."


Again, from the account given by CNN it sounds like the actions of the 'vigilantes' were legal under Arizona law.

Since they pleaded guilty they may be screwed, however I did find this:

"Subject to the limitations of section 13-4232, any person who has been convicted of or sentenced for a criminal offense may, without payment of any fee, institute a proceeding to secure appropriate relief on any of the following grounds:
1. The conviction or the sentence was in violation of the Constitution of the United States or of this state.
2. The court was without jurisdiction to render judgment or to impose sentence.
3. The sentence imposed exceeded the maximum authorized by law or is otherwise not in accordance with the sentence authorized by law..."


Might help them, might not.

In any event they were prosecuted for doing what they thought was their duty as citizens of a country that has a serious problem with border security.

Now here's a surprise for ya: know who else besides CNN takes a dim view of their actions & jumps for joy at their convictions?

"Human rights advocates, prosecutors and Mexican officials hailed the sentencing as a blow against border vigilantes..."

I know. I was shocked myself.

"Armed citizens groups have patrolled the border in Cochise County for several years, but this was the first time armed citizens had gone out looking for undocumented immigrants in Yuma County, said Yuma County Attorney Patricia Orozco.
'It's just a very dangerous place, and I don't want to see people hurt, and that's what I fear will happen that if they do go down: We will see people hurt,' Orozco said."


I wonder if fear of being hurt is the reason said sheriff wasn't out patrolling the border his damned self? & for those of you who would come to the sheriff's defense by pointing out he doesn't have enough manpower to do that, why the hell do you think he doesn't have enough manpower? Perhaps it could have something to do with volunteers getting arrested for attempting to help his manpower problems?

BTW, an undocumented immigrant is just a very polite, politically correct term for illegal alien.

"Beatriz Chavez, a spokeswoman for the Mexican consulate in Yuma, praised the sentencing.
'To see someone pointing a gun at you is very scary, and they were really defenseless because they were just women and children,' Chavez said."


First of all why the hell is a government official from Mexico even venturing an opinion on a legal proceeding in Arizona? Or more appropriately, (since everyone is entitled to their opinion) why is CNN printing it?

Second, how dare anyone from freakin' Mexico speak of a defenseless person being afraid of someone with arms. They ban their peasants from owning weapons or ammunition. If anyone in Mexico is defenseless it’s because of people like her passing gun control laws that disarm the populace.

Third, those women & children, while being 'defenseless' were breaking a law. A very big law. They had firearms pointed at them by people whose intent was to prevent them from breaking said law. I'm quite sure that the border patrol or any other law enforcement agency would have weapons drawn when approaching a group of people engaged in an illegal activity.

"Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Humane Borders, a nonprofit organization that builds water stations in the desert for undocumented immigrants, said he hopes Wednesday's sentencing will discourage people from resorting to vigilante activity along the border.
'It sends the right message . . . that this kind of behavior won't be tolerated,' Hoover said."


The message it sends is, "Y'all come on in. Take your shoes off. Visit for a spell." Another message it sends is that anyone who attempts to do what they feel is their duty as a citizen to help out with domestic security will be punished beyond the extent that the law allows.

I understand why Mexicans would want to immigrate to America. I sympathize with their plight & do feel sorry for their situations in Mexico that would drive them to this. But the fact remains that our borders are not secure, & the States are in danger (though no one is sure to what degree) from agents of foreign governments &/or organizations that seek to cause damage to the States & their respective people.


CNN did include one pro-vigilante viewpoint:

"But Chris Simcox, founder of the Civil Homeland Defense, a citizens group based in Tombstone in Cochise County, condemned the sentencing.
'Something is just not right with this situation. The only thing I think they went too overboard was on the handcuffing,' said Simcox, who also publishes the weekly Tombstone Tumbleweed. 'They potentially saved the lives of those kids, and they were only doing what our president has asked us, which is to be vigilant and to report suspicious illegal activities to the proper authorities.'
Simcox said he is in the process of training a group of more than 100 people from Yuma who were galvanized by the charges against the three vigilantes to patrol the border on their own."


& what does Mr. Simcox know about the state of our borders?

"Simcox said over the past year his group has turned over more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants to the Border Patrol."

Let me emphasize that for you, & add correct what I feel is an edit of what Mr. Simcox actually said:

"...over the past year his group has turned over more than 2,000 [illegal aliens] to the Border Patrol."

2000+. One group. One state. Less than a year. 2000+.

What does this have to do with the Republican Party?

Bush.

This is a matter of state concern. It occurred within the borders of Arizona & is subject to Arizona law. However since it is also a matter of national concern Bush should use his influence to either A; encourage state governors to make exceptions for these citizens who are attempting to protect our borders or B; call up the unorganized militia to assist in the patrol of our borders, thereby providing some measure of protection for said volunteers.

But he won't do either. He (& the Republican Party in general) is too devoted to the idea of government fixing all our problems. They have totally abandoned the political philosophy that set them apart from the Democrat Party. Bush may not have caused this situation himself, but he is in a position to affect a positive change. He won't. The left leaning trend in the Republican Party may or may not have led to these events, but again they have the ability to attempt to bring about a positive change. They won't.

& how does this relate to Schwarzenegger? Easy. What do you think he'd say about armed citizens patrolling the California borders? I rest my case.

So two very patriotic men now sit in an Arizona jail for protecting the border.
I thought about ending this post by saying that I at least partially blame the Democrat Party & the Republican Party, but that would be redundant. Take away the "R" or "D" beside their names & I cannot tell them apart.

For previous posts on the condition of our borders & border patrol groups, private & public, look here.




Wednesday, October 08, 2003


A public service announcement:

Laissez Faire Books is having a sale. 15% off everything, even already discounted books. But it only lasts through this month.

Thanks to David Bernstein of The Volokh Conspiracy for pointing that out.


Browsing through The Serfdom Times I found a link to an article by Gary North called The Myth of Insufficient Gold.

It's a very interesting read about the free market & monetary policy in our economy. He contends that the unsupported currency we use is a valuable tool in the government's quest for power, & that it's not only possible but desirable to return to a gold or silver standard.

A taste:

"Monetary policy in this perspective is an "exogenous factor" in the marketplace – something that the market must respond to rather than an internally produced, "endogenous factor" that stems from the market itself. The money supply is therefore supposedly indirectly related to market processes; it is controlled by the central governments acting through the central bank, or else it is the automatic creation of a central bank on a fixed percentage increase per day and therefore not subject to "fine-tuning" operations of the political authorities.
A smaller number of free market advocates (myself among them) are convinced that such monopoly powers of money creation are going to be used. Power is never neutral; it is exercised according to the value standards of those who possess it. Money is power, for it enables the bearer to purchase the tools of power, whether guns or votes."


I agree with him & believe you will too. Go read the article to find out if I'm right about this.




Tuesday, October 07, 2003


Yet another gun control bill looks likely to pass, thanks in no small part to the NRA. Angel Shamaya tells us about the NICS Improvement Act that will make a person's state records, including but not limited to medical records, available to the government.

“What do you get when you put a current and former board member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the same room with two of the most vehemently anti-gun members of the House and Senate?' asks CNSNews columnist Jeff Johnson in his Sept. 26 news report. “On Thursday, the answer to that question was: agreement.'
The NRA is enthusiastically endorsing a gun control bill that's also supported by avowed gun banners Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy. Handgun Control, Inc. calls the bill “a sensible step that will save lives” — note the word “step” — which is what they say about banning semi-automatic rifles due to ergonomic and safety features, and what they've said in the past about completely banning handguns."


Here's Larry Pratt's take on it.

"Remember the so-called 'Our Lady of Peace Act' from last year? Well, Our Lady is back, but under a new name.
Two notoriously anti-gun legislators have teamed up again to deny millions of additional Americans their right to keep and bear arms. They are Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).
What makes this bill so dangerous is the fact that many Congressmen who are perceived to be 'pro-gun' are supporting the bill as well.
According to CNS News, a current NRA Board member, together with a former board member, appeared at a press conference last week to support the Schumer-McCarthy legislation. Specifically, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) lent their visible support on Thursday in favor of the 'NICS Improvement Act'. "



The NICS Improvement Act is typical of federal extortion: they have no constitutional authority to force states to abide by it, so they threaten to cut off federal funds to any state that does not comply.
This has been a successful tactic for the feds, most notably in the case of a state's BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level. The BAC level is used to determine whether someone is driving while intoxicated. The feds told the states that unless they dropped their BAC level's to .08 from the .10 most state's used to determine who was driving while intoxicated, they'd lose money for highway construction projects. Sc was the lats hold out & they caved in earlier this year.
So if this bill passes, which seems likely, then expect your state to sell you out for road construction money.

& in case you just don't get it, this bill is not about making it harder for criminals to obtain guns. It's a culling of the herd. The government is trying to incrementally cut down the number of people who may legally own guns. Think they'll stop before you're included in the prohibited class? Only if we fight bills like this real hard, or you die real soon.

Here's the strategy:

Convince people that certain actions justly disqualify a person from owning weapons legally.

Slowly expand the list of prohibited actions.

Couple this with bans directed towards classes &/or types of weapons.

Institute a system of firearm owner registration.

When you've reached a certain point (where you think you've used this incrementalism all you can or need to) then you enact a blanket prohibition on all privately owned firearms.

If I was directing the confiscations what I would do is set up across the nation a series of DUI checkpoints. Confrontational resistance would be kept at a minimum & officer safety would be maximized while being able to round up a sizable number of privately owned weapons. Few people would know what was going on until after they were disarmed.

Of course all this seems a bit far fetched doesn't it?

Actually all but the last part of the strategy I outline (the actual blanket prohibitions & mass confiscations) have happened to one extent or another. Here's the strategy again with more details:

Convince people that certain actions justly disqualify a person from owning weapons legally. Not many people will argue that a murderer or rapist should be able to legally own a weapon.

Slowly expand the list of prohibited actions. First it was felonies. Then any crime punishable (not the sentence received, but the sentence that could have been received) by a year or more in jail. Now it includes domestic violence misdemeanors that were committed before the law included them was enacted. With the addition of state records the number of disqualified person will increase yet again, ranging from misdemeanor marijauna convictions to people who have something in their medical records that the state can say is disqualifying.

Couple this with bans directed towards classes &/or types of weapons, such as assault weapons bans, saturday night special bans, smart gun only laws, .50 caliber firearm bans, etc...

Institute a system of firearm owner registration. A Shall Issue CCW law is a good technique because most firearms owners don't the this as registration. Purchase permits &/or retained background check records are another good method that most firearms owners will not object to.

When you've reached a certain point (where you think you've used this incrementalism all you can or need to) then you enact a blanket prohibition on all privately owned firearms.

If I was directing the confiscations what I would do is set up across the nation a series of DUI checkpoints. When running the license plate &/or drivers' license certain data comes up, such as that person having a CCW permit &/or a record of any firearms they have registered with the local or state authorities. Then I'd simply detain that person (confiscating any weapons he/she had with them) while another team of police went to that persons' house & picked up any weapons that were there. Confrontational resistance would be kept at a minimum & officer safety would be maximized while being able to round up a sizable number of privately owned weapons. Few people would know what was going on until after they were disarmed.

Doesn't seem as far fetched when you see that most of the strategy has laready been successful.

The NICS Improvement Act is just another step towards the overall goal of a disarmed populace. It will likely pass, especially with the bi-partisan & NRA support. This should, at the very least serve as a reminder that while some say, "It could never happen here" it is happening here.




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