In the UK they are discovering what happens when you disarm your population. According to this article muggins are now commonplace occurrences, with the thieves so bold that they will rob you in front of witnesses and so called security guards.

…and I speak as someone whose car was carjacked and whose house was broken into, with us in it, listening to his every stumble.

When my husband chased the robber down the street, the dutiful police officer advised us to install even more expensive security.

I can only hope that at some point our friends in England will realize the error of their ways and allow their subjects to arm and defend themselves as all people should be able to do.

H/T to John Lott

For a number of months now the fate of the land that Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club sits on has been uncertain. The land is leased from the WA State Department of Resources (DNR), and they recently announced that they want to swap the ownership with Kitsap County for some other property that the County owns. There was concern over how the County would administer the lease.

Back in March we packed the land use hearing, and on Monday there was a meeting (that I missed) of the County Commissioners to vote on selling the land to KRRC outright. All of our pressure worked! Because today we have this:

The Commissioners signed an agreement to sell the 72 acres that the club sits on to the club! No more lease hassles!

Its been a while since I’ve updated you with additions to GunBlogger’s new feeds. In no particular order I’d like to welcome the following blogs: The Clue Meter, Ry Jones, Rivrdog, Vin Suprynowicz, Dave Workman, Liberal CCW, Around Orlando, New User of Guns, Sharp as a Marble, One Inch Group, Gunblogger Conspiracy, Gun Nuts Media and Snarky Bytes

Whew! That’s quite a list. If you have a blog you want to see added please contact me.

“I, Sylvanus Wood, of Woburn, in the county of Middlesex, and commonwealth of Massachusetts, aged seventy-four years, do testify and say that on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, I was an inhabitant of Woburn, living with Deacon Obadiah Kendall; that about an hour before the break of day on said morning, I heard the Lexington bell ring, and fearing there was difficulty there, I immediately arose, took my gun and, with Robert Douglass, went in haste to Lexington, which was about three miles distant.”

Read the rest of Mr. Wood’s account here at Eye Witness History

Although our President doesn’t seem to hold the same values as us. Breda has an excellent post on Obama’s Bow to the Saudi King.

A lot of blood has been spilled to guarantee me the right to never have to bare my neck in submission to another.

And yet…

Head down, eyes lowered and executing a bow so low that he needed to put a foot back to balance himself, Barack Obama is practically genuflecting to the King of Saudi Arabia.

A disgusting display if you ask me.

This news falls into the category of ‘you get who you vote for’. Of course I didn’t vote for him, but a number of my friends did.

Under the Bush team a prominent and profitable bank, under threat of a damaging public audit, was forced to accept less than $1 billion of TARP money.

Fast forward to today, and that same bank is begging to give the money back. The chairman offers to write a check, now, with interest. …But the Obama team says no, since unlike the smaller banks that gave their TARP money back, this bank is far more prominent. The bank has also been threatened with “adverse” consequences if its chairman persists. That’s politics talking, not economics.

Read more about Obama’s politicization of the economy here at the WSJ

All of this was expected by those of us who recognized Obama as the Chicago style fascist that he is. And this isn’t the end of it. Given a taste for this this kind of power he will not be able to stop. Look for him to move into healthcare and oil. I see prices at the pump are climbing towards $3 again. I expect to see the administration begin its smear campaign against the oil industry any day now.

I just got back from the hearing tonight and KRRC members turned out in force! I estimated at least 250 people there, the county commissioner’s room was packed and people were standing out in the halls.

The quick summary of the situation is that the land KRRC is on is leased from the DNR, who wants to swap the land with Kitsap County for some other nearby land. The Lease would then be transferred to the County, which has a spotty track record with upholding leases.

There were lots of good questions for the State and County officials there. Questions like “why wasn’t KRRC told about this proposal until just this month?” and “why has shooting been left out of the county’s proposed land use plans”. The last one is especially telling, given that the club has been there since 1928 and by some accounts the area has been used for recreational shooting since the late 1870’s — before Washington even became a state.

The KRRC executive committee is standing their ground on their insistence that there be a legally binding contract ensuring the continued existence of the club before they will support the proposed land swap.

In other words we don’t trust our government, at the State or County level, to do the right thing, unless we have it as a legally binding document.

I just got this on the KRRC mailing list. Apparently the DNR is transferring the land KRRC uses to the Kitsap County Parks. There is a meeting on Wednesday March 18th at 6pm. They need supporters to show up in force at:

Board of County Commissioners Chambers
County Administration Building
614 Division Street
Port Orchard, WA 98366

PUBLIC HEARING THIS WEDNESDAY THAT WILL EFFECT YOUR RANGES! YOUR SUPPORT REQUIRED!!!
Dear Members and Supporters of KRRC,
We just recently received news that a proposed transfer of ownership of the land our ranges sit on from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to the Kitsap County Parks and Recreation is moving VERY fast!

Club representatives met recently with KC Parks Director Chip Faver, who would become our new landlord, and members of DNR to get informed on the process. There are many practical reasons for the land transfer, however, your Executive Committee has some very serious concerns based on a lot of information we have received, including having folks very much apart of the Parks planning process telling others that the range is being shut down!!!

We have proposed to purchase the land we set on, once County becomes the landowner, or at a minimum, provide use with a 15 year lease contract so that we can apply for the next grant cycle to drill a well, put in septic and a first class restrooms. We were told that a contract was not possible until after the transfer was complete. We were told that Parks will honor the current lease, which has approximately 9 years left on it. It seems that perhaps a letter of intent is the best we can hope for (which has 0.0 legal standing).

Due to being left out of the discussions, we have been behind the curve on this. Several Club members have been working tirelessly to get us up to speed. We are hoping to make a formal proposal, generally in the form presented below, to Commissioner Brown prior to the Wednesday hearing.

We want a contract! Words don’t cut it. We have recently been told about a specific case where KC Parks took over other property and promised to honor the terms of a lease, and yet cancelled the lease with 5.5 years left on it.

Call EVERYONE you know, co-workers, family members, friends and etc. We need everyone we can get to show up in support of the KRRC ranges. The media will be there. One mountain bike group that wants our property, will be there in force. WE NEED 1000+ people showing up! Let’s show up with enough numbers that they must get a larger venue to finish the meeting!

Next Wednesday, March 18th starting at 6pm. (be early if possible!)
Board of County Commissioners Chambers
County Administration Building
614 Division Street
Port Orchard, WA 98366

You can go to the KRRC home page and open a copy of the notice with a map of the land exchange area. We are on “S-2″

Be there! Bring your friends! Dress and act as the classy individuals you all are! Be polite!
Please take the time to shoot back an email with the number of folks that you believe you can muster to the hearing. We are printing up signs in support of succuring our ranges.
WE NEED YOU NOW!!!
–
Marcus Carter – Executive Officer
Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club
4900 Seabeck Hwy. N.W.
Bremerton, Washington 98312
USA
For Sport and National Defense
http://www.GunSafety.org
Range Phone – 360.373.1007

TO: KITSAP COUNTY COMMISSIONER JOSH BROWN

KITSAP COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION

FROM: The Executive Committee of the KITSAP RIFLE & REVOLVER CLUB

RE: URGENT TIME SENSITIVE PROPOSAL TO CONTRACT FOR LEASE/PURCHASE SITE/ACREAGE

DATE: March 9, 2009

INTRODUCTION

Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club (KRRC) operates a gun club and a series of firing ranges located at 4900 Seabeck Highway, Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington, on land that is currently leased from the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Washington (DNR). Although the gun club has a long history of operating in its current location, it has never been able to purchase the property where it is located because of certain covenants relating to the fact that the property has been part of the School Trust Lands. Very recently, KRRC was informed that the DNR was in the process of conducting a land exchange with Kitsap County which involved the KRRC’s leased property. When the land exchange is completed, it is understood that KRRC’s leased lands will become the property of Kitsap County Parks and Recreation. When the leased land becomes Kitsap County land, no longer School Trust Land, sale of the land to KRRC becomes possible. For the reasons set forth below, it is in the best interests of the Kitsap County community that the sale of the land to KRRC be considered and approved.

CURRENT FACILITY

The Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club was formally organized on November 11, 1926 to provide a safe environment for the shooting. KRRC offers a wide variety of activities for the community. The Club is a 501 (c) 7 non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the shooting sports as well as the necessary knowledge to safely and proficiently handle firearms in times of personal, community, state and national defense.

Our ranges currently sit on 72 acres of land leased from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). It features lighted, covered pistol lines and rifle lines, and a number of 180, 270, and 360 degree shooting bays which can be configured for a variety of purposes.

As currently configured, the facility currently serves many segments of the Kitsap County community, including: (a) annually 1200 active members; (b) over 10,000 individual guests and visitors. KRRC also supports training for the U.S. Military, Homeland Security, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, and local police departments. Group trainings for governmental groups are a significant part of KRRC activities. Many of our members, officers and instructors are veterans of the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. KRRC maintains certification as a military small-arms training range. Homeland Security starts at home and Kitsap County, being a naval town, has a long, rich heritage of supporting all aspects of Navy life from firearms training for family members to supplemental qualification training. Equally important are our group classes, a portion of which include: Personal Protection I & II, Hunter Education, and Range Officer Training, and individual training. Safety and responsibility are the primary themes of all of our classes.

The Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club features a variety of competitive events on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. Some of the regular events we host include: (a) USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association) pistol shooting tournaments; (b) Fun Steel (entry level handgun matches); (c) Bullseye (one-handed test of pistol marksmanship); Annual Courage Classic Charity Match (two-day, 3 gun match with law enforcement, civilian and military teams); (d) GSSF (Glock Shooting Sports Foundation), Northwestern Regional competition; (e) High Power Service Rifle; (f) Junior Small Bore (Olympic style and NCAA college-level style shooting), to just name a few.

KRRC is supported in the local community. KRRC’s neighbors (adjacent property owners) even if they are not actual members of the club do support the club. For example, one of our neighbors recently called to tell us that he was very upset when someone representing themselves as being with the KC Parks told him that “the gun club is going to be shutdown.” He called to warn us about the threat to our lease. Neighbors support the club because it is responsibly operated: (a) KRRC has reasonable hours that minimize the impact of noise in the community; (b) KRRC has an effective noise control system and is constantly striving to improve sound abatement; (c) KRRC has an active recycling and environmental stewardship program; (d) Safety is always of the highest priority at the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club. Each member must attend a five-hour club orientation and range safety briefing before being given access to the gate and the ability to shoot at the range self-supervised. Members of the public are given a fundamental safety briefing and are supervised by trained Range Officers when shooting at the Range.

KRRC has prepared a business plan with an eye to the future. The future business plan focuses on meeting the increased needs of the Kitsap County community to provide training opportunities for organizations that have requested additional services. For example, KRRC has been experiencing a marked increase in the number of public and private entities inquiring about range time. In addition, KRRC plans to develop a facility that will attract people from outside of the county, bringing dollars to be spent in Kitsap County. For example, one of the activities KRRC currently engages in has been looking for a facility to permanently host a national championship match. This one event will draw at least 500 competitors, many with families in tow; and with a contract from the Outdoor Life Network to televise these matches, Kitsap County would be televised throughout North America. These folks would fill hotel and motel rooms, restaurant seats, for nearly a week–and this is just one event! This is a realistic plan for KRRC and a number of our members have achieved national and international recognition for event support and participation.

THREATS TO THE CURRENT LEASE

Information that has recently come to the attention of KRRC which implies that its current lease is threatened. KRRC has been informed of illegal acts committed by other groups which appear to have been utilized to cast a bad light on KRRC. One group posted “no horseback riding” signs illegally on DNR land near KRRC leased land; this act may have had the effect of creating the impression that KRRC was not friendly to horseback riding. Most recently, a member of another group participated in an illegal trail construction on DNR land and KRRC leased land; that person represented themselves to representing Kitsap County Parks stated to KRRC members that KRRC “needs to move.” KRRC believes that these other groups, because of their own self-interests, have painted a one-sided picture of KRRC. KRRC has not been given a fair opportunity to respond in order to correct and complete the record.

The threats made to the current KRRC lease only exacerbate existing concerns:

(a) although shooting sports have a place on the national and international scene based on various types of shooting competitions(as shooting sports are in the Olympics), more recently the Parks and Recreation department of Kitsap County has failed to recognize the shooting sports as legitimate forms of recreation;

(b) changes in personnel at the County and State level will change how KRRC is viewed (one administration may support KRRC while another might not even be aware of our existence);

(c) Kitsap County Parks has refused to recognize KRRC’s issues in any meaningful manner, despite the fact that there are more than a dozen specific shooting sports currently pursued in Kitsap County, with the most popular activity being general target practice;

(d) No public park facility has made any current or future provisions for adequate facilities for sport shooting, even though a significant number of people in the county own guns of various types and need a place to practice;

(e) The building of new or additional shooting ranges in nearby counties are losing battles, creating a greater need for this type of facility in the region;

(f) If there is no safe place available for the general public to practice shooting, KRRC believes that people will resort to less safe alternatives such as any open field, which is obviously undesirable.

GOALS AND BENEFITS OF THIS PROPOSAL

A sale of the leased acreage to KRRC is a “win-win” for all parties:

(a) For KRRC, the purchase eliminates the threat to permanence, which will motivate KRRC to complete its plans for a world-class recreational and training facility (without permanence assured, KRRC cannot justify the cost of permanent buildings or other large monetary investments to improve the property);

(b) KRRC will contribute private funds to Kitsap County by purchasing the property, and keep the property on the tax roles, which funds can be utilized to develop other areas in the community;

(c) KRRC will privately fund a world-class training facility that will attract visitors as a source of income to Kitsap and provide the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office with the opportunity for the first time to have a home without the expenses associated with construction and maintenance;

(d) KRRC will privately support all our military and law enforcement agencies by providing convenient training facilities;

(e) Kitsap County will receive the benefit that necessary buffer acreage will contribute to the County’s rural plan;

(f) A significant sporting activity for Kitsap County residents will have a reasonable share of the resources in Kitsap;

(g) Safety considerations regarding firearms will be professionally handled;

(h) KRRC will take on the responsibility for maintaining the land in rural condition;

(I) KRRC will relieve Kitsap County of liability for these lands.

PROPOSAL

In order to achieve the goals and ensure the support of our members and supporters for the land transfer, Kitsap County (Parks) and KRRC must enter into a written agreement where Kitsap County will extend to KRRC a 15-year lease based principally upon the terms of the current KRRC lease with DNR, without the “higher and better use” termination clause, with KRRC having at anytime during the lease period the sole option to purchase approximately 130 acres of land at our current location at the cost of $2,000 per acre (fair market value).

This proposal is the best option because it provides the means to achieve all goals stated above with the added benefit to the County of providing additional private funds to supplement the exchange and/or to develop the lands to be received.

CONCLUSION

KRRC expects to get community support for this proposal because of the important functions this facility serves. Our members, guests, family and friends are prepared to vocally support this win-win proposal for all involved. KRRC respectfully encourages Kitsap County to strongly consider and finalize this proposal by March 17, 2009 in order to garner enthusiastic support from our base and supporters. Short of a signed agreement, the KRRC Executive Committee cannot recommend support for the land transfer.

Sincerely,

____________________________

Brad Smith – President

____________________________

Travis Foreman – Vice President

____________________________

Sharon Carter – Treasurer

____________________________

April Borbon – Secretary

____________________________

Marcus Carter – Executive Officer

____________________________

Ken Roberts – Trustee

____________________________

Andrew Casella – Trustee

____________________________

John Davidson – Trustee

I picked up on this over at Smallest Minority. He posted a question to the Shooting USA forum over on AR15.com asking if they were going to cover the BoomerShoot event that Joe Huffman puts on every year.

Scoutten’s reply was essentially that he doesn’t want to put those kinds of events on TV because it could alarm the anti-gunners!

Here’s my reply to him:

Scoutten: But our greater purpose is to do no harm to our gun rights, to put nothing on TV that could alarm the anti-gunners.

That, Jim, is the core of what is wrong with this country right now. Don’t alarm the other guys. Don’t do anything that might make them mad at us. Don’t publicly support anything that might make them dislike us. That kind of appeasement only leads to our side losing. We don’t have anything to hide! We are not second-class citizens! We do not have anything to apologize for, so why kowtow to them?

If you don’t already understand that the anti-gunners hate us and our gun sports then you will never get it. They have no reason behind their attitudes, it is all emotion. There is nothing we can do to convince the majority of them that being pro-gun is the right philosophy.

Who is your audience anyway? Is it the anti-gunners? I highly doubt that. Who buys all the products you advertise and review? Not the antis, that’s for sure!

Thanks for your show, but you are way off track in only covering events that the antis would approve of. I must say that I am very disappointed in you.

Maybe you should add a disclaimer at the start of the show ‘This show should be in no way construed as supporting guns, gun rights or gun sports that may alarm or challenge your sensibilities’.

Joe Huffman, SayUncle, Snowflakes in Hell, Random Nuclear Strikes also have something to say about this.

THE HORRID MASSACRE IN BOSTON, PERPETRATED IN THE EVENING OF THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH, 1770, BY SOLDIERS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT WHICH WITH THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT WERE THEN QUARTERED THERE; WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THINGS PRIOR TO THAT CATASTROPHE

Read about it at Wikipedia and The Boston Massacre Historical Society

HT to View From The Porch

Salem, Oregon—Today, the Oregon War Veterans Association (OWVA) publicly announced its decision to file a lawsuit against Western Oregon University (WOU) for its violation of the Second Amendment right to carry a gun and its decision to expel veteran Marine, Jeff Maxwell. The university suspended Maxwell for a year upon discovering he carried a concealed handgun onto campus.

Read the rest of the story here on the OWVA blog

For a while now I’ve noticed that a few of the RSS feeds on gunbloggers.com will dump all the blog’s articles as new when they add a post. Today I finally had time to look into it, and I think I have it fixed.

The problem is that Google and Feedburner (who are now owned by Google) are replacing the permalinks to the blog postings with links to feedproxy.google.com which appears to include a random element in the URL. I suspect that this changes every time you add a post, breaking all the links and making gunbloggers.com think all the posts are new. I use the permalink to determine which posts are new and to calculate the counts for the top 10 articles so it is very important for these links to remain consistent.

But it ends up they included the real permalink inside another XML element named feedburner_origlink. I now check for that and use it if present. So, today should be the last time we see a big flood of old articles. That is until they break something else.

3/1/2009 – Fixed a couple more problems. Things should be working smooth now. I’m sure. Really I am.

It is hard to be optimistic about the future of our country when I keep reading things like this:

Bank nationalisation gains ground with Republicans

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator for South Carolina, said that many of his colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agreed with his view that nationalisation of some banks should be “on the table”.

The US Constitution is now a dead document. The political parties in power are simply fighting over the scraps, with no significant difference between them. And without anything to constrain the power of the federal government anything can happen. And it will. The gigantic bailouts and so called stimulus bills are only the start.

America is a good country, but as the cliche goes — “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

ETA: Glenn Beck had John Lott on to talk about this.

The point is, they’re going to have — look at what we’ve done to the banks in terms of the current financial situation, where we forced them through different laws to make loans that they didn’t want to make, make loans to people who didn’t have any down payments on it. That’s going to be on steroids when you have government there as a direct owner and it’s not going to be as obvious because you won’t have regulations that you can point to. You can just have the presidents of the bank doing what they’re being told by the politicians behind the scenes to go and do.

Liberty Belle over at Redistributing knowledge has helped organize a Porkulus Bill Protest in Seattle today (President’s Day).

The protest against the porkulus is on for President’s Day!

Date: Monday, February 16th
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, 401 Pine St., in the open area by the big arch.

The idea is to use what we’ve learned about dissent over the last eight years. We need loud protests with lots noise and visuals. So, what should you bring?

Bring AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN! Bring your families, your friends, neighbors, bring everyone!

Bring SIGNS!! Get those craft making juices flowing and make signs and banners and pictures and paintings. Just imagine that you are a left-wing college student with nothing else to do and that should help you get started!

Bring something to sit on and appropriate clothing.

Most importantly, JUST BRING IT!!!

H/T to Michelle Malkin for this.

Found this on Glenn Beck’s site this evening:

for gun bloggers. When I went through the broken links on gunbloggers.com last week I found that a number of them that had converted their blogs to static pages because of problems finding a decent blog hosting company. Others were just gone. It looks to me like there is a need for a stable host for like-minded gun blogs.

Among other things I am an experienced system administrator (at one time adminstering over 100 servers), I have my own webserver here in my basement and bandwidth to spare. So here is the deal — If you are a gun blogger or other conservative blogger I will host a WordPress site for you. I will maintain the blog software, managing upgrades and backing up the database. You can have this for free as long as you run my google adwords ads on your pages.

Or for $10/mo I will do the same, but you don’t need to put up my ads.
Domains can be XXXX.gunbloggers.com, or if you register your own domain you can point it here for no charge.

These accounts include ssh access to your user account, nightly SQL dumps of your blog database and optional delivery of the backups to a remote server if you wish.

See www.gunbloggers.com/hosting for more details. If you want to sign up, email me at the address on that page and I’ll get you going.

Dave Workman has a guest opinion up at The Tuscon Citizen today.

One should not be required to obtain a license or pass a government-administered test to exercise any constitutionally-protected civil right. If the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s taught us anything, it is that all civil rights are sacred, one is no less important than another, and all of them are worth defending because a threat to one puts all rights in peril.

Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun Week as well as an excellent holster maker.

The Senate confirmed Pres. Obama’s choice for Attorney General, with the help of 19 spineless Republicans. If one of these folks is your representative I suggest you give them an earful. And come next election do everything you can to defeat them.

Now, can we expect the NRA to adjust their ratings of these Senators based on this vote? I sure as hell hope so.

Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Sessions (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Voinovich (R-OH)

Thanks go to the 21 who stood up against this anti-gun bigot. You can read the full roll call here.

HT to The Freehold

Here is what the GOA had to say about Holder in a January 13, 2009 letter:

Holder, who served as Deputy Attorney General from 1997-2001, supports a 3-day waiting period for handgun purchases, one-gun-a-month rationing, licensing and registration of all gun owners, mandatory so-called smart gun technology, a lifetime gun ban for certain juvenile offenses and regulating gun shows out of existence.

As Janet Reno’s top deputy, Eric Holder was the go to guy on gun control issues. In a 1999 statement, Holder told members of Congress not to cave in to “the special interest that value the cold hard steel of guns more than the lives of children, neighbors and police officers,” and urged them to pass legislation that would have destroyed the gun show industry.

Right now in Washington State it is legal to own suppressors, as long as you comply with all the federal regulations. But you cannot shoot it.

Yep, you heard me. Because of a mistake in the law you have to go to Oregon or Idaho to shoot it.

There is now a Bill in the WA State Legislature that would correct this — HB 1604, I urge you to right to your representative and support this bill.

HT to Outrageous Malfunction for the link to the bill.

I’ve just gone through the logs for gunbloggers.com and removed a number of sites that are no longer around and fixed some feed links that were broken. Some of you have feeds that are not working, and no way to contact you. I’ve left these active for now, since they are making new posts.