Quote of the day—Kevin D. Williamson

Gun control is not about gun crime — gun control is about gun culture.

That culture-war mentality produces a great deal of sloppy thinking and ignorant commentary. Consider the case of Gail Collins in Thursday’s New York Times. Collins is hopping mad about gun shows, about which she seems to know . . . not a whole lot. “Yeah,” she writes — really, “yeah” — “right now one easy way to buy a gun without having anyone check to see if you have a history of criminal convictions, mental illness or a domestic violence restraining order is to just plunk down some cash at a gun show.”

This is — and this part still matters! — not true.

Because this is a culture-war issue rather than a crime-reduction issue, Collins apparently has not bothered thinking much about the most obvious and most relevant question: Are guns bought at gun shows a significant contributor to crime?

Kevin D. Williamson
September 16, 2021
Gun-Control Laws Aren’t about Preventing Crimes
[The obvious and relevant questions are also inconvenient for people such as Collins. Other questions not mentioned by Williamson include, “Do you realize you are advocating for infringements on a specific enumerated right?” And, “Are you aware that conspiracy to infringe upon rights is a serious Federal crime?”

Perhaps such questions will come up at their trials.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Zachary Faria

The surge in new gun owners could have a political impact that lasts far longer than the pandemic and the surge in homicides that inspired it.

Between January 2019 and April 2021, approximately 7.5 million people became first-time gun owners. Nearly 50% of them were women. More than 40% are black or Latino. This is bad news for the gun control movement and, perhaps in the long term, for the Democratic Party.

Gun control, despite polling well as a collection of general platitudes, is already a losing issue throughout the country. Each time someone becomes a first-time gun owner, the chances of passing the strict gun control measures that the gun control movement and the majority of the Democratic Party want to see implemented go down. The pandemic will go away, and homicides will decline — but this will continue to shape our gun control politics for years to come.

Zachary Faria
September 17, 2021
The pandemic and the homicide surge will have a lasting effect on our gun control politics
[Help the trend to continue. Take a new shooter to the range.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Chinese Communist Party

We will use nuclear bombs first, We will use nuclear bombs continuously. We will do this until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time.

Chinese Communist Party
July 19, 2021
China threatens to nuke Japan over Taiwan in video played on CCP-sanctioned channel
[We live in interesting times.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Thomas Kendall

You can certainly be assured that they will not win. That’s not at issue. Their entire goal is to lose. If you ever doubted, you’ve had the better part of a year of their stupidity to reflect on. You can quit wondering. They will lose. They want to lose. The only question is who they lose to. They want to lose to China, but I think losing to the radical Islamic world is their consolation prize.

Let’s spoil their day. Let’s make them lose to America.

Thomas Kendall
September 7, 2021
US, AT THE GATE
[Interesting idea. It’s certainly worth considering.—Joe]

Quote of the day—John Yarmuth

We are not broke as a nation. We are not bankrupt. We can’t go bankrupt. We absolutely cannot go bankrupt because we have the power to create as much money as we need to spend to serve the American people.

John Yarmuth
Chairman of the Budget Committee
U.S. Representative (D-KY)
September 9, 2021
Democrat Budget Committee Chairman: ‘We Have Power to Create as Much $$ as We Need to Spend’
[

This claim will not age well.

If this were true then why not create enough money for every person in the U.S. to have an “universal basic income” of $100K per year? Everyone, if they wanted, could just retire in comfort and live happily ever after. And why stop there? Why not create and distribute enough money for everyone on the planet to comfortably retire?

One has to conclude he is one or more of the following:

  • Incredibly Insane.
  • Incredibly stupid.
  • Incredibly evil.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J. KB

The Left fights for abortion because abortion is the easiest and lowest hanging fruit of Leftists desire for mass extermination to achieve utopia.

J. KB
September 8, 2021
Why the Left goes all in on Abortion
[This is an interesting hypothesis. I might even be willing to bet that a measurable fraction of leftists falling into this category. But I find it grating to state this in all inclusive terms with such certainty.

I don’t believe J. KB is capable of mind reading or has the raw data to back up this claim. Until data is in and analyzed I will think of it as a hypothesis worthy of testing.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Magus Melanie @MagusMelanie

Small dick buys guns to feel masculine

Magus Melanie @MagusMelanie
Tweeted on August 13, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

We have SCOTUS decisions. The best they can bring to the party are childish insults.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Hank Archer

We wouldn’t have to be Fascists if you deplorables would just do as you’re told!

Hank Archer
September 10, 2021
Comment to Quote of the day—Leana S. Wen
[He was summarizing the position of those in support of a vaccine mandate.

It’s funny because it’s (mostly) true. I’m not sure they are self aware enough to “get it”.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Julius Ruechel

What other social engineering goals can be rolled into your annual booster shot in the future once you are permanently bound to these annual jabs and vaccine passports? In an atmosphere of hysteria, it’s a system ripe for abuse by opportunists, ideologues, power hungry totalitarians, and Malthusian social engineers. The snowball doesn’t have to grow by design. Mission creep happens all on its own once Pandora’s Box is opened to coerced vaccinations and conditional rights. The road to Hell is frequently paved by good intentions… and hysteria.

Julius Ruechel
September 2, 2021
The Snake-Oil Salesmen and the COVID-Zero Con: A Classic Bait-And-Switch for a Lifetime of Booster Shots (Immunity as a Service)
[Via email from Rolf.

I’m far more inclined to believe there is “mission creep” without “design” rather than a well executed grand conspiracy. Not that it makes all that much difference except, perhaps, in the penalty phase of their trials.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Leana S. Wen

President Biden’s much-hyped new strategy for fighting covid-19 is a tepid half-measure that falls short of the dramatic reset the country needs. The six-pronged strategy announced on Thursday can be summarized as “more of the same” — these are good steps in the right direction, but they’re not enough to get the job done.

Biden needs to acknowledge that we have reached the end of the line when it comes to asking individuals to get vaccinated. We’ve tried education, incentives and appealing to people’s patriotic duty. It’s not working. Now is the time for mandates, with the federal government using the full extent of its authority.

Leana S. Wen
September 9, 2021
Biden’s six-step covid strategy does not go far enough to compel vaccinations
[As President Biden said:

This is not about freedom or personal choice.

Actually, it is about freedom and personal choice. And the lack of authority of the executive branch to create law without going through the legislative branch. And the lack of constitutionality authority for the Federal government to force the injection of foreign substances into individuals without consent.

In short, this action is clearly illegal. It violates 18 USC 242 and probably numerous other laws.

Of course, the courts may not see this as clearly as the rest of us.

If the President has this authority then he also has the authority to force the injection of an abortifacient, a birth control drug, implant fertilized eggs, or sterilize those deemed unfit to reproduce (see previous link). We are no longer considered individuals with inalienable rights. We are little different from cattle in their treatment (no pun intended) of us.

For decades I believed the most likely spark to start Civil War II would be something related to guns. I now think the insanity over forced vaccinations could nudge out gun control.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Nick Gillespie

What kind of simulation are we living in where Mein Kampf is easier to purchase than McElligot’s Pool?

Nick Gillespie
September 7, 2021
Self-Cancellation, Deplatforming, and Censorship
[I hypothesize it is the Dystopian kind.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Hank Robar

You’ve got some people, they’ve got a little authority in a village and they always think they can push it a little further. But I think now people realize that they do have rights. You just gotta stick up for them.

Hank Robar
September 7, 2021
Meet the Property Owner Who Created a Toilet Garden to Protest Local Officials
[My impression is that more and more people are realizing they have rights and that they have to stick up for them.

I just wish we had prosecutors who would prosecute some politicians, but I realize that is extremely unlikely to happen.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Baron Bodissey

Initially, dictatorship is imposed via the abuse and manipulation of language, its function being to peddle falsehoods. Censorship comes next, and then the denigration and erasure of memories of the past. This process has an established pattern. First, the past is ridiculed. Second, it is demonised and, finally, criminalised.

It is when the first stage is segueing into the second that an open battle of wills begins to emerge between those demanding the reinstatement of their traditional culture, customs, and freedoms and the totalitarian few, gathered together with their imported alien foot soldiers, who are attempting to destroy everything that was and is.

At that point it soon becomes evident that the only viable end game is that one side must completely eliminate the other in order to survive. There is no longer any room, nor necessity, for the so often fatal trap of compromise.

Have no doubts about it: If the situation becomes kinetic, and history suggests this has a probability higher than 0.5, then only the brave, the most determined and ruthless will prevail.

Baron Bodissey
September 5, 2021
Crossing the Rubicon
[Interesting take on the current situation in Britain. I’m not sure Bodissey knows that much more on the topic than anyone else and I wonder how well it applies to the U.S.. But I can see some strong correlations to our situation.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Casey @All_Caps18

I suppose the guns are how you soothe yourself over your other …shortcomings.

Casey @All_Caps18
Tweeted on September 3, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

From the thread:

IfArgumentProGun
 Mega @Moogalah


Oh no, it’s the one and only joke anti gunners have. I will now kill myself because of how clever, original, and well thought out it was.

 Ishmael Antony Gatz @PlastikGatz


TheyAreArmedBecauseSmallPenises

Floridian80 @MLJohnson80



WhenGunGrabbersAreOutOfTalkingPoints

Jeremy Lowe @ConfiscateDeez


I cuddle mine at night and read them bedtime stories. I tell my 1911 all about his dad, John Browning. The slide then goes back and forth with happiness until it lowers it’s hammer down for the night and goes to bed. #GunsHaveFeelingsToo (Now that’s how you do something original)

Turbo Encabulator @blath4242


TinyVagina


CrCritical Race Theory is Racist @ESameoutcome


I have never heard of a group of guys that are so obsessed with the sizes of other men’s junk as the anti-gun pervs! Does one need to have an obsession with dicks to be anti-gun, or does being anti-gun cause that obsession?

Skip Bradley Flag of United States EagleCamera @LoneOwlImages


You would think they would be starting to catch on that we have heard the “small penis” insult before and get a clue. But, no, they are pretty much without a clue.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Tim Pool @Timcast

If you ever wonder how Germany got to the point it did look at Australia. Insane authoritarianism, rising identitarianism, and apologists terrified of the state pretending to offer some opposition but defending camps for the ‘unclean’

Tim Pool @Timcast
Tweeted on September 4, 2021
[Via daughter Jaime:

Attach0001

See also here.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Cam Edwards

The Third Circuit panel found that not only did the township offer no evidence that its zoning rules are targeted to achieve a public safety benefit without imposing undue restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms, but that it neglected to explain why it chose to implement these specific restrictions, and why they did so only in the part of the township that was zoned for “sportsmen’s clubs.” Two other areas of town where “shooting ranges” are allowed to operate don’t have these same types of restrictions in place, but the township can’t explain why center-fire rifle firing should be banned at a sportsmen’s club and not at a shooting range.


Now the case goes back down to the district court for a third time, and hopefully this time around the judge makes the correct decision and finds that the township violated the rights of the gun range owner by arbitrarily imposing these zoning restrictions without being able to offer up any substantive reason for doing so.

Cam Edwards
August 17, 2021
Second Amendment In Gun Range Case

Quote of the day—David Frum

You want to be a protective spouse, a concerned parent, a good citizen, a patriotic American? Save your family and your community from danger by getting rid of your weapons, and especially your handguns. Don’t wait for the law. Do it yourself; do it now. Do it because you just bought your first home, do it because you just got married, do it because you just had the baby you cherish more than anything in this world. The gun you trust against your fears is itself the thing you should fear. The gun is a lie.

As more Americans recognize the lie, they may notice a powerful new possibility. Once emancipated from the false myth of the home-protecting gun, they will find it easier to write laws and adopt policies to stop the criminals and zealots who carry guns into the streets. Win enough elections, and the federal courts will retreat from their sudden gun advocacy—and return to their historic deference to state regulation of firearms.

David Frum
September 1, 2021
How to Persuade Americans to Give Up Their Guns
[Frum needs to review the 2nd Amendment and the Heller decision.

Then he needs to read some books on the risk of not owning firearms and the ethics of restricting firearms ownership. I would like to suggest:

Then, if he is still in the persuasive mood, I’d be glad to introduce him to the power of the word “No.” backed up by 100 million determined gun owners with their own means of persuasion.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Shannon Watts

Data shows that visible guns makes people more aggressive, so it’s a logical next step to believe that open carry makes it more likely that disagreements will turn into violent conflicts.

Shannon Watts
Founder of Moms Demand Action
September 1, 2021
TEXANS CAN NOW OPENLY CARRY GUNS IN PUBLIC WITHOUT A PERMIT OR TRAINING. POLICE SAY THE NEW LAW MAKES IT HARDER TO DO THEIR JOBS
[Interesting. I wonder what invisible guns make people do.

Watts knows open carry does not make it more likely that disagreements will turn violent. She is planting the idea in a effort to persuade the public it is acceptable to infringe upon the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. And, of course, she completely ignores the existence of the 2nd Amendment.

I would also bet that any data she has indicating “visible guns makes people more aggressive” is the result of cherry picking the data and probably presuming causality and ignoring other factors which account for any change in perceived aggressiveness.

Lies and deception, it is what anti-gun people do.—Joe]

Quote of the day—John Michael Greer

One of the repeated lessons of history is that when Potemkin politics become standard operating procedure in a nation, no matter how powerful and stable that nation might look, it can come apart with astonishing speed once somebody provides the good hard shove just discussed. The sudden implosion of the Kingdom of France in 1789 and the equally abrupt collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 are two of the most famous examples, but there have been many others. In every case, what happened was that a government that had stopped solving its nation’s problems, and settled for trying to manage appearances instead, discovered the hard way that governments really do derive their power from the consent of the governed—and that this consent can be withdrawn very suddenly indeed.

John Michael Greer
August 18, 2021
Potemkin Nation
[Via email from a reader after reading yesterday’s post.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Gregory Hoyt

It’s certainly a bold ask, as the groups attached to this letter are blatantly requesting that Democrats not only have a monopoly on gun legislation, but to adopt a hardline position of legislating away at gun rights while also urging the public to relinquish said rights through persuasion via the bully pulpit.

Gregory Hoyt
August 29, 2021
Here it comes: Gun control groups pressure Biden to create firearm control office to bypass Senate
[Bold? Perhaps. Especially with President Biden is completely overwhelmed by other issues. But if gets even a little publicity and traction in leftist media it will move the Overton Window in the wrong direction.

Do your part to combat the continuing battle for mindshare.

  • Come out of the closet as a gun owner.
  • Take a newbie to the range.
  • Get concealed carry licenses in many states (the numbers are frequently published and numbers matter).
  • Responsibly carry when you can.
  • Donate to organizations which support the Second Amendment (I donate thousands each year to SAF and FPC).

The Biden administration, deliberately or not, appears to be destroying the United States of America. Some of the individual states with low debt and a strong mindset of liberty appear to be the best hope for the future. Perhaps it is time to let the U.S. collapse.—Joe]