Momemtum is building in the recovery of our infringed rights

In a surprisingly fair article the Chicago Tribune reports:

Fresh off its success at poking holes in a Wilmette handgun ban, the National Rifle Association has launched a new legislative drive to dismantle strong gun prohibitions in Chicago and test Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s wavering commitment to broader gun control.

Taking direct aim at Mayor Richard Daley’s hard-line stance against the proliferation of guns, the NRA package of state legislation would allow residents of Chicago and other communities that ban handgun ownership to legally keep the weapons in their homes for self-defense purposes. It also would hold Chicago and other places with bans liable for injuries that residents claimed could have been avoided had they been allowed to carry handguns.

And this editorial claims Howard Dean as chairman of the DNC will be “The last nail in gun control”:

The expected election of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee this month will strike a crippling blow to the gun-control movement, lobbyists and political observers say.

Like Dean, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is a strong supporter of gun rights. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) supports gun control but rarely mentioned the issue before the 2004 election.

I’ve been watching WA state flirting with an assault weapon and .50 BMG ban the last couple of weeks and I have concluded it probably won’t go anywhere.  Yeah, they introduced it but hundreds of freedom supports showed up for the hearings and only a handful of bigots showed their support.  Something could pass, but I put the odds at about 30%.

The risk freedom advocates run now is that we relax.  NOW is the time to (politically) shoot anti-freedom bigots in the back as they run for cover.  We should root them out of their hidey holes like Saddam Hussein and humiliate them with our political victories and the data showing freedom is not to be feared.  Let Freedom Ring in our country as well as around the world.

Is the U.K. coming around?

Ken Macdonald, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, announced “licence to kill“ guidelines for householders.  Basically they are saying you can use deadly force to defend yourself and your family.  The guidelines appear to be pretty close to what you would expect in most of the U.S.  Here are some examples from the article: 

THE CLUEDO GUIDELINES

Colonel Mustard awakes to find a burglar standing by his bedside — he reaches for a length of lead piping, strikes out and knocks him unconscious or kills him.
Lawful

Miss Scarlett hears noises in the night. She creeps downstairs and sees a burglar in her dining room. He has not seen her. She seizes a candlestick, hides behind the door and strikes him unconscious.
Lawful

The Rev Green is woken by the noise of a burglar making his escape. He races after him and and with the butt of his revolver knocks him unconscious to the ground.
Lawful

Mrs White disturbs a burglar in the library. She seizes a knife in the kitchen and stabs him. He falls to the ground and is rapidly becoming unconscious. Just to teach him a lesson she stabs him again.
Unlawful

Professor Plum hears on the grapevine that a man he suspects of thefts from his house is planning forced entry through the kitchen. He lies in wait to trap the burglar and then shoots him or knocks him unconscious.
Unlawful

Mrs Peacock disturbs burglars in the billiard room. They flee empty-handed. She chases after them with a shotgun and shoots one of them dead.
Unlawful

THE NEW ADVICE

What is ‘reasonable force’?

You are not expected to make fine judgments over the level of force you use in the heat of the moment. So long as you only do what you honestly and instinctively believe is necessary in the heat of the moment, that would be the strongest evidence of your acting lawfully and in self-defence. This is still the case if you use something to hand as a weapon. The more extreme the circumstances and the fear felt, the more force you can lawfully use in self-defence.

What if the intruder dies?

If you have acted in reasonable self-defence and the intruder dies,you will still have acted lawfully.

When would my actions not be lawful?

If having knocked someone unconscious you decided to hurt them further or kill them to punish them; or you knew of an intended intruder and set a trap to hurt or kill.

What if I chase them as they run off?

You are no longer acting in self-defence and the same degree of force may not be reasonable. You are still allowed to use reasonable force to recover your property and make a citizen’s arrest.

Do I have to wait to be attacked?

No, not if you are in your own home and in fear for yourself or others.

I’ll believe it’s a trend rather than just crumbs thrown to the subjects when they can carry handguns in public for self defense.

We’re going to do it again, says man behind Beslan bloodbath

Shamil Basayev, the mastermind of the taking of the hostages in the Russian school, was interviewed and had this to say:

Mr Basayev states: “We are planning more Beslan-type operations in the future because we are forced to do so.”

Justifying his attacks on civilian targets, he states: “We are at war and we look at the reality, and not at whether the population has weapons in their hands. We look at the reality of their participation in this war.

“ People who approve of Putin’s policies, people who pay their taxes for this war, people who send their soldiers to this war, priests who sprinkle holy water on them . . . How can they be innocent? They are just without weapons. Russian citizens are accomplices of this war, it just may be that they have no weapons in their hands. Peaceful people for us are those that don’t pay taxes for this war, people who don’t participate, and who speak against this war.”

If you paid your taxes then you are a combatant.  I presume this is the rational used to justify 9-11 and the beheadings of female aid workers in Iraq too. 

Like I said before, if these guys decide to take out a school in the U.S. they should do it in a major city many, many miles from the nearest farm.