Sunday, February 01, 2009

Gun Trial Witness: Feds Out for 'Vengeance'

An expert who testified against the government in a disputed Wisconsin gun case involving what the defense has described as a "broken" gun says federal agents ever since have been retaliating and the government's actions are costing his business hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I am a witness in a still pending case, and I am being 'leaned on,'" Len Savage, of Historic Arms LLC, told WND. "This is not the first time ATF has taken out vengeance during a court case." [More]
Bob Unruh of WorldNetDaily continues to provide some of the rare coverage on this case that most of the media will not.

I'm grateful they are also one of the few outlets who will acknowledge my efforts at GUNS Magazine and Examiner.com on this and story.

You can directly affect the prospect of future such stories appearing.

How? By following the title link and reading the column. Then by sharing it with your gun owner friends by email, posting the url on forums, etc. The same kind of stuff I ask regulars here to do with my Examiner columns. They prosper through site visits enhancing advertising revenues. If liberty reporting is profitable, more will do it. Also, go ahead and write a letter to the editor (lettersATworldnetdailyDOTcom) and let them know you appreciate their coverage of this and other gun rights-related stories.

The Holder Nomination

by Russ Howard

Word is (and word fits with what's happening), that the NRA has unofficially informed Senators that confirmation of extremely anti-gun Eric Holder as attorney general will not be held against them. That's why there has been almost no resistance and Holder sailed through committee with only two "No"s. In fact, more "A rated" Senators voted for Holder in committee than F-rated Senators, once again revealing the perennial fraud of NRA's black box system of unearned "A" grades for gun grabbers and squishes, top-secret candidate questionnaires, and endorsements of anti-gun candidates over viable pro-gun opponents. Had all the "pro-gun" senators in committee stuck together and opposed Holder, he would've lost the vote and the momentum and it would've been a new ball game. They didn't because it was not requested.

This is a battle that will be lost because one side didn't fight. Perhaps a Holder confirmation is not the worst outcome gun owners face with the new "change" government. But that doesn't seem like a good reason not to resist and at least make the enemy pay for the turf. The games being played here are the kind that have cost gun owners dearly in gun control legislation in past decades. If the gun rights community continues to tolerate them, it may lead to far worse losses in the future than this nomination battle.

See articles by David Codrea of the War On Guns and Examiner.com, Kevin Starrett of Oregon Firearms Federation, Jeff Knox of the Firearms Coalition, etc. Links here and below.
www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d28-Holder-approved-by-Senate-Judiciary-Committee
http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/01.29.09%20alert.html
www.firearmscoalition.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=338&Itemid=1


There was little resistance mainly because the NRA did not demand resistance and let the senate and their own members know that blocking Holder is important. "Pro-gun" senators still have the numbers to block him by filibuster -- if they actually tried, if senators knew that voting for cloture would be punished in grading and support. The enemy must bring 60 hard votes to kill a filibuster, even if only one senator shows up to support it. But the NRA will let Holder go to the floor, where he will be confirmed by majority.

Also see:
www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d30-A-certain-outcome-for-Holder
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0901/28/ldt.01.html

'If enlisting beltway insiders who approved pardons for payoffs is "change", it's change we can do without.'
- Sample letter from Oregon Firearms Federation
http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/01.29.09%20alert.html
OFF Alert] Eric Holder. Janet Reno Reborn.
http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/01.24.09%20alert.html

www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/14/sullivan_atf_confirmation_blocked/
"Under Senate rules, a single senator can put a hold on legislative action for months."
http://waronguns.blogspot.com/2009/01/sometimes-saying-no.html
www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d6-How-to-hold-Holder-without-using-guns
www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d8-Another-reason-to-hold-Holder
www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d25-Holder-clutches-at-gun-rights
www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m1d24-A-progun-pick


I suppose blocking Holder is not as important as blocking an assault weapon bill. Perhaps that explains why even GOA's alert yesterday doesn't mention the word filibuster http://gunowners.org/a012909.htm , though it says "if confirmed, [Holder] will be in a position where he will be able to use the force of government to discourage or outlaw gun ownership in America." If Holder is that dangerous, isn't it worth pushing for filibuster, where he could be stopped with a minority? I don't know.

The public defection of two "pro-gun" A rated Quislings and a near unanimous committee vote occurred in the absence of pressure, encouraged by absence of pressure. To assert that what happened is a reasonable indication of what the numbers would've been had there been a clear commitment to fight with our strongest tools, seems like self-fulfilling prophesy.

If there really was no chance of keeping the enemy from getting 60 votes and we're not demanding a filibuster, then why write letters to try to keep them from getting 51 votes on the floor?

My instinct is Americans should make the enemies of constitutional liberty pay dearly for every inch of turf. Since when is it great strategy to roll over and not even try unless we're guaranteed to win, or because we're short a couple votes before serious pressure is applied? The battle itself is a vehicle to make our case against the other side and galvanize resistance. For several years running, immigration sanity groups have fought comprehensive immigration "reform" (amnesty, "guest" workers who never leave, etc.). They demanded filibusters and fought cloture votes even when it didn't look like they would win. The battle helped grow and focus the resistance. In at least one case they managed to beat "reform" after losing on cloture, because so much heat was the heat was growing before, during and after the filibuster.

In any case, consider this:

"…The single strongest argument against new federal gun bans is history: Democrats controlled Congress from 1948 to1994 when Clinton forced a passle of very reluctant Democratic members of Congress to vote for his "assault weapon" ban. In the ensuing election those reluctant supporters were defeated and the Republicans captured Congress for the first time in 50 years. Clinton attributed all this to his disastrous AW bill.

The Republicans are praying for the Democrats to enact a new AW ban."

-Howard Nemerov; forwarded cover note to his 1-30-09 examiner.com article "400 Years of Gun Control ... Part 1"
www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-RIghts-Examiner
(Article, link and cover note forwarded by Dan Gifford)

"The Republicans are praying for the Democrats to enact a new AW ban." If NRA members don't force the NRA to start holding senators accountable with honest grading and smart grade-weighting, then we are much more likely to get another AW ban and other new controls. Even though "pro-gun" senators have the power to block and filibuster a new gun control bill, enough of the phonies will flip to kill the filibuster, then the pro-gun side will cast a phony prearranged losing vote against the bill on the floor. They will help it pass while appearing to oppose it, and use the new law to force gun owners to increase donations and support to the very politicians who intentionally let it happen. The NRA will help them do it by covering it up with dishonest grades and endorsements. The NRA will also use it to get more money. It's like "protection".

The gun rights community needs a tough, honest, smart, weighted grading system that counts filibuster and similar maneuvers as more than one vote and withholds points for phony pre-arranged "pro-gun" floor votes.

Anti-Gun Deception On The Senate Floor

Did we mention that our opponents are deliberately deceptive?

What--you mean they'll still give an A-rating to someone who votes for Eric Holder?

I want you to take a few minutes and read what NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox has to say about Holder, naturally under the "Vote Freedom First" header. Among other things:
...Holder's history of aggressive anti-gun activism is even worse than Emanuel's record of media-focused PR stunts.

Holder has always been among the first in front of the cameras to exploit tragedy for political gain. From Columbine to the September 11 attacks, there was no event in which Holder couldn't find some inspiration for gun bans, gun registration, gun rationing and more. Just weeks after terrorists used box cutters to turn airplanes into guided missiles, Holder wrote in the Washington Post, "One measure that is an essential part of any plan is the need to tighten our nation's gun laws, which allow the easy and legal sale of firearms to terrorists and criminals."

Holder claimed, mistakenly, "No court has ever said that the Second Amendment actually says that. I think, if you look at it, it talks about bearing guns in a well-regulated militia. And I don't think anywhere it talks about an individual." Holder most recently signed a brief...in the Heller case that "The Second Amendment does not protect firearm possession or use that is unrelated to participation in a well-regulated militia."
But if senators don't "Vote Freedom First," well, anybody who has a problem with that just doesn't understand how politics works.

And forget talking filibuster. With the betrayal by all those A-rated republicans on the Judiciary Committee, we're told we just don't have the numbers. And why did they feel comfortable with betrayal again? Where was the NRA-ILA Alert leading a concerted effort to oppose Holder from Day One, to write, call and email senators, to publicly, loudly and repeatedly make it known that "Vote Tyranny First" would not be cost-free?

Right. After what Cox just told us, we're supposed to turn around and accept that this is just not important enough to expend political capital on? Besides, activist gun owners would be so worn out from making a few phone calls and sending a few letters that they'd just be totally spent when AWB2 comes around. What, you think we can walk now and chew gun six months later?

Which I guess means a vote for cloture if someone does strap 'em on to filibuster won't be held against them, either. Or against any of those A-rated and endorsed "pro-gun" democrats:
If the assumption is "all the current Democratic senators," what can we expect from our new shining "pro-gun Democrat" star? Or we might ask where our "true champion of Second Amendment freedoms" Max Baucus stands...or Tim Johnson...or...
There is one point where I agree with the Lairds of Fairfax. There is anti-gun deception on the Senate floor. And it is deliberate.

The Riddle of Steele

The GOP has spoken.

Michael Steele
is the new party chairman.

What does this mean for gun owners? [More]
Here's today's Gun Rights Examiner column. Please share it with your friends.

As I said yesterday, I'm recovering from a surgery. I'm feeling good enough to do some moderate posting, although I won't be able to get to any of the email tips that have been sent in. I do have a few other posts I'll make today that are priorities for me, but then plan to knock it off and take it easy the rest of the day.

Hopefully I'll be assuming a full schedule early on--I find being somewhat active is really about the best medicine, and the pills they gave me for pain haven't seemed to affect my luci...lucidituhhh....Whoah...I have hands...