The same thing that always happens when people without guns go up against people with guns.

Eric Finch
A character in the movie V for Vendetta.
[James and I simultaneously turned and looked at each other, for the only time during the movie, when this line was spoken.  After the movie James said, "I'm surprised they had the balls to make that movie."--Joe]

I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my rescue.

Norman Kember
British hostage held in Iraq for almost four months.
March 25, 2006
After being rescued by British, Canadian, and U.S. military forces.
[Mr. Kember apparently thinks we are still at war with Germany, Italy, and Japan.--Joe]

The gun control lobby has done a pretty good job of misleading people. They’ve been predicting doomsday since these laws started. For some, it took 46 states to approve it to see that it hasn’t materialized.

Chris Cox
National Rifle Association’s chief lobbyist
Answering the question, "So what took Kansas so long to pass a concealed weapons law?"
Kansas to allow hidden weapons, March 24, 2006
Kansas City Star

Wendell Joost, a friend of mine, is a NRA firearms instructor instructor instructor. Yeah, he trains the people that will train NRA instructors.  As you might imagine he is a strong advocate of self defense.  He recently gave the following speech in his run for office and I thought it would be appropriate to share with a little larger audience.  He agreed and so here it is:

The first corpse that I ever saw was Bud Kramer.  His murderer hit him over the head with a baseball bat, poured gasoline on him and set him on fire.

Bud Kramer was killed because he was gay.

Harvey Milk, Roxanne Ellis, Michelle Abdill, Matthew Shepherd.  All killed because they were gay.  Martyrs for a cause.

Seattle Gay News ran an article this week about a community forum at the LGBT Community Center.  They will be discussing the need to revive Seattle's Q Patrol because of concerns about escalating violence against gays and lesbians in our community.

After Matthew Shepherd was killed, Jonathan Rausch wrote in Salon Magazine, "We have tried to make a political virtue of our vulnerability but the gay bashers are not listening."

Who here has been out and heard, "Hey, faggot!"

The first time I heard it, I ran - fast.  Ten years later, I heard it again. This time, I laughed.  There were 8 of them and 2 of us, but we had them outnumbered.  They were loud and obnoxious, we were quiet, polite and armed.

I have been a certified pistol instructor for over 10 years.  In Washington State, it is easier to get a concealed pistol license than a drivers license.

If you want to help stop gay bashing, get training, get a permit and get a gun.  Let's make gay bashing dangerous.  If they can't tell which one of us is armed, they won't mess with any of us.

As Washington State Mr. Leather, I will host self-defense seminars in Seattle, Bellingham, Spokane, Vancouver and anywhere else people want self-defense training.

Let's make gay bashing dangerous to ensure that we have no more martyrs.

Background: Why not think for yourself

The person in question sent me an email on Tuesday asking that I remove her name from the post.  Basically saying she lost her job almost immediately (a year ago) at the college newspaper over her "mistake" and has now paid a sufficient price.  She is about to graduate, is looking for a job, and when Googling for her name my blog shows up.  She doesn't want her mistake to haunt her for the rest of her life.

Question: Should I remove her name from my posting?  Elaborate on your answer.

I have my own inclinations but want the thoughts of others.

Thanks.

Update: FirstName responds.

Update2: September 18, 2006. I removed the actual name of the plagiarist and substituted FirstName LastName after she asked me to remove her name, wrote an apology, and I waited what I considered was a reasonable period of time.

We just don't think that unelected bureaucrats and people in the Attorney General's Office should be making the decision about whether I can protect myself.

John J. Thompson
Lobbyist for the Delaware State Sportsmen's Association
March 23, 2006
Testifying before the Delaware Legislature on concealed weapon legislation.
The bill was passed by the House Public Safety by a vote of 4-2.

There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth: the first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors-- this is robbery; the second by commerce, which is generally cheating; the third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man received a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.

Benjamin Franklin
[As a farm boy I would like to agree with this but times change and Mr. Franklin did not have perfect foresight of those changes.--Joe]

Barb and I had lunch with my parents on Sunday.  We stopped by the Boomershoot site on our way home so I could measure the shooting line in both the .50 BMG and smaller caliber shooting areas. 

I have plenty of room for all the .50 BMG shooters as well as the people with 'normal' guns.  I currently have only 11 out of 60 slots left with at least one more entry "in the mail" so I expect Boomershoot 2006 will be completely filled.  The shooting line will be over 250 yards long which reminds me that I need to get some handheld air horns for the range officers.  The battery powered horn worked fine when the line was only a couple hundred feet long but it just can't be heard well enough 100 yards away.

The site is still very wet with ducks swimming in the standing water in the field, and the grass is still brown from the winter.  But for the middle of March it's doing fine.  But with the clouds it made for a nice picture from the shooting area:

Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do so.

Bertrand Russell
[I'm specifically thinking of people in favor of gun control but it applies to freedom haters of all types.--Joe]

I have a minor glitch with the ATF regarding the locks I'm using on the Taj Mahal (my explosives storage magazine for Boomershoot).  I was pretty annoyed with things but I tried not to let it show in my email to Crystal--my contact at the Spokane office.  It wasn't her fault and from my vantage point it appeared she was doing everything right.  My email was polite but she was smart enough to read between the lines and gave me a call about two minutes after I pressed send.  We had a nice chat and I think we are on the path to getting things all straightened out.  She gave me suggestion on a "last resort" means to make do with what I have if I can't get through all the bureaucracy in time.  It was something I had pretty much planned on doing anyway with a minor twist.  And I didn't know that it would be officially sanctioned as a means to get around my problems.

If you have differences to work out with the "jack-booted thugs" it's best to get things straightened out over the phone rather than having their SWAT team explain things to you at 3:00 AM.  Crystal has done a good job of keeping me from getting a visit from her friends on the other side of the hallway and I'm grateful for that.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is just another east coast barking moonbat saying something stupid about guns:

...he has offered up a diatribe questioning the sincerity on Capitol Hill, warned against the erosion of First Amendment rights and renewed his push for tighter federal gun control.

What happened here?  Did he stop reading after reading the First Amendment?  Did he drop out of school before he got to the Second Amendment?

From the same article, when asked whether he wants to run for president:

Which letter of the word 'No' do you not understand?

On that same line of thought... Mr. Bloomberg, which word of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

This study shows that the District's ban on handguns and assault weapons works to prevent youth suicide by keeping guns out of D.C. homes. The findings highlight the sheer lunacy of Congressional efforts to repeal D.C.'s tough laws. Congress would virtually be writing a death sentence for some young people by repealing District laws that are working to prevent youth suicide.

Kristen Rand
Violence Policy Center Legislative Director
From the July 12, 2005 Press Release: New Study Shows District of Columbia's Tough Gun Laws Work to Prevent Youth Suicide
[Ms. Rand neglects to mention the total suicide rate in D.C.  I guess it doesn't matter if you kill yourself by slitting your wrists or with a drug overdose.  And also of apparent no concern is that the murder rate in D.C. is extremely high despite, and many would say because of, the severe restrictions on firearms.--Joe]

Ry came over last night and helped move my blog over to my new high bandwidth web host.  The original intent was to get my photo album moved over.  But we failed that task after a couple hours of attempts.  More research is required.  Having the blog moved was a worthwhile accomplishment however.  As I sit here and watch the blinking lights on the network switch for the old host they only blink occasionally as compared to constantly before we moved all 23 of my (and my family's) domains and a similar number for Ry off of this machine.

Assuming you have a fairly high speed connection yourself my blog and all my websites (except for joehuffman.org/*) should load much faster than they did a week ago.  And except for my photo album all the joehuffman.org contents can be accessed off of the high speed site via http://www.joehuffman.info.

Although I mention it on my blog occasionally (such as here) if you spend much time around me in person you will find this is really a hot button for me.  CBS spells it out in greater detail and to a much wider audience.  Keeping bomb making materials off of planes is not practical:

Between October and January teams of undercover federal investigators walked through various airport checkpoints carrying common household items in their bags. By themselves the materials were not bombs. But they were ingredients which could have been mixed together in an airplane restroom to make an IED, an improvised explosive device.

Because the GAO report is classified, officials will not identify the airports involved or the "household items" that were part of the test. But, security sources confirm, screeners using wands, x-ray machines and explosive trace detectors all failed to find the potential bomb-making materials.

The Department of Homeland Security questions the validity of the test, saying in a statement that the threat revealed is only "hypothetical."
"While random items commonly found under a kitchen sink could conceivably be concocted into an IED... we find it highly implausible," the statement reads.

I seem to recall there were people, prior to September 11th 2001, that said the hijacking of airplanes and flying them into building was only hypothetical too.  But all parties in the article miss the correct conclusion.  The correct conclusion is that airplane security as we presently know it is a waste of time and money.  There are better ways to expend our security resources.

Insights is offering Y2K compliance testing for firearms systems.  You bring your guns to class and we go out on the range.  Then we set our watches to January 1, 2000 and we see if everything still works.

Greg Hamilton
Insights Chief Self Defense Instructor
February 6, 1999
[A reminder that frequently the simplest tools are the most reliable.  Compare the 911 system to a .357 or even the more complex 1911 system.--Joe]

A family member recently returned from Bolivia points out that they do not seem to have a gun problem in that country. They have what may be the ideal gun control laws - there are none. Additionally, cocaine in various forms is available on the open market, and they do not have any trouble with drug lords.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper's Commentaries
Vol. 4, No. 16
December 1996