Author Archives: Joe

Why are Brady Campaign supporters so violent?

Posted on by

In the Facebook thread here a commenter points people at his blog post on the McDonald ruling:

Stern Dixon

Read my
log post on today’s Supreme Court ruling: http://wwwtoecheesecom.blogspot.com/
Yesterday at 11:35am

And the response? It’s typical:

Suzanne MacDougall Avila

to the
above poster, take your H&K 93, shove it up your ass and pull the trigger.
Yesterday at 12:46pm · 2 people
Sara L. Messenger

Sara L.
Messenger

Could
have said it better myself Suzanne, he has to be a nut.
Yesterday at 12:52pm
Sara L. Messenger

Sara L.
Messenger

You are
sick.
Yesterday at 12:56pm
Sara L. Messenger

Sara L.
Messenger

I am not
mad but, people like you who shoot off their mouths don’t need guns.
Yesterday at 12:57pm
Suzanne MacDougall Avila

Suzanne MacDougall Avila

Thank
you, Sara. He’s not even worth arguing with. He can take his filthy mouth and
his guns somewhere else.
Yesterday at 1:20pm

There is lots of other stuff worthy of comment in the thread as well. I particularily liked the irony of this one:

Richard J. Osborne

Repeal
the Second Amendment. It belongs on the scrap heap of history along with the
provisions of the Constitution that protected slavery.
Yesterday at 9:04am · 5 people

If they can repeal the Second Amendment then people could repeal the 13th Amendment as well. For some reason they can’t seem to grasp the principle of freedom.

What’s the difference?

Posted on by

I was reading the article titled “Supreme Court extends rights of gun owners” and I was annoyed with the title. The Supreme Court didn’t extend anything. It recognized the pre-existing right and said local government may not infringe that right.

Then I thought about the picture they used in the article. It wasn’t of gun owners and gun rights activists waiting for the decision. It was the anti-rights people:

Would the LA Times have used a similar picture of the KKK standing outside the Supreme Court waiting on a decision regarding the rights of non-whites with such a neutral caption? What’s the difference? The Brady Campaign and the KKK both want to use the force of law to suppress the rights of others. Sure, the KKK sometimes took violence into their own hands. But the Brady Campaign has a lot of innocent blood on their hands too. Some of it via criminals enabled by disarmed victims and some of it via the enforcement of repressive gun laws against private citizens (Ruby Ridge and Waco are the better known examples).

The biggest difference that I see is had the KKK been standing outside the Supreme Court there would have been more of them. The KKK had far more public support and members than the Brady Campaign ever has. They are fringe group by any definition of the phrase and they need to be politically extinguished.

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

Would a political cartoonist say this about “allowing” blacks the right to vote and keep their job? Yet the anti-gun people talk about the Supreme Court “allowing” people to own firearms.

Don’t forget what Bill Clinton said about rights.

Quote of the day–Alan Gottlieb

Posted on by

Through this lawsuit in North Carolina we intend to show that state emergency powers statutes that allow government officials to suspend fundamental civil rights, including the right to bear arms, are unconstitutional and therefore should be nullified. Citizens do not surrender their civil rights just because of a natural or man-made disaster.

Alan Gottlieb
June 29, 2010
SAF SUES TO OVERTURN NORTH CAROLINA’S ‘EMERGENCY POWERS’ GUN BANS
[I expected something in New York City or maybe New Jersey. But I suppose this was fairly low hanging fruit with lower risk.

It may also be that it will take some time to incorporate the McDonald rulings  into the filings for those jurisdictions.–Joe]

Having an impact

Posted on by

Rob reports on something that gives me a warm glow.

Almost as rewarding is the Wikipedia entry for the Brady Campaign shows the membership as 50,500. Nice (you heard it here first)!

But then I noticed the link in the Wikipedia entry for the citation supporting that number no longer lists the number of members. Apparently the Brady Campaign didn’t like having the information being that public. It seems to you can request that information but the numbers are not public.

Hmmm… apparently I had an impact on them.

Well, it’s not as if Winston Smith from the book Nineteen Eighty Four is editing history in this case. It’s only the Brady Campaign attempting to implement Nineteen Eighty Four.

The Internet is forever and we have backups.

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

The baby’s name is McDonald.

The “proud parent” really should be labeled “SAF“. But since the cartoon was drawn many years ago with a completely different intention they can’t really be faulted for that particular error.

The intent, of course, was to claim the NRA has no limits as to who may own and use a gun.

Quote of the day–Wayne LaPierre

Posted on by

We are practical guys. We don’t want to win on philosophy and lose on freedom. The end question is, can law-abiding men and women go out and buy and own a firearm? Today the Supreme Court said yes – anywhere they live!


This decision cannot lead to different measures of freedom, depending on what part of the country you live in. City by city, person by person, this decision must be more than a philosophical victory. An individual right is no right at all if individuals can’t access it. Proof of Heller and McDonald will be law abiding citizens, one by one, purchasing and owning firearms.


The NRA will work to ensure this constitutional victory is not transformed into a practical defeat by activist judges, defiant city councils, or cynical politicians who seek to pervert, reverse, or nullify the Supreme Court’s McDonald decision through Byzantine labyrinths of restrictions and regulations that render the Second Amendment inaccessible, unaffordable, or otherwise impossible to experience in a practical, reasonable way.


What good is a right without the gun? What good is the right if you can’t buy one? Or keep one in your home? Or protect your family with one?


Here’s a piece of paper – protect yourself. That’s no right at all!


Victory is when law abiding men and women can get up, go out, and buy and own a firearm. This is a monumental day. But NRA will not rest until every law-abiding American citizen is able to exercise the individual right to buy and own a firearm for self defense or any other lawful purpose.


Wayne LaPierre
June 28, 2010
Statement by Wayne LaPierre Executive Vice President, NRA and Chris W. Cox Executive Director, NRA-ILA Regarding U.S. Supreme Court Decision McDonald v. City of Chicago.
[SAF also has a statement. Tomorrow’s QOTD will come from it.


Expect the NRA and SAF to be racing to file cases within minutes or at most hours, from now. I’m placing my money, literally, on SAF.–Joe]

I’ve been busy

Posted on by

For the last week the tension at work has steadily increased. I came home at 3:00 AM on Saturday morning and was back at it by 8:00 AM. I went to sleep at midnight last night and was working again by 5:30 this morning.

From Thursday morning until this afternoon I had not checked checked email.

I finally have my stuff under control and am trying to catch up on a few things on the home front.

There are hundreds of blog posts that I probably won’t get caught up on for a week. There are over 400 unread news alerts about various things that I’m going to just mark as “read”. If something important happened that I missed out on I’ll probably eventually see it on one of the blogs I read.

Now, I’m going to take a nap.

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

As if it has ever happened at any gun show, NRA convention, a gun range, and any other place where nearly everyone has a gun.

It only takes one solid data point to disprove a hypothesis and we, over the years, have millions of solid data points. Do they have even a hint of one?

Quote of the day–James Madison

Posted on by

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

James Madison
[And this is why those that wish to govern us also attempt to keep the masses ignorant. It is only by enforcing ignorance that they can become our rulers.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

There is no clue this artist has heard of the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arm. There is no clue they understand that evil is enabled by gun control.

They did do a fairly good job of rendering the guns so I guess I can’t insist they are totally clueless.

Quote of the day–Justice Antonin Scalia

Posted on by

We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the many amici who believe that prohibition of handgun ownership is a solution. The Constitution leaves the District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns, see supra, at 54-55, and n. 26. But the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table. These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home. Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.



Justice Antonin Scalia
June 26, 2008
District of Columbia, et al., petitioners v. Dick Anthony Heller, No. 07-290, Page 64
[It’s not the role of our legislators or the executive branch either. The only legal way for them to try is through a constitutional amendment and even that has some serious problems because the formation of the union was dependent upon those first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

The Million Mom March stated their beliefs as:

All Americans have the right to be safe from gun violence in their homes, neighborhoods,
schools, and places of work and worship. All children have the right to grow up
in environments free from the threat of gun violence. Gun violence is a public
health crisis that harms not only the physical, but also the spiritual, social,
and economic health of our families and communities. The availability and
lethality of guns make death or severe injury more likely in domestic violence,
criminal activity, suicide attempts, and unintentional shootings. It is possible
to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by gun violence with
reasonable, common sense policy.

With such a warped sense of what a right is, or can be, it is no surprise they didn’t last long. Now the Million Mom March essentially no longer exists (it’s “officially” part of the failing Brady Campaign) and the NRA is stronger than ever.

Who’s the moron now?

Quote of the day–Fred Hoyle

Posted on by

I concluded, unhappily, I had been born into a world dominated by a rampaging monster called ‘law’ that was both all powerful and all stupid.

Fred Hoyle
[The most recent info about the TSA is what reminded me of this. But every waking minute of any day would also qualify.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

I think this was published during the active reign of the Beltway Snipers.

It’s not funny. There is not even a hint of an element of truth in it. What is the point other than to demonize the NRA?

Would this be appropriate if it “NAACP” or the name of a gay rights organization were substituted for “NRA”? After all, the snipers were people of color and probably were gay. But there is no evidence either of them were members of the NRA.

Quote of the day–Peggy Chenoweth

Posted on by

In all of the years since I have become an amputee, I can honestly say that I have can’t think of a more upsetting and humiliating experience than what I endured at the hands of TSA at the airport.

…

No person should be subjected to this level of humiliation.

Peggy Chenoweth
May 31, 2010
Humiliation… And Now I’m Angry
See also the video from a local TV station on the incident.
[H/T to an email from Breda.

Read the rest of the story to find out they peered into her four-year old’s diaper because he talked to his mother. Your blood will boil.

I also have a story to tell soon when I’m not so swamped with things at work. It’s from a cousin of Barb’s who works with explosive as part of her job. It’s about the time she has spent in jail, how the TSA ignores her blasters license, how she has missed planes, it’s terrible and it’s all for show. And, unfortunately, it’s all my fault.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

This is being extremely selective in the studies quoted such that only those that support their agenda are mentioned–even if those studies have been refuted. It then becomes a willful lie (explained in Chapter 8 of How To Lie with Statistics) by extending the studies correlation conclusions by flat out saying correlation means causation.

Quote of the day–Adolf Hitler

Posted on by

We are freeing men from the responsibilities of freedom, which only a few men can bear.

Adolf Hitler
[This is attributed to Adolf Hitler by a few people but I am of the opinion that this might be “too good to be true”. I cannot find it in a speech or writing of his. But then my reference materials are limited to English and mostly on the web.

Still it could easily be the slogan of politicians in this country for the last 80 years. The so called “freedom” from want and and “freedom” from fear are the classic examples. The many others which have followed such as the welfare state, government run health care, bans on recreational drugs, and repressive firearms laws are mostly just details of the implementation.

But once the politicians come to the realization some people resist the Utopian vision through their own “selfish desires” and that the ultimate freedom from responsibility is achieved in death we then find ourselves back to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

Posted on by

As if the tragedies were the responsibly of the NRA and completely ignoring the fact that in nearly all mass shootings the victims were disarmed by their governments and left essentially defenseless. It is the NRA that works to enable the victims to protect themselves via training and repeal of the laws that made them defenseless. The NRA attempts to solve the problem created by the government and this artist attempts to turn public opinion against the NRA and prevent the NRA from saving lives.

Quote of the day–Samurai maxim

Posted on by

Tomorrow’s battle is won during today’s practice.

Samurai maxim
[This is true of USPSA, IPDA, and steel challenge matches too. And even more importantly it is true of your encounter with a thug who wants your money or your life.

Note that the maxim has nothing to do with the hardware you carry. The caliber of your gun, the number of rounds you carry, and the terminal characteristics of the bullet are far, far less important than your training and your practice.–Joe]