New Covenant

The citizen, the 2nd Amendment, and the government

Over at the LA Times, George Skelton has written an op-ed titled, Dorner case shows folly of arming oneself to combat government, in which he argues how the Dorner outcome demonstrates the futility of armed resistance to the government. Unfortunately, he does nothing more than demonstrate a lack of coherent reasoning and understanding of the issue at hand.

To begin with, what exactly is his understanding of what the "government" is? He states,

The nutty notion that a citizen can be heavily enough armed to fight off the government went up in smoke near Big Bear Lake.

Huh? And all this time I thought, to reference Abe Lincoln, that our government was of the people, by the people, and for the people. Silly me. They, are us. Regardless, what's up with the claim that 2nd Amendment advocates believe that it means that "a citizen" is pitted against "the government"? Weren't the Bill of Rights expressely written to delineate how the citizens (note: plural) are protected from the government? Oh, and in the case of the Bill of Rights, I do believe "the government" refers to those duly elected representatives of the people. Seems that at least some of the founding fathers were aware of the intoxicating aspects of power (even when representatives are duly elected), and the need to restrain abuse of said power, via the Constitution.

Yet the notion that an armed citizenry would engage in self-defense against a tyrannical government is, evidently, patently absurd to Skelton. He states,

And there are many [e-mails he's received] like Bryan, who asked: "What if the German Jews had been well armed" against Hitler?

My answer: They would have been slaughtered by the Nazi Panzer divisions.

Maybe Skelton isn't aware of this, but the Nazis slaughtered 6,000,000 Jews anyway. Maybe he also is unaware that in the late 1930s the Nazis prevented Jews from owning firearms. Is it really that difficult to figure this out? If you were a Jew in Europe in the 1930s, and given the choice, would you have rather been unarmed or well armed? Would you have rather silently watched as you and your family were hauled off to a ghetto, and then exterminated in a concentration camp, or would you have wanted the chance and dignity to at least fight for what you could? Is Skelton so immune to the notion of self and family defense that he can't see this?

Again, he states,

The French and Poles were well armed. How'd that work out?

Sigh. Is he not aware of the French and Polish Resistance movements? Does he honestly think that their resistance was not, at the very least, a thorn in the side of the Nazi presence in France and Poland? Would he rather their movements have had no firearms whatsoever?

What is scary, though, is how Skelton seems to imply that we, as citizens of the United States, are nothing more than subjects of the government (and whatever police force said government employs). In his world we must bow down and acquiesce to whatever the government says or does simply for the fact that we would surely lose were we to get into a real shoot-em-up battle with said government. This, of course, is because we are outgunned due to the fact that, as he states, the 2nd Amendment has been violated with our rights currently being infringed.

And, again,

Dorner could have read up on Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge. Or the Branch Davidians near Waco.

Yes, look it up. Randy Weaver's wife Sara was shot and killed by a government sniper as she was doing the dastardly deed of holding her 10 month-old son. And we are all aware (or should be aware) of the deadly and bungled fiasco in Waco, as perpetrated by Bill Clinton's AG Janet Reno. Is this the type of government that Skelton wishes us to simply acquiesce to?

And while Skelton may argue that an armed citizenry is useless against the full force of the government, because of what happened to one armed crazy by the name of Christopher Dorner, he continues to miss the point. Yes, Dorner lost - that was inevitable. Yet look at what he - one person - was able to do or cause before his death: four murders, two of which were on civilians, other individuals wounded by either him or local law enforcement (including one 71 year-old lady), two innocent person's vehicles wrongly shot up by local law enforcement, one innocent person's house burned to the ground by local law enforcement(intentionally, it is claimed), as well as the allocation of extensive resources in and around southern California dedicated solely to his apprehension.

All this because of one crazed individual. And yet, this travesty is a prime example of the right and need for law abiding citizens to own firearms in the United States. Why? Because firearms are already owned by some 100,000,000 people in the U.S. That number, when correlated with the impact just one armed law breaking individual can have, sheds light on the true nature of law abiding firearm owning citizens - their concern for safety, self defense, and committment to following the rule of law. 

A government truly of, by, and for the people has nothing to fear from its armed citizens. Nothing to fear at all.

Links for Monday, 28 January 2013

Gun Safety (TRUE gun safety) Edition

A PS!DF* Story
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke issues a PSA for the citizens he's pledged to protect. However, unlike the "let's dump all guns in the ocean" utopian dreams some keep dreaming, he has a slightly different, and extremely more rational, approach. From the PSA,

With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You could beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course and having firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family.

* Pound Sand! Dianne Feinstein

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86 firearms for every 100 Americans
And yet the U.K. has a higher violent crime per capita rate.

The Huffington Post offers the infographic under the presumption that this is a bad thing. Yet they don't offer an overall look at violent crime rates, much less defensive gun uses, on a per capita worldwide basis.

From Townhall's Katie Pavlich,

Pretty good national defense strategy, eh? As long as we have the Second Amendment, the United States will never be invaded.

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Tiananmen Square Activist has something to say about the 2nd Amendment
From his speech,

To me, a rifle is not for sporting or hunting. It is an instrument of freedom. It guarantees that I cannot be coerced, that I have free will, that I am a free man.

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Back in 2010 India armed girls to fight militants

A true example of the word 'empowering'.

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And yet another PS!DF* story
With law enforcement officers out there who actually get it - who actually believe in the right of the citizenry to defend themselves - who actually believe the 2nd Amendment means what it says, it will make Federal gun control and/or gun ban legislation difficult to enforce.

This story is of Georgia Sheriff Scott Berry. From Gun Rights Examiner,

Dana Safety Supply [DSS], a well known police supplier of clothing, guns, and gear, with an outlet in Sugar Hill, Georgia, sells firearms to non-police officers. Recently, however, it announced that it would stop selling self loading rifles to anybody but "Law Enforcement individuals." ...What this means is that Dana Safety Supply will no longer sell an AR15 rifle unless the purchaser is a police officer. This new policy has ruffled the feathers of Georgia citizens who buy guns, many of whom declared that they will no longer hand their money over to Dana Safety Supply. One of those citizens is Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry...

Sheriff Berry sent DSS the following letter,

Sirs,

It is my understanding that you have stopped selling self loading rifles to members of the general public in favor of selling them to law enforcement officers only. I deeply regret that decision. As such, this agency will no longer seek bids from or purchase from DSS.

Here's a video of an interview with Sheriff Berry, done by FoxBusiness. Note, especially, the following comments by the good Sheriff,

Fox:  Explain to me why you made this decision. [to no longer purchase from DSS]

Berry:  Well it's real simple. If law abiding citizens in my county can't go there and buy - a legal to obtain - rifle, that they're entitled to buy and they have the money to pay for, then I'm not going to spend their tax money there, and I'm not going to spend my personal money there.

 

Lastly, as noted by Armed American Radio, note the gun control thinking questions that are asked by FoxBusiness.

* Pound Sand! Dianne Feinstein

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Youth Education Summit
Sponsored by the NRA.

Forty-five outstanding current high school sophomores and juniors from across the United States are chosen each year to travel to the nation’s capital, where they participate in the weeklong educational opportunity. The summit encourages young adults to become active and knowledgeable U.S. citizens by learning about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the federal government, and the importance of being active in civic affairs.

 

 

Dianne Feinstein is disgraceful

Dianne Feinstein is disgraceful. She is also un-patriotic.

Why is she disgraceful? It's no secret that she's anti-2nd Amendment. In this interview from 2009, when asked about her reinstating an assault weapon [sic] ban in America she stated the following,

"I'll pick the time and the place, no question about that."

Well, there's no question about the fact that she's picked the time and the place - and it's now. Her gun ban press conference was held today, just barely over a month since the tragic mass killing at Sandy Hook elementary school. She's certainly not letting a crisis go to waste by playing on the emotions generated by the senseless killing of those 20 children. Yet by picking this time and place she is, in fact, dancing in the blood of the murderded children in Newtown.

She is disgraceful.*

Why is she un-patriotic? Her interests in banning guns go beyond the so-called assault weapons she displayed at the press conference (yet another play on the emotions leftover from Sandy Hook). In this interview from 1995 she flat out states she wants to take away ALL firearms from ALL Americans.

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States,  - for an outright ban - picking up every one of them - 'Mr. and Mrs. America? Turn 'em all in,' I would've done it."

Turn 'em all in? Has she never heard of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution? What is it about the right to keep and bear arms not being infringed upon by the government that she doesn't understand?

She is un-patriotic.

* Other indicators of her being disgraceful: Having a Reverend lead a prayer to open her gun banning news conference (no separation of church and state here, I suppose). Fear mongering the gun lobby as the problem. Using "scary looking" guns as props in her news conference. Including the Bushmaster AR-15 (used in Newtown) as a prop at her news conference.

On the supposed machismo-complex gun owners have

In many of the debates / flat-out-arguments regarding gun control, recently, it's been interesting to see how some anti-2nd Amendment folk trot out the notion that gun owners who claim self defense as the basis for their right to own firearms must have some gender inferiority complex. What are you compensating for?, is the Dr. Phil-ish question that explains what these misguided gun owners are suffering from. Essentially, advocates of gun control claim that the supposed need for having firearms is inexorably linked to the fabrication of an essence, be it ever so false, of manhood. 

Maybe they have a point. If I own firearms for self / family defense then what exactly am I compensating for? Well, I'll tell you what:  

Among other things, I'm compensating for the 6'-4", 225 pound, 25 year-old thug who, after breaking into my home, would not think twice about shooting me in the head (or stabbing me or clubbing me) regardless of whether I was armed or complied with his demands. I'm compensating for the multiple assailants who, after training in prison*, would not think twice about slitting my throat, raping my family, and then strangling them to death. I'm compensating for the inevitability of civil unrest given a natural or man-made disaster in the metropolitan area I live in. And I'm compensating for the sheep-like mentality you display, insuring that your such departures from reality will not inhibit my right to defend the lives of those I hold dear to my heart.

In the meantime, let's take a look at some stories which illustrate that there are many women who seem to have taken to "compensation", regardless of whether they suffer from the gender-complex issues that gun grabber psychoanalysts say they do. And, as a sidenote, notice that not all defensive gun uses (DGUs) involved actually firing the weapon.

15 Million women "pack heat" in the US

And that was in 2011. From the article,

One mother named Elena who lives in Roseburg, Ore., explains how her job as a 911 dispatcher led her to overcome the discomfort she felt about owning a gun.

“Dealing with the calls that we field on a daily basis made me really aware of what people are capable of doing,” Elena writes. “I’m a single mom and I’ve got two kids, so I feel like if I’m ever put in a situation where I need to protect them, I’d prefer to have a gun.

Gun-toting Grandma pulls handgun on two men who tried to rob her

More women using guns for fun and protection

From the article,

Several factors are driving women to the gun range, experts say.

"The first and foremost reason is women no longer want to feel vulnerable," Parsons says. "They want to feel responsible for their own personal safety and the safety of their families. Just by their physical size, the perpetrator is going to be bigger and stronger. A firearm is the great equalizer."

More and more women...

From the article,

To those who say guns are masculine, Ellanson says, "It would depend on how you define femininity. I think a capable woman is the most feminine expression of power that there is."

15 year-old girl scares burglars (note - plural) with dad's... gun

From the article,

Officials said a teen in Texas City was alone when a pair of intruders broke into her family's house, but she turned the tables on the suspects by grabbing her father's handgun.

911 is a joke

In Detroit. From the article, 

The people of Detroit are taking no prisoners.

Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And they’re offering no apologies.

More women... 

From the article,

More women throughout the United States are buying guns and learning how to use them. And we're finding that to be true in South Dakota. In fact, a 2011 Gallup Poll found that 43% of women say there's a gun in their home. KSFY's Courtney Zieller is finding out why numbers are at a new high.

21 year-old woman shoots and kills intruder who kicked in her door

Oh, and at least one of the intruders was armed with a gun. From the article,

Tweets sent from the official Dallas Police Department Twitter account said two suspects kicked in the door of the home at about 11:30 a.m. The resident was alone upstairs and heard the noise. She confronted the two burglars as they ascended the stairs and shot at them several times.

The two ran out the front door and one collapsed from a gunshot wound. Police later recovered a gun at the scene, "indicating at least one of the suspects was armed." Nobody has been identified.

12 year-old girl shoots intruder

Yeah, this one kicked his way in as well. From the article,

A 12-year-old girl took matters into her own hands during a home invasion in southeast Oklahoma.

It happened on Wednesday when the girl was home alone. She told police a stranger rang the doorbell, then went around to the back door and kicked it in. She called her mom, Debra St. Clair, who told her to get the family gun, hide in a closet and call 911.

 

* Not based on my own knowledge but as related by a retired LA County Sheriff and a current LAPD Police Officer.

Links for Sunday, 30 December 2012

No, despite America's obsession with guns, the U.S. isn't the most violent country
It's the U.K. From the article,

Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.

In terms of violent crimes per 100,000 residents, the U.K. comes in at 2,034 per 100K (with the U.S. listed at 466 per 100K).

For those who may be unaware, the U.K. has effectively banned the general public from owning firearms.

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Besides that, gun control doesn't reduce crime - just ask the U.K. or Australia
From the Wall Street Journal,

We aren't alone in facing this problem. Great Britain and Australia, for example, suffered mass shootings in the 1980s and 1990s. Both countries had very stringent gun laws when they occurred. Nevertheless, both decided that even stricter control of guns was the answer. Their experiences can be instructive.

...

The results have not been what proponents of the act wanted. Within a decade of the handgun ban and the confiscation of handguns from registered owners, crime with handguns had doubled according to British government crime reports. Gun crime, not a serious problem in the past, now is. Armed street gangs have some British police carrying guns for the first time. Moreover, another massacre occurred in June 2010. Derrick Bird, a taxi driver in Cumbria, shot his brother and a colleague then drove off through rural villages killing 12 people and injuring 11 more before killing himself.

Read it all.

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Enacting "Gun-Free [sic] School Zones" increases the frequency of active killer events
So says David Codrea, and he links to an interesting graphic provided by GeorgiaCarry.org.

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The Mayor of Newark gets it
Mayor Cory Booker,

I'm not afraid of law-abiding citizens who buy a gun... Listen to me, the people dying in Chicago, the people dying in Newark are not being done with law-abiding gun owners.

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The World according to murder
An interesting infographic (have not vetted the accuracy of it).

Provided by Survival Goods

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Be careful what you ask for
CNN asked its "iReporters" the question, "Was your gun banned?", and also asked them to "upload a photo of your gun and share your thoughts on gun control.

An intrepid young iReporter decided to have a little fun with the assignment, and uploaded a photo of a nerf gun* (shown below), stating,

My ak 47, 5th generation model. This one uses the 9.88x33mm round. I believe the only nation that uses it is Canada. They need this kind of firepower actually. I got mine in yellow because nothing says, "I'm big, bad and scary like yellow"...banana yellow.

This gun is actually at the top of the ban list. I don't like that. We have rights to bear arms. Don't take that away from me, don't take that away from us. Guns are a part of our heritage, or history, our roots, our blood.

What happens if tyranny arises? What if North Korea invades? What if a meth head randomly walks into my house? The only thing between life and death, survival, and non-survival, freedom and slavery is this baby.

* "Not vetted by CNN"

Piers Morgan on the 2nd Amendment

A Twitter post from Piers Morgan,

The 2nd amendment was devised with muskets in mind, not high-powered handguns & assault rifles. Fact.

A TypePad response from me,

And the 1st Amendment was devised with movable type ink printing presses in mind, not internet websites, much less Twitter postings. Fact.

Links for Friday, 30 November 2012

Some post election thoughts, albeit a bit late.

They ran out of undies on Staten Island (despite the promises from a "Presidential" looking Obama)
From Fox,

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro says the people of his community are in desperate need of fresh underwear.

"It's like a third-world nation," Molinaro said in a phone interview on Tuesday's Good Day New York.

If you reference my March 2011 post on being prepared for a disaster level emergency, you'll note that I recommend you set aside extra underwear and socks in the "Shelter" section.

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Is it the end of conservatism in America?
From a commenter at The Belmont Club,

I still have hope, but it is in the states and local communities. The governors and state legislatures must step up and stop acting like subsidiaries of Washington. Those that do will thrive; those that don’t will slouch toward their demise.

So let me be perfectly clear: we must restore self-governance. That was true before this election, and it remains true.

I want to encourage everyone to keep trying to preserve the republic. We have been blessed to be a part of this great American experiment, and we owe it to those who have paid in blood and treasure to not give up. It is a duty we should not fear, but relish. And if you don’t think you can do that where you live, come on down to Texas. We may be the last, best hope of the last, best hope on earth.

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No! Your argument ignores reality.
For clarification, try a simple term substitution - as shown by the strikeout and italics below. From the "Dear Republicans" post, (FYI, the post degrades into juvenile level vulgarity),

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, mention abortion the intentional killing of innocent unborn children again. It will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, be illegal in this country.

Whether or not the truth claim of the second assertion is valid does not mandate the abdication from morality as indicated by the first assertion.

Further reference, The SLED Test.

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Even Obama, Presidential-looking though he may be, cannot cut through red tape.
SUCKERS.

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The Gods of the Copybook Headings, by Kipling

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

...

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

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The 10 round magazine myth (and 2.47 seconds to react)

From HotAir, Dems offer gun-control amendment to cybersecurity bill,

You didn’t think Congress would do nothing after the Aurora shooting, did you — especially the Democrat-controlled Senate? Fueled by the detail that the AR-15 (not an AK-47) used in the massacre had a high-capacity drum magazine — which jammed — Senate Democrats have offered an amendment to the pending cybersecurity bill that would ban possession of magazines past a maximum 10-round capacity:

That's right, the old 10 round maximum capacity fallacy. For some reason, anti-2nd Amendment folks seem to think that a major contributor to mass shooting deaths is the fact that semi-automatic firearm magazines can hold a lot of rounds of ammunition. Well, certainly it's easier to attack more people with a magazine fed firearm than with a Kentucky Long Rifle (single ball fed system); and, conversely, it's easier to defend oneself and one's family with a magazine fed firearm than with a Kentucky Long Rife. But the real issue is not how many rounds a criminal has available to his use, but the proficiency of one's firearm handling skills (and, it should be added, the mechanical efficiency of the firearm itself - it seems that the large capacity AR-15 magazine used in the Aurora killings caused the rifle to jam).

Case in point, the following video of a magazine exchange - that from an empty one to a fully loaded one - with a semi-automatic handgun. Note that the time the gun went from "empty" to "loaded" is 2.47 seconds.

 

Two black men; Two views on the 2nd Amendment

Black man # 1 incorrectly thinks the 2nd Amendment is all about providing the opportunity to go hunting and shooting and, more importantly, that weapons such as AK-47s should only be in the hands of soldiers and not criminals (one has to wonder if citizens are then equated with criminals?).

Black man # 2 correctly notes that the 2nd Amendment is all about being the citizen's last defense against tyranny (and, that would tend to equate citizens as soldiers).

The sorry thing is, black man # 1 is supposed to be a constitutional professor.

Bonus Footnote:  Watch Suzanna Hupp school Texas Legislators on the 2nd Amendment.

UPDATE:  Should probably note that if Obama is so concerned about AK-47s getting into the hands of criminals, then perhaps he should take the Fast & Furious scandal a bit more seriously.

Grenade Launchers for sale in El Paso?

In the wake of the recent mass shooting in Aurora, there are the requisite stories on gun control, etc. CNN.com joined the chorus with an article titled, Fear drives opposition to gun control. One interesting tidbit from the article is the cover photograph used. Here is a screen-capture.

Note the caption:  

An assault rifle is equipped with a high-capacity drum magazine and grenade launcher at an El Paso, Texas, gun expo.

A grenade launcher available for sale at a gun expo in the United States?  

 

Aurora, and the Left

Not to discount the severity of the killings in Aurora, but how long will it take before we hear the media and/or the Left paint the shooter out to be a right-wing fanatic, a tea partier, or someone influenced by hate-filled Republican rhetoric? How long before we hear that stricter gun control laws would have prevented this mass killing?

Happy Independence Day 2012!

- image © 2012 AR Lopez

Fast and Furious goes mainstream

With Attorney General Eric Holder facing contempt of Congress charges it seems that the ATF operation Fast and Furious has finally made it into the mainstream news. However, would this have been possible without New Media (i.e., pajama-clad bloggers on the internet)?

For those completely unaware, this short video summarizes the issues surrounding Eric Holder, Fast and Furious, and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

The blog Sipsey Street Irregulars first reported on Terry's death being linked to an ATF-smuggled rifle in December of 2010. It was information gathered from the CleanUpATF forum. The forum post reads,

Word is that curious George Gillett the Phoenix ASAC stepped on it again. Allegedly he has approved more than 500 AR-15 type rifles from Tucson and Phoenix cases to be “walked” to Mexico. Appears that ATF may be one of the largest suppliers of assault rifles to the Mexican cartels! One of these rifles is rumored to have been linked to the recent killing of a Border Patrol Officer in Nogales, AZ. Can anyone confirm this information?

Besides Sipsey Street Irregulars, David Codrea, at Gun Rights Examiner, has also been instrumental in providing news and updates on this story long before the mainstream media took interest. Codrea wrote about "Project Gunrunner", back in early 2011,

• ATF management was allowing potentially hundreds of semiautomatic firearms to be walked across the Mexican border in order to pad statistics used to further budget and power objectives.
• Mexican authorities were kept in the dark, and protests that they should be informed were overridden, first by the Phoenix ATF office, and ultimately by higher-ups in Washington, DC.
• A gun used in this operation was involved in a December 2010 incident in which a Border Patrol agent was killed.

While most in mainstream media ignored the story, Sharyl Attkisson of CBS was one of the first (if not the first) to report on it.

Of course, there will be accusations that the operation started under the Bush administration (you remember the drill, right? - when in doubt, blame Bush). The only problem being that the operation under the Bush administration was designed to nab illegal arms sales and not let the firearms leave the country. And Holder himself has had to retract his claim that the Bush administration's attorney general knew about gunwalking. But of course, the blame Bush diversions are just that - diversions. Indeed, in accusing the Republicans of playing politics is nothing more than playing politics from the other side of the fence.

So, here we are. The story is gaining ground, so much so that even NBC, which had yet to mention Fast and Furious, resorted to reporting on it (yet note how they refer to the power struggles between the congress and the executive branch as "broken politics"). But Border Patrol agent Brian Terry deserves more than a "broken politics" excuse. And, as Sipsey Street Irregulars is now reporting, the reprocussions of this operation extend to another federal agent - one Jaime Zapata.

This story should not be seen as a fight between the Left and the Right. It has always been a fight for the truth.

Update:  Info on Operation Wide Receiver (in case anyone asks)

Update 2:  Sorry, I missed this important point. 

And Bill Whittle tells us who the real racists are here.

x

Links for Friday, 15 June 2012

NYC Gone Wild
Wild with asine regulations, that is. First extra large soda bans, now Bloomberg wants to go after popcorn and milkshakes?

This is no accident and it is indicative of how they want to weasel their way into every aspect of our lives.

Make no mistake about it. They will use the same tactics with regards to gun control.

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Heh

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And you think media has no impact?

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Steyn asks the question I asked after the media moved on to some other "film at 11" story
From the article,

So how's that old Arab Spring going? You remember – the "Facebook Revolution." As I write, they're counting the votes in Egypt's presidential election, so by the time you read this the pecking order may have changed somewhat. But currently in first place is the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi, who in an inspiring stump speech before the students of Cairo University the other night told them, "Death in the name of Allah is our goal."

...

A century ago, the West exported its values. So, in Farouk's Egypt, at the start of a new legislative session, the King was driven to his toytown parliament to deliver the speech from the throne in an explicit if ramshackle simulacrum of Westminster's rituals of constitutional monarchy. Today, we decline to export values, and complacently assume, as the very term "Facebook Revolution" suggests, that technology marches in support of modernity. It doesn't. Facebook's flat IPO and Egypt's presidential election are in that sense part of the same story, of a developed world whose definitions of innovation and achievement have become too shrunken and undernourished. The vote in Egypt tells us a lot about them, but it also tells us something about us.

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And what about that "blood for oil" meme?
From Richard Fernandez,

Surely if America fought a war for oil, then Iraq’s oil resources would be in the hands of evil Republicans? But apparently not. Rather they are in the hands of the Russians and the Chinese. “Exxon Mobil has by far the largest stake of any American company in Iraq, but most of the major players are European and Asian, like Lukoil and Gazprom from Russia, and Chinese companies like China National Petroleum and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.” So there you have it. American blood, Russian and Chinese oil. Funny how that worked out.

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Kathy Ireland tells how she became Pro-Life

It's not promoted, but Ireland got a lot of critical thinking skills from Stand to Reason. Take, for example, her statement:  If abortion does not take the life of an unborn human being, then no justification of abortion is necessary. If, however, abortion does take the life of an innocent unborn human being, then no justification of abortion is adequate.

Links for 1 June 2012

News crew looking for violations at a California Gun Show... ended up breaking the law themselves
From John Lott,

...Things got a bit ironic, however, when CBS took a camera into a gun show. They didn't find any guns with illegal detachable cartridges, but the news crew was breaking rules left and right. As it turns out, there are "No Camera" signs all throughout the gun show, and gun show representatives announced "No picture taking during the show" frequently throughout the day.

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Obama's Planned Assault on the Second Amendment
But don't worry. After he's reelected he'll be able to come out from "under the radar" because he'll have more "flexibility".

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What if he had not been carrying a gun?
From Salt Lake City, 

A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

...

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him."

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15 year-old girl with a gun,
wards off burglars. But, don't go run outside while holding a handgun, like she did.

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17 year-old girl with a gun, shoots at intruder reaching through doggie door

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Husband and wife shot at gun safety class
You know the drill by now - there are no accidental shootings - they are negligent discharges. Again, we have an instance when it is reported that the gun... "went off". From the article,

According to deputies with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office, Michael and Michelle Deel were accidentally shot when the .45 caliber handgun Michael was holding went off. He was shot in the hand and his wife was shot in the leg.

 

Links for Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Imagine if it was Dubya's Doobies?
Best part of the story? The commenter who points out that while Romney went to High School, Obama went to school high.

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GOP finally taking some action over Fast & Furious?
It's about time. Perhaps they're trying to play this into an election issue. I've got mixed thoughts about that - after all, Brian Terry, the Border Agent who was killed, should not be a political pawn. Yet if the Right is going to take down the current Left administration in November, they will have to fight for it.

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Didn't anyone teach these kids (and their parents) how to add?
From the NY Times,

ADA, Ohio — Kelsey Griffith graduates on Sunday from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.

“If anything ever happened, God forbid, that is my debt also,” said Ms. Griffith’s mother, Marlene Griffith.

Ms. Griffith, 23, wouldn’t seem a perfect financial fit for a college that costs nearly $50,000 a year. Her father, a paramedic, and mother, a preschool teacher, have modest incomes, and she has four sisters. But when she visited Ohio Northern, she was won over by faculty and admissions staff members who urge students to pursue their dreams rather than obsess on the sticker price.

“As an 18-year-old, it sounded like a good fit to me, and the school really sold it,” said Ms. Griffith, a marketing major. “I knew a private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I’m going to owe like $900 a month. No one told me that.”

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Abraham Lincoln - Fashionista
I didn't realize that, with his mussed-up hair, Honest Abe was so far ahead in his stylin'.

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Darn those annoying Home Schooled kids!

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For the germaphobe - homemade hand sanitizer

 

Links for Friday, 13 April 2012

Women, interested in firearms... in California?
Yes! On March 24th the Women on Target event, held at an outdoor shooting range in southern California drew 100+ women for 100 slots. The event was designed to familiarize women with the sport of shooting - and was taught by women, with the men delegated to workhorse duties.

There is still hope for Kalifornia.

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Do as I say, not as I...
Evidently, Bill Cosby has weighed in on the Trayvon Martin case. From ABC (emphasis added),

"We've got to get the gun out of the hands of people who are supposed to be on neighborhood watch," Cosby said in his first public remarks about the case, published today.

"Without a gun, I don't see Mr. Zimmerman approaching Trayvon by himself," Cosby added. "The power-of-the-gun mentality had him unafraid to confront someone. Even police call for backup in similar situations.

"When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody."

Yikes!

Flash back to 2005, in this New York Magazine article titled, New York's Gun Culture (emphasis added),

Who’s Packing Heat?

Taxi Driver star Robert De Niro is one of New York’s most famous gun owners, as is his friend Harvey Keitel. Others on the list include Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (a former Marine), Don Imus, Bill Cosby, Joan Rivers, Howard Stern, Tommy Mottola, and Donald Trump (just one pistol, says his spokeswoman, who didn’t know the make).

Let's hope that Bill doesn't ever carry his gun.

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Of course, if we can't trust Neighborhood Watch members to carry, then at least we can trust the police?
Only until their guns "accidentally fire". From CBS Chicago (emphasis added),

An off-duty Chicago Police officer was wounded Thursday night when her gun accidentally fired.

Police say the female officer was in the 2100 block of East 71st Street when her gun went off around 7:20 p.m. Thursday.

Again: guns don't "accidentally fire" nor do they "go off" all by themselves.

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Not heeding the fact that guns don't accidentally go off can be deadly
From South Carolina,

The Charleston County Coroner's Office has identified the man killed following an accidental shooting that occurred Monday at a North Charleston gun range.

...

According to witnesses at the gun range, Patteron was shooting on a lane when he stopped to inspect the weapon. He turned the handgun toward himself when it discharged, striking him.

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"That is what you get. If you out doing something you ain't supposed to be doing, that is what happens"
Another homeowner protects herself by using her firearm.

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More young people are killed in Chicago than any other American city
Yet, Chicago had a ban on handgun ownership from 1982 until 2010 (and still tries to make it difficult to own a firearm).

So much for the notion that banning guns reduces crime.

Priceless

1. City of Chicago bans handgun ownership in 1982:  Bad
2. 76 year-old Otis McDonald sues City of Chicago for 2nd Amendment right to own a handgun, in 2010:  Good
3. Supreme Court rules in favor of McDonald, in 2010:  Great
4. City of Chicago, in 2012, writes a check for $399,950 to the Second Amendment Foundation for legal fees incurred in the McDonald v. Chicago case:  PRICELESS

Link to an image of the check from Chicago (Mayor Rahm Emmanuel)

Links for Friday, 23 March 2012

"The Mass murder in Afghanistan was predictable."
So says Michael Yon. And he's one who should know. From his post,

The mass murder in Afghanistan was predictable. Twice in the past three weeks, I published that it was coming. Why was I able to write this with sad confidence? I’ve spent more time with combat troops in these wars than any other writer: about four years in total in country, and three with combat troops.

About 200 coalition members have been killed or wounded from insider attacks. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is tantamount to being Taliban and has not bothered to apologize. Instead, Karzai whips up anti-U.S. fervor at every opportunity. Twice, Karzai has threatened to leave politics and join the Taliban.

Even our most disciplined troops — not the few problem troops — have lost all idealism. They have not lost heart for the fight. Mostly, they just don’t care. They fight because they are ordered to fight, but they have eyes wide open. The halfhearted surge and sudden drawdown leave little room for success.

...

Afghans will seek revenge and they will have it. This will lead to yet greater possibilities of another mass murder from our side. We are considering holding the trial in Afghanistan. Pashtuns don’t care about our justice system. They don’t even care about the Afghan government; they want blood for blood. We are being drawn into a feud.

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CNN covers Fast & Furious
ICE Agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata. By all rights you should have heard their stories at least a small percentage as much as that of Trayvon Martin's.

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When Cultures Diverge?
Joe Carter links to a story about the massive rate of suicide in Japan, tied to the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. From the post,

According to Bloomberg, suicides rose in April, May, June and August---the months following the natural disasters that devastated towns in northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear crisis. For a 14th straight year, suicides in Japan have exceeded 30,000.

After the disaster the West marveled at how orderly the Japanese responded - especially the fact that there was little to no looting and unrest. It was hinted that such was evidence that their culture was superior to that found in most of the West.

Yet, despite the orderliness that their culture rests on, we still see the fruits of what can only be termed a "here and now" philosophy. Whether in East or West, the human condition is woefully insufficient to provide the Hope that all humanity needs.

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Citizen registers his dog to demonstrate lax voter registration procedures
So authorities launch an investigation of... the citizen.

A Republican voter in New Mexico is under criminal investigation for signing up his dog as a Democrat in a bid to highlight what he considers deficiencies in the state’s registration process.

No mention is made as to whether or not an investigation on voter registration procedures is forthcoming.

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The Elephant in the church

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Know your rights as a victim of ID Theft
From Consumer Reports,

The FCRA and FACT protect your rights if you are a victim if ID theft by enabling you to put fraud alerts on your credit report with the consumer reporting agencies, get a free credit report from the three national consumer reporting agencies when placing a fraud alert, block fraudulent information from appearing in your credit report, and receive a notice of these and other rights from the consumer reporting agencies.

Links for Monday, 12 March 2012

Thinking Sheriffs Dept offer free CCW classes for women
From WISTV,

The Kershaw County Sheriff's Department says a gruesome crime lead them to open up a free concealed weapons class for women.

According to Sheriff Jim Matthews, the department opened up the course and waived an $80 fee to sign up in response to the brutal murder of Beverly Hope Melton.

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Thinking Canadians end government waste
By ending long-gun registration. From John Lott,

Despite spending a whopping $2.7 billion on creating and running a long-gun registry, Canadians never reaped any benefits from the project. ... Even though the country started registering long guns in 1998, the registry never solved a single murder. Instead it has been an enormous waste of police officers’ time, diverting their efforts from patrolling Canadian streets and doing traditional policing activities.

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Non-thinking gun-control advocate San Francisco Sheriff arrested for domestic violence
AND he surrenders over 3 of his handguns. From David Codrea,

“Although San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was a strong advocate of gun control while on the Board of Supervisors, he surrendered 3 handguns when police recently booked him on misdemeanor domestic violence charges,” KCBS reports.

Mirkarimi apparently owned them while sponsoring legislation last summer to bolster San Francisco gun control laws against a lawsuit by the National Rifle Association. 

What was that about trusting only the police with possessing firearms?

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No! 4 year-old shoots his 3 year-old brother to death
Gun Safety. Gun Safety. Gun Safety. From KDFW,

Police say the woman had put the handgun on top of a chest of drawers, thinking the weapon was out of the children's reach.

Police say the 4-year-old boy managed to get the gun and shoot his little brother.

Have a firearm and have kids? Then you make sure that the firearm is secured at ALL times (which either means locked away or secured on your person). Kids WILL find a way to the firearm. Also, you teach children about firearms - especially the kid's rules of gun safety if they happen across an unattended firearm:  STOP! Don't touch! Leave the room! Tell an adult!

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ND = Negligent Discharge. In this case, deadly.
From FoxNews,

Authorities say a Florida pastor's daughter who was accidentally shot in the head in a church died Saturday at a hospital.

The round came from a gun owned by a CCW carrier in the church. From the article (emphasis added),

Investigators have said Moises Zambrana was showing his gun in a small closet to another church member interested in buying a firearm. The St. Petersburg Times reports that the other church member, Dustin Bueller, was Hannah Kelley's fiancee.

Zambrana reportedly removed the magazine from the Ruger 9mm weapon but did not know that a round was still in the chamber. The gun went off, firing a bullet through a wall. Kelley was struck in the head. 

Guns don't just go off. The firing pin or hammer of the handgun must strike the chambered cartridge and that happens when the trigger is pressed, either by one's finger or by any object that is situated inside the trigger guard.

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Stupid
And stupidity is not limited to those "trained" to work with firearms.