Category Archives: Gun Rights

Quote of the day—Jack E. Dunning

Posted on by

There are only two other states requiring the sale of confiscated weapons, Kentucky and Tennessee, both of which must have state governments almost as brainsick as Arizona’s. The NRA says why not sell these weapons to an authorized agent, and therein lies the problem. Gun show participants are authorized agents, and carry a loophole that would allow individual to individual weapons sales without background checks.

Jack E. Dunning
November 29, 2010
Arizona continues to lead the nation in putting more guns in the public’s hands
[This appears to be another case of someone lacking a thinking process. Not only does he have an error in his facts about gun shows but if you read the rest of his post you will discover he apparently believes there is a fixed supply of guns in the universe—he wants the police to destroy all confiscated firearms.

The only people that gain from destroying confiscated firearms are the people employed to do that and the gun manufactures. Yes, this anti-gun advocate is proposing a policy that benefits the gun manufactures by decreasing the supply of firearms in the marketplace. A decreased supply means more sales at a higher price for suppliers.

Sometimes I suspect they really are stupid. But if they were as stupid as they appear they couldn’t manage to string together the words into complete sentences. Nope, I think it has to be a mental defect.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jon Agner

Posted on by

The Second Amendment is not about hunting, it’s about an armed citizenry. That’s an unsettling concept for many people. For others, it’s a bedrock of security, constitutionally guaranteed.

Jon Agner
November 24, 2010
Guns and violence: McKelvey wrong on heritage, history
[Blacks walking around anywhere, anytime, without supervision instead of being slaves—that is an unsettling concept for many people. And it’s constitutionally guaranteed.

The problems is as minor restrictions on firearms ownership (or blacks/Jews/gays/whatever) increase the people least in need of restrictions will be affected the most and those that would have abused their freedoms will be affected the least. Hence minor restrictions cause more harm than good. Extensive restrictions are blatant infringements and while they might repress certain aspects of the original problem they create their own disastrous consequences.

And that is the basis of the conflict and why there cannot be a reasonable compromise. A society can choose freedom or suffer the alternative.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Roberta X

Posted on by

I find these handguns unaesthetic. They’re ugly. They’re in-between things of no particular utility — but if we banned things on the basis of ugliness and relative uselessness, there’s a whole lot of people who’d never be allowed out of the house.

Roberta X
November 21, 2010
Pretzel Helmke Logic
[Agreed. And if such bans were legal and ethical the first useless thing I wouldn’t allow out of the house would be Paul Helmke. But that isn’t the way this part of world works and it shouldn’t work that way. So we need to continue shaming and pointing out his lies and mental defects.

Roberta did a good job but I kept thinking that in the next sentence she was going to point out that the Columbine killers used an ordinary shotgun (which they had sawed off the buttstock) for most of the murders. But that wouldn’t have fit Helmke’s narrative of an “assault weapon” being the real criminal.

Do you think I’m exaggerating? If so then why did Helmke use these exact words, “The TEC-9 assault pistol used by the Columbine killers murdered 12 of their classmates and a teacher.”?—Joe]

Quote of the day—John Richardson

Posted on by

The Brady Center is about as effective and relevant as TSA which doesn’t say much for either organization. They also share the small-minded trait of getting nasty after having been called out on their goofs. The Brady Center certainly doesn’t provide a very good example of how adults should behave.

John Richardson
November 24, 2010
The Brady Center Doesn’t Act Like Adults
[They are in a desperate situation and desperate people do strange things.—Joe]

Quote of the day–jdberger

Posted on by

Much like the Antis warnings of shootouts over parking spaces, violent gunfights in movie theatres and general “Dodge City” mayhem, Florida’s crime rate continues to fall, just like the crime rate of the other 39 States who have legislated Shall Issue Concealed Carry. 1.6 million Floridians with CCW permits – crime rates fall.

You’d think, with all that money, that Paul Helmke would be able to buy a clue.

jdberger 
November 17, 2010
Surprisingly, another one of Brady Campaign’s Warnings Falls Flat
[Maybe the problem is that Helmke and friends don’t have any money and can’t buy a clue. How else can you explain they are trying to revive dead issues?—Joe]

Security Theater gets attention

Posted on by

Via email from Kris comes this link and an image from Gizmodo which I continued following to find the artist here. This is the image:

http://assets.arlosites.com/stills/17587011/2a87999b00.jpg

Also from Kris is this collection of TSA bumper stickers:

On the more serious side is Bruce Schneier (via Chet) with my favorite section being:

There’s talk about the health risks of the machines, but I can’t believe you won’t get more radiation on the flight. Here’s some data:

A typical dental X-ray exposes the patient to about 2 millirems of radiation. According to one widely cited estimate, exposing each of 10,000 people to one rem (that is, 1,000 millirems) of radiation will likely lead to 8 excess cancer deaths. Using our assumption of linearity, that means that exposure to the 2 millirems of a typical dental X-ray would lead an individual to have an increased risk of dying from cancer of 16 hundred-thousandths of one percent. Given that very small risk, it is easy to see why most rational people would choose to undergo dental X-rays every few years to protect their teeth.

More importantly for our purposes, assuming that the radiation in a backscatter X-ray is about a hundredth the dose of a dental X-ray, we find that a backscatter X-ray increases the odds of dying from cancer by about 16 ten millionths of one percent. That suggests that for every billion passengers screened with backscatter radiation, about 16 will die from cancer as a result.

Given that there will be 600 million airplane passengers per year, that makes the machines deadlier than the terrorists.

Nate Silver on the hidden cost of these new airport security measures.

According to the Cornell study, roughly 130 inconvenienced travelers died every three months as a result of additional traffic fatalities brought on by substituting ground transit for air transit. That’s the equivalent of four fully-loaded Boeing 737s crashing each year.

Hidden costs… That is something that is difficult to get across to many people. Just like gun control. Ban all the guns and the total crimes committed with firearms will probably go down but the crime rate may actually increase because having unarmed or poorly armed victims enables crime. It appears that is just too difficult of a concept for some people.

I’m not sure how to handle this problem. If they didn’t have (or threaten to have) the force of government behind them it would be fairly easy to ignore them and let Darwin take care of them. But that isn’t the way it works. They can use government to force us all to back over the cliff trying to avoid a nut case in front of us who pops up and says “Boogie! Boogie!” once every few years. We should just allowed to carry our guns and put a bullet in his head when he shows himself.

It seems people are beginning to realize the price they are paying for the security theater but will they be willing to embrace freedom and self-reliance?

Whatever the outcome it makes things worse for gun control. We should be able to draw the parallel between security on an airplane and security in schools, office buildings, and college campuses. If this is what it takes to make things safe on an airplane why should it take any less to make a dorm room “safe’?

How many people do you think will be tolerate this sort of “security” every time they enter a building or any other “gun free zone”? I don’t know the answer but we should start asking the question.

Update: I forgot about Rob’s email that I had saved away:

And from Mike:

Quote of the day—Chris Cox

Posted on by

They might as well have put an arsonist in charge of the fire department.


Chris Cox
November 17, 2010
Executive director, NRA Institute for Legislative Action.
Cox is referring to the appointment of Andrew Traver as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). 　






[This statement indicates Cox is operating on the assumption that the ATF serves as valid a purpose as the fire department. I’m not at all convinced it does and I’m not convinced Cox believes that either.


I think a better analogy would be putting a KKK Grand Wizard in charge of the Bureau of Minority Regulation.–Joe]

Quote of the day—Kurt Hofmann

Posted on by

We are expected to accept Goddard as some kind of expert on our rights–as having some unique insight about how to legitimately infringe on that which shall not be infringed–not because of extensive study on his part of Constitutional law (his major was international studies), but because he was shot.  When he argues that continuing the mandated defenselessness policies on college campuses is necessary for safety (despite how poorly that worked at VA Tech and elsewhere), we are similarly asked to accept that he is an “expert” on the subject, not because of his extensive training in self-defense (which I have never seen claimed), but again because he was shot.  By that standard, I suppose everyone who survives a heart attack is now a cardiologist.

Kurt Hofmann
November 15, 2010
‘Gun control’ gets a new poster boy
[Oh! I like this game:

  • Everyone who has ever been in an automobile wreck is now a traffic safety engineer.
  • Everyone who has ever had their computer crash is now a software developer.
  • Everyone who has ever been divorced now is an expert on relationships.
  • Everyone who has ever failed a class is now a professor.
  • Everyone who has ever said something stupid is now a genius.

–Joe]

Quote of the day—Michelle

Posted on by

Just open your eyes and realize that gun shop and school don’t belong in the same sentence.

Michelle
November 17, 2010
West Allis Alderman Proposes Gun Store Ban
[How about opening your eyes and realize that the Bill of Rights never mentions schools but does say, “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”—Joe]

BATFE appointment

Posted on by

The NRA just released a statement saying they are strongly opposed to Andrew Traver being appointed to head the BATFE. They rightly point out that he is tied to anti gun organizations and has been involved in deliberate deceptions regarding firearms in common use and protected by the Second Amendment.

Sebastian elaborates further on some of these same points.

Say Uncle says, “We don’t need a guy from Chicago running an agency that deals with guns. We need Cletus and Bubba who like to blow stuff up.” But I disagree.

I’m in alignment with Rob who says, “There is no need for the United States to have the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice BATFE.”

Does it really matter who the head of the Bureau of Political Speech and Book Censorship is? Or how about the Bureau of Blacks, Jews, and Homosexuals? The answer is a very vigorous, “No!”

As long as the BATFE is a regulatory and enforcement agency instead of government surplus distribution center it doesn’t matter. The political goals and fight remains the same regardless of who the head is.

The entire organization should be abolished and most of the people involved with the organization, it’s formation, and funding prosecuted.

Quote of the day—Jack Donovan

Posted on by

It’s time to quit worrying and learn to love the battle axe. History teaches us that if we don’t, someone else will.

Jack Donovan
Violence is Golden
[Via Linoge and Hsoi.

I find the phrase “battle axe” somewhat jarring. It should be “gun”. But perhaps Donovan intended it to be jarring. A battle axe is far more messy than a gun. A gun is civilized. Referring to a battle axe instead of a gun brings the point into sharper focus (puns intended).—Joe]

Moxie Media investigation

Posted on by

I haven’t read the entire set of documents but the basics appear to be that a group of people conspired to hide their true political backers, distributed political materials harmful to a pro-gun candidate, who then lost by 122 votes.

Here is a tidbit I found in the documents alleging demonstrating misconduct:

image

If you voted in the primary in her legislative district (Washington State 38th district—in or near Everett) you can help. Read the following and fill out the Declaration and send it to her.

Via email from Joe Waldron:

From: Joe Waldron
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 4:28 PM
Subject: GOAL Alert, 38th Legislative District

Dear GOAL listers:

GOAL is a political action committee (PAC) registered with the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) with the mission of supporting pro-gun candidates to elected office in Washington, primarily at the state level.  (Due to RCW 9.41.290, state preemption, most firearms-related legislation is limited to the state level.)

In furtherance of this goal, GOAL has endorsed and given campaign contributions to candidates from BOTH major political parties, and occasionally to minor party candidates.  The determining factor is their position on the Second Amendment and Article 1, Section 24 of the Washington state constitution.

Once again in a Washington election, there are reports of inappropriate or even illegal activity conducted in support of or opposition to several candidates.  (Hard to believe, I know, but apparently Chicago-style politics has made it to the great Northwest.)

One of these allegations of illegal activity involves a group calling itself Moxie Media.  At the request of the PDC, state Attorney General Rob McKenna is investigating Moxie Media’s actions in the 2010 elections.  According to the PDC report, Moxie Media created several separate organizations to conduct attacks on candidates too conservative for their liking.  Moxie Media allegedly received its funding from several labor unions, among others.  .

One of the candidates they attacked during the primary election period was Senator Jean Berkey, a Democrat representing the 38th District (NW Snohomish county). 

Senator Berkey has been in the legislature since 2001, and a Senator since 2003.  Senator Berkey was given an A- rating by the NRA-ILA Political Victory Fund and was also endorsed by GOAL and recommended to its members by the Washington Arms Collectors.

Senator Berkey lost the primary election by 122 votes.

I recently received the below communication from Senator Berkey.  I believe she has a case.  And the individual elected, Democrat Nick Harper, didn’t even bother to return the Candidate Questionnaire.  That gives a pretty strong indication as to where he will stand on gun issues.

The GOAL list is a statewide e-mail list.  I have no idea who on the list lives in what legislative district, hence the general mailing.  This e-mail is intended for residents of the 38th District . 

If you live in the 38th and you believe your vote in the primary election may have been influenced by the Moxie Media mailing, please give Senator Berkey a hand.  She has been there for us, and deserves your support.

TIA,

Joe Waldron

Chairman, GOAL

Legislative chairman, WAC

Legislative chairman, WSR&PA

E-MAIL FROM SENATOR BERKEY:

Joe,

Thank you for your endorsement and your help with the Primary election in the 38th Legislative District.

I lost the Primary election by 122 votes and I believe some mail sent out by Moxie Media on behalf of some liberal Democratic groups cost me the election.

They designed the last minute mail to look like it was from Republicans (Cut Taxes PAC) to fool conservative voters. Unfortunately, it was well done and worked.

I believe the Attorney General may overturn the election and the liberal Democratic candidate that won the election may not be seated in the Senate.

I will send you this link to the PDC report (130 pages) that will shock you with the arrogance of these liberal labor and attorney groups. Every member of the Gun Owners Action League should read this report to see what we are up against.

www.pdc.wa.gov/archive/commissionmeetings/meetingshearings/pdfs/2010/11.015.pdf

Also, I will send this link to the editorial published by the Olympian.

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/11/10/1434238/maneuver-to-finance-political.html

I need help from your members in Everett and Marysville (the 38th Legislative District) and would like to ask them look at the attached Declaration (BerkeyDeclaration.doc–27 KB). If they voted during the last five days of the Primary election on August 17th, they may want to complete it and return it to me. If they have any questions, they should contact me at jeanberkey AT comcast.net.

It won’t cost them a penny and may prevent another gun control nut from being elected to the Washington State Senate.

Thank you for all your great help,

Senator Jean Berkey

Quote of the day—Samuel Adams

Posted on by

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue.

Samuel Adams
[There was a time when the defenders of the Second Amendment were in the minority. We fought on, even those many believed it was a losing battle, in part because we believed it was the honorable thing to do. We are now winning.

This quote reminds me of the famous Barry Goldwater quote which is also quite good.—Joe]

Quote of the day—MikeB302000

Posted on by

I couldn’t care less about truth and falsity or causation and correlation, or all that other double talk the pro-gun crowd like so much.

MikeB302000
November 12, 2010
Austin, Texas Murders Way Up
[We’ve known this for a long time but it’s nice for him to admit it. If only all the anti-gun people would do so it would make things a lot easier.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Robert Farago

Posted on by

How about we subsidize the gun safe business instead of pissing money down the ATFE-shaped rathole? If the VPC really wants to stop gun violence, offering low-cost gun safes would have more impact than supporting the Agency that Can’t Shoot Straight and/or introducing or tightening gun control legislation.

Robert Farago
November 12, 2010
Violence Policy Center: Great Landing, Wrong Airport
[The reason this approach is not taken is because the people that support the Brady Campaign and/or the VPC have a solution in search of supporting evidence. They are not searching for a solution to a problem.

It’s like someone looked at the crime rate among people with non-white skin compared to white-skin and used that as justification for laws such as curfews, registration, tracking, and even preemptive imprisonment of non-whites all the while claiming they were intended to “prevent colored violence”. Hence the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence would have a sister organization called “The Brady Campaign to Prevent Black Violence.” They don’t seem to understand that “preventing crime” in this manner is akin to claiming someone is “guilty until proven innocent” as well as infringing on a host of other guaranteed rights.—Joe]

Quote of the day–Mahatma Gandhi

Posted on by

I would tell the Hindus to face death cheerfully if the Muslims are out to kill them. I would be a real sinner if after being stabbed I wished in my last moment that my son should seek revenge. I must die without rancour. You may turn round and ask whether all Hindus and all Sikhs should die. Yes, I would say. Such martyrdom will not be in vain.


Mahatma Gandhi
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol.LXXXVII, p.394-5
[This was brought to you via email from Ry who was reminded of it via my Philosophy Questions.


The pacifist, or anyone, who claims, “Violence never solves anything.” Or, “Violence is never the answer” enables the murder or enslavement of themselves and/or their followers. Gandhi was smart enough to realize the principles he adhered necessitated this outcome.


The principles of Gandhi do have application in many situations but not in all. The consequence of not having a viable “Plan B” if non-violence fails in the face of violent oppression is the extinction of your society and perhaps your species. In the long run the pure pacifist guarantees the occupation of their place in history and the elimination of their existence in the future.


I am of the opinion there exist certain conditions which trigger a more Heinlein like approach to the situation. The Second Amendment guarantees we have the option available when it is needed.—Joe]

Quote of the Day – Bill Whittle

Posted on by

…just because something is fun, and scares away weenies, doesn’t mean that it’s stupid.


Bill Whittle
November 4, 2010
What We Believe, Part 5: Gun Rights
[Freedom is scary for a lot of people, and it means that people who hate you can’t tell you what to do or how to do it, just because they hate you.  It sucks for them, and it makes them angry.  Hence, freedom pisses people off.  Hence, if you love freedom, you have to come to grips with the fact that people are going to hate you.  Embrace it, Little Grasshopper.  Or as Zaphod Beeblebrox said after having a nuclear missile attack launched against his ship; “Man, This is Great!  It means we’re really on to something if they’re trying kill us!”–Lyle]

Quote of the day—H.L. Mencken

Posted on by

Most people want security in this world, not liberty.

H.L. Mencken
Minority Report, 1956
[Also note that security comes in two flavors. You can feel secure and you can actually be secure. Liberty has a strong tendency to make people feel less secure at the expense of true security. For example you can feel secure that the government will provide you with food and housing but your property will not be secure from government takings for redistribution. You can feel secure that the government will be able to find and extract a confession from criminals but the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures may be infringed or you may be compelled to testify against yourself or not have due process.

The vast majority of people have a strong preference for feeling secure. Hence there is a strong tendency to give up liberty for imagined safety and get neither.

I was reminded of this by this video (via Alan and Ry who also points out this relates to Brady Campaign board member Joan Peterson) from Bruce Schneier:

Schneier points out that even when there is lots of data available, such as with cigarette smoking, it takes a long time to get people to change their behavior. It should come as no surprise it has taken us decades to make progress on the gun rights front.–Joe]

Quote of the day—Dave Workman

Posted on by

The clock is ticking down and this election is very much in play. Those who resign themselves to thinking otherwise are their own worst enemies.

Here it is in simple terms: A vote for someone other than Rossi is a vote for Murray. A vote for Murray is a vote for Schumer.

Any questions?

Dave Workman
October 29, 2010
High stakes for gun owners in Tuesday’s Senate election
[Polls put Murray and Rossi very, very close:

Indeed, Republicans got a good poll in Washington tonight, although it comes with some qualifications. The survey, from Rasmussen Reports, gave Dino Rossi a 1-point lead over Patty Murray, the Democrat. Rasmussen’s previous survey of the state had given Ms. Murray a 3-point lead.

Now for the qualifications: Rasmussen has had a rather different impression of the state than other pollsters. Since Labor Day, Rasmussen and its subsidiary Pulse Opinion Research has polled the state seven times; four of their polls put Mr. Rossi ahead. By contrast, there have been nine polls of the state by companies other that Rasmussen. All nine of them gave Ms. Murray a lead, although usually by small margins.

Murray has never seen a gun control bill she didn’t like. Rossi is a good guy on guns and good on the economic issues as well.

If you are eligible to vote in Washington state please vote for Rossi. Remember how things went for Rossi in his last election. He needs enough votes to make another election theft improbable.—Joe]

Second Amendment Foundation links

Posted on by

In case you didn’t get the message someplace else…

Even if you don’t have money to donate you can put links on your websites to help the major player in the gun rights legal movement. The Second Amendment Foundation brought you the McDonald decision and is working on many more projects. Some you know about and some are still under wraps. Do what you can to push the anti-gun forces into political and legal oblivion.

Via email (slightly edited for better formatting on this blog):

Fri 10/29/2010 10:56 AM

To all gun-rights bloggers and website managers:

Dear Friends,

The Second Amendment Foundation needs your help. As someone intimately involved in the gun culture, I’m asking for a personal favor. Will you link to our site from yours?

We’re seeking to build our presence on the web. A larger web presence can increase our donor base and help us keep up with the big budgets of the anti-gunners. We rely primarily on grassroots donations to fund our gun rights lawsuits. This project is crucial to our continued success. We’ve been making a lot of progress lately and we want to keep our momentum. 
  
Below are some images with associated html code we have produced for you to use on your site.

Sincerely yours, 
 image
Alan M. Gottlieb
Founder
Second Amendment Foundation


http://www.saf.org”>http://www.saf.org/img/Logo_big.jpg”/>   


http://www.saf.org”>http://www.saf.org/img/Banner_big.jpg” />


http://www.saf.org”>http://www.saf.org/img/Logo_med.jpg” />


http://www.saf.org”>http://www.saf.org/img/Banner_med.jpg” />


http://www.saf.org”>http://www.saf.org/img/Logo_sm.jpg” />


http://www.saf.org”>http://www.saf.org/img/Banner_sm.jpg” />

________________________________________
< Please e-mail, distribute, and circulate to friends and family >
Copyright © 2010 Second Amendment Foundation, All Rights Reserved.
Second Amendment Foundation
James Madison Building
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA 98005    Voice: 425-454-7012
Toll Free: 800-426-4302
FAX: 425-451-3959
email: InformationRequest@saf.org