Quote of the day—Oleg Volk

When people who didn’t want to get involved find themselves engaged…the gates of hell will be jammed open for the chunks of new arrivals.

Oleg Volk
September 1, 2020
Posted on Facebook
LadiesTookAction
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Maj Toure @MAJTOURE

Currently, major cities in America are being destroyed by brain dead, low level ZOMBIES.

They think slow, move fast and there’s currently no cure that I’m aware of.

Covid was the spark, extremism is the disease, destruction is its outcome.

We are IN #TheWalkingDead.

Maj Toure @MAJTOURE
Tweeted on August 30, 2020
[I’m a little perplexed by this. His assessment of the infection appears to be acceptably accurate. But Kyle Rittenhouse demonstrated the effectiveness of the traditional cure just the other night.—Joe]

2A First Responders

The Second Amendment Foundation is looking for 2A First Responders volunteers. They have a video advertising for people but it isn’t much more than a tease:

I sent the text message and received a link to the 2A First Responders web page which briefly describes what the program is:

Defending our Second Amendment rights depends on engaged activists like YOU, who are willing to dedicate their time and energy.  The FREE 2A First Responder program seeks something more valuable than your money–it seeks your time.

This volunteer program is geared toward individuals who wish to ACTIVELY ENGAGE in the defense of their rights, who are looking to INCREASE THEIR ACTIVISM further, and who can become FORCE MULTIPLIERS by recruiting additional volunteers and building their own local networks of 2A First Responders in their communities.

If this sounds like the program for you, please click the button below and complete our brief Freedom Form to enroll.  The program and everything associated with it are ABSOLUTELY FREE!

You may then Join Today and sign up for various activities in which you you have an interest. These include:

  • At Home Activities (Check those that interest you):
    • Send Texts
    • Promote activism on your social media
    • Write Letters to the Editor
    • Address/Send Postcards
    • Make Phone Calls to Lawmakers/Fellow Activists
  • In the Field Activities (Check those that interest you):
    • Canvass/Door-to-Door
    • Host/Attend Text/Postcard Parties
    • Attend Events/Hearings
    • Visit Gun Shops, Shows, Ranges, and Clubs
    • Host/Attend Phone Banks
    • General Campaign Activities

I signed up for some. Please consider doing what you can.

Analysis of Kyle Rittenhouse shooting

There have been some more really good collections of the event in Kenosha involving Kyle Rittenhouse:

Here is a conclusion from the second link above, written by “Austrian”:

Rittenhouse prevailed in at least four physical encounters, at least one if not two of which involved contests for control of his weapon by larger, presumably stronger assailants. Rittenhouse’s use of a tactical sling would seem to have been of enormous help in permitting him to retain control of his weapon in the physical contest with Huber.
To the extent Rittenhouse made tactical mistakes the most obvious would seem to include:
1. Entering an (Kenosha) environment alone and without apparent support. While Rittenhouse may have been casually associated with some of the groups on the ground it seems to be the case that his association was struck up on his arrival, not a pre-existing one.
2. Allowing himself to become physically isolated and surrounded at the scene of Engagement 1. It is not clear what precipitated the initial conflict with Short Bald Subject, but in this Rittenhouse appears to have been rather unlucky to become entangled in a dispute with one of the more volatile individuals on the scene. This said, it should be entirely foreseeable that volatile individuals would be at the scene of a riot or civil unrest.
3. Failing to remain as situationally aware as possible, particularly to threats behind him, and permitting himself to be repeatedly overtaken from the rear in between Engagements 1 and 2. Prior to going to the ground at the beginning of Engagement 2, Rittenhouse allowed no less than three attacks from the rear which resulted in physical contact. Rittenhouse was lucky that none of these attacks disabled him or rendered him helpless in the face of the pursuing mob. The first battery to the back of Rittenhouse’s head, in particular, had the potential to take Rittenhouse out of the fight for good. If, in fact, Huber and Short Bald Subject were associated, it isn’t hard to imagine Rittenhouse would have come out badly on the wrong side of Engagement 2 if Huber was the vengeful type.

Conceding the tactical mistakes, Rittenhouse’s gun handling, recovery from being kicked and hit on the head/neck with a skateboard while on the ground, dealing with multiple attackers at close range, and split second decision making was incredible.

I agree with Austrian:

Based on the videos I’ve seen Rittenhouse is one of the best weapons handlers under pressure I’ve ever seen.

With video from start to finish from so many angles this is going to go into the textbooks of advanced firearms trainers everywhere. Rittenhouse will get praise for a generation.

From a legal standpoint all the reckless and intentional homicide charges are clearly false. The only potential charge that kept nagging at me until late today was the one about possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 (a misdemeanor).

WI law is somewhat confusing here but I independently came to the same conclusion as found in the analysis by Austrian. The emphasized parts are what I believe to be the only applicable sections:

948.60  Possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

2) 

(a) Any person under 18 years of age who possesses or goes armed with a dangerous weapon is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

(b) Except as provided in par. (c), any person who intentionally sells, loans or gives a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 years of age is guilty of a Class I felony.

(c) Whoever violates par. (b) is guilty of a Class H felony if the person under 18 years of age under par. (b) discharges the firearm and the discharge causes death to himself, herself or another.

(d) A person under 17 years of age who has violated this subsection is subject to the provisions of ch. 938 unless jurisdiction is waived under s. 938.18 or the person is subject to the jurisdiction of a court of criminal jurisdiction under s. 938.183.

(3) 

(a) This section does not apply to a person under 18 years of age who possesses or is armed with a dangerous weapon when the dangerous weapon is being used in target practice under the supervision of an adult or in a course of instruction in the traditional and proper use of the dangerous weapon under the supervision of an adult. This section does not apply to an adult who transfers a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 years of age for use only in target practice under the adult’s supervision or in a course of instruction in the traditional and proper use of the dangerous weapon under the adult’s supervision.

(b) This section does not apply to a person under 18 years of age who is a member of the armed forces or national guard and who possesses or is armed with a dangerous weapon in the line of duty. This section does not apply to an adult who is a member of the armed forces or national guard and who transfers a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 years of age in the line of duty.

(c) This section applies only to a person under 18 years of age who possesses or is armed with a rifle or a shotgun if the person is in violation of s. 941.28 or is not in compliance with ss. 29.304 and 29.593. This section applies only to an adult who transfers a firearm to a person under 18 years of age if the person under 18 years of age is not in compliance with ss. 29.304 and 29.593 or to an adult who is in violation of s. 941.28.

941.28 is about the possession of a short-barreled shotgun or short-barreled rifle. Hence, it does not apply to Rittenhouse.

29.304 is about restrictions on hunting and use of firearms by persons under 16 years of age. While some people might claim he was hunting I can’t imagine his activities met the legal definition of hunting. Hence, this section does not apply to Rittenhouse.

29.593 is about requirements for certificate of accomplishment to obtain hunting approval. I’m certain hunting licenses are not being issued by WI fish and game for the state terrorists. Hence, there cannot be issue with any failure to acquire a certificate to get approval for a license.

Hence, the “possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18” charge is bogus. Hence, the only trial Rittenhouse should have to go through is the felony charges of the district attorneys (tomorrow morning you will be treated to a wonderful QOTD which relates to this) and the slander and libel lawsuits against those people calling him a murderer.

As J. KB. said today, My favorite part of this saga is coming up (see the QOTD tomorrow morning).

Quote of the day—Rep. Sean Casten

Having small genitals is not sufficient reason to own a gun.

Rep. Sean Casten
August 2020
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Tooted by Omri on August 25, 2020 with a link to Democrat Congressman Blames Gun Ownership on ‘Small Genitals’—Joe]

AR on a Sling

Via Rolf:

Not entirely factually correct but it’s still AWESOME.

Sign the Kyle Rittenhouse petition

I just created a White House petition asking for the prosecution of the district attorneys who changed Kyle Rittenhouse with murder.

This is the petition:

Prosecute district attorneys who charged Kyle Rittenhouse with murder under 18 u.s. code § 242

18 USC § 242 provides for the punishment of “Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States…”

The district attorneys in the Kyle Rittenhouse case, despite clear evidence of lawful self-defense, filed murder charges against Rittenhouse. This not only subjects Rittenhouse to unlawful deprivation of rights it creates a chilling effect on others who wish to exercise their specific enumerate right to keep and bear arms in defense of self and others.

The district attorneys and others involved in this unlawful activity should be prosecuted.

The petition requires 150 signatures before it becomes visible on the web site. Then, if the petition receives 100,000 signatures by September 28th 2020 the White House will respond to the petition.

Gun owners cannot constantly play defense. If the best that happens is that charges against Rittenhouse are dropped or he is pardoned he was still punished by the process. It still casts a chilling effect upon the exercise of specific enumerated right.

Even if we win many of the court battles against unconstitutional laws infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms the criminals who created and enforced those laws suffered no punishment for depriving the people of their rights for years and even decades. This has to stop. It’s time for these criminals to be punished.

Sign the petition. Share the link to the petition on your social media. Put criminal government officials on notice that infringement of civil rights will not be tolerated without them risking the payment of a serious price. Tell government officials you hope they enjoy their trial.

It’s settled

Kyle Rittenhouse’s attorney has released a statement. Assuming the statement is close to being true then I have no reservations in saying that Rittenhouse is completely innocent of wrongdoing.

Here is the critical parts for me. It eliminates the reservations I expressed yesterday:

After Kyle finished his work that day as a community lifeguard in Kenosha, he wanted to help clean up some of the damage, so he and a friend went to the local public high school to remove graffiti by rioters. Later in the day, they received information about a call for help from a local business owner, whose downtown Kenosha auto dealership was largely destroyed by mob violence. The business owner needed help to protect what he had left of his life’s work, including two nearby mechanic’s shops. Kyle and a friend armed themselves with rifles due to the deadly violence gripping Kenosha and many other American cities, and headed to the business premises.

As Kyle proceeded towards the second mechanic’s shop, he was accosted by multiple rioters who recognized that he had been attempting to protect a business the mob wanted to destroy. This outraged the rioters and created a mob now determined to hurt Kyle. They began chasing him down. Kyle attempted to get away, but he could not do so quickly enough. Upon the sound of a gunshot behind him, Kyle turned and was immediately faced with an attacker lunging towards him and reaching for his rifle. He reacted instantaneously and justifiably with his weapon to protect himself, firing and striking the attacker.

The district attorney who filed charges against Rittenhouse should be prosecuted under 18 USC 242 for wrongful prosecution and creating a chilling effect upon the exercise of a specific enumerated right.

Kenosha Kid

Via Matthew Bracken who said:

The Commie scum did not account for the Kenosha Kid.

KenoshaKid

Best Kyle Rittenhouse video

I had seen good still images and a videos of the second and third terrorists Rittenhouse shot and it was clearly self-defense. But the first guy, shot in the head, I have wondered about all day. Was it a justified shooting?

This video (graphic, disturbing content so I’m not embedding it) adds clarity to all the terrorists he shot. [Update: The YouTube account with the video has been terminated. Try this link instead.]

I no longer have any doubts about the justification for first guy downed. Rittenhouse was being chased by multiple people. They guy leading the charge and about to make contact received a grazing shot to the right side of his skull. He, as the narrator points out, was playing a stupid game chasing a guy with a rifle and collected a stupid prize.

This is not to say that Rittenhouse didn’t make an ill advised, perhaps even illegal, contribution to the situation. He deliberate put himself in a position which increased the odds of something like this happening. If he was on his own street instead of 15 miles from home it would look a lot better for him. And what lead up to him being chased by the first set of people? Did he deliberately provoke a confrontation knowing he could come out on top if they “took the bait”? That is still unanswered.

Similar questions could be asked of the dead and wounded terrorists. I know one of them lived a similar distance away. And perhaps all three. They went there, obviously, looking for a fight. They found more fight they they bargained for.

I would like to suggest both dead terrorists be nominated for Darwin Awards.

And here the image that is going to be a classic for years to come. It’s Peaceful Protestor Terrorist number two hitting Rittenhouse in the head with a skateboard a couple seconds before taking a rifle bullet to the midsection and dying:

PeacefulProtestor1

He should get Darwin Award of the year for that maneuverer.

Quote of the day—Andrew Pollack

After my daughter’s murder, the media didn’t seem interested in the facts, so I found them myself. I learned that gun control laws didn’t fail my daughter, people did.

Andrew Pollack
August 25, 2020
‘Gun Control Laws Didn’t Fail My Daughter, People Did,’ Says Father of Parkland Shooting Victim
[Media interested in the facts? That’s funny! Really, really funny.

Remember how CNN portrayed Nick Sandmann?

That’s just one of the more famous examples. The media will publish things with single sentences having a half dozen factual errors in it without blushing.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lisa Bender

Yes, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors. And I know — and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege.

Lisa Bender
Minneapolis Council President
June 8, 2020
Trump’s base instincts on display amid reckoning over Floyd’s death
[The required background info is that Bender says Minneapolis is going to defund the police. She is then asked, “What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?” Her response is what you see above.

Without the video it is almost difficult to believe:

The best response I have seen so far is “Who made this Trump political ad?”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays

The Second Amendment, ultimately. That’s what it’s for.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Tweeted on August 17, 2020
[This was in response to a question about what is the defense against Coup V2.0 after the November election when President Trump is elected to a second term..

Prepare yourselves.—Joe]

Quote of the day—UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

As the Court explained in Turner II, the deferential principle outlined in Turner I applies mainly in “cases . . . involving congressional judgments concerning regulatory schemes of inherent complexity and assessments about the likely interaction of industries undergoing rapid economic and technological change. Though different in degree, the deference to Congress is in one respect akin to deference owed to administrative agencies because of their expertise.” Turner II, 520 U.S. at 196 (emphasis added). Not so here. While the issue of gun violence is important and emotionally charged, it does not involve highly technical or rapidly changing issues requiring such deference. The state cannot infringe on the people’s Second Amendment right, and then ask the courts to defer to its alleged “expertise” once its laws are challenged.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
VIRGINIA DUNCAN; RICHARD LEWIS; PATRICK LOVETTE; DAVID MARGUGLIO; CHRISTOPHER WADDELL; CALIFORNIA RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC., a California corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. XAVIER BECERRA, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of California, Defendant-Appellant
August 14, 2020
[Another loophole closed by this decision!

California has been arguing that the legislature should be given deference when there is a conflict between what the courts say and what the legislature passes. This decision explains why that might sometimes be the case and why this is not the case in regards to the 2nd Amendment issues before the court.—Joe]

Quote of the day—William Taylor @BillT

Don’t overlook the fact that those that are stealing stuff and making the excuse that it’s justified because of some perceived repression won’t hesitate to make the leap that it is alright to take your life for the very same reasons.

William Taylor @BillT
Tooted on August 17, 2020
[See also yesterday’s QOTD.—Joe]

How to hide your gun from socialists

Via daughter Kim:

27200176743766

Yup. Thomas Sowell is extremely toxic to socialists.

Quote of the day—Christian Johann Heinrich Heine

Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.

[Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.]

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine
Almansor: A Tragedy (1823)
As translated in True Religion (2003) by Graham Ward, p. 142
[Note that he wrote this nearly 100 years before USSR was created and 110 years before Nazi Germany began burning books and shortly thereafter people.

There is a sound reason why the progression from burning books to burning people occurs. The reason for the book burning is to stop the spread of “dangerous” ideas. When the book burning fail the desired goal then the spread of those ideas “must” be stopped by the “burning” of the people who spread the ideas.

Black Lives Matter and Antifa have taken the first step. Respond appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

A “substantial burden” on the Second Amendment is viewed not through a policy prism but through the lens of a fundamental and enumerated constitutional right. We would be looking through the wrong end of a sight-glass if we asked whether the government permits the people to retain some of the core fundamental and enumerated right. Instead, Heller counsels us to look at whether the government regulation restricts the core fundamental right from the outset. In other words, we look to what a restriction takes away rather than what it leaves behind. Here, California’s law takes away a substantial swath of the core constitutional right of self-defense because it bans possession of half of all magazines in America today, even though they are common in guns used for self-defense. In short, a law that takes away a substantial portion of arms commonly used by citizens for self-defense imposes a substantial burden on the Second Amendment.

The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press . . . and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
VIRGINIA DUNCAN; RICHARD LEWIS; PATRICK LOVETTE; DAVID MARGUGLIO; CHRISTOPHER WADDELL; CALIFORNIA RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC., a California corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. XAVIER BECERRA, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of California, Defendant-Appellant
August 14, 2020
[Excellent! I had not thought of this argument before.

This addresses the claim made by some (I exaggerated a bit to make the point) that as long as we have single shot 22 rifles available the Second Amendment is not infringed.—Joe]

Joe Biden on Gun Control

I didn’t have the stomach to look at Biden’s website for his list of proposed infringements so I’m pleased that Ammo.com did the stomach churning work.

Quote of the day—UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Commonality is determined largely by statistics. But a pure statistical inquiry may hide as much as it reveals. In the Second Amendment context, protected arms may not be numerically common by virtue of an unchallenged, unconstitutional regulation. Our colleagues in the Third and Seventh Circuits agree. See ANJRPC, 910 F.3d at 116 n.15 (common use alone “is not dispositive” because of an unconstitutional regulation restricting the quantity of protected arms in circulation); Friedman v. City of Highland Park, 784 F.3d 406, 409 (7th Cir. 2015) (“[I]t would be absurd to say that the reason why a particular weapon can be banned is that there is a statute banning it, so that it isn’t commonly owned. A law’s existence can’t be the source of its own constitutional validity.”). Thus, “[w]hile common use is an objective and largely statistical inquiry, typical possession requires us to look into both broad patterns of use and the subjective motives of gun owners.” New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Cuomo, 804 F.3d 242, 256 (2d Cir. 2015) (“NYSRPA”) (internal alterations and quotation marks omitted). As discussed earlier, nearly half of all magazines in the United States today hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. And the record shows that such magazines are overwhelmingly owned and used for lawful purposes. This is the antithesis of unusual. That LCMs are commonly used today for lawful purposes ends the inquiry into unusualness.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
VIRGINIA DUNCAN; RICHARD LEWIS; PATRICK LOVETTE; DAVID MARGUGLIO; CHRISTOPHER WADDELL; CALIFORNIA RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC., a California corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. XAVIER BECERRA, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of California, Defendant-Appellant
August 14, 2020
[Emphasis added.

YES!

If upheld this eliminates the concern about machine guns being unprotected via Heller because they have been (essentially) banned since 1986 and hence can’t be considered “in common use”.—Joe]