GUNS Magazine: "A Judgment Call"

Folksinger Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul & Mary believes we need more gun laws. Performing at the 2004 Million Mom March rally urging Congress to renew the federal "assault weapon" ban, Yarrow's main emphasis in the gun control movement has been to protect children.

It's too bad he wasn't thinking about protecting them when he was convicted of a sex offense for molesting a 14-year-old girl--but perhaps it explains why he wouldn't want to make it easy for parents to own a gun.

Read complete article here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_3_51/ai_n8709820

More Black Arrow

I just ordered the hardback.

After reading Thomas L. Knapp's review, I didn't want to put it off any longer.

With all the good buzz, I wanted to make sure I got a copy before they ran out.

When There’s Not Enough Blood to Dance in, Just Flap Your Arms and Bray

Peter Hamm, Michael Barnes, Sarah Brady, et al, weigh in on the New York Mall shooting.

Any bets on whether the Hudson Valley Mall and its shops prohibit customers and employees from carrying concealed firearms?

Microstamping for Macroinfringement

California Assemblything Paul Koretz (D-West Hollyweird, etc.), has introduced a bill that “would, commencing January 1, 2007, expand the definition of unsafe handgun to include semiautomatic pistols that are not designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters, that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched into the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and which are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired.”

Furthermore, “This bill would provide that…no handgun may be submitted for that testing unless the handgun is” so designed and equipped.

This will, of course, stop and/or solve no violent crimes (as if that's justification for infringing on our rights). That’s not the point.

The point is to further limit the availability of firearms to California citizens by drying up their sources of supply. The state started with their stupid “drop test” requirement (as if there was an epidemic of “gun deaths” and injuries resulting from that nonexistent problem, and as if there were no remedies through the courts if there were), and then moved on to mandated loaded chamber indicators (like the kind that was on the Beretta 92 Compact L that Michael Soe used to kill Kenzo Dix during a practical joke—but a Center to Prevent Handgun Violence-backed lawsuit was still filed because the gun didn’t have a written warning on it as well).

Like the reptiles that leave brass at crime scenes get their guns through channels traceable to them. Koretz, of course, knows that. It's just another calculated harassment of gun manufacturers and dealers, designed to drive them out of business by creating prohibitively expensive compliance requirements.

This is more "In your face, California gun owners!" from someone who hates them. It is, in fact, a hate crime.

The Trustbuster

TriggerFinger points us to a discussion over at The Claire Files about Boomershoot. I haven’t included a link to that site, and if you follow the ones I did include, and then read them thoroughly, you’ll see why: Concerned about potential terrorist activities, he’s turned over data to the feds that may end up bringing people under scrutiny who haven't done anything wrong. Motives notwithstanding, trust and credibility with many has been boomershot and probably won’t be regained. Too bad—cool site—if you decide to visit it after reading more.

Here’s Another “Thumb’s Up” Black Arrow Review…

…courtesy of Wolfesblog.

Think Your Congressthing Will Endorse THIS Resolution?

What do you think the chances are that our current Congress would approve the following language? The Continental Congress did, back in 1775.

"We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we have received from our gallant ancestors. . . . We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them. . . . [We are] with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves." --Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson, “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking up Arms”

I’d recommend sending this to your representative to ask, but it would probably scare the hell out of them and get turned over to Die Abteilung der Homelandsicherheit.

Gunman Opens Fire at Upstate New York Mall

Everyone who can’t run away is cowering helplessly until he runs out of ammo. They are disarmed under penalty of law by the same government that is NOT there to protect them.

Expect strident demands for yet more gun control in New York.

Hobart Man Dies Testing Bulletproof Vest

“HOBART, Ind. -- A man whose friends initially said he was killed by gunfire outside a Gary liquor store actually died after he donned what he thought was a bulletproof vest and asked a cohort to shoot him.

“A friend then shot Daniel Wright with a .20-gauge shotgun, but it turned out the vest Wright had put on Thursday was a flak jacket not designed to stop a bullet.”

Read complete story here.

I’m sure there will be no shortage of smartass “Darwin Award” comments among the chatroom/forum warriors, but this is tragic. A young man is dead and his survivors must live on with this senseless and terrible loss.

I did plenty of stupid things when I was young, and am lucky to still be here.

This would not be as likely to happen in a society that inculcated respect for firearms at an early age, with attendant age-appropriate education as young people mature--as opposed to knee-jerk fear, loathing and avoidance.

It’s also illustrative of how uneducated most reporters are. The AP is notorious for ignorant articles when it comes to guns. One would think a professional reporter would learn his subject matter well enough to distinguish “shot” from a “bullet.”

And as we can see from the headline, the editors are no better, as the story clearly indicates that bullet resistant vests played no part in this.

Six Degrees of Hypocrisy

It's gonna be a slow day at the computer--we have company coming and the house and yard are a mess due to jobs, taking care of kids, my writing, etc.

Weren't we supposed to rest on the seventh day? Well I have chores to do.

So I'm gonna cheat and rely on an old effort from GUNS AND AMMO to be my entry for today. If you haven't already seen "Six Degrees of Hypocrisy," just click on the link.

It's about our many good friends in Hollywood. I guess when you're rich, famous and can afford the best personal security money can buy, worrying about "ordinary" people's ability to defend themselves just isn't a priority.

Besides, it's a numbers game--if they lose a few fans out of millions, it won't even be noticed at the box office.

And in the interests of complete disclosure, I have another motive for revisiting this article. I'm working on a piece about an established Hollywood producer/director/screenwriter who is one of the strongest supporters of the Second Amendment I know. I plan on posting more soon, but, alas, my charwoman/lawnboy duties come first.

Does This Make Me a Globalist?

I guess GUNS Magazine has an international presence I was unaware of.

I was totally surprised to find my February "Safe Schools" article reproduced in German as "Sichere Schulen.”

Now I find “Escuelas Seguras” (Spanish) and “Écoles Sûres” (French) as well.

Don't these people realize I barely speak American? Or as Homer Simpson asked: "What do we need to learn English for? We're never going to England."

The Black Arrow

Andy Barniskis has reviewed Vin Suprynowicz’s The Black Arrow.

I haven’t read the book yet, but am looking forward to doing so. Vin holds a prominent place in my personal pantheon of great liberty writers of our time. I’d like to see his column widely syndicated throughout the land--not just so that he would reap the rewards of being a magnificent talent, but because his message is sorely needed by our countrymen.

I hope The Black Arrow sells.

I note Bill St.Clair over at End the War on Freedom is like a kid at Christmas with this book.

Gun Groups Warn Against “National ID Card"

Gun Owners of America and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership have grave concerns over HR 418, “The Real ID Act.”

I have concerns too. I also have concerns about a wave of uncontrolled criminal migration that is fundamentally changing our culture and adding to the severely overstressed burdens on “We the People.” I know the Libertarian response is to end all welfare programs, but we know that isn’t going to happen any time soon, and we have a crisis NOW. And I know that anything proposed by the feds is going to have a hidden agenda for increasing their power and control at the expense of our freedom.

We must remember in this debate that the Founders ordained and established the Constitution to secure the blessings of Liberty for themselves and their posterity.

CA “Public Nuisance” Gun Lawsuit

Lawyer friend Geordan Goebel calls my attention to The People v. Arcadia Machine and Tool, Inc., et al, with the commentary: “Trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of firearms manufacturers, distributors, and retailers and their trade associations in action by cities and counties for public nuisance and violation of the Unfair Competition Law where plaintiffs failed to present evidence that defendants’ business practices caused or were likely to cause the substantial injuries resulting from illegal use of firearms by criminals."

In re Firearm Cases- filed February 10, 2005, First District, Div. One
Cite as 2005 SOS 818
Full text http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0205%2FA103211
(Adobe Reader required)

“Sichere Schulen”

Well, this is a first for me. Somebody has taken “Safe Schools,” my February GUNS Magazine Rights Watch column and translated it into German.

I’m gonna have to reverse-translate it and see how close they came to original intent.

Remind me never to title an article “My Struggle.”

"Lead" Story From LA Times

"Science is clear," says James Birkelund of the Natural Resources Defense Council in the Los Angeles Times' latest editorial hit piece masquerading as hard news. "You need to phase out lead ammunition quickly or the only condors left in California will be stamped on the back of our new quarters."

Sounds serious. Sounds urgent. And, as per the MO of the social engineers at The Times, it sounds hysterical.

"Natural Resources Defense Council"? That sure sounds official, like they might actually rely on hard science instead of being a hobby for environmentalcase dilletantes like some who sit on their Board of Trustees, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Redford and James Taylor--fine entertainers all, but hardly authorities competent to establish environmental regulations.

If we relied solely on the solons of the NRDC and the trusty public watchdogs at The Times, we'd never suspect that all might not be as they paint it.

For instance, we'd never know about "Two studies done at Virginia Tech [that] showed very little lead damage to the environment from bullets left on battlefields or on a carefully designed shotgun/rifle range."

We'd never know about Professor Donald Rimstidt, from the Department of Geosciences, College of Science at Virginia Tech, who reports " "Lead metal is unstable when it is in contact with air and water. It corrodes and forms hydrocerrussite, the white coating seen on old bullets in museums. That slows corrosion. However some lead escapes, but we learned that it is absorbed in the top few inches of soil and does not migrate beyond that. Lead is not very mobile. It does not wash away in surface or ground water."

We'd never hear about Fisheries and Wildlife professor Pat Scanlon, who before his death, Rimstidt reports,"found no evidence that birds were eating shot."

The alleged lead hazard is more hype and hysteria than anything else. The goal, of course, is to interfere with our ability to buy and use ammunition, as well as being part of a larger agenda.

Just remember that environmentalcase junk “science” was also used to ban DDT--and the result has been a politically-manufactured genocide in Third World nations from malaria.

JPFO Alerts

More Intellectual Ammunition

"JPFO has added more intellectual ammunition to our website!"

Click here to read the alert.

Thanks for the kind words about WarOnGuns, JPFO!

I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of BATFE Fails the Test.

How About Self Control Instead of Gun Control?

[I came across the clipping posted below while going through my research backup files the other day. This was the basis of an open letter I wrote several years ago that has disappeared from KABA, but has been retrieved through the miracle of Google cache.]

"PRESS RELEASE: NEW YORK - Renowned film and television actor Michael Douglas challenged the international community to do more to control the spread of small arms worldwide. Before a unique gathering of foreign ministers, UN officials, arms experts, and arms lobbyists, Douglas, a newly appointed UN Messenger of Peace, relayed movingly the facts that 'speak for themselves which underlie the need for responsible control of small weapons.'"

Click on the graphic to enlarge it.


Reproduced under "Fair Use" Doctrine

Physician, Heal Thyself

The political faction at the Journal of the American Medical Association is sticking their noses into the gun issue (again).

Here’s a form I came up with a few years back based on an article by Risk Manager Joe Horn. Print it out, and if your doctor starts to give you unsolicited and unqualified advice on guns in the home, ask him/her to complete it, sign it, and put it in your file. Then watch them back off.

Rich White People Against Minority Gun Ownership

(It’s For Their Own Good)

Noted Cigarette…I mean, Gun Control Advocate Sarah Brady has joined forces with the Center for Justice & Democracy to stump for suing gun manufacturers and dealers whenever predatory reptiles hurt or kill their victims with a stolen gun.

“Center for Justice & Democracy.”

Typical socialist buzzwords. Kind of like “Progressive.” They, of course, play the race card, gleaning statements from Progressive Caucus Reps. John Conyers and Sheila Jackson-Lee against tort reform on the grounds that it disproportionately harms minorities. But curiously, every picture in CJ&D’s “List of Participants” report on the families who traveled to DC is one of white people.

And while principled, federalism-centered arguments can be made against national government-mandated tort reform in general, and as it relates to gun lawsuits in particular, the Brady Center, CJ&D and Progressive Caucus have a different agenda—this is just another tactic to help them achieve their goal of citizen disarmament.

Can you imagine having so little faith in your constituents that you feel compelled to drive the cost of guns beyond their economic reach? Because that’s what the nuisance lawsuits are designed to do.

As for being egalitarian, you can become a CJ&D member for $100, but you will “NOT HAVE FULL ACCESS TO [their] WEB SITE” [emphasis theirs]. To get that, you’ll need to pony up $1,000 and become an “Associate.” And if you want “inside information,” you’ll need to become a “Fellow” and pay them $5 Grand. [WarOnGuns offers a similar program—send me $5 G’s and I’ll send you all the inside information I can think of.]

I wonder how many of Rep. Conyers’ and Jackson-Lee’s constituents are in the Fellowship? Or how many will be able to afford a gun if their overseers get their way?