Mike Thomas' Big 'But'

I am establishment when it comes to guns. I support Florida's concealed-weapons law and the Stand Your Ground law. I cheered when the Supreme Court overturned the gun ban in Washington, D.C. I'll be heading for the gun range this weekend.

Liberals think I'm the unholy spawn of Charlton Heston and Marion Hammer.

But this is too much. [More]

Yeah, sure, dickhead. Throw open carriers under the bus and call them exhibitionists. What a gun rights champ you are!  What an unholy spawn! 

I was going to take this prag fraud to task, but correspondent SamAdams1776 did a superb job and was much nicer about it than I'd be inclined. I'm using his screen name because he's active duty in Kuwait, so I imagine a Threeper in the ranks would give the brass a hemorrhage.

Greetings,

Read your article from my desk in Kuwait. I am deployed here and from Florida. I am involved in the 2A rights movement, but you misunderstand the motives. You also misunderstand the process. And the history. Prior to the Jack Hagler Act in 1987, open carry was the only way in Florida except for discretionary conceal carry (local police decided whether or not to grant a CCW license.) And people DID openly carry.

Before continuing, I must comment on the "Hollywood" term gunslingers-a very yellow journalistic term to use in your article and besides, in the old west, "gunslingers" were not called that at all, they were called "shootists."

The motive is not centrally one about guns. It is about liberty and individual sovereignty-our founders intended the states to be; except for some very limited--and also carefully enumerated-powers, reserved to the Federal Government and only the Federal government, sovereign entities and individuals were largely sovereigns able to exercise any non-prohibited powers (c.f. the tenth amendment) and otherwise subject to the constitutional laws of the union and the state they lived in and the statute laws as well. Even sovereign entities are subject to the law.

The primary purpose of the Bill of Rights (BOR) is to limit government. The Preamble to the BOR says so, in fact. It does so by enumerating PRE-EXISTING rights that government must not encroach upon. And one of them is the right to keep and bear arms. Numerous writings of the founders (which I will provide to you upon request) make it clear that it is first a prophylactic measure against tyranny and second as a remedy to tyranny if the prophylactic measure fails.

Exactly what do you think it means in the Declaration of Independence when Jefferson writes:

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

He was speaking not just about events then but a truism for all times really. It is an insurrectionist philosophy.

Government SHOULD fear rebellion. They SHOULD fear the people and that is not possible if the people are estranged from arms or are disarmed-thus the real purpose of gun control is not crime control, but simply control. Let me give you an example of how different things are: When I was a boy of 8 before the Gun Control Act of 1968, the year I turned 9, There were ads in the Back of Boys' Life for Marlin and Winchester Rifles we could order (and many of us did) and have delivered by US Post to our doors. We could also order DEWATs typically for $99. You'll just have to look that up as a homework assignment. But I digress.

The right enumerated in the 2A does not say you can exercise it only if you prove to some government official that you are trained or worthy in some way; it is absolute. The right to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. Government is forbidden to regulate arms and this amendment, protecting a PRE-EXISTING right came in AFTER the commerce clause and thus easily supersedes it, and would be recognized as such if the judiciary itself were not corrupt and assisting the other two branches of government in their encroachment of powers.

If someone abuses that by using their right criminally or negligently (perhaps by lack of training) THEN there are consequences. In a FREE society people are FREE to act. The legal term for preventing someone from committing an undesirable act is known as "prior restraint," and although the term is used in publishing, it is equally applicable here. It is not tolerated with regard to the First Amendment and we can ill afford to tolerate it in regards to the Second.

To continue with motives and process: gun laws in the US did not spring up all at once. They likely will have to be undone piecemeal as well. Reestablishing open carry in Florida together with Shall Issue Conceal Carry is the next step toward Constitutional Carry. Only 3 states have that so far: Vermont, Alaska, and most recently Arizona, but a fourth also out west, will soon be joining the other three. But let me state this most emphatically: THE REQUIREMENT OF LICENSES TO EXERCISE ANY RIGHT IS OFFENSIVE. How would you like to have to obtain a license to exercise your first amendment rights or to vote? Hmm?

Also in our cross hairs is the most egregious and harmful law with regard to the ability to defend against tyranny, which is the obscene National Firearms Act of 1934 most recently amended by the Oxymoronically-named Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. This law closed off all new full auto sales to the public, artificially increasing the values of those weapons remaining that are transferrable.

Finally, if you REALLY want to understand us, I suggest reading Unintended Consequences by John Ross. It is now quite an expensive book and available in Hardcover only. I treasure my copy bought years ago.

v/r

I don't expect this "they make us all look bad" ivory tower sterile bee queen Thomas to  learn anything from a warrior explaining reality to him. Anyone who dismisses men who "guard with jealous attention the public liberty" as "silly" is most probably an ineducable fool, who will simply be astonished into paralysis the day his illusions come crashing down on him.

Do be sure and take his poll.

Park Ranger Has Big "But"

I am a Park Ranger and support an individuals right to own weapons but...[More]

This comment just came in on an old post. In case anyone is interested, you can either try to educate this guy or just give him a big "Molon Labe!" to go with that big "but" of his.

The Elephant in the Room We Dare Not Speak Of

Blognomicon links us to a Sheboygan Press opinion piece by Gun Week senior editor Dave Workman, who writes:

Aside from the vast disparity in the number of homicides in Milwaukee and Seattle, there is one more big difference. Washington residents can carry concealed handguns, and a lot of them do, more than 230,000 at last count.

It's an attractive thesis for gun owners. It would be easy to jump on the bandwagon and cry "See?"

The problem is, there are problems with it.

If you're going to claim concealed carry impacts the murder rate in Seattle (and I would argue it does, albeit to a much lesser degree than Workman attributes it), you need to factor the number of concealed handgun carriers in the specific population you're studying--in other words, don't use a statewide number. The 230,000 figure sounds impressive, but the state has a population of over 6 million, vs. Seattle's 571,500. If you're going to crunch numbers, you need to factor your carriers from that pool.

There's something else at work--another "big difference"--a HUGE "big difference"-- that impacts the raw murder number disparities between Milwaukee and Seattle, but there's a problem with even hinting at it--lest we be charged with the modern equivalent of being denounced a witch. We can find this "big difference" in every major urban area in the country--the places where guns are invariably controlled and the murder rate cannot be.

At the risk of being branded classist, ageist, sexist, and the dreaded "r" word... uhh, s'cuse me... could someone please look at the demographic differences between Seattle and Milwaukee?

Sorry, Mr. Workman, but the cities do not share "roughly the same...social makeup." Just look at the comparison between "female householders, no husband present" (8.09% vs. 21.07%). And we also can't forget to look at race--not as a cause of violent crime, but as an indicator of populations most directly affected by and responsive to a continuing history of destructive government policies.

If we're afraid to even address this, we're never going to be able to make things right. And those hurt the most by this self-imposed blindness will continue to be the least prosperous and protected among us.

Beyond Boomtown

The following is a reply from Bert Guy concerning "Boomtown Bust." Mr. Guy also informs me that Boomtown executives have been very helpful and supportive, but "Boomtown has been a victim of the corporation that owns them (Pinnacle Entertainment). The Gun Show was given an OK many months ago by Corporate. The Big Boss only recently changed his mind, after all of us had put our blood, sweat and tears into this Gun Show."

Here is his response to those who blame him for this mess:


David

Thank you for the opportunity. I will be glad to comment. That is substantially more than the misinformed vulgar mouths and mediators from Subguns.com have allowed me or my friends to do.

First the April ad in NRA was not the only place that the ad appeared. Here is a brief list:

Billboards - on interstate 80 East and West
Print (American Rifleman, Shotgun News, Gun List, Big Show Journal. Gun & Knife Calendar Magazine, Game & Fish Magazine, Military Publications,
Local and Feeder market (Northern California, Fernley, Fallon, Carson City, Sparks, etc...) newspapers
National Classified Network (7 million circulation)
Radio - local and feeder markets
Targeted email blasts
Targeted Shooters and Hunters direct marketing campaign
Fliers distributed at competing gun shows
Flayers direct mailed to 2,000 potential vendors
100,000 calendars with a full page ad for the gun show mailed to existing Boomtown customers
Internal signage at the casino
Info on Boomtown website

The most effective comment I have is the same one I have repeatedly sent to my disgruntled vendors and to those that have condemned me by email.

I do NOT in anyway support the decision for NO GUNS. I am quite opposed to the decision.

I will forward this email UP the ladder to the decision makers. The ones that decided NO GUNS

I agree 100% with you.

If Cho's targets would have shot back at least 30 people would have been saved.

Further I'd like to say that the news I received about the Corporate owners of Boomtown deciding we should have an "UnGun Show" came at a MOST inconvenient time in my schedule. I first heard about it Friday p.m. 4/20 as I was en route to a Phoenix gun show. I did have time at the show to share the info with a few close friends but I was still in disbelief of the decision. I thought surely it is either a piss poor joke or a verbal misunderstanding.

Unfortunately It was neither. Due to my schedule I was mostly away from my office computer until I returned from the Crossroads Gun Show late on Monday p.m. 4/23. I had to leave Tuesday a.m. to pick up a show bike and transport it to Laughlin, unload and set it up for a friend who was flying out from Ohio. Wed 4/25 I was at the Laughlin River Run working my booth but chose to drive back home to get my lap top and to share the bad news with vendors via email that in fact we were to have an UnGun show. (An email I later came to regret as the more I thought about an UnGun Show the less I wanted to attend). I Returned to Laughlin early Thursday a.m. to continue working my booth until Sunday p.m. 4/29.Laughlin was an event that had been booked and planned for nearly a year so I really could not avoid it. I apologize, but I make my living completely on the internet and at trade shows.

I apologize profusely for my inability to be at the phone when my valued vendors called. I apologize for the inconvenience of canceling the show. I apologize for the liberal misinformed decision (Which I had zip to do with) to not allow guns on the Boomtown premises for a contracted Gun Show. I apologize for not being able to argue the point with the Corporation even more than I did.

I apologize for the foul mouthed cowards from Subguns that left vulgar messages on my answer machine for my wife and young children to hear, and then bragged about it on Subguns. I apologize for the courage from afar they demonstrated by leaving no names. I apologize for the people that have boycotted my business because they listened to the lies of me being anti-gun without knowing my true stance.

I am about as fanatically pro-gun as you can get without getting thrown in the klink.

All and all I am sorry things did not work out but I did all I could do. I fought as hard as I could fight. I am a VERY disappointed victim of American Corporate liberal over ride. I hate that we are not having a GUN SHOW as it was being very nicely supported by vendors. I expected it to far surpass the last show. I am not defeated. I am delayed. I will continue with all I have set out to do.

I'd like to offer me deepest, heart felt, sincere thanks to those that recognized what was happening and showed such extremely strong support. I know no stronger words than "Thank you" but I sure feel stronger feelings than just Thank you.

Thank you,
Bert Guy
www.GatlingGuns.com

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

Afterword: A representative for Subguns is invited to reply if they feel they have been unfairly portrayed, but in fairness to Mr. Guy, we’d like to see an unedited link to the discussion thread he references.

RELATED:
Boomtown Busted
An Open Letter Regarding Boomtown Casino

Guest Editorial: "Kill All They Send..."

[Foreword: This may make some uncomfortable, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. And after all, it's just a hypothetical "ping," but one I believe should be transmitted far and wide.]

"Kill All They Send..."
The Modest Proposal of "Homer Simpson's Dumber Brother" for Gun Confiscation & A Modest Counter-Proposal

By Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson, AL

"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms." — Robert Heinlein

"Hell, let's just start shooting the bastards. Let's get this crap over with while I'm still young enough to march in the victory parade down Pennsylvania Avenue." -- An American gun owner, overheard in a Birmingham, Alabama, gun store, 27 April 2007.

Career Foreign Service Officer and former Ambassador Daniel H. Simpson, now slumming in retirement as a member of the Toledo Blade & Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's editorial board, has a modest proposal entitled "The Disarming of America." Unlike Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" for the Irish poor to alleviate their hunger by eating their children, I think Ambassador Dan is really serious about his. A snippet:

"The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm.

Clearly, since such sweeps could not take place all across the country at the same time. But fairly quickly there would begin to be gun-swept, gun-free areas where there should be no firearms. If there were, those carrying them would be subject to quick confiscation and prosecution. On the streets it would be a question of stop-and-search of anyone, even grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for 'carrying.'" -- The Toledo Blade, Wednesday, April 25, 2007

"In Timor Veritas"?

Not surprisingly the gun rights community has evinced more than a little anger at this brazen proposal for their disarmament and enslavement. David Codrea, whose War On Guns blogspot I greatly admire, has referred to Ambassador Dan as "Homer Simpson's Dumber Brother." Certainly Dan Simpson, if he is serious, has got to be one stupid human being not to anticipate the unintended consequences of his declaration, which plays into the worst fears and direst predictions of American gun rights advocates since the 1968 Gun Control Act. Yet, since the DC gun law was struck down by the Federal Appeals Court, the hoplophobes have become more open in their demands: we hear less about "reasonable restrictions" and much more about repealing the Second Amendment. Heck, even here in Alabama we've had a proposal (House Bill 600) to register every semi-automatic rifle, pistol and shotgun in private hands in the state. Of course it doesn't have a snowball's chance of being passed, but. . . then why introduce it?

The Romans used to say "In vino veritas", or, "In wine there is truth." But these folks are not, as near as we can tell, drunk. Perhaps what we are dealing with is "In timor veritas"-- In fear there is truth. Cops have been known to inadvertently scare suspects so much that they blurted out their own unintended confessions and perhaps that is what is going on here. The gun grabbers are nervous. The Virginia Tech massacre was supposed to strengthen their legislative hand, yet it is the gunnies who seem the stronger for it now. We didn't react the old timorous NRA way as they expected us to. Those of us who share the traditional American values of the Founder's republic-- faith, responsibility, opportunity and armed defense of liberty-- have finally been pushed to the point that they've made us fighting mad. We've been pushed to the point where it is WE who are beginning to push back. And with their calls for the repeal of the 2nd Amendment, the gun control crowd is risking not just a push but a punch in the nose.

They look at the massacre and see the need for more regulation, registration and confiscation. We look at the dead innocents, deliberately disarmed and made easy targets in a carefully crafted, firearm-free environment, and blame their big liberal lies and unintended idiocies for the body count. "Gun Free School Zone" is a lie every bit as much as "Arbeit Macht Frei" and every bit as deadly. We see these bright young kids and talented professors who were killed without a hope of self defense, who were killed, indeed, by liberalism itself, and we blame the butchers with immaculate hands who cleared the way for the killer and made it all possible. Yet it is WE, the law-abiding and self-reliant, who are blamed by THEM, the servile toadies of collectivism. Our rising anger is in fact a measure of how close we are coming to a final break in this country between our two competing visions of America. Indeed, if Homer Simpson's dumber brother is serious, the opening shots of this impending civil war cannot be that far away.

One Ping Only (Please Deposit 50 Cents)

Captain Ramius: "Re-verify our range to target... one ping only."
Capt. Vasili Borodin: "Captain, I - I - I just..."
Captain Ramius: "Give me a ping, Vasili. One ping only, please."
Capt. Vasili Borodin: "Aye, Captain."
"The Hunt for Red October," 1990

But let us assume that, for the sake of argument and illustration, Ambassador Dan's proposal is serious. Let us assume that he is presenting us with a fictional fascist future backdrop that we may play like a video game. Let us believe for the moment in the literal word of former Foreign Service Officer Daniel H. Simpson's proposal yet conjure up our own modest fictional counter-proposal. Like Captain Ramius in "The Hunt for Red October," Ambassador Dan has given us a ping. Let us then give him one ping back. These pings (his and ours) may be warnings, threats of imminent attack, pleas for understanding, or attempts at communication across the gulf of a vast, dense ocean which prevents any other way of determining real meaning. But in any case let us play a game, starting with the scenario he has given us:

"The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building."

Our modest counter-proposal posits the following:

1. Like the American Revolution, one third of populace will side with the King, one third with the opposition and one third will blow with the wind and take what comes. Of the resistant third, less than a third of those will risk anything to give form to their beliefs, thus only about ten or so percent of the population, roughly 30 million citizens, will actively support the folks who will engage Dan's "special squads". (You know the Nazis called their special squads "Einsatzgruppen.") In the Revolution, the active combatants, Continentals and militia, only amounted to 3% of the population. That would be about 10 million anti-confiscation guerrillas. Alternatively, we could use 10% of American gun owners as a good rule of thumb, and that would be just 8.5 million. But let's make it even tougher on ourselves. Let us say for the sake of argument that as a result of liberal media propaganda and the cumulative deleterious effect of liberal government schools, just one percent of American gun owners would fall into the "cold dead hands" category: that's a mere 850 thousand. These would be the hard core-- the men and women who know how to kill at range, and who, with their scoped .30-06 deer rifles can out-range and out-shoot the M16 rifles and 9mm submachine guns of Dan's American Einsatzgruppen.

2. Unlike the American Revolution, the civil war will reflect the coarsening of the rules of war and will look more like Iraq or Bosnia. The war would certainly extend to those whose direct and support it-- civilian or not-- as they are primary targets, far more so than the foot soldiers of Ambassador Dan's Einsatzgruppen. Bill Clinton extended our own rules of war in the Kosovo intervention to include the news media and other propagandists as legitimate targets. Under these rules, Ambassador Dan and his anti-gun ilk would all be dead men. But, this is just a hypothetical word representation of a video game of Simpson's fictional fascist future, so they need not be afraid just yet.

3. The war would not end until one vision of America or the other won. It would be war to the knife and knife to the hilt. The 850,000 traditional Americans would be determined to take as many of the Einsatzgruppen, their commanders and controllers with them as possible. And it would be far greater than a one-to-one ratio. The fanaticism that the liberals have always imputed to us, would in the event, become real and deadly. If Ambassador Dan's future fascists do win, it will be a Pyrrhic victory that would, for destruction and casualties, dwarf all of America's wars put together. Which, if you think of it, is a funny way to have a "safe" society.


"Kill all they send..."

Viet Minh Sergeant: "Do we take prisoners?"
Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An: "No. Kill all they send... and they will stop coming." -- The Opening Scene of "We Were Soldiers"

What would be the casualties? God alone knows, but they would be horrific. How would the government prosecute such a policy with their own police and military honeycombed with potential "traitors"? Poorly, I suspect. How many of those soldiers and policemen that Ambassador Dan is counting on to disarm us would, in the event, turn their weapons on the "National Command Authority"? More than enough to make success for his future fascists problematic. And not even during the previous civil war of 1861-1865 did an American army attempt operations with armed opponents astride and within its own logistical tail. And it would be a WAR, make no mistake, not the sanitary "police action" of the scenario of Homer's dumber brother. And how would the big bad boys of the ATF and FBI fare against committed freedom fighters? Even well-paid federal police bureaucrats just want to live until retirement. How long do you think they would last when team after team of them are shot down like dogs in the street, garroted in their sleep, poisoned in their mess halls, or found with their throats slit in guardposts, restrooms and bordellos? We will kill all you send, Ambassador Dan, until they stop coming.

"Bzzzzt. Boink. Beep. Game over. Please deposit 50 cents."

So, thus ends the intellectual, hypothetical exercise posed by this mandarin class former Foreign Service professional turned newspaper expositor of tyrannical schemes. Let us disclaim that no treasonous, gun-grabbing editorialists were harmed in the crafting of this fictional counter-proposal. But of course, if he's SERIOUS. . . . ;-)

The He-Man Woman-Hater's Club

I was going to highlight the Grandmas and Guns story, but the sentiment by "Mac David" (click "Comments") is more interesting to me:

Gee, I live in big city and everyone I know doesn't feel the need or are scared enough to have a gun ready to level the playing field. Maybe as mothers, you should raise your children to respect others peacefully instead of acting like every disagreement needs to be addressed with a weapon. Fear is getting the best of you.

Yep, because Mac, evidently, has never been sodomized (against his will), and it's the female victims' fault for not showing proper peaceful respect. That's what your "progressive" feminist "sisters" claim, right? (Because it kind of sounds like the creepy justification a violent abuser would use, right up there with "She just wouldn't listen!")

Besides, nothing bad ever happens in "big cities," right?

Aside from the fact that Mac is obviously a self-righteous moron and blowhard, who would be absolutely useless to himself and others if a bona fide predator pegged him as prey to be hurt, I found his attitude telling in light of previous comments under other articles you can access by clicking on his name:

2 Men Charged In 1984 Rape Of Greeley Woman

Scumbag women haters. Mommy and daddy must be real proud of you two. I hope the boys in prison give you what you deserve.

Hey, she just didn't give them proper respect over that disagreement.  Good thing she didn't let fear get the better of her and have a gun, right Mac? And degenerate violence by sociopaths is something you approve of, but defensive force by women is not?

Tom Fallis Found Not Guilty In Murder Trial

If his next two wives end up dead, maybe a different conclusion will be found. Until then, I would stay far away from this dude.

Hey, nothing a little respect couldn't have cured.  The important thing is, Big City Mac doesn't know anyone who feels the need, or is scared enough, to have a gun ready to level the playing field (he intuitively gets that women are generally at a huge physical disadvantage and refuses to admit the obvious).

Typical Opposite day "progressive," throwing out "scumbag women hater" comments, but who would rather see women dead than armed. Typical projecting anti-gun male, afraid of tools his betters have mastered, and thus needing to accuse them of living in fear for being more capable than he is.

But Mac ain't done being respectful. Case in point, his "progressive" response to "Religious and city leaders ... building bridges with the Muslim community":

When you factor in all the possible reasons that people use to rationalize their fear, ignorance, and hatred of others unlike themselves, I am surprised that civilization made it to this point. The worst offenders are people who are conservative, religious or white.

I guess it's not just women Mac hates...

[Via cydl]

It Depends Upon What the Meaning of the Term 'Completely For' Is

First off, I am completely for the Second Amendment, but what I do not understand is why an 18-year-old cannot buy alcohol or a pistol, but they are legally able to purchase and utilize an AR-15 rifle. [More]

Me neither, but for a different reason than big "but" Stan's.

And note how the gun-grabbing editorialists at the Miami Herald presume their pronouncement of "common sense" to be a statement of fact rather than manipulation. They also conveniently left out details like one of their CEOs writes for HuffPo, and God knows what else I'd find if I had time to dig in.

[Via Bear]

Savage (masturb)Ation

Listen to the obnoxious carnival barker for yourself:

To anyone determined to argue that my article was based on a 2009 essay he wrote, so it's somehow no longer relevant, it's on you to show where he has repudiated his positions, apologized, and made an effort to correct the record and publicize it.

A gun-grabber is a  gun-grabber, and it doesn't matter if he's a big "but" (I'm a gun owner and believe in the Second Amendment but) gun-grabber. That's actually the worst kind. And this video demonstrates the powerhouse talk kapo also doesn't have a clue about delegated powers.

But it's OK -- the big boy "conservative" sites hawking this fraud's latest are generating thousands and thousands of comments and shares, completely drowning out the observation that the emperor has no clothes, so the Savage über alles crowd needn't worry.  I'm sure his new book will be a fantastic success.

Besides, it's not like the loyalties, the time, the effort or the money being diverted chasing a sterile bee queen could be put to better use...

[Via WRSA]

That's a Pretty Big 'But'

"Our state director is Indian American, but he does an amazing job. Our director of all constituent services, she's African American. But she does an even more incredible job than you could ever imagine." [More]

And in spite of it all!

I'd ask Hillary to weigh in, but she thinks they all look alike.

One thing about Democrats-- the expect 'em to all vote alike.

We Get Ink

Lobby Day, including my speech, in the news, as told by "real reporters."

Gun rights activist David Codrea was there to challenge legislation that he fears could result in the disarmament of citizens. [More]

Kelsey and Lyndsey, it's not like I'm unapproachable or unreachable. Instead of leaping to illusions, you could have talked with me. I don't fear legislation will disarm all gun owners, just the ones who won't matter in what comes next.

“I once had a boss who taught me the correct way to pronounce that is McAwful. Who said, in his state of the Commonwealth address – this is what the guy says: ‘As a gun owner myself, I fully believe that law abiding citizens have a right and responsible to carry fire arms, but …’ Stop right there. There are sure are a lot of politicians with big butts waddling around, aren’t there?” [More]

Sandy, how come everyone there but you got that "big but" is spelled with one "t"?

“It’s really not about guns, it’s about freedom,” gun-rights advocate and author David Codrea told the crowd. “Work with us or we will work to retire you,” he said, addressing lawmakers.

He finished his remarks with a bang, shouting “I will not disarm!” and garnering cheers from the crowd. [More]

Kathy, when we spoke, I shared with you that Virginians for Responsible Gun Laws does not appear on Guidestar, is not registered as a nonprofit with the Secretary of State, and has it's website registered through a proxy.  I thought we were in agreement that the money behind a group attempting to change laws is important information the public has a right to know, and that you were going to follow up on that.  Here's hoping you still intend to, and here's stating my intent to not drop this.

Sean Taylor: Death By Gun Control?

Taylor and his fiancee had been in the bedroom when a disturbance was heard in the living room, Sharpstein said.

"(He) tried to get a small machete that he keeps under the bed to defend himself but the door was burst into," Sharpstein told CNN, adding that Taylor's fiancee hid under the covers until the assailants had fled.

Why a machete?

Taylor had faced off-field legal issues several times, including a 2004 drunken driving arrest and the dropping of felony assault charges from a 2005 off-season incident involving firearms.

Taylor... pleaded no contest last year to two misdemeanor charges in connection with the 2005 incident and was in the final days of 18 months on probation.

Typically, people on probation are prohibited from possessing firearms. But then again, his assailant probably was, too. But the fact that he was not in custody means the legal system did not deem him a danger to others. The fact that he was a big, strong guy with access to machetes, and other potentially lethal objects just makes the firearm prohibition even more absurd. And the fact that a big, strong guy with a machete was no match for someone with a gun ought to be an object lesson for anyone who would find themselves outmatched without one.

I repeat myself: Those who cannot be trusted with firearms cannot be trusted without a custodian.

I also won't be surprised to find out there's a lot more to this story than what we've heard so far.

[Via John Hardin]

UPDATE: A comment poster on Reason Hit & Run writes:

A radio show interviewed Taylor's attorney from that case. He said that there were no restrictions on that, and that Taylor was no longer under any probation, anyway.

I'm taking that under advisement, but still maintain the speculation is valid to bring up, not only because diverse news sources claim Taylor's probation had not yet ended (his plea deal was first reported in June 2006, meaning he'd still have a couple months left to reach 18 months), but also because Florida statute 948.03 on terms and conditions of probation state that the offender:

Be prohibited from possessing, carrying, or owning any firearm unless authorized by the court and consented to by the probation officer.

Obviously, the important thing is to determine the truth of the matter, and the truth remains, regardless of Taylor's probation status and imposed conditions, his not having a firearm gave the victory advantage to his assailant.

Naturally, I'll keep an eye open if more information surfaces.

A Big Liar, More Like It

Olathe East student allegedly used ‘ghost gun’ in shooting at school ... “I’m a big Second Amendment person, but ghost guns (are) really only being operated by unlawful individuals who shouldn’t be having firearms," Howe said. "I think that’s something we’re going to take from this is that those types of firearms should be stopped.” [More]

That's an awful big "but" you've got their, pal.

Here's the real lesson anyone with a brain ought to be walking away from this with.

[Via Darrel W]

"Domestic Enemies"--An Interview With Matthew Bracken

I want my biases out on the table before I start this: It's no secret I'm a big fan of Matthew Bracken's first book, Enemies Foreign and Domestic, and said as much in my review last year.

I haven't read Matt's sequel, Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista. I've just started it, but admit I'm caught up in what I've read so far. Also, Jeff John at GUNS Magazine just gave me the green light to write a review for the magazine.



As I've said in prior announcments, Matt is going to be checking in today from time to time and answering questions from WarOnGuns visitors as time permits. If you have a question you'd like to ask him, just post a comment at the end of the interview.

That's about all the introduction we need. Let's jump right into the interview.

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

DC: Without giving any spoilers, set the story up for me. How does Reconquista tie in with EFAD, and where do you take it from there?

MB: Reconquista begins five years after the end of EFAD, with a leading character from the first book in a detention camp for suspected terrorists. That is the only character from the first book who is carried over. The five year time period allows the reader to experience a significant deterioration of the state of freedom in America. The plot takes that character on a journey across the Southwest, which is then in the opening stages of a low-intensity civil war.

DC: Your sequel speaks to a very specific kind of subversion by a very specific demographic. What do you say to people who are concerned about xenophobic or racial implications? Can a person of Mexican ancestry enjoy this book and agree with its sentiments? How about a person with a libertarian “open borders” philosophy?

MB: I dismiss any charges of xenophobia or other racial implications out of hand. You either believe in the Constitution and the sovereign borders of the USA, or you don't. Millions of illegal aliens who have invaded the USA believe that the Southwest was "stolen" from Mexico, and that they have the right to take it back. This is totally bogus "junk history" which I would be happy to detail at any level. There are also millions of Americans of Hispanic descent who are loyal citizens who hold the Constitution and our sovereign borders dear. Many of the positive protagonists in Reconquista fit that description. The racists in this debate belong to groups like "La Raza," which are racist organizations on their face. As far as "open borders libertarians," I hope and trust that they will hate this book like the devil hates holy water. I consider them traitors and Quislings, and I despise them. I am unashamedly an American who believes in the rule of law, the Constitution, and defending America's sovereign borders.

DC: Apathy seems to be rampant among gun owners, with only a small percentage involved in basic activism—out of 80 million estimated gun owners, something like 5% are even NRA members, and harder core groups, like GOA and JPFO attract significantly fewer members. Do you believe that Americans who won’t do the easy things—petitioning, rewarding and punishing candidates, lending financial support to myriad efforts toward peaceful redress of grievances—would take extreme risks, put their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line, and actually take up arms to reclaim their Republic? If so, why?

MB: Most Americans will not even sign an on-line petition, much less put their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line to save their Republic. Unfortunately they are too busy earning a living and paying their bills and their taxes to worry much about what will become of the nation they will hand over to their children. I believe that the USA is on the road to becoming a third world nation, and I feel great sorrow for our children. After 225 years we have finally managed to debase and squander our national legacy, and our children may well spit on our graves for our apathy and self-absorption.

DC: What has the response of gun owners been to this and your previous book? What kind of numbers do you need to get major publishing houses to set aside their prejudices and see the profit potential in introducing this book to the same mass audiences they appeal to with novelists like Tom Clancy?

MB: The 6,500 gun owners who have read EFAD love it and many of them tell me that it's the most important book they have read in many years. I hear that copies are passed from person to person and that is gratifying. It's extremely difficult for a no-name first-time-author to crack through the left-tilting PC-ridden world of mainstream New York publishing, which is why I opted to self-publish. The numbers I've sold via the internet, with no promotional budget, have finally gotten some national publishing attention. However, I don't hold out much hope for a serious publishing contract unless lightning strikes, the way it did for Tom Clancy.

A short anecdote: around 1980 or so, my father was a member of the Navy League in Baltimore, and Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman who had just written a book called The Hunt For Red October. Incidentally, Clancy graduated from the same high school in Maryland that I attended, ten years ahead of me. Clancy, who had no "real" publishing contract, was giving free lectures and selling his book off of tables. (Clancy had managed to obtain a small print run from the Naval Institute Press, which specializes in reprints of obscure naval histories.) At a Navy League function, my father bought a signed copy from the totally unknown author. Later, through a stroke of luck and some superb "guerrilla marketing," a copy of The Hunt For Red October was given to Ronald Reagan, who was photographed carrying it, and the rest is publishing history. (We still have our own signed first edition "Naval Institute Press" copy of Red October, but my dad had the habit of marking books up with underlining and marginalia, so it's probably worthless.)

However, in my case, I see no hope at all that our current President would be caught dead carrying Reconquista, which is a strong indictment against his open borders and pro-amnesty positions. In my case, I'll have to continue to grind out my own promotion via word of mouth, one reader at a time. The best promotion for my books are my books, but this type of promotion takes a long time.

DC: How about the “gun rights groups”? Did any support EFAD with reviews/recommendations, and have any shown an interest in promoting Reconquista? And same basic question—what kind of acknowledgment are you getting from talk radio programs, gun magazines, other media?

MB: Some small state-level gun rights groups have given me kudos, but the national groups such as the NRA have never indicated that they even received, much less read, the copies of EFAD that I sent to their officers with very nice letters. I'm not sure why this is, but that is their problem. I have a few theories.

A few gun magazines have carried reviews of EFAD for which I'm grateful, particularly GUNS magazine, which ran your review.

DC: Are you conducting your own publicity campaign? What about book-signing appearances at gun shows, talks at gun clubs, etc.?

MB: For Reconquista, I'm sending out books in clear poly mailers to a fairly large number of radio hosts and producers, mainly across the Southwest where the illegal alien invasion is a burning issue. I just moved from San Diego, and I can tell you that gun rights never rose above about "topic nineteen" on the list of talk radio subjects, but the alien invasion occupies more than half of every talk radio hour in the Southwest. Reconquista might get some traction on talk radio, even if I have to literally throw copies over the transom.

As far as gun shows, I've been fortunate to be invited to the SHOT Show the last few years by Kasey Beltz of Accu-Shot, who has been a big supporter ever since he read an early edition of EFAD. Just attending the SHOT Show has been a tremendous education. It is nice to be greeted at the SHOT Show by many gun-writers and shooters who are "names" in the industry. That has been very gratifying. I really haven't done book-signing appearances other than at the SHOT Show.

DC: I’ve read some comments that show you have a core of enthusiastic readers who obviously love your work. What can your fans do to help promote your book and get it before a wider audience?

MB: I have postcard-sized reproductions of the covers of both of my books, which folks can post on the bulletin boards of their local shooting clubs and so on. The cover cards are free for the asking through my website. It also wouldn't hurt if either of my books were mentioned on local talk radio, that's for sure. I've had maybe a dozen radio interviews from Tucson to Fairbanks discussing gun rights, and I'm told I'm a good guest. I think talk radio might lead to a breakout, especially concerning the topicality of Reconquista. But whether it does or not, I'm in this for the long haul. I'm a full-time writer now, and eventually I'll break through in a big way. I think my books convey important messages that need to be heard by millions of Americans, about the dangers facing our nation in the very near term.

DC: Is this a trilogy? Will we see Foreign Enemies in the next year or two?

MB: This is a trilogy, and the third book will be called Foreign Enemies. It will take place in an America that is shattered and experiencing a terrible economic depression and social disintegration. I would not put a time frame on when it will be finished. I just hope the national economy in two years is such that it will support endeavors like writing and selling novels.

Matt Bracken
Florida

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

Please submit questions below by clicking on the "Comments" link. Mr. Bracken may not be able to get to all of them, but let's enjoy this opportunity as long as it presents itself. Also, if you haven't yet done so, please let your friends know about this interview so they can participate.

Wrap-Up

WarOnGuns guest editorial by Russ Howard

Bye bye Tea Party.

Welcome back RINOs. "Con" will forever be the key syllable in conservative. Bizarro USA will be like the "post-war British consensus" in which "wet conservative" collaborators rolled for everything. The extent of Republican "conservatism" will be to tinker and "fix" the welfare state around the edges, reign in just enough of the excesses and idiocies to help ratchet it down for keeps.

From: David Codrea
Subject: Just what we F-ing need
10 Nov 2012
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20121109/DA2E8UH83.html
"Young, pragmatic, Hispanic, just what GOP needs"

Yeah, that's just what we need. More Panic Hispandering, more "prags" to accelerate the race-based voting, appeasement, amnesty, and 3rd-world invasion that tilted the playing field to a high pitch over the last 30 years. Third-world immigrants, especially the extended families of illegal aliens, are NOT going to vote majority Republican. They'll be glad to accept your foolish appeasement, but the vast majority will continue to vote D to lock down the goodies, invasion, coup d'etat and "reconquista" which the idiot Republican "U.S." Chamber of Commerce waterboy collaborators facilitated and did nothing to stop. They'll vote 2-1 Democrat (before counting multiple pseudonymous voting), but many Republicans are so stupid they think we can make up for the per-unit loss by increasing volume.

This presidential election and countless smaller ones, were stolen.O was gonna go -- unless there was massive vote fraud. Which there was, thanks to wishful Republican thinking. In California and too many other states fraudsters can show up to vote without ID and the "authorities" simply take their word for it. 20 years ago when California was already demographically lost on a time delay fuse thanks to Reagan's amnesty (and Republicans were deluding themselves that they could take it back with the old tired loser strategies), the Institute for Fair Elections filmed a couple going from poll to poll doing this. Republican prosecutors and a Republican Secretary of State hushed it up and did nothing.

But it's really easier than that, since you don't even have to leave home to steal votes, thanks to ... tah dah ... Republicans. In California it was a Republican L.A. County Supervisor who championed the suicidal system of mail-in registration and "absentee" balloting that enabled Democrats and illegals to vote as many times as they want with impunity. Pseudonymous multiple voting fraud is extensive because there are no real safeguards and because it is rarely investigated or prosecuted even in the most egregious cases. The defunct IFFE and other groups documented it extensively and were ignored.

But it's even easier than that, since Rs bent over for black box electronic voting and vote "counting", so now Ds and "Rs" don't even have to go to the trouble of registering & voting multiple times. Just "count" the vote. No paper trail. "Quis custodiet custodes?" isn't even the question anymore. Paper ballots and old school counts weren't perfect, but they were the least of evils.

Must-see HBO special: "Hacking Democracy" (over an hour, so I humbly recommend the reader finish reading this and then watch it).
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=rVTXbARGXso&NR=1[Disclaimer: I do try to distinguish between Republicans and "Republicans", but it's gets too cumbersome sometimes, and of course there's overlap, so the reader will sometimes just have to try to figure out which one I'm referring to. By "Republicans" I mean RINOs and corrupt politicians with Rs after their name. No corrupt pol is a Republican in an honest, accurate sense of the word. Pretty clear that much of the corrupt "Republican" establishment is in on the fraud, which would explain better than idiocy and denial why "Republican" leaders refuse to talk about it. That Ds are in on it would explain why Kerry didn't contest in 2004. How do you cry black box fraud when your side's doing it too and the other side just did more of it? So elections are being stolen by corrupt forces of both parties, though Ds on balance benefited more in 2012, and on balance over time it will move the country in a corrupt, banana-republic, statist, big-government direction - whoever wins, D or "R".]

Also see:
"What Luck! Obama Won Dozens of Cleveland Districts with 100% of the Vote"
www.punditpress.com/2012/11/what-luck-obama-won-dozens-of-cleveland.html?spref=tw
"Subject: Programmer under oath admits computers rig elections"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1thcO_olHas

But Republicans continue in self-delusion and dismissal mode. They don't want to know, let alone do anything, as they have for the last 30 years. They want to keep being "good sportsmen" -- in other words the best, most gracious LOSERS in the world. Double down on the same loser tactics, on the failure to organize and act, and on the betrayals and appeasement that got us here in the first place.

Besides the swing states it was thought Romney would take, and the crude election tampering and intimidation shenanigans in banana republic locales like Philadelphia, one fraud indicator that stinks is Col Allen West's Florida congressional seat, apparently lost to a 20-something ex-RINO. West was polling between one and nine points ahead, but now with 110% of the votes "counted", he's down almost 1%.

We've had elections stolen for many years, more and more frequently. Each stolen election is a bloodless coup d'etat, but Republicans pretend it's not happening, or shrug it off as if it were little kids playing a prank and not an act of war against the Republic by domestic enemies. They would rather pretend Al Qaeda is the big threat or some other foreign enemy. Much more sexy.

Now, with black box systems and no ID required, we're more vulnerable to fraud than many 3rd-world countries, worse really because so many Rs are indoctrinated with the fairy tale that the USA can never be destroyed, that it will always bounce back no matter how bad the fraud, demographics and incentives are weighted against us, that it can't happen here. Anyone for pattycake?

A good indication Republicans will continue to live in denial of this was Rush Limbaugh on the morning after, doing the profoundly obvious mantra that The Problem is that not enough Republicans can deliver The Message well enough. "We just have to be better at delivering The Message." Well we better get really, incredibly better if we expect to explain it to a Tsunami of illiterate "cheap labor", government school graduates, and the "53%" -- and overcome black-box vote rigging on top of it all. It's unrealistic to think our side will get that good. Like the "good sportsmen" they are, Republicans are the best losers in the world. They have to be. They accepted the challenge of so many handicaps, let the field get so tilted that we can't just get better if we want to take it back, we have to get perfect. There's no longer any slack to cover mistakes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a game. It was a war for our culture and our Republic. The notion that we could afford to bend over for multiple handicaps and we just have to get better at explaining our philosophy is what Republicans have pushed for 30 years, even while they helped derail "radical" tuition voucher initiatives that would've bankrupted the Government-Union/Democrat machine by now -- just by being on the ballot every couple years, let alone passing. And how much better would things be now if every parent had been able to afford to send kids to competitive schools that are not centers of indoctrination, illiteracy and perversion?

Perhaps our side could've won with a bit more registration and GOTV, but next time we would have to do ten times as much of it, and all of us become the perfect superactivist organizers, and that's hardly likely. No party can do things perfectly. That's why we couldn't afford to accept permanent long-game handicaps; we needed slack to absorb inevitable mistakes. By long game, I mean in the much vaunted Chinese sense. You have to accept imperfection, not systematic betrayals and treason. Republicans pissed away our slack through betrayals, dereliction and fairy tale wishful thinking.

But hey, at least Republicans saved Iraq and Afghanistan by preemptive quagmire while they were losing the USA. At least everyone on FoxNews got to play anti-terror strategist and say GITMO instead of Guantanamo Bay (while our own borders were wide open during a "war on terror" and Jihadis were sauntering in and breeding anchor Jihadis). How glamorous. Was it worth it? Really worth it? Maybe we can move to Iraq and Afghanistan and they will give us sanctuary cities and drivers licenses and resident tuition. They're obviously ever so grateful and honorable. No doubt they'll return the favor.

Four centuries after Lepanto, and for at least the last 200 years, the only real threat of Islam to what used to be the west has been immigration, not military attack. Idiots. Like Communism, Islam is not competent to threaten our existence -- that is unless the West decides to lose or just doesn't care anymore. The actual threat that is and has been actually destroying the USA, is internal -- domestic enemies -- and imported courtesy of those domestic enemies. Who's taking your rights away and pissing your country away? Al Qaeda, or the Ds and "R"s? What's your actual chance of being hurt by Al Qaeda? Right around zero percent. What's your chance of the Democrats and RINOs taking your rights away, your country, your quality of life, your liberty, and the legitimacy of your republic, making your vote worthless? 100 percent. They're doing it right now.

Republican "Patriots" should've known that all the Orwellian police state placebos they passed after 911 -- instead of ending the suicidal immigration policies that caused 911 in the first place and cost us the USA on Tuesday -- would be used primarily on Americans. Feel secure now? As always, the greater threat to America and Americans was never primitive Jihadis or other foreign enemies. It was always our own corrupt, lame-o leaders, who laid out the welcome rug for Jihadis in the first place. God help us, we now get the government the stupid a-holes deserve.

Hey, somebody thank the NRA for re-electing Montana's anti-gun Democrat Senator Tester by giving him a phony A- and refusing to endorse his opponent. We didn't have any slack for that kind of game on election day, and now it's too late to do the right thing. Game over. Well, for us anyway, not for the beltway lobbyist whores. It's smiley-face "game on" for them.

Now, for the "What Would Reagan Do" worshippers. The USA is also dead man walking today thanks to Reagan's suicidal 1986 "comprehensive reform" amnesty, the worst field tilter since the Great Society and New Deal (well, other than black box voting anyway). Reagan could've honored his oath, enforced our borders and immigration laws, reversed the problem as Eisenhower did in the 1950s. Instead, 26 years after Reagan's betrayal, we have to overcome tens of millions of votes of former illegals and now-voting-age anchor babies. But at least "Reagan defeated the Soviet Union". Really? How? By deciding he didn't want to let the Soviet Union defeat the USA? As if Communism didn't defeat itself? As if the theoretical threat of the USSR was ever a greater threat to the existence of the USA as a true sovereign constitutional republic than the actual invasion Reagan encouraged and ratified? LOOK AROUND. And someone tell me how cutting taxes without cutting spending was such a good deal. Did I miss those spending cuts? Were there any? Did I misinterpret the last 30 years of Republicans championing tax cuts in order to increase government revenues and not have to cut spending?

For the "miss me now" Bush rehabilitators, I won't get into the idiot non-savant GW "Guest Worker" Bush except to point out that he built up the real estate bubble by importing more "cheap labor" after 911 than the prior several presidents did before 911, did nothing to stop mortgages to illegals and others who never should've had them, then turned what had been a gradual correction into a panic and collapse by championing and signing the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act of December 2007. Tens of millions of homeowners for whom a smirky, winky Bush had spread a ridiculous "compassionate conservative" fairy tale -- that they didn't understand the basic terms of the biggest investment they ever made -- who could've kept paying and would have kept paying even though they had negative equity -- began moving towards recorded defaults or were able to force banks to let them get away with unrecorded defaults and keep the homes anyway (aka principle and interest "relief"). The mortgage portfolio, bank and credit markets inevitably collapsed within months. With that alone, not to mention the preemptive quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush begat Obama. Well get used to it. Idiots like Bush are back in style for the post-war U.S. consensus.

Finally

Open, uncontrolled mass 3rd world over-immigration IS socialism by automatic redistribution of national wealth and income, inevitably and by definition, in addition to destruction of our sovereignty, heritage, human and natural environments, elbow room, privacy, dignity, mobility, freedom, liberty, heritage, standard of living, cost of living and quality of life. Through subversion of immigration policy and borders, the Wall Street Journal, Chamber of Commerce, 'Libertarians' and the rest of the Immigration Socialist crowd has redistributed or destroyed far more wealth and income than the world's Communists ever dreamed of doing. Every time the Immigration Socialists double the population of the USA through immigration, they cut your share of "public property" in half. It's YOUR property, but the 'U.S.' Chamber of Communists treats it as if it belongs to the world or is theirs to give away.

Welcome to Bizarro America sign (English Translation):

Entering Bizarro USA
Population: Over One Billion
Pavement: Near Completion
Development: Vertical
Density: Sardine Can
Quality of Life: Darwinian
Rights: None
Heritage: Gone
Resistance: Futile

###

Also see: Former NRA director challenges reliability of candidate grades

Guest Editorial: Diligence Awards

[Foreword: Andy Barniskis' emails are invariably well-reasoned, instructive , challenging and engaging. He has given me permission to post the following.]

Diligence Awards
Andy Barniskis

House Bill 1029: This legislation would allow individuals with a valid Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm to purchase additional guns without the cumbersome, expensive and redundant requirements of subsequent background checks through the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS).

Correspondent writes:

What can you really have against this? Opposing it sure makes you sound pretty anti-gun, yourself.

Andy responds:

I'll start with the practical and then move up to the philosophical.

Carry permits are fundamentally a means of establishing a gun OWNER registration system, which in my opinion is more dangerous than the firearms registration systems everyone [rightly] gets so hot and bothered about. Why worry if some percentage of your GUNS are registered, if YOU are registered as the type who owns guns? Do you suspect being a "registered owner" might supply "reasonable cause" for an otherwise random search, someday in the future?

Thanks to some of our Real Gunnie, reciprocity-maven compatriots here in Pennsylvania, we are already on the way to having a centralized, computerized, 24/7, JBT-accessible registration of CCW holders (which will record your name FOREVER, even if you give up your CCW tomorrow) instead of the decentralized, 67- county system of the past. As bad as the county-level system may have been, it at least provided some hope that 67 bureaucracies, most of them rural, would lose or confuse some records, and possibly destroy outdated records. We could hope that if freedom ever broke out and we got Vermont/Alaska Carry, at least some of those counties would destroy all of their past records. Wishful thinking, maybe, but not impossible. The centralized system is going to be hardwired to the FBI, BATF, and possibly even accessible by (e.g.) the Southern Poverty Law Center, if they can dream up a use for it. (And don't tell me "Oh, but that will be ILLEGAL. . .") Tell me ANYONE's record is EVER going to cease to exist!

But hang on, I'm still not addressing the specific issue.

This legislation will create an implied (initially) and required (later) legal linkage between the CCW system and the IBC systems. As I'm writing this, the NRA and Rep. McCarthy are conspiring to make YOUR medical and mental health records -- and how will those be defined in the future? -- readily accessible to NICS/PICS. Meaning they will logically become linked to the PA CCW granting system. So, when Sister Mary Katherine tells someone in her eighth grade class that a trip to the principal's office for acting out in class will go on their "permanent record," she may be telling more truth than she'll ever know.

Maybe I'm sensitive to it, because the last big lawsuit I filed against a public official, was against my county sheriff for trying to make a "doctors note," attesting to mental health, a part of the application requirements for a CCW. It was illegal under PA law, and I don't think I have to itemize all the ways it could have been (and probably was) abused before my suit put a stop to it. Now, I'm supposed to cheer because the same thing that I fought and won against at the county level, is going to be imposed on us via a 24/7 electronic system at the state/national level that WILL eventually be linked to NICS/PICS?

And by "pro-gun" people?

Moving on to the tactical/political level: I have never made a secret that for me the gold standard of individual gun rights is that we should not have to seek permission from The State to acquire, own, or carry a gun. Unfortunately, I'd say the majority of firearms hobbyists I encounter seem to regard holding a CCW as imbuing them with some special status as a "Real Gunnie," and (referring to outside Pennsylvania) the harder it is to get a CCW, the more CCW holders seem to hold themselves in high regard. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently listened to a national radio talk show, and the STRONGEST advocates for restricted access to carrying firearms were self- identified "certified firearms instructors!" These people, sad to say, are one of the strongest constituencies IN OPPOSITION to fundamental rights, and yet to a man they regard themselves as "pro-gun" -- they want you to have a gun, as long as you satisfy THEIR criteria for it.

Now, add to the mix that this legislation grants additional benefits for those holding a CCW; they can walk into a gun shop, flash their CCW, and wave off the background check, to the admiration of the kids and counter-loungers; "Gosh Elmer, that feller must have a LICENSE to do that! He must be a real Gun Guy, you betcha!"

Think that feller is going to be much of a constituent for losing his self esteem, via the abolition of CCWs, should the day come when the rest of us make that possible? It's hard to call legislation that serves hobbyists' convenience "anti-gun," but I'd suggest it is appropriate to call it "anti-rights" in its practical effects on the masses and their attitudes.

And last, I must wax poetic, with a true story that is nonetheless also allegorical:

My uncle was captured at Corregidor in 1942. Eventually he was taken to Japan, where he spent almost the entire war as a slave laborer in the Mitsubishi Shipyards, building ships (well, A ship) for the Japs.

The Japs would give "diligence awards" of extra food, cigarettes, and privileges to prisoners who did good work. According to my uncle, many was the time they beat the hell out of fellow prisoners who earned or accepted diligence awards. I once asked "How badly?" and he just grimaced and shook his head.

For most of the time they had no idea how the war was going. According to the Japs, Japan was winning. They never heard of the Battle of Midway or any of the island landings. The first positive hint they had was, the first time they saw a B-29 fly overhead at high altitude, probably in late 1943.

But they resisted. When the one ship they completed was launched, it rested in the harbor for a few minutes, then promptly sank. Welders like my uncle had laid cold welding rods and other debris in joints and welded over them. Under the first stresses the welds snapped, and the ship sank. They EXPECTED to be executed, en masse, but they weren't. The Japs had used Jap civilian labor on the ship, too, and with their bizarre sense of "honor," they could not punish the prisoners without punishing their countrymen the same way.

Nevertheless by war's end only eight of the 350+ men he had been captured with were left alive. Standing 6 feet tall, my uncle weighed less than 100 pounds when liberated. I've never asked him this -- I've never had to -- but with hindsight, wouldn't it have been better to accept "diligence awards," so that maybe a handful more would have survived? In the big picture, what difference would it have made if they had helped the Japs launch another cargo ship or two?

The idea of course was unthinkable, even during those long months when it appeared possible that the Japs WERE winning -- just as it appears now the anti-freedom forces in our own country have won, hands down, on some issues.

You of course see the analogy I'm making: I WILL not believe the war for true gun RIGHTS -- not privileges -- is lost. While the fight goes on, I WILL not countenance the acceptance -- much less the SEEKING -- of "diligence awards" from our enemies, in the form of special privileges granted in return for willing acceptance of our present state of subjugation.

--Andy

Carnival of the Only Ones 2

Come on in, right through the turnstile here. Welcome to another Carnival of the Only Ones. Want a map of the grounds, or are you just going to wander? Right over there is the midway. Where should we go first?

Well, what the heck--it's my show, so I'll start if off with Wonders from The WarOnGuns:

We begin with this Circassian Beauty--Hubba, hubba, step back, gents. Who doesn't love a woman out of uniform, out of a car, out of her service pistol? And friend Bounty Hunter tells us there's an amateur dance contest open to all you young ladies going on under your...uh...THE Big Top!

Next we have the amazing self-firing handgun. Or was it a cell phone?

Don't get too close--it's The Amazing Electro, who can discharge bolts of Jovian wrath into his youthful assistant and still remain on active duty!

Next we wander over to the shooting gallery, where Y. Can Aire points out some amazing "feets" of marksmanship. I'll bet that was one "Only One" who was hopping mad!

But enough levity. Longtime WoG contributor Straightarrow calls our attention to Madame Nicki's, where she's featuring The Only Ones' Salute to Disabled Septuagenarian War Vets, a performance sure to make you wave your arms in patriotic fervor--assuming they haven't been yanked behind your back to aggravate old war wounds. It must be a great show, because BobG and his friends can't stop talking about it.

One thing we pride ourselves on here at The Only Ones Carnival is giving our customers a good deal. .45 Superman tells us to go visit the Pima County Sheriff's booth--offers like this won't last. Sorry, no rain checks, no returns, but Declan says you might want to ask for a sales slip anyway.

One of the best things about a carnival is the food. Kettle corn. Cotton candy. Funnel cakes. Sno-Cones. M-mmm. But correspondent NF tell us it's also important for some of us to watch our diets and make sure we get enough fiber. Along with enough illegal handguns, but when you're an alderman, you're also an "Only One," and the regular rules don't apply. (Arenda Troutman's colon? Suddenly, I've lost my appetite. Too bad, because Cowboy Blob tells us there's a Subway concession.)

But that's OK, because frequent correspondent 1894C reports there's more action afoot again back at the shooting gallery--you can't say The Only Ones aren't putting their best foot forward for this carnival.

Hey, who feels like trying out some of the rides? Hairy Hobbit suggests we try The Streak. Wait--that's not a ride--it involves someone without clothes getting some Amazing Electro action over at the food area--I knew we should have gotten a map at the entrance--we just went around full circle.

Does anyone need to use one of the clean rest facilities the Carnival prides itself on (well, assuming Arenda hasn't been there first)? Tavis S. points the way, and tells us even there you might walk away with a prize. Tavis also tells us that apparently, some kind of fundraiser involving dirty cars is being held.

Fits knows the importance of safety at any Carnival, and lets us know that in case of emergencies, there's a security tent set up to take your report and respond as only The Only Ones can.

.45 Superman has just returned from the dealer tables and tells us we absolutely gotta check out one of the most amazing acts ever performed at the Carnival: The Psychic Psychiatrist, the Mental Mindreader, that Enforcer of Emotion, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle, who claims "[We're] the only ones who know whether the applicant is suicidal or is hallucinating about intruders."

OK, Omnipotent Only One--what card did I pick? The King of Clubs? Amazing--how does he do it? Or am I just hallucinating?

Hyunchback tells us he just had an electrifying experience--no, he hasn't circled back to Amazing Electro's show, he's found a worthy rival for AE (we'll bill him as Lightning Lord), who is passing on his awesome powers to the next generation in an in-your-face performance. We're sure you'll get a charge out of his act--or at least the little girls in the audience will.


And now we direct your attention to above the throngs, above the midway, above the law! Civis Proeliator announces The High-Flying Only Ones, who perform their legislature-defying act without a net! (I can't look!)

Well, that's it for this Only Ones Carnival. A big thanks to all who participated and contributed. I hope everybody had a good time. If you really want to get your money's worth, now that you've seen the highlights, take some time and go explore some of the fine blogs linked to here.

And remember:

The purpose of "The Only Ones" has never been to bash cops. The only reason I do this is to amass a credible body of evidence to present when those who would deny our right to keep and bear arms use the argument that only the police are professional and trained enough to do so safely and responsibly. And it's also used to illustrate when those of official status, rank or privilege, both in law enforcement and in some other government position, get special breaks not available to we commoners, particularly when they're involved in gun-related incidents.

Guest Editorial: Habit

by Mike Vanderboegh

13 February 2008

"An army . . . ought to be able to shoot 'possible' before it lets the band play too loud."

"Tyree, tell me about Spanish Man's Grave." Sergeant Tyree spat left and looked squint-eyed under his hat brim at Ross Pennell. "Can't rightly tell much, sir. Never been there. Only hearsay. He drawed a picture of it once -- Captain MacAfee. Spanish soldiers ridin' an' marchin' up from Santa Fe coupla centuries ago, all shinin' in armor and golden helmets, with plumes and yellow silken flags. Musta been purty." Tyree shook his head. "But it didn't work out. The Apaches caught the whole kit and kaboodle of 'em in the tablelands and killed every mother's son. Got 'em like at the bottom of the well, they say. Ever since then it's been Apache holy ground. It did something to their bad god for all time. Only their good god lives in the Grave. Once the Apaches get in to Spanish Man's, they're safe home. Big and powerful medicine that protects them."

"Anybody from Fort Starke ever been there?" "No white man was ever there, is what I think. A lot of 'em will lie they was, but I think only them dead caballeros know where it is, and they ain't a one of 'em ever talked since the massacre." "Tyree," Pennell said, I wonder what those Spaniards did wrong?"

"I ain't a man to blame dead men," Tyree said, "but the captain used to say an army ought to have a lotta brains before it shows a lotta flags. He used to say it ought to be able to shoot 'possible' before it lets the band play too loud. And he used to say that only a well-trained veteran looks right in a bright uniform, and that dirty uniform shirts make the best empires. But maybe we'll find out what the Spaniards did wrong, Mr. Pennell. I've knowed we was goin' to the Grave fer four days." . . . -- "Spanish Man's Grave" by James Warner Bellah in Reveille, Curtis Publishing, 1947.

I've been a fan of James Warner Bellah's writing since childhood, long before I even knew his name. Born in Delaware in 1899, Bellah went to Canada before the U.S. entered World War I, joining the Royal Flying Corps and serving as a pilot in the 117th Squadron. After the Great War ended, he began writing, publishing his first novel in 1923. In the 1930s he worked as journalist for the New York Post. A student of history, he joined the United States Army before Pearl Harbor and served as an infantry officer in Southeast Asia. After the war he resumed his writing career and struck gold with a series of stories first published in the Saturday Evening Post, about the U.S. Cavalry during the Indian wars. John Ford's epic cavalry trilogy, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande (all starring John Wayne), were Bellah screenplays, based on his short stories, "Massacre," "Mission Without a Name," and "The Big Hunt." Bellah went on to write the screenplays for other movies, including Sergeant Rutledge and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He died in 1976.

"Wherever ten or twenty of them in dirty shirt blue were gathered together -- that became the United States." --James Warner Bellah, from his screen adaptation of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was always my favorite. Wayne's portrayal of tough, competent, sentimental Captain Nathan Brittles ("Never apologize, Mr. Cohill. Its a sign of weakness"), a character based upon the real U.S. cavalry officer Frederick W. Benteen, was a classic. I first saw it as kid on late night TV and was enthralled. I suppose that's why back in the late 80s I wrote a manuscript biography of Benteen's civil war career (sadly unpublished). The concept of the man who does his duty, no matter the cost, speaks of eternal truths.

But even if Nathan Brittles is my favorite Bellah character, "Spanish Man's Grave" is my favorite Bellah story. Young Lieutenant Ross Pennell, worn-out Captain MacAfee, hard-bitten Sergeant Tyree, a corporal and seven men, are on patrol when they spot smoke in the distance -- a burning homestead. MacAfee halts his mount.

"Mr. Pennell," he spoke haltingly, "this . . .is as far as I go," and he sat there with his eyes closed, like marbles in his skull. Marbles covered with chicken skin. A worn-out man, old before his time, drained dry by the Colors, sitting his mount a thousand miles down the wastelands, staring at distant smoke with his eyes closed.

"Drained dry by the Colors." MacAfee is dying. His left arm and leg have gone dead and now he is blind. Pennell moves to help him from his saddle, but MacAfee speaks:

"Mr. Pennell, there are only three things to remember out here. Always make them think you are in force, or will be soon. Always frighten them until they stop thinking and take refuge in Medicine. Then turn it against them, spoil its power and break it, so they can't trust anything. And always treat your luck with respect, so that it will never turn against you. This time I was going to take the patrol down and try to find Spanish Man's Grave. I wanted to show dirty uniform shirt blue down there and spoil that Medicine for them. The Apaches have been living too long on that old massacre story -- believing too much in their immunity. Flout it in their faces, show them that the gods hate them, too, and you've gone a long way toward making them behave. I want you to take the patrol down."

Then, before Pennell can help the Captain from his horse, MacAfee dies as he lived, "straight-shouldered in the saddle."

The patrol buries the Captain and rides on to the smoke, finding the broken bodies of a tortured homesteader and his gang-raped wife. Their daughter is missing, abducted by the Apaches. The determined but inexperienced Pennell tells Tyree they are pushing on to Spanish Man's Grave. The way is hard, the odds long, the men fearful and, toward the end, rebellious. Pennell has had them do things they don't understand, like making enough squad fires at night for two companies of cavalry rather than a small one for their short squad. (Von Steuben was the first, but not the last, to comment that American soldiers always have to be told the "why" of things before risking their lives.) Finally Pennell explains himself:

"We're going to the Grave because the Apaches are going. They're going because they're running to Medicine, for protection -- to get away from two companies. Drive 'em to Medicine, turn it on 'em, show 'em its no good either! That's the second thing you always do." . . . "Those dead Spaniards," Pennell said, "came through the easiest route. The fact that they were all killed means they must have laid themselves open to tactical murder. They've done it all through their history; that's why they've got no history left, only a record."

The story is chock full of the hard lessons of war that soldiers must learn before they can win. Yet the narrative lets you know in ways spoken and hinted that here, in these pitifully few men, products of their tough training and bitter experience, is the "army that can shoot 'possible.'" They do not need a band. Using clues from the dead Captain and Tyree's recollections of the Spaniard's last stand, Pennell and Tyree get to the highest ground and spot, as Pennell deduced they would, the entrance to the Apache lair. Pennell then takes his men into the middle of Spanish Man's Grave in the dark of night, startling the war party at their fires:

Pennell called to the little Graeme girl again to lie flat and wait, and again the patrol fired, and again, until there was no more sound of thrashing agony, no more panther rush to get away, no more Apaches to teach the niceties to.

The girl is rescued and the Apaches are routed by a dead Captain's plan and a young Lieutenant's initiative. Bellah ends with this sentence: "And the way of their hard living was suddenly more worth while in that moment than all the emeralds of Hind and all the gold of Cathay." Hokey? Maybe. Just like the singing of the Star Spangled Banner that puts a catch in your throat.

"They had trained intensively"

As time went by we built the mythology of the Minute Men even further. We depicted them as a small but courageous band of farmers who responded to a spontaneous call to arms, an untrained and poorly armed rabble. The truth, of course, was very different. There were actually 14,000 colonials under arms in the militia and Minute Man regiments. They were alerted by organized alarm riders via a system that dated back to the 17th century wars. They had trained intensively for a year and were armed with the same type weapons as the British. Lexington was an important battle in the history of the United States, not only because it was the opening moment of the war that created our country but also because it provides us a microcosm of the drift to war -- with all the tensions, the misinterpretations, the fears and the posturings, the courageous and the foolish acts that augur the clash of arms. The distortion of this historical event has kept us from some vital insights concerning the way that wars begin. . ." -- General John R. Galvin, The Minute Men, The First Fight: Myths and Realities of the American Revolution, Pergamon/Brassey, 1989, pp. VIII & IX

In Spanish Man's Grave, the cavalry employ the same principles of war against raiders that the colonial militias, the trained bands and the "snow shoe men" who preceded the Minutemen of the 1770s did against the Indian tribes of the East. These campaigns, and those of the French and Indian War, honed a system of militia training and organization that paid off on 19 April 1775. General Galvin's book is required reading for every student of the armed citizenry, for it demonstrates that the Minutemen's success at Concord and the savaging of the British column all the way back to Boston was neither accidental nor spontaneous.

For those of us today who believe that going down to the range four or five times a year is enough to demonstrate the proficiency necessary to provide as credible a deterrent to tyranny as the Minutemen, a quick skimming of Galvin's work ought to disabuse them of that silly notion. As I have written in many places before, merely having the means to resist tyranny is no evidence that you can do so successfully. You must have the will and the ability to do so.

You must, like Bellah's Captain MacAfee says, be able to fire a "possible" at distance. You must also know how to conduct yourself when firing at an enemy. And you must know how to get to the place where you can fire. And how to move forward, or backward, after doing so. The constitutional militias of the 90s worked on such competencies and were laughed at by "respectable" shooters. Yet, as I have written before (See: "'Resistance is Futile': Waco Rules vs. Romanian Rules), the 90s militias were enough to back down the Clintonistas from any more Wacos.

For all the silliness and stupidity that characterized the "militia generals" who capered and postured like clowns for the mainstream media back then, there were many other folks who quietly understood the lessons of the armed citizenry of our history. Shunning attention, they did the one thing that made them a countervailing force to predatory unconstitutional government -- they trained. And trained and trained. They trained until the lessons were a habit. And some of them are still training today.

"Habit is a mighty ally"

"Tonight was a lark. It was practice. Prepare your mind to endure its like again and again, until it is nothing to you, until you can laugh in Polnikes' face and return his insults with a carefree heart. Remember that boys of Lakedaemon have endured these harrowings for hundreds of years. We spend tears now that we may conserve blood later. Polynikes was not seeking to harm you tonight. He was trying to teach that discipline of mind which will block out fear when the trumpets sound and the battle pipers mark the beat. Remember what I told you about the house with many rooms. There are rooms we must not enter. Anger. Fear. Any passion which leads the mind toward that 'possession' which undoes men in war. Habit will be your champion. When you train the mind to think one way and one way only, when you refuse to allow it to think in another, that will produce great strength in battle. . . Habit is a mighty ally, my young friend. The habit of fear and anger, or the habit of self-composure and courage." (Dienekes) rapped the boy warmly on the shoulder; they both stood. "Go now. Get some sleep. I promise you, before you see battle again, we'll arm you with all the handiest habits." -- Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield.

Competition pistol shooters know about muscle memory. Muscle memory is a physical training but also a mental one. As seasoned handgun shooter Tom Gresham observed:

"Nearly all top pistol shooters dry fire—that is, they 'shoot' without ammunition. It can be done at home, after checking to make sure the gun is not loaded. Recoil obscures problems of technique, not to mention flinching. The goal of dry firing is to keep the sights on the target after the hammer falls. Repetition grooves muscle memory and enhances your ability to concentrate, enabling you to pull the trigger without disturbing the sight alignment." (Source: http://www.thetipzone.com/tip_pages/shooting/handgun.html)

Likewise, says Edwin Hall,

"When you have a chance to just sit back with no immediate worldly attention needed, you can train for shooting by imagining you are shooting. A boring meeting where you might be called upon for input is probably not a good place, but a snack break or lunch time might be. If you have this type of relaxed time, put it to use. Start by thinking about being at the range. Mentally rehearse all the steps taken to perform a perfect shot, all the way through checking it and finding it to be that perfect shot. Never even joke that it might have been less than perfect. All mental practice should be done visualizing perfect results. Perform these exercises whenever time permits. Be sincere. Don't just try; do!" (Source: ibid.)

What is true for handgunning is true for all other things in life. There is a muscle memory to maintaining liberty. There are both mental and physical habits produced by long training that make you a free man or woman and us, all of us, a free people. The Roman Vegetius said, "Let him who desires peace prepare for war." George Washington put a finer point on it: "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

"He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms." -- Psalm 18:34

This is what the Founders intended by the 2nd Amendment: to put the elements of defensive war in the hands of the people. But they also expected us to be "well-regulated", that is to be competent with those weapons, to be trained in their use. They didn't put that responsibility on the federal government. They put it on us, the people. Now, it is true enough that most people today don't accept that responsibility any more. Many would even take it away from those who do. These sad facts do not absolve us from the responsibility of maintaining our freedom habits and our liberty muscle memory.

"Habit is a mighty ally." Indeed. And tyrants, like street thugs, pass by the man who looks ready to take them on and pick on the unready, the weak and the obvious victim. "They had trained intensively for a year," Galvin says of the Minutemen. How much have you trained lately in the arts of a free citizen?

As Robert Heinlein warned, "You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once." And he also cautioned, "Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss." So, work on your freedom muscle memory. Renew the old mental and physical habits of liberty that you have let fall into disuse. And stay away from the white lightning, for in this troubled time fast approaching you can't afford to miss that "possible."

Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson AL 35126
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com