"Always Think Forfeiture" Redux

Say, this'll go nice with my Leatherman...

I don't suppose the proprietors find anything unsettling about their home page graphics? I don't suppose their customers do, either?

Hillary's "Gun Gaffe"?

The image of the gun pictured on the face of the mailing is reversed, making it a nonexistent left-handed model of the Mauser 66 rifle.

Is that the "gaffe"?

It's not posting a picture of Obama intersecting a bolt-action rifle? Oh, wait, a "gaffe" is supposed to be unintentional...

[Via Dave Licht and 45superman]

We're the Only Ones With No Honor Among Thieves Enough

A retired Florida Highway Patrol Trooper is accused of stealing money from his co-workers.

How can you not trust an "Only One"? I thought they were morally superior to us...

[Via Jeffersonian]

This Day in History: May 5

The British Naval ship Falcon captures two American ships at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Oh, the Humanity!

Point Reyes Station Has A Wailing Wall For Massacred Deer

Good grief.

Lies by Omission from Harvard CJI

Nice bio on Billy Celester there, guys. By what you chose to present (and more importantly, what you chose not to mention at all), he looks like a real champion of law enforcement, a true authority to help advance your agenda.

You didn't, maybe, leave something out (on purpose), did you?

Between the ethics displayed at Harvard and Yale, I'd say the privileged sons and daughters of the nation's Ivy League elites are just about ready to take over.

[Via Mike the Limey]

GUNS Magazine: May 1958

I have just read your article on "Why Not a Pro-Gun Law." I want you to know that this is the best I have ever read on the subject of firearms regulations. I would like to have at least 50 reprints as I truly believe this subject needs to he brought to the public eye. I am a life member of the National Rifle Association and the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore. If we had people such as yourself in our state and federal legislatures, our job as gun-lovers would be a lot easier. Please see if the Readers Digest and Saturday Evening Post will run your article. I would like to see it in our Baltimore papers. This machine gun law has a personal interest to me as I have longed for a commercial model 1928 Thompson sub-machine gun, but can't afford the $200.00 tax. Please let me know how I can help to further the cause.

Just wait another 28 years for the "Firearms Owners' Protection Act" if you think $200 is steep.

The May 1958 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online. Be sure and read the cover story, "Red Guns in the Desert," for a perspective on the region and conflict from half a century ago. Also check out the competition and camaraderie between former enemies in "A Modern GI-German Schutzenfest," and see how 50 years ago you could "Make Your Hunt Deductible" (I wonder if you still could?)

All this plus all the standard hunting/shooting/collecting and technology features, and, of course, the classic ads and prices of the era.

Oh, and one more thing stood out, at least for me. I want one. A Treeby Chain Gun, that is (See pg. 38):

"Despite Opposition..."

Eleven months after a devastating massive tornado swept through Greensburg, KS—after which unidentified “authorities” acting under questionable instructions seized firearms from homes—the Kansas House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation that would make such gun confiscations illegal in the wake of such a disaster.

Despite opposition from the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, the Pratt County sheriff and Kansas Bureau of Investigation...

What kind of control freak tinhorn tyrants would oppose this, and why should free men even tolerate them in our presence, let alone pay them and obey them?

[Via Jeffersonian]

Time For Public Comment On New Rules For Guns In National Parks

NRA-ILA joins the call.

We're the Only Ones Shakin' It Enough

Federal officials have tacked on a second charge against suspended Sullivan County sheriff's Deputy Phil Etkin, alleging he shook down the owner of a topless bar.

Figures there's two of them. Charges. What were you thinking?

Just wanted to keep you abreast of the situation.

And now the G-strin...uh...G-Men...uh...

Sorry. Dealing with these ridiculous "Only One" boobs has me racking my brains and seeing double.

[Via Declan]

NRA/GOA for McClintock

California gun owners: Still sitting on your duffs?

The Matrix

John Hardin presents "The Law Enforcement Officer's Guide to Identifying Spree Shooters and Distinguishing Spree Shooters from Responsible Citizens Engaging in Armed Self Defense."

Candidly, this doesn't work for me, but it is encouraging to see activists thinking creatively and trying new things. That's what moves us forward.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Toronto Mayor David Miller launched a major campaign to have handguns banned in Canada last week...

If a total ban is just the tip, does anyone care to speculate what the entire berg is gonna look like, and what it will do to anything that gets in its way?

The obscene reality behind this kind of legislation is it will not have the least effect on the violent criminal class that is causing ALL of the problem. Not what's registered, not what's banned, not what's confiscated (which brings us back full circle to what's registered, does it not?)

Let's analyze these two paragraphs, because they really contain the crux of this creature's subversive thesis:

There will be those who vigorously argue responsible gun owners are not the problem. The statistics are meaningless because collectors who own restricted weapons stores these guns properly and use the utmost caution.

And, maybe it is true. But, the deeper question for the community is the greater safety. Handguns must be banned, not just in Toronto, but also across Ontario and the country. Rifles and shotguns serve the purposes of those who hunt for sport. The laws cover this aspect sufficiently. Beyond this, there is no reasonable, logical argument.

Translation: Regular citizens are not the problem. All on their own, and with no prompting from us, they do the right and the safe thing. So we must take that choice away from them, not only here, but everywhere, and only allow them to possess what we decide to--for now. And there can be no counter-argument because I say so.

The neo-Stalinist "rwash" who penned this endorsement is a fanatic on par with those who, 600 years ago, would have burned people alive for suggesting that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. We look back now and wonder how such closed-minded zealotry could have represented prevalent thought with anything new deemed dangerous and heretical. Yet we still see the same basic phenomenon manifest itself today with the hatred and impulse to destroy radical new ideas--like that maybe men can rule themselves, and don't need the David Miller's and rwash's of the world to command what they may and may not possess.

[Via Bruce Mills]

Toy Story

"It's important that a child cannot walk into one of these little convenience stores, plop down a dollar and walk out with something that can get him shot on the spot without question," Deberry said.

No, you moron, it's important that no child is "shot on the spot without question."

What the hell kind of police state are you helping create?

Have you no sense of heritage?

How about of decency?

That you think you're competent to craft laws binding on us all is scary enough. That your constituents do is terrifying.

[Via AvgJoe]

This Day in History: May 4

Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are cutting us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

"I Think I Owe Something to the People Who Died"

The firearms dealer who illegally sold Sulejman Talovic a pistol-grip shotgun should have known the 18-year-old planned to use the weapon for murder, a survivor of the deadly Trolley Square shootings claims in a lawsuit.

Yeah. What's with that guy not being able to read minds and predict the future?

I guess it hasn't occurred to any of the victims that "emotional and physical damages" might have been reduced or eliminated altogether if they'd assumed responsibility for protecting themselves? No one computes that what ultimately stopped Talovic was another armed man?

If they really want to blame someone, why not blame...the shooter?

But if they're looking for deep pockets, and for people who really "should have known," why not go after the folks who established and enforced the murderer empowerment zone?

If the surviving victims truly think they owe something to the people who died, why not work toward ensuring people have the means to survive and prevail against future attacks, instead of mandating the advantage to the monsters among us? Don't they owe at least that much to the living?

CSI Canada

The opinion piece released on Thursday argues that Taser use is a public health issue, and Canadian officials should not be relying on the manufacturer, Taser International, or its paid research to determine if stun guns are safe.

Oh, good grief. Why dredge this up again?

Haven't we already settled it?

CSI Akron

A judge has ruled that the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office must change its autopsy findings to remove all references to the Taser stun gun as a contributing cause of death in the cases of three men who died during encounters with county law enforcement officers.

In one of those cases — the August 2006 death of 28-year-old county jail inmate Mark D. McCullaugh Jr. — the judge ruled the manner of death must be changed on the official autopsy report and death certificate, from ''homicide'' to ''undetermined.''

Because we all know tasers have proven themselves 100% safe and reliable. "The Only Ones" and corporate lawyers tell us so.

I think Judge Schneiderman may be on to something though--think how much money Summit County can save if it does away with the medical examiner's office altogether, and just lets him rule on how homicide victims died.

[Via Maureen]

Practical Medical Course

This two-day (16 hour) course of instruction will prepare the motivated outdoorsman to treat life-threatening and function-threatening medical conditions in the wilderness without access to classical EMS and medical resources.

This latest offering from Western Rifle Shooters Association will be held in Brookings, OR over the May 17-18 weekend. It looks like the information presented is extremely important and valuable--and something most of us need training on. If you can at all make it, do so.

Rodhamstein

I took one look at Hillary's new photo and had a separated-at-birth moment.

Which monster would you rather have coming for you?

UPDATE: I take back everything I ever said about her. Hillary's "pro-gun" after all. Just ask her Indiana phone bank workers.

CCRKBA on National Parks Bill

American gun owners, especially those licensed to carry concealed handguns, are urged to comment on a proposed Interior Department rules change that would allow concealed carry in national parks and national wildlife refuges.

I'd have just said "Americans," but the important part is they're using their long reach to encourage us to make our views known now, during the public comments period.

Everybody here already has, right?

I haven't had time to go chasing down who is or is not spreading the word on this. Suffice it to say if you have not seen an announcement from other pro-gun organizations, websites, bloggers, etc., that you frequent or support, please take the initiative to let them know we're looking for leadership from them on this. It wouldn't hurt to put up a flyer at gun stores and ranges, either, and to ask gun shows to help spread the word.

Hardy and Young will be Giving 'em Heller at NRA Exhibits Booth 1551

From David E. Young:

Those attending the 2008 NRA Annual Exhibits at the Kentucky Expo Center will have a unique and special opportunity this year as the Supreme Court considers the meaning of the Second Amendment in the DC vs Heller gun ban case. The Second Amendment Films booth (#1551) will have two notable independent Second Amendment scholars in attendance, David T. Hardy and David E. Young, both of whom have links to the Heller case.

David Hardy, attorney, author, and producer will be promoting his new documentary film, In Search of the Second Amendment, which is available on DVD. In addition to authoring the sourcebook, Origins and Development of the Second Amendment, and many law review articles advancing the individual rights nature of the Second Amendment's protection, David Hardy is a co-author of the amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the current DC vs Heller case by Academics for the Second Amendment, and he attended the oral arguments before the Court.

David Young, historical scholar, editor, and author will be promoting his new definitive history of the Second Amendment, The Founders' View of the Right to Bear Arms, as well as The Origin of the Second Amendment, the complete Constitutional Era document collection that he edited and published. Mr. Young's books have been cited to the U.S. Supreme Court a total of fifty-five times in various briefs filed in the current DC vs Heller gun ban case, and his document collection was extensively relied on in prior appeals court pro-rights decisions leading to the current case.

Anyone attending the NRA Annual Exhibits who is interested in the Second Amendment's history or the legal ramifications of the current DC vs Heller case before the U.S. Supreme Court will be able to ask questions and discuss their points of interest with these two independent pro-rights Second Amendment scholars, each of whom has a completely different background. David Hardy, legal professional, views the entire subject from a legal perspective, while David Young, historian, relies entirely on period historical sources.

Second Amendment Films will be selling DVD copies of David Hardy's new documentary, In Search of the Second Amendment, as well as copies of David Young's new book, The Founders' View of the Right to Bear Arms, and his document collection, The Origin of the Second Amendment, at NRA Exhibits Booth 1551.

For anyone attending the 2008 NRA Exhibits, stop by, have a chat, and pick up the very latest and most complete Second Amendment related information available anywhere.

David T. Hardy's URL is: http://www.armsandthelaw.com/
David E. Young's URL is: http://www.secondamendmentinfo.com/

This Day in History: May 3

The sanguinary Zeal of the ministerial Army, to ruin and destroy the Inhabitants of this Colony, in the Opinion of this Congress, hath rendered the Establishment of an Army indispensably necessary. We have accordingly passed an unanimous Resolve for thirteen thousand six hundred Men, to be forth with raised by this Colony; and proposals are made by us to the Congress of New Hampshire, and Governments of Rhode Island and Connecticut Colonies, for furnishing men in the same proportion. The sudden Exigency of our public Affairs, precluded the possibility of waiting for your direction in these important measures; more especially, as a considerable Reinforcement from Great Britain is daily expected in this Colony, and we are now reduced to the sad alternative of defending ourselves by arms, or submitting to be slaughtered.

Hell of a choice.

Good thing this is only ancient history and we'll never need to make a similar one. Especially since so many tell us the Second Amendment is obsolete and written for a different time.

Guest Editorial: "Dànjìn-liángjué"

By Mike Vanderboegh

"A man can never have too many books, too much red wine or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

They Died Gallantly

"With daylight fading, the relief effort was broken off and the men of the 8th Cavalry were ordered to get out of the trap any way they could. Breaking into small elements, the soldiers moved out overland under cover of darkness. Most did not make it. The bitter fighting which . . . raged over five days saw many heroes and many memorable sacrifices, but it . . . stands (as) the most painful chapter in the proud history of the 1st Cavalry Division. On November 6 (1950), the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment ceased to exist as a unit, but died gallantly. In all, over (600) men of the 8th Cavalry were lost—almost one-third of the regiment’s strength—in the initial attacks by massive Chinese forces, forces that only recently had been considered as existing only in rumor." -- "8th Cavalry Regiment," Wikipedia

If I believed in reincarnation, which I don't, I might wonder if in a previous life I was an S-4, a supply officer. If so, it wasn't for a well-provisioned army, but for one with a frayed shoestring of a supply line. You know, maybe Washington's ragged Continentals at Valley Forge, or "Skinny" Wainwright's on Bataan. I think this because I am always mindful of the old army motto that lieutenants worry about tactics and generals worry about logistics. I'm not a general, but I worry about supply and how that applies to the armed citizenry of today, and tomorrow. I worry because there's always some idiot like Alabama State Senator Rodger Smitherman who reminds me of it. But more about him in a minute.

It was Smitherman who got me thinking once again about Valley Forge and Bataan and Korea -- especially Korea. I grew up listening to the stories of Korea vets, ex-GIs and ex-Marines, who would gather for the ritual Saturday night beer parties my father would throw for the hops-imbibing menfolk of our small-town neighborhood in Marion Ohio. I would make myself scarce when the order to go to bed came, hiding in a little storage alcove, sort of a closet without a door, where Dad kept the motor oil and such. The stories that got to me the most (and these only came out as the night turned into early morning) were the reminiscences of the desperate days of the early fighting, especially of the Chinese intervention -- stories like the agony of the 8th Cavalry Regiment described above.

The thing to remember when you read stuff like the 8th Cavalry's "Little Big Horn" at the hands of the Chinese at Unsan is that these stories represent the lives and violent deaths of real men, such as you or me. Men who were sons, fathers, husbands and lovers. Men who because somebody screwed up, through no fault of their own, died in a lonely place far away, cut off, out of ammunition. Because I heard these stories from other men who, by luck, hard fighting or great courage (and often all three) survived to tell the tales, I learned early and never forgot that those who died were real men, boys mostly, but real. And what I couldn't understand then, but later came to understand too well, was how somebody could allow them to run out of ammunition.

You know, the Chinese have a symbol in their pictographic language for exhausting one's supplies of food and ammunition. It is this:


It is pronounced, "Dànjìn-liángjué." Each element has its own meaning. The first,


means bullet or a bullet-shaped thing. The second,


means to the greatest extent or always. The third,


means provisions or grain. And the last,


means break off, sever,cut off, die, discontinue, cross, fall, exhaust, stop, surpass, completely eradicate or wipe out. It is, obviously, an all purpose symbol. But let me show you one of the human faces of "Dànjìn-liángjué." A year ago today, the Department of Defense announced the conclusion of some unfinished business from the Korean War.

(Source: http://www.thechinesesymbol.com/Chinese-symbols/for-exhaust%20one)

"We never gave up hope.''

United States Department of Defense
No. 510-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2007
Soldier Missing in Action from the Korean War is Identified . The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Corporal Pastor Balanon Jr., U.S. Army, of San Francisco, California. He will be buried May 3, 2007, in Arlington National Cemetery . . . In late October 1950, Balanon was assigned to L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Calvary Regiment, then engaging enemy forces south of Unsan, North Korea, near a bend in the Kuryong River known as the Camel's Head. Chinese communist forces attacked the 8th Regiment's positions on November 1, 1950, forcing a withdrawal to the south where they were surrounded by the enemy.The remaining survivors in the 3rd Battalion attempted to escape a few days later, but Balanon was declared missing in action on November 2, 1950, in the vicinity of Unsan County. In 2001, a joint U.S.-North Korean team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a burial site in Kujang County, south of Unsan County. A North Korean citizen living near the site told the team that the remains were relocated to Kujang after they were discovered elsewhere during a construction project.The battle area was about one kilometer north of the secondary burial site. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in Balanon's identification.

Pastor Balanon, a Filipino boy who always wanted to be a solider, was born in the Philippines on 4 May 1928. Had he lived -- had he and his comrades had sufficient ammunition -- Balanon would have been 80 years old this week. Balanon was from a military family. His father, Pastor Balanon, Sr., served in the U.S. forces in the Islands before, during and after WWII, and retired in 1954. Two of Pastor's brothers were soldiers. His sister was an Air Force officer. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, Pastor Sr. was active in the guerrilla movement. Once, both father and son were arrested by the Kempetai, the Japanese police. Pastor Jr. was hung by his hands and his father was buried alive up to his neck. Their only hope was to credibly deny any knowledge of what the Japanese were seeking. Neither father nor son talked, and they were eventually released.

At the time of the identification of Pastor Jr.'s remains, his younger brother Estaban who lives in Belmont, California, said: "We always hoped that he would come back alive. We never gave up hope.'' His sister Estrella Africa, of Santa Clara, CA said "It was very hard, especially for my mother and father. They never knew what happened to their son.''

What happened was this. The Chinese sprung a trap, cutting off the entire 8th Cavalry Regiment. The 2 Chinese divisions that made up the ambush outnumbered the 8th Cav more than 12 to 1. The 1st and 2nd battalions, cut-up badly, managed to break through Chinese lines and escape. The 3rd Battalion was ordered to be their rear guard and shield the withdrawal. They did, but they never made it out. On the night of 2 November, "over a thousand enemy died outside their perimeter. With their own ammunition almost gone, after each enemy attack had been driven back, men would crawl out and retrieve weapons and ammunition from the enemy dead." (http:www.first-team.us/journals/8th_rgmt/3d-unsan.html)

Sometime that night, their rifles empty, young Pastor Balanon's squad was overrun. From available evidence, the bodies were stripped and left where they lay. Eventually his bones were gathered and thrown down a deep well. That is where they were found in 2001. "Dànjìn-liángjué."

Historical Amnesia, African-American Style

"Some very interesting laws are being passed. They don't name me; they don't say, take the guns away from the niggers. They say that people will no longer be allowed to have (guns). They don't pass these rules and these regulations specifically for black people, they have to pass them in a way that will take in everybody." -- Eldridge Cleaver, 1968.

"History does not take place in a vacuum. Historical events, be they great or small, do not exist in isolation, but are a product of the age during which they occurred. Often times, the reasons why a particular historical incident turned out the way it did can be readily located, while for others, the causes may be more difficult to locate. In both cases, one rule still holds true: that the events of the past cannot be separated from the era when they occurred." -- Scott Ellsworth, "The Tulsa Race Riot."

Meet Rodger Smitherman. An Alabama State Senator, Smitherman was born in Montgomery, Alabama on March 2, 1953 and is in his fourth term in the Senate. According to his campaign bio:

"He graduated from the University of Montevallo with a B.B.A. degree and with honors from Miles Law School with a Juris Doctorate Degree. Senator Smitherman and his wife, the former Carole Catlin of Birmingham are the parents of four children: Rodger, II, Tonya Renee, Mary Elaine, and Crystal Nicole. He is a practicing attorney, a member of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, and the Birmingham Bar Association. He is a Democrat and an Elder in the Presbyterian Church."

Now, by the bills he has introduced in the past and the claims of his campaign web page, Rodger Smitherman would have us believe that he is a champion of civil rights for the little guy. You could certainly make a case that by being born and raised black where and when he was that Smitherman OUGHT TO HAVE a full understanding of his own history -- local, state and national. Ought to have. Well, given the bill he just introduced in the Alabama Senate, I'd say he has a pretty meager sense of that history. In fact, I'd say he has a full-blown case of historical amnesia.

His bill, SB-541, would mandate, as early as 2009, bullet serialization -- the process by which each individual round of ammunition is identified and marked with a laser-engraved serial number. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association of the firearms and ammunition industry, has made clear that serializing ammunition on a mass production basis is not feasible from a practical standpoint and any legislation mandating such action could rightfully be considered a de facto ban on ammunition. According to the NSSF press release:

"If manufacturers had to comply with bullet serialization, NSSF estimates that it would take almost four weeks to manufacture what is currently produced in a single day," said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane. "This massive reduction in ammunition would translate into substantially lower sales and profitability, and ultimately force major ammunition manufacturers to abandon the market. In turn, there would be a severe shortage of serialized ammunition and all consumers, including federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, would be faced with substantial price increases. Ammunition will go from costing pennies to several dollars per cartridge." The domestic small arms ammunition industry, utilizing modern manufacturing processes and distribution practices, produces between 10 and 12 billion ammunition cartridges a year at already low-profit margins. The three largest domestic manufacturers (who collectively account for the vast majority of the market) produce an estimated 20 million rounds of ammunition in a single day. Ammunition manufacturers could not serialize their product without hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment to build the new factories that would be needed in order to meet the requirements of bullet serialization. At the same time, hundreds of millions of dollars of existing plants and equipment, and decades of manufacturing (cost-saving) efficiencies, would be rendered obsolete.

Chris W. Cox, the Executive Director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, summed up the effect of bills like SB-541(and there have been many introduced in various states around the country in a coordinated attack on the armed citizenry) by quoting something Ted Kennedy proposed in 1974: "No Bullets . . . NO SHOOTING."

All gun owners are familiar with the 17th century maxim, “Keep your powder dry.” But if we expect to be gun owners in the 21st century, we have to update that to read, “Keep your powder—and all the rest of your ammunition—at all.” That’s because politicians who want to ban guns, but who don’t have the votes in Congress and state legislatures, are trying to achieve the same effect by banning the manufacture, importation, sale and possession of as much ammunition as possible, and severely restricting the rest. . . All of these bills would prohibit the manufacture and sale of ammunition, unless the bullets and cartridge cases are marked with a code and registered to the owners in a computerized database. Most would also require gun owners to forfeit any non-coded ammunition they possess. For example, Arizona's bill says, “Beginning January 1, 2011, a private citizen or a retail vendor shall dispose of all noncoded ammunition that is owned or held by the citizen or vendor.” Tennessee’s says, “All non-coded ammunition . . . shall be disposed.” And in Pennsylvania, “An owner of ammunition . . . not encoded by the manufacturer . . . shall dispose of the ammunition.” These bills include no compensation for the loss of millions of rounds of privately owned ammunition. But that’s not the point. Nor is the fact that ammunition encoding hasn’t been tested, let alone proven. Nor is the fact that criminals would easily figure out the numerous, obvious ways to beat ammunition registration.
(Source: http://www.nrapublications.org/oj/nobullets.html)

Cox concludes, "The point of these bills is to prevent gun owners from having ammunition for defense, practice, sport and hunting. The fact that these bills are not gun bans is a mere technicality because, in practical terms, ammo bans are gun bans." We need not take Cox's word for this conclusion, for he quotes Ted Kennedy, speaking to the Senate in 1974: "If [banning handguns] is not feasible we may be obliged to place strict bans on the production and distribution of ammunition. No bullets, no shooting.”

Now Rodger Smitherman is a bright guy. He's a lawyer, a businessman and an accomplished politician. He's not some touchy-feely schmuck who's been sold a bill of goods by the Brady crowd. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to intelligence. He knows what this bill means. He has signed onto to the citizen disarmament crowd's agenda. Now, he's either done that because he's a historical amnesiac or because he's a self-aware Judas goat -- for the entire history of black folks in this country is irrefutable proof that gun control has been one of the often-used tools of their own subjugation.

"Prohibiting Negroes, slave and free, from carrying weapons including clubs." Virginia Code, 1640 (Quoted in The Los Angeles Times, "To Fight Crime, Some Blacks Attack Gun Control," January 19, 1992)

Among those who have written convincingly on this subject are Clayton Cramer, "The Racist Roots of Gun Control," which first appeared in the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy, Winter, 1995 issue, available here (http://www.firearmsandliberty.com/cramer.racism.html) and William R. Tonso, "Gun Control: White Man's Law," also available on the web. I'm not going to waste time and space remaking the case here. My point is rather informed by the practical history of interest to a supply officer of the American armed citizenry. From my recent reading, the LAST person who ought to be advocating restricting the ammunition supply is black man who wishes to maintain his liberty.

Indeed, Smitherman must be woefully ignorant of a whole series of recent works that deal, sometimes tangentially and sometimes directly, with historical incidents involving black Americans where they lost the battles for their own liberty and security because they were poorly armed and worse, lacked the ammunition to carry the fight to a successful conclusion. Let me be so bold as to suggest a reading list for Smitherman, if he is in fact merely uninformed rather than malevolent in his purpose, so that he might remedy his ignorance.

Smitherman ought first to read, "Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War," by Nicholas Lemann (New York, 2006):

"The only way for Republicans to ensure that Negroes would be able to organize to vote in November, and then actually do so, was through the same kind of military force the Democrats were using. . . Any black militia would be outnumbered and out armed by the shadowy white force now in place all over the state. . . The Democrats . . . had a challenge of their own . . .: if they were too brazen in seizing political power at gunpoint, or too open in preventing Negro political activity, it might turn the opinion of the North against them and force President Grant to deploy the Army. They were on safer ground if they made every incident look spontaneous, local and personal, rather than like part of a planned campaign." (Page 120)

Absent black state militias, the freedmen were on their own. Lacking training, military arms and especially, a stock of ammunition, they were outgunned and eventually forced into the Jim Crow system, or killed.

Next, Smitherman needs to peruse books such as "Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America," by Elliot Jaspin (Basic Books, 2007); "Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood," by Michael D'Orso (Putnam, 1996) and especially "The Burning: Massacre, Destruction and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921," by Tim Madigan (St. Martin's, 2001). From the latter work:

For a few minutes in early morning, Mann also enjoyed the illusion that he and John Williams and the other blacks fighting from the buildings along Greenwood Avenue would actually defeat the (invading) whites, or at least turn them back across the tracks. The whites took heavy casualties on their first push before sunrise, when a cloud of Negro bullets greeted them and sent them scurrying in retreat. But Mann's hopeful illusions burned off with the morning sun when he could see that there was no end to the enemy. Kill one white and ten more sprang up in his place. The Negroes also didn't have the luxury of looting a dozen pawnshops and hardware stores (like the whites). Their bullets had been purchased for hunting and ammunition soon ran low. (p. 159)

Deacons

Most importantly, Smitherman should acquaint himself with "The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement," by Lance Hill (UNC Press, 2004).

In 1964, a clandestine armed self-defense organization formed in the black community in Jonesboro, Louisiana, with the goal of protecting civil rights activists from the Ku Klux Klan and other racist vigilantes. After several months of relatively secret operations, the group publicly surfaced in February 1965 under the name "Deacons for Defense and Justice." By the end of 1966, the Deacons had grown to twenty-one chapters with several hundred members concentrated in Louisiana and Mississippi. The Deacons guarded marches, patrolled the black community to ward off night riders, engaged in shootouts with Klansmen, and even defied local police in armed confrontations. When the U.S. Justice Department faltered in enforcing the Civil Rights Act, the Deacons' militant politics and armed actions forced a pivotal showdown in Bogalusa between the government and southern segregationists. Although the Deacons began as a simple self-defense guard to compensate for the lack of police protection, they soon developed into a highly visible political organization with a clear and compelling alternative to the pacifist strategies promoted by national civil rights organizations. They were not the first blacks to practice or advocate armed self-defense. Throughout the civil rights movement, African Americans frequently guarded themselves and their communities against vigilante assaults. But until the Deacons emerged, these armed self-defense efforts were almost always conducted by informal and disconnected covert groups that avoided open confrontations with authority and purposefully eschewed publicity -- in part because they feared retaliation and in part because they wanted to maintain the illusion of nonviolence in the movement. It was this public image of a nonviolent movement that ensured white liberal support in the North. . . Invisible to the broader public, clandestine self-defense groups had little effect on the Ku Klux Klan or federal policy in the South. The Deacons, in contrast, consciously built a highly public, regional organization that openly defied local authorities and challenged the Klan -- something that neither the Klan nor Washington could ignore." (pp. 2-3)

The Deacons were careful, not only to arm themselves, but to amass credible stocks of small arms ammunition so that the right to keep and bear arms was not canceled after the first skirmish. Indeed, it was their ammunition purchases which convinced the FBI that they were serious. The thing is, by virtue of who he is and where he was raised, Smitherman must surely have heard about the Deacons. There was a chapter in Birmingham, and another in Montgomery. Is he really that ignorant of his own history?

Rodger must be either be perfectly clairvoyant or smoking something (I rather think the latter) if he proposes laws such as SB-541 as if the bad old days cannot ever come again. Anyone who thinks that tyranny cannot come to America is whistling past the graveyard of history. And if the "sheetheads" of the Klan once again grow and take over local and state governments and the police agencies they control (which, by the way, they have done three times in less than a century), or even, God forbid, acquire the power of the federal government -- what then will prevent Smitherman from being chased out of his political office, put out of business, arrested, beaten or even killed by thugs acting under color of law merely because they don't like the color of his skin? He might resort to arms, if he had the ammunition. He might, if he isn't, as a result of his own bill, "Dànjìn-liángjué."

If he was standing here in front of me I would tell him this:"Be careful what you wish for, Rodger, you may get it. 'History does not take place in a vacuum,' and there are always unintended consequences. If you don't withdraw this bill and rethink your participation in the citizen disarmament movement, at the very least the ghosts of the Deacons will haunt you past the grave for spitting on their memory. As Pastor Balanon could tell you, the wages of 'Dànjìn-liángjué' will get your life cut short and your bones tossed down a deep well. And as Santayana observed, it is best to remember history lest you repeat it."

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

Seized Cavalry Arms Inventory in WSJ

It's listed in yesterday's The Wall Street Journal:

Page 8 under legal notices. All claims for property must be made by May 25th or the property will be disposed of according to ..... . Has hundreds of guns listed - machine guns, everything. Bastards at BATFE.

Edit link to scanned page - 450KB TIF File. In middle of page and then continues at the next column. You can zoom in to see detail.

Link to scanned page

The photo presented above is just a screenshot to show you where the inventory begins. Go to the scanned page link to get a copy you can enlarge and read.

This is extremely frustrating to cover because of the limited statements mandated by Cavalry Arms' attorneys, although imagine the frustration they are going through. How in the world is BATFU able to legally take and dispose of property without a judgment? I understand seizures for evidence, but this is outside of anything I have ever seen, and I welcome comments from those with an understanding of the "Always Think Forfeiture" process.

They couldn't be more "in your face" to the entire gun owner community about this if they tried, and we need to view this latest with two things in mind:

1. This is all happening on the watch and under the authority of "The Vote Freedom First President," who gun owners put in power.

2. This is all happening at the direction of "Maximum Mike" Sullivan, and those of us who have not written our senators telling them we expect his confirmation to be opposed are not holding up our end of things.

UPDATE: Jed has good commentary on this.

We're the Only Ones Kicking Up Our Dogs Enough

A hearing into the firing of a state trooper accused of mistreating his police dog opened today with a video of the officer kicking the dog as it was suspended from the railing of a loading dock...

Jones claims the episode on Aug. 8 was not mistreatment.

Oh really? Yeah, you're a regular Cesar Millan, trooper.

Here's the video.

Anybody not think the miserable, sadistic coward wouldn't have used that as justification to respond with lethal force if someone had done it to him?

Who doesn't think that any "Only One" capable of doing this to an animal to demand obedience would exhibit restraint when controlling a human being?

And just whenI thought this story couldn't infuriate me any more, I read about this piece of...excuse-making... whining "there were no clear training procedures."

Does that not tell us everything we need to know?

The Root of the Problem

“Boston anti-gun group leader [is a] disgraced police director,” reads the Boston NOW headline, announcing the opening of the first satellite office for the Washington DC-based Reaching Out to Others Together (ROOT).

“The group says it doesn’t expect its local leader’s past, which included a stint in federal prison, to be a distraction.”

What? An anti-gun group headed by a felon?

"The Root of the Problem," my Rights Watch column for the June 2008 issue of GUNS Magazine, is now online.

"A Social Conservative"

A few days back I stumbled on a pro-RKBA site and now I can't locate it to provide a link.

The gist of it was, the writer said they agreed with me on guns, but were otherwise "violently opposed" to me because I was "a social conservative."

If someone is going to violently oppose me, I at least deserve to merit the violent opposition.

Someone reading today's posts--which just kind of happened because I was sent the links by readers--might get exactly the opposite impression.

To set the record straight--I am, for the most part, a personal conservative, with occasional lapses accounted for by my status as a flawed human being.

So when I write about prostitution, I'm not endorsing it--I condemn it. I think it is immoral and degrading to both parties. I have never felt inclined to procure the services of one because I have always felt that way. But I will not endorse the use of government force to stop you--unless of course you remove volition or bring minors into it, and that's a whole 'nother story.

Likewise my observations on the drug war. By way of disclosure, I have one of my Red's Trading Post coffee mugs sitting before me as I type. Tonight I will have some Cabernet with dinner and enjoy a nice big bad-for-me maduro afterward. But I don't endorse using the other stuff (and know some cannabis aficionados will disagree with me, but sorry, it makes you stupid), and believe the obvious--the harder stuff is just plain bad for ya and bad for everyone around you.

So as a personal conservative, I am against flesh peddling and against drug abuse--I just happen to believe that non-coercive voluntary interventions by caring people would be more humane and effective at actually reducing abuse and rehabilitating lost souls than the present iron fist/grow more state tentacles methodology.

Because I also observe that government excess is bad for me and everyone around, too, and of the two threats, that's the more pervasive and destructive one, and the one I have the least ability to protect myself and my loved ones against.

Hillary's Nuts!

I guess she won't be needing one of these (and what's with the idiot republican "gun shop owner" thinking giving government the power to eliminate adult choices and ban things he doesn't like is a good idea?).

We're the Only Ones Robbing to Support Our Habit Enough

After eluding law enforcement for a week, the former Jackson cop accused of robbing a downtown credit union last week has been arrested...

Epps was a six-year burglary detective and former president of the police officers union before being fired in 1999 after he tested positive for cocaine use.

Yeah, sure, "It is a testament to the scourge of crack cocaine in our society."

Right--it's the substance's fault. Just like violent crime is the gun's fault. I know--let's throw more resources at the War on Drugs--that'll make everything right!

That's the ticket--more "Only Ones." Only incorruptible ones this time.

[Via Stephen S]

A Wacko Tinfoil Hat Conspiracy Theory

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, convicted last month of running a high-end prostitution service in Washington, hanged herself in a shed outside her mother's mobile home in Florida today, officials said.

Right, fool me twice.

One of the escort service employees was former University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor Brandy Britton, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January before she was scheduled to go to trial.

Or per this account:

This multi-talented woman, who was popular with friends and johns alike, was found hanged in her home on Saturday. Police do not suspect foul play in the incident...

I wonder what's going to become of that list they were talking about making public? It's not like any powerful, famous people with serious connections were on it...

Quite simply, I don't believe any government official saying these were both suicides. I may be wrong, I may have no evidence other than circumstantial coincidence, and it could in fact be exactly that, two sad, broken women unwilling to endure a looming ordeal, but I don't believe it.

The tragedy about that is I don't believe it because I have witnessed too many government lies. If I hadn't, I'd be less inclined to give conspiracy theories credence. But I have. We all have. To where I don't know who in power to believe any more. Boy who cried wolf and all. No corrupt, depraved or foul act committed under color of authority surprises me any longer.

I don't believe my government. How pathetic is that?

That's a hell of a thing to swallow for someone whose prime motivation for involving myself in the public opinion forum is that I love my country. If it didn't anger me so, and strengthen my resolve to help fix things, it would break my heart.

Meanwhile, nothing to see here, move on...

[Via Zachary G]

Les Miserables

A woman who escaped from a Detroit prison 32 years ago has been arrested in San Diego, where she was married with three children and living under a false name, authorities said.

Well, this'll do society a lot of good. Not to mention her family.

Funny how outside the system she "reformed" just fine, isn't it? Thank goodness for driver license fingerprinting!

"Law and order" gun owners who insist on prosecuting the "War on Drugs" guarantee a much more destructive and unchecked force will pervade every aspect of our lives--from spying eyes on our finances, to asset seizures/forfeitures, to no-knock militarization of "law enforcement," to official corruption, to enabling and making inevitable a violent street gang subculture (with consequent demands for "gun control"), to enriching enemies foreign and domestic, and all the attendant evils these "unintended consequences" represent.

Here's just a microcosm example--look at the resources being expended in Bloomberg's Paradise. Do you really think with the money and power and budget "justification" they'll get out of this that their incentive is for anything but ensuring a growth industry--as has happened?

The most effective way to deal with a moral problem, a health/mental health problem, a spiritual problem, is to treat it for what it is (without excusing any resulting criminal force, fraud or negligence). That is, if you really want to.

Anybody think success at solving the problem is the destination the enforcement gravy train is bound for?

[Via DONE! SEO]

Panic in Orlando!

Panic Sets In!

Since 1987, more than a million Floridians have received concealed-weapon permits. Should I be allowed to carry a gun, too?

It's a life-and-death responsibility with no experience needed.

Yeah, that's the funny thing about life and death, isn't it? We're given brains and have access to resources, and then have to make free-will decisions, often with very little control of the situation we're thrust in.

Welcome to the human experience, nitwit. How many more years were you going to call yourself an adult before figuring this out?

Justifying the PSH

Recent complaints to state officials pointed out that almost anyone who wants to carry a handgun to the movies, mall or church can do so. The shortcomings they cited include training that allows firing bullets without gunpowder, and passing students for merely pulling the trigger once or twice without ever loading or unloading a handgun.

Well, that's not good. But there's no indication it was widespread and there's every indication it was a violation of rules, and that swift and sure steps were taken to self-correct and eliminate shortcutting.

So amidst all "Authorized Journalist" Henry Pierson Curtis' wailing and gnashing of teeth (and the not so subtle attempt to fan the flames of hysteria against the parking lot bill), a few key questions are missing, foremost among them just where the hell the true problems with firearms abuse occur, and what kind of mayhem record have the people who have been going through the process he's wringing his panties over established over the years?

[Via Phillip C]

A Split-Second Decision

After Grant fired three times Monday from the doorway of the King IGA grocery store, manager Marino Hernandez made a split-second decision not to fire back.

Because, you know, trigger-happy non-"Only Ones" endanger everyone with their Wild West mentality...

[Via Deadcenter]

Apple Blossoms

I just received an email update to this:

We had over 500 shooters in fourteen states! If you can believe it California topped the list with the most shooters!

It was so sucsessful here that the RWVA leased a range and now we have a home here on the west coast.

It's at Wes Thompson's Piru rifle range.

That's good news. The next Piru event will be May 31/June 1, and I understand they're also putting together a nationwide effort for July 4th weekend. You can get more information about Appleseed at their website, and my GUNS Magazine article about the program ought to be out in another couple months.

We're the Only Ones Unapologetic Enough

A college student apparently called 911 from her cell phone shortly before she was killed but a dispatcher hung up, failed to call back and never sent police to investigate, authorities said Thursday...

Norwick said he was investigating the incident and reviewing whether policies should be changed and employees should be disciplined. But he also said, "I don't think there's anything to apologize for at this time."

No, of course not. It's not like they have a duty or anything. And at least the dispatcher was awake this time.

Besides, it's not like she was an "Only One" or anything.

[Via Macentyre and Avg Joe]

This Day in History: May 2

By May 2, 1775, Patrick Henry was on the move. Stirring the Hanover Volunteers to action with a fiery speech, they elected Henry their captain, and rode off to Williamsburg. So popular was Henry's action that by the time the Hanover volunteers got to Williamsburg, their ranks had swollen to 5,000 from the cheering crowds that lined their way. The powder was compensated twice over, and shortly afterwards, Governor Dunmore, fearing for his safety, ended up on board a ship in the York River.

Watch This Case

The government argues that because of his guilty plea to misdemeanor battery Hayes is not allowed to own a gun. But Hayes and his lawyer disagree. They say it's not fair to apply a law that was passed in 1996 to an offense that happened in 1994. They also say Hayes plead guilty to a state misdemeanor battery charge, which is different from a federal domestic violence misdemeanor.

That would be "the government" that reports to "The Vote Freedom First President" who gun owners put in power.

If there were any justice, SCOTUS would rule for Mr. Hayes. Which is why I predict they will refuse to hear it without comment.

UPDATE: Eating my own words has never been more delicious. Mmm....mmm, that's good eatin'. (And I should have read the article I linked to more closely, because it says it too. My total negligence while trying to hurry on to something else.)

Thanks, Bill. Now let's hope they do the right thing and I can keep it down.

Commonsense Baby-Stepping DSH*

...mixing deadly weapons with whiskey in a bar...

...stash a loaded weapon in the glove box of the car...

...guns at shows — those open-air bazaars at which all sorts of weaponry is for sale to buyers who walk in off the street...

...the rule of guns...

Y'know, if I was going to try and convince an audience that what I was proposing was "commonsense" and a "baby step," I'd try to moderate the zealotry--or at least take some hormones to rebalance my body chemistry.

Do you imagine looking at this editorial writer's eyes while he was typing this would be anything but unsettling in a really creepy way?

* A variation on the term

Why Isn't This Working?

Crime Stoppers has upped the reward for tipsters who provide information that helps control gang and gun crime in Tarrant County.

What, $1,000 and anonymity isn't enough? Perhaps the benefits haven't been communicated adequately:

Look, Fort Worth underworld, perhaps you're not clear on the opportunity being given you here...

You know your turf rivals are armed. Call in the tip, man.

Let the cops do your dirty work for you, put away the competition, and then collect a sweet $1250 in the bargain. Let "law enforcement" help you advance and solidify your position, and get rid of your enemies to boot!

Where's the downside?

There you go, Acting Chief Kneblick. Glad to help.

Some Housekeeping Items

As a rule, I don't spend a lot of time or space here at WarOnGuns on the "big stories," meaning stuff everyone else is talking about. I try, not always successfully, to focus more on unique things that don't get as much attention--or at least provide an original insight into things that are being widely discussed.

But I guess I should at least mention that Bloomberg's lawsuit against the gun industry has been dismissed. Now I'd like to see the same thing happen to judicial subversive Jack Weinstein.

That and NRA-ILA is asking for help with its war chest to fight a legal challenge spearheaded by the Florida Chamber of Commerce against the guns in vehicles bill. I found it encouraging that, in their email, they included Wal-Mart among the "anti-gun corporate giants."

One of the Greatest Biblical Scholars this Nation Has

Snuffy Pfleger goes nuts on camera. So what else is new?

Say--he does a pretty good Adolf, don't you think?

I do wonder what makes him think he's qualified to assess Biblical scholarship though. Now, if he'd claimed some sort of special authority in judging qualifications for fomenting racist class hatred or communist subversion, I wouldn't be arguing...

[Via 45superman]

A Living Saint

I've called Lee Paige "the Godfather of 'The Only Ones,'" and "the Founding Father of 'The Only Ones,'" but 45superman just distilled it down to the essentials.

I wonder what it would cost to make a mold and cast some of these...?

Common Dreams

Several National Park Service employee advocacy groups and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) are warning that the National Rifle Association-driven changes to the firearms safety and uniformity regulations in our national parks proposed today by the Department of the Interior will lead to confusion for visitors, rangers, and other law enforcement agencies.

Right, and we all know how confused "The Only Ones" can get some times, and who better to define our rights than retired public "service" employees and vested "law enforcer" careerists partnered with neo-Marxists masquerading as Americans?

The coalition is urging concerned citizens to submit their comments on the proposed regulation change to the Department of the Interior by clicking here.

Yes--by all means, do so, and pass that link on to all interested in reestablishing a legally-recognized right to the means of self defense in national parks.

I'm serious. Please take a moment and do it now. Click on the link, enter a comment and then spread the comments page url far and wide. Let's inundate them with pro-RKBA rationality.

And thanks, Common Dreams, for the reminder that it's time to mobilize and overwhelm you.

Hello, Mary Lou...

Maybe we’ll eventually have to return to the Wild West and carry guns in holsters...Then it would come down to who is the quickest on the draw.

Mary Lou Akright
Leawood

Ricky Nelson? Hit it, please:

Hello Mary Lou, goodbye brains...

None Had Merit

Los Angeles Police Department officials announced Tuesday that they investigated more than 300 complaints of racial profiling against officers last year and found that none had merit -- a conclusion that left members of the department's oversight commission incredulous.

It is at least the sixth consecutive year that all allegations of racial profiling against LAPD officers have been dismissed, according to department documents reviewed by The Times.

Because we all know LA is the very model of tolerance and harmony between the police and "the community." I neglected to mention that two days ago was the 16th anniversary of proof of that.

[Via DONE! SEO]

Microinfringing in Nassau

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is urging the NYS Senate to pass legislation requiring semiautomatic pistols manufactured or delivered to any licensed dealer in this state to be capable of microstamping ammunition.

...The bill, A9819A, was sponsored by Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel of Great Neck, cosponsored by Assemblymen Tom McKevitt of Garden City and Joseph Saladino of Massapequa.

Well doesn't it just figure: A Janet Reno protégé using her "official" power to run interference for a radical schlemiel board member of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

Yeah, I'll be letting Elena Ceauşescu clones define my rights real quick. Maybe we can negotiate a compromise with them...

Everybody realizes the radical feminist left hates men, right? And yeah, I mean to include "Republicans" McKevitt and Saladino.

[Via cycjec]

Statement of Cavalry Arms

From Shawn Nealon
Cavalry Arms Corp:

For those of you sending out moral support, we very much appreciate it. This is what our 3 different Attorneys all agreed is safe to post....

"For many years Cavalry Arms Corporation (“Cavalry”) has strived to manufacture and sell quality firearms to the public. We have always strived to put our experience from the field into making quality products that the average shooter can afford, while still bringing innovations to the industry. We are dedicated to providing the best possible products and customer service to the firearms market.

On February 27, 2008, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a federal search warrant on the business premises of Cavalry and on the private residence of its CEO, Shawn Nealon. We have immediately engaged legal counsel to resolve this matter with the federal government. Cavalry is confident that all it conduct has been lawful in carrying out its business activities. The Government has yet to share with the company details of the investigation or the cause precipitating the search warrant. Cavalry is cooperating with the federal investigation. To date no accusations of wrongdoing have been filed against Cavalry or any of its employees regarding alleged illegal activity.

While we are waiting for a resolution to this situation, Cavalry Arms will remain open for business and continue firearms operations under its Manufacturer’s FFL. Unfortunately, the federal government seized business files, computers, and inventory from Cavalry during the execution of the search warrant. As a result, Cavalry has been forced to reconstitute its resources, and we expect to be fully operational in the near future. In the meantime, we still carry firearm parts and emergency medical products for sale. We appreciate your patience, and we thank everyone who has shown us support during this turbulent time."

5/2 UPDATE: Click here to see assets seized as posted in The Wall Street Journal.

This Day in History: May 1

The Committee of Sixty was replaced by a more representative Committee of One Hundred on May 1, 1775. By May 4, the city had four companies of volunteers. On May 15, the Continental Congress order the construction of a fort at Kings Bridge, the construction of batteries in the Highlands, and the arming and training of a militia.

The Committee of One Hundred was not for independence, but was instead opposed to Britain's laws which they considered unjust. The committee wrote to Governor Cadwallader Colden in May, 1775 "that though they are arming with the greatest diligence and industry; it is not with design to oppose, but to strengthen government in the due exercise of constitutional authority". In May, all inhabitants were asked to sign a Association. Anyone who refused to sign were to be called "enemies of this country". Some of the Loyalists were tarred and feathered. The committee disarmed all loyalists within its jurisdiction. The Committee of One Hundred was officially replaced by the New York Provincial Congress which first convened on May 23, 1775, but the committee continued to meet for a while.

We're the Onl...zzzzzzzzzzz

When you call 911, you expect help immediately. Lisa, a Memphis resident, got anything but...

The line goes silent. As Lisa continues to explain her situation, the dispatcher does not respond - not for just 15 or 30 seconds, but for one full minute.

Then, sounds of snoring can be heard on the line.

Because we're "The Only Ones" in this room professional enough to use this phone, y'see...

[Via MacEntyre]

Pampering Tyranny

You can help babies in need have a brighter tomorrow! With every specially marked pack of Pampers that you purchase, Pampers will donate the cost of one vaccine to help UNICEF protect a woman and her newborns against tetanus*...

Sounds like a humane program. Why the asterisk? How much of the nickel goes directly into vaccines, or does it go directly into a general fund for Unicef to use as it sees fit? And even if it all bought shots, would it free up resources for:

...financing terrorism?

...funding global gun control?

...partnering with our old friends at IANSA?

Ultimately, the only secular solutions to the world's woes will be provided by increasing Liberty, not by giving the globalist commissars more leverage for making people depend on them. Don't fall for the DSH*. As worthy as the goal may seem, the true objective smells worse than a landfill of disposed Pampers.

*Substitute "Diaper"

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

"The bottom line is that this protest is not going to change anything," said Jack Rogers, director of public safety at OSU. "The Oregon administrative rule overrides any provision for concealed weapons, and it is very unlikely that the Oregon University System will yield to any change on this subject."...

Rogers, however, doesn't believe that an average gun owner would know how to use deadly force properly in an extreme situation.

"We in law enforcement have gone through an extreme amount of firearms training," Rogers said. "We're the ones who are the professionals."

He also said that students who carry concealed weapons may not be knowledgeable enough to determine when to use deadly force and when to restrain. Rogers believes that firearms in a college environment have to be controlled.

"The bottom line is that we have well-trained and well-prepared staff here who know what the training is all about," Rogers said.

"[The use of deadly force] doesn't come lightly; it takes a tremendous amount of training to use deadly force."

Right.

This coming from the guy whose best advice is run or hide. If you can. He won't tell you to pray if you can't, because OSU is a public institution, and there's that "wall of separation" (that somehow doesn't keep the evil out)...

By your logic, Jack, all 48 states that have successfully implemented some form of concealed carry provisions must rescind them because--why is that again? Oh, yes, you're (and we knew this was coming) "The Only Ones."

Tell me something, Jack (your middle name wouldn't happen to be "Boot," would it?): If you're not an outright fraud, that is, if you truly believe that line of utter crap you just spouted to The Barometer, wouldn't such incompetence wielded by someone in authority amount to criminal negligence? Is not, in fact, calling someone who uses force to endanger other humans a "director of public safety" a perverse Orwellian oxymoron?

Where do we find the mentality that, with a straight face asserts evil little local edicts "override" unalienable natural rights? And where do we find the mentality that believes him?

[Via Cogito Ergo Geek]

Lux Lucre's Flash Page

Bill St. Clair added a comment to yesterday's "Flash to Freedom" post:

The Philosophy of Liberty flash animation is a creation of the late Lux Lucre. I snarfed his entire Flash animation directory right after he died to ensure that it wouldn't be lost. It includes The Philosophy of Liberty in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, L. Neil Smith's "The Atlanta Declaration" in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese, a rendition of the Zero Aggression Principle, and a few others.

Check it out at billstclair.com/luxlucre (the "Bill of Rights animation was missing at his site when I sampled it).

We're the Only Ones Cited Enough

A CITIZEN who watched a cop illegally park, then walk into a Chinese restaurant to wait for his food, has issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated parking violations.

Don't you just love the "Only One" rationale?

"If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?"

There was no crime emergency, just personal convenience, and if there had been a break-in, you would be parking at the scene. We all know that and it isn't even a rational argument. But isn't it interesting, how your immediate reaction is to use a deceptive ploy to cover your tracks?

It makes me wonder what other shortcuts you have conditioned yourself to employ to avoid accountability for willful abuses of power. And it makes me wonder if that corruption is isolated or institutionalized in your department.

What I don't wonder about is the character of someone who abuses the privileges of delegated authority and then tries to weasel out of the consequences.

Good for Mr. Bryan. And shame on you, Chad Stensgaard.

[Via Plug Nickel Times]

Compare and Contrast

Here are two stories out of Tennessee handled two different ways:

Defenseless

A 19-year-old clerk was killed Monday night after two men robbed the gas station where he worked, shot him and left him for dead in the middle of the street outside, Metro police said.

Armed

A would-be robber at an Inglewood liquor store was shot and killed Saturday night after a customer opened fire, Metro police said.

Not that it would do any good to show this to an anti-defense zealot--they'd just seize on what could have happened, as opposed to what did.

[Via Blackshirt]

Report from the Front Lines

[Because this involves certain disclosures, the Author chooses to remain anonymous.--DC]

I just returned from the gun store and boy was it depressing. This is my observation from the front lines;

I have been a gun BUYER / collector for +/- 33 years. I purchased my first (legal) gun at 10:05 am on the morning of my 18th birthday. I was lined up at the door before the store opened. Since that day, I buy guns like people try to max out their IRA's.

Since January 2000 when the kalifornia "one a month" law took effect I took that as a minimum requirement and I have purchased in excess of a gun a month, every month for the last 100 months.

What do I see after 30 + years? Eight out of the ten gun stores I have regularly shopped at are closed, gone, out of business. The two that are left are playing to a captive audience and they treat their customers as if they have come to the DMV.

There are no kids in the store(s). It is no wonder the gun business is dying.

I was in a gun store this afternoon to pick up a couple of guns and there must have been in excess of a dozen people in the store. One of the "clerks" called out "who's picking up a gun?" and I was the only person to raise my hand out of the throng - Everyone there was a tire kicker or time waster. No one (apparently) was there to spend money.

I have lamented before that most people that frequent gun stores are time wasters. Sitting at the counter shooting the breeze, handling stuff, friends of the owner hanging out, wanna be "men" who don't buy guns because their wives won't allow one in the house but they want to hold one. This is what a gun store has become.

I used to spend a lot of time in gun stores when I was younger. I don't hang out much in the gun stores anymore - although I do spend money. I come in before they open, do the insidious stack of paperwork and leave before they open or I come in, get business done and leave but if there is one thing I have never seen in any gun store FOREVER it is the majority of the crowd spending money.

When I was a kid, the gun store was the mens club. Now, the decline is painful to watch. With the coming micro stamping it is possible that the only companies selling guns in kalifornia will be S & W and Ruger and the gun business will be unsustainable. Add to that the proposed ammo licensing and what ever other crap becomes fashionable. In my view we are watching the last 10 years of the firearms business in kalifornia. (Unless the result of Heller is to tell the state to F*** OFF - but I don't think that is likely)

I would like to see S & W and Ruger and others take the principled stand that Ronnie Barrett took and refuse to sell guns, ammunition and replacement parts to any kalifornia agency or officer because barring that, the gun business in kalifornia will be LEO centered if not exclusive and there will be no private gun business. But I'm not holding my breath.

Combine this move toward restrictive legislation and dealers embracing (bending over for) the state with a lack of product diversity or availability and people not spending money in the stores and there is no gun business in kalifornia.

Therapeutic Thuggery

A new law being pushed in Canada by Big Pharma seeks to outlaw up to 60 percent of natural health products currently sold in Canada, even while
criminalizing parents who give herbs or supplements to their children.

I'm not a big proponent of herbs, supplements, vitamins, colloidal minerals, homeopathy, or anything that relies on anecdotes and testimonials over clinical studies, etc., but then again, my approval isn't necessary, is it?

Personally, I try to eat right and within reason, do some exertion activity each day, and then figure we're all gonna die of something...

I don't mean to conduct that debate here.

Bottom line: who owns your body?

This is the logical extension of the War on Drugs, which provides the template for the War on Guns, which is a targeted objective in the greater War on Freedom. As we see, it's happening in Canada, it's happening in Europe, and it's happening here.

And while the cover story is one of enlightenment, protection and health, we all know that somewhere at the end of the thread we'll find money and power and control trumping self determination.

[Via DONE! SEO]

This Day in History: April 30

...I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.