GRPC Live Feed

The annual Gun Rights Policy Conference is this weekend.  If I had a job and it wasn’t in California (spit, spit) I would have seriously considered going.  I was a speaker at GRPC 1999 and 2000 and was very impressed with the entire event.  I just received this Keep and Bear Arms alert:

WATCH LIVE FEED FROM GUN RIGHTS POLICY CONFERENCE

BELLEVUE, WA – Gun rights activists unable to attend this weekend’s 20th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Los Angeles can still get in on the action via a live internet video feed from the event, according to Alan M. Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).

Gottlieb announced today that by visiting the SAF website at www.saf.org, the CCRKBA website at www.ccrkba.org, or KeepAndBearArms.com, and clicking on the link, activists may watch the action unfold on their computer screen.

The live feed is being accomplished through the courtesy of the Freedom Broadcast Network, both Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to Gottlieb, scheduled to appear during the conference are U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), National Rifle Association President Sandra Froman, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, SAF President Joseph Tartaro, UCLA Law Prof. Eugene Volokh, national syndicated talk radio hosts Larry Elder, Michael Reagan, author and Professor John Lott of the American Enterprise Institute, Larry Pratt with Gun Owners of America; John Burtt, chairman of the Fifty Caliber Shooters’ Institute; Dr. Timothy Wheeler, director of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, and many others.

Cool.  Very cool.  You won’t get a chance to do all the networking (I met Stephanie at GRPC 2000–she does all the publicity for Boomershoot) but you will get a chance to listen to some awesome speakers.

High school and Innocents Betrayed

On probably the second day of class this year Xenia told me she needed ten minutes of video to take into her English class that would “get people talking.”  She asked me for suggestions.  It’s 58 minutes, not 10, but we came up with Innocents Betrayed.  She said she could just select 10 minutes of the video to show.  We watched it together and timed various segments.  She decided just the first ten minutes would work.  I wanted her to skip one of the genocides and show the part about the kids in California who were killed by a guy with a pitchfork in their home.  All the kids knew how to shoot but couldn’t get access to any of the guns because California state law requires “safe storage” to keep guns away from unsupervised kids.  But it was Xenia’s decision and she figured showing a few more million dead because of gun control would be sufficient to start people talking without getting into little kids with hundreds of stab wounds.

Her class should be over by now and I haven’t got any calls from the school to pick her up so my guess is things couldn’t have gone too badly for her.  I’ll update this posting later today when I get a full report from her.

Next on our list of projects is to take my picture from the fair and the KING 5 Boomershoot video to her chemistry teacher and suggest a field trip on “exothermic reactions”.  In an “isn’t it a small world” twist her chemistry teacher’s husband supplies the portable toilets each year for Boomershoot.  Also, Barb and I graduated from Orofino High School with him.

Update 1: Xenia called a few minutes ago on another topic and I asked how the English class went.  She said when she turned off the video it was silent for 30 seconds.  They didn’t know what to say.  She didn’t have much time and I’ll get a further update after school.  She seem pretty happy with the results though.

Update 2: Xenia reported most people didn’t talk.  The instructor didn’t commit himself either way.  Many of the kids didn’t get the connection between lack of guns and genocide, “The government would have just done it anyway.”  One suggested that taking of the guns was as much a symbolic thing as much as anything, “Maybe because they didn’t have guns they were more likely to feel helpless.”  Even if they weren’t totally convinced at least they had some doubt put in their minds about the wisdom of gun control.  Video can be a much more powerful media than the written word and JPFO did a great job on this video, although I do agree that the “gun-control enables genocide” could have been expressed better than just giving examples of when that happened.  They should also of said that genocide has never happened without there being gun control in place.  And more examples of where a relatively small number of private citizens with guns saved themselves (or at least significantly delayed their demise) from government sponsored murder would be welcomed.

Traffic patterns

Kim du Toit (his site still down at the current time) once posted that he was frequently surprised at what posts got the most attention.  Something he thought was very ordinary would get a lot of attention and something he thought was really special would end up being no big deal.  In the case of my postings nearly everything is “no big deal”.  Virtually nothing makes a big splash on my blog.  However last night Keep and Bear Arms posted a link to my simple reposting of an email alert I received from them.  Traffic jumped.  Probably half of my traffic came from their referrals.  Then this morning Outdoors Unlimited linked to the same posting.  About 80% of my traffic is now from that one site.  About 10% is now from KABA.

It’s not my writing, it’s not my insights, it’s not my leaking of privileged information (hah!  As if I would ever do that), it’s that I posted an email that went out to thousands of other people. 

Kim duToit and hiding in the closet

I’ve had a couple people ask me if I had any clues what was going on with Kim duToit’s site, why it was down, etc.  I also saw a lot of people visit my site via search engines with query strings about Kim.  About all I could determine without given him a call (which I was hesitant to do because I don’t really know him that well) was that a connection could be made to the machine but it was refusing requests–someone had turned the site off.

AnarchAngel has the story, the essence of which is:

I have communicated briefly with Connie Du Toit, and there is a business issue requiring Kim and Connie to take the site down right now, and without any notice. They can’t provide details yet but expect some information in a few days.

The last few months have had a very sobering effect on me.  Think about this:

Q: How many gun bloggers openly use their real names? 
A: Not many.

Q: What percentage of those have had “problems” of some sort because of that?
A: A lot.

Q: How many anti-freedom bloggers do you know of that have “had problems?”
A: None that I know of.  But I don’t “travel in those circles.”  Anyone that you know of?

If you have to “stay in the closet” to be safe then how safe are you?  Did the Jews in Nazi Germany increase their safety by “keeping their heads down”?  It’s a predator/prey type situation.  If you go into hiding then you are saying, “I am the prey.”  You embolden the enemies of freedom. They become the full time predators.  They are at the top of the food-chain.  If we don’t bring a few of those predators down, feed on them, and scatter their sun-bleached bones on the range among our empty brass shell casing we have nothing but fear and hiding in our future.

Careful now.  Think about this.  Who are our true predators?  They aren’t just someone that advocates for their own imagined safety at our expense.  The predators are those that attempt to harm us personally (socially, financially, etc. as well as physically–which is unlikely) because they do not want our voices heard in open debate.  If you were to target someone for the loss of their job just because they advocated some new restriction on firearms then you are no better than those that targeted me or Kim for our activism.  In essence you cannot initiate “force”–you can only respond when they have initiated the use of “force” against you or another innocent party.  Don’t think this means you have to “play nice”.  Don’t just whine about things for a while.  If they initiate “force” they have given you the signal for you to transform into a ferocious predator.  You aren’t done until you are napping in the sun with a full belly and the vultures are feeding on the remnants of the carcass.

Also on this topic:

The closet
CCRKBA blasts bigotry 
Fred of Fred’s M14 Stocks on being on a list
Thoughts on coming out of the closet
Coming out of the closet has it’s price
Coming out of the closet

Quote of the day–Greg Hamilton

You’ve just dumped a scumbag.  Don’t put your gun away.  You scan the area.  Jackals and lions travel in packs.  You probably will never be involved in another shooting in your entire life.  This is it!  Make the most of it.  This is a target rich environment.  See if there is someone else that needs to be shot.

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

SAF needs New Orleans info

From a KABA alert I just received:

SAF INVESTIGATING NEW ORLEANS GUN SEIZURES; NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is calling on members and supporters living in the New Orleans metropolitan area who have had firearms confiscated by police, federal officers or National Guard units to contact SAF headquarters at once.

Over the past three weeks, since the New Orleans and surrounding area was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, there have been disturbing reports about warrantless searches and seizures of privately-owned firearms.

“SAF, in cooperation with the National Rifle Association, has investigators on the ground and has retained legal counsel in preparation for possible action,” said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb.

SAF wants to speak directly with individuals who have actually had their firearms confiscated. If you, or someone you know, has had a firearm seized by authorities in the New Orleans area in the days following the hurricane, SAF needs to hear from you.

Contact SAF via e-mail at safalert@liberty.seanet.com. Please provide us with your full name, address, current working telephone number and the date and time of the firearm(s) seizure. Please also let us know the best time of day for us to reach you at that number.

Sincerely yours,

Alan M. Gottlieb
President, KeepAndBearArms.com

Awesome letter to Kevin

Kevin, over at The Smallest Minority, received a letter from one of his readers today.  I read it a little while ago.  A contributing factor is that I’m really tired right now but I started crying when I got to this part:

My dad, however, was a survivor of Auschwitz. My grandparents were murdered there. And it is now a cliche, but it’s true, the ‘average’ Jew could not defend themselves. So that got me to thinkin…and then seeing how it starts to look like America could end up like many S. American countries, with gated communities and barbed wire or broken glass up on the walls of the compounds…and I used to think this was the siren song of the Cassandras, but New Orleans showed that ain’t necessarily true…well, all this speaks of the need to have some protection.

This is the part that has to make Kevin really puff up in justifiable pride:

You’ve helped me understand a great deal of things I otherwise might not have. I had a lifetime bias against guns…still won’t say I like ’em, but that’s that cultural bias I mentioned, and having one for self-defense is not the same as enjoying killing.

Although it scares some people he should now understand my post Why Boomershoot?  And although many people think I’m paranoid for my Jews in the Attic Test I doubt he is one of them.

He’s looking for someone in the St. Louis area to take him shooting for the first time.  I would go and supply an assortment of firearms and the ammunition if someone wants to cover my travel expenses.  I’m a certified NRA instructor, I’m a high class B IPSC shooter, I do pretty good with a long range rifle, and further credentials are here.

Thanks for sharing Kevin.  That was really great.

Update: I have a pledge to cover the air travel with excess frequent flyer miles.  If I could get a little bit more to cover a couple nights in a cheap motel I’ll cover my meals.

Update2: I now have pledges to cover all my expenses.  Now it just depends on if Kevin’s reader wants to accept or not.

Another gun rights activist resource

I’ve seen this done before but never quite as well done as this site: Myths About Gun Control.  But of course I’m a geek and like lots of notes and references.

Quote of the day–Jeff Cooper

More than two thousand years ago Aristotle opined that most of the human race has essentially the soul of a slave. A recent Associated Press poll recorded that fifty-four percent of those questioned seemed willing to trade liberty for security. The sad fact is that one cannot trade the one for the other. You can surrender your liberty, but what you get in turn is never a significant increase in your security. There are those in Israel who feel that they would like to trade “land for peace.” That will not work either.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
Vol. 3, No. 7
16 May 1995

Quote of the day–James Bovard

Gun bans don’t ban guns; rather, they only ban citizens from legally defending themselves with guns.

James Bovard
Lost Rights
ISBN 0-312-12333-7
Copyright 1994, 1995

September Rifle Postal Match

Analog Kid has the details of the next match on his website.  It has a rather appropriate theme–he calls it Looter Shooter.

Quote of the day–Adolf Hitler

The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.

Adolph Hitler

Searching for survivors

From the New York Times article New Orleans Begins Confiscating Firearms as Water Recedes.  The caption is theirs not mine.


Police officers looking for survivors today in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

One has to wonder what they are going to do with the survivors when they find them.  See also this post of mine.

I shot clay pigeons for the first time

Lyle (at UltiMAK) and many others have been wanting me to shoot clay pigeons with them for a long time.  I can only think of one time, probably 12 years ago, when I have even seen people do it live rather than in some video.  Lots of friends shoot sporting clays and trap, but I’ve never been to the range with them despite lots of invitations.  It just wasn’t that interesting to me.  I’m not interested in shooting birds for food.  And my shooting activities are not intended to be entirely recreational.  But Lyle got me out to the range yesterday.  I brought my SAIGA-12, ammo, and some clay pigeons Ry gave me along with another pile that Lyle had.  It sometimes took three shots but I got the first ten or so.  As I got tired it got more difficult and I started missing.  And when I tried doubles I couldn’t even hit one of them.  But I went through probably 100 rounds and 50 targets.  It was fun.

Now tell me what the practical aspect of it is for me.

Quote of the day–Ayn Rand

The necessary consequence of man’s right to life is his right to self-defense.  In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use.  All the reasons which make the initiation of force an evil, make the retaliatory use of force a moral imperative.

Ayn Rand
1962, from The Virtue of Selfishness

This is the way it will always happen

Background:

In the mid and late 90’s the anti-freedom activists were winning.  They were nearly dancing in the street.  Never mind they were dancing in the blood from each new school or mass public shooting.  Just when we would think they had been stopped another “event” would happen and they would get the extra little boost they needed to get that last vote to infringe on our freedom just a little bit (and sometimes a LOT) more.  At the range or in hushed voices late at night in someone’s den people would talk, “When you hear they took Frank’s guns you’ll know Frank is dead.”  “When they start going door-to-door that’s when they will realize they bit off more than they could chew.”  “They can have my guns–when they are empty.”

Even a brief look at history tells you that isn’t how it happens.  Look at Germany, Australia, England, and even Canada.  There is always an “event” that gives the anti-freedom people “justification” for infringing on inalienable rights.  They don’t just wake up some ordinary, bright sunny day and say, “This is the day we start shipping the Jews off to the camps.”  Or “This is the day we pass the law that makes firearms possession by private citizens illegal.”  By taking advantage of essentially random tragedies they can ratchet down on our freedoms at times when all but the most devoted freedom lovers have some doubt, some question about the wisdom of private people having freedom.  The majority, if for only a week or two, can be persuaded that maybe it really would be better to let government take care of them.  That it might be better for the the individual to give up an essential liberty for an imagined temporary safety.  Of course Ben Franklin has the proper response to that argument. But this pact with the devil is just too tempting for the majority when they are writhing in pain from the latest event.  And the pain from the event we know as Katrina and the aftermath in New Orleans make it seem acceptable to the majority–“Yes, they are taking everyone’s guns, but they had to for everyone’s safety.”

When it comes right down to it you will be far more alone than you think you will be when you are talking about it at the range with your shooting buddies.  Your fair weather friends will have “really important things” they have to do when the troops come down your street knocking on the doors and entering the houses one-by-one with the M-16’s at the ready (read about it and watch the video).  People, as much as they might say, “I don’t care what other people think” do care what other people think–at least some.  And when other people publicly approve of the confiscation and the majority have doubts about resisting it will be difficult to rally the numbers needed to make any conflict go decisively in your favor.  And how much have you practiced as a team?  Probably zero.  Nearly all shooting events are individual events or at best you have shooter/spotter relationship where there is just one gun between the two of you.  You’ll be going up against teams of shooters that have been practicing for at least months if not years as a team.  If you do that you better know exactly what your capabilities are and what you expect to accomplish.  Punching holes in a piece of stationary paper 30 feet away is a useful exercise but it doesn’t compare to shooting at a trained team of shooters.  Think things through. What is going to happen in the seconds after you fire your first shot?  If you make it that far.  You might get hit from 200 yards away by the sniper in the shadows from the second story window down the street as you bring your shotgun to your shoulder.  Have you even walked down your street thinking about the positions and angles for shooters to cover their teammates as they go door-to-door?  It’s going to be second nature for them to see what to you will take hours to figure out–if you are lucky.

If you think you are going to stand up to “them” going door-to-door then you need to know if you will have anyone helping.  If you haven’t practiced with them already then the answer is, almost for certain, “No.”  If you are going it alone then be darned sure you know the price you pay is worth what you are getting in return.  How many can you take out before your gun is forever silenced?

This is Why Boomershoot.

Quote of the day–Doug Huffman

We have a legal system, not a “justice” system.

Doug Huffman
September 8, 2005 9:27 PM
[Lots of other people have said this too.  I am unable to determine the originator of the phrase. — Joe]

More of the same on the Canadian gun registry

More delays and people ignoring this waste of time and money–but this time there’s talk of the police ignoring it:

In what has become a familiar refrain, the Canada Firearms Centre has once again quietly put off several gun regulations that were supposed to take effect this month.

Among the measures delayed until next year is a provision to have police forces across Canada register all their weapons – including seized guns – with the federal agency. New rules governing gun shows have been deferred until November 2006, while regulations that would force gun-makers to identify all firearms with internationally recognized markings won’t come into force until the end of 2007.

The provisions were initially supposed to take effect last January, but were put off to Sept. 1. Now they’ve been deferred again.

A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said the deferral is both to “ensure compliance and be responsive to the feedback” on the regulations from the public.

The latest delays indicate there are still many kinks in the system, said Conservative MP Peter MacKay.

“It’s another example of the ineffective, overly bureaucratic nightmare that is the gun registry,” MacKay said from Halifax.

“The government continues with this simultaneous face-saving, rear-end-covering exercise of trying to justify a very cumbersome, useless system.”

MacKay, a former Crown prosecutor, insisted the government backed off because police forces would have ignored the registration demand.

“They’ve got far more important things to do.”

The registry has become an easy target. The Liberals promised it would cost taxpayers just $2 million when they introduced it in 1995. But the price has skyrocketed past $1 billion and been the subject of scathing criticism from the federal auditor general.

Opponents claim tens of thousands of guns remain unregistered, and say the system punishes law-abiding farmers and sport hunters while doing nothing to deter illegal weapons from getting into the hands of criminals.

It’s a losing issue.  They should salvage the computers, lay off all the Canada Firearms Centre workers, and either spend the money saved on police and/or prisons or let the people use it to buy a good handgun and training to defend themselves and their families with.  Registration of firearms and their owners is no more effective in reducing crime and no less abhorrent than registering Jews/blacks/homosexuals/etc.

Pistol Postal Match results

Mr. Completely has the results posted.  I discussed my entries here.  In the over 4″ barrel class I came in 4th and 6th with the .22LR and .40S&W.  Overall I was 5th and 7th.  If there had been a center fire category I would have been number 1 in both overall and in the over 4″ barrel class.  I had a score of 407/500 even after loosing a possible 10 points because I fired only four instead of five rounds on one target (or I suppose it is possible I had a “perfect double”–but not likely).  The next closest score with a center-fire handgun was a 383/500.

Quote of the day–Steven A. Sliver

You will see I simply believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And in today’s world of expanding, pervasive and all-powerful government, that makes me an extremist.

Steven A. Sliver
The Liberty Pole
May 1998 Volume V. No. 2
The Lawyer’s Second Amendment Society