Breaking news across the gun bloggosphere is that Cavalry Arms has been raided and its inventory seized. According to The War on Guns the warrant stated “Firearm law violations. Seize everything.” What kind of warrant is that? The 4th amendment is pretty damn clear -
… and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
“Seize Everything” certainly doesn’t look like they were particularly describing the things to be seized.
I fear that we are in for some dark times to come.
The Bill of Rights was ratified December 15, 1791.
Congress adopted twelve amendments, of which only ten were ratified by the states by 1791.
Over 200 years later, one more of the original twelve, concerning compensation for Congress was ratified on May 7, 1992, becoming the Twenty-Seventh Amendment.
James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights and was inspired, in part, by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason.
The Bill of Rights initially applied only to the federal government; however, the Supreme Court, through the Fourteenth Amendment, has incorporated some portions to apply to the states.
Only 17 amendments have been ratified since the adoption of the Bill of Rights.
The National Archives Bill of Rights site should already be in your bookmarks. You have read it lately, haven’t you? While you are at it, have you read it to your kids?
And then we have Tim Lynch’s post over at Cato @ Liberty - He goes through the amendments and covers how nearly every one is being violated by our current government.
It’s a depressing snapshot, to be sure, but I submit that the Framers of the Constitution would not have been surprised by the relentless attempts by government to expand its sphere of control. The Framers themselves would often refer to written constitutions as mere ”parchment barriers” or what we would describe as ”paper tigers.” They nevertheless concluded that putting safeguards down on paper was better than having nothing at all. And lest we forget, that’s what millions of people around the world have — nothing at all.
And to top it off, go buy a bunch of Pocket Constitutions and give them to your friends and family for Christmas. Don’t forget the kids, our founding documents are surprisingly easy to read and understand — that is as long as you’re not a Lawyer, pointy-headed intellectual, or liberal activist.
Well, the anti-gunner’s no-gun signs did their job — they disarmed the good guys and allowed a scumbag to wreak havoc at will.
Here is what one 1st hand witness to the shooting has to say:
Either way though, I could have drawn and taken a clean shot. However, in both cases, regardless of the laws, I am not allowed to carry a gun at all in Westroads Mall. If the laws did not oppress my rights, I would carry a gun most places (except work). I would certainly have had it in the mall as mall shootings have been on my mind since the incident at a mall involving a shotgun back in February.
What do I take away from this incident? That my right to defend myself takes precedence over anyone elses ‘property rights’ when they try to deprive me of the ability to save my own life from criminals bent on killing me and my family. I shall carry when and where I please and you shall be none the wiser — unless I am forced to defend myself.
The big news around these parts today was a visit from the lunatics from the Westboro Baptist Church to harass the grieving family of SFC Johnny Walls. If these sleazy carpet baggers thought they could come into our town and subject the family of a fallen soldier to their vile hate with impunity they got a surprise today.
I started out at the local WalMart, buying a 4×5 flag to wave, everyone there seemed to know where I was headed and kept asking if I was going to the protest — My reply was “I’m not protesting anything, I’m there to support the family”. I arrived at the corner of Lund Ave and Bethel road at about 1pm. There were already about 100 people on 2 of the corners. The lunatics were over on the opposite corner, totally surrounded by supporters and Kitsap County Deputies.
The size of the crowd quickly swelled with people carrying signs, banners and flags. I estimated that the number of people was at least 300. They were surrounded by people with signs that said things like “Social Parasite”, “We are here for SFC Walls, You are here for yourselves” and “Thank God for SFC Walls”. I think it got to be too much for them to handle, they tried to move off down the road, and then the cops escorted them across the street and back to their cars. A good thing, because one of them was dragging an American Flag though the dirt which didn’t go over too well with a passerby at the Rite Aid — the deputies prevented him from causing a scene as far as I could tell.
As they were leaving the Patriot Guard Riders made a pass through on their way to the SFC Walls’ funeral.
I prefer to think of this as a support rally for SFC Johnny Walls and his family. I was there to show the screwballs that they are vastly out numbered by people who support our troops and their families and to show the family that the community supports them and thanks them for making the ultimate sacrifice — the loss of a son. I hope that our presence there gave some solace to his family in their time of grief.
Ted Nugent talks to Texas Monthly Magazine about gun control. He has to be one of the most articulate pro-gun speakers that I have ever seen. No nonsense, straight to the point and not apologetic in any way.
“Gaggle of Numbnuts”
“I don’t like repeat offenders. I like dead offenders.”
Joe Huffman, over at The View From North Central Idaho was asked to show a couple of local reporters some gun basics. I’m glad they picked him — from reading his blog he is obviously thoughtful and patient pro-gun advocate who will make a good impression on them. Hopefully they absorb the knowledge that he presents to them.
This is the way to swing public favor to our side. Present the facts, familiarize them with with some basic weapons and training and help them overcome their fear of guns.
You may have seen this email being passed around. It has been falsely attributed to people other than its original author - Marko. You can read his original posting here, and his take on the plagarism in this post.
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat–it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weightlifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation…and that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.
Is that the kind of man you want to elect as President of the United States? I certainly don’t want a man who thinks that ‘Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.’
BRIAN LEWIS was leaving his apartment, heading to a gig as a disc jockey in January 2005, when three guys jumped him.
Two of them pulled pistols.
The men wanted his gear, including two CD mixers worth $499 each.
They also wanted Lewis to turn around and go back inside his house with them.
What the robbers didn’t know was that Lewis had a gun, and a permit to carry it.
Lewis reached for his gun, telling the robbers he was pulling out the key to his door.
Lewis aimed across his body, drawing a bead on the head of one man aiming a pistol at his back.
Click.
The gun was loaded, but there was no bullet in the chamber.
The two robbers heard the pistol’s dry fire and blasted away, shooting Lewis in the back.
You can read the rest of the story here. But that’s the most important part. If you carry a concealed weapon, always remember that you cannot predict when you will need it. You will neve have the time to ‘rack the slide’ when trouble comes calling. Part of being prepared is being fully prepared, have your weapon ready to use at a moments notice — you may not get another chance. This guy is very lucky to be alive, and I hope he has learned from the experience.
Clayton Cramer is reporting that the DC Court of Appeals has struck down Washington DC’s ban on having a loaded handgun in your home, and has recognized that handguns are protected by the 2nd Amendment!
Its nice to see some sanity in a city overrun by criminals.
The blogs are aflame with opinions about Jim Zumbo’s betrayal of his fellow gun owners a few weeks back. Smoke on the Water has a couple of good posts here and here, Geek with a .45 weighs in here with a decent summary of Zumbo’s apologies. Michael Bane asks the question ‘where do we go from here?’, and Snowflakes in Hell says Zumbo’s sincerity doesn’t matter.
It looks like folks are ready to give Zumbo a chance to redeem himself. It looks like he is on the path to redemption, but I’d rather sit back and watch him for a bit before allowing him back into the fold. What he wrote was very wrong, I was among those that wrote to his advertisers and demanded his head, and I am willing to forgive but only after I see some action from him that earns it. So far it looks like he’s taking the right steps.
“Why should we not have something to protect ourselves?” said Oonk, the Tennessee representative for the Second Amendment Sisters, a national organization promoting female gun ownership. “Why should we let someone else have their way, when you could protect yourself?
Real Estate Agent Kim Hoard says -
“I have strangers in my car every day, I meet strangers in empty houses all day long. For me, it seems like the logical step to protect myself.”
Its good to see that some people are understanding the utility of carrying a concealed pistol. It is especially important for women, who are often preyed upon by stalkers and criminals with no protection other than calling 911.
According to this TBO.com story Georgia lawmakers are considering changing their no-knock warrant rules. A Bill, SB 259 has been introduced to:
A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 17 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to searches with warrants, so as to change provisions relating to issuance of search warrants by judicial officers; to provide that no-knock warrants shall not be issued in this state except under limited circumstances; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
This change of direction has come about because of a recent tragedy where the homeowner, a 92 year old woman, shot at the invading officers and was killed by them. The warrent was issued on the word of an informant that there were drugs in the house. None were found.
Washington State’s latest anti-gun law, which I wrote about previously has been passed out of the committee. This comes as no surprise as the Democrats have a 5 to 3 advantage and one of the bill’s sponsors is the chair. According to Mr. Completely -
An interesting sidelight is that one of the Democratic Senators, Senator Prentice from South Seattle/Renton, originally was going to vote against the bill, thereby keeping it from coming out of committee. As of the end of the Executive session yesterday, that was her position. By this morning, she had changed her mind and voted for it. I wonder who talked to her last night to change her mind, and what they said? We’ll probably never know.
It appears that they have changed the language a litle bit (old bill pdf / new bill pdf) by taking out Section D of the old bill making an auction held by a non-profit NOT a gun show (because it clearly is not one).
However, the rest of it is there.
So, the fight goes on. Warm up the vacation time guys, it looks like we’re going to be taking a couple more trips to Olympia this session.
UPDATE: According to Mr. Completely Senator Jim Clements says that the bill is as dead as “A goose twelve yards away in the middle of my decoys!”. Great News!
The The Denver Post is reporting that Democrats have blocked legislation that would have allowed business owners the same rights as home owners in defending their property as well as recognition of out of state concealed pistol licenses.
The Senate State Affairs Committee, known unofficially as a graveyard for bills that leadership wants killed, shot down a proposal Monday to expand Colorado’s “make my day” law.
The three Democrats on the five-member committee rejected legislation that would have allowed business owners to shoot threatening intruders, as homeowners are already permitted to do.
The bill’s demise came three days after Senate Democrats thwarted attempts by Republicans to hijack a Democrat-sponsored bill that would tighten restrictions on concealed weapons.
Republicans tried to amend the bill to say Coloradans could use concealed-gun permits from any other state. Instead, the legislation from Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, squeaked through as he originally wrote it - a ban on mail-order and other out-of-state permits for people who want to pack concealed handguns.
As is usual in these cases the Democrats resorted to scare tactics to support their side, saying:
Sen. Peter Groff, a Denver Democrat who chairs the committee, said a shopkeeper could end up shooting a straight-A student in baggy pants “listening to Snoop Doggy Dog” on his iPod just because he looked threatening.
They always trot out the ‘blood will run in the streets’ and ‘wild west’ arguments against pro-gun legislation, but when it finally passes these scenarios never come true. Look at all the states that now have concealed carry? Their crime rates have dropped as a result. But that’s a Democrat for you, they don’t even trust themselves with a gun.
BELLEVUE, WA – For more than two months, a damning report on a five-year study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about how cop-killing criminals ignore gun laws and where they get their guns has languished in the shadows, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms revealed today.
“The public has a right to know the contents of this report, which was revealed to the International Association of Chiefs of Police last year,” said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “According to the Force Science News, research focused on 40 incidents involving assaults or deadly attacks on police officers, in which all but one of the guns involved had been obtained illegally, and none were obtained from gun shows.”
The study is called “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.” Waldron called it a “smoking gun” in terms of revelations about the sources of crime guns. Anti-gun politicians and police chiefs do not want the public to know as they campaign against the so-called “gun show loophole,” he said.
The Columbia Missourian reports that the house has approved a ‘Castle Doctorine’ bill similar to that passed in several other states.
Rep. Kenny Jones, R-California, Mo., said the proposal clarifies common sense.
“A man’s home is his castle, and he has a right to defend it,” Jones said.
Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Hillsboro, said that the bill essentially “takes the castle doctrine on the road” and allows drivers to defend their cars just as people in their homes can defend their residences.
The bill still needs another vote before moving on to the Senate for consideration.
Several sources in Texas are ‘covering’ thier version of the ‘Castle Doctorine’, including KWSO News, KWTX News and the Houston Chronicle. I notice that all 3 are using an AP story as their source, but only 2 give credit and only 1, the Chronicle, appears to print the story in full.
“I believe Texans who are attacked in their homes, their businesses, their vehicles or Texas already has some of the broadest self-defense laws in the country, Wentworth says his bill would expand the legal rights of crime victims to protect themselves, their relatives and their property from intruders in their home, occupied vehicles or business.anywhere else have a right to defend themselves from attack without fear of being prosecuted and face possible civil suits alleging wrongful injury or death,” Wentworth said.
This report comes from Interested-Participant. Another thug has flunked the victim selection process, he and 2 friends attemped an home invasion robbery on an armed citizen and lost.
PONTIAC — A 21-year-old Pontiac man who was shot by an armed homeowner when he allegedly forced his way into a home with two other men last month died early Tuesday from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Herbert McDaniels died in Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital. Police said McDaniels was named in a criminal warrant as one of three men who forced their way into a house on Cloverlawn Street at about 4 a.m. on Jan. 29.
The 33-year-old homeowner told police he armed himself after hearing a loud noise when the men kicked in a door. The man shouted for the three to leave and when they ignored him and continued advancing into the house, he fired off two shots.
Washington: Anti-Gun Measure Set for Senate
Committee Hearing Thursday!
Please Contact Your State Senator Today!
Senate Bill 5197 will be up for a hearing in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on Thursday, February 8 at 3:30 P.M. in the John A. Cherberg Building, Hearing Room #4.
SB 5197 is a measure aimed directly at private firearm sales, which would mandate that all firearms sold at gun shows be transferred through a federally licensed dealer, thereby imposing dealer restrictions on private individuals who are not dealers. This will establish a gun tax on firearms, expand the growing government database of law-abiding handgun owners, and effectively halt handgun sales at gun shows.
Your attendance at this hearing is critical. Washington Ceasefire is planning on packing the hearing with supporters of the gun show/gun registration bill, so it’s vital that NRA-supporters show a strong turnout as well. Attendees should plan on being at the Capitol by noon. Please visit your legislators, even if they are not on the Committee.
If you are unable to attend, please contact your State Senator at (800) 562-6000 and respectfully ask that he or she oppose this ill-conceived and restrictive measure.
Please make plans to attend this vital meeting, and also be sure to alert your grassroots networks and fellow gun owners to attend the meeting this coming Thursday!
LibertyNews will be present for the hearing and will bring you a full report Thursday evening. I encourage everyone who can to attend. It is time for gun owners to stand up and be heard by those who would like to remove our rights from the Constitution.
BELLEVUE, WA – Five months after the Second Amendment Foundation called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for obstruction of justice relating to Bloomberg’s rogue “sting” operation against gun retailers in five states, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has confirmed in a letter that an investigation is underway.
SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb said today that a letter he received from W. Larry Ford, Assistant ATF Director for Public and Governmental Affairs, confirms that the agency “is investigating the matter in order to determine if violations of federal firearms laws occurred.” Ford could not offer details in his letter, explaining to Gottlieb that the agency cannot comment on “an open investigation.” (Continued)
