The debate will be live streamed from www.RNCdebate.org. ATR is hosting the debate and the questions will be those submitted from activists across the nation on the RNCdebate.org website. [More]I note this appeal is targeted to the "center right."
Covina arrests mystify a neighborhoodGee, nice digs Los Uniqos are living in. I wonder who does their gardening and housekeeping?
After two Mexican federal agents and two others were arrested in July on drug-related charges, little has emerged about the case and residents are puzzled. [More]
U.S. Army War College report warns an economic crisis in the United States could lead to massive civil unrest and the need to call on the military to restore order. [More]We're seeing more and more of these stories, aren't we? If I were paranoid, I'd start wondering about floating trial balloons and self-fulfilling prophecies...
Hey David, you think he would also "reverse one of the city’s most controversial policies" -- the city hall gun ban? After all, "I’m in charge of the city’s response!"
Do you need any more evidence that celebrities have become an unofficial American aristocracy? How about the conscription of an innocent bystander to double for paparazzi bait so that the real deal can slip out of an airport unnoticed by the press? [More]J.D. Tuccille recounts a story that I'd call unbelievable if I didn't have a long history of being jaded by the "Only Ones" outrage du jour.
Cornwallis marched toward Trenton to attack Washington with 6,000 men. Washington's troops were in great danger, backed up against the Delaware River. Their saving grace was Cornwallis' decision to wait until the next day to finish the battle. [More]
If we're truly interested in solutions, we can't forget to look at race--not as a cause of violent crime, but as an indicator of urban populations most directly affected by and responsive to a continuing history of destructive government policies. [More]Today's Gun Rights Examiner column may not win me many friends.
Understanding the mechanics of adrenalin greatly lessens its impetus. The shock factor of adrenalin can be scarifying if you do not understand or expect it, rendering many frozen in the face of an ensuing attack. [More]Read this. Bookmark it if you can't read it now. I've only had time to scan it, but I'm going back to give it the attention it appears to deserve later today.
Paul Helmke added, "We should not be making it easier for dangerous people to carry concealed firearms in our parks." [More]I guess he means you and me. Because he knows damn well the change does nothing to enable those who have been adjudicated dangerous, which I guess makes him a...uh...liar.
Duncan has a pretty extensive history of using his position as head of the CPS to push for ever more draconian forcible citizen disarmament laws. [More]Armed and Safe tells us about the kind of change The Lightworker is hoping to bring to American schools.
A retired state trooper assigned to the Thruway shot and killed his estranged wife early Wednesday morning and then took his own life, State Police said. [More]What--not one of those better-than-us retired "Only Ones" qualifying for nationwide concealed carry?
Cotto had been arrested on misdemeanor charges for unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, menacing in the second degree and harassment in the second degree... At the time of his arrest, State Police secured all weapons known to be in Cotto’s possession... At the time of the murder/suicide incident, Cotto was in violation of an order of protection...Whew, that's a relief! Thank goodness the system worked!
They said they found the loaded automatic handgun in the car... [More]Say, how about that accompanying photograph of the S&W revolver...?
Former DPS officer walks into KLBJ-AM with gun [More]"Hi Jeff. Long-time listener, first-time assailant..."
The Greenfield City Council is proposing an ordinance that would ban city employees from bringing guns to work. [More]Rules and signs. What could go wrong?
Griffin and other church leaders will be collecting guns on Saturday at the Gateway Mall. The new Gun Drop-off program replaces the Gun Buyback.And we know how well that does...
The buyback program stopped because there was no more funding.
Though not a consensus, many SCLC members, including such prominent figures as Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, were aware of inconspicuously armed SCLC agents who provided protection for civil rights leaders and other activists. On at least one occasion, a shootout erupted between racist attackers and black defenders from the SCLC. Throughout the South, NAACP members had pistols, shotguns and handguns in their homes and on their person, as did many SNCC members. [More]This is just one of the stories from today's Gun Rights Examiner column.
The Apocalypse is Coming: What You Need to Pack [More]Interesting. But it looks like the techno-weenies forgot a thing or two...
Mere illegal possession now means time behind bars for all but a few — the result of a bill signed into law in January...Way to go, moron. Thanks a lot.
One of those sponsors, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, R-Essex, Morris, Somerset, Union, said a state attorney general's directive addressing the new law was supposed to provide immediate relief for the unintended targets of the legislation...
...the directive made it far more likely that just about everyone else, including first-time offenders, will spend at least a year in state prison. [More]
Ban all guns...[More]Wait a minute--I thought the new post-Heller talking point from the antis was no one wants to do that and now we can focus on "common sense measures."
Did you know that Blu-ray discs can report back to studios when you play a disc? Yep. The BD-Live feature (which was initially touted as a way of delivering extra content to customers - as though Blu-ray didn’t offer enough space in the first place) is being used by studios to keep track of how often you play a disc. [More]I really don't know enough about this technology to articulate an informed conclusion, but figured I'd throw this out there so those of you who do can educate us.
I don’t know about you, but as a consumer I’m getting tired of being spied on.That and as a citizen...
You're a woman--maybe even a lady. Walking to your car in a subterranean parking structure, you round the fender and find a hulking, leering troglodyte crouched beside your car door. He rises. grinning, with a length of clothesline and a roll of duct tape in his hands. At that instant, you have your choice of one of three vehicles to pull up beside you...[More]Carl S reminds me of a column from several months back by a GUNS Magazine colleague. Good stuff.
An anti-gun group is suing to stop a last-second Bush administration change that would allow Americans to carry concealed, loaded guns in most national parks and wildlife refuges.Because, you know, those of us who responsibly keep and bear arms everywhere else are going to get a sudden urge to take potshots at a moose with a handgun. Or something.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sued the Interior Department in federal court on Tuesday. [More]
A Belleville Police officer arrested a St. Charles man for wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word "POLICE."See, if you want to show "solidarity," it's important that you wear the right shirt.
..."Those t-shirts are a sign of solidarity," said Howard A. Shalowitz, an attorney representing Weinstein. "How many people wear NYPD caps? Are they impersonating police?" [More]
We are pleased to announce that OFCC's Daniel White has been selected as the next Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner! Many of you are familiar with his writings, as he has written articles for OFCC for years. We wish him luck and success, and our website will continue to link to his articles as we have done for David the last couple of months. [More]Dan is uniquely positioned to grow the Ohio market. He starts this new gig on Monday and I'll be linking to his stuff as a matter of course.
On December 31, the American forces assaulted Quebec, with 600 men led by Arnold from the North and 300 men led by Montgomery from the South. The British were waiting between successive barriers. The Americans broke through the first line, but were stopped by the second. Arnold was wounded in the leg and carried from the battle field. Montgomery was killed by a bullet to the head, and the American assault failed. Six hundred men were captured and 60 died in the attempt to take Quebec. [More]
I admire her determination and grit, but the fact remains she's lucky to have escaped at all, let alone with her belongings. After all, she found herself alone and in the clutches of a predator--one who does not hesitate to terrorize and assault women for petty property. [More]Today's Gun Rights Examiner column...
In a surprise move by the embattled yet comically maniacal Illinois Governor, Blagojevich has tapped former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to replace Barack Obama in the Senate. [More]Dare we ask about guns?
"If I ban them, I'm going to be the first one to burn mine.""If I ban them."
It's a little, small thing. I just have it there for safety...Indeed.
Coordinated efforts by the Police Department and Bristol County District Attorney’s Office have resulted in a significant reduction in gun crimes and increase in seizure of illegal firearms in the city. [More]OK, that seems a straightforward enough claim. How do they figure?
In 2008, that category of calls ["shots fired"] remained nearly the same.Well that's not a "reduction" then, is it?
There was a more than 50 percent decrease in the number of illegal guns seized by police, from 51 in 2006 to 24 in 2007, and a significant dropoff in 2008, with only 18 by mid-December.Excuse me? That's a decrease then, not an "increase." Less is the new more? I suppose you could argue that's because they're gathering them all up and there are no more to be found, but might we also wonder if there's another reason...?
Thank goodness none of the victims were shot!The data, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows police forces in England and Wales recorded 277 knife murders in the 12 months to April 2008.
If confirmed, the figures, which were obtained by the Conservative party, will be the highest since records began 30 years ago and represent a rise of 38% since 1999. [More]
Just as they were about to get the cat, Smith said, "This guy comes barreling out of his house, flashed his gun and his badge, and started screaming and freaking out."Right.
...The Phoenix Police Department said their officer has a right to defend his property. [More]
Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years (and be assured everything still works when you dig it up) [More]I can see doing this with a couple cheap ones in different locations. I've never recommended dying on one's doorstep, or allowing an enemy to choose the time, place and circumstances of battle, and there's something to be said for acting timid and compliant and being the last person anyone would suspect of leading a personal resistance effort.
8,000,000 plus checksI asked a question the other day in my Gun Rights Examiner column:
117,000 denials (125,000 denials, offset by 8,000 reversals on appeal)
77,000 of these were referred to Field Offices for investigation (80% not involving felony records)
273 persons charged, and a whopping
73 convictions. [More]
Would it not be a more meaningful "success story" for the Brady's to tell us--of those 1.6 million--how many were successfully prosecuted and convicted?Incidentally, I was almost arrested for asking this question of Sarah Brady and Rep. Jane Harman some years back. The sensitivity to what happened there is what led me to establish the "Authorized Journalist" files.
A decorated hero for stopping the killing spree at Trolley Square, Ogden Police Officer Ken Hammond now finds himself facing a criminal charge.And again, whenever I have an "Only Ones" story like this, I'm compelled to ask the Eternal Question...
Weber County prosecutors charged Hammond late Monday afternoon with a single count of third-degree felony unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old, accusing him of engaging in a sexual act with someone at least 10 years younger than he is. [More]
Police today are looking for an armed robber and an accomplice who held up a man at gunpoint Sunday night on a Redondo Beach street. [More]And, of course, he had no choice but to comply and pray they didn't want to eliminate the witness.
As I hold it incompatible with the honour of my commission to suffer men, in arms against their Sovereign and the laws, to appear before His Majesty's ships, I desire you will cause your sentinels, in the town of Norfolk, to avoid being seen, that women and children may not feel the effects of their audacity; and it would not be imprudent if both were to leave the town. [More]Translation: Open carry, except by "Only Ones," upsets people...?
But what of the civic-minded Tre Crips? What happened to the six who told event organizer Alvertis Simmons they "were tired of the violence" and wanted "to turn their guns in"? Or what of members of rival fraternities who keep the Denver Police Gang Bureau busy?Today's Gun Rights Examiner column...
I can't help but wonder how many made it to the weekend E-40 concert...[More]
I’ve got news for the prohibitionists of the world. My father won’t give up his freedom to pass on his legacy without government interference — and neither will I, nor will my family, nor my friends. Nor will millions of other freedom-loving citizens. [More]Excellent letter from Russ Stewart, who tells me and reminds us all:
People need to know that local newspapers love to foster debate on issues. Letters to the editor are great, but full editorials are much more effective. People with a little writing talent and a somewhat silver tongue can often get an editor agree to publish up to 600-700 words. I think it is very important for us to convey to the general public that we are done backing up, and that we are ready to engage in civil disobedience to protect out liberties.
I note some on "our side" are quick to disparage open carry as a taboo that scares too many people, and thus works against "us." I submit that unless and until freedom is normalized, people who choose to lawfully exercise their rights will continue to be endangered, and that courageous pioneers deserve our gratitude and support, not our criticism.David,Please check out the videos linked in this thread (obtained using the Open Records Act). There is a letter from the Chief apologizing linked later in the thread. Notice he does NOT apologize for the officer's gun pointing at his head.Please note that Officer Mason, at the passenger window, has been present at several incidents where the Glynn County police harass citizens for carrying a pistol, and he was present weeks later when this driver was arrested in the parking lot of a mall for refusing to show his identification while carrying a pistol openly (I believe the police report from that arrest was posted on your blog).
For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument -- that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. -- very seriously. Now he's found an eager audience: Russian state media. [More]Of course, the Russkis may want to look at their own house first, but still, in The Lightworker's own words:
[W]hat works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne.And that doesn't just apply to guns.
Internet sites could be given cinema-style age ratings as part of a Government crackdown on offensive and harmful online activity to be launched in the New Year, the Culture Secretary says. [More]And lest you think it's just for the subjects across the pond in Sarah Brady paradise...
He is planning to negotiate with Barack Obama’s incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites.Well that falls right in line with AG nominee Eric Holder's sentiments...
Wrong thinking is punishable.[Via Illspirit and An Hour of Wolves]
Right thinking will be as quickly rewarded.
The number of police officers killed by gunfire in 2008 dropped to its lowest level in more than 50 years...[More]Who thinks it's because of "gun control" edicts?
The disgraceful circumstance, to the Colony, of seizing the Printer's materials and servants, in Norfolk; the captivating our friends at Kemp's Landing, and the cowardly behaviour of a party of Militia in that neighbourhood, afterwards, proceeded from the defenceless state of that part of the country, and our inability, for sometime, to send them protection, for want of arms and ammunition. [More]
Relatives of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 want the Bush Administration to seize the land needed for a memorial where the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa., in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Sheriff's Deputy Gregory Anderson tags a gun after rendering it safe during the "Gifts for Guns" exchange at Lennox Middle School. [More]Gosh, is that all it takes to render a gun safe enough to have at a middle school, so that we don't all go stampeding in hysteria...?
He said as of Tuesday night, people turning in illegal guns would not be given gift cards or get their guns back.Suck...errrs...
"If they hand us an illegal handgun and we have no money, we can't give back the gun," he said. [More]
The Rev. Reginald Holmes, a minister at the church, said about 40 people with a total of 120 guns showed up but were turned off to the idea of just donating their guns. [More]But wait a second...Alvertis Simmons led us to believe the Tre Crips were primarily interested in ending the violence...I don't see from this story where any of them followed through...
With Chicago's homicide total for 2008 already past 500, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., is calling for stronger gun laws in order to help to stem urban violence. [More]Brilliant. Let's make guns even more "illegal" in Chicago. And let's expand Chicago's success story everywhere!
Regulate the trafficking of illegal gunsForget it, Jake, it's Chi-Town.
A gang of about 20 men armed with assault rifles robbed a train in the western Mexican state of Michoacan and carted off some of its freight, the state prosecutor's office said Saturday...Via Ed, who writes:
...the thieves may have been after drums of pseudoephedrine, a chemical used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamines... [More]
Gee, I thought that when my purchase of Pseudophed at my local drugstore was restricted that the drug trade in methampetamines would disappear. See any parallels?Maybe if we just got rid of those damned American gun shows...?
Lawyer claims Plaxico Burress's seized guns are legit [More]Via Mack H, who asks:
What in the world is the Probable Cause for the search warrant?How an incident like this can trigger an investigation in another state is a mystery to me. All I can think of is, he must have opened his mouth in interrogation, and what he spilled got passed on to his home state.
Why did it take 3 hours??
Why was a NY prosecutor there inside a NJ home???
What the FREAK is going on here?
The Continental Congress resolves that troops raised in Virginia be enlisted on the same terms and pay as the forces at Cambridge. [More]
This is going to change in the very near future.This represents not just a local opportunity, but if it's successful, they'll surely be receptive to expanding the topic to other markets.I'll be capitalizing on this receptivity on an ongoing basis.
Metropolitan cops are no longer required to seal off their gun muzzles unless directed otherwise by police district chiefs, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Leopoldo Bataoil said Friday.See?
In a press conference at Camp Crame, Bataoil said it is now time for the police to show that they can be trusted in not using their guns in celebration of the New Year. [More]
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has issued 15 concealed-weapons permits to retired agents, the only former state police officers to receive the privilege. [More]Oooh...Oooh!! Can we have one too...?
“It should be obvious to anyone that a civilian bringing an openly-carried, loaded semiautomatic weapon to a child’s soccer game poses a grave risk to the community,” said Daniel R. Vice, Senior Attorney at the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project. [More]Because we all know only the "Only Ones" can be trusted.
"We no longer have a civilian-led government."William N. Grigg brings another ominous analysis.
This ominous conclusion comes to us from Thomas A. Schweich, who held the title of deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement affairs in the Bush Regime... [More]
"When blood starts running, the law stops."[Via Ron W]
I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. [More]
What's the solution? That's huge. All I can address here is a small piece of it.Today's Gun Rights Examiner column...
It does not involve disarming you and me. [More]
Private Assassins Target Gangs In Guatemala...The shape of things to come...? Is there a lesson here about what naturally occurs when otherwise peaceable people are not allowed to live their lives, have no means of peaceable redress, and some undefined line in the sand is finally crossed?
In Guatemala, people have had enough of corrupt police and brutal extortions by gangs. They've turned to vigilantism. Lynch mobs and death squads are now commonplace. [More]
More taxes are coming our way. You may not recognize them because, transparency and honesty be damned, many of them will come disguised as fees, assessments, and whatever euphemisms can be pulled from a government thesaurus to obscure the truth. [More]Yeah, kick us while we're down and demand even more to enable your ceaseless tyranny and boundless incompetence.
Roy offered to arrange for armed security for Giovanni before a meeting she had with Cho, according to an e-mail. [More]So--when it serves their purposes, they're not completely anti-gun.
Carolina Camera: The Sling Shot Man [More]See, the good thing is, he didn't have one of those deadly "assault slingshots"...
A man dressed as Santa who had been having marital problems opened fire at a Christmas party, leaving more than three people dead in a home that then caught fire... [More]Basically, the lesson is this: If someone attacks you, the police can't save you.
In a survey of a random sample of U.S. emergency physicians, virtually all said they believed that law enforcement officers use excessive force to arrest and detain suspects. [More]Put another way, just under 10 out of 10 doctors equate "Only Ones" with violent criminals...?
D.C. police said they have uncovered possible misdeeds by four officers in connection with a program that collects toys for needy children, and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said any officer "found to have taken toys" will be prosecuted. [More]But Cathy still thinks police are the "Only Ones" who can be trusted to keep and bear arms...
Lord Dunmore's letters to General Howe, which very fortunately fell into my hands, and were enclosed by me to Congress, will let you pretty fully into his diabolical schemes. If, my dear Sir, that man is not crushed before spring, he will become the most formidable enemy America has; his strength will increase as a snow ball by rolling; and faster, if some expedient cannot be hit upon to convince the slaves and servants of the impotency of his designs. You will see by his letters, what pains he is taking to invite a reinforcement at all events there, and to transplant the war to the southern colonies. I do not think, that forcing his Lordship on shipboard is sufficient; nothing less than depriving him of life or liberty will secure peace to Virginia, as motives of resentment actuate his conduct, to a degree equal to the total destruction of the colony. [More]
In other words, the trappings of state authority are all it takes to elicit trust? That seems a heck of a way to observe an unalienable individual right that's specifically posted off-limits to government infringement in "the supreme law of the land," don't you think? [More]Today's Gun Rights Examiner column...
A trooper was fired yesterday by the Maryland State Police after he was arrested on charges of kidnapping a man in his marked cruiser at a fast-food drive-through, then leading Baltimore County police on a drunken high-speed chase. [More]So what's with the charges?
The dog ran out, and down Peeple's driveway toward the officers, at which point they shot it three times. Even the police concede the dog never attacked. They shot it as it was running toward them. [More]I don't know what it is about "Only Ones" and dogs, but I'm starting to think that no certification in dog behaviors and handling ought to be submissable evidence as proof of negligence after stuff like this goes down.
Judge Robert Neary conceded that former Orange County sheriff's Lt. Lloyd Kurth violated the public's trust by stealing a rifle from the evidence room he once supervised.Lord knows Messrs. Fincher and Olofson endured no comparable suffering, and thus deserved their prison terms...?
But when it came time to sentence Kurth Monday in Orange County Court, Neary decided that Kurth's crime was offset by the loss of his law-enforcement career and the public humiliation endured by the 42-year-old Goshen native. [More]
After the trial, Neary dismissed more charges revolving around Kurth's alleged theft of two handguns. He convicted Kurth of stealing a hunting rifle.Still, he's already suffered as only an "Only One" can, right, Judge Neary?
Sheriff Carl DuBois said Tuesday that the public never got the complete picture of Kurth's misdeeds.
"This wasn't just one, isolated incident," DuBois said.
Florida threatens criminals with up to life in prison if they use a gun, but few suspects in Orange County get such tough mandatory penalties even as the campaign to end gun violence enters its 10th year, the Orlando Sentinel has found. [More]Now hold the phone--I'm all for throwing the book at any animal using force and weapons to threaten, harm or kill victims. But "use a gun" is a far cry from some loser hiding under his mother's bed during a drug raid...
Authorities seized a small cache of weapons and ammunition from the New Jersey home of New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress...OK, at least we've established an "Authorized Journalist" benchmark of sorts.
The Post, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, said a 9-mm handgun, a rifle and ammunition for three other guns — a .380, a .45 and a .40, the same caliber of gun Burress accidentally shot himself with — were seized during the execution of a search warrant at Burress' home in Totowa. [More]
