Category Archives: guns

defense of others, gun control, guns, Israel, mindset, Politics, resistance, shooting

Into the Herd

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Recently I had a lovely opportunity to spend some time with three people that wanted to learn to shoot. While I’m not a REAL firearms instructor, I knew enough to teach basic gun safety and had a place they could shoot. So I coached them through rifle from the prone position only, shotgun and handgun. They all seemed to enjoy themselves very much. I was heartened to hear the young girl, college age comment it wasn’t guns that are bad, it’s who is doing what with them. They all seemed pleased with having the chance to learn and get familiar with some basic tools and they seemed very pleased with how they shot. They should be. They all did a fantastic job. But best of all, they had fun. It was a good experience for them. I was so very proud of the three of them and made it very clear. When I wasn’t kicking their feet, but other than that. I mostly drank coffee, coached, corrected and encouraged. I kept my political commentary and legal commentary to a minimum due to time constraints. Two of the young’uns had to be at work at a certain time.

But one part I just couldn’t contain myself. During our handgun portion I was asked about carrying, how often did I carry, I did carry didn’t I? Of course. I said that most of the time it seemed when people had to pull their emergency equipment that the attacking party reconsidered their current itinerary. BUT, that didn’t mean they would. That a person needed to consider before they ever decided to carry that if the need arose, could they, would they kill someone to protect themselves or someone they were with? That you shouldn’t ever pull your weapon hoping to run a bluff. The people that prey on others are predators and they will sense that. NEVER put your sights on something you aren’t willing to destroy.

I guess this was so strongly on my mind because recently in Tel Aviv there was a Israeli Arab that attacked a pub crowd killing two and wounding others. Witnesses noticed an armed civilian who failed to try to neutralize the terrorist. They don’t know why, but speculation is that he was afraid of being prosecuted or arrested for awhile. America has Mom’s Demand Sanity Action and Gun Senseless crowd to deal with. Israel has “Gun on the kitchen table” who have successfully got the government to restrict the number of weapons issued to security guards and civilians. They apparently have had no effect on the amount of illegal guns in the arab communities as yet though. The terrorist left the pub massacre and went on to kill a cab driver who picked him up. He is still at large presumably in Tel Aviv.

This seems to be happening more. There have been police officers assaulted because they were afraid of becoming Darren Wilson, and afraid to do their job due to the “Ferguson Effect”. Civilians afraid to defend themselves because they are afraid of becoming George Zimmerman and having Black Panthers (or anyone else) publicly put a price on your head. Law abiding citizens are the ones under attack from the law, the government wants people to be afraid to defend themselves and they want the guardians to be afraid to defend the law-abiding. The only ones it seems this administration is intent of defending are thugs.

Which, I guess explains barry’s recent plans on gun control. If they aren’t afraid, make them unable.

I’m not really sure what prompted my three guests to decide they wanted to become a bit familiar with lifesaving tools at this time. I didn’t ask. It didn’t really matter. Bringing new people that understand tools and know how to use them into the herd is good, no matter what gets them here. But I do know what motivated me to teach them. A labor of love. People have different ways of thinking about things and different ways of saying “I love you”. And perhaps they are beginning to realize or consider what some have already discovered the hard painful way. “Without a rifle, you are nothing”.

So at the end of the day, I felt pretty good about things. I had successfully introduced and furthered some education on rifle, shotgun and handgun. I can take them apart a clean them. I was thinking I might not be far from a superhero cape. Until I tried to make a rice dish I wanted and discovered while I can do those things, I can not cook rice properly. I guess the superhero cape will be on hold for a while.

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authoritarian swine, gun control, gun grabbers, guns

Just follow the money

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I wrote recently about Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s unilateral move to ban reciprocity. Virginia, according to Herring’s diktat, will no longer recognize concealed carry permits from 25 other states.

The reaction from pro-rights advocates has been vicious, and in retaliation, the Virginia GOP has moved to defund Terry McAwful’s executive protection unit. Virginia state senator Bill Carrico proposed a budget amendment that could strip the anti-gun McAwful, who apparently has no problem working to disarm the very people who are the source of his power, and who has no problem using those same taxpayers’ money to protect his own worthless hide, of his protective detail. “If he’s so afraid of guns,”Carrico said, “then I’m not going to surround him with armed state policemen.”

However, it is instructive to see to whom McAwful and Herring are truly beholden, and John Richardson at No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money did just that.

Would it surprise anyone to know that both McAwful and Herring are beholden in no small part to former New York mayor and statist imbecile Michael Bloomberg? I didn’t think so.

Lo and behold the top donor to his campaign for Attorney General was none other than Independence USA PAC. They gave $1,292,417 of in-kind donations to his campaign. The money went for media production and advertising buys. To put this into perspective, the next two highest donors gave approximately half this amount each. The only candidate to get more money from that PAC was Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA).

Bloomberg-2-777x437And would it surprise anyone to know that Independence USA PAC is Bloomberg’s personal vendetta against our Second Amendment rights, and is dedicated to helping to elect candidates who support stricter gun-control laws? It was founded in October 2012 by Michael Bloomberg, and, so far, has been entirely funded by the former New York City mayor, according to FactCheck.org.

When your politicians are paid for by nosy, authoritarian, meddling nanny statists this is what you can expect. Bloomberg bought himself Virginia’s governor and attorney general. Now all he needs to do is say the word, and they will bend over.

Meanwhile, criminals will continue to carry Glocks in their sagging pants, while law-abiding citizens from out of state will simply switch to open carry, as is legal all over the Commonwealth.

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authoritarian swine, gun control, gun grabbers, guns

Well, we could have had Mark Obenshain…

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Mark Obenshain ran for Virginia’s Attorney General in 2013 and lost by a tiny, slim margin to a leftist, anti-Second Amendment authoritarian tool named Mark Herring, because apparently Virginia’s voters were somehow scared that their lady parts would be under the control of the EEEEVILLLL Republicans.

I know Obenshain personally, and he’s a solid pro-gun politician and a decent guy. Herring, on the other hand, is a statist nutbag who hasn’t met an anti-gun regulation he didn’t like. It is under his and Terry McAuliffe’s reign (Thanks, Trump, you buffoon, for giving thousands to elect that Clinton crony in my state!) that Virginia will no longer honor concealed carry permits from 25 other states.

Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) announced Tuesday that Virginia will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permits from 25 states that have reciprocity agreements with the commonwealth.

Under the policy, Virginians with a history of stalking, drug dealing or inpatient mental-health treatment cannot obtain a permit in a state with comparatively lax laws and carry a handgun legally at home.

Herring said severing the out-of-state agreements can prevent people who may be dangerous or irresponsible from carrying a concealed handgun.

Note the severe amount of stupid in that last statement. Herring actually thinks (if it can be called that) criminals who don’t obey laws in other states will miraculously obey Virginia’s.

Thanks a lot, vagina voters! You’ve given us authoritarian swine, for whom this is likely only the beginning! If they have their way, Virginia will soon be getting an “A” from the Brady Center, and you will be defending your giblets from armed thug invasion using only a spork and a cell phone.

I guess out-of-staters will simply open carry, as is legal all over the state.

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defense of others, guns, self defense, shooting

Controlled violence, or pistols and other things that go boom.

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Guest commentary
Exclusive to The Zelman Partisans
by William Lehman

Various friends and family have come to me over the years to ask questions such as “What type of pistol should I buy? Should I have a shotgun in the house?” and variations on this theme.

Seems some folks think I know a bit about the subject. Well, after carrying a firearm for more than 35 years, much of it for pay, I suppose they’re right. I was a cop for eight years, and in the military for 20. I’ve owned my fair share of weapons, and though my ankles and knees are not up to copping any more, I stay in the loop. I have drawn a weapon in the line of duty – both police and military – and to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never shot anyone.

Many of the following words of advice are not original to me; some of them are paraphrases of such greats as Col. Jeff Cooper; many of these words are distilled wisdom I’ve picked up from guys that REALY know something.

So, you want to join the members of that most unique society — those who are willing to take personal responsibility for their safety? OK, here are the rules:

First rule: You need to answer the following question: will you actually be willing and able to shoot someone in the head or heart, and watch them die before your eyes, maybe while wiping the blood off your face? (Most gunfights happen at a distance of less than 10 feet.) If the answer is “no,” you shouldn’t carry.

A firearm is not a magical talisman you whip out of your pants or purse, speak the magic words, “I have a gun,” and make evil disappear. You’re going to have to be willing to USE it.

Now, in most instances, merely brandishing a firearm is sufficient to make the bad guy suddenly realize he had an appointment across town that he’s now half an hour late for. But bad-guys are animals, and like animals, they can smell a bluff. If you go waving that Tacticool SIG with the laser sights, extended mag loaded with .45 ACP rounds, sporting the trigger job, flashlight, and bayonet in his face expecting to scare him, but without actually being willing to use it, and you may have just given them a high-dollar present with a lot of stupid baubles on it…

Oh, and probably your life, because after taking your firearm away, he will likely kill you. Of course, he would have probably killed you even if you weren’t armed, but at least you wouldn’t have added to his arsenal.

I understand that some folks are just mentally incapable of taking a life. OK, if you can’t, you can’t. Stay with someone who can, or understand that you take a very small, but existing risk of being robbed, raped, and then killed.

If you would rather be a martyr to the cause of non-violence than a survivor who has to report what happened to the police, and maybe live through a trial for daring to defend yourself, cool. Stop reading now, the rest of this is not for you.

Did the peaceniks leave yet?

Good.

I don’t understand that sort of mind set, but I know people, even people about whom I care about very much, who have that outlook. I view these folks the same way I look at those who suffer from a self-inflicted, incurable illness and are doomed to die of it. It’s unfortunate, but ultimately the decision was theirs.

The rest of this essay is for those of who have decided it’s better to be tried by 12 than carried by six.

Second rule: All guns are loaded. Always. Unless you personally checked it, know its condition, and have not let it out of your hand since that time, it’s loaded and there’s one under the hammer.

A while ago, I had an accidental discharge with a gun I always kept loaded. I knew it was loaded, but what I did not know is that my roommate had taken it to the range, and reloaded it afterward with all six rounds, meaning that the round under the hammer was live. When I handled it, my thumb slipped off the hammer and I had an accidental discharge, because I did not properly check my firearm. Best advice is to never assume. Never.

Third rule: Never put your finger in the trigger guard until you have your sights on the target.

Fourth rule: never cover anything with your muzzle that you are not willing to destroy.

These are common sense rules we have all likely heard before, but they bear repeating. Again and again.

Fifth rule: Carry the biggest caliber that you can comfortably control. If the best you can control is a 9mm, I’ll tell you what ammunition will be effective, because only a very few, brands and types of 9mm ammo are effective man stoppers. And if you can’t handle the recoil of a 9mm, start working out, because anything less than a 9mm, while effective under the proper circumstances, will be difficult to use effectively to stop an oncoming threat.

Imagine hitting a moving target the size of an eyeball, while scared out of your gourd, and trying to stay alive. If you can hit a man in the eye, or the bridge of the nose, or the throat, while he’s trying to stick, shoot, or bludgeon you to death, you don’t need to read this, because you’re an assassin.

That said, the prudent pistolero does not get in a gunfight with a caliber that doesn’t begin with a “.4” (.40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .45 LC, .45 GAP, .44, .41. or the two exceptions to the rule: the .357 and the 10mm).

Sixth rule: Try different pistols before you buy one. Shoot a lot, and shoot many different types. Shoot with friends. Try out their firearms. Most gunnies don’t need an excuse to go out and shoot. After you shoot a lot, you’ll find something that fits your hand and that you can shoot comfortably. Buy one just like it. Spend the money to buy a GOOD weapon; you’ll have it for life.

Guns can be heirlooms. Buy a decent handgun, give it a modicum of care, and you will hand it down to your kids, and they will hand it down to their kids, and so on, and so forth. This tool will maintain value better than almost anything other than maybe gold, so buy a good one and take care of it.

Finally: Never plan to get into a gun fight. Pistols are like fire extinguishers. They are there for emergencies. Why would you go anywhere with the expectation of trouble? If you’re expecting trouble, you might want to bring more firepower than just a pistol. Long guns, shotguns, and armed friends should accompany you if you are really expecting problems.

Remember the only fair fight is the one you win. Chivalry is for competitions. In war — whether nationally declared or street — when your life is on the line, giving the bad guy an even chance is a good way to end up dead. And unlike reenactments, movies, or video games, when you’re dead, you’re dead. Your kids get to squabble over your inheritance, and I have to go to your funeral.

I hate funerals, except for those of my enemies.

 

William Lehman is a retired Navy, medically retired police officer, who currently works for the Navy as a civilian and writes the John Fisher Chronicles — an urban fantasy series based in the pacific Northwest.

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Ed. note: This commentary appeared first on TZP’s weekly email alert. If you would like to be among the first to see new commentary (as well as to get notice of new polls and recaps of recent posts), please sign up for our alert list. (See sidebar or, if you’re on a mobile device, scroll down). Be sure to respond when you receive your activation email!

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authoritarian swine, gun control, gun grabbers, guns

Take them out with what?

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During an interview on “60 Minutes” recently, Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said something surprising – at least to those of us who have followed her anti-freedom, gun-grabbery over the years. When asked about what DC citizens should do if an active shooter threatens them during a siege like the one that took place in Paris a couple of weeks ago, Lanier, whom I have previously described as the DC Dominatrix due to her heavy-handed hatred of gun rights and Second Amendment freedoms, replied “If you’re in a position to try to take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there,”

Take them out for what? Coffee? A drink?

Despite being spanked in the courts several times, DC still has some of the nation’s most stringent gun control laws. Fox News reports that of 233 applications sent for review since the Metropolitan Police Department began accepting permits on Oct. 23, 2014, 185 licenses had been denied as of Nov. 14.

GettyImages-474248390-e1434470938562Lanier has the final say about who can have guns in the city, and it looks like there are exactly 48 people in the entire city who have been granted permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Open carry is prohibited, and concealed carry is nearly nonexistent, with only 44 concealed carry applications having been approved since October 23, 2014.  Virginia residents certainly can’t legally carry their tools of self defense in the city, and if they do, they risk arrest and having their lives destroyed by the very same police force whose head is now claiming that citizens need to be the ones who stand up to the horror!

So whom does Lanier expect to take up arms against terrorists until the cops can get there?

She certainly seems to be admitting that armed citizens are the first line of defense against attacks, and yet she refuses to free the residents of the nation’s capital to exercise their rights.

Such shocking cognitive dissonance from someone who is responsible for the safety and security of America’s capital! I wonder if the attacks in Paris were a wake-up call for Lanier, but somehow I doubt it.

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guns, shooting

Free 9mm Ammo for taking a newbie to the range

TZP just received this from Brandon Black of Ammunition to Go:

I thought you’d appreciate a new initiative we just launched that will put 100,000 rounds of 9mm ammo into the hands of new shooters for free. We’re calling it “Ammo Ambassadors” and any shooter who takes a newbie to the range will get the free ammo.

We want to make it as easy as possible for people already familiar with shooting and guns to bring somebody who has never shot before to the range and safely teach them about firearms. With an election just around the corner, the more people we can inspire to get familiar with what gun owners actually do with their firearms, the better – especially in this political environment.

Here’s how it’ll work:

  • Find a new shooter who hasn’t been to the range and experienced the joy of shooting before.
  • Download a target off our site and take them to the range.
  • Snap a photo of the new shooter with their target and upload it to our site.
  • You’ll get a coupon code that’s good for two boxes of free 9mm ammo from Magtech – along with free shipping.

We have 100,000 rounds of Magtech 9mm ready to ship right now. We’re hoping to find 1,000 Ammo Ambassadors to take 1,000 new shooters out to the range in the next few weeks.

The details and the target are available here.

It’s on the honor system, guys. So go out and be honorable. Take that neighbor, girlfriend, significant other, son, daughter, or other person who’s never experienced the awesomeness of shooting a firearm and do your bit to keep the shooting community growing.

Funny this comes up just when we’re polling about favorite EDC calibers — and 9mm is coming out on top (24 of the 72 votes cast so far).

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defense of others, gun control, gun grabbers, guns, hoplophobia, mindset, Political philosophy, Schools and campuses, Sellouts and traitors, So Much Stupid!

I am WOMAN hear me whine?

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I saw a column a few days ago about a University of Miami Law Professor who was opposed to a campus carry bill making it’s way through the Florida senate.

MA Franks, another self-defense expert, urged lawmaker to reject the legislation. Franks is a law professor at the University of Miami who specializes in self-defense law and is also an instructor in Krav Maga, a Israeli form of hand-to-hand self-defense.“Guns are highly effective in committing crimes. They are rarely effective in preventing them,” Franks said.Franks said law enforcement officers and military members receive extensive training in firearms yet “struggle to use them effectively and accurately,” citing an 18 percent “hit rate” in gun fights involving the New York Police Department.“The fact of the matter is guns escalate aggression. They create a false sense of security. They encourage violence as a first resort,” Franks said.Franks also rebutted the argument that concealed weapons could prevent rape, noting most assault victims know their attackers. “Unless someone is going out on a date with her hand on a gun, this is not going to help her,” Franks said.

Apparently unmoved by the victims of rape that testified in favor of the bill, Franks believes that a woman would be unable to use a gun to defend herself.

WOW. A Professor of law, but, but the degree came from Harvard so that could be part of the problem.

I had a conversation with my Mom this morning, we were just reminiscing about my Dad, and things I had wanted to be “when I grew up”. At one time I considered lawyer, or perhaps open a auto repair shop staffed by women. A place where women could come and not feel intimidated. Dad didn’t like either of those. At the time those conversations took place women weren’t really in either of those fields. Back then there were still some jobs that were considered “men’s work”.

I remember the women’s liberation movement. Fairly well. Women were fighting to be accepted into fields that typically weren’t open. They wanted equal pay for equal work.

The first female police officer (actually functioning as a regular officer) was 1972. The academies didn’t make it easy for them to get through and often their teammates didn’t want them on the team.

The first female fire fighter to work solely as a paid fire fighter was in 1974. There were women who were volunteer fire fighters in the 1800s. There had also been BLM crews made up of solely women, but the first regular fire fighter if you will, was 1974.

The first integrated unit where men and women served together in the military in a war zone was the 1991 Gulf War. Prior to that women had been in the military, but usually as support staff, medical or clerical jobs. Going back to the War for Independence and the un-Civil War women did serve in combat units, but they disguised themselves as men. It was a process not an event. In 1974 the first six women became Air Force pilots, in 1976 the military academies became co-educational.

Women fought hard to have the opportunity to have these non-traditional jobs. If I had a daughter attending an expensive college and had one of her professors telling her that she was incapable of using an effective tool to defend herself I would be appalled and outraged, and she would be out of there and into a good school in a Miami minute. If I were alumni of the school and had a professor telling women such things I would drop support. I realize colleges are a hotbed of liberalism and progress and so to return to such an outdated and false sterotype is despicable.

So who is this ancient crocodile that is so threatened by a woman being able to defend herself against someone or a group bigger and stronger than herself?

Well, this is where it gets really sad. MA Franks, is Mary Ann Franks. A woman. Sadder still? She is a Krav Maga instructor. She recognizes the importance of self-defense but would deny her sisters the use of one of the most, if not the most effective tool to do so.

She is young now, she can do Krav Maga, but is she foolish enough to think that ALL women can? I realize she earns money teaching a way cool martial arts form, and kudos to her for that. But she lives in la-la land (sorry, forgot about the Harvard thing) if she thinks that there are no older students or students with physical disabilities. The most vulnerable do not need an effective form of self-defense? And they are every bit as deserving to live safely as the people that can afford to take her classes or have her physical abilities.

To have someone who has worked to be in a role that at one time would have been dominated by men telling others that women are incapable of using a gun is allowing her liberal ideology to damage lives. Perhaps she needs to get off the campus and into the real world where she could begin to use her mind and begin to think.

What a shame. What a selfish, silly, ungrateful child.

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gun control, gun grabbers, guns, So Much Stupid!, You can't fix stupid

LA City Council Requires Tougher Storage Laws

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So the Lost Angeles (spelling intentional) City Council has decided to mandate tougher storage laws to ensure that no children accidentally shoot themselves in their fair city.

“I am tired and I know you all are too of reading of grieving parents who have lost their children through unintentional and totally preventable shootings,” said Laurie Saffian with Women Against Gun Violence.

Yes, do it for the children! Because we haven’t heard that well-worn trope before!

A violation will be a misdemeanor. Officials say there won’t be patrols checking homes to make sure the law is being obeyed, and they admit it will be difficult to know until after an incident occurs.

“Sadly, it will also come into play after tragedies occur or after near tragedies occur,” Krekorian said.

So the idiots can’t enforce it without massive violations of the Fourth Amendment, and they’ve essentially passed a new law that has no hope of reducing accidents – all to remedy a problem that pretty small, according to that bastion of conservative reporting, the Washington Post.

We know how many gun deaths were declared accidental (591 in 2011, the CDC says). And we know that 102 people killed in these accidental gun deaths in 2011 were younger than 18, according to Vernick, with half of these children younger than age 13.

In 2013, the last year for which statistics are available, 59 children under the age of 13 died due to accidental gunfire. Compare this to the 577 in that same age bracket who drowned, and 51 and 55 who died of poisoning and falls respectively. Why is it that gun grabbers aren’t lobbying for swimming pool control?

This new law can’t be enforced, and it will more likely than not be completely useless at deterring accidental deaths.

But you know what it will do?

It will ensure that any armed thug who breaks into your home will have complete access to your body, your loved ones, and your property with impunity.

Unless, of course, you think your encounter with an armed intruder will go something like this:

DOOR FLIES OPEN, ARMED INTRUDER ENTERS

You: Oh, my goodness! You have a gun! How did you possibly get one with all the strict gun laws we have in Lost Angeles?

Intruder: Shut up and lie down.

You: Oh, NOES! What are you planning to do to me?

Intruder: Well, first I’m going to tie you up and rape you. And then I thought I’d walk around and help myself to your stuff. That OK with you?

You: No! As a matter of fact, I bought a gun to protect myself against just such an eventuality!

Intruder: Well, where is this mythical gun?

You: It’s locked up right now. City Council says I must.

Would you mind waiting right there while I run and fetch it?

Intruder: Oh, sure! I’ll wait here. After all, I’d like to afford you a level playing field before I rape and rob you! Go for it. I’ve got all the time in the world!

There's no facepalm strong enough for this lunacy!
There’s no facepalm strong enough for this lunacy!

In what lunatic world do these imbeciles live?

What good is a tool of self defense if you cannot immediately use it in times of need?

And what good is a right, if you are forced to submit to idiot regulations that have no hope of preventing violence and serve to put you at a disadvantage in the face of an armed enemy?

Good luck, LA. You’ll need it.

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gun control, gun grabbers, guns

How Do Those Shackles Taste, Lawson?

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Lawson Clarke is an ad exec from Massachusetts and a “Gun Owner Who is Perfectly Comfortable With Gun Control.”

Translation: he’s a serf, who has no comprehension of the meaning of a right and thinks the Second Amendment protects his “right” to hunt.

In his article for NPR, he details the laborious process he underwent as a Massachusetts resident to get state permission to exercise his rights, and he apparently doesn’t mind the numerous forms, background checks, and exorbitant costs associated with being able to exercise a fundamental right, because MASS SHOOTINGS!

STEP 1: I enrolled in a four-hour firearms safety course registered with the state.

A safety course is always a good idea. Only four hours? Most gun owners I know train much more often and much longer with their self-defense tools. But when mandated by the state, it really becomes a perfunctory gesture. I won’t even get into the whole “registered with the state” thing!

STEP 2: I joined a properly licensed gun club to demonstrate I was merely interested in hunting and recreational shooting. While this was by no means mandatory, it was encouraged by my local police department.

I wonder how much the kickback is for said “encouragement.” And I wonder why this particular brand of stupid doesn’t consider paying to join a club “encouraged” by the police to “prove” that you are only interested in exercising your right to engage in activities that have little to do with the intent of the Second Amendment isn’t a gross violation of said right and a twisted perversion of freedom.

STEP 3: I then visited my local police station, where I presented my application for a license to carry, my firearm safety certificate and a letter from my gun club stating my membership was in good standing.

STEP 4: Along with my paperwork I had to pay a $100 application fee. NOTE: In Massachusetts a firearms license is only valid for six years, and the $100 application fee is due any time I reapply.

A $100 fee to exercise a right, eh? I have to wonder once again if this serf even understands the basic definition of a right.

I also have to wonder how poor people, who ostensibly don’t live in safe, often gated communities (unlike Boston ad executives), but want a means to protect their homes against armed thugs, can afford all these extra expenses in addition to the several hundred dollars for the purchase of the actual gun!

Why do you hate poor people, Lawson?

STEP 5: I sat through a face-to-face interview with a police officer and submitted to a preliminary background check.

STEP 6: My photo and fingerprints were taken and filed digitally with the Massachusetts State Police, along with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and the national criminal records database.

Are you applying for a top secret clearance or begging the “authorities” to allow you to exercise a fundamental right?

STEP 7: I made an appointment at the police firing range on Moon Island in Boston Harbor to demonstrate my proficiency with a firearm in front of a state trooper.

Hopefully it wasn’t this guy.

A Massachusetts State Trooper is expected to survive after accidentally shooting himself in the leg, State Police said.

Ooops!

STEP 8: I waited approximately 30 days for my license to be approved.

STEP 9: My class A license to carry arrived in the mail.

I’m sure if you ask any assailant trying to victimize you really nicely to wait until you get your state-sanctioned permission to own a firearm, they’ll oblige. No. Really! Stop laughing!

STEP 10: I visit a nearby gun store, which by law is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as well as the Massachusetts Firearms Records Bureau. After presenting my license to the clerk, I was then allowed to browse the store’s inventory.

It’s instructive that you need a license to even go shopping in the People’s State of Massachusetts! But apparently, that bit of statist ploddery doesn’t bother Lawson either.

STEP 11: I selected my very fist firearm: a 30/30 Winchester Model 94, a tried and true staple of New England deer hunting.

Because that’s what the Second Amendment is really about — deer hunting. It says so right there in the text. Wait… no? But… but… but… we in Massachusetts know what the Second Amendment is about! We KNOW freedom, darnit!

STEP 12: While in the store I submitted to yet another background check, this time over the phone with the FBI.

Sure! What’s another background check to make a constitutionally-protected purchase between master and slave?

STEP 13: I waited three days.

Luckily you weren’t a woman who was being stalked and needed a tool to protect herself, eh? But I’m sure if you asked very nicely, the stalker or a violent ex would wait for you to finally purchase your gun!

STEP 14: I returned to the store and picked up my Winchester 30/30, effectively adding my name to the list of over 250,000 legal gun owners in Massachusetts.

Good to know that you don’t mind being added to a state-maintained list of innocent people whose only crime was a desire to exercise their rights. How do those chains taste? Want a gold Star of David so you can be properly identified?

From start to finish, the entire process unfolded over the course of several months, but then again so did acquiring my driver’s license and first car. In fact, one could argue automobiles and firearms are equally lethal machines: each responsible for over 30,000 deaths per year in the United States; so perhaps there’s justification for requiring patience in this endeavor.

I’m willing to bet that acquiring your driver’s license took several months, because the state wanted to ensure that while you’re operating a machine weighing several tons on public roadways, that you are properly educated and trained to do so. I’m also fairly sure you didn’t have to sit down for an interview with law enforcement or undergo two background checks to buy a car or get a license to drive it.

Did you have to pass a background check to buy your car? Did you have to get fingerprinted like a common criminal? Did you have to wait several days before you could take your car home? I don’t think so, Sparky.

Don’t conflate purchasing a car with the months of bureaucratic hoops you had to jump through to purchase a gun. The auto purchase takes a couple of hours and the mere ownership of it does not require training, background checks, fingerprinting, or even a license! The mere purchase requires you have money or sufficient credit to pay for said vehicle. Purchase and operation of the vehicle are two separate things. Of course, I don’t expect someone who doesn’t comprehend or respect the plain language of the Second Amendment to understand that nuance.

As a gun owner, I’m perfectly comfortable with the notion of sensible gun control, and in the stark light of recent tragedies, I’d say the process of acquiring my first firearm in Massachusetts was exactly as difficult as it needed to be.

While we’re all thrilled that you’re “perfectly comfortable” – OK, we really don’t give a damn, but still… – let me ask you something, Lawson: Are the people who take the time to go through months of background checks, the training, the fingerprinting, and the waiting periods the ones committing violent acts with firearms? Are all these measures effective crime reduction techniques?

Nope.

Massachusetts has a national reputation as a bastion of gun control, but crimes and injuries related to firearms have risen — sometimes dramatically — since the state passed a comprehensive package of gun laws in 1998.

Murders committed with firearms have increased significantly, aggravated assaults and robberies involving guns have risen, and gunshot injuries are up, according to FBI and state data.

But… but… but… that’s because illegal guns are flowing from other states!

That’s not what I asked, Sparky. Are the people who are legally licensed to keep and bear arms in Massachusetts the ones committing the crimes?

gun stats

Judging by the records kept in these states, nope! The majority of people willing to undergo all that rigamarole will, in fact, never commit a single crime with that gun, so how is it, exactly, you think you’re helping mitigate violence by subjecting yourself to statist regulations?

Some vocal conservatives are quick to accuse Massachusetts of being a bastion for the liberal elite who are grossly out of touch with the fundamentals of the Second Amendment. It seems they’ve forgotten this is where the “shot heard round the world” was fired in the name of Independence; where simple colonists in 1775 formed a militia and rose up in arms against a formidable force of British Army regulars.

Do you think those colonists registered their weapons? You think they paid some gold to be able to keep a simple defense tool in their homes? They would have probably slapped you stupid at the thought, you quivering-lipped coward! I would submit that given your ardent willingness to submit yourself to onerous infringements of your rights, you are the one who has forgotten Massachusetts’ history of liberty. Not only that, but you spit in its face!

You’re welcome, by the way.

Oh, please shut your ignorant yap! If it had been you and your fellow vassal colostomy bags fighting the war for Independence, begging the government’s permission to allow you to own a simple firearm, we’d still be a British colony!

Trust me, in Massachusetts we know our history and we know the significance of the Second Amendment. However, we also understand that owning firearms is an immense responsibility, and we have carefully balanced our right to keep and bear them with what I would argue are an appropriate amount of institutional safeguards.

You keep referring to that knowing the significance of the Second Amendment thingy… I do not think it means what you think it means.

If you know your history and the significance of the Second Amendment, then you should also know that responsibility has nothing to do with paying bribes to petty statists to allow you to exercise a fundamental right.

And no, I don’t trust you when you tell me how much you respect the right to keep and bear arms, even as you gleefully submit to noxious infringements on said right! Thanks for playing.

Is it a perfect system everyone can agree on? Certainly not. But in a time when contentious shouting has largely supplanted meaningful debate, perhaps that’s too much to hope for. However, there is data to suggest our state gun ownership laws are working. Well, that is to say, they seem to work better than the gun policies of most other states. In a recent study, Massachusetts stands out as having one of the lowest rates of gun-related deaths, second only to Hawaii, a state with a population one-fifth our size.

Actually, no. And the statistics you cite for only one year are deceptive at best. If you refer to the Boston Globe article I cited above, you will see that gun-related deaths have nearly doubled from 1998 when your state first ushered in its tyrannical infringements on people’s rights!

In 2011, Massachusetts recorded 122 murders committed with firearms, a striking increase from the 65 in 1998, said Fox, the Northeastern professor. Nationwide, such murders increased only 3 percent from 1999 to 2010, the CDC says.

There were increases in other crimes involving guns in Massachusetts, too. From 1998 to 2011, aggravated assaults with guns rose 26.7 percent. Robberies with firearms increased 20.7 percent during that period, according to an FBI analysis conducted for the Globe.

So not only has gun-related violence increased in Massachusetts since the package of draconian gun control measures was passed, but said violence has increased at a higher rate than the rest of this country! How are those “gun ownership laws” working out for you, Lawson?

Clearly the epidemic of gun violence is an issue that needs to be addressed on a national level. For any gun owner or gun rights advocate to suggest otherwise is not only stubbornly myopic, but inhumane.

And here we have the emotionalist rhetoric we’ve so grown accustomed to from gun-grabbing freaks and their obedient chattel.

If you don’t support tyrannical infringements on your rights, you’re heartless.

If you don’t useless bureaucracy to make your right to self defense cost-prohibitive, you’re stubborn.

If you aren’t willing to submit yourself to a metaphorical anal probe in order to exercise your fundamental rights – an anal probe that has no hope of actually reducing violence – you’re myopic and inhumane.

Clearly you haven’t heard the news that overall, violence has been on the decline in the United States. So maybe, before you decide to spew another load of nonsense into the Interwebz, you’ll do some research, and also look up the meaning of the word “epidemic.”

So if we’re earnestly looking to take steps towards reducing the number of gun-related deaths in the United States while respectfully preserving our Constitutional right to legally own firearms, perhaps the rest of the country should, once again, look to Massachusetts to lead the way.

And watch our gun-related violence nearly double, as it did in Massachusetts? You’ve got to be kidding me!

Please keep your statist mitts off my rights. I can see you obviously enjoy your shackles, but the rest of us are just a bit smarter than that! So just go back to licking the boots of your masters and leave the rest of us alone.

Stick to advertising, Lawson. Obviously logic, basic research, and policy are not your strong points!

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Elsewhere, genocide, guns, hatred of Jews, Israel, Media, mindset, Politics, self defense

Nightmare on Ha Kotel Street

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This is the time of year when things like Freddy Krueger and zombies begin to make their appearance. Not only in costume shops, but in the dreams of young and old alike. But then you wake up from the dream, have a nice cup of Israeli coffee and start to breath normally again. Telling yourself, “It was just a dream”.

But what if your life in the daytime rivals the horrific events of your nighttime nightmares?

It’s becoming that way for normal Israelis, just people going out to work, take their kids to school or grab some coffee, milk and halva on the way home.

There have been a lot of attacks on Israeli Jews. There is the one chronicled by my teammate Y.B. of a wonderful man and his wife in front of their young children as they were on their way to a class reunion. Miracle of miracles they evidently didn’t see the children in the back, or just weren’t inclined to kill them at that point. Then a couple days ago there was a horrific stabbing in Jerusalem in the old city of a man, his wife and their two year old toddler. They were out shopping. From the video it appears they were in the Cardo. A nice shopping section in the old city of Jerusalem. I’m quite familiar with the Cardo. I was there four months ago.

You notice all the shopkeepers standing around and watching it, drinking soda, not attempting to intervene as a man, his wife and two year old are stabbed. Not only that, when Adelle Banita-Bennett attempted to escape by running away with a knife stuck in her shoulder the arabs shouted to her to “die” and “hopefully she would die too”. When she tried to hold on to a passerby as she felt she was going to faint, he shook her off and kicked her. No arabs attempted to help her. Who did? Rabbi Nehemia Lavi Hy”d. He grabbed his gun and went out to try to help. The Father of seven was then stabbed and his weapon taken. Those arab shopkeepers stood around watched and did nothing. But the SOBs moved fast enough when the shots started. Too late to save the Father and the Rabbi.

You can add in the children shot in Sukkahs this year, rocks thrown at the IDF and civilians, rockets fired and female motorists ambushed.

Then there seems to be an increase the the rate of arab “traffic accidents”. Like this tragic lose of control of a car.

The driver was the uncle of one of the Har Nof Synagogue murders. With all the unfortunate traffic accidents in Israel lately perhaps they should consider an car ban for arabs. And isn’t it shocking he had that ax right there with him in the car.

Where does all this come from? Part of it is Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen that leads the PLO. When you have someone who helped finance the Munich Olympic Massacres as the leader of the PLO, shouldn’t be shocking. If you didn’t know, the day the attacks began, was the day after Abbas stood in the UN and said Oslo was finished.

Somehow I don’t think he is all that concerned that the 13 year old child he told the world the Israelis murdered is actually alive and being cared for in an Israeli hospital. The 13 year old child in question is probably related in temperament to Michael Brown the gentle giant that started the Ferguson riots.

If children are taught to hate, and grow up thinking the best thing is to die killing Jews? There are youtube videos teaching them how, though some have been taken down now. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon showed a chart that has been used teaching how to stab a Jew.

And that brings me to my next point. How the current regime in the White House, the world, the UN and media view this situation. In the article above is the line

Sky News has been unable to verify Mr Danon’s claims, in which he said: “When a Palestinian child returns from school and opens (sic) the television, he doesn’t see Barney or Donald Duck, he sees murderers portrayed as heroes.

Um, well, how about what’s going on now? Because with what I see happening, that pretty much looks to be the case. The two little kids in combat fatigues saying they want to blow up Jews sure sounds like it. The 13 year old “child” that was stabbing people with his cousin sure seems like it.

Then we have the ever reliable CNN, from a CNN article we learn

Although the Obama administration has been careful not to place blame on any party for the latest escalation of violence, the officials said Kerry is particularly concerned about statements by Palestinian officials inciting their people to violence.”This violence and any incitement to violence has got to stop,” Kerry said at a separate event. “The situation is simply too volatile, too dangerous. And it is not going to lead to the outcome that people want, which is to have a peaceful resolution of the differences.”He added, “We continue to stress the importance of all persons of responsibility to condemn the violence on either side and to avoid provocative statements.” (Violence on either side?? I don’t believe the Jews are standing near Gaza or East Jerusalem and hurling rocks or hanging around with knives in their hands. )U.S. officials said Kerry is concerned about heavy-handed treatment of Palestinian rock throwers by Israeli security forces, particularly the use of live ammunition against young protesters.( I think a rock has already binged Kerry in the head. He’s worried about the wrong group, the ones trying to kill innocent people. Perhaps he should suggest to them they stay home and quit trying to kill people by throwing rocks at them.)

From the NY Slimes we learn East Jerusalem, Bubbling Over With Despair

EAST Jerusalem? EAST Jerusalem? Um, I believe the attacks are not being carried out in EAST Jerusalem, which is mainly arab. Written by someone who sounds like they aspire to be a leader of “Occupy whatever the heck is next”, they are offended that the citizenship which arabs in East Jerusalem can apply for is being revoked for the “college students” that have stabbed police and attacked others. They are going to LOSE their SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFITS! And have to reapply for visas every few months. Those Israeli beasts! They have a helpful chart showing the number of Palestinian deaths resulting from Israeli security forces. They also show the number of attacks on Israelis, which is fewer. What they do not mention is it is not one for one. MANY Israelis are sometimes injured in one attack. They talk of the three men that kidnapped and killed a boy from East Jerusalem. Wrong, yes, I agree. But they forget to mention that was in retaliation for the three Israeli teenagers that were kidnapped, tortured and killed. No, it doesn’t make it right, but it would have seemed pertinent to mention don’t you think?

Then there is this attempt by a MSNBC “reporter” to say Israeli forces had shot a unarmed man. Too bad for him, his camera crew had already put in a big shot of the “unarmed” terrorist clearly holding a knife.

These are not people working for a peaceful solution, nor are the people that “just want their own land”, these are people that are killing Jews because they are Jews.

And the world’s response? Our nation’s response via John Kerry?

“Regarding Jerusalem, it absolutely is unacceptable on either side to have to have violence resorted to as a solution,” he said.”And I would caution everybody to be calm, not to escalate the situation and to deal with this in a way that can find quick way back to the full restoration of the status quo where the chief administration is in the hands of the government of Jordan and King Abdullah, who is the custodian,” he said, referring to the Al-Aqsa site, also known as the Temple Mount.”And it is very important to maintain a sense of calm that will minimize the instinct for escalation.”

Excuse me? Violence on either side? Everyone to be calm? Restore the status quo to Jordan? In case Mr. Heinz-Kerry hasn’t noticed, this is not a two way street. The peaceful palestinians are killing people, the Jews are dying. Jews aren’t attacking shoppers and children sleeping in Sukkahs. Basically it’s the same response of the regime to the shooting of Christians in Oregon. Meh. But for Heinz-Kerry to act like this is aggression on both sides is very disingenuous.

The Gaza strip? You can tell the deep level of caring Hamas has for the people living in the Gaza strip. Hamas uses schools, hospitals, apartment buildings to store and fire rockets into Israel. Israel will then warn the people in those buildings that the buildings are going to be bombed. They are the only military in the world to do this. It seems Israel has an objection to having rockets rained down on it’s citizens. So Israel will warn the people in the targeted buildings. Should the people try to leave the buildings, Hamas will shoot them. Hamas KNOWS the Israelis will not bomb the building as long as there are people in there. So whatever non-sense you hear from the UN or the current regime in the White House? Hamas knows, the Israelis will not attack innocent citizens. Interesting isn’t it?

Look at the response of the White House to killing 22 innocent people in the US attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz Afghanistan. We can’t say anything, need a full investigation, don’t want to jump to conclusions. But when Israel shuts down a building that Hamas is using to fire rockets? The condemnation is large and accompanied by outrage.

The media, other nations, our current regime and certainly the UN hold Israel to a different standard than they do the rest of the world. With Jews fleeing the anti-semitism of Europe for the relative safety of Israel, the Jewish people should at least be safe in their homeland.

And finally, it looks like that may begin to happen. While in the CNN version of the bus stop attack they say that a Israeli security officer stopped it, on a Israeli radio show I heard it was a armed citizen. Not that CNN would ever admit THAT!

All this has prompted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to call for all licensed citizens to begin to carry guns. You gotta admit, Mayor Barkat is something. This is the mayor in the white shirt tackling another peaceful palestinian after he had stabbed a few people.

Not exactly Bloomers is he?

The IDF, Police and Security Services are almost everywhere. Most times on the bus or the train in Israel there would be young soldiers with their fully automatic weapons riding along. This was shocking to me as in America we are told to allow weapons on a bus or train, let alone fully automatic would result in countless casualties. The weapons would just begin randomly shooting people. In Israel, this never seemed to happen. They just pretty much hung out quietly with the person carrying them. There are IDF, police and security all around that can intervene, and they do it very well.

My point of course, is that they are too easy to spot. A peaceful palestinian that wants to stab someone only has to wait until there are no uniforms around. And no matter how good IDF, Police & Security are, and they are good, they can’t be everywhere at once. In addition to that, just think what it would do to the campaign of terror if they suddenly realized a WHOLE lot of Israelis wearing jeans, TZP polo shirts (sigh, I know) but regular Israelis were armed. Or might be armed. They just don’t know who they are and where they are. I’m thinking that would put a stick in the wheels of the current terror campaign.

Apparently Israelis agree, they have been flooding gun shops looking to find tools to keep themselves and their families safe. One shop owner is teaching for free. He waived the fee as his way of trying to help Israelis cope with the wave of peaceful palestinians expressing their “frustration”. And just so you know, when the Israelis classify a wound as “lightly wounded”? It can still be a very serious, possibly life threatening wound. I think they’re from the Monty Python school of Emergency Medicine. In case you need a bit of levity at this point.

Not that Israelis are completely innocent in all this. No indeed. In fact, one woman has had her gun license revoked! A threat and a menace she was! Do you know what she did? She is accused of attempting to PRAY on the Temple Mount. Everyone knows only muslims are allowed to pray at their third holiest site. First Holiest to Jews and Christians, but hey, they aren’t muslims. She hasn’t actually been investigated for it, so not sure why this happened. But the point is, when there is a list of who owns guns, well, there is a list of who owns guns. Mistakes can be tragic as her husband was stabbed very near their home by an arab terrorist peaceful palestinian.

But as they say on my favorite Israeli radio show, I think this will be coming soon to a theater near you. As 80% of the “refugees” flooding Europe are in fact, not from Syria. What do we have flooding the US via barry’s import program? Who knows? But the chances that they came from a country where the children have been raised to believe that killing Jews is a wonderful thing is good. The attacks we see in Israel now, are quite likely going to increase here.

Israelis are under attack in their daily lives, and the world’s response, the media response is meh. Perhaps the Israelis need to start saying the name of each victim attacked. Perhaps if they say the name of each victim attacked is “Cecil”, the world will begin to care.

“Ams Yisrael Chai – The people of Israel live.” עם ישראל חי

Y.B. put up this video, but I have my favorite version of the same song.

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