Category Archives: Quote of the Day

SCOTUS to Hear a New Gun Case

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There are lots of good cases for SCOTUS to review. I wish an “assault weapon” ban were on the docket and eventually, perhaps incidentally with the “assault weapon” case, get NFA thrown out. The serial number/home build guns issue is being heard and is almost certain to go our way. Eventually I can see the background checks being dropped and being able to order guns online without an FFL. After all, FFL’s are not part of our history and tradition of gun laws.

In the meantime, this is probably a higher priority case than any of the above, even if it is a distraction from the individual rights cases:

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear ‘Business-Crushing’ Gun Case (msn.com)

The United States Supreme Court will hear case about whether Mexico can sue Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. for facilitating sales to people connected with Mexico’s drug cartels.

On Friday, the justices agreed to hear Smith & Wesson’s case seeking to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Mexican government. Mexico sued the gun maker and is asking for billions of dollars in damages and new gun-control measures. It’s the first suit by a national government against the gun industry, and one that Smith & Wesson warn could completely decimate their industry.

In a letter addressed to the Supreme Court clerk on August 8, a lawyer for Smith & Wesson Brands said the company is protected from a 2005 law that provides liability shields to gunmakers.

…

In the lawsuit, Mexico alleged the manufactures and distributors were helping the purchase of their firearms by dealers who were known to supply the drug cartels. It also is claimed that the companies did not make changes, such as installing safeguards or making gun serial numbers harder to tamper with, that could make the guns less likely for criminal use.

I have to wonder why former President Obama and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder are not named in the lawsuit. Holder was found to be in contempt of Congress for his actions in this case. They are the people that forced the gun dealers to sell guns to the Mexican cartels.

But I don’t wonder long. The likely reason is that Operation Fast and Furious was a ruse to generate a means to bring down gun dealers and manufacturers.

False Hope or a Neutered SCOTUS?

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Quote of the Day

A group of state legislators, local politicians and nonprofits on Tuesday launched a national coalition that hopes to circumvent the congressional stalemate on gun reform by pressing for violence prevention efforts at the local level.

The coalition, Legislators for Safer Communities, aims to capitalize on the shifting politics of gun reform by focusing more attention on state legislatures, where violence prevention advocates have scored their biggest wins in recent years.

Roque Planas
September 17, 2024
State Lawmakers Have Gun Reform Strategy | HuffPost Latest News

I have to wonder about something which is not mentioned, the courts. The really active gun owner rights groups are getting more done with fewer people and fewer dollars in the Federal courts than they can in the state legislatures. They don’t have to fight the same fights every year in every state.

Are the anti-gun people just trying to keep the money coming in by giving their supporters false hope? Or do they believe the Democrats are soon going to neuter SCOTUS and reverse our wins?

Libertarianism is a Poison

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Quote of the Day

Libertarianism is a poison that’s crept into our society on the backs of rightwing billionaires like the late Libertarian David Koch, who ran for Vice President in 1980 on a platform of shutting down every government agency except the military, courts, and police.

Thom Hartmann
September 29, 2024
The ideology that made Mark Zuckerberg rich is now his politics — and it’s terrifying | Opinion (msn.com)

I find it interesting he does not suggest a system he believes to be better. Or in the famous works of Thomas Sowell:

  • Compared to what?
  • At what cost?
  • What hard evidence do you have?

Communism and socialism are well known crimes against humanity (thank you MTHead). And it seems he overlooked the founding documents of the U.S. are a pretty good match for Libertarianism, and we did okay with that for several decades.

It appears to me that Hartmann sees libertarianism as a threat, and he has to lie and distort the facts about it to poison the discussion. This must be so his preferred political structure does not have to compete with the ideas of libertarians.

The First Amendment is Blocking Consensus

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Quote of the Day

The dislike of and anguish over social media is just growing and growing. It is part of our problem, particularly in democracies, in terms of building consensus around any issue.

It’s really hard to govern today. The referees we used to have to determine what is a fact and what isn’t a fact have kind of been eviscerated, to a certain degree. And people go and self-select where they go for their news, for their information. And then you get into a vicious cycle.

So it’s really, really, hard, much harder to build consensus today than any time in the 45, 50 years I’ve been involved in this. You know there’s a lot of discussion now about how you curb those entities in order to guarantee that you’re going to have some accountability on facts, etc.

But look, if people only go to one source, and the source they go to is sick, and, you know, has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to be able to just, you know, hammer it out of existence.

So what we need is to win the ground, win the right to govern, by hopefully winning enough votes that you’re free to be able to implement change.

John Kerry
September 2024
John Kerry Says the First Amendment is Getting in the Way of Online Censorship (msn.com) and
Posted on X and
John Kerry: A Democrat win would allow us to ‘change’ the First Amendment to stop ‘disinformation’ (bizpacreview.com) and
John Kerry calls the First Amendment a ‘major block’ to stopping ‘disinformation’ | Fox News and
John Kerry Tells WEF: Our First Amendment Stands As A Major Block Against Hammering Disinformation Out Of Existence | Video | RealClearPolitics

“Hammer it out of existence.” It should be no surprise that if your opposition is silenced, you can get “consensus”.

Spoken like a true totalitarian.

Prepare appropriately.

Your Question is Dangerous

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Quote of the Day

I completely disagree with the premise of the question.

The question that you’re are asking; it is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you are asking it, because American people are watching.

Karine Jean-Pierre
White House Press Secretary
September 18, 2024
Jean-Pierre scorched for ‘utterly heinous response’ defending Biden-Harris rhetoric calling Trump a ‘threat’ | Fox News

The question, you ask?

It’s been, only two days since someone, allegedly, tried to kill Donald Trump again. And you are here at the podium in the White House Briefing Room, calling him a threat. How many more assignation attempts on Donald Trump until the president, and the vice president, and you pick a different word, to describe Trump, other than threat?

If you question their violence inspiring rhetoric, they declare your speech is dangerous. Then, if you listen to the rest of her response, she doubles down on Trump being a threat.

This is what they think of you.

Doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know about their attitude toward the First Amendment?

Prepare appropriately.

All Your Rights Violated, All the Time

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Quote of the Day

We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs.

Kamala Harris
2007
Commentary: On the Second Amendment, Harris shoots herself in the foot — again (msn.com)

Using the 2nd Amendment as sort of a canary in the coalmine seems to work well. If they won’t respect the 2nd Amendment, why should you expect they will respect any other rights? And, of course, once they have sufficiently infringed upon the right to keep and bear arms you don’t have the means to effectively push back when they infringe all your rights all the time.

There Are Many Answers

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Quote of the Day

There is but one answer to be made to the dynamite bomb and that can best be made by the Winchester rifle.

Theodore Roosevelt
1887
Did Teddy Roosevelt Say the ‘One Answer to Terrorism’ Is a Winchester Rifle?

Via an email, which had “terrorism” instead of “the dynamite bomb” in the quote, from pkoning.

While it captures the appropriate sentiment succinctly, it is not all that accurate these days. It appears to me that Israel is doing rather well in their fight against the terrorists/dynamite-bombers in their neighborhoods while using few, and perhaps zero, Winchester rifles. As was reported in a briefing at work last week:

They compromised the supply chain and delivered pagers with explosives to Hezbollah leadership. They blew them up almost simultaneously. Hezbollah then went to walkie-talkies and those were blown up. When Hezbollah then assembled in a single building for face-to-face communication, they blew up the building.

This will be studied and admired for years to come as one of the most creative, complex, and well executed operations in the history of warfare.

Precision guided bombs, M-4s, M-16s, tanks, and hand grenades have been delivering some very authoritative answers as well.

Whatever you think of their religion, ethics, and/or political behavior, they have certainly demonstrated if you don’t respect them, you risk coming to fear them.

I hope gun owners don’t have to teach similar lessons to those who fail to respect us and our rights.

Don’t Let Them Drag You Down to Their Level

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Quote of the Day

Sorry about your small dick Cletus.

MAGA Mocker @MAGAmocker
Tweeted on August 11, 2023

Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail·

The idiots always try to drag the more intelligent people down to their level in an attempt to win with childhood insults.

Whatever. We have SCOTUS decisions. They have crude insults.

Prepare for the Worst

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Quote of the Day

The U.S. in late 2024, IMO, is one lit fuse away from societal collapse–and there are multiple fuses, all lit. You can take your pick.

So, yes. Know your friends, neighbors, community. As the meme says, “Local, local, local.”

And prep like your life depends upon it.

TakeAHardLook
September 20, 2024
Comment to More Evidence of Astroturf – Area Ocho

I cannot find fault with this.

And have you seen the price of gold (buying power of the dollar)? It is up (down) over 45% (nearly 40%) compared to a year ago.

I want to be in an underground bunker in Idaho before the November election.

Travel Warning

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Quote of the Day

JPFO is issuing a travel warning to Jews and other 2A supporters and urging an economic boycott for Middlesex County, Massachusetts after Newton Police arrested Scott Hayes for defending himself from a violent, antisemitic attack.

Scott Hayes was peacefully exercising his rights protected under the First Amendment with a small group of people in the town of Newton, MA. A person in the group was carrying an Israeli flag when a man began yelling antisemitic remarks at the group from across the street, calling them “sick” for supporting Israel.

After a few words were exchanged, the man charged across the street, tackling Scott Hayes to the ground and attempting to wrap his arms around his neck in order to cause even more harm than he had already done. At that point, Mr. Hayes exercised his natural right to defend himself, pulled out a gun and shot the assailant in the abdomen. After freeing himself from the man’s clutches, Scott retreated and attempted to get his assailant medical attention. The assailant is expected to survive.

Mr. Hayes was arrested by the Newton Police who sought and obtained a criminal complaint against him for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The District Attorney is pursuing charges against Mr. Hayes for having defended himself against a violent antisemitic attack. While many state officials in Massachusetts have, for years, been enemies of the Second Amendment, this latest event is a record-breaking atrocity even for them. State actors actively defending violent antisemites while leveling criminal charges against those who defend themselves against them, sends up a warning for all Jews to steer clear of Massachusetts, if at all possible, especially Middlesex County. Antisemitism is on the rise and now we have state officials in Massachusetts formally and proudly defending it.

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
September 19, 2024
Middlesex County, Ma. Defends Violent Antisemitism (jpfo.org)

I think it would be easier to just stay out of all of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York City until Federal prosecutors start charging and convicting the rights hating police and local prosecutors. Without prosecutions it is going to take a new generation to change the mindset of the criminals running these locations.

Special People

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Quote of the Day

Looking at Earth was obviously very, very special. But when you look off to the side, you look out into the darkness of space, and you see your spaceship there, and how gritty it looks, it gave you this sense of, like ‘this isn’t going to be easy.’

Jared Isaacman
September 17, 2024
Jared Isaacman, first billionaire to walk in space, says it wasn’t peaceful (qz.com)

Do you remember what William Shatner said after going into space?

October 13, 2021 William Shatner’s flight on Blue Origin | CNN Business

You look down, there’s the blue down there and the black up there … there is Mother Earth and comfort, and there is, is there death? I don’t know, but is that death? Is that the way death is? … It was so moving; this experience, it was something unbelievable.

Establishing colonies on the moon, other planets, and perhaps ultimately in other star systems is going to take some very special people. The immigration to North America two to three hundred years ago and even the migration from the eastern states to the western territories in the early and mid 1800s was a harsh filter and resulted in a different type of people from their original stock.

It is difficult to imagine the type of person which will result from those willing to engage in space travel and the deprivation of a world so hostile there is not even any atmosphere to breath, a livable temperature range, water to drink, or food to eat. Every essential of human life will need to be brought with them or scratched out of the rocky, dust, surface of the giant rocks they intend to call home.

I would go into space (I attended Parent-Child Space Camp three times and once applied for a Mission Specialist position in the Shuttle program) but that would be knowing I was probably going to be back on earth in a most a few days or weeks. Going to some hostile rock will little chance of ever coming back is a much bigger decision.

No Respect

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She pointed to some state laws that protect individual privacy as obstacles preventing law enforcement officials from adequately responding to background checks, and said her office was currently working with state legislators to push for changes that would lift such restrictions.

Haley Bull
September 22, 2024
President Biden plans to sign new executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence (msn.com)

Of course! Since they are infringing upon one specific enumerated right, they may as well infringe on two at the same time. Shoot, why not infringe on a bunch more at the same time. Why not throw people in jail if it is rumored they are thinking of buying a gun. Presume they are guilty and give them “due process” by an opportunity in court to prove they were not going to buy a gun to use to murder babies in hospital nurseries.

Also note this item from the same article:

In 2024, the gun background check system helped block more than 4,600 gun sales to people convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, according to the report. To date, the Department of Justice has charged more than 500 defendants with violating provisions under the law, and the expanded background check provision has kept guns out of the hands of nearly 900 young people who shouldn’t have them, federal officials said.

Notice the metric they use for the usefulness of the law. It is not a reduction in the crime rate. It is the number of people prevented from purchasing a gun from a FFL.

Their object is not making the general population safer. It is preventing the general population from purchasing firearms.

These people have zero respect for individual rights of the people.

Prepare appropriately.

On the Brink of Destruction

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Quote of the Day

More than 1,000 zombie knives and machetes have been surrendered to one police force as new legislation banning them becomes law.

Avon and Somerset Police said the weapons had been handed in to 15 surrender sites across the region and urged people who still had them to turn them in.

Sarah Turnnidge
September 24, 2024
More than 1,000 zombie knives surrendered (msn.com)

We have “ghost guns” and in England they have “zombie knives”.

As brought to my attention by Hannah Hill @hannahhill_sc this is incredibly on point:

The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction. In England, the people have been disarmed, generally, under the specious pretext of preserving the game: a never failing lure to bring over the landed aristocracy to support any measure, under that mask, though calculated for very different purposes. True it is, their bill of rights seems at first view to counteract this policy: but the right of bearing arms is confined to protestants, and the words suitable to their condition and degree, have been interpreted to authorise the prohibition of keeping a gun or other engine for the destruction of game, to any farmer, or inferior tradesman, or other person not qualified to kill game. So that not one man in five hundred can keep a gun in his house without being subject to a penalty.

St. George Tucker
Blackstone’s Commentaries 1:App. 300
1803

England and the US have certainly lost much of our liberty, and we are in danger of losing more. It is time to take it back.

Hitler is Okay

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With news continuing to filter in about the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the nation’s prominent Democrats expressed relief that Hitler was OK.

Following a busy weekend of making public statements and social media posts clearly identifying Trump as “literally Hitler” and telling the country that he posed a grave threat to the existence of the United States, Democratic leaders quickly made it known how glad they were to find out he was unharmed.

“We’re just glad the greatest threat to democracy is safe,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “I know just an hour or so before he narrowly avoided a second attempt on his life I posted online about how he was leading the charge to destroy America and had to be stopped, but I’m relieved to hear that he wasn’t harmed.”

The Babylon Bee
September 16, 2024
Democrats Express Relief That Hitler Is OK | Babylon Bee

To me, The Babylon Bee sometimes is a little bit lame, but this is funny as well as making a great point.

Projection

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Quote of the Day

Broooooooo y’all proving u have small dicks. I know how to stop gun violence. Pay for trumpnecks to get penile enlargement.

Inmate #P01135809 @iryterong
Tweeted on June 9, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

Interesting projection. In prison, peopled identifying as Democrat outnumber all others combined by a factor of 2:1. And a huge percentage of violence crime is committed by people using a gun is in deep blue cities.

One has to wonder if the small dick insult is also a projection.

In any case, as Dan recently wrote:

Expecting logic, facts and reason to be part of the “gun grabbing” agenda is a fools errand.

Because Racist or Because Dangerous?

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Quote of the Day

Is that law evidence that [the] government has the power to ban dangerous people from possessing firearms, because people thought that African Americans and other racial minorities were dangerous?”

Adam Winkler
UCLA Law Professor
September 21, 2024
The Supreme Court expanded gun rights. That could complicate the Trump assassination attempt case. (msn.com)

Or is it evidence the gun banners are going to face and admit the racists origins of the laws they want to inflict upon us? Interesting questions.

It will be entertaining to watch their tap dance.

Gunning for the Second Amendment

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Harris and Walz can tout their status as gun owners and tip their hats in false homage to the right to keep and bear arms as often as they wish. It’s all subterfuge.

They’re still gunning for the Second Amendment.

Amy Swearer
September 19, 2024
Commentary: Harris and Walz: Gunning for the Second Amendment (msn.com)

Anti-gun people lie. It is an integral part of their culture.

Another tidbit from the same article I found interesting:

In 2008 Harris joined an amicus brief defending complete bans on the possession of handguns and advocating for a 20th century revisionist view of the Second Amendment that renders it little more than a superfluous authorization of state National Guard units.

A complete ban? I wonder if that was before or after Heller. The distinction may be important at her trial.

Doing Battle Against Idiots

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During cross examination of Ronkainen, the state drilled into the difference between military spec and civilian firearms when considering pounds of pressure to pull the trigger. For military, Ronkainen said the pounds of pressure is higher, or around 6 lbs of pressure, to ensure there is no unintentional trigger pulls. For civilian firearms, the pressure could be as low as 2.5 lbs of pressure.

When the state asked if that means it would take 90 lbs of pressure to fire a 30 round magazine from a civilian firearm, the plaintiffs objected saying that was wrong. The state said it wanted to show the difference in level of fatigue in rapidly firing a civilian firearm versus a military firearm. Ronkainen said that is immaterial.

“I’m not sure the defense understood what a trigger pull was, but overall with what they got I think they did as well as they could,” Maag said.

Greg Bishop
September 17, 2024
Distinction of military, civilian firearms made during Day 2 of IL gun ban trial (msn.com)

If I had been asked that question while on the stand, I would have been tempted to ask for a higher IQ idiot to do the cross examination. I would further explain that this lawyer had just demonstrated such a profound level of ignorance and/or stupidity that I doubted there was sufficient common ground for me to realistically establish communication.*

This is the level of ignorance and/or stupidity that we are up against and yet they manage to win many of these battles.

It’s like debating an idiot. It is an unfair contest because they drag you down to their level and win via having vastly more experience.

* Once, at a party, I witnessed two friends of mine meet each other for the first time. One was a multimillionaire from numerous successful startups with a PhD and currently working on creating a state-of-the-art quantum computer. The other was a sweet lady who had a little too much to drink and even when sober was… not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

I kept as straight a face as I could as the PhD tried to establish some sort of communication. It went on for several minutes without a connection and he finally gave up.

As Barb and I went home after the party I told her I had watched as PhD and the lady talked to each other. Barb’s response was something like, “OMG! I would have loved to have seen that.”

I’m pretty sure there have been studies done which show that when the IQ difference is more than about two or three standard deviations apart, without sufficient training of the higher IQ person, it becomes almost impossible to communicate.

Anti-gun Paid Liars

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Quote of the Day

The next time you see a social media post from a military veteran who claims to support banning certain firearms or any other infringement of our civil rights, realize they may be getting paid to violate their oath.

An email obtained last week by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project revealed that the “precision micro-influencer” marketing firm People First is hiring veterans to serve as paid social media influencers for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Lee Williams
September 9, 2024
HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN RECRUITING MILITARY VETERANS TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA – Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org)

Paying people to lie? You should not be surprised. Lying is in their culture. It is what they do.

Gun Registration Demand Is Largely Ignored

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Quote of the Day

Through Dec. 31, 29,357 people had registered about 69,000 prohibited guns and over 42,000 accessories, according to Illinois State Police data. A little over 2.4 million Illinoisans have firearm owner’s identification cards, meaning only about 1.2% of FOID card holders registered guns or accessories subject to the ban, the statistics through 2023 show. However, the true degree of compliance with the law is not possible to determine, since residents with a valid FOID card may not own guns or accessories that are subject to the ban.

Jeremy Gorner
September 16, 2024
Downstate federal trial poses latest test for Illinois gun ban (msn.com)

As it should be, and almost always is, the demand to register guns is mostly being ignored.