Quote of the day—milquetoast

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I think it is probably much simpler. Some antis are at ease lying through their teeth about an “assault weapon” being full auto, they’ll lump suicides together with homicides to try to inflate statistics, they’ll lie about what the laws currently are, they’ll lie about the our motivations, they’ll lie about the effects gun control will have, etc…

That they include ad hominen attacks in their repertoire is no surprise. They do it for the same reason they lie : because it often works.

milquetoast
February 23, 2012
Comment to An explanation for Markley’s Law.
[While I can believe, nay I know, this is true for some of them I think more commonly the reason is they have found themselves cornered. In their desperation they think themselves clever to make a jab at their opponent’s expense. It changes the subject and can put their opponent on the defensive.

Still, the bottom line is the same. It often works.—Joe]

The right to bear arms

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SAF just announced:

The Second Amendment Foundation today won a significant victory for concealed carry when the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals let stand a December ruling by a three-judge panel of the court that forces Illinois to adopt a concealed carry law, thus affirming that the right to bear arms exists outside the home.

The ruling came in Moore v. Madigan, a case filed by SAF. The December opinion that now stands was written by Judge Richard Posner, who gave the Illinois legislature 180 days to “craft a new gun law that will impose reasonable limitations, consistent with the public safety and the Second Amendment…on the carrying of guns in public.” That clock is ticking, noted SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb.

“Illinois lawmakers need to create some kind of licensing system or face the prospect of not having any regulations at all when Judge Posner’s deadline arrives,” Gottlieb said. “They need to act. They can no longer run and hide from this mandate.”

“We were delighted with Judge Posner’s ruling in December,” he continued, “and today’s decision by the entire circuit to allow his ruling to stand is a major victory, and not just for gun owners in Illinois. Judge Posner’s ruling affirmed that the right to keep and bear arms, itself, extends beyond the boundary of one’s front door.”

In December, Judge Posner wrote, “The right to ‘bear’ as distinct from the right to ‘keep’ arms is unlikely to refer to the home. To speak of ‘bearing’ arms within one’s home would at all times have been an awkward usage. A right to bear arms thus implies a right to carry a loaded gun outside the home.”

Judge Posner subsequently added, “To confine the right to be armed to the home is to divorce the Second Amendment from the right of self-defense described in Heller and McDonald.”

“It is now up to the legislature,” Gottlieb said, “to craft a statute that recognizes the right of ordinary citizens to carry outside the home, without a sea of red tape or a requirement to prove any kind of need beyond the cause of personal protection.”

The ruling also affects a similar case filed by the National Rifle Association known as Shepard v. Madigan.

This is a stepping stone to slap down California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Washington D.C., Maryland, and others that have “May Issue” permitting for carry. It may even enable nationwide Constitutional Carry.

Bloomberg/MAIG, the Brady Campaign, and other anti-freedom groups may soon have very little legislative action available for them to consider.

Third Power has comments too.

The Stars Came Back -016- Waiting

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 Cut to

Helton and Harbin are looking at the security camera screens, and they hear a groan. They look back toward where the prisoner is, take a quick glance at the screens, then go back to where Slaver1 is tied up to a large, heavy-duty shelving unit. His hands are bound behind his back, his feet are bound, and there is a cord around his neck with a noose tied to the shelf, so if he moves or tips over he gets choked. There is blood on the floor behind one knee. Helton looks sharply at Harbin.

Harbin: (flatly) Hamstrings. Didn’t want him getting any ideas.
Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Nelson Lund

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Anyone who thinks the anti-tyranny function of the Second Amendment is completely irrelevant today should also spend some time considering the historical experience of black Americans. At least until quite recently, one of the chief purposes of many gun control laws was to help secure the political subordination of the black population. That goal was successfully achieved for a long time, but it might not have been so easy if blacks had enjoyed the same right of access to firearms that the white population reserved for itself.

Nelson Lund, J.D., Ph.D.
June 2002
A Primer on the Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms
[Also highly recommended reading is The Racist Roots of Gun Control by Clayton Cramer and:

See also several QOTDs by the author of the book.—Joe]

Boomershoot history article

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As I mentioned a few days ago I wrote a article for a magazine about the history of Boomershoot.

The editor sent me the final layout of the pages of the article in the magazine (well, at least the first few, some were missing) and it looks nice. There are few typo/grammar errors that both the editor and I missed but it’s good enough.

It will appear in the March issue of Western Shooting Journal starting on page 78.

The Stars Came Back -015- Breaking in

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Fade in

EXT-Day-low rocky ridge

Helton and Harbin are lying just below the crest of a ridge of rocks, peering over the top toward the mine. The sun is not quite overhead. Their cloths are covered with dust, so they blend into the rocks well. In the near distance, against the far wall of a small valley is the prison / mining operation. It is located about where three steep-walled valleys converge. There is a scattering of rock piles here and there, and a flat landing spot to one side with two medium-large sized fliers, one medium-small, and two small two-person quad-rotors. There is no wall or fence, just a some industrial-style buildings built against the rock face, a few out-buildings, and a couple of conveyor belts coming out leading to large gravel piles. Continue reading →

What they really want

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Every once in a while they admit what they really want:

Nowhere is the defeatist liberal approach to American politics more evident than in the post-Newtown campaign for gun control. Liberals are rushing to repeat, like a devout incantation, hand on one’s heart, that “we believe in the Second Amendment” — in an “individual’s right to own a gun.” Half of the legal and moral battle is lost right there and then.

…

the right to own guns is a communitarian right, not an individualized one.

…

A true liberal position, the place to start, is to call for domestic disarmament. That is the banning of the sale of all guns to private parties coupled with a buyback of those on the street (Mexico just moved to so control guns). Collectors can keep their guns as long as they remove the firing pin or fill the barrel with cement. Gun sports can be allowed — in closed shooting ranges. And hunters can be allowed to have long guns (if they pass background checks) with no scopes, which are not sporting. But, these exceptions aside, liberals should call for a gun-free nation

That individual/collective argument was settled before it was proposed and the Heller decision just confirmed it. This guy, a “true liberal” in his not so humble opinion, has no regard for the constitution or court rulings.

A true liberal is one who wants everyone disarmed? Got it. That can and will be used at their trials.

Pepper spray effectiveness

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If you think pepper spray will stop an attack then shouldn’t it also make it impossible to drive a car after being sprayed?

At approximately 6:18 p.m. two women in their 50′s were traveling in a car that was stopped at a red light northbound on Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Way South at South Graham Street.  Two unknown male suspects approached the victims’ vehicle and assaulted both women with pepper spray in an attempt to steal their car.  The victim driver ran the red light in order to escape, which was successful.

If a middle-aged woman is hosed down with pepper spray and has the presence of mind, will power, and pain tolerance to drive away and call the police then someone intent on doing harm to you can probably continue the attack. Pepper spray will reduce functionality but it will not put healthy adults out of commission.

Giving an attacker the universal hand signal for “LIE DOWN” may still be required even if you carry pepper spray and should be available if needed.

Quote of the day—John Yowan

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What’s wrong with this picture…

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…is what’s wrong with society. You all have gotten some version this spam e-mail, usually from a .ru domain;

“You know, they are so many people in the world, but some of them are alone, because they didn’t find their halfs yet, as it is so hard.
If you are alone and want to find your love, you can write me and we’ll start communicating. I’m alone and looking for a good man, who will give me his love and care. Who knows, maybe we can fill up our lonely hearts with love.”

If you’re looking for someone else to make you whole, you’re looking in the wrong place. If you want to be wanted, if you desire to be desired, if you need to be needed, you are part of the problem.

I cringed when one my many nephews said, right after he’d been divorced within a year or two of being married, that he’d found this other woman, and how great she was, and how they were meant for each other and he knew it because of some mundane coincidence or other. The ink on the divorce papers was still drying. I didn’t know what to say at the time, but he was running from one hell-of-his-own-devising and straight into another.

No, Young Grasshopper; if you’re not whole, or complete already, no one else can make you whole. If you’re searching for someone else to make you whole, you’re looking for love in all the wrong places. You’ll be let down, because getting what you want, the way you want it, is impossible. You’ll feel betrayed, because what you thought you had was something you can never have. This is the stuff of murder, of self destruction and suicide. It’s what’s wrong with our whole society.

Those in government (and gangs) know just enough about this to take advantage of it. We look to them for “salvation” of one kind or another when all they have to offer is entrapment. They want to own you in the same way you want to own someone else, or be owned by someone else. They want you dependent on them in the same way you want to depend on someone else, or you want someone dependent on you. They want you to need them in the same way you need other people, or you want other people to need you. This is the stuff of mass destruction, war and mass death.

That word we throw around so much in America, Independence, I am only just realizing, has a far deeper meaning than I’d previously suspected, and I think it is extremely important.

None of this stuff is new, and so these words aren’t mine. It’s as old as the hills, and yet we fall for this trap over and over.

An explanation for Markley’s Law

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Via email from Mike B. (AlphaMike in Idaho) who reports his wife thought it was good reading. I agree. We have a possible explanation of the mindset of anti-gun males:

He’s scared of the thing. That’s understandable–so am I. But as a girl I have the luxury of being able to admit it. I don’t have to masquerade squeamishness as grand principle-in the interest of mankind, no less.

A man does. He has to say things like “One Taniqua Hall is one too many,” as a New York radio talk show host did in referring to the 9-year old New York girl who was accidentally shot last year by her 12-year old cousin playing with his uncle’s gun. But the truth is he desperately needs Taniqua Hall, just like he needs as many Columbines and Santees as can be mustered, until they spell an end to the Second Amendment. And not for the benefit of the masses, but for the benefit of his self-esteem.

He often accuses men with guns of “compensating for something.” The truth is quite the reverse. After all, how is he supposed to feel knowing there are men out there who aren’t intimidated by the big bad inanimate villain? How is he to feel in the face of adolescent boys who have used the family gun effectively in defending the family from an armed intruder? So if he can’t touch a gun, he doesn’t want other men to be able to either. And to achieve his ends, he’ll use the only weapon he knows how to manipulate: the law.

There is a lot more. Good stuff.

Biden may be onto something

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Biden may actually be giving good advice to his audience. Double barrel shotguns are simpler than an AR-15. So simple that given enough time and an instruction video even anti-gun Democrats could probably fire off a shot or two.

His advice is entirely consistent with Security Theater advocated by most government types. He is suggesting people “Do Something” and they will feel better even if it accomplishes nothing that helps your situation.

Or instead of being onto something he could just be on something. Was he in Colorado testing out the local herbs when he shared his stupid thoughts with us?

The Stars Came Back – 014- The … book?

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Cut to interior view of cave entrance.

INT – day – in a cave

Helton and Harbin slide down the loose rocks and stuff half-filling the cave mouth, and lay, panting quietly but otherwise motionless, with a look of listening intently for what’s passing outside. The humming sound of a flier gets louder as it approaches, then it Dopplers down and fades away. They are just about to get up and move again when  the sound of another flyer is heard approaching, then fading away again. They look at each other, then around the cave.
Continue reading →

More on gun "buybacks"

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Via email from Willi S.:

Participating in a gun buy back because you believe that the criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you believe that the neighbors have too many kids.

Willi doesn’t know the originator and a quick search revealed it’s been around for a while with no good attribution.

And on a more serious note don’t ever forget this one from Steve Levitt:

Gun buybacks are one of the most ineffectual public policies that have ever been invented in the history of mankind.

Quote of the day—mikeb302000

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Linoge, You and Joe are too strong for me. By that I mean a great compliment. Your knowledge of the subject is too great for me to compete with. I’ve said this to Kevin a while back. Yet, as prolix and fact-laden as you guys are, I don’t find the argument convincing. I honestly read what you write, but I cannot answer your first question about what it would take to convince me.

mikeb302000
Comment on February 15, 2010 to Direct confrontation with the Brady Campaign
[mikeb302000 is one of the few anti-gun bloggers in existence. He used to frequently comment on here on my blog. I was one of the few bloggers that didn’t ban him.

He also doesn’t know how to determine truth from falsity.

A response such as his is fairly common when I debate this face to face. Those that remain stuck to their fallacious beliefs cannot tell me what it would take to change their beliefs and furthermore cannot tell me how they determine truth from falsity. That should be very telling.—Joe]

The Stars came Back -013- Harbin

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Fade in

EXT – day – near the foot of a long mesa

Helton and Harbin scramble rapidly along at the a narrow flat spot at the foot of a mesa, Helton’s traveler coat flapping in the wind, with a steep side going up on their left, and a deep, even-but-rough, nearly semi-circular valley going down to the right (it’s a cut made by a terraforming machine). They hop from one rock to another, moving smoothly along, a half-dozen paces apart.
Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Rivrdog

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Do NOT be deluded into thinking that this push for gun control is about CRIME control. It isn’t, it’s about removing the guns from ALL of the society so as to make way for an uncontested dictatorship.

The only thing we can’t know yet is how benevolent the dictatorship might or might not be. In other words, will our enslavement be easy or harsh.

Also, do not be deluded that we aren’t already in the fight. The line between us being considered as dissidents exercising our rights and the putative dictatorship considering us insurgents is but a line in the sand, and the blowing wind will soon cover that line.

Rivrdog
February 17, 2013
Comment to Quote of the day—Nicholas James Johnson
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Incident number 2013-8424

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Remember the guy that threatened me with, “If you know whats good you will keep your fucking mouth shut about Obama or you will come up missing on the news.”?

Yeah. Real piece of work. He called me. I was on the phone with daughter Kim at the time but I got a garbled voice mail and I called him back a couple minutes later.

After talking about a minute I hung up on him. It was difficult to even figure out what he was talking about and I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. He called again, and again, and again…

He left a second voice mail which was as follows (reading my blog post for the first part):

  • Any place that I frequent should be considered a known distance gun range.
  • If I can see you then you are within range.
  • My eyesight is quite good.
  • Don’t mess with me.

Yeah. I’m pretty sure those are threats. You looking at some jail time buddy. Have a good day.

He also sent me text messages. Actual time of calls (PST) and text messages were as follows. After the first two calls I did not respond to anything. Typos, punctuation, and grammar errors in the text messages are his:

  • 12:49 (missed call)
  • 12:51 (my outgoing call)
  • 12:55 (ignored call)
  • 12:56 (ignored call)
  • 12:56 (ignored call. Yes, every few seconds)
  • 13:02 (ignored call)
  • 13:02 (ignored call)
  • 13:07 (Text: 206-622-0460 seattle FBI’s number and I also logged a restraining order through the San Diego office next call is to my lawyer to file a suit)
  • 13:11 (Text: I tried to be nice and let you delete it yourself now Im leaving it to the courts. You breaking federal laws Joe not just state.)
  • 13:14 (ignored call)
  • 13:18 (ignored call)
  • 13:18 (ignored call)
  • 13:23 (ignored call)
  • 13:23 (ignored call)
  • 13:23 (Text: and if anything should happen you are held directly responsible. Enjoy the next 4 years of Obama you nazi republican jackoff)
  • 13:25 (ignored call)
  • 13:26 (ignored call)
  • 13:29 (ignored call)
  • 13:29 (ignored call)
  • 13:30 (ignored call)
  • 13:30 (ignored call)
  • 13:31 (ignored call)
  • 13:33 (Text: Thought so you fucking pussy republican asshole. . I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE NOW MOTHER FUCKER!! Thanks)
  • 15:26 (Text: I dont even own a single weapon. I dont hide behind a gun or computer screen like some conservative pussy from seattle washington. Sleep tight.)

After the message at 13:33 I went to the Bellevue, Washington Police station. I talked to Officer Dill who gave me the incident number 2013-8424 and gave my new “friend” a call. I only heard one side of the conversation but it sounded a lot like my conversation. Officer Dill couldn’t complete a sentence and sometimes even a word without being interrupted. At the end, after maybe a couple minutes, Officer Dill was almost yelling at him in a vain attempt to get him to call the Bellevue police department with the incident number. But he was unsuccessful and my “friend” hung up on the officer.

Officer Dill told me (paraphrasing some), “Yeah. Same as what you described. He is clearly irrational.”

[Stuff deleted on the advice of a psychologist.]

About 15 minutes after I left the police station the 15:26 text message came in.

Liberals are violent. We are better than this.

Update 2/19/2013: I don’t know that either is related but I received a call from a Brooklyn, NY number at 12:52 AM this morning and one from an Illinois exchange at 8:26 AM. Both calls hung up when I answered.

I would like to add, up front, that I cannot recall saying anything more offensive about Obama than I wasn’t going to vote for him and that I believe he is anti-gun. And furthermore I don’t even consider myself a Republican. This guy threatening me is nuts.

The Stars Came Back -012- The Monk

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From between two group of passengers, a frail-looking elderly man in a monk’s habit gets slowly to his feet, then walks creakingly toward them, and they eye him as he approaches. He stops a few yards away and regards them intently. His face is ashen and yellowish, and even the whites of his eyes are yellow, but it’s clear his mind is still all there from his expression.

Monk: What now, my violent young friends?
Continue reading →

Quote of the day—Tom Tatum

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Is there a way to substitute a different compensation item instead of guns for insecure young and middle-aged men? #guncontrol #alexjones