It Could Be Worse

You could be Barry Campbell.

PLEASE Obey Our Gun Registration

Please...?

They're getting desperate. Threats and cajoling and a hopelessly incompetent bureaucracy haven't worked.

This is both funny and pathetic. Police manning tables at shopping centers. Nothing like a public admission of failure and impotence to foster respect and compliance.

I wonder if they're handing out stickers and balloons?

Keep your gun ownership status to yourselves, South Africans. Anyone who demands to know what you have, with penalties for noncompliance, is not your friend, but your oppressor.

When you pass the "information" tables, point and laugh--or better yet, ask 'em if they've recovered and registered those 17,000 firearms they had in their custody and "lost".

Unintended (But Not Unexpected) Consequences

Liberal Gun Ban Fuels Buying Binge

Paul Martin's plan to ban handguns may have backfired.

As soon as the Liberals unveiled their promise to ban the weapons earlier this month, Vancouver gun shop owners saw a jump in handgun sales.

Who can buy guns at such shops, Mr. Martin, the criminal element you're using as an excuse for this insane and evil crusade, or peaceable, decent Canadians who just want to be able to defend themselves?

Your government can't guarantee their protection, can it? No, of course not, neither in fact nor as an obligation of law.

But you're keeping your taxpayer-funded armed bodyguards, right?

The Strike is On

Subways and buses across the nation's largest city shut down Tuesday morning as transit workers walked off the job following days of acrimonious labor talks, stranding more than 7 million daily riders...

But...but...but...how will we move about without someone to pat us down and search our bags?

Landru, guide us!

Katherine Letellier Responds...

...to my inquiry:

Mr. Codrea,

I appreciate your comments. I do object, however, to your contention that I am challenging "the leading authorities on the subject" when I state that both sides of the gun debate issue can cite colonial history and arguments made by the Founders to support their case.

First, though I do not question Mr. Halbrook's scholarly credentials, there is no monolithic set of "leading authorities" who are all in agreement regarding the Founders' intents. A quick Google search of the gun rights issue will bring up myriad federal court cases (Silveira v. Lockyer, for example) in which federal judges explicitly declare their belief that the intent of the Founders was to preserve a collective rather than independent right to bear arms. While I am not endorsing or refuting either the federal courts' or Mr. Halbrook's view of the original intent of the 2nd Amendment, I would posit that federal judges should be included among "leading authorities on the subject" and that "leading authorities" thus appear to disagree on the issue. There is apparently some gray where you would like to see only black or white.

Second, you can examine the 1789 "House Journal" and "Senate Journal" (the official records of the original debate) or the "Annals of Congress" (compiled decades later) to assess the intentions of the Founders. Contention over the meaning of "milita" abounds, a point critical to collective rights advocates. You can additionally examine English common law, often referenced in the colonies prior to the Revolution, and find a debasement of the individual right to bear arms starting as far back as 1328. These are but examples of the historical evidence that gun control advocates might use to substantiate their case and what I intended when I wrote that "both sides can cite colonial history and quote from the Founders."

But my point in writing the original letter was not to position myself as a leading scholar of matters constitutional nor to advance a particular point of view, but rather to express disappointment that such a complex and interesting issue was treated in so one-sided a manner. I was hoping that leading scholars on BOTH sides of the argument would write thoughtful pieces, and that I and other readers would benefit from their contrasting viewpoints.

I would very much appreciate your removing my e-mail address from your web site as it is intended for school business, and I do not want to be inundated with Second Amendment-related e-mails. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Regards,
Katherine Letellier

My reply:

Ms. Letellier,

Perhaps I did not make myself clear.

I did not ask you about Silveira. I did you [sic--my bad--it was late] ask you about English law in 1328.

I asked you to substantiate your claim that "Each side can cite Colonial history and quote from the Founding Fathers."

Please provide these quotes from the Founding Fathers you say exist that state there is no individual right to keep and bear arms.

That's what this is all about, and that's all I'm looking for.

Can you do this? Yes or no?

Everything else is nonresponsive to my specific question.

In re your email address, it is a public record on the internet, available to anyone doing a Google search on your name. However, in the interest of obtaining a specific answer to my inquiry, I will do as you request.

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

Let's see what she says.

Man Accused of al-Qaida Link Admits Gun Buy

Khadr admitted ties to senior al-Qaida members and confessed to buying guns and rocket launchers for them in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan?

Why didn't they just go to one of probable GOP presidential candidate John McCain's American gun shows? Does this mean terrorists can buy all the weapons they want elsewhere?

And here I thought the problem was America's "lax gun laws." Boy, I guess you learn something every day.

Brand Wars in Albany

[Use BugMeNot to bypass site registration]

Synopsis:

New York Democrats want to sue gun manufacturers.

New York Republicans object.

They have a better brand of gun control.

You're Not Supposed to Tip Your Hand...

The president of the Oakville Liberal riding association has resigned after telling a voter unhappy with gun control to take her "gun-loving ass back to the U.S."

See, the cardinal rule has been broken here--you're not supposed to reveal your true agenda.

We've seen this happen in California. It's called "ideological cleansing."

The Bidding is Over

The special signed copy of The Black Arrow has been won. Final bid was $865.00.

Claire Wolfe has more.

Quotes From the Founders

An Open Request to Katherine Letellier

Dear Ms. Letellier,

You apparently possess knowledge that many of us interested in the Second Amendment have been seeking for some time to no avail.

In your published op-ed, you state:

Each side can cite Colonial history and quote from the Founding Fathers. Because both sides in this debate offer challenging and convincing arguments, both deserve equal time in your paper, if the intent truly is to educate readers on the Bill of Rights.

Yet according to Constitutional law scholar Stephen P. Halbrook:

In recent years it has been suggested that the second amendment protects the "collective" right of states to maintain militias, but not the right of "the people" to keep and bear arms. If anyone entertained this notion in the period in which the Constitution and Bill of Rights were debated and ratified, it remains one of the most closely guarded secrets of the eighteenth century, for no known surviving writing of the 1787-1791 period states that thesis.

Ms. Letellier, I’ve always believed that debates should be about determining the truth. You have publicly made a remarkable claim that refutes the leading authorities on the subject. If substantiated, your claim will have significant impact on current understanding and future court cases.

Both you and Prof. Halbrook can’t be right. One of you must be wrong.

What “challenging and convincing arguments” did the Framers make to disparage the right of individuals to keep and bear arms?
Would you please provide some of those quotes and their sources that you say exist, so that we can “truly…educate readers on the Bill of Rights”?

Sincerely,

David Codrea

Well, There's YOU and Then There's US...

A federal judge placed former Cedar Bluff town manager Ricky Steele on three years probation for his part in the sale of guns from a police evidence room.

Seems I read something once that covered this sort of thing...it went kind'a like:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States...No State shall...grant any Title of Nobility.

I also remember something along the lines of:

No State shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Give me time. I'm sure I'll remember where I saw this.

It'll be nice to know there are guarentees ensuring the rest of us would receive the same treatment as Mr. Steele should we ever find ourselves in a similar predicament.

Prove You're WORTHY of Rights

Possessing even a single illegal gun should be classified as a violent felony that carries guaranteed prison time, unless the defendant can show proof of being an otherwise upstanding citizen.

Yes. None of that "innocent until proven guilty" tomfoolery in New York! And none of that "right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" nonsense, either!

I , for one, am damned glad the New York Daily News is there to act as champion for our rights and watchdog against governement abuse.

BREAKING NEWS!

The establishment media "leans left."

Who'da thunk?

Thanks to establishment academia for this stunning revelation.

I'd comment more, but I need time for this to truly settle in.

Philly Struggles With Rising Murder Rate

As far back as March, when the city endured a spate of 22 killings in nine days - 20 of them by gunfire - Mayor John F. Street pleaded for help in stopping the violence.

"We are stymied to protect our citizens" because of the state's permissive gun laws, Street wrote in a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell.

Help never came. As of Friday afternoon, 365 people had been killed in this city of 1.6 million, the highest number in at least seven years and up 35 from last year, according to FBI statistics.

"Permissive gun laws"? But wasn't Gov. Rendell standing shoulder-to-shoulder with NRA officials when they promised everyone that Project Exile would do the same thing for Philadelphia that it had for Richmond?

What's that?

Richmond's murder rate is climbing, too?

I see Boston's 10-year-high murder rate is mentioned as well. You know, the city that implemented Operation Cease Fire, another program hailed by NRA as a success...

Never mind.

My favorite hand-wringing Bloodance quote in this story comes from Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson:

"We have the most lax handgun law in the entire nation."

Right. You can carry concealed without a permit, like in Vermont or Alaska, or you can carry openly without interference, like in Arizona.

No?

You mean a police official would tell a flat-out, agenda-driven LIE, and the ethics-obsessed Watchdog Press would swallow and print it not only without challenge, but with enthusiasm?

Brits Fear Santa Terrorizes Kids

A VISIT from Father Christmas could be "terrifying" for small children, says advice on a government website...The advice for teachers on teachernet.gov.uk said: "Younger children in particular have a wide range of fears. For very young children, Father Christmas can be terrifying.

No doubt. After all, children in the UK under 14 aren't considered old enough to be trusted with pens.

Thank goodness they're old enough for their teachers to have sex with!

H.G. Wells miscalculated. He didn't need to send his Time Traveller all the way to "the year Eight Hundred and Two Thousand odd" in order to find the Eloi.

Or the Morlocks, either, for that matter.

Chief Cuts Penalty for Officer in Firing of Weapon

Even though she first tried to get away with not reporting it and went to her union rep first, and even though investigators think she fired it deliberately, not accidentally, and even though there is credible testimony she abused and threatened a citizen under color of authority...

If you and I had done this, we'd deservedly be in the slammer. She gets a 15 day suspension. And we're supposed to believe this is all on the up-and-up?

Oh, that's right--they don't care what we think. They don't have to. Lift a finger against them and die.

UPDATE: Blognomicon puts things in perspective.

A Tale of Two Cities

"Gun-plagued Toronto" wants to "perform a 'Boston Miracle.'"

Meanwhile, Alphecca tells us Boston's murder rate has hit a 10-Year High...

My head hurts.

"Partial Reprieve" for SA Gun Owners

Gun owners who fail to renew their licences in terms of the new gun-control regulations will not overnight become criminals in possession of illegal firearms - at least, not until July 2009.

Translation: Noncompliance has been so massive and overwhelming we know we'll appear to be utter, impotent fools if we don't act like we're doing something to get tough.

Translation: If the people get it in their heads that they can defy us with impunity, they might cease fearing us. And if they cease fearing us...

Flynn Gets Probation on Gun Charge

Of course he does.

After all, "He had...a long history of service to the State."

Speaking of Republicans...

...it looks like George Pataki is doing what he can to hasten our plunge into a total police state. But then, we've already established that cop lives are more important than, say, butcher, baker or candlestick maker lives...

Boy, that New York gun control sure must be working well if they feel a need to "refine laws against gun trafficking and heighten penalties for illegal possession and use of guns, particularly for shooting cops."

Nobody's obeying the law so we'll make things even more illegal...

And whaddya know, another police state champion, Martin Golden, is also a Republican. So why did Democrat "Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver [depict] the GOP as being 'in the pocket' of the National Rifle Association"?