We must fear a government monopoly on firearms. It is a path awash in the blood of millions and anyone who calls for bans on civilian firearms is on the side of evil.
Braden Lynch
April 21, 2012
Comment to Quote of the day—Ronald Reagan
[It may be the advocates have the best of intentions but as is well know, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.—Joe]
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Murphy
Murphy’s Law
[I’m at Boomershoot Mecca and things have not gone well for me today. I spent about two hours trying to get a Nanostation 2 to act as a router and get it’s IP address from the ISP. I “bricked” the device mounted on a pole 20 feet in the air. I can probably still recover it by pushing the hardware reset button but that means bring the pole down. The pole has a solar panel and the ISP’s wireless flat panel as well as the Nanostation on it. That isn’t going to be fun. Then I tried using another Nanostation I have at ground level. I was unsuccessful so I finally drove to Moscow (1 hour each way) to get a conventional household router. That worked and I got the AT&T microcell working with one of my phones but not the other. Then just as it was getting dark I started to put up my tent. I didn’t have the poles or the stakes. I have to go back to Moscow again. I’ll return in the morning.
As Barb asks multiple times during Boomershoot, “Are you having fun yet?”—Joe]
…the truth is shockingly radical to some people. How DARE he say that! Well it isn’t truth’s fault that truth is sometimes shocking, is it? Well is it?
Allen West does a pretty good job of standing his ground and staying focused;
Did you catch the fact that the Vice Chairman of the National Communist Party thinks that being called a communist is insulting? I found myself hoping that West would bring it up. Could you imagine a high ranking NRA executive thinking it an insult to be called an NRA member?
Communists (Progressives) have to slink around in the dark as a way of life and they know it. Turn on the lights!
“Well I don’t care what he says.” I love it. CNN goes to the actual, openly named Communist Party (they’re probably on a first name basis) for their reaction to someone calling someone else a communist. Oh, the layers of irony and stupidity. See; this how these things make the major headlines.
It’s all because Allen West had the gall, the nerve, the cheek, the chutzpah, to describe what was right in front of his face and for all to see. The loonies go apoplectic, try to beat West over the head with his own comments, and now a lot more people have heard that the communists had to re-brand themselves, that they have a caucus in Washington, the self described Communist Party comes out saying it’s insulting to call people communists, and West gets a boost. This is how it works, people. We win every time we stick to basic truth.
Now if West had gone all Republican (getting scared, going marshmallow, saying he didn’t really mean it, and sorry to be so reckless with my words, please forgive me, mea maxima culpa) he’d have lost. And we’d lose with him. As it is, the loonies actually look like loonies, making loonies of themselves, calling out more loonies to join the loony-fest, and the truth gets a boost.
Hat tip; Glen Beck, and I credit him also for bringing some of our history (the parts that don’t get taught in the coercive, i.e. government, schools) into the public spotlight over the years.
Some say the The Nuge is too over the top. They need to listen more closely. He says what needs to be said. If it drives the loonies out of the woodwork, perfect. That’s exactly what we want– bring the conversation, the principles and the clarity, out, naked, front and center. That way we win. There is no other. Obfuscation and beating around the bush, “moderating” the message, only serves as chum in the water for the sharks. Don’t bandy words with fools. Listen and learn;
ETA; You know they were trying to intimidate him. Don’t be intimidated. This sort of thing will continue until the left finds out that it backfires on them every time it’s tried. Alan West, for one, is beginning to figure it out.
There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism — government. Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power. In doing so we can only assure that we will eventually be totally subject to it. When dictators come to power, the first thing they do is take away the people’s weapons. It makes it so much easier for the secret police to operate, it makes it so much easier to force the will of the ruler upon the ruled.
Ronald Reagan
Column published in Guns and Ammo (1 September 1975)
[First half via Proclaiming Liberty: What Patriots and Heroes Really Said About the Right to Keep and Bear Arms by Philip Mulivor, the rest via Wikiquote.
As I have said before, in the 20th Century more people were murdered by their own government than by individual or even gangs of criminals. People willing to give up their arms in the false hope of the government making them more secure from common criminals are missing the big picture. We have far, far, more to fear from an overly powerful government than from common criminals. In other words the hazards of too much freedom are of much less consequence than the hazards of not enough.—Joe]
A few years ago I went looking for material related to guns in the workplace and couldn’t find anything except “keep guns out of the workplace”.
Times have changed. Now we have classes for HR weighing both sides of the issue:
Deciding whether to ban guns in the work place is an incredibly controversial and potentially polarizing issue between employers and employees, and between ‘pro- gun rights’ versus ‘pro-gun restrictions’ advocates. But it is a decision which cannot be avoided: an employer may face potential risks if it decides to ban guns, and it may face potential risks if it decides to not ban guns. The issue is complicated by constant changes in gun laws and restrictions throughout the United States. You will learn about the latest legal developments which impact this controversy. This live audio conference shall also provide you with a strategy for making the most informed decision, in light of the law and their circumstances.
Some good things came out of that fiery inferno: By the end of the day, April 19, 1993, I was a recovering liberal, ready to bear arms.
Sarah Connor
April 19, 2012
Comment to April 19, 1993: Where were you when Waco burned?
[I have a similar story but it started a little bit earlier.
I had bought my first gun in December of 1992. This was in large part because of the helplessness I felt at Ruby Ridge a few months earlier. It went down just a few miles from my home at the time and there was nothing I could do. I didn’t have a firearm of any type and I had zero training. It was just an SKS but it was a beginning.
Just the siege at Waco confirmed I was going down the necessary path. I didn’t have to wait for the the outrage of the burning. The only doubts I had were whether I had started my journey soon enough and if I had enough money and time to complete it in time. In May of 1995 I got a contracting job at Microsoft that paid a lot of money and gave me easy access to high quality training and nearby indoor range.
I was shooting USPSA matches in early 1995. I shot in a lot of steel plate and pistol league matches from 1995 through 1999. I went to my first dynamite shoot in May of 1996. I bought my STI Eagle in late 1997. I went to the USPSA Area 1 Championship in June of 1998. I won the Intermountain Tactical Rifle Championship in July of 1998. The first Boomershoot was in October of 1998. I took a class in long range precision rifle shooting in early 1999. Hundreds of people have participated in Boomershoot. They acquired the equipment and skills to hit one minute of angle targets out to 700 yards.
I and hundreds, if not thousands, are ready. It was Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban that motivated us. But what the really means is that almost for certain our equipment and skills will not be required for that method of last resort.—Joe]
I’m glad the statute of limitations has expired on this Defensive Gun Use in Chicago.
No shots fired nor was a gun even brandished. But it qualifies as a DGU in my book. It enabled a bystander to have the confidence to get involved.
There is no anti-gun group with enough money to defeat the pro-gun money. There is a lack of will and desire to confront this issue in the state and federal government and no strong anti-gun leadership from either party. The only way left to fight the gun industry is through the voices (and votes) of the American people.
Cynthia Kounaris
April 17, 2012
Guns Help People Kill People
[And the American people have spoken. NRA membership is at or near an all-time high. The NRA annual meeting this year set a new attendance record. And 68% of the American people have a favorable view of the NRA.
Ms. Kounaris, the problem for you is that there aren’t enough people on your side of the issue. And the reason you don’t have many people is in a large part because gun control advocates can’t answer Just One Question. The anti-gun groups don’t even have a way to join on their websites. They have no real membership in the sense of the pro-gun groups. It’s time to educate yourself and join one or more of the winning teams.—Joe]
This might mess up Joe’s auto QOTD super system and crash his server, but here goes;
“I prefer clarity to agreement” – Dennis Prager
I love that quote, and he uses some version of it often on his radio show. It is in contrast with the usual method of obfuscation for the purpose of recruiting to one’s cause. Understanding, the prerequisite to true agreement or true disagreement, can only come out of clarity. It is required for any positive, productive communication in any subject. I don’t know if Prager has said it as such, but clarity is pure poison to the left.
Pure.
Poison.
As such, our mission is easy, no? If I had to name one thing, the lack of which is resulting in the most problems in our society, it would be clarity. Not energy, not oil, not honesty, not contraception, not redistributed money, not even liberty, but clarity, because without it we don’t have any of those other things. We’re paralyzed.
Think how refreshing it would be to hear true clarity on a regular basis. “Honesty” could be substituted in many cases, but it’s different from clarity in that some people don’t actually know what they think– Their thinking process has been retarded through obfuscation. Clarity must some first, then, before honesty (or the lack thereof) can become an issue. Glen Beck oft repeats a variation on it; “Say what you mean and mean what you say”.
No doublt, if some politician ever reads this, he’ll be asking his campaign advisors how he can best appear to be saying what he means and meaning what he says, ’cause he heard it was popular with those idiots in flyover country.
Anybody openly carrying a gun into Starbucks (or anywhere else) to “make a point” or “exercise a right” is inherently unqualified to carry a weapon. This is a fundamentally improper use of a firearm.
Like your dick, you only take out your gun if you are prepared to use it. You don’t openly carry it into a coffee bar to scare the liberals. This identifies you as a cheap tin can that shouldn’t be allowed near anything as powerful as a Model 29 or to use the other common penis substitute, a Porsche Turbo Carrera.
Honus
March 4, 2010
Comment to Open Thread: Penis Substitutes At the Ready!
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]
As much as I detest people that think it is legitimate to make laws based on majority rule when it should be a matter of principle it is reassuring when the majority aligns itself with principles:
Most Americans support the right to use deadly force to protect themselves – even in public places – and have a favorable view of the National Rifle Association, the main gun-lobby group, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
The online survey showed that 68 percent, or two out of three respondents, had a favorable opinion of the NRA, which starts its annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday.
The approval rating for Congress is currently running about 12%. I claim this is in a large part because they have no principles, only policy positions which change about as often as their dirty laundry that keeps showing up in public.
This leads me to believe the appropriate thing to do is replace congress with the Board of Directors and senior members of the NRA.
With the strict gun control implemented in Mexico I did not realize the Mexican Constitution has a right to bear arms clause:
The inhabitants of the United Mexican States have a right to arms in their homes, for security and legitimate defense, with the exception of arms prohibited by federal law and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard. Federal law will determine the cases, conditions, requirements and places in which the carrying of arms will be authorized to the inhabitants.
I would be willing to bet the Brady Campaign would almost be willing to accept a “guaranteed” right “protected” thusly. The VPC wouldn’t of course. But giving the Brady Campaign a reason to disband would be appealing.
But I’m inclined to go with the “shall not be infringed” version and have the Brady Campaign disband because we have accomplished all our goals in the U.S. and have moved on to protecting the right of people to keep and bear arms in other countries.
Martyrdom’ is the only way a person can become famous without ability.
George Bernard Shaw
[I wonder who he was talking about. Colin Goddard of the Brady Campaign comes to mind but the timeline doesn’t quite work.—Joe]
We need a president who will stand up for the rights of hunters and sportsmen, and those seeking to protect their homes and their families. President Obama has not. I will. And if we are going to safeguard our Second Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes.
…
And if we are going to safeguard our Second Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes.
…
This president is moving us away from our Founders’ vision. Instead of limited government, he’s leading us toward limited freedom and limited opportunity.
Mitt Romney
April 13, 2012
Romney touts support for gun rights at NRA
Photo credit: AP Photo/Michael Conroy
[Since Romney is a politician and his lips were moving I question how firmly, if at all, he believes what he says and whether he will remain true to these campaign promises. But he is saying some of the words gun owners and freedom lovers want to hear.
I want to hear that he is going to do more than play defense (“defend the rights”). I would prefer that he say something along the lines of what Newt said a short while later to the NRA (H/T to Bitter). We should be expanding the scope of the right to keep and bear arms to the rest of the world via the UN. That means a strong offense, not just defense.
For those of you who question the validity of that last sentence by Romney please see my QOTD-Barack Obama from October 28, 2008 with further info from Kevin.—Joe]
I know I haven’t been blogging much recently. Lots of stuff going on. Tonight things came to a head.
Most of the details are going to remain private but about 6:00 PM this evening wife Barbara was served with papers at our Moscow Idaho home saying I wanted a legal separation. I stayed in the Seattle area this weekend.
About 6:20 she drove off in the Jeep I bought her for Christmas in 2010. The police and family looked for her but didn’t find her until she had totaled the vehicle and then tried to swim the Clearwater river at night. The water was probably just barely above freezing.
The police pulled her out and she is currently in the emergency room in Lewiston. Physically she is fine but will be held for 72 hours for mental observation.
Comments are closed.
Ry reports his room reservation he made last May at the Best Western in Orofino for Boomershoot 2012 was cancelled exactly 90 days later.
If you think you have a reservation there please check to make sure everything is still in order.
If you have lost your reservation there may be other places in town that still have rooms available. Here is a list of places with phone numbers where you can look.
There’s no politician in the world that wants to write off the votes of 5 to 6 million Americans out of the gate.
Sebastian
April 10, 2012
The Dreams of Bloomberg
[I’m reminded of something Chris Cox (NRA top lobbyist) said, “They don’t fear me. They fear you.”—Joe]
If the TSA were to scan for Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer (AN) they would get a very high percentage of travelers testing positive as this guy did:
An 82-year-old farmer from Brush got quite the surprise Thursday when he was briefly detained by Fort Collins-Loveland airport security after his suitcase tested positive for the chemicals used to make bombs.
Large numbers of false positives mean they have to hand examine large numbers of people. This will require far more manpower and increase the frustration with the TSA. If they don’t scan for AN then they leave a huge gaping hole in their security. Yes, AN needs something else with it to detonate. Boomerite, for example, uses Potassium Chlorate (PC) and Ethylene Glycol (EG). Scanning for either of these isn’t going to accomplish anything. PC is one of the main ingredients in matches. EG is the common automobile anti-freeze. False positives are us.
Scanning for all three, AN, PC, and EG would detect Boomerite but there isn’t anything particularly magic about those three. AN with any number of things will explode. Here is just a partial list of things I have used:
Basically anything that will burn will enable detonation of AN. So unless TSA is willing to detain and hand search every passenger that walked through their recently fertilized lawn and then ate a powdered sugar donut on the way to security there is no point in scanning for AN. Plus this assumes that a real threat would not be able to seal and clean up their explosives device and themselves sufficiently that they couldn’t get their chemical profile below the detection threshold.
Since explosives detection is pointless and they do not hand examine every passenger TSA is really nothing but A Security Theater.
The NRA is selling a wallet which shields your RFID cards from being scanned.
I’m a little torn as to whether I want to get one or not. It’s very convenient to just swipe my wallet over the the scanner when I get on the bus to go to work. If I had the shielded wallet I would have to take the card out to scan it.
On the other hand Ry recently demonstrated an app for an Android phone that could scan that same card and get my public transportation history for the last 10 days.