Monday, November 17, 2008

No One Forced You

"It's not something you are entitled to keep confidential," Orchard said. "No one forced you to acquire a handgun."
That's fine, Jack--no one forced you to act like a Quisling--for profit. You want to be out there doing things for personal gain that impact the rights of your countrymen like this, it would seem fair if your private information became public--along with the private information of those employing you.

At some point, someone is going to realize that when people say they want to be left alone, they mean it.

One thing that gets me about this though, is no one is apparently trying an obvious reaction to this. We know the Mail Tribune is a prime instigator. We also know times aren't good for the newspaper industry as a whole.

Gun owners should organize and pick one advertiser, so they can keep their resources focused, and make it their problem, too. Convince them that their advertising dollars are financing an attack on their customers' rights, and persuade them to suspend it. Then move on to the next one. It's a peaceful and responsible reaction that allows for acting locally, and I'd bet a couple dozen committed and creative people could pull it off. And it doesn't have to be all stick--it doesn't take too much imagination to conceive of some carrots that could be offered to make it worth a retailer's while.

But I've been chanting that mantra for some time, to no avail. I really don't expect any but a handful to actually do anything, and any but a handful of those to do anything that doesn't rely on political popularity.

And we wonder why we're reaching the point where some of us, a small but serious percentage, are feeling like we're cornered with nowhere to go but through, while others scold us not to growl at the tormentors because it scares people and makes all gun owners, meaning them, look bad by association.

[Via Jeffersonian]

This Day in History: November 17

As the Season is fast approaching, when the Bay between us and Boston, will in all probability, be close shut up, thereby rendering any Movement upon the Ice, as easy as if no Water was there; and, as it is more than possible that General Howe, when he gets the expected Reinforcements, will endeavour to relieve himself from the disgraceful confinement, in which the Ministerial Troops have been all this Summer...

Sunday, November 16, 2008

We're the Only Ones Highly Recommended Enough

Gundersen was acquitted in September of two dozen counts of spousal rape, but convicted of 11 counts of battery and illegally possessing both a submachine gun and a pistol with a silencer -- charges he is due to be sentenced for Friday.

But, with the District Attorney's Office still deciding whether to proceed with charges that Gundersen raped his then live-in girlfriend in 1999, the Trinidad Police Department recommended Wednesday that Gundersen be charged with a series of theft and embezzlement charges stemming from his tenure as Trinidad police chief.
The rampant "Only Oneism" has gone on for years and years...

Yeah, these guys are better than us, all right...better at being criminals.

[Via Gun Rights Alert]

Capitalists Selling Rope

Rope:
The 2008 Legislative session has begun, and the Ammunition Accountability Act is being introduced across the country. Below is a summary of legislation that has been introduced throughout the United States...
Capitalists.

The comments from here have these fascist parasites pretty well pegged--there's no market demand for their brand of subversion, so instead they're going the coercion/force it on us route.

[Via TBD]

Stand Down

VCDL says things aren't as bad as they seemed.
FOR THE TIME BEING, LET'S JUST LET THE PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS KNOW THAT WE SUPPORT THE RANGE AND WANT IT TO BE BUILT!
OK.

[Via Jeffersonian]

We're the Only Ones Authorizing Journalists Enough

Three writers whose police department press passes weren't renewed filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the city's criteria for deciding who qualifies for the valuable ID cards...

"Why does the police department get to determine who is a journalist?" Siegel said.
Gee, no conflict of interest for "Only Ones" who work for the founder of Bloomberg News to want to decide just who is and is not an "Authorized Journalist."

Is there?

[Via cycjec]

Two Very Good Reasons...

...the GOP is trying to purge John Boehner from his house leadership position, and replace him with this pliable, gun-confiscating wretch:

Boehner Demands Fed Identify Recipients of Loans

and

Boehner Pans Money For Autos

Who but the corrupt, the bought-and-paid-for, would oppose his first initiative. And who but a usurper would oppose his second? The thieves are just trying to cover their tracks in the first instance, and return to the scene of the crime in the second.

I'm not a Boehner cheerleader. I've expressed caution on the guy in the past.

The reason the Republicans blew it, and isn't it curious that neocons are partnering with socialists to claim the opposite, is because the base is sick and tired of being betrayed, and compromising further under the false promise of what's represented as political pragmatism, but what is actually surrender.

We're the Only Ones A Scanner Darkly Enough

Lomita has become the latest South Bay city to begin using computerized technology capable of scanning thousands of license plates a day.

It is presently the only local city that contracts with the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement services to use what's known as automatic number plate recognition. (Carson had one, but the car it was installed in was totaled in a crash.)
That last bit actually made me laugh. It's the only thing about hurtling headlong into the total surveillance state that does, all aided and abetted by our friends, the "Only Ones."

Good thing "the American Civil Liberties Union has signed off on the idea because it does not involve racial profiling." Marxist states like Cuba don't really care what color the proles are, either, and if you have any doubts about the ACLU in Southern California...why that's funny--I just searched their site for three terms, "Heller," "Second Amendment" and "gun" and came up empty on anything resembling a retraction or an apology...

But they've done their job permeating the public consciousness well, you can't argue that. Not only are cities all over the South Bay jumping on board, you even have the mayor of one of the most well-heeled, chock-full-of-capitalist communities, and a lawyer, to boot, someone who probably once took a college-level multiple choice test on the Bill of Rights by his sophomore year, asking "Should you really have an expectation of privacy when you drive on a public street?"

Of course not, Mr. Mayor. Any more than we'd expect our First Amendment right to be recognized if we, say, videotaped the cop or disagreed with him. Any more than we'd expect our Second Ame...ah, you guys know the drill: Fourth Amendment trunk search, Fifth Amendment self-incrimination, try to exercise any one of these with the attitude that you're a sovereign citizen and let the cruel and unusual punishment begin, on the spot, the streets being Sixth and Eighth Amendment-free zones as well. Should we really have an expectation that it would be otherwise? Hell, we don't even expect these things in our homes anymore.

One final note: Everybody caught the last name of the Lomita community officer, right? I suppose the irony is either lost on him or it's why he chose the line of work he did...

This Day in History: November 16

You are immediately to examine into the state of the artillery of this army & take an account of the Cannon Mortars, Shels, lead & ammunition that are wanting; When you have done that,you are to proceed in the most expeditions manner to New York; There apply to the president of the provincial Congress, and learn of him whether Col Reed did any thing, or left any orders [struck: there] respecting these things, & get him to procure such of them as can possibly be had there.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Altering the Outcomes

I don't typically update the Gun Rights Examiner column on weekends, but two incidents have happened that ought to be addressed...

A drive-by shooting and a toddler shot himself with his police officer father's gun...as if disarming you and me would have prevented either once...

Black and White and Red All Over

Y'all remember the professor with socialist sympathies who opined we're buying guns because we're scared of melanin?

Armed and Safe started the ball rolling.

Then I got into it here.

At which point, everybody's favorite "3-percenter" Mike Vanderboegh weighed in.

The recipients of Brother Mike' pointed wisdom have responded, and Mindful Musings has posted them, along with Mike's intertwined responses to:

Reporter Howard Witt
and
Professor Ben Agger

Go and read both. I'll still be here.

Thing is, part of the good professor's explanation is his quote has been taken out of context. His complete views have not been explained.

It looks like at least one other paper suffers from the same contextual limitations:

Ben Agger said he’s concerned, though, about what is prompting fear in gun owners.

"What is the underlying motivation . . . to buy assault weapons?" asked Agger, a sociology and humanities professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who wrote There Is a Gunman on Campus: Tragedy and Terror at Virginia Tech. "Part of me worries this is an expression of the need for people who disagree with Obama to arm themselves because they entertain the thought that there could be armed conflict or possibly race war."

Poor guy just can't get fairly represented in the media...

But in fairness, it's not just racism being cited. There's also a "crisis in masculinity" egged on by "a lot of pro-gun sites that present guns as necessary tokens of hypermasculinity and allow people to buy weapons and ammunition." There's bemoaning about "respond[ing] to violence with violence," and "the fact that in many states there are laws being debated about letting students and teachers carry concealed weapons on campus testifies to the power of the NRA and right-wing gun groups. Rather, we need serious discussions of what causes school shootings and how to deal with potential problems, rather than unleashing an army of would-be Rambos and vigilantes."

Guess who the editor of this "academic journal" is? Hint: He said his views on the Second Amendment might surprise me.

Now to be fair, I've posted guest columns on WarOnGuns I don't completely agree with, so I'd invite the good professor to tell us just what those views are, and in detail--except I've been dismissed and ordered never to darken his inbox again.

Pity. I've always so loved surprises.

[Supporting information via Cris C and Scott W]

Just Who Gun Owners Need in the GOP

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio will face at least one challenger for his leadership position: California Republican Rep. Dan Lungren announced today that he is running for the job.
Yeah, that's just what the GOP needs. I love the way they describe this mutt as a "social conservative."

It's really socially conservative being the guy who initiated confiscation of previously "legal" firearms in California--after he was the guy who said they were legal in the first place. Go ahead and go to that link--make sure you read it all, including supporting internal links, and especially this one.

But hey, that was then and this is now. Apparently, all has been forgiven.

I wonder if Bill Doss got his SKS Sporter back?

[Via Mack H]

We're the Only Ones Unsealed Enough

Warrants naming three officers in a controversial probe of cocaine use by members of a former drug squad have finally been unsealed.
Let me guess: they were a "crack team," the "Only Ones" who knew where to draw the line?

[Via Bruce Mills]

Garden Variety Metaphors

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is showing its hostility toward lawful firearm owners by “weeding out” job applicants who own firearms themselves, a Second Amendment group says.
I don't know if he's weeding so much as sowing some seeds with that requirement for "complete ownership and registration information." Then I'd expect them to do some pruning and trimming before the all-out weed-whacking.

As long as we're cultivating, and deciding what will grow and what will be uprooted, let's not forget the Tree of Liberty...

[Via SameNoKami and Zachary G]

We're the Only Ones Home on the Range Enough

You would swear this range is owned by the PWPD for all the special restrictions they are placing on everyone but themselves.
Well, uh, yeah.

What's the point of being an "Only One" if you don't get special perks, privileges, immunities...?

Just who d'ya think works for who here, anyway, huh?

[Via Jeffersonian]

Ask a Silly Question...

...get yourself investigated.

Any questions?

[Via Plug Nickel Times]

This Day in History: November 15

November 15, 1775 at Plains of Abraham, Quebec - On November 15, Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold had finished his famous march to Quebec. He moved his 700-man force into position and tried to bluff the British garrison to surrender. The British did not fall for this and refused Arnold. This left him with no choice but to withdraw his force.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Buying Back Illusions

Akron is having a gun "buyback," at least that's what they're calling it. But how you can buy back something you never owned in the first place is the least of things that don't make sense.

Here's today's Gun Rights Examiner column, and the final one for the week.

Tell a friend.

Excellent Job, Meleanie!

You did great.

Somebody ought to ask Lynne Doyle if she were being attacked, of the four people on her panel, where Bryan Miller would rate in terms of who she'd want by her side.

Who Does This Guy Think He Is?

A JerseyCity councilman?

[Via Brian F]

They Deserve it for Being Young and Ugly

I would never frequent a restaurant if I knew their employees were packing heat. The employees at these places are much scarier than the clientele. Do you really want the pimply-faced teenager serving your burger to be carrying a magnum? No thanks.
Yeah, I'm with you. I'd rather they were dead. They disgust me. And that makes them less than human.

And if they're not teenagers, they're slack-jawed rednecks compensating for inadequate manhood. They should die, too.

Just so we know the mindset of those who don't trust us...

[Via Firedbrass]

Vanderboegh: Saving Lives, Two Uncomprehending Texas Twits at a Time.

I address this missive principally to Dr. Agger, but it also impacts Bro. Witt as well in his role as a representative of the Fourth Estate. You are no doubt surprised and shocked by the reaction that Dr, Agger's comments aroused amongst the firearms-owning hoi polloi when repeated in Mr. Witt's story. Both your responses to David Codrea, et al, demonstrate that you equally fail to realize that the election of Barack Obama and the total empowerment of his collectivist Democrat party has carried us all -- you, me, and everyone in this country -- through Barack Obama's looking glass into a wonderland where many of the old verities no longer apply.

The GOP pols, who we first put in power in 1994 with their false promise that they would shield us from more gun control, are gone, swept away. Talk radio is about to muzzled by the Orwellian-named "Fairness Doctrine." Next will be Hate Speech Codes on the Internet (three guesses who that will be aimed at). And then there's this wacky Obama "civilian defense corps" which is supposed to be as large as the military and with as big a budget. What's that going to look like? The Hitler Jugend? The Young Communist League? The Ton-Ton Macoute? And, no, Dr. Agger, you are wrong. This has nothing to do with race.

What you neglected to mention in your story, Mr. Witt, is this snippet of Obama transition policy which popped up on his website, http://change.gov/agenda/urbanpolicy/

"Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn’t have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets."
Now, the fact that this contradiction of the smooth lies told by the Lightworker during the campaign was taken down shortly thereafter did not keep it from being noticed. It is, in fact, simply a retelling of Obama's well-established anti-firearms positions.

This is not about race, Dr. Agger. Indeed, if you wish to hear a contradictory anecdote, you have only to ask the counterman at Academy Sports in Trussville, Alabama, who told me yesterday that many of the customers buying semi-automatic rifles of military utility were black and some, dare I say it, were even white liberals. Are THEY buying out of racial guilt or fear of Nat Turner's ghost, Doctor?

Academy Sports, it should be noted, does not stock cheap SKS's or semi-auto Kalashnikovs but does sell very pricey Smith & Wesson and Remington 5.56mm and 7.62 NATO semi-auto copies of full-auto military rifles. Despite the cost (between $900 and $1500 each) they are flying off the shelves. And Trussville is hardly an inner city ghetto. It is, in fact, an up-scale bedroom community suburb of Birmingham.

White folks are buying guns for the same reason that folks of other races are buying guns: because Obama and his ofay statist pals don't want guns in ANYBODY'S hands. Have you never heard of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, Dr. Agger? The veterans of the civil rights struggle here in Alabama sure have, and it is their sons and grandsons, now successful members of an integrated community that is at peace with itself, who are down at Academy buying Smith & Wesson M4 carbines and cases of ammo to go with them. They remember that a government can easily get out of hand, unrestrained by any law other than the threat of military force in the hands of the people.

And why are many, many people of all races buying semi-automatic rifles of military utility? Oprah Winfrey once said that if someone shows you who they really are, you should believe them. OK, so we believe Obama and his white socialist friends in Congress have shown us who they are -- they are gun-grabbers. You may recall Dianne Feinstein's infamous quote on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, February 5, 1995: "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."

So when we see notorious anti-firearms politicos like Rahm Emmanuel, Charles Schumer, et al, ad nauseum, embracing Obama and then we read his campaign's anti-gun words above, we're going to take Oprah's advice. We believe this is who they really are. We do not trust them -- we will NEVER trust them -- and hence, the rush to buy.

The vehement reaction that your words caused is perfectly understandable. The anger reflects the new Wonderland world we find ourselves in. Because we believe that Obama's intentions are to further restrict our traditional liberties and to proscribe and seize our heretofore legal property, we have been making, well, adjustments, both in our thinking and in our day-to-day lives. Here are some facts you probably haven't internalized yet.

First, it is a fact that there is a segment of the firearm-owning population in this country who will refuse to comply with any further infringement of their God-given, inalienable rights. Nor, I must tell you, will they surrender their property simply because someone thinks it's a good idea. These people have been known by many names. A few years back they were known as "cold, dead hands types." More recently, they have been described as "Three percenters." In 1775, they were called Minutemen. It does not matter how many million of us there are. Whatever our number, it is enough to prove an indigestible lump in any would-be American tyrant's throat.

Ask yourself this question: Do you believe that the millions of Americans who are currently voting with their wallets by buying semi-automatic rifles of military utility are doing so simply in order to turn them in when Obama and Company pass their "reasonable regulations"? And if not, then what do you suppose they might be thinking about doing with them?

We find these proposed "reasonable regulations" to be, well, unreasonable. To disarm us as the Obamanoids wish, they will have to seek us out in our homes. And when they do, the most important fact about us that you must remember is that if we are willing to die in defense of our homes, our property and our liberty, we are also willing to kill in defense of those things as well. How many of us are they willing to kill to achieve their "reasonable" objective? And after the first few times some of us are killed in our homes resisting their "reasonable regulations," isn't it truly unreasonable to expect that the rest of us will sit idly by, awaiting our turn?

When democracy turns to tyranny, we still get to vote with our rifles. Folks may sneer at us, call us names ("racists" for just one, Dr. Agger), try to marginalize us if they wish, but, as the Founders intended, they deny our existence at their peril. And the second fact should tell you why.

It is this. In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton declared that the political leadership and news media of his enemies, the Serbs, were legitimate targets of war. He announced this after (not before) he ordered precision guided bombs and missiles into the homes of Serbian politicians and the broadcast facilities of Serbian TV and radio. Now this was roundly condemned at the time by journalists and news organizations all over the world, and rightly so. However, the Clinton Rules of Engagement still stand. Indeed, there are some who regard the academicians who support such regimes with ideas as legitimate targets under Clinton's scheme. (You may recall Martin Heidegger who, after Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 morphed from Heidegger the world-renowned philosopher to Heidegger the Nazi, holding membership card number 312589.)

Which brings us back to you fellows. Let's do the bloody math. You have the unreasonable Three-percenters on one hand who will resist -- with force of arms -- when gun control comes to their doors. On the other hand, there is the Obama administration which seems destined to move the line of "legality" beyond where we unreasonable Three-percenters now stand. Throw in Bill Clinton's Rules of Engagement for journalists and regime stooges and you've just found yourself to be legitimate targets in a civil war. Unfair? You bet. Unjust? Perhaps. But hey, that's the Law of Unintended Consequences. So please, for your own sakes as well as ours, choose your future words carefully. We're through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen is quite unreasonable and she'll be after all our heads if this goes too far.

And, if it comes to that, you each will have exactly two people to blame. The guy in your bathroom mirror who failed to comprehend the true nature of the "change" Barack Obama portended and Bill Clinton. After all, it was Bill's idea.

Bro. Mike Vanderboegh

Gun Rights Evangelist to the Heathen Press, Sipsey Street Mission
Our Motto: "Saving Lives, One Ignorant Editorialist at a Time"

PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126
III

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

NOTE: Mike received responses from both Mr. Witt and Dr. Agger. I'll consult with him and some of the other Sipsey Street denizens to see about posting those exchanges, either here or at one of their places, and will advise.

The Train Draws Nigh

Another aspect of the hearing that was disappointing (and this is the 2nd time it has occurred at a hearing in NJ) was one firearms owner who spoke was concerned only about his own guns. He railed about them trying to take away the guns he had a right to own and pass on to his children and grandchildren, but he ended his statement by saying, "you can take those big 50 bmg’s, but leave my guns alone". Nothing like being thrown in front of the train.
I'll say.

[Via Skip]

Crazy About Guns

This year's uptick in buyers must reflect some new gun owners, but if past surveys are a good guide, surely most of these buyers are repeat buyers. This means that the well-armed are probably getting better-armed—a point none of the recent news stories makes.
That's one of the points Bryan Miller tried to make so unskillfully and deceptively a few days back.

Here's the thing: So what?

The hard core, the committed, the trained just got better armed and resupplied.

Ponder that.

[Via "remarks"]

When Seconds Count

Every minute the officer waits for back-up, another three or more people could die.

In other words, while it was once considered suicide for a lone officer to take on an active killer, it is now considered statistical homicide for him not to do so...

Many malls and workplaces also place signs at their entrances prohibiting firearms on the premises.

Now tacticians believe the signs themselves may be an invitation to the active killers.

It's nothing short of amazing to see this coming from ABC/Scripps, of all places. On the one hand, it's about damn time, but I don't want to take anything away from reporter Brendan Keefe for getting this information into the mainstream. I also appreciate the comparison between precautions taken for fires vs for active defense--that's a point that could be explored a lot further.

This is what we need to hammer home:

As soon as they're confronted by any armed resistance, the shooters typically turn the gun on themselves.
Any armed resistance.

[Via Fat White Man and David Hamel]

We're the Only Ones Reflecting on Ourselves Enough

Pittsburgh police said a detective shot at his own reflection in a mirror while chasing a drug suspect in a dimly lit house in Pittsburgh's North Side.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the "Onliest One" of all?

[Via CTone]

This Day in History: November 14

November 14, 1775 at Kemps Landing, Virginia - Learning that about 150 American militiamen were marching to join forces with other militia under Col. William Woodford, Lord Dunmore led some 350 British (regulars, Loyalists, sailors, and runaway slaves) from Norfolk to cut off the American militia. On November 14, Dunmore's larger force caught up with and dispersed the Americans, who suffered a few dead and wounded. An account in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury declared that the public would be incensed "on finding Lord Dunmore had taken into his service the very scum of the country, to assist him in his diabolical schemes." Conclusion: British Victory.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

We're the Only Ones Flying the Friendly Skies Enough

Since 9/11, more than three dozen federal air marshals have been charged with crimes, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct, an investigation by ProPublica, a non-profit journalism organization, has found. Cases range from drunken driving and domestic violence to aiding a human-trafficking ring and trying to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the rest of us get strip-searched and have bottles of lotion confiscated, and they are the "Only Ones" who can be trusted with guns.

Right.
"We can reassure the public that these dedicated professionals go out there every day and put their lives on the line to make sure that everyone is safe," Bray says. "I don't want them to be tarred by … a few allegations from a few years ago."
Keep braying, weasel-worder.
"We're getting the cream of the crop," then-TSA spokesman David Steigman told reporters. "The people who are going into the air marshal program are the best of the best."
Let's see, 3-4,000 air marshals, "753 documented cases of misconduct by air marshals over 20 months..."

Yeah, just a few "bad apples" there.

I've never abused a position to smuggle drugs into the country. I've never lured young boys to my room and abused them. I've never tried to hire a hit on my wife.

I don't drink and drive, I don't beat my family, I don't take bribes, commit bank fraud, hire escorts, pad expense accounts, pull guns in parking disputes, leave guns in lavatories, discharge guns negligently, get into bar fights and fire guns, deal in stolen property...

And the government says these thugs are more trustworthy than you and I are.

And their solution, of course, is to throw more money at the problem, form Quality Assurance teams...as if those of us who live our lives responsibly and with respect for not infringing on our fellow man require any oversight or special training beyond our own sense of "do unto others," which is all any human being really needs--any human being who's not a sociopath...

I'm getting sick and damned tired of these ethically retarded amoral parasites treating responsible adults like they're the children. And that these abuses all happened on a republican administration's watch angers me even more.

[Via Les K]

Another Child Shooting

Let's see, the guy's only 19 and already has a criminal record including aggravated robbery and menacing? And he still roams among us free to engage in such...uh... youthful indiscretions? Might we ask why our wonderful leaders continue to advance citizen disarmament, that is, putting the rest of us who don't menace, don't rob, don't pull guns on people for gain, at the mercy of the young Mr. Brown's of the world?

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column is up.

Black, White and Red

A few say they are preparing to protect themselves in the event of a race war....

One expert sees a darker motive driving some post-election gun purchasers.

"Why are white people buying assault weapons?" said Ben Agger, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who wrote a book about the Virginia Tech slayings. "I almost hate to say it, but there is a deep-seated fear of the armed black man, because Obama now commands the military and other instruments of the justice system. They are afraid Obama will exact retribution for the very deep-seated legacy of slavery."
45superman noticed this and wrote about it. And he wrote about it again.

I correspond with him regularly, and after he sent me the Trib link, it took just a few minutes of checking around to confirm a few things. Here's the email I sent to reporter Howard Witt, including a copy to his "expert," a guy with an interesting background:

Obama win triggers run on guns‏

From: David Codrea (dcodrea@hotmail.com)
Sent: Wed 11/12/08 2:13 PM
To: hwitt@tribune.com
Cc: agger@uta.edu

Great job, there, Howard, selecting a Marxist academic to call patriotic Americans racist for buying guns. The nice touch was not disclosing his sympathies to your readers!

I mean, I don't need to send you Agger's CV or writings ("This is not to suggest that socialism is, or should be, dropped as a political aim, to be hoped for and fought for"), or reading list for his classes focusing on Karl Marx ad nauseum... Heck, as an "authorized journalist," I'd expect you to not only know all that--but to approve!

Funny thing about commies who employ citizen disarmament--and what commies don't? It generally is only a matter of time until their Worker's Paradise bears predictable fruit. Of course, by that time, the useful idiot academics and writers were long-ago dispatched as useless eaters...

We'll keep buying guns, if you don't mind, or even (especially) if you and Comrade Agger do.

Racists. That's pretty funny right there. You and Ben are funny guys.

Dosvedanya,

David Codrea
--------------

Here is Howard Witt's reply:
Thanks for your comments. Actually I was unaware of Prof. Agger's academic research into socialism, although other readers of the story have since pointed it out to me. I don't see, however, how that has any bearing on the truth or falsity of his observations about the gun-buying phenomenon. Or do you also think I should have "exposed" the countervailing right-wing ideologies of the pro-gun folks I quoted in the story?

Spasibo,

Howard Witt
Southwest Bureau Chief
Chicago Tribune
Houston, TX
--------------

The good professor weighed in as well:
David,

You are just engaging in name calling. You don't know the first thing about my interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, which might genuinely surprise you. The telling thing is that people of my political and social orientation don't typically write nasty emails to those with whom we disagree. We engage in reasoned and civil discourse--of the the kind typified by Obama's measured and respectful style. The fact remains that social scientists are called on to interpret the run on guns and ammo since Obama's election. The Chicago Trib journalist is doing his job by sampling a wide range of opinion. he is not endorsing my views.

Don't respond, please. Just think deeply about what I am saying about the norms of civility.
--------------

If I may:

Gee Howard, you think belief in the Constitution and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is somehow morally equivalent to being a communist? That to you is a "right wing ideology"? You are in the right profession!

And yes, ideology is a much more relevant concept to explore than leveling unfounded charges of racism. It's not like prominent non-white Obama supporters in the media haven't broached the subject of "race war." Along with others from the left.

You let a Marxist race fluffer play that card as his only argument, and now say you didn't know what his qualifications and motivations were. I repeat my initial salutation: Great job there, Howard!

It's almost laughable for you to bring up the "truth or falsity of his observations." But you haven't determined that, have you, Howard? All you've done is allow a clearly agenda-driven creature to utter an opinion--and in the process disparage the character of every gun owner who opened up to you and gave you information for your story.

Political activist gun owners vote ideologically, Howard. I know Obama supporters (let me guess--you're one, right?) get traction from you in the media by claiming its a melanin thang, but it just ain't so, and it's actually quite insulting, presumptuous and irresponsible to imply otherwise to your many thousands of readers.

And now for you, Ben, or may I call you "Tovarisch?"

Your only comment is to cast aspersions on the character and motivation of gun owners and you're the one who's been called names? Are those names accurate, Ben? What else are we to make of your fighting for socialism advocacy?

As for where you stand on the Second Amendment, go ahead, genuinely surprise me.

Now it's funny you should bring up "reasoned discourse." Gun owners have run into that from the left before. But you misunderstand me if you think I wanted to engage in that with you.

Nope. I'm telling you I know what you are, what you represent and what you enable, and frankly, I view you and all promulgators of your brand of subversion with the contempt you deserve.

And "Obama's measured and respectful style" when it comes to political speech? Good one!

Don't worry, Ben, I won't email you again. What was it you told KABA commentator "Theaton"?
Has it occurred to you that I don't want to open up my professional email and read utter nonsense like this? Do not write me again.
I have nothing further to say to you, either. But if someone wants to send you and Howard links to this, I won't mind. You can even add comments if you like--unlike The Chicago Tribune, which disabled theirs for some reason...

Unpublished Opinions

But the justice was not impressed; he was instead, appalled. He noticed that a good number of the decisions I pulled up with my searching were unpublished...
We ran into that here, and a number of you weighed in with comments.

I'm just an ignorant non-lawyer, but it seems to me this is yet another way to deprive us of our rights. Face it--the courts don't rule us by the Constitution, hell, they don't even let you mention it--they rely on stare decisis, whether the earlier decisions were transparently tyrannical BS or not. So then they reach an opinion but don't want others to know about it for their defense? Is that what's going on?

Somehow, I don't think things should be this convoluted. But what do I know?

Apparently not that much, because I actually viewed the Kwan development as news that should interest the gun community. I scanned the Internet before I posted, looking to see if anyone else had weighed in on it so I could learn more, and there was nothing. So I sent my link to several prominent legal bloggers as well as conservative news sites and...well, you tell me...

It's not like the feds didn't do their utmost to put this guy down. I guess their being set back in court just doesn't merit notice...*

[Via lawhobbit]

* One notable exception

Mixed Feelings

"We all have little kids and they're riding their bikes in the street and running around and we all get in a big hurry to get out kids here and there and not be late for appointments or whatever,” said Cheryl Coupens, one of the first people to sign up for the program.

When civilians clock someone speeding, they jot down the vehicle information and pass it along to authorities. There is no fine because the radar is not being operated by commissioned officers, but owners of the speeding vehicles do get a warning letter.
Snitches or citizen militia?

What should they do?

[Via Brian F]

A Peaceful Resolution

Standoff with armed man ends peacefully
Compare this to the abuse of "No Knock" procedures we read about so often.

I guess Wyoming still has some "peace officers"...?

[Via Mama Liberty]

Giving Him Whatever He Wants

Elizabeth Pittenger knew that if a mugger points a gun at you, you should give him whatever he wants.
Really? What if what he wants is to shoot you? Which , apparently, is what he wanted, because he did.

Fortunately, Ms. Pittenger resisted, proving a moving target is harder to hit.

Hopefully, she will come away from this realizing a person aware of their surroundings is harder to target in the first place. It would also be nice to think the lesson will sink in that having the means of defense and the training and will to use it is...

Oh, wait a minute--we're talking MTSU here.

Evidently, alleged assailant Orlando Edmiston is reading impaired.

This Day in History: November 13

General Richard Montgomery led American troops in the capture of Montreal on November 13, 1775. The American presence in Canada proved short-lived. Just weeks later, British victory at Quebec forced a hasty retreat to New York.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

An Open Letter that Never Closed

I wonder what these constituents would say if they were provided the truth about the racist origins and continued discriminatory application of the gun control measures you promulgate? Have you told them about the Slave Codes, that would allow a black man to be whipped (or worse) for possession of any kind of weapon? Or the post-Civil War Black Codes, designed to keep the newly emancipated from obtaining the means of defense during the heyday of Klan terror?

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column focuses on respectful race relations.

A Compelling Argument

Note, I say "compelled service," not "military draft." Some people object to militarism, but drop all objections to mandated service if the compelled labor is put to use in a soup kitchen or a clinic.

To me, though, the primary evil is not militarism, it's compulsion. It's to treat an individual not as a free person who owns his or her own life, but as the property of the state to be drawn upon as a resource at the whim of bureaucrats and politicians.

A-yup.

The Myth That McCain Wasn’t Conservative Enough

Republicans need to appeal to the center and find common cause with independents in order to win.
Spoken like a true Giuliani speechwriter.

He doesn't write like he's retarded, so the only explanation I have for this is the guy is an intentional subversive.

Here's How It's Going to Work...

Obama transition team announces new lobbyist rules...


What?

Standing Strong

This country is becoming so divided in basic values and polarized in philosophy that I can see no clear path to a reconciliation of these two opposing camps.

Continued coexistence would require not compromise but submission because this confrontation involves diametrically opposed principles… and I don’t cotton to compromising principles. As I’ve said, compromise of principle is no compromise—its surrender and traditionalists are unwilling to surrender their principles.
I know. So do a few others. Possibly 3%...

[Via fixenplanes]

Early Exposure

An Illinois Voter suggests to me principles of early exposure being beneficial might apply to more than just nuts...

Not that you'd ever convince most pediatricians of that...

Cities Under Fire!!!!!

30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence. How do we prevent this carnage? First, view illegal guns as pollution. Then, go to the source. [More]
IT BUR-R-R-RNS!!!

And some think we use hyperbole.

I guess the "public health model" didn't get enough traction, so now we're trying the environmentalism analogy tack? And, of course, there's absolutely no acknowledgment of the protective benefits of guns in private hands. Nobody thought these folks were interested in objective scientific inquiry, I hope.

One name sticks out from this as, I dunno, ironic...Daniel Webster would do well to recall the words of a man who bore that name with honor.

Hey, if guns are pollutants, will rich liberals who still have theirs get to ease their consciences by paying some sort of offset indulgence...?

[Via Russell S]

The Whistle and Cell Phone Didn’t Work…

For several reasons I am particularly sensitive to restaurant shootings, the herd-them-in-the-back type…
Me too. Many of us worked fast food when we were younger (I did), and/or have children at the age where it's an option for them. And some of us may be backed up enough by economic conditions where it's not even an option, it's a necessity.

I don't know this company's employee policy, either. All I can say is, if things ever get monstrously dangerous, no one from corporate HR is going to come down and save anyone.

[Via Firedbrass]

We're the Only...Oh Dear...That's a Bit of a Sticky Wicket, What, Old Boy?

One of Tony Blair's bodyguards accidentally fired his handgun at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport...
Because when it comes to providing armed, taxcow-funded protection for internationally-influential gun banners, only the most competent "Only Ones" will do...

Pip-pip. Jolly good.

[Via David H]

The Great Dictator

A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.
Some counsel us that this is hyperbole, and such rhetoric is not helpful. It makes "us" look wacko.

I disagree. The way to make it more difficult for unmasked tyranny to become pervasive is to sound warnings when it's approaching the perimeter. All the structures are already in place. All that's needed is an event of sufficient magnitude.

Dismiss this as tinfoil hat black helicopters all you want. Point and laugh. Hell, invoke Godwin's Law if you like--even though national socialism is staring us all in the face.

Something I wrote a while back about the "insurrectionary theory" of the Second Amendment comes to mind:
And to those who feel this is too dangerous, that it is uncalled for, that it is unneeded because we have the vote, or the right to speak, that we have evolved beyond such crude reminders of our barbaric past, I must ask where in history is any civilization guaranteed stasis? Has not despotism and mass destruction plagued every civilization that preceded ours? Is it not, in fact, still commonplace throughout the globe? By what suspension of reality, by what denial of the observable and the probable, by what art, device or magic are we sheltered few immune from catastrophe? Are we certain, from our brief and privileged vantage point, that such things will ever remain headline curiosities? Is it not just plain stupid to proclaim that our familiar way of life will forever be the norm, when everything that has gone before us shows we are, instead, the extremely lucky beneficiaries of a rare and fortunate convergence of circumstances; and one, by the way, that has only been preserved under force of arms?
But what do I know, paranoid absolutist "principles freak" that I am...?

[Via David H and Tommy S]

We're the Only Ones Intoxicating Enough

The sheriff of Los Angeles County plans to prohibit his off-duty deputies from carrying their guns while drinking because several have been accused in recent years of firing weapons while intoxicated...

The deputies' union opposes the restriction. Union leader Steve Remige says it would let criminals know that deputies who had put them away would at times be unarmed.
But it's OK if the criminals know you're incapacitated because you're stinking drunk, right Steve-O? Or if LA's finest put the rest of our lives at risk?

Telling me, a responsible, peaceable sovereign citizen, that drunken "Only Ones" are more qualified and trustworthy to be armed than I am, is a stupid, indefensible, offensive lie. That makes anyone who would do so corrupt and despicable.

You and your public employee union thugs have a choice in the matter--to go out drinking, to go out drinking where gangsters frequent...or to be armed. You and your public employee union thugs would presume to take the latter choice from the rest of us.

If we let you.

Incidentally, I'm told that "sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore" is actor James Whitmore's son. What a disappointment that guy turned out to be.

[Via Mike H and Mark of a Freeman]

Tolerance...

...is a two-way street.

I wonder why stunts like this are never tried in fundamentalist mosques?

[Via ebd10]

"From a Technological Perspective...

...it is the beginning...
Count on it.

[Via cycjec]

Dead Letters

When the Supreme Court switched to discretionary certiorari in 1925 (thus allowing the court to pick and choose its own docket), the Court paved the way for a highly selective treatment of the Constitution. While some constitutional provisions (e.g., the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment) are routinely accorded Supreme Court consideration, many others are almost completely ignored.

It can hardly be a coincidence that all of the dead letters happen to place limitations on the scope and power of government. In contrast, the few provisions of the Constitution granting powers to government have been interpreted expansively.
If I were cynical by nature, I'd start to wonder if maybe the whole damn game was rigged...

[Via Ron W]

About that Obama Birth Certificate

A few of you have been sending in tips on this developing story and I haven't picked up on it so far. Part of that is because it's almost impossible to divine what's going on--even from "our" side, as I've even read opinions that the reason Obama hasn't ordered the release of his birth certificate is because there's nothing to the story, his people may have even planted it, and he's exploiting the outrage to ultimately discredit his opponents. The word "Gramscian" was used.

I don't have the resources or the time to give this the attention needed. I'll just spread myself too thin. Thing is, there are people devoting themselves to this, supporting and following the Berg lawsuit, reporting on it, trying mightily to get it on the public radar and resolved before inauguration.

I contacted some of these people and sent them the following:
Good for you on pursuing the Obama birth certificate matter through the courts.

I do have a suggestion, possibly a shortcut that could save you time, money and effort.

If the Hawaiian state government cannot, by law, release a copy of his birth certificate to anyone but Obama or a relative, why not retain a relative to request it? Having a common ancestor qualifies, right? Last I heard, he has an illegal alien aunt living on welfare, a brother living in a shack, and a whole bunch of relatives living in Kenya who could live like kings for a couple thousand bucks.

Any chair in a bar fight.
No one saw fit to reply and I find that curious. I guess they're vested in what they're doing. But unless I'm missing something, it does seem like an expedient way to get to the bottom of things.

Anyway, barring some newsworthy development, I'm going to resume being a silent observer on this.

This Day in History: November 12

I could not join to day in the petitions of our worthy parson, for a reconciliation betwen our, no longer parent State, but tyrant State, and these Colonies. -- Let us seperate, they are unworthy to be our Breathren. Let us renounce them and instead of suplications as formorly for their prosperity and happiness, Let us beseach the almighty to blast their counsels and bring to Nought all their devices.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What Won't Prevent Cleveland's Next "Shooting Death"

Questions like these have already been asked. The answers are already known, but they just don't serve the agenda of those who value your control over your freedom.

Here's today's Gun Rights Examiner piece.

The Art of Driving

What if I proposed that we hand three sticks of dynamite and a detonator to anyone who asked for them. All an applicant would need is money to pay for the explosives. You’d have to be an idiot to agree with my plan—at least based on the assumptions you picked up in school about human nature and human competence.

And yet gasoline, a spectacularly mischievous explosive, dangerously unstable and with the intriguing characteristic as an assault weapon that it can flow under locked doors and saturate bulletproof clothing, is available to anyone with a container. Five gallons of gasoline have the destructive power of a stick of dynamite.

I've long maintained anyone who can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted without a custodian, and used a similar rationale.

This explores such concepts more thoroughly, and is really quite good.

[Via Mama Liberty]

Just a Sales Technique

But, the news is that it's a mainly just a sales technique.
That's a hell of a sales technique--running out of inventory when you still have customers clamoring for more.

What line of work did you say you were in, Bryan? Besides shoveling sh**?

[Via Mr.X]

No Dismissal for Melton

U.S. District Court Judge Dan Jordan this afternoon refused to dismiss civil rights charges against Jackson Mayor Frank Melton and an ex-bodyguard based on a defense motion filed Friday that cited the alleged behavior of former co-defendant Marcus Wright.
Good. It's time Frank faced the music. It's time all anti-gun political criminals did.

[Via Stephen S]

Voice from the Grave's Edge

Statism and totalitarianism, which we spent so much blood and money to fight in the Second World War and the Cold War, rise everywhere. They will keep rising until the private, secret impulse to freedom among individual men and women becomes a working majority. It will. First this majority will be silent and almost invisible. Then, overnight it will seem, it will emerge as a tempest which will sweep most of what we know today into history's garbage can, both the good and the bad. Blood will run.
An important cry for freedom--from Canada.

Go. Read.

[Via Jeet]

The Will of the People

Most voters in 10 Illinois counties said on Election Day that they think the state should pass a law permitting citizens to carry concealed weapons, but voters in another four counties rejected the idea...

State Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, said he doesn't expect any concealed-carry proposal to advance very far in the Legislature because of strong opposition from Chicago Democrats, who control both the Senate and House.
Chicago Democrats...Chicago Democrats...where have I been reading about one of those lately?

Thing is, they are experts of sorts...

[Via Jeffersonian]

We're the Only Ones Not Pussyfooting Around Enough

Unaware Police Carry Guns, Mountain Lion Charges at Officer
But if it hadn't been an "Only One," chances are the kitty cat would be at its cache purring and licking its paws about now...

[Via Jed]

Sign of the Times

A local gun shop that used Barack Obama's name to hawk weapons has backed down, saying the message was meant to champion gun rights, not threaten violence.
Personally, I would have told the disgruntled mommy and her fellow cud chewers where to graze. And yeah, leave it to what friend Russ Howard calls the "race fluffers" to throw that card on the table.

I guess they wouldn't appreciate one that said "Minion Repellent Sold Here," either...?

[Via David H]

We're the Only Ones Getting Off Enough

The jury Friday decided Vela, 44, was innocent of performing oral sex on a former patrol officer without consent after the officer passed out drunk at a barbecue.
So does that mean he had consent?
As for the theft charge, Guerra said trial testimony showed the Alton police department was so poorly run there was no way to prove how the gun found during a search warrant got to Vela's house. Vela had been accused of taking the gun from an evidence locker.
So he got off there, as well. But I think the meaty question here is, did the other guy get off too?

One good thing about the modern age--we have such good documentation, and when discussing "Only Ones" don't need to rely on oral history...Anyway, glad to see he kept a stiff upper lip throughout the ordeal. It must have come as quite a blow. You know how tongues wag in small towns. And I do apologize.

[Via JR]

We're the Only Ones Secretly Being Serviced Enough

A Secret Service sergeant was arrested early Saturday after he allegedly tried to solicit sex from a D.C. police officer working undercover as a prostitute, authorities said.

What's the big deal? Eliot Spitzer got away with it. Who does he think he is, some super special über "Only One"?

[Via Stephen S, Ron W, and Ian B]

An Allowance Parents Don't Give

Would you allow your son or daughter to room with someone at college who carries a gun?

What about students carrying concealed guns on campus for protection?
Would I "allow it"?

What the hell am I, the government?

If I've done my job properly, my children will have absorbed the values they've been raised with. And I must be doing OK, because, yeah, we've had some minor kid stuff, but they've never given me cause to question their character.

[Via David H]

Breaking News: A Victory for Kwan

We therefore conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in ordering a new trial to instruct the jury that the Government had to prove that Kwan had no other apparent legal purpose for the shoulder stock than to convert his unregistered pistol into an illegal short-barreled rifle.

AFFIRMED.
This is good news. Per Len Savage:
So Albert Kwan would get a new trial. If there is a trial, the burden of proof will be on the government. And they will have to prove "no other apparent legal purpose," which would be impossible because, as the Ninth Circuit pointed out, Kwan testified that the stock is plastic and breaks easily (so the apparent purpose is replacement) and that Kwan purchased the second stock before Kwan purchased the civilian version (so a second apparent purpose would be to have it go with the military version).

Look for this now to be dismissed, as the trial judge pointed out there is no violation.

Don't forget in Kwan's case the ATF came to his place of business and removed the "registered " pistol and one stock, leaving the unregistered pistol and one stock. Then they came back and seized "an unlawful collection of parts" that could be assembled into a SBR, and charged him based on constructive possession [for having the parts that the ATF left him]. ATF also charged him with possession of a machine gun that only fired as a machine gun after the ATF altered it. The Jury understanding that, acquitted.
Of course, with BATFU, anything's possible...we'll see if they still go forward after this. But for now, it is definitely good news.

One other thing-- I note the title-linked disposition document says:
NOT FOR PUBLICATION...

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
I'm not sure I understand what that means in terms of restrictions, if any--all I can say is, if they have any that apply to We the People, they shouldn't make it accessible on a public website. Whatever, I saved a copy.

This is yet another case of an American being harassed into financial ruin, something we're all too familiar seeing. I'll see what I can find out about what we can do to help Mr. Kwan, as what he's done on his own can benefit the rest of us in the future.

Gerald Celente Predicts Revolution


Scary stuff. And it's not just coming from fringe activists any more.

[Via Anonymous]

BATFU Contradicts Itself on Olofson

It quotes from the government's claims, "Olofson's gun would sometimes jam after multiple rounds were fired with a single trigger pull, but not before the magazine was completely empty."

"The government provides no record citation for this remarkable statement – that Olofson's gun never jammed before the magazine was emptied – because there is none," the brief says. "To the contrary, the prosecution's witness – Robert Kiernicki, the person to whom Olofson had loaned his AR-15 on July 13, 2007, testified that, on each of two or three occasions when Kiernicki placed the firearm in the third selector position, the AR-15 'shot three rounds or maybe four when I pulled the trigger and then it jammed.'
So BATFU officially says one thing...their witness says another...tell me again why an American who served his country is in a federal prison this Veteran's Day?

Good on GOA. I know some like to disparage them at every opportunity, but they're the ones who've stepped up to the plate here, aren't they? And they could use your help...

The Little Red Hen

…just a short work of fiction, nothing more.
Very clever. Although there may be some chickens who think otherwise.

This Day in History: November 11

The Continental Congress engages the missionary Samuel Kirkland to spread the "Gospel amongst the Indians," and confirm "their affections to the United Colonies...thereby preserving their friendship and neutrality."

Monday, November 10, 2008

You're Not Going to Shoot Your Eye Out

Which prompts me to ask another question with Christmas quickly approaching: Why not get your kid a BB gun? I had one, my kids each got theirs when they were younger, and I'll bet most Gun Rights Examiner readers remember theirs. Contrary to worries expressed by some of the fearful adults in the film, none of us shot our eye out.

"You're Not Going to Shoot Your Eye Out" is today's Gun Rights Examiner column.

I Still Want to Know...

...what would happen if you played some of these through a loudspeaker...

And hey:

Nothing like scrambling after the fact to get to the crime scene after the damage has been done, is there?

I guess the prospect of citizens being able to prevent it from becoming a crime scene in the first place doesn't figure into those public safety/social cost considerations...which is probably why "may issue" also means "may not."

We're the Only Ones Misconducting Ourselves Enough

Sexual advances to superiors' wives, drunk driving and consorting with criminals are among 106 proven cases of misconduct of municipal police officers in B.C. over the past two years, CBC News has learned.
But they still must be better than ordinary Canadians. Why else would they be trusted as "Only Ones," eh?

Still, overt disrespect for the brass, exhibited in the form of a challenge to their manhood, jibes with some of the noises I've heard about how politically ambitious management has to trade in their...uh...round things in order to advance. I wouldn't necessarily view divisions between troops and their command structure a bad thing. True, unchecked rogues with attitudes can be more dangerous in terms of random individual encounters, but on the macro level, an undisciplined and dispirited force is generally less effective at achieving coordinated objectives.

If the objective is citizen disarmament, and it is, you want that.

[Via Bruce Mills]

We're the Only Ones Leading the Nation Enough

The District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department has shot and killed more people per resident in the 1990s than any other large American city police force.
Huh. And with "a pattern of reckless and indiscriminate gunplay by officers sent into the streets with inadequate training and little oversight"...

This must be what the Brady's mean by "home rule."

And Heller notwithstanding, when it comes to the mean streets of DC, the "Only Ones" remain just that.

[Via W-3]

Immediate Impact

President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office...
And we all remember what the wretched Bush the Elder did with one of those...

I'm coming across a new theme from some on the "pro-gun" side that Obama isn't going to move on guns--at least for his first four years--because of concerns by some legislators that it may cause them grief with their constituents (not because they actually believe what they say to get elected). It seems to me this overlooks not only what a wildly popular cult leader with a fanatical following in the millions can do with executive orders, and also the opportunity a convenient mass shooting would present to whip the possessed congregation into an eye-rolling frenzy.

But say I'm wrong, and the voices of "We're safe for the first term" are right: wouldn't that mean we'd been played by those warning us in shrill and certain terms about the perils of electing "the most anti-gun president in American history"?

[Via Peter G]