Category Archives: Quote of the Day

Quote of the day–Alan Gura

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As Petitioners note, preambles are examined only “[i]f words happen to still be dubious.” Pet. Br. 17 (quotation and citation omitted). “[B]ut when the words of the enacting clause are clear and positive, recourse must not be had to the preamble.” James Kent, 1 COMMENTARIES ON AMERICAN LAW 516 (9th ed. 1858). “The preamble can neither limit nor extend the meaning of a statute which is clear. Similarly, it cannot be used to create doubt or uncertainty.” Norman Singer, 2A SUTHERLAND ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION § 47.04, at 295 (7th ed. 2007).

Alan Gura
Robert A. Levy
Clark M. Neily III
February 24, 2008
RESPONDENT’S BRIEF On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit
[Just a reminder to those bigots that keep insisting the 2nd Amendment only applies to the government having a right to own guns when they want to ignore the 9-0 decision in favor of an individual right in Heller.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Joe Waldron

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Most of their money comes from a single source, like Soros, the Joyce Foundation or the Tides Foundation (Maria Theresa Simoes Ferrara Heinz Kerry). Their “membership” is a joke.

Sad as the pro-gun lobby is in terms of membership — maybe six million nationwide out of 70-80 MILLION gun owners (and that double-counts many of us who belong to multiple organizations), we’re way more committed, individually, than the other side. That’s why the Brady Bunch “captured” (actually, co-opted) the name “and the Million Mom March” to give the impression of numbers that don’t exist.

Ditto Seattle’s “crime gun person,” whose huge salary is paid for by a grant from the anti-gun lobby.

Just more elitist SOBs who know better than you do how to run your life. You’re too stupid, so just shut up and do what you’re told, it’s for your own good. You see a lot of that mentality in the current health care debate, as well. The nanny-state crowd.

Joe Waldron
August 30, 2009
Washington CCW email list Subversive Gun Groups Question (membership required)
[How many members does the Brady Campaign have? Oh, that’s right. There isn’t even a way to become a member on their website.

This is reflected in the number of gun blogs as well. I only know of one active anti-gun blog that isn’t a paid position. There are 127 pro gun blogs listed at GunBloggers and that is just a partial listing as I know of some gun blogs that aren’t on that list (although I know there are some inactive blogs on that list as well).

I’ve attended numerous public hearings (such as this one) and public demonstrations. We outnumbered them at least 10 to one each time. Sometimes 100 to one. The rallies for I-676 a while back–we outnumbered them 1000 to one.

If the big money of the special interest anti-gun groups with the cooperation of the mainstream media wasn’t in play it would be game over for them.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Kelsey

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I’m a carbs based life form.

Kelsey
August 29, 2009
[Barb and I had lunch with son James and his girlfriend Kelsey today. Kelsey continues to please us with her sparkle and affection toward James. We all had fun and lots of laughs today. The following banter is just one example:

Barb: James was so sweet when he was little.
Kelsey: [to James] So when did you stop being sweet?
Joe: I think sweetness is a constant in your lifetime. If you use it up when you are little you don’t have any left when you get older.
Barb: [to Joe] So when did you use up your sweetness?
Joe: [after the laughter subsided] I’ve just been saving it for someone else.

Also discussed were lentil cookies, how James made QOTD in his comment about them, daughters Kim and Xenia‘s burping contests, and Xenia’s college speech and video about farts.

Barb’s brother says sister Susan has nice children but Barb has interesting children.–Joe]

Quote of the day–‘Doc’ Russia

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I guess that the Democrats will try to pass the healthcare bill in Kennedy’s name. Of course, if you want an accurate descriptor, they would call it the Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial health service, and patients would spend their lives getting taken for a ride by an elected official who will try their best to screw them, and then die while they wait for someone in the government to do the right thing.

‘Doc’ Russia
August 26, 2009
More gallows humor
[Via an email from Scott K.

I cannot think of a single thing to add to this.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Jim Kessler

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There is no constitutional right to carry a firearm. This is not even close on the constitutional scale — I have a right to carry a firearm wherever I go — it’s just not.

Jim Kessler
Of Third Way
August 25, 2009
Guns near Obama fuel ‘open-carry’ debate
[This is what I (and others, I forget where I originally saw it) call “Proof by vigorous assertion”. It is most frequently used by two-year olds and in most cases is out-grown by age four. Mr. Kessler’s development was apparently retarded.

The article claims Third Way is “the successor organization to the gun-control group Americans for Gun Safety” (see also the Wikipedia entry). It’s nice that someone in the MSM (in this case MSNBC) is finally admitting AGS was anti-gun rather than an organization that intended to “promote responsible gun ownership”. It’s also interesting that if you go to the AGS Foundation website (http://www.agsfoundation.com/) you are redirected to Third Way and a pop-up informs you:

For current gun safety data and other information, we recommend the American Hunters and Shooters Association, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

For someone to simultaneously recommended AHSA with the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations tells you all you need to know about AHSA–unless you wanted to know how many members this “national grassroots organization has”. According to their Wikipedia entry, in 2005, it was less than 150.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Mary King

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[The County should not] provide a place for people to display guns for worship as deities for the collectors who treat them as icons of patriotism.

Mary King
July 20, 1999
Attributed to an Alameda County Press Release in plaintiff’s brief.
[Reading the brief was enlighting to me. The case isn’t really about a misguided attempt in “preventing crime” or accidental shootings. The county even admits that isn’t the reason. It’s about bigotry and deliberate repression of free expression. This gives me hope that the 9th circuit giving the case another look might not be about throwing out the 2nd Amendment incorporation finding.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Sebastian

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They used to say that the difference between conservatives and liberals were that conservatives thought liberals were stupid, and liberals thought conservatives were evil. Now it would seem they think conservatives are terrorists.

Sebastian
August 24, 2009
The Media’s Shallow Understanding
[I suspect it isn’t really “shallow understanding”. It’s about attempting to demonize in any way possible those who oppose their agenda. People believe what they want to believe and anything that supports their belief system will be latched onto with far less fact checking than if it contradicted their belief system. I’ve been guilty of this too. But there have also been times when I thought (borrowing a literary tool from Say Uncle), “Self, this is too good to be true. You better check this out.” And nearly every time it was too good to be true.

In the case of the present day “militia movement” I can’t help but remember in the mid-90s I knew the names of several different militias both in the Pacific Northwest and other parts of the country. I read about them, by name, in the paper and heard about them in the social circles I communicated with. I saw their displays at gun shows. I occasionally even talked to member of militias. This time? The only “militia movement” I have heard about all traces back to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

I think it’s too good to be true for the left and they latched onto it without checking into it. Someone should check it out and, if my hunch is correct, slap them down. With appropriate timing and proper location it could be a good political tool.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Tamara K.

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Looks like Jackson Pollack threw up in here.

Tamara K.
August 24, 2008
Referring to all the previous use of Simunitions in the Blackwater 360 degree shoothouse.
[I want to do the “Blackwater thing” with all the gun bloggers again. That was really fun.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Chuck Bloom

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As a strong supporter of the country’s National Parks System, I just don’t see a logical reason why anyone would want to carry a concealed weapon into such naturally beautiful places like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Grand Teton or any of the national parks.

Is someone seriously afraid of being accosted or robbed by Old Faithful or El Capitan? Are there criminals hiding out in the Petrified Forest?

These places should be off limits to such practices because of the presence of children. Just because you have the right to pack heat on a vacation doesn’t mean you should.

Chuck Bloom
Plano, Texas
… but what about the children?
August 21, 2009
[A extraordinary clear example of scrambled thinking on the gun issue. Perhaps the reason he doesn’t see a logical reason for carrying a gun in the national parks is because he is severely logic impaired.

What does being “a strong supporter of the country’s National Parks System” or their natural beauty have to do with concluding there is no “logical reason” to carry a concealed weapon?

Even his straw-men of “being accosted or robbed by Old Faithful or El Capitan” is extraordinarily weak.

Criminal do their thing where they have the opportunity, means, and high probability of accomplishing their goal. If their thing involves robbing or hurting people the remote location and disarmed status of their victims in the remote parks can be good hunting grounds. One does not have life insurance for only when their risk is high, such as when traveling by car. They have life insurance for all occasions. And so it is with carrying defensive tools. If you knew you were going to be attacked you wouldn’t go there. But you don’t know so you carry defensive tools wherever and whenever you can. And not all of the threats are human:


Sign in Glacier National Park


Bear in Glacier National Park.

And finally, “because of the presence of children”? Come on, can any anti-gun person offer a plausible defense for that statement? Do children not need to be defended against violent attacks? Is it better to let them be injured or killed than for them to see a bear get shot? Is it better for them to see their mother raped and/or killed than to see the attacker stopped in his tracks by a gun in the hands of his or her parents?

I actually did use my gun while hiking through a state park with my kids several years ago. There was a rattlesnake near the edge of the trail. It was a threat both to us and other hikers that perhaps would not have seen and avoided it. From a safe distance I put a 9mm FMJ bullet through it’s head. The kids did not seem to have suffered any short or long term adverse effects from the use of the gun in their presence. They even seemed relieved after the threat was neutralized.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Larry Pratt

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There are those who don’t like Americans owning guns at all, let alone carrying them about. They can be counted on to run about squawking like Chicken Little that the sky is falling – a calamity brought about by the presence of an armed citizen in public. We are warned that: “Somebody might grab the gun and do something bad! The armed citizen will intimidate others! Tempers will flare and blood will run in the streets!”

These are the same alarms that are sounded when any measure designed to facilitate citizens keeping and bearing arms is advanced. And the alarms are always false. One would think that consistently being wrong would be embarrassing, but one would be wrong about those who assume that common citizens are untrustworthy and dangerous.

Larry Pratt
August 20, 2009
He Had a Gun and Nothing Happened
[Embarrassing? They have no shame, how could they be embarrassed? Their minds are locked into the reality of an alternate universe, sort of a Mirror, Mirror like place. And even though their concepts and assumptions are demonstrably false here they try to take over our universe. If we could just get Spock to transport them swap them back with their counterparts in the other universe things would be so much better.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Rick Perlstein

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Carrying a gun to a political meeting is an obscenity. Anyone who does it, even if they are within their legal rights, should be ashamed. Our founders fought a revolution (and, yes, took up arms) to build a society where political disputes are not settled through force or intimidation–and that’s the only purpose of bringing a weapon to a political discussion: to intimidate.

It is utterly unacceptable, and every politician should have the guts to say so.

Rick Perlstein
August 18, 2009
Outlook: In America, Crazy Is a Pre-existing Condition
‘ … the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy …’
[Just so you know what they think of you.

I wonder what he thinks of the White House response–that open carry at political events is no big deal. Does he think President Obama has no guts?

I think he may have just had the wind sucked out of his sails.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Brannon P. Denning and Glenn H. Reynolds

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The Fulton case demonstrates an important consequence of Heller’s individual right holding: the normalization of firearms possession. In the past sometimes treated as a deviant act, something not to be permitted without the indulgence of the sovereign, firearms possession is now something contemplated by the Constitution–something not deviant, but normal, with the burden shifting from those who would possess firearms to those who would deny their possession. This burden-shift may turn out to be the most consequential result of Heller, at least in the day-to-day work of state and federal courts.

Brannon P. Denning
Glenn H. Reynolds
August 1, 2009
Heller, High Water(mark)? Lower Courts and the New Right to Keep and Bear Arms
[I wouldn’t normally quote the same person (or people) two or more days in a row. But this is a special day and this quote is very applicable because of this and other indicators that open carry of firearms is being accepted. If open carry of firearms is accepted then that means firearms ownership in general is more acceptable.

See also my post from last night and this followup post.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Brannon P. Denning and Glenn H. Reynolds

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Political scientists and law professors alike have written extensively on signaling and agenda-setting by the Supreme Court. Despite being dicta—the issues mentioned were not before the Court and were not necessary to resolve those that were before it—the Heller safe harbor seems to us to have been a clear signal, clearer perhaps than any sent in Lopez, that lower courts should not declare open season on any and all federal gun laws. It seems to us that the lower courts have certainly heeded this signal.

Brannon P. Denning
Glenn H. Reynolds
August 1, 2009
Heller, High Water(mark)? Lower Courts and the New Right to Keep and Bear Arms pages 15-16.
[H/T to Say Uncle.

That’s the bad news, which I already knew even from my limited legal viewpoint. There is good news in part III of the paper. Much of it was new to me.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Cameron Hopkins

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Will more .38 Supers show up next year? Is the .45ACP now obsolete? In a nut shell, no. The .45 will continue to dominate. The cost of shooting a .38 Super loaded to make major caliber are astronomical. The brass is only good for one loading due to the pressures that swell the web. The beating the gun takes drastically reduces gun life compared to that of a .45.

Cameron Hopkins
American Handgunner
May/June 1985, p. 54
[FYI, nearly 25 years after writing the above Hopkins is still writing.

Just another reminder for myself.

It’s risky to make predictions. I do it anyway and I’m reckless enough to sometimes put the predictions in writing. You would think that seeing the colossal failures of others that do this would be warning enough–but apparently it is not.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Bruce Schneier

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Surveillance infrastructure can be exported, which also aids totalitarianism around the world. Western companies like Siemens, Nokia, and Secure Computing built Iran’s surveillance infrastructure. U.S. companies helped build China’s electronic police state. Twitter’s anonymity saved the lives of Iranian dissidents — anonymity that many governments want to eliminate.

Every year brings more Internet censorship and control — not just in countries like China and Iran, but in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other free countries.

The control movement is egged on by both law enforcement, trying to catch terrorists, child pornographers and other criminals, and by media companies, trying to stop file sharers.

It’s bad civic hygiene to build technologies that could someday be used to facilitate a police state. No matter what the eavesdroppers and censors say, these systems put us all at greater risk. Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in.

Bruce Schneier
August 3, 2009
Building in Surveillance
[Schneier doesn’t mention this but the concept of “bad civic hygiene” has wider application than just surveillance technology. It also applies to the TSA, gun control, and even government provided health care (do you want health care decisions for gays made by people like Fred Phelps–or vice versa?). It’s another way of expressing concern about failures of my Jews In The Attic Test.

Some people have a lot of concern about Microsoft contributing to this sort of thing. I have been, and am, involved in projects that have the potential to cause concern. I have been very pleased to see that not only the corporate policy is appropriate to protect innocents but also the attitude of the people I work with is on par with my standards in this regard.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Barbara Scott

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I want to go break the law.

Barbara Scott
August 14, 2009
When she heard of the law (essentially) banning children’s books printed before 1985.
Link courtesy Say Uncle and Sebastian.
[I, of course, immediately thought of the quote by the character Jayne Cobb in Firefly, “Shiny. Let’s be bad guys.”–Joe]

Quote of the day–Dave Workman

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The VPC and Freedom States crowd would have us all believe that every armed citizen is just like George Sodini, and that he is like all of us; a killer waiting to strike.

While they are loathe to admit it, there is really no difference between gun bigots and racial or religious bigots. One form of class hatred is no less divisive than another.

Dave Workman
August 7, 2009
New anti-gun strategy: Demonize CCW holders
[The bigot meme is getting more visible. Although I can’t take any credit for bringing Workman up to speed on it. Alan Gottlieb and he were the ones who first infected me.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Roberta X.

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I’ll bet you thought you lived in the United States of the Framer’s dreams, didn’t you? …As long as you bear in mind that “nightmares” is a subset of “dreams,” you’re right, too.

There’s not a current or former Congresscritter, except maybe Ron Paul, who ought not be brought up on charges of treason and/or offenses against persons, be given a perfectly fair trial and be imprisoned for life at the very least. The Executive branch is equally culpable. Not gonna happen but hey, a gal can still dream, right? They haven’t made that a Thoughtcrime yet, have they? Have they?

Roberta X.
August 12, 2009
James Madison Calling
[Read the Madison quote in her post for context.

I don’t know if Roberta independently arrived at the same conclusion but I’ve suggested the treason idea before too. Great minds think alike, we share the same delusion, or something.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Milton Friedman

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The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.

Milton Friedman
[As we enter another Great Depression keep that in mind. And also keep in mind that FDR and his complete lack of understanding of economics which extended the depression created by the high tariffs under the Hoover administration–who “Long before he entered politics he denounced laissez-faire thinking“.

FDR insisting on extremely high taxes for the rich and frequent changing of the law created great uncertainity for investors. It was the death of FDR and Truman’s friendly attitude to business that finally brought the country out of the depression.

Read New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America for the details.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Sinfonian

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It should come as a surprise to no one that gun permits and applications in Florida are on a record pace, as barrel-strokers with small penises* throughout the state react to an alleged threat that has virtually no chance of happening — and even if it does, they’re not going to immunize themselves by buying now. Wow, talk about stupid …

…

No one is coming to take away your guns. (Even though I personally wouldn’t mind if they did.) And you firearm fellators out there who think that getting your permits now will shield you? Granted, you won’t lose your guns, but a higher tax on ammunition is just going to get you even more. Didn’t think about that one, did ya?

…

All this from a gross misreading of the Second Amendment. It’d be funny if it weren’t so tragic.

——————————————————————————–
* Based on my assumption that the vast majority of gun owners have, um, endowment issues; the size of their gun is inversely proportional to their penis size. I think.

Sinfonian
August 10, 2009
Florida gun nuts: breaking records through paranoia
[My primary objective of quoting this guy is to let you know what the other side thinks of you.

My secondary objective is to demonstrate how wrong he is.

The first thing that comes to mind about this guy is, “Does he think women have infinitely sized guns?” Then I wonder how many penises he has measured and compared to gun sizes. If it were more than one or two my hypothesis would be it was because he was more interested in the penises than in the correlation with gun size. But my leading hypothesis at this time is that he has precisely zero data to support his claims. This is based upon the above collection of data about him. For example:

  1. Buying a gun now, such as a so called “assault weapon” that was been banned from new sale to private citizens the last time Democrats controlled Congress, the Senate, and the White House, does “immunize” said buyers. There is no registration of firearms in most states. Hence after a month or two it becomes very unlikely that a judge is going to issue a search warrant for said gun based entirely on a 4473 because without other confirming evidence the owner could have sold or otherwise disposed of the firearm being sought. So, at that point what can they do to remove the gun from circulation?
  2. In states where registration has been implemented, such as California, New York, and New Jersey, not to mention all the foreign countries with registration, there have been many examples of the government coming to take the guns. And even without registration guns were forcibly confiscated after hurricane Katrina. To say it won’t or can’t happen again, particularly when there are people, such as Sinfonian, advocating it is naive or duplicitous.
  3. The gun rights community has long been aware of and fought against high taxes on ammunition. For example just on my blog alone you can see concerns over it here, here, here, here, and here.
  4. Gross misreading of the Second Amendment? Did he read the Heller decision or just is he just parroting what the Brady Campaign or the Violence Policy Center told him? See also my blog post if you just want a dramatically abridged version of what Scalia said. In other words the highest legal authority in the nation agreed with what us “barrel-strokers with small penises” have been saying about the Second Amendment for decades.

What would be funny if it weren’t so tragic is this guy confuses his imagination with reality.–Joe]