There's Something Rotten In Atascadero

Here's an update to the story about police seizing weapons from a citizen after it was determined the "suspicious circumstances" causing them to investigate him in the first place "were determined to be unfounded."

Now they say it looks like they're going to arrest the man, and that he's "undergoing a medical evaluation."

So far, the items described seem to be legal. The one issue it looks like police are trying to hang their hats on:

"Robinson said Friday that while the grenades weren't charged, there was material in the house that could charge them."

What does that mean? Did the citizen have reloading supplies?

Let's all keep an eye on this one. We don't know enough about this to make a judgment, but we do know blindly trusting "media" and police accounts can be--what's a nice way of saying this?-- problematic.

And Then We Have THESE Twits

Feeling really good about girls having fun in the post below, I had to go and spoil things by searching the news, where I came across the latest effort by "Mothers Against Guns," a CD titled "Why?" that "[calls] for street shootings to stop."

Yeah, you'll reform sociopathic predators by singing a song. Just like you'll keep evil at bay by whistling in the dark. They could have saved a lot of time and money by simply pulling the covers over their heads.

These people are like children--and not very bright children at that.

It's been too long since I nominated anyone for an Eloi Award, so I'll bestow the stigma this time on Lucy Cope.

Another MAG priority is to "get a total ban on replica guns," and they've produced a [slow loading!] propaganda short designed to induce the hysteria needed to do just that. It seems criminals in the disarmed UK are converting replicas to actually function, proving once again the adage that those devising foolproof plans don't account for the ingenuity of fools . I suppose it's only a matter of time before we see calls for a total ban on metal pipe and machining tools.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Got these pix from friend Tom Mayhew.

Angela Having Fun

Angela Having More Fun

Angela and Kathy Having Yet Even More Fun

Note the Airborne Car Part--What Fun

Tom adds:

The event was in NW Oklahoma on June 18 & 19, 2005. Angela shot 250 rnds for $50 and was the happiest gal on the planet - until she noticed the machine-gun oil spatters on her blouse. We finally convinced her they'd wash out and meanwhile she could display her 'proof of participation' proudly.

The sponsor's WebPage is:
http://www.oklahomafullauto.com/

Kinda makes you wonder about the killjoy bluenoses who would object.

Can you even imagine the mindset of the pathetic excuses for "men" who would disarm these wonderful women? How can you look at these pictures and do anything but share in the joy?

Ladies like these give me hope for the future of the Republic. And the bonus is knowing they fill their inadequate Million Mom opposites with seething rage.

Just So We're Clear On The Rules...

"'Were they doing anything against the law? No,' Cochran said. 'Could it have gotten them killed? Yes.'"

Good Lord, man, would you listen to what you just said?

If Your Kids Kill Themselves, How Can We Enslave Them?

Alphecca points out the flaws in VPC's latest shameless attempts to equate gun ownership with a higher rate of youth suicide.

I'm sure I won't be the only one to point out the suicide statistics for disarmed Japan.

If I may add a bit of additional perspective:

"The suicide rate for the 73,000 county jail inmates in California is 52 per 100,000."

Compare this to the rate for the general population, where:

"The 1999 age-adjusted rate was 10.7/100,000, or 0.01%."

So as of a few years back, the suicide rate was about FIVE TIMES HIGHER in the California jail system, where people are locked up 24/7, disarmed and guarded, than in the general population.

If the nation ever devolves into the despair-filled Soviet gulag the VPC and its fellow travelers are aiming for, look for the rate of people checking themselves out to rise exponentially.

So What Exactly Is The Problem Here?

"The Atascadero Police Department and the San Luis Obispo County Bomb Task Force took possession of a large number of weapons and ammunition found Thursday...The suspicious circumstances were determined to be unfounded, but during a follow-up investigation, officers discovered a collection of weapons.

"The collection included about 35 firearms ranging from handguns to shotguns and rifles, about 25 swords, bayonets and daggers, between 2,000 and 3,000 rounds of ammunition and roughly 15 potentially explosive devices resembling hand grenades... According to a police report, the property taken into custody did not appear to be connected to any criminal activity."

Thanks to John Schaefer for passing this along. I'll see if I can find out any more about this. Right now, it definitely goes into the WTF? Files...

Send Out a Newsletter, Go to Jail

McGath explains the latest scheme our masters have cooked up to protect us from that icky First Amendment.

I'll bet I see an instant drop in offers to buy online prescriptions, increase my size, get free premium cable channels and wire transfer millions from Nigeria.

Dang. And I was so looking forward to meeting hot singles--right after I update my PayPal account information.

Why Don't I Feel Threatened By This?

Fun Turns to Tragedy shares a photo of everyday life in Israel.

It's a shame that conditions require this, but it's also nice to see a government realizing that The People are the frontline for Homeland Security.

Forgetting for a moment that Israel is a socialist country, this instant in time reminds me of nothing so much as a scene from the libertarian alternative world in L. Neil Smith's "The Probability Broach."

Reaching Out to Victims of Crime

An Appeal By Deborah Ann Courtney

Dear Friends and Fellow Activists:

I have recently completed the preliminary personal safety and firearm training for the Victim’s of Crime TV reality show “Front Sight True Stories”, produced by Hard Focus Media, LLC.

I have never been through such a powerful and remarkably self fulfilling and empowering experience in my life. I have come home more confident of protecting and defending myself and my loved ones, and more self aware of the potential situations around me that could lead to becoming a victim of crime once again. I have gained skills that will allow me to live without as the fears I held in the past, after having been attacked. The training was a truly awesome experience!

I hope you will spread the word of my search to meet other Victims of Crime by forwarding this email to your contact lists, in helping me to find the other victims who would benefit from the same empowerment training.

I encourage you to download the attached flyer and hand it out to any groups or meetings you may be attending, as we will be filming a second round in the next few weeks, and time is of the essence. I will need to hear from everyone before August 1st.

You may also feel free to view my personal website at www.NOVICTIMS.org, and contact me with any questions or comments you might have.

I appreciate each of you, and thank you ahead of time for any help you may give me in putting me in contact not only with those victims who are seeking further empowerment, but for also putting me in contact with those that you know, or those that can help me find others.

Deborah Ann Courtney

The Second Amendment is not just a Right-It's a Responsibility.

"The Black Arrow"--A Review

By John Geltemeyer
[Posted exclusively to WarOnGuns with permission of the author]

I don't put out too many book reviews, because to be blunt, I'm too damn busy to read any more.

This is the first book I have cracked and read to completion in two years.

I'm talking about "The Black Arrow" by Vin Suprynowicz.

Now I've always enjoyed Vin's writing style. "Send in The Waco Killers," although depressing as hell, was engrossing and well written. Mentioning depressing, I started to read his "Ballad of Carl Drega." I feared that If I had read it to conclusion I would have had to draw a warm bath and slit my wrists. I just couldn't stand to read one more tale of government thugs mowing down some innocent and getting medals for it.

"The Black Arrow" however is anything but depressing.

The tale and plot are almost comic book style, yet the writing ranges from elegant to disturbing.

His characters are like larger than life Ayn Rand - like characters with a third dimension and sound reasons for their actions. You care about their outcomes.

The year is 2030 and Amerika is pretty damn totalitarian. The book opens with immediate flash of action. It grabs you hard enough that you actually want to read the following flashback that explains why some Errol Flynn look alike is shooting government officials from rooftops with a bow and arrow.

The use of a bow has two good effects. First it's dramatic. Second, even though I like my guns, sometimes libertarian writers can get techno geeky when they write technical specifications about guns into a story. Yes, there are guns and they do get used in many action scenes, but there's no 3 page tech spec break downs about the arms being used.

Each chapter is filled with very familiar background characters. They are familiar because they and their stories are ripped from the headlines and Vin's earlier books, with just a dash of fictionalization. However, unlike reality, many of the thugs suddenly end up with a foreign object or two ramming through their body and bringing final justice for their acts.

This isn't like any other libertarian fiction I've read. Even the bad guys have deep, if not twisted character. They are not two dimensional cutouts that wreak mindless destruction upon the populace. They have backgrounds that make them what they are. Some are just rotten people. Some die in confusion saying "..but, we were just trying to keep people safe...."

The book has intrigue and romance. Love triangles and combat. Bad guys and good guys.

There's a few points where the dreaded libertarian talking head character almost appears to be surfacing. However at the point you are wondering if you got suckered in for a crappy ending, Vin suddenly rewards you with mayhem on the people who most deserve it.

If you like a good story, libertarian / freedom movement morality, romance, character building and bad guys biting the dust; then this is your book.

Those of you who live close by might be thinking, "hey I'd like to borrow that book you were talking about." And I'll say "Hell no, go buy your own and support Vin, he deserves monetary compensation for this."

I'm curious what women will have to say about the romance parts. They seemed somewhat overdone at first, but I thought they actually fit in well with the comic book style of the action flow.

Anyway, get out there and buy the damn book.

"If it's a homicide, it's likely to involve a gun"

“Why do we need them? To kill off everybody? And, what sense does that make? Somebody please tell me — although I really doubt if you can give me a good answer.”

I wrote to the author of this foolishness:

"A Good Answer"

http://keepandbeararms.com/opsd/
You would evidently prefer all of these people to have been victims.

http://www.jpfo.org/NaziLawEnglish.htm
Yep, the only ones who should have guns are the government.

http://ls.wustl.edu/WULQ/75-3/753-4.html
Gun control? Genocide?

http://www.firearmsandliberty.com/cramer.racism.html
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense for black leaders to insist on continuing the tradition of keeping human beings disarmed.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html
What, if good guys are armed, bad guys will be deterred?

Not that I expect any of this to affect your views in any way.

Surprise me.

David Codrea

"Where are the anti-gun proposals?"

Ri-ight. This hand-wringing enuretic would have us believe there is a shortage of "anti-gun proposals."

"Deploring the guns isn't enough. We need to hear specific plans from all of them about how they are going to disarm the thugs doing the shooting."

They have no specific plans, you moron. All "gun control" edicts do is disarm the "law-abiding."

"Instead of worrying about legal gun ownership why aren't they competing with ideas to rid our streets of illegal guns?"

Maybe because the "solutions" idiots like you propose only impact and restrict "legal gun ownership."

Protest Gun "Buybacks," Go To Jail

"Dickey pointed out that the incident happened at...'a city-owned property, during a city-sponsored event inviting the public onto the property.'”

I wonder what would happen if someone showed up with signs supporting the effort?

If It's A "Partnership," Are We Free To Dissolve It?

In re BATFU enforcing a frame, receiver or barrel importation ban:

"Maintaining open lines of communication is vital to the successful future of ATF’s partnership with the import community."--Lewis P. Raden, Assistant Director (Enforcement Programs and Services)

Enforcement Services. Partnership. Obey us or be destroyed.

Don'tcha just love BATFU-speak?

Hey Lewis--what do you call it when someone doesn't want to be your partner, yet you force yourself upon them anyway--under threat of violence if they don't submit?

[Hat tip to Head's Bunker.]

"Canons of Journalism" Rebuttal

Cari Hammerstrom Speaks Out

"Hyperbole" reporter here.

First of all, let me say that none of this is the opinion of The Monitor, my employer. It is my personal rebuttal, because I don't like my credibility to be attacked.

Today, I got a call from a Denny Church, (sp?), inquiring about the article I wrote that appeared in Saturday's edition of The Monitor.

He referred me to this website.

I've read your attack on my credentials and have this to say.

According to the golf pro at Tierra Santa, he and fellow golfers have heard the distinctive zinging of bullets going over their heads.

My own co-workers and husband, which of course I did not interview for this article, too, have heard bullets zinging over their heads at this golf course. It was told to me by the golf pro that these bullets came from a range to the north of the course. He never said whether he had found bullets anywhere on the course.

It could be possible that this person was mistaken and doesn't know which direction the sun comes up. According to Lt. Raul Vallejo of the Weslaco Police Department, there is another range west of the course where "uncontolled" shooting goes on. The bullets may have come from there.

The northern range is property of the Weslaco police department; however, I did not know this at the time at I wrote the article.

Vallejo (the firearms instructor) informed me that, yes, you are correct, no complaints have been filed. However, does a formal complaint necessarily need to be filed for an action to have actually happened? I think not.

"Nobody's out there shooting willy nilly," Vallejo said. No citizens are shooting at the range. He told me the range points due west, and yet, the course is to the south. Highly improbable that the bullet came from the police department's range, yes. But could it happen. Sure. Or, like I said, the golf pro didn't know which range the bullets zinged from, or worse yet, he may have lied because he doesn't like guns.

Who knows?

But he said he heard bullets going over his head and it bothers him and his clients. A worthy point to consider when trying to highlight the need for an indoor range.
You obviously missed the point of the article, which was obvious by the headline, "Targeting a need."

Law enforcement officers would like an indoor range to shoot at. People, or at least golfers, would prefer if law enforcement and anybody who shoots go inside and do it. This new shooting range is obviously wanted by some. (If you still want to shoot outside, fine.)

This account of one golfer's ire was merely a way of illustrating that. And the "bang, bang...bang, bang, bang!" was a way of putting the reader in a golfer's shoes. An "overanalyzing" golfer at that.

Don't point out bias where it does not exist.

You simply chose to read my article a certain way. I'm sure others got the point.
Just so you know, my husband owns a gun. I like guns. I have two shotgun shells and a bullet casing sitting on my desk, from the times I shot with law enforcement. (I've gone through McAllen Police Citizen's Academy and the Border Patrol Citizen's Academy)

I also recently went skeet shooting for the first time and blasted that clay right out of the sky on my first try. What a feeling!

So, no, this was not some liberal media attack on the right to bear arms. This article simply pointed out the need for another indoor shooting range in Hidalgo County. Thank you very much.

Respectfully,

Cari Hammerstrom

"Canons of Journalism" Update

Whose Paranoid does his own investigation.

Job Requirements

"Later, the President heard from his wife - via an interview on NBC's 'Today Show' - about what she is looking for on the nation's highest court.

"'Sure, I would really like for him to name another woman,' First Lady Laura Bush said while on her goodwill tour of Africa."

After all, it isn't understanding and faithfulness to Founding intent that matters--it's your genitals.

Preferably Bush will also make sure his nominee is non-Caucasian and so compromised in principle even the Democrats won't filibuster.

Yeah, we'll be getting our rights recognized and protected real quick with this approach.

Vous Êtes Cordialement Invités...

À une Réunion des Traîtres!

SayUncle links to a Brady Center fundraiser at the French Embassy celebrating the birthday of Art Buchwald.

At least Americans who wish to surrender their rights have picked the right place.

I'm disappointed to see Dave Barry on the list.

Power of the Constituency

Liberty Belles Ask For Your Support

This is a time when our rights as American citizens are more in jeopardy than at any other time in our nation's history. We're witnessing an all out attack on what we traditionally know as American culture and the Bill of Rights. The evidence is in our schools, our courts, at the border, and even in the White House. The only thing that can stop our politicians, mainstream media, and big business from continuing down this treacherous path is a massive outpouring of resistance from The People. Lack of such a resistance would clearly signal a green light for the end of our nation as we know it.

We need your help to represent the Second Amendment during this very uncertain time. Only with your support and membership can we continue to be the voice your views and opinions on gun rights. And if you join before July 31st, you will receive a complimentary gift as a token of our appreciation.

Please click here to learn how you can support the cause: http://www.libertybelles.org/join.htm

Please visit our website at http://www.libertybelles.org to learn more about this topic and others including:

The Power of the Constituency
The cost of SB357
BATF - Failing the test
and more!

Thank you for your support!

Jennifer Freeman

Everybody Loves Ray Guns

Bill St. Clair points us to Ionatron, which is developing what is, for all intents and purposes, a phaser.

"Oh, joy," he observes. "The JBTs will soon have phasers. Then again, so will we."

Wanna bet?

At least not legal ones.