Month: August 2013

It made my day.

I bought Charlton Heston’s biography In the Arena: An Autobiography. Used copy, really cheap too. I had taken it out of the mailer, but not bothered to even page it. Lat night (more like Oh Dark Hundred) I sat to read the book and got this surprise when I opened the book.
hestonI might add a couple of cents to the value of the book, but for me it is now invaluable.

I polished the first seven chapters and it is a great book so far. Funny thing, I know I am reading, but in my head I hear his voice narrating the book.

Bradys Lose Case Because Evil Judge Refused to Ignore the Rules.

Secure your jaw before reading:

On Wednesday, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a lawsuit supported by the Brady Campaign against the online gun classifieds website, Armslist, LLC.

……..Alex Vesely, the plaintiff in the case, sued on behalf of his sister, who was killed with a firearm that had been advertised for sale on Armslist.

The Brady Campaign, on behalf of Mr. Vesely, asked the court to abandon traditional rules of tort liability and find that Armslist could be liable for the criminal actions of the man who killed Ms. Vesely. In essence, the Brady Campaign argued that a special rule should apply to Armslist because the advertisements on its website were for firearms, and it should therefore be treated differently than other online classifieds sites

via NRA-ILA | Federal Court in Illinois Throws Out Brady Campaign Supported Lawsuit.

“No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” 14th Amendment.

This is enough to scare the crap out of anybody. That a group of Americans would show in court demanding that special rules be applied to a selected class just to make sure they are found guilty for something they had no control over reeks of pure fascism.

I am amazed that the judge did not throw them out of court after that stunt. Sometimes Tar & Feathers seem to be an acceptable option for the control of dangerous and unconstitutional behavior.

The one where I respond to a Mom Demanding Action

Anthrogirl left a long comment on the post The Dumb is Strong with Moms Demand Victims. This is my response:

Moms Demand Action is not trying to take anyone’s guns.When people say that the group is anti-gun, that’s a sure sign that they have no clue what they are talking about.
Yup, heard that one before, still not buying. If walks like duck…etc.

What MDA is fighting for is the fixing or replacement of guns laws that are currently ineffective.
You mean Gun Laws that are not being ENFORCED, right? As in the Federal Government not doing their jobs of prosecuting Federal Firearm Violations? And then having to read this dumb statement from your Guru:

His comment didn’t sit well with gun control activists, including the group Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America. “It’s like, ‘don’t look at us, look at gun enforcement’,” says the group’s founder Shannon Watts. “But the NRA works to block gun prosecutions all the time.

Do you realize how stupid that comment is? How in the hell is the NRA interfering with prosecutions? And isn’t interfering with a federal investigation a crime? Damn, if we were doing so, the Department of Justice would have us brought up in charges and wearing orange jumpsuits in 3 seconds flat. Perhaps it is time you should start using your brain and actually investigate and digest what is coming from the Moms’ Headquarters because that right there is a bald-faced lie.

And we have laws so antiquated that they don’t address current gun technology.
Somebody is selling phasers and did not tell me about it? Firearms technology has been pretty much the same for about a century or more now. Other than new materials used in the manufacture, your average firearm is still the same as the ones great grandfathers used at the beginning of the 20th Century. But I will give you that some of the gun laws are moronic, make no sense and do need to be eliminated. Let me give you an example: a shotgun with a barrel length shorter than 18 inches or an overall length shorter than 26 inches is to be considered a short-barreled shotgun and illegal unless you obtained a Federal Stamp to own it. Violating these lengths gets you a 10 year term in prison and a $10,000 fine per offense. Now, this law was designed to discourage criminals to cut down shotguns to where they can be easily concealed, but as usual, if somebody is committing armed robbery that will give them a 25 to life sentence, 10 years in a fed resort is not a deterrence. Now many gun owners love to modify their firearms so they can be used for different purposes. I may have bought a single shot shotgun with a 24″ barrel used for hunting fowl for cheap but I don’t hunt and I want the barrel cut down to the legal 18 inches to use for home defense. If the gunsmith makes a mistake and instead of 18 inches, the barrel turns out to measure 17 and 7/8s of an inch, I am in violation of the law. The shotgun is still almost impossible to conceal, it is not any deadlier than with 18 inches in length but 1/8 of inch of metal makes it a gun for gangsters and the drug dealers in the view of the ATF and I should be prosecuted as one. Take out your ruler, measure 1/8th of an inch and see how stupid that law can be. And how deadly it can get I will leave for another day.

MDA is also fighting to close the loopholes in background checks.
Loophole: Something I don’t like but is unregulated.

NRA members on the other hand had fought against and had struck down a line item in a recent appropriations bill (the same bill with all the anit-ATF line items) that would have stopped people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns and ammo.
Do pry tell what makes somebody eligible for the terrorist watch list. Of course you don’t know because NOBODY knows, only a very selected few within the Government. That is the US equivalent of secret tribunals and a possible violation of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution: “to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” But that is not necessary because the Government (and specially this administration) NEVER MAKES A MISTAKE OR ABUSES POWER, right?

They fought against and had struck down a free standing republican bill that would have restricted those deemed mentally ill from purchasing guns.
Funny. Here in Florida we just passed a bill with NRA backing that does exactly that, yet (very important) makes sure that the rights of the patient are not violated, that he/she is declared mentally ill by a judge after presenting the proper information and that the patient can appeal the determination if it considers it illegal or in error or, if healed, he can recover his right to purchase a firearm. I know, those pesky things called rights get in the way of utopia.

NRA members have fought for and won legislation that considers a criminal who has served his time, even for gun felonies, to be “disabled” in terms of his gun rights.
You have something about the restitution of Rights? You do know that in Maryland (I am guessing you are from there) voting rights are automatically restored upon completion of all supervised release, right? And another thing, are you including non-violent felons in your definition? Do you believe that a non-violent felon should be abridged of his rights forever?

NRA members have fought for and won the restriction of the ATF to require gun dealers to do yearly inventories and report any lost of stolen guns. Last year (2012), the ATF identified over 16,500 lost & stolen guns from dealer inventories thru inspections. And the ATF only checked about 10% of the dealers.
The ATF is an agency so corrupt that it should be eliminated once and for all. From knowingly allowing firearms to fall into the hands of Drug Cartels to hold “Whites Only” racist picnics (Good O’ Boy Roundup), offering “Nigger hunting licenses,” changing their investigative and laboratory protocols to make cases (A nice way of saying tampering with evidence), punishing whistle-blowing agents that come forward when they had enough of their superiors antics and a whole passel of other doings that I do not have either the time or inclination to post.

So when people look at the NRA members and other zealous gun rights activists, they see people who actively fight for the rights for terrorists, criminals and the mentally ill to get guns,
That would be a mistake to assume, but I am used to see your side of the equation wrong. Gallup Poll taken right after the Sandy Hook Massacre (Yep, that one and with all the negative press we were getting) placed the NRA with 54% favor among Americans. Congress was at 18% & President Obama at 52% (it dipped to 49% for the year average),.

So, we should surmise that more than half of the citizens in this country “actively fight for the rights for terrorists, criminals and the mentally ill to get guns”  That is a very heavy accusation on your part.

They see how aggressively NRA members want people to be able to secretly obtain guns through loopholes and from blackmarkets dealers who sell lost and stolen guns.
And now we jump with both feet and eyes open in the pool of defamation. We don’t obtain our guns “secretly” through what you call loopholes, we buy and sell our private property from and to other law-abiding citizens of this country. Again, the definition of loophole is something you don’t like and that want eliminated. And if some idiot decides to take a major risk and sell us a lost or stolen firearm and we find out (plenty places in the interwebs where one can check for stolen/lost firearms) it is us that will come down hard and heavy, press charges and testify in court against the above-mentioned idiot and with tons of pleasure doing so. Plus, we will try our earnest that the person who got his firearm stolen be sure to get it back because it is his/her property.

Ms. Anthrogirl, if you really want to impress us with your determination to stop “Gun Violence” why don’t you open one of those Lemonade Stands for Gunsense in a drug corner of Baltimore? Go on and spread the word among the locals that Gun Violence is bad and should be curtailed, ’cause sure as hell bodies are dropping in those drug corners. Stop making theater and do right. Opening a Lemonade Stand in the office of a congressman does as good to curb violence as wearing a parachute while scuba-diving: It looks stupid and useless.

Memefied!

This showed up in my Facebook timeline and my less-than caffeinated brain rang a dull bell.


It was when I reached the last line that the synapses finally engaged and I said “Wait one gorramed minute! I wrote this!”

Not mad or anything. We are all in this together for the cause of the Second Amendment and it is cool to see your work Memefied…but at least some linky love people! 😀

Moms Get Sent Back To The Kitchen by Top Dem.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats have abandoned efforts to pass a law this year expanding background checks for gun purchases — dealing a new setback to the drive for tougher gun laws after the Newtown school massacre.

In a meeting Thursday with a pro-gun-control group, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said budget battles looming this fall will make it impossible to enact the background-check measure that failed to pass in April.

“I think sometime next year we’ll revisit that issue. I’m almost certain of it,” Reid (D-Nev.) told the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, according to a reporter for The Nation who was allowed to sit in on the meeting.

via Gun control efforts set back as Senate Democrats abandon background check measure – NY Daily News.

I am guessing this picture (posted yesterday in the MDA’s Facebook page) was taken before the bad news were delivered.
Moms ReidIf what’s in the article is what happened, it is confirmation that the Dems in Congress have wasted way too much political capital in Gun Control initiatives that have all but failed miserably. And since Gun Control s not the only dish in their platter and there are voters who have other priorities, trying to stay a top of the control of government and the exercise of power requires that they switch attention to the rest of the political buffet.

And we cannot dismiss the Zimmerman verdict either. I know some saw a guilty verdict as a backdoor way to introduce Gun Control legislation both at Federal and State levels and that did not happen either. I have the feeling DOJ has all but given up on Civil Rights charges against Zimmerman by the deafening silence coming from the pack of lawyers and sycophants that make the Tracy Martin/Sabrina Fulton entourage after their meeting on Wednesday.

It has been a tough year for Gun Rights. And yet I think we will see it in the future as one of the most fulfilling years in history. And no, it is far from perfect and we did not eliminate all the bad laws out there and we even had to endure some bad ones shoved down the throats of citizens but, if the Colorado Recall Election on September 10th goes the way it is supposed to be, 2014 will be a very interesting year, election-wise.

Hat Tip to Guns Save Lives

And I had to laugh…..

The latest thing from Moms Demand Victims Action is the Lemonade Stand Protest.

MAD lemonade

In April, Congress gave America lemons when the Senate failed to pass common-sense gun legislation that would have expanded background checks on gun sales. Moms were shocked and disappointed at the Senate’s failure to act, but we were not deterred. During Congress’ August recess, we’re sending the message: “When Congress Gives Moms Lemons, We Make Lemonade!”

All across the country, Moms Demand Action chapters are holding lemonade stands at or near their legislator’s in-district offices to persuade them to get some gun sense. Drop by one of our lemonade stands to talk to members of Moms Demand Action, enjoy a glass of lemonade, make a donation, and fill out a postcard to send to your representatives in Congress demanding action. Upcoming lemonade stand events are listed on the right column; Check back daily for new events

Moms and kids at home can participate, too! Add a good dose of mom sweetness and gun sense to make your lemonade. Download our printable recipe card and write out what secret ingredient you’re adding—whether it’s 1 lb resolve, 2 parts determination, 100 calls to Congress, or something else to add punch to our mix. Then, take a photo of your card and send it to photos@momsdemandaction.org.

And that is why I had to laugh when I ran into this story:

Police in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, say a 12-year-old boy armed with a BB gun robbed a local lemonade stand being run by a group of younger boys.

According to Johnstown Sgt. Patrick Goggin, the preteen approached the stand and pointed a gun at a 10-year-old boy, threatening to shoot if the other boys didn’t hand over the money they had earned selling lemonade.
Preteen Boy Holds Up Lemonade Stand with a BB Gun- Gawker

Is this a divine warning?