If a person buys guns legally it doesn’t matter how many they have. If the police come to my house to see how many guns I have and I ask what organizations I belong to I’m telling them to go to hell.
Helen Thomas
October 10, 2017
Comment to Tucker vs. Lawyer on Gun Purchases: ‘How Many Should Trigger a Police Visit?’
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Last month, the prestigious, bipartisan Texas Lyceum invited me to debate gun control issues. They asked Everytown, the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center if they would participate. Once again, they refused.
Mr. Bloomberg and his groups are unwilling because they don’t want viewers to see their inaccurate information being challenged. They would rather people just take their falsehoods at face value.
John R. Lott Jr.
April 27, 2017
Challenging inaccurate information about guns—A fair debate on the issue is needed, but liberal lobbying groups refuse to participate
[Of course. The truth is toxic to their agenda.—Joe]
The way private gun ownership protects citizens is by being a credible threat against all the civilians who might be in any way associated with a hypothetical tyrannical leader who uses the military against citizens. Citizens probably can’t get close to the leaders in such a scenario, but it would take about an hour to round up their families, and the families of supporters.
That would do it.
America is unconquerable.
Scott Adams
October 6, 2017
The Worst Gun Control Arguments
[About an hour? He must be thinking the lists with addresses are already compiled.—Joe]
On the other side of the argument are the folks on our side who think just shouting “no” very loudly is a legislative strategy. How much impact do you think Ron Paul had on the overall direction of Congress? Because that’s effectively what he did for his whole career. People who do that in deliberative bodies get ignored, and worked around. For these people, the question is this: would you rather sulk in the corner and take solace in the fact that you believe you’re right and righteous as you lose one thing after another, or do you want to actually play the game and win? The latter is what you’re seeing now.
Sebastian
October 25, 2017
What’s Going on With Bump Stocks?
[Principles are, at best, merely guidelines when you are involved in the dirty business of politics.—Joe]
Get back to the basics. Scrap the outdated constitution. Just a document writted by politicians and the cause of many of the problems in the US.
Peter Gillespie
October 15, 2017
Comment to Tucker vs. Lawyer on Gun Purchases: ‘How Many Should Trigger a Police Visit?’
[How refreshing! A brief flash of honesty and an admission of guilt about his intended goals.
I look forward to his trial.—Joe]
America was born in a struggle about private weapons. Let them pass—or ratify—any legislation they please.
Americans have obeyed their last gun law.
L. Neil Smith
January 27, 2015
Americans Have Obeyed Their Last Gun Law
[It’s a lot like the laws against marijuana, prohibition of alcohol, and oral sex. Nearly everyone knows they are stupid laws and eventually the laws will go away. In the mean time there are occasions where token compliance is made for appearance sake and to avoid hassles. And of course we have to put up with the whining of self appointed busybodies.
But, yeah, most of the gun laws are so ridiculous most people I know just go about their business and ignore the stupid.—Joe]
the only infringement from taking your AR 15 is your penis shrinking
The Wildebeest @wildebeest4160
Tweeted on October 20, 2017
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
It’s very telling that our opposition resorts to childish insults and we have Supreme Court decisions.
Via a tweet from BFD @BigFatDave —Joe]
The market can’t fix this. Markets work because buyers choose between sellers, and sellers compete for buyers. In case you didn’t notice, you’re not Equifax’s customer. You’re its product.
Bruce Schneier
September 13, 2017
On the Equifax Data Breach
[I agree with his astute observation but not his conclusion (government legislation is required).
If someone is harmed by the carelessness of another the careless person can, and rightly so, be sued for damages. How is this any different?—Joe]
When conservatives appeal to “free speech,” it is actually a calculated political move, designed to open up avenues of political discourse while shaming others from moving in active political opposition. I argue that when conservatives resort to this move, they can be safely ignored, as they are appealing to a right that does not exist. In my belief, when conservative ideas are opposed, there is no right that is being infringed.
Ryan Born
September 25, 2017
Speech is free
[At first I though Born was setting up a straw man with “it is actually a calculated political move….”. But that hypothesis was blow away in the following sentence.
Born needs to retake a junior high class on U.S. government and receive a passing grade before attempting to have a conversation with adults. In the mean time don’t ever forget this is what many people on the political left think of specific enumerated rights.—Joe]
A 2014 Pew Research Center study found that the percentage of Democrats and Republicans holding extremely negative views of the opposite party has more than doubled since 1994; Pew also found that, while 64 percent of Republicans in ’94 held opinions that were to the right of the average Democrat, these days 92 percent do. And 94 percent of Democrats are now to the left of the GOP median.
So the right is moving further right, the left, further left and the center, as the poet Yeats observed, “cannot hold.”
…
What other option, then, do Democrats have but to move left, exploiting the anger, energy and enthusiasm to be found there?
Leonard Pitts
October 16, 2017
Democrats need to move left
[Yes. That should work nicely. Advocating for the policies of Venezuela and Cuba will play so well in the GOP advertisements.
I find it very telling that the option of liberty and adherence to the constitutional limits of government doesn’t even cross his mind. Laws and principles are for suckers. The only thing of importance is restoring power to “his people”.—Joe]
Spent my weekend preparing to move due to repeated threats from gun control advocates.
One guy hunted down my private cell phone number, called when police were here, threatened to shoot me in my front yard. Another guy created a string of social media accounts, posted photos of my house, threatened to rape me to death. Another gun control advocate, after threatening to hunt me down and assault me, dragged my kids into it.
Dana Loesch @DLoesch
Tweeted on October 15, 2017
[Violence. It’s the nature of the political left.
The scumbags of the political left did the same sort of thing to Michelle Malkin a few years ago. (I suspect it continues to this day). I set up a honey pot for catching those threatening Malkin. The link below is another honeypot. If you link to it from your website/blog using the appropriate text it will get more Google Page Rank and appear closer to the top of search engine results.
If even one-half of one percent of the noncompliant shoot back, that’s 30,000 to 450,000 shooters (depending on the scenarios above).
Please recall that Pennington’s little trip down Tyranny Lane started with — as of latest claims — a single shooter killing 58 and wounding hundreds — in approximately ten minutes.
So tell us: How will you achieve your two-gun goal?
Who will bell the cat?
Carl Bussjaeger
October 17, 2017
Belling the cat
[I have done related analysis and came up with similar conclusions.—Joe]
As over 90% of gun violence is committed by men, in order for a man to purchase a gun, he must first get a waiver from his current wife, plus his most recent ex-wife, or any woman with whom he is currently in a relationship (if he’s gay, he must get the waiver from his male spouse/partner). This law has greatly reduced most spousal/domestic gun murders in Canada.
• All automatic and semi-automatic guns are banned.
• No gun or clip can hold more than 6 bullets.
• To activate a gun for it to be used, the trigger must recognize the fingerprint of its registered owner. This will eliminate most crimes committed with a gun as 80% of these crimes are done with a stolen gun.
• One’s guns must be stored at a licensed gun club or government-regulated gun storage facility. Believing that having a gun in your home provides you with protection is an American myth. People who die from a home invasion make up a sad but minuscule .04% of all gun murders in the US. And over a third of them are killed by their own gun that the criminal has either stolen or wrestled from them.
Michael Moore
Facebook post on October 4, 2017
[Other than recognizing that Moore is out of touch with the real world of facts the important takeaway is that you should never let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]
Imagine there has been a horrible case of child abuse in your neighborhood. A large family with 10 children had parents who brutally beat their kids, and two died. In reacting to that horrendous news, there’s a knock at your door. It’s your mayor and police chief.
“I understand you have two children in this house. Is that correct?” the mayor asks.
“Yes, that’s true. Why?” you reply.
“We’re going to need to see them, to inspect them to make sure they haven’t been subjected to abuse by you,” the chief says.
“Wait, what? You’re not going to inspect my children,” you respond.
“We are going to. And we’re going to monitor your kids from here on out, stopping by periodically to check on them, inspect their bodies for bruises and have them talk to a psychologist to make sure they aren’t being emotionally abused either,” the chief shoots back.
“What the hell gives you the right to do that?” you ask.
“After the horrible abuse that took place a few blocks away, we decided that we had to insert ourselves into the lives of all parents to prevent that from happening ever again,” the mayor says. “So we’ve passed a new law that says we can curtail parental rights for the greater good. Now go get your children.”
Derek Hunter
October 5, 2017
After Las Vegas, Democrats Send In The Clowns
[The sad/scary part of this is this that public education is a significant step in this direction and there are policies which show we are on this path.—Joe]
In recent years we’ve seen a remarkable antipathy for the fact that normal Americans even have rights among those on the left. We should have this conversation to clear the air before leftists push too far and the air gets filled with smoke. But we really don’t need to have a conversation about our rights to keep and bear arms. They’re rights. There’s nothing to talk about.
Kurt Schlichter
October 5, 2017
Nothing Makes Liberals Angrier Than Us Normals Insisting On Our Rights
[This should be enough “conversation” but Schlichter extends the conversation with examples and more saying “No.”—Joe]
We have to have the courage to call the NRA exactly what it has become—a domestic terrorist organization that places profit above the lives of the American people.
Jonathan L. Walton
October 3, 2017
Prof. Jonathan L. Walton calls NRA a “domestic terrorist organization” in wake of Las Vegas shooting
[Ignoring the gross errors of fact regarding NRA “profit” you should give a little bit of thought to what the official response to terrorist organizations is. That’s all you really need to know about Walton.
Yeah, he wants you in prison or dead. Maybe even both.—Joe]
They’re going to say, ‘You give them bump stock, it’s going to be a slippery slope.’ I certainly hope so.
Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader
Oct 5, 2017
Pelosi Hopes Ban on Bump Stocks Is a ‘Slippery Slope’ to More Gun Control
[Via email from Paul Koning.
If they get bump stocks, it won’t be for free. And the slippery slope is likely to be leaning in a different direction than Pelosi is hoping for.—Joe]
“After Newtown, nothing changed, so don’t expect anything to change after Las Vegas.”
How often have you heard that said? Yet it’s not true. The five years since a gunman killed 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have seen one of the most intense bursts of gun legislation in U.S. history—almost all of it intended to ensure that more guns can be carried into more places.
David Frum
October 3, 2017
Mass Shootings Don’t Lead to Inaction—They Lead to Loosening Gun Restrictions
[Gee… I wonder why that is? Could it be that people realized that having the ability to protect yourself is a good idea?
One would think this is the obvious answer. But Frum is apparently immune to such thoughts:
This may explain why gun advocates insist that the immediate aftermath of a spectacular massacre is “too soon” for the gun discussion. They want the pain and grief and fear to ebb. They want ordinary citizens to look away. Then, when things are quiet, the gun advocates will go to work, to bring more guns to places where alcohol is served, where children are cared for, where students are taught, where God is worshipped. More killings bring more guns. More guns do more killing. It’s a cycle the nation has endured for a long time, and there is little reason to hope that the atrocity in Las Vegas will check or reverse it.
The mind of an anti-gun person is broken. Some can be repaired but for the most part we need to point them out to those who haven’t yet drank the Kool-Aid and let reality sink it. It’s generally a better use of our time.
But if you look at the psychology of the these type of people there is a way to win them over. You remove social support for their position and/or you give them unequivocal disconfirmation of their beliefs.—Joe]
This shooting is more evidence that NO ONE is safe from gun violence. Let’s all recognize that and get guns out of our society. The sense of security advocated by people in favor of gun rights is false and not real protection. Gun pushers like the NRA should be treated like the pariahs on society that they are. They’re conducting a war on the American people. Let’s take away the arms.
Repeal the 2nd Amendment. The time to talk about it has passed. The time to do it is now.
gwaz17
October 2, 2017
Comment to Preventing Future Mass Shootings Like Las Vegas
[People like this aren’t telling you something:
This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed.
Chief Justice Morrison Waite
U.S. Supreme Court
U S v Cruikshank
92 U.S. 542 (1875)
But almost as important is for freedom loving people to make sure that no one gets away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]
There should be a MINIMUM PENlS LENGTH LAW for the purchase of a gun.
SpidermanDC
September 29, 2017
Comment to Appeals court order blocks enforcement of D.C.’s strict concealed carry law
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!—Joe]