GUNS Magazine: March 1958

The realities are that firearms records give much comfort to the book-keeping personalities in government and law enforcement work, but are functionally of little use in most cases involving criminal uses of firearms. Guns employed by professional crooks are not registered to them. Factory records, although in some cases quite complete, show only the jobber to whom shipped, nothing more. Elements which make a conviction in any case, including those involving firearms, are far more concrete than the shadowy record of gun shipments which lead to a blind wall. The concept of firearms records for crime detection, while theoretically neat, in practice lacks merit. ["What's Happening on the Legal Front," pg. 8]

See, some people knew 50 years ago what a fraud the whole system was--and now, because they weren't listened to, the government is perpetuating the fraud as an excuse to close down gun dealers--all of which does nothing to fight violent crime.

The March 1958 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online. Even then they were at the forefront of informing their readers about regulatory threats to RKBA.

Also in this issue is a warm memorial tribute to the great Ed McGivern, a look at what Eli Whitney gave us besides the cotton gin, articles of interest to collectors, hunters and shooters, and of course, the classic period ads that are both fascinating and frustrating to look at--just remember--back then, a dollar was actually still worth about a dollar.

The Wrong Questions

Having a vested interest in the results can itself lead to an unethical abandonment of the scientific method. But the biggest problem with their “random” sample: None of the boys were active shooters. Aside from a bit of “don’t touch that” counseling, there’s no indication any of them were trained in proper firearms use, regularly participating in supervised shooting with responsible adults. Yet the fact that this, rather than ignorance, might prove the safest course was not even considered.

"The Wrong Questions," my Rights Watch column for the May 2008 (yes, really) issue of GUNS Magazine is now online.

The Chosen People

Who chose them?

Set, of course.I can't help but think of a T-shirt I saw a while back: "Campus Crusade for Cthulu: It Found Me"

Subsitute the chant "O-ba-ma!" with "Thul-sa-Doom!" It fits perfectly.

Friend Russ Howard sent this out the other day:

At first I thought Obama's slogan "Yes we can", was a vapid placebo, but a couple days ago it came to me what it means. We'll be hearing it a lot if Obama becomes President. While the use will always be generally similar, slight variants, emphasis, etc., will depend on the scenario. For example:

"Hey! You can't take 100% of my disposable income!"

"Yes we can."

Or,

"Hey, you can't take my guns!"

"Yes... We ... Can."

Suggested variations, depending on the situation,

* Sideways nod and raised eyebrows for emphasis

* "Oh ho ho ho, yes we can."...

* "Oh really?"...

* Dr. Evil pinkie on the corner of the mouth

etc.

Obama: The Little Commie Who Could.

Pfleger...Paging Snuffy Pfleger...

The stress of defending the pope has led to a number of casualties in the past, raising debate about whether the Swiss Guard and Gendarmerie are anachronisms.

A young Italian Gendarmerie cadet, Alessandro Benedetti, was found dead from gunshot wounds in an apparent suicide in September.

In 1998, Vatican City was rocked by the triple shooting deaths of Alois Estermann, the then-head of the Swiss Guard, together with his Venezuelan wife and a young Swiss Guard lance corporal, Cedric Tornay.

The Holy See blamed Mr. Tornay for shooting the other two before turning his gun on himself.

Shouldn't you be, like, outside protesting with a mob and threatening to "snuff out" Pope B-E-N-E-D-I-C-T or something...?

Just Who is Being "Indifferent" Here?

Appearing bright-eyed in a gold tie and dark suit, the tall blond gun seller comfortably deflected Ferguson's suggestions that he might intentionally violate the law.

His attorney, Richard Gardiner of Fairfax, Va., would often mock Ferguson's attempt to probe Horsley's intentions, aiming to steal Ferguson's thunder.

"Were you doing that because you didn't care about what the law was?" Gardiner asked Horsley, who answered "no."

"Were you doing that because you were disregarding the law?" he asked again. Again Horsley answered in the negative.

Ryan acquits himself well in spite of badgering by a US Attorney doing her level best to destroy his reputation and his family business.

Good grief, this entire fiasco is such an obviously overblown vendetta--let's just hope the judge sees through it--it's in his hands now.

I've talked to Ryan many times. This guy's a freakin' Norman Rockwell painting. He's like a boy scout, for cryin' out loud, the picture-perfect family man, responsible member of the community, just an all-around solid backbone-of-America citizen, and these...these power freaks are trying to paint him as some sort of shady slimeball intentionally loosing evil guns on the street. And because he didn't roll over and let them just crush him, they've pulled out all the stops.

I find it more than ironic that the operative word used in this story is "indifference." Especially when the people committing the offense of "deliberate indifference" are the ones who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and who continue to willfully ignore it.

Count on this: If Teddy Kennedy and his partner in advocacy, the "Vote Freedom First President" get their way, Maximum Mike will give America's gun dealers more of the same. And then some.

I wonder what the government in general and BATFU in particular has spent so far on this? Oh well, it's not like it's their money, and they can always get more.

Illinois Continues War on Gun Owners

HB4357-- House Sponsors: Rep. Edward J. Acevedo, Elizabeth Hernandez, Maria Antonia Berrios, Luis Arroyo and Cynthia Soto

Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act, it is unlawful for any person within this State to knowingly manufacture, deliver, sell, purchase, or possess or cause to be manufactured, delivered, sold, purchased, or possessed a semi-automatic assault weapon, an assault weapon attachment, any .50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge. Provides that beginning 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act, it is unlawful for any person within this State to knowingly manufacture, deliver, sell, purchase, or possess or cause to be manufactured, delivered, sold, purchased, or possessed a large capacity ammunition feeding device. Provides that these provisions do not apply to a person who possessed a prohibited weapon, device, or attachment before the effective date of this amendatory Act if the person has provided proof of ownership to the Department of State Police within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act. Provides that on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act, such person may transfer such device only to an heir, an individual residing in another state maintaining that device in another state, or a dealer licensed as a federal firearms dealer. Specifies penalties for violations. Provides exemptions. Provides that the provisions of the Act are severable. Effective immediately.

HB4393-- House Sponsors: Rep. Luis Arroyo and Elizabeth Hernandez

Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Changes references in the statute on unlawful sale of firearms from "sell" or "give" to "transfer". Prohibits multiple sales of handguns within a 30-day period. Creates the offense of unlawful acquisition of handguns. Provides exemptions and affirmative defenses. Penalty is a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense.

Well, the resident Marxists have made their orders clear. So, Illinois gun owners--what are you gonna do about it? Each and every one of you, personally?

[Via HZ]

Pulling Down Their Briefs

What a cheap trick, using a double entendre to get you to notice something educational.

David E. Young has added two more critiques of pro-DC Heller briefs to the one we discussed earlier. This time, he takes on the City of Chicago and the Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

These deserve widespread visibility. I hope each one of you reads them and then tells others about them.

Just don't tell 'em it's good for them.

We're the Only Ones Having You Take the Fall for Us Enough

Amnesty International says at least 290 people died after being struck by police Tasers between 2001 and 2007. The concerns have prompted at least seven states to ban use of the weapons among the general public.

We're all clear on how this works, right? "The Only Ones" abuse them, so we need to make sure they have them and you don't.

Ingenious!

[Via ChareltonHest]

Another Cryptic Subterranean "Only Ones" Festival

Jay. Mac has sent me multiple "Only Ones" posts before. He's got another crop in, and it's a good one:

http://crypticsubterranean.blogspot.com/2008/03/call-who.html
A man's home was being burgled as he hid in it and he tried to call police for three hours; when he had no luck he was forced to phone a local politician who in turn called the Chief of Police and the Mayor. Only then did they dispatch help.

http://crypticsubterranean.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicagos-finest.html
A Chicago cop assaulted two other police officers and a paramedic after getting drunk while off-duty.

http://crypticsubterranean.blogspot.com/2008/03/strawberry-meth-hoax.html
Brit cop gets hoax email about non-existent drug and promptly sends a warning to local schools and families.

http://crypticsubterranean.blogspot.com/2008/03/only-ones-go-to-sea.html
The Coast Guard have been warned to behave more professionally following complaints about how they treat civilian sailors.

http://crypticsubterranean.blogspot.com/2008/03/wasting-police-time.html
A senior cop, in the running to take over London's Metropolitan Police, has ordered staff to monitor his Wikipedia page so that nothing negative appears on it.

"The Only Ones."

Better than us and don't you forget it.

This Day in History: March 7

These Informations alone, ought to suggest to you the Necessity that there is of having, as many of your Militia as possible, immediately embodied and held ready to act as occasion may require.

The Other Yeshiva Solution

The Israeli Yeshiva Solution

One of the students at the yeshiva, Yitzhak Danon, eventually managed to hit the terrorist. "I climbed on the roof of the study hall with my gun after I heard the sound of gunshots. The firing continued while I lay on the roof with my weapon cocked. Suddenly he came up, and started spraying bullets in the air. I fired two shots at his head, and saw him stagger," Danon said. The terrorist was finally killed by a paratroop officer, a student at the yeshiva who lives close by and came to the scene with his weapon at the sound of gunfire.

vs.

The American Yeshiva Solution.

Any questions?

Cryptic Subterranean has more.

And Remember...

They hate us because we're free.

"Free"

Want to browse Vanity Fair magazine on the Denver airport's free Wi-Fi system? Sorry. You'll have to buy it at the newsstand, because DIA's Internet filter blocks Vanity Fair as "provocative."

I wonder if you can access WarOnGuns?

Why people wouldn't want to self-censor most of the trivia mentioned is beyond me, but I guess that's why they're wildly popular and this site is obscure.

Still what gets me most is some of the comments from the informed public along the lines of "Quit complaining--it's free."

Yeah, right. No one had the fruits of their labor plundered to pay for a public airport, so they have no say. The money to pay for it just grew on trees. Public trees.

Everybody wants "free." Nobody wants "freedom," or they do until they realize the two are incompatible.

Yet Another Mass Shooting

North Korea has publicly executed 15 starving people, mostly women, for illegally entering neighbouring China in search of food, an aid group said yesterday.

And "the second [one] this week"!

Maybe North Korea needs more "common sense gun control."

Breach

The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

So what's the problem here? It's not like they need warrants or anything...

We're the Only Ones Who Don't Need No Stinking Warrants Enough

In a 3-0 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the police were justified in conducting the warrantless search and seizure in an era of unprecedented domestic carnage at schools, workplaces and shopping malls.

“Police, then, simply must be entitled to take effective preventive action when evidence surfaces of an individual who intends slaughter,” Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote for the panel. “Respecting the rights of individuals has never required running a risk of mass death.”

Define "risk," Jim, I mean, J. Harvie. Because I gotta tell ya, the risk of an activist judiciary subverting the Constitution in general and the Bill of Rights in particular--all in the name of expedience--scares the hell out of me a lot more than some guy who voluntarily calls a hotline and lets everybody know where he is.

If someone is an immediate threat, there's nothing in the law prohibiting an intervention, and nothing to make crime scene evidence inadmissible. But simultaneously with the threat being neutralized, perhaps you could explain why requiring "The Only Ones" to swear out an affidavit and obtain a warrant in accordance with the clear probable cause mandate you are required to abide by (or would be in the Constitutional Republic envisioned by the Framers) is such a burden on the state...? Aside from maybe having to drag some judge's hind end out of bed at 3:00 AM on occasion...?

Originally nominated by Reagan, eh? Considered for SCOTUS by the "Vote Freedom First President" (until you opened your self-important yap to The New York Times)?

And you consider yourself a "Hands-Off Constitution[alist]"? And getting judges like you appointed is the reason we're supposed to be cowed into voting republican?

[Via Mack]

We're the Only Ones Academic Enough

Police departments at Arizona's three universities plan to arm their officers with military-style assault rifles within the next year, officials said Tuesday.

What, "weapon of war bullet hoses designed only to kill as many people as possible"?

That's the solution, have an arms race for "The Only Ones" while the intellectual cud-chewers low to have their horns and hooves trimmed down to stubs?

ASU officers will store the new guns in their patrol cars while on duty, taking them out only when a situation warrants their use, Hardina said.

So will they rush right in where angels fear to tread, or can we expect them to deploy behind trees, cars and buldings until the carnage is over? And let's just hope they're in better running condition than this guy...

Jan Kelly, an ASU faculty member, said she understands why officers have a need for weapons with increased capabilities. She said she feels comfortable with campus officers' access to the rifles.

"I don't think the police are going to target students," Kelly said. "If they (the guns) aren't visible, most won't really know about them.

"Hopefully we'll never know about them."

It's all about Jan's feelings you see. Besides, as we know from experience, college students are never targeted by enforcers with rifles.

And if you can't see it, it can't hurt you, Jan? That's your fall-back position? Is that anything like pulling the covers over your head so the monster in your closet can't get you?

Good grief. This "daft as a hairbrush" intellect reminds me of nothing so much as the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.

Who would let an "insanely idiotically dense creature" like this have any say at all in their personal defensive choices?

[Via ChareltonHest]

A Pass/Fail College Lecture

So, how can you, the college student, as an individual and as a group, change the circumstances of the violence you face on campus and in a bigger sense, citizens face everyday in their daily lives whether it be at the shopping mall or at lunch at Wendy's? You can accept that your protection is your responsibility and then you can choose to be prepared to face potential violence and prepared to stop the violence when it presents itself. In most cases you can do this through constant possession and training with a handgun.

Nate tries to fill some young skulls with something other than mush.

There has been no shortage of anti-RKBA opinions lately in the college press by proto-"Authorized Journalists," speaking with the vast and deep experience and wisdom of freshmen and sophomores, whose minds are made up, who know best, and who are as rigidly and fanatically intolerant as any politburo. I'm afraid for them, this post is "wasted electrons."

But any college student with an open mind and no fear of actually being an independent thinker (as opposed to pretending to be one with their new-found Marxist rhetoric), ought to read this and take it to heart as if their life might depend on it.

Human Rights and Gun Confiscation

Ordinary Kenyans are not even allowed to possess bows and arrows,and the bow laws, too, are applied discriminately. Government security agents can therefore safely assume that every ordinary person with a bow or gun lacks a license, and thus the police can shoot to kill with impunity.

David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant and Joanne D. Eisen have given us more required reading.

Truly. Some of the examples they cite will shock and enrage you.

I've only had time to scan through this, but plan on reserving an hour later when I can come back and give this the attention I can see it deserves. I suggest if you don't have that hour right now to do the same.

This is important stuff, and it's really not all that hard to envision it happening here if things sufficiently degrade.

This Day in History: March 6

Remember...