GRE Round Up for January 11

Here are the latest offerings from my fellow GREs:

Fort Smith/Steve D. Jones:

• Is Arizona the right tragedy?

Liston Matthews/Knoxville:

• Personal Safety - Personal Responsibility

Sean Carrana/Orlando:

• Grassroots Florida Open Carry movement gains momentum

Dave Workman/Seattle:

• AZ aftermath: Seattle Times v. P-I v. conservatives and gun rights

Kurt Hofmann/St. Louis:

• Area lawmaker thinks Tucson shooter was 'forced' to kill, by 'negative rhetoric'

Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

• Albuquerque Libertarian
• Cochise County Libertarian
• Conservative
• LA Anti-Establishment
• Michigan Firearms

Pratt: Fox News Got it Wrong

A reader has been in correspondence with Gun Owners of America over a report that Larry Pratt supports states restricting CCWs from non-citizens.


"Mr. Pratt is contacting Fox News to correct their misunderstanding," the GOA spokesman informed him.  Here's the statement:

As much as I appreciate Fox News, they misstated my position on the Wayne Smith case arising out of South Dakota. So let me break it down:

1. As I have stated all along, I do not agree with what South Dakota is doing in denying the right to keep and bear arms to alien residents. Wayne Smith SHOULD BE ABLE TO OWN A GUN!

2. Our fundamental rights do NOT come from government, the Bill of Rights or the Constitution … they come from God. Hence, law-abiding citizens should be able to carry concealed firearms as a matter of right (without permission from the government) and that is why GOA has consistently supported legislation modeled after Vermont’s successful permitless carry law.

3. Aliens living in this country still possess their God-given rights. Note, however, that within our constitutional system of government, some rights of citizenship (such as the right to vote) are fully protected only for actual U.S. citizens. This is, perhaps, where the confusion has arisen. On the one hand, I argued that aliens should not be able to vote in our country. But fundamental human rights such as the right to self-defense as embodied by keeping and bearing arms, on the other hand, SHOULD MOST DEFINITELY extend to everyone, period.

4. As for the xenophobia that some have accused me of because of the misunderstanding relating to Wayne Smith … well, that’s laughable. I’ve been happily married to a Central American immigrant for nearly 50 years -- and I fully support her right to keep and bear arms as much as I support Smith’s … and yours.

-- Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America

I should have known.

I wonder if all the Fairfax über alles GOA bashers who have been reveling in their Pratt-hatred will have the basic decency to issue corrections and public apologies?

I Guess Apes Make Lousy Curators

The M-3 grease guns went to a local police department, where they mysteriously vanished. The Liberators met a far worse fate than mere theft. There were ordered destroyed by the ATF, as they had no serial numbers. Also discovered were the original stamping tools to make the pistols, and these were ordered destroyed as well since the company was not licensed to make firearms. [More]

Simply obscene.

[Via Ed D]

We're the Only Ones Illuminating Enough

Fatal Plano police shooting highlights dangers of gun-flashlight combo [Read]

Oh, I see. It's the combo's fault...

Eminent Domain

I bring this story to your attention for a couple reasons:

First, it involves one of the markets we shop at.

Second, because the career mayor involved led a local pre-election Tea Party rally, and I deemed him a fraud then because of his working the crowd to cheer for  Dead Elephant Party gungrabbers like new OH AG Mike De[s]Wine.

Frickin' Teajackers.

We're the Only Ones Easing Your Pain Enough

An auxiliary police officer faces charges of drug trafficking after allegedly bring "bulk" amounts of the prescription painkiller Oxycodone to southeastern Ohio. [More]

Kevin Starrett assures me he's not the one in this story.

We're the Only Ones Painting the Town Red Enough

Baltimore police say that fellow officers fired the gun shots that killed a plainclothes officer during a melee outside a nightclub. [More]

Good thing you and I can't carry when we take our families to Applebees!

Roger Lowenstein Makes a Joke of Himself

Because of the N.R.A., calls for banning semi-automatic weapons have been made to sound extremist. I wonder how they sound to the parents of Christina Green, the 9-year-old girl curious enough about government to attend Giffords’ community event, where she was slain. [More]

Listen for yourself, you blood-dancing fool.

And then let us know how many of us you're willing to have the state destroy in order to implement your stupid, evil little citizen disarmament plan here.

Because we will not disarm.

When It Comes to Tony Norman, Insanity Prevails

Meanwhile, suppose the Constitution grants every American citizen a right to buy as many guns as his bank account allows -- shouldn't there still be limits on gun ownership by those with diminished mental capacity or evil intentions? [More]

Well, Gee, Tony, when it comes to diminished mental capacity, U.S. Code already prohibits gun ownership to anyone who "has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution..."


You knew that before calling for more gun laws, right?  I mean, you want to be responsible and truthful with your readers, right?

And as for "evil intentions" what are we talking about?  Credible threats are already actionable, and it looks like your fellow blame-apportioner dropped the ball there.

As for some sort of...Department of Pre-Crime...which it sounds like you're talking about, well, that's a different matter.  Because the whole reason the Framers thought government limitations on private gun ownership was an...insane idea was to provide a bulwark against...uh...evil intentions.

Oh, and the Constitution doesn't "grant"rights, either.  You'd think our "Authorized Journalist" Official Defenders of Liberty would understand that basic concept.

Not Unprecedented

"It's not unprecedented," Tarek said. "We can get something reasonable and common-sense done, working with Second Amendment rights activists. The concept of limiting the number of rounds available to civilians is not a radical position." [More]

You keep believing that, fool, and you're likely to bring on something else that's not unprecedented.

Or should I tone down such rhetoric and leave these traitors to their subversion without fair warning?

That Which Can Be Given...

...can be taken away:

According to Andreyev, special attention will be given to those who abuse alcohol, drugs and disturb public order. These people will be deprived of the weapons and the permission for gun storing will be canceled. 

And he'll pour himself a drink as he orders it.

New Zealand columnist digs deeper hole on Texas gun claims

Well, I’ve beaten this story to death, and should probably leave Rachel and editor Roy Pilott to the business of misleading their readers and insulting those who catch them at it. I just thought those of you who’ve stayed with it so far and shared observations of your own should have the chance to read her account for yourselves. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column should, hopefully, return us to the Northern Hemisphere for a while.

Also read more about post-Tucson exploitation, listen to a modest proposal, and keep an interview playing in the background.

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This Day in History: January 11

This leave was readily granted; it was not difficult for Washington to replace the major-general, but it was impossible to find another equally competent, influential and devoted champion of the American cause near the court of Louis XVI. In fact, he went on a mission rather than a visit. He embarked on January 11, 1779, was received with enthusiasm, and was made a colonel in the French cavalry. [More]