Hawaii gun laws hit target “I believe Hawaii is a model for the rest of the country,” said state Rep. Nadine Nakamura. “We have one of the lowest gun-related deaths (rates) among all 50 states due to many factors.”
Well, I’m glad to here that your state is such a crime-free paradise. And how did you manage that?
Those factors include the low rate of gun ownership, strong gun control laws and firearm permit issuing, a gun safety education requirement, and mental health affidavit with medical record accessibility being required at the time of registration.
“Hawaii also has a 14- to 20-day waiting period, (and) bans handgun magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition and semi-automatic handguns with certain features,” Nakamura said.
[…]
Fully automatic firearms, shotguns with barrels less than 18 inches long, and rifles with barrels less than 16 inches long are prohibited by state law.
[…]
Permits are valid in the issuing county only, and Hawaii does not recognize concealed carry permits issued by other states.
“Currently, all firearm buyers must undergo a criminal background check, a mental health background check and subject themselves to active monitoring on an FBI-sponsored crime database,” Bryant said.
[…]
All firearms, including those brought into the state by new residents, must be registered.
That’s… draconian. Still, they say it paid off.
Sort of.
Let’s compare darned gun-free Hawaii to another state. Hawaii has a population of 1,428,557, so I’ll run with New Hampshire, which is close at 1,334,795 (2016 numbers). New Hampshire is also a good test of the effectiveness of those victim disarmament laws because it’s the virtual polar opposite of Hawaii: high rate of firearms ownership, CCW licenses available (shall issue) but not required to concealed or open carry, background checks only when purchasing from an FFL, no registration, NFA items are allowed, no weapon-type bans, no magazine limits, no waiting periods, CCW reciprocity is moot because visitors don’t need licenses either, no specific mental health check, and the cops don’t get to read your medical records without a warrant.
New Hampshire must be a crime-infested hell, right?
Hawaii ranks 30th in violent crime. New Hampshire ranks… 48th.
Hawaii ranks 8th(!) in property crime. New Hampshire ranks… 50th.
Hawaii ranks 41st in murder. New Hampshire ranks… 50th again; go figure.
I’ve never been to Hawaii, and don’t want to. I used to live in New Hampshire. Other than winter, it’s a nice place. The road I lived on had several shooting ranges; roughly 1 in 3 houses had a range, possibly more.
Everybody didn’t open carry, but it wasn’t all that unusual. I often did, and offhand I only recall three times someone said something. 1) A woman from Taxachusettswas outraged that I carried a gun in the grocery store. I told her that based on the statistics, I was more worried about her killing someone with her car, than me having to shoot someone. She rushed to the front of the store, presumably to warn the manager that an armed man was in there. Since I’m not the only person who open carried in there I was unsurprised when nothing happened.
2) A little boy whose family moved in down the road asked why I had a gun. I started listing the wildlife in the area — starting with the ubiquitous bears. I told him that I’d probably never need it, but it’s like a fire extinguisher.
3) I was headed to the mailbox when the guy running the local police department drove by. He stopped to chat. He glanced at my gun and said, “I’m glad to see that. I wish more people would carry.”
Hawaii regulates the heck out of what firearms they even allow, yet has significantly higher crimes rates than heavily armed New Hampshire.
I think the real difference is the people, not the laws. And if all those laws are holding down crime rates in Hawaii, what the heck are the people like?
1 :capacity to endure pain or hardship :endurance, fortitude, stamina
2 a :sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own
b :the act of allowing something :toleration
3 :the allowable deviation from a standard; especially :the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece
4 a (1) :the capacity of the body to endure or become less responsive to a substance (such as a drug) or a physiological insult especially with repeated use or exposure developed a tolerance to painkillers ; also :the immunological state marked by unresponsiveness to a specific antigen
(2) :relative capacity of an organism to grow or thrive when subjected to an unfavorable environmental factor
b :the maximum amount of a pesticide residue that may lawfully remain on or in food
Ok, that last one kind of made my eyebrows go up a bit.
There’s tolerances involved in all sorts of things. Sewing, you can be off by like a ¼ of an inch sometimes, gapping spark plugs, there is a set gap, it can be off a little, reloading bullets, ok, so I don’t actually know how to do this, but I’m guessing there is a tiny bit of play. But a lot of things involve a certain amount of give. There is tolerance in how long my horses will stand to have cockleburrs picked out of their manes and tails, this can be influenced with horse cookies, so things can have an effect on the amount of tolerance given or acceptable. There is tolerance in activity, running, reading, tail brushing, for example. Today I was listening to a radio show in the morning. They were talking about the NFL, the national losers and their behavior. The caller thought that since the left seems to be determined to destroy anything in this country with the least bit of masculinity to it, maybe people should just wait for the kneeing phase to blow over as if they were a bunch of spoiled 3 year olds acting out….which, well. Yeah. But the host made his point, the NFL, as a manly sport is gone. The owners by not keeping things professional have allowed it to basically die as the beloved American sport where kids could look up to the felon players. And that the previous things known as “football fans” tended to be pro-America, pro-Military, pro-Law enforcement and they are tired of antifa, tired of rioting, tired of being told to just ride it out, it will get better because it isn’t and this anti-American unprofessional crap is getting on their very last nerve and they are tired of being “tolerant” and fighting by Marquess of Queensberry rules and losing because the left never does fight by the rules, anyone’s. The right has tried to be the grown-ups and be tolerant of other lifestyle choices, beliefs and everything else and they’ve had it. Yep, I hear that.
Then driving home tonight, I was listening to Joe Pags, I like him. He was talking about the security guard from the Mandalay Bay. Actually he was probably more like a parking valet because he was unarmed. An unarmed “security guard”. Huh. Nope, a parking valet that doubles as a walk around bell boy, or regular valet. After the “incident” a few pictures of Jesus Campos made it onto the internet, the heroic security guard. And then he went missing. He was suppose to be on Sean Hannity, and had some other interviews lined up. And he supposedly went to a walk in clinic and then more or less vanished after having canceled all his interviews. Huh. He has since reappeared on The Ellen DeGeneres show. Huh. Well, I suppose it’s a logical choice. Ellen is known for her hard hitting, in depth investigative journalism. Oops, sorry, no, I was thinking of Sharyl Attkisson. So in addition to the baffling choice of venues for his one and only interview, it appears Jesus has been doing some stress eating. So the things Joe was pointing out were pretty interesting. After Jesus went missing, a reporter, Laura Loomer decided after finding that Jesus’s name had been scrubbed from the Mandalay employee list to pay a visit to his house. Which is being guarded by an armed guard working for a security company with a “virtual” address and a business license that expired in January of this year. Huh. Something else Joe pointed out, from the pictures of the guy that were posted on the net right after it happened it appears that Jesus has gained about 70 pounds, in two weeks. It seems that most of his answers on the Ellen show were very well rehearsed. No word if he was auditioning for Harvey Weinstein.
Now I’m a reasonably tolerant person, I think. In my job, I try hard to be nice and kind and helpful to my co-workers and to people I need to interact with. Really, I do. However, I have what is known as a low, and it’s getting lower all the dang time, B.S. tolerance. I will try very hard to be a team player, but, do.not.mess.with.me. It makes me cranky.
And as I’m listening to Joe, and thinking we’re on like the 3rd or 4th timeline now of how and when things happened, the B.S.-O-Meter pegged out.
B.S.-O-Meter
You have a lot of people that were killed, more wounded, theories abounding, immediate calls for more restrictions on the Second Amendment, cases made for gun confiscation, faux Second Amendment groups joining in the chorus for infringement like a bunch of demented Stockholm syndrome victims and the actual knowledge of what really happened and what this was really about is pretty dang thin. I mean, these fools want to bring our country to a point where only the government has guns, or at least regular American Citizens are only allowed a registered .22 single shot if they can prove need, keep it locked up and can only buy one box of registered ammunition every other month.
B.S.-O-Meter
So I thought a short walk down memory lane might be in order. In Chronological order.
December 28, 1890 a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside intercepted Spotted Elk’s band of Miniconjou Lakota and 38 Hunkpapa Lakota near Porcupine Butte and escorted them 5 miles westward to Wounded Knee Creek, where they made camp. The remainder of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, led by Colonel James W. Forsyth, arrived and surrounded the encampment. The regiment was supported by a battery of four Hotchkiss mountain guns.
On the morning of December 29, the U.S. Cavalry troops went into the camp to disarm the Lakota. One version of events claims that during the process of disarming the Lakota, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote was reluctant to give up his rifle, claiming he had paid a lot for it. Simultaneously, an old man was performing a ritual called the Ghost Dance. Black Coyote’s rifle went off at that point, and the U.S. army began shooting at the Native Americans. The disarmed Lakota warriors did their best to fight back.
The US Army killed about 250 Shoshone during the Bear River Massacre in southeastern Idaho in 1863. As recently discussed in Smithsonian, “200 soldiers under Colonel Patrick Connor’s command killed 250 or more Shoshone, including at least ninety women, children, and infants. The Shoshone were shot, stabbed, and battered to death. Some were driven into the icy river to drown or freeze.”
In eastern Colorado in 1864, the Sand Creek Massacre occurred. There, US soldiers attacked peaceful, unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians “with carbines and cannon, killing at least 150 Indians, most of them women, children and the elderly. Before departing, the troops burned the village and mutilated the dead, carrying off body parts as trophies.”
In 1870, the US Army accidentally killed the “wrong” group of Indians, in the Baker or Marias Massacre. In north-central Montana, along the Marias River, Major Eugene Baker ordered his soldiers to attack a village of peaceful Blackfeet. When informed by a subordinate that this group was not the one the troops were looking for, Baker responded, “That makes no difference, one band or another of them; they are all Piegans [Blackfeet] and we will attack them.” About 175 unarmed Blackfeet were murdered, the great majority children and women.
I can’t find any photos of what the press said about the massacre at Wounded Knee, how they explained or presented it. I did however find a line in an editorial of the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer,
“The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilizations, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.”~~L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum was the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Wow, so along with yellow brick roads and flying monkeys L. Frank was totally cool with some genocide. But, at least as a member of the press, he covered the massacre fairly and explained why it was totally necessary. /ticked off sarcasm.
Demoncrat President Bill Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno
So the Sheila synopsis of this is the government wanted Randy Weaver to do some informant work for them. He declined, they wanted him to do a bit of gunsmithing. He declined initially and finally gave in. Yeah, I’m leaving out tons, but there’s a link above. But the circumstances lead to a stand-off between the jackboots and the Weavers and a family friend. The brave ATF, US Marshals Service, and the FBI found it necessary to shoot an unarmed dog, a 14 year old boy in the back and an especially brave FBI HOSTAGE RESCUE TEAM sniper named Lon Horiuchi scored a major victory when he shot 43 year old Vicky Weaver in the head as she stood at the back door of the cabin holding her baby. I don’t think that the FBI has a good grasp on what HOSTAGE RESCUE means. Cause that sure as hell isn’t it. The Boundary County, Idaho, prosecutor indicted sniper Lon Horiuchi for manslaughter in 1997. Both the Weaver family and Harris brought civil suits against the government over the events of the firefight and siege, the Weavers winning a combined out-of-court settlement in August 1995 for $3.1 million, and Harris being awarded, after persistent appeals, a $380,000 settlement in September 2000.
And this is how the media reported what was happening at the time.
Demoncrat President Bill Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno
If they wanted to arrest Koresh, why didn’t they just do it when he went into town every morning?
On February 28,1993 overly aggressive and highly militarized agents of BATF set out to put on a “big show” to increase their budgets and prestige by attacking the Branch Davidian religious group outside of Waco, Texas. Six months earlier, agents had spurned David Koresh’s attempts to cooperate with their investigation of his gun business by inviting them to see his guns. On February 28, when he came to the front door and tried to cooperate, reckless agents shot him and mortally wounded his father-in-law. Other agents started shooting from helicopters, killing four Davidians. Agents probably assassinated another Davidian who approached Mount Carmel later that day. And so began a 51 day standoff.
So apparently Clinton, Reno and Congress saw no need for a overhaul of how to handle, or not escalate situations in the year since Ruby Ridge.
Now we’ll just move up to more recent history.
Does anyone remember a couple years ago the country seemed to have a spate of outlaw ranchers that the DOJ, BLM and a host of federal alphabet soup felt the immediate need to bring to heel?
Bundy Ranch April 5, 2015
Demoncratic President Barry Sotero aka Barak Obama (so does anyone know, did he finally ever legally get his name changed? Yet?) Attorney General Eric “Gunwalker” Holder
The pared down version is a 67 year old cattle rancher in Nevada has been running cattle on the same land his family has for over a 100 or so years. He is actually the last rancher in Clarke county these days due to the “management” practices of the BLM. The BLM-g* demanded he cut his 900 head herd to 150 head. Well, I don’t suppose a obama headed BLM-g would have any better idea of business than anything else he had anything he touched. Besides, they had to save the desert tortoise. The same desert tortoise the BLM-g was killing. Of course, the BLM-g was also killing Bundy’s cattle. BUT NOT ON PURPOSE!! They screeched! No, they just separated the calves and cows and the calves starved to death. And they “might have had to put down a few of the cows” for humane purposes, no doubt. This time, as opposed to Ruby Ridge and Waco Texas, patriots have been getting a belly full of seeing the government obliterate their neighbors for some reason. And they showed up. And the BLM-g went after them as well. Although in most of the court cases the charges were thrown out.
So why did it happen? Well, short answer is Cliven Bundy and his family were not big Harry Reid donors. Read the above link, a big donor wants the land, and Harry got him made head of the BLM-g. Another possible use, but someone else wants the land.
People were attacked at this government siege,but no one died. A pregnant woman had attack dogs set on her, Ammon Bundy was tasered twice, many of the Bundy’s cattle were killed and stolen by the BLM-g, but no one died. First Amendment zones were set up, which were the only places citizens were allowed to film and were located far enough away no one could film what the BLM-g was doing. The Governor of Nevada was not happy about that, but well. And those attacks I mentioned? They occurred on public lands. The public was attacked on public lands by the BLM-g and their law-enforcement cronies. That being said, the local sheriff and his deputies refused to take part in attacking citizens or stealing cattle. But, no one died.
The Hammond Ranch January 4, 2016
Demoncratic President Sotero? Obama? Fluffernutter? Attorney General Loretta “Tarmac” Lynch
Well, this one just makes my head hurt. Basically the Hammonds like the Bundys, are the last Ranchers in the area. They own a chunk of land in the middle of an area where the BLM-g have managed to run out all the other ranchers. For those that don’t know this, it’s common to burn off a pasture from time to time. It gets rid of growth you don’t want and your crops or grass will come back better and stronger, with fewer weeds. It also keeps the undergrowth and trees burned off. So when something like a lightening strike hits you won’t have the massive fires like what we are seeing in California right now. And that’s partly why we’re seeing them in California. Because of “environmentalists” people aren’t allowing people to keep things burned off and clean, so when you get a fire, you get a doozey. So in the course of burning off some fields, the fire jumped onto BLM-g land that the Hammonds were leasing. This happened a couple of times, a total of 140 or so acres were affected. The 73 year old Dwight and his son Steven were sentenced under a terrorism act. I’ve read enough to know that the BLM-g have also set fires, including back burn like what the Hammonds set in one instance to try to stop a fire started from a lightening strike burning even more. And the BLM-g fire has gotten out of control and cause large amounts of damage and no charges were ever brought in those cases. A judge reduced their sentence from five years to a few months for both of them, stating he didn’t think the anti-terrorism statute they were sentenced under applied. They served their time. And then the government decided they hadn’t served enough, and so the case went back to the 9th Circuit and the 9th Circus judge said the Hammonds had to serve the whole thing. No BLM-g ever served time for causing far more damage.
People showed up to the party. The Malheuer Wildlife Refuge was taken over.
But in this stand-off, someone did die. LaVoy Fincum. While the press often portrayed the protesters and wild eye lunatics, this article is a bit more sympathetic to Mr. Fincum. His death still raises many questions as some people feel he was basically shot in cold blood as he had his hands up.
This BLM-g seizure of ranch land is going on all around the country now. These grazing fees they talk about are not piddling little fees, and if the BLM-g wants your land, they raise them to unaffordable.
But the press does not side with the citizen if there is a Demoncrat President at the time. No word on how they would side if it were a Republican President in office.
There has also been speculation that there is uranium on the ranches and that the BLM-g wants to gain control of the mineral resources on the ranches. Here’s a hint, think about Mrs. Pantsuits. And since all the other ranchers have been run off from the surrounding ranches, the holdouts must go.
These are unelected government agencies that are ruining lives, and seizing control of valuable farming and ranch land. Where is the recourse?
And so now we have Las Vegas, a myriad of questions and few answers coming from the government. Many are dead, or wounded and the predictable full throated cries for more gun control, gun confiscation and no one even asks “And if there had been other assailants in the crowd you don’t think having some concealed carry holders in the audience would have saved lives?” Nope, just demands to take rights from people that have committed no crimes. And this little walk down memory lane is by no means exhaustive. How the media explained and portrayed it to the public seldom told what was really happening. So excuse me please if I choose to “cling” to my gun and my Tanakh/Bible a little bit closer right now….these sorts of situations tend to bring that out in me. Because right now?
B.S.-O-Meter
*BLM-g is Bureau of Land Management as opposed to Black Lives Matter. Both are rouge organizations where pain and suffering at the set goals. But this column concerned the “government” version so BLM-g as opposed to BLM-a which is Black Lives Matter-“antifa” version.
Two Guns Per Person
Why is this legal? I’m not talking about why we don’t require reporting multiple sales of long guns to federal authorities (which we don’t). I’m not talking about the bump stocks the shooter used to make his semi-automatic weapons fire like machine guns. I’m talking about why people are allowed to own more than, say, two firearms without a really good reason.
TL;DR:The Second Amendment doesn’t say how many guns you can have. Nobody needs more than two guns. If someone wants a third gun, it’s full NFA procedures and taxes.
Doug Pennington notably does not address how to figure who might have more than two firearms. Nor does he explain how the powers that be will go about collecting the extant extras. Certainly he isn’t volunteering to collect them; possibly he’s seen my observation regarding the wisdom of kicking in millions of door because the occupants are well-armed.
Perhaps he believes all the government has to do is pass a law and everyone will meekly “turn them all in”.
That doesn’t seem to be working in Chicago where repeat felons — prohibited persons who lawfully shouldn’t have any guns — are found with… guns. It’s almost as if they don’t obey laws.
“Conclusions The enactment of CBC policies was associated with an overall increase in firearm background checks only in Delaware. Data external to the study suggest that Washington experienced a modest, but consistent, increase in background checks for private party sales, and Colorado experienced a similar increase in checks for sales not at gun shows. Non-compliance may explain the lack of an overall increase in background checks in Washington and Colorado.”
If blue states like California, New York, and Connecticut have such poor participation rates with simple registration, imagine how places like Georgia will respond to door to door confiscation.
So, Mr. Pennington; who is going to bell your cat? You haven’t volunteered. When California toyed with the idea, a police union spokesman declared that if confiscation were ordered they’d see the largest outbreak of blue flu in history. And we bloody well won’t kick in our doors.
Let’s pretend law enforcement will play. Consider:
The FBI estimates a total of 698,460 law enforcement officers in America (federal, state, local).
Estimates of gun owners range from 60 million to 120 million.
Let’s use the conservative gun owners number: 60,000,000. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that The Pennington Edict magically reverses the usual compliance ratios and only 10% don’t turn in their extra guns.
6,000,000 vs. 698,460
The cops are going after heavily armed Americans, so they’ll use SWAT teams. This suggests a typical team size of 12, for 58,205 teams (sure, we’ll also pretend every cop is put on this, ignoring all real crime).
Each team will have to conduct 103 raids. Figure 8 hours for the standoff (remember, you’re going after cantankerous curmudgeons already proven to be uncooperative), and another shift to do the paperwork: 16 hours per raid. 16 x 6,000,000 = 96,000,000 man hours. Better give the guys time to sleep, another 8 hours. So each team runs a one raid per day
Assuming 58,205 teams (-giggle-), the snatch and grab is going to run well over three months. With 8 hours of overtime per day per 698,460 officers. This not only going to take a while, it going to be expensive.
And that doesn’t even factor in attrition, funeral costs, and death benefits. In reality the Pennington Patrols are kicking in doors of heavily armed, noncompliant SOBs. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an average of one officer lost per raid. Which means Pennington runs out of suckers before the HANSOBS run out of people and guns.
Fewer door-kickers, fewer teams, more raids per team… Suddenly this is taking longer than projected. Oh, well. At least there’ll be fewer officer drawing expensive overtime. Those pensions and death benefits though…
Maybe Pennington can bring in the military, too. Activate the Reserves alongside the active duty folks, add them to the cops…
And they’re still outnumbered by HANSOBs by more than 2 to 1.
I wonder how many of those LEOs and mil-folk are multiple gun owners. And how compliant they are.
That’s a best case scenario for the Pennington Proposal. What if there are 100 million gun gun owners, and they have a compliance rate closer to historical rates of 10%?
Now the 2,791,360 police and military are outnumbered by 90 million pissed off, noncompliant heroes. They’ll be outnumbered 32 to 1.
Sure, a lot of hold-outs will fold when the cops show up. But a lot won’t. The average won’t be pretty, or conducive to long-term police survival. Blue flu, Pennington; try to keep up.
If even one-half of one percent of the noncompliant shoot back, that’s 30,000 to 450,000 shooters (depending on the scenarios above).
Please recall that Pennington’s little trip down Tyranny Lane started with — as of latest claims — a single shooter killing 58 and wounding hundreds — in approximately ten minutes.
So tell us: How will you achieve your two-gun goal?
Who will bell the cat?
Ed. note: This commentary appeared first in 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!
During a fair amount of the time the atrocity that occurred in Las Vegas has been discussion of the airwaves I’ve been dealing with a sinus issue. To sum it up, they hate me, I hate ‘em back. But what this has done is slow me down and put me in more of an observer role. Just sort of listening and watching, less than my usual dissecting. I do have a “be on the lookout” for my missing brain cells.
Here are some of my passing observations.
We have late night “comics” using the term generously, sobbing on late night TV because they are more righteous and compassionate than us mouth breathers and knuckle draggers about the deaths at the hands of a madman. Not a gun, a madman, a bucket of chum. However, as Charles Cooke points out of said comedian’s logic is missin flawed. Not to mention he had more than guns he was waiting to deploy on his hapless victims.
Then I had a video I was going to put in here, which as best as I can recall it shows a sheriff saying they didn’t know if bucket of chum had been “radicalized”. I found that interesting. I also find it interesting that the video is now removed for “hate speech”. Huh.
Then on September 29th in The Military Times there is the ISIS warning to Muslims to avoid public places.
The Islamic State group has sent out a message to its followers warning them to avoid public places in the U.S., Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, Australia, and Italy.
The message was first discovered by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a think tank located in Washington D.C.
The message warns Muslims to avoid these public places because “these places are targets of the soldiers of the caliphate,” the message reads.
There is a very interesting to me, video of a gentleman explaining using data to show there was a second assailant and his locations. The video is about a half hour long, and does a nice job to my math phobic mind. His opening comment was along the lines of “well, the FBI said they wanted citizens to help”. I like that. So he did audio extractions and video analysis.
Anyone know how far behind the Police in Vegas Colin Kaopectate and the rest of the kneelers objecting to Law Enforcement were trailing? I’m sure those big NFL stars were pretty anxious to show how pointless law enforcement is and were beating feet toward that room in the Mandalay, right? Should I tweet Kaopectate and ask?
Ok, fine. I’ll agree, all that is speculation. Some of it informed, some of it calculated, as in mathematics, and some of it is flat informed speculation.
No word yet if Ms. Sinatra would have had this apply to her Dad’s old “Rat Pack” pal Sammy Davis Jr. or not. And if she would have, would that have been racist? If she wouldn’t have had him executed as well, would that have been racist? Because he absolutely did know his way around guns.
Here’s what is not speculation.
We have a cnn #FakeNews senior correspondent who felt it necessary to point out during his report that many of the victims were likely supporters of President Trump. I can only cringe when I consider what the up and coming batch of now junior reporters will be like. Probably graduates of MU.
“Something else, I think, to keep in mind – a lot of these country music supporters are likely Trump supporters. This is something, of course, hitting the tapestry of all Americans and there are going to be victims from across the country here,” Zeleny said after being asked to analyze President Donald Trump’s speech regarding the tragedy.
Here’s what is not speculation.
But not to be left behind in their quest to have a staff and employees that view the “news” as something that’s manufactured, not something thats “occurs”, we have SeeBS, sorry, spelling error CBS.
CBS’s offering to the journalistic swamp is one of their organization’s Vice-President and senior counsel, Hayley Geftman-Gold. The now unemployed, at least by CBS, well, at least at the writing of this column, Haley had a plenty to say about the victims of a madman.
The left consider it perfectly acceptable to throw venom and lies and accusations towards innocent people. Melania was a hooker? Donald Trump SAID “bad things” Harvey Weinstein DID bad things. Crickets. If people the media consider beneath them are attacked by _________, it’s fine. Violence has become an acceptable form of “political dissent”. Because to those on the left? Life is cheap. Think not? How many moonbats do you see proudly wearing the “che” shit shirts, typo, sorry.
The the Dancing Duo of Surrender Monkeys came out and in almost perfect unison preformed their routine. The nra and the saf both came out supporting a ban on bump-fire stocks. Such stalwarts defenders of the Second Amendment! Almost predictable isn’t it? Brings a tear to the eye doesn’t it? Oh, wait, I think that my aspirin is wearing off. Never mind that bit.
Anyway, Surrender Monkeys.
Musicians claiming they were strong Second Amendment supporters are now saying they support Gun Control. So, you have people not wanting to be lumped in with those evil mouth breathing red necks, if you are a “trendy” red neck crying for more gun control now, that is of course socially acceptable. Surrender monkeys defending the already tattered Second Amendment by calling for more gun control. Folks, the media and the likes of Hayley Geftman-Gold, cnn’s latest fresh catch twit of the day are never going to like us, respect us or treat us in a respectful manner. No matter what excuses we make for our stances. The answer is “I believe” “I honor” “I serve” not to be followed by a qualifier.
This is not speculation. Well, not all of it.
Rabbi Lazer Brody put up a column shortly after this happened, the first part before more information came out is speculation. The last part, which is why I wanted this link in the first place, is not. It starts at Remember what we wrote here before the solar eclipse in the USA?
This last is also a good one to read, “Calm Before The Storm”, also by Rabbi Lazer. Yes, I like Rabbi Lazer, a lot.
We are seeing so many people flood the street thinking destruction and attacking people because you think they are greedy/ privileged/ not a person of color/ or pick any of the multitude of other currently acceptable tags right now, is acceptable. They are encouraged in this by cnn, mslsd, msm, and on and on. I have said in the past they produce nothing, they create nothing they are a parasite on society as they don’t even do what they are suppose to be doing, which is deliver the news.
So, in honor of cnn, msnbc, producers of indoctrinated leftists, I have produced a new graphic. Leftists proudly and happily destroying people, countries, relationships and statues since it was first conceived.
We all know there are Hazardous Material and Toxicity warning symbols, but as I looked, I was unable to find one for such people, so they could be labeled. So just because I love ya’ll so much, I made one. It’s not very good, but I’m not that great at this stuff, but I do try.
Toxic People — Danger
But there are people who stand proud, strong and fierce in their defense of our country and our rights. While some “country artists” now crow (yeah, I did mean to use that word, chicken) they no longer support the Second Amendment, I want to introduce you to someone interesting. A real country artist, and a real cowboy/horseman. His name is Royal Wade Kimes. He’s a singer, songwriter, author, artist, and did I mention horseman? I did? Ok. One year, I bought so much cool stuff he called me to say “thank you”. If I’d have had a weaker constitution than that of a Southern Cowgirl, I’d have fainted on the spot.
Sometimes, I bring so much sad, worrisome stuff, I’m just kind of thinking I also need to remind myself as well, what is strong, what is brave, what is true. And it exists in our country, a plenty. I’m going to give you two things from Royal Wade Kimes, the first is this marvelous song. And the Second is a tip on a wonderful book. Eminent Domain and Old Man Smith. I gave it once as a gift, it got passed around and I’ve yet to read it. It’s available now in ebook. I’m getting my own copy. The book is so strong, I’ve had strong people tell me parts of it left them with tears running down their cheeks. Well written.
New year, new Torah cycle. It starts at the beginning, Parashat Bereshit. The founding of our country on Judeo Christian beliefs, turning back to HaShem, to the good solid things that has helped our country stand strong for all these years. There are plenty who now tell us what is evil is good, and what is good is evil. We know better, we hold onto it and we remain strong in our faith.
The National Rifle Association was once a good thing. Back in the 19th century it encouraged firearms ownership and marksmanship. For a long time it was the place to go for high quality training.
I used to be an NRA member. I quit a couple of decades ago.
While the NRA was still good on training, I finally noticed other things. Well, thing; fundraising. To fight “gun control.” A lot of fundraising. I could get 3-4 mailings a week.
Yet somehow we got the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act (“assault weapons ban”), Brady waiting periods followed by (replaced with at federal level) preemptively-prove-your-innocence checks, “gun-free” school zones, Project Exile (shifting unconstitutional firearms cases to federal court for more severe penalties), and more.
And well before that, the NRA went along with the NFA ’34 (registration/taxation), GCA ’68 (no more mail order), and FOPA ’86 (no more new NFA items for you).
Like I say, I quit back in the ’90s when I realized that the NRA just used the fear of gun control as a money-making tool. The NRA needs gun control to “fight.”
They need it so much that they helped write an “assault weapons” ban for a city in which I lived; my ten-round-fixed-magazine SKS was illegal. The NRA said they had to do that or someone else would have written a worse law. As was, that law was so bad the state supreme court tossed it in its entirety.
When I lived in New Hampshire, RKBA activists spent years working for Constitutional carry. We finally lined up enough — too often reluctant — votes to pass it and a governor who said he’d sign it.
Lo and behold, the NRA sent in a lobbyist for the first time in a decade who told the reluctant Republicans that the NRA did not support the bill. That gave the weasels the necessary wiggle room to render the bill “Inexpedient To Legislate;” they killed it in an after hours session after the bill’s backers went home to sleep, believing it was passing, unknowing of the NRA’s backstabbing. (The NRA later claimed that never happened; that they merely told the law-makers that the bill needed to duplicate federal law language regarding prohibited persons. Legislators explaining themselves to pissed off constituents gave my version of the story.)
The NRA watched the concealed carry insurance industry grow, and decided to try it, too. Among their first actions was to ban their competition from their annual gathering.
Skipping plenty of other despicable NRA actions and inactions, Some Asshole shoots up a Las Vegas country music festival in a “gun-free” zone. Even as early police statements said the shooter used at least one fully automatic rifle and two “bump-fire” stocks, the NRA sharpened its knife and taped targets to honest gun owners’ backs.
The National Rifle Association preemptively surrendered by calling for the ATF to reevaluate bump/slide-fire stocks and regulate them as NFA items. Because they help shooters pull the trigger a bunch of times pretty fast.
The NRA went into CYA mode with the red herring that they never called for a ban on any firearm. We know that.
We also know that what they did was signal to victim disarming scum like Dianne Feinstein that deep pockets NRA was cool with regulation.
Feinstein offered a bill banning bump-fire stocks and anything else that would help a semiautomatic firearm faster, effectively redefining “machine gun” as anything that shoots arbitrarily fast regardless of actual operation.
The NRA said, “Nah, we want bureaucratic regulation, not legislation.”
Feinstein said, “Nope.”
Pro-RKBA people were still noting the NRA’s surrender signaling to gun control-inclined Republicans. The NRA said, “No, we didn’t.”
I expect a flurry of fundraiser flyers in the mail: “Help the NRA/ILA fight the DC Bump Ban.”
Set aside the surrender-signaling for a few moments. Go back to the part where the NRA said they want the ATF to regulate stocks. Think on that.
Way back when, the original National Firearms Act draft called for hand guns to be regulated just like machine guns, suppressors, short-barrel shotguns, yadda yadda. It was unpassable that way, so hand guns were stripped out. We were left with — still unconstitutional — restrictions set by Congress, which at least pretends to be answerable to the people.
The NRA, in contrast, is calling for the ATF to have the power to arbitrarily add stuff to the NFA. You know, the guys who brought us Fast & Furious resulting in deaths in Mexico, the United States, and France. The folks who are apparently answerable to nobody.
Raise your hands: Who thinks the ATF wouldn’t abuse such power? (No, not you, LaPierre and Cox; we know you’re moronic quislings. And you, too, Gottlieb.) Anyone else?
Next question: Are you going to scribble down your credit card number or write a check to the NRA/ILA when you get those inevitable flyers to “Help the NRA/ILA Fight the ATF”?
For a long time after I quit the NRA, I said they’d never get another penny from me until they learned to respect the Second Amendment. More recently I said they have proven themselves an unredeemable deadly enemy and will never get another penny, period.
That is not enough. I am tired of the NRA presenting itself as speaking for all gun owners. They don’t speak for me, and likely not you.
The NRA claims 5 million members (the numbers are questionable). Estimates of American gun owners range from 60 million to as many as 120 million. So best case scenario for the NRA is that they actually speak for 8.3% of gun owners. Maybe a mere 4%.
I know of people who’ve “joined” the NRA only because it was a requirement to use a specific shooting range, or other facility.
So here’s this big money group representing a tiny fraction of gun owners using its resources to screw us all over, trampling rights, and begging for more.
It is no longer enough just to stop supporting the bastards. The NRA/ILA have hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. Every principled member could (and should) quit today, and they can continue to fund human/civil rights violations for years.
The NRA, as an organization, must die. I suggest civil suits under 18 U.S. Code § 241 – Conspiracy against rights. Those who have donated to the NRA Foundation can sue for return of their donations on the grounds that the NRA misrepresented how donations would be used.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, long a foe of free and armed people, is introducing legislation (PDF) to ban “bump-fire stocks.”
“It shall be unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a trigger crank, a bump-fire device or any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun,” the bill states.”
Since The Zelman Partisans do value free and armed people, having an understanding of history when wanna-be tyrants like Feinstein succeeded, we utterly oppose this legislation.
We oppose it for the usual RKBA philosophical reasons. It is yet another infringement on the very right to life, as expressed through self defense.
We oppose it for practical reasons as well.
The rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm is based in physics. Force is applied to the firing pin. That force and the pin’s mass determine its acceleration into the cartridge primer. The primer ignites at a given velocity for that cartridge; that in turn ignites the powder with its own ignition velocity. The bullet is propelled forward; force and mass again.
The force of the detonating powder also works to move the bolt backwards; the old “equal and opposite reaction.” How fast the bolt goes back is determined by its mass and the resistance of the spring behind it. When it has traveled all the way back, the spring applies force and pushes the mass forward once again.
The bolt is slowed as it strips the next round out of the magazine. Finally it moves the round’s mass into the chamber.
In a machine gun, the firing pin would continue forward starting the cycle over again. In a semiautomatic firearm, the pin does not go forward until the trigger (with its own mass and springs) returns to the ready position and is manually operated again. So semiautomatics have an inherently slower rate of fire than machine guns, all else being equal.
The only way to even approach the theoretical maximum rate of fire of most semiautomatics is to have a fast finger.
Old-timers know the trick of pushing your rifle forward with your grip on the stock or barrel shroud as you fire. Recoil pushes the rifle back, and your hand acts as a spring to pull it forward driving the trigger into your finger. The mechanicals have typically cycled already, so the rifle fires again. It’s a fun trick, but wasteful of ammunition, and very inaccurate.
Thus were born “bump-fire” stocks. They merely provide a way to hold the rifle a little steadier while you perform the same silly stunt. They absolutely in no way increase the theoretical rate of fire. They help folks with slower fingers get a little closer to the theoretical.
Should Feinstein’s bill pass, it would necessitate outlawing holding the rifle by the stock like we did in the old days. I suppose possession of an off hand would be a felony.
In fact, this bill is so broadly written that far more than “bump-fire” stocks would be banned. Light-weight after-market bolts can increase the rate of fire, as can different replacement buffer springs. Likewise nicely polished and sensitive trigger groups.
Polishing the parts in the stock trigger group would be illegal.
Basically this Constitution-shredding Senator wants to redefine “machine gun” by how fast you can make something fire, rather than being designed to fire automatically as long as the trigger is depressed. Apparently Jerry Miculek is going to be outlawed.
We understand that other people are reacting in shock and grief to the horrible incident in Las Vegas. But if we are to ban every fun or useful thing that has ever been misused, we will have to eliminate microwaveovens, sandpaper, fire extinguishers, doctors, and senators, among many other things.
The Zelman Partisans opposes this, and any other legislation with similar Bill of Rights violating intent, on the grounds that it is both wrong and stupid. We urge Senator Feinstein — clearly in her dotage — to withdraw it and to retire in ignominy.
We urge anyone with a lick of sense to also oppose it.
Please contact your Senators and House Representative to voice your opposition.
We also note that the National Rifle Association has issued a statement in support of further regulating or banning fun stuff, saying, “devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.” We disagree, and urge principled members of the NRA to consider quitting and joining a real pro-RKBA organization.
As yet, very few hard facts about the Las Vegas shooting are available to the public.
The alleged shooter, Some Asshole (whose name I refuse to use) had — per nearly all current reports — a clean record. He could — and did, according to the gun store that sold him three firearms, pass background checks. Per that one store, he passed multiple checks.
There is much speculation that he used one or more fully-automatic weapons. Based on the sounds of fire in a video, I subscribe to that theory. Fox News has an anonymous source that claims the shooter had ARs converted to full auto. Plural. Allegedly in .223 and .308.
Automatic weapons are highly regulated. To legally own one, you must pay a $200 tax above and beyond any sales taxes, undergo a background check, get approval from local law enforcement, and the ATF’s permission.
The shooter’s local PD says they had no contact with him, so he didn’t have Local LE approval, and thus did not lawfully buy a machine gun. The asshole’s brother claims his psycho sibling had no automatic weapons when he helped him move to Nevada a couple of years ago, so the killer would have had to contact Mesquite PD to lawfully obtain one. The shooter is not on the ATF’s list of Federal Firearms Licensees, so he did not lawfully convert semi-autos to full auto.
Nonetheless, at least Dimwitocrat senator claims universal background checks would have prevented this shooting. The shooter passed background checks, and proceeded to violate enough laws to spend most of the rest of his life in Club Fed just on NFA ’34 related charges.
Felonia Von Pantsuit claims the shooting proves why the Hearing Protection Act should not pass. The HPA would remove suppressors from NFA regulation, leaving them treated as mere firearms. Clinton says a suppressor would have prevented victims from hearing the shots and running away. Clinton being Clinton, I assume she’s lying rather than suffering a misconception. .223 — and especially .308 — is quite audible even with a suppressor. Enough Arkancide cases involved shootings so I expect her to know.
As noted above, machine guns — full auto weapons — are heavily regulated, and have been since 1934. Despite brain-dead babbling in the lamestream muddia, the 1994 “assault weapons ban” had nothing to do with NFA machine guns. The sunsetted ’94 law was only a ban on sales to civilians of semi-automatic firearms with arbitrary cosmetic features manufactured or imported after that date. NFA weapons continued to be heavily regulated before, during, and after the so-called AWB.
I’m also seeing Twitter twits tweeting about “high capacity magazines.” However, I note two points:
1) Someone did an audio analysis of shooting video and determined that 280 shots were fired in 31 seconds. I am unaware of any 280 round AR magazines; if you have a source for them, let me know.
2) A former US Army SAW gunner claims that is what he heard in video. Belt-fed, NFA-regulated machine guns are largely immune to hi-cap magazine bans.
But let’s say the asshole used an illegally modified AR-pattern rifle with magazines.
The shooter took his room days before the shooting. He reportedly brought in as many as twenty firearms and ammunition for same. With days to prepare (even assuming he did it in the hotel room), he could have pre-loaded an awful lot of… say, California-legal 10 round magazines. With a mag swap time of seconds, he could have run through said awful lot in the 72 reported minutes from the first 911 call to the cops breaking down his door.
Hi-cap mag limits are bullshit.
I haven’t seen this brought up yet, but let’s nip it before it buds. Seattle imposed a punitive firearms and ammunition tax to reduce “gun violence.” It hasn’t worked, and it wouldn’t have here either. According to asshole’s bro, he was a multi-millionnaire. Reports say he owned a $400,000 home, two automobiles, two airplanes, and routinely gambled away $10,000-$20,000 a day in casinos. He could afford a gun tax.
Licensing didn’t work.
Registration didn’t work.
Background checks didn’t work.
Magazine limits wouldn’t have worked.
Suppressor taxes and registration didn’t apply and wouldn’t have worked.
Taxes wouldn’t have worked.
So what’s left? Complete confiscation? As your parent or grandparents how well that worked when FDR banned private possession of gold in 1934. Ask your local drug dealer how well drug bans work.
You know what else didn’t work? Gun free zones. According to internal security documents and web site guidelines, firearms aren’t allowed in Mandalay facilities. I’m sure the asshole felt real bad about breaking that rule, too.
I am just angry beyond belief about the stupid pampered “Athletes”. Yes, I’m referring to the NFL, the Nation’s Fools and Losers. They make millions of dollars playing a game, and scream oppression. They revile the police in general and while there are do doubt bad ones, should something horrible happen and they or their family were attacked by a gang of thugs that they openly support, who would they call? Not Ghostbusters. If it’s their house being looted by the same people, will they still cry injustice when the thugs are arrested? Some of these players who have no problems abusing animals and women would doubtlessly cower before the very thugs that they claim are being persecuted. Brave enough facing helpless animals and women, thugs, not so much.
And what’s just as bad, young children and teenagers look up to these losers and want to emulate them! What kind of example do this set for future generations I ask you!
How can these brats behave like this? Soldiers who fought and died for this flag, they and their families paid the ultimate price for our way of life and they can’t stand their sorry butts up for our flag?? Why don’t they leave if they are so oppressed, seek freedom in Iran or Syria, go over there and protest?
So, how do we sort this? How do we let them know we are fed up with celebrities and sports figures hating our country and despising the “common” people??
Dear Sheila,
Child, child, child. Sigh. It’s almost Yom Kippur, it’s the eve and this is what you choose to dwell on? You have been so perfect this year you have no need to reflect? These days are a time of reflection, of asking forgiveness but of moving forward in life without the things that pull us down. It’s not about beating ourselves up. If you need, re-read Rabbi Tzvi’s article. Yom Kippur Without Guilt.
It’s about going forward in the coming year with a closer relationship with our Father, with G-d, the creator of the universe. It’s about being who and what you were created to be.
I sort of hung my head and sighed at that line. I kept reading.
Child, be honest, you don’t care much about football. You only liked it when they have a horse for a mascot. Yes, yes it’s bad that they act in such a manner. We had to deal with people wanting to go back to Egypt for cucumbers and melons remember? I know how it is, they didn’t appreciate the great gift G-d had given them either. The fans will sort this, have you seen the ratings for the games on TV, or the partially empty stadiums?
But let’s get back to you, child. You too were created for a purpose, all have been given gifts and abilities to accomplish the tasks that our Father has in mind. Shall I point out to you that just in this last week or so several things have happened.
A “refugee” (I added the quotes, they weren’t in the letter to me) attacked a church in Tennessee. He was a “refugee” from Sudan and a body builder. Have you seen the pictures? He was very big! He murdered a woman in the parking lot, and then proceeded into the Church to open fire. A young usher, Mr. Engle engaged in hand to hand combat with him, despite being repeatedly pistol whipped by the poor refugee. In the fight Mr. Engle caused the Bucket of Chum, to used the favored phrase as TZP, to shoot himself in the leg. The hero then had to run to this car to get his gun to hold the refugee at bay till the police arrived.
What are the things in common child? Those were both Gun Free Zones, several people were wounded at that church. How many more could have been spared that if the hero hadn’t had to run to this car to get his gun? Could the PE teacher have stopped the attacker quicker if she hadn’t had only her physical skills to end the incident?
They didn’t. The media is focused on football and advancing the agenda, distracting people. You child, must keep your eye on the ball. You were created to play your role in healing the world, making it better. You concentrate on that. You can not change people, you can change yourself. What say you that you spend Yom Kippur in the way it was intended. Do not take your eye off G-d, or the ball he put you here to advance. Moshe had his role to play, Miriam had hers and I had mine. You must do yours to the best of your ability.
If you are really that distressed by the antics of a bunch of spoiled brats, cheer yourself up with remembering National Finals Rodeo is a mere couple of months away. They pray openly, respect the flag, the country and G-d and set a good example of sportsmanship for children.
שלום
אהרן
And then I woke up!! No letter in my lap, but a cup of coffee nearby. I felt a new resolve to try my best to observe Yom Kippur as I should, to go forward into the new year as a better woman. If I have offended or harmed any of you this year, please forgive me.
When I was a child, I believed some — in retrospect — silly things. Things like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
One Easter morning I happened to wake up unusually early, and caught my parents loading the Easter baskets. I’m no genius, but neither am I an idiot. I told them I knew.
And then I generalized… and asked if they were also Santa Claus. Nailed it. To be honest, I’d had suspicions about him for a while; how did he manage to work so many stores simultaneously? How did he have time to make toys when spending so much doing photoshoots at said stores? Why did he sometimes have a real beard, and sometimes a fake? Sheesh, the excuses my parents came up with to explain discrepancies…
I don’t recall just how old I was; maybe five years old; I don’t think I’d started school yet. I know I’d broken the conspiracy well before a lot of kids my age (some of whom, at school, professed to still believe in Santa until the third or fourth grade).
Another childish thing I believed back then was “gun control”. “Saturday Night Special” was a big part of that. When I heard that propaganda news about how they were just cheap pieces of junk not good for anything but killing, I just knew they were terrible and should be banned. And, just of course, “criminals” shouldn’t have guns.
I believed that into my teens. But, as with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, it was observation and reasoning that led to disbelief, beginning with “Saturday Night Specials”.
Reasoning: If a SNS works well enough to fire offensively, why won’t it work defensively? “Cheap POS not good for anything” doesn’t make sense.
OK, maybe there are some guns that are just plain Pieces of Sh garbage. The Clerke 1st revolver I once encountered was so poorly made that I wouldn’t fire it with Hillary Clinton’s hand.* Well… All right; maybe hers, but not yours. But how many Clerkes would be out there after the first use/failure? I kept hearing about recovered guns linked to multiple shootings. Those couldn’t be Clerkes.
Observation: I kept seeing news reports of guns labeled “Saturday Night Specials” which even I recognized as Smith & Wessons. It appeared the defining characteristic of an SNS was price: if you got a new Smith at full retail price, it was all good. If you bought a used model at a price that someone on a budget could afford, it’s evil.
How’s that again?.
Remember how I extrapolated from “Easter Bunny isn’t real” to Santa Claus? I kept thinking: If affordable guns are bad, doesn’t that mean only financially well off folks can have “good” guns by definition? Rich = Good, Poor = Evil? Not being wealthy, but knowing my parents — just example — were decent people, I could see right through that once I bothered to consider it.
And that whole “prohibited person” thing to keep crooks from buying guns… C’mon, even as a kid I saw the “crook buys stolen gun in back alley” trope in cop and detective shows, movies, and books. Sometimes a stereotype reflects reality. I saw that same “trope” in a lot of news stories, so I knew it was real.
So if crooks didn’t get their “Saturday Night Specials” through lawful channels anyway, didn’t that suggest the law targeted honest people, and not criminals?
That was my “slippery slope”. Before long I was wondering why kids used to safely carry .22 rifles across their bike handlebars, but suddenly couldn’t be trusted to have a gun. So far as I knew, none of my .22-toting friends had ever robbed anyone.
Being an aspiring writer even then, I figured words had to have meaning. Like “infringe”, as in
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Infringe:
to commit a breach or infraction of; violate or transgress
to encroach or trespass (usually followed by on or upon)
“Breach,” “infraction,” “encroach.” It seemed pretty clear: You can’t encroach on that right. Not even a little bit. Not just major infractions, minor infractions are out, too. Words have meaning because if they don’t, no two people can communicate. The Second Amendment doesn’t say “The right to keep and bear arms shall not be revoke in its entirety, but encroachments are dandy.” It doesn’t say “The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, except when it’s convenient for the government.”
I was a kid of maybe thirteen or fourteen and I figured it out. I guess gun controllers never grew up.
The pandemic of guns in the United States is the problem of a nation, not a particular sex.
Says there that Jones is a journalism junior, which suggests a minimum age of twenty years. Jones still has trouble with the “words have meaning” thing at a point years past where I’d figured it out (and at an age where I was already
an E-4 Senior Airman in the USAF).
“Pandemic of guns.” Prevalent, general, universal. Maybe Jones knows something we don’t know. America has the most armed civilian population in the world by a large margin, yet most estimates of American gun owners range from sixty million to a a hundred-twenty million, which makes us a minority. A heavily armed minority, but still not “prevalent” or universal.
If you keep reading (and try not to giggle too much) you’ll see that Jones really alleges to be concerned about gun violence. ‘Cause that’s… not so prevalent either.
Let’s say that there are a mere — chortle — sixty million gun owners out there.
According to this, there are approximately twenty million felons in America, including those incarcerated, paroled, on probation, or whose time is done. Bureau of Justice statistics suggest that around 3% of those are weapons offenses; let’s pretend all the weapons were firearms, just for discussion. 3% of 20,000,000 is 600,000. This isn’t six hundred thousand per year; it’s six hundred thousand cumulative total. That can include someone convicted of underage possession — not a crime of violence — and never committed another crime in his life for decades.
But pretend. 600,000 is just 1% of of sixty million gun owners. Not “prevalent” or “universal”.
Did you see what I did there? I pretended the groups actually overlap. But felons can’t lawfully own guns, so they shouldn’t be included in the group of admitted gun owners. So they’d be less than even the 1%.
You know… 600,000 total felons. That’s less than two-tenths of one percent of the total American population. Hardly “pandemic”. (Heh; given an average life expectancy of 79.3 years, that could potentially mean an average of 7,566 firearms felons — including nonviolent offenses — per year for the past eight decades. Still not “prevalent” or “universal”.
Apparently Jones childishly failed to observe that.
Back to the junior journalist’s panty-twisting.
The Second Amendment, which grants citizens the right to bear arms…
A little study of American history, not to mention Supreme Court rulings, could have shown Jones that the Second Amendment does not “grant[s] citizens the right to bear arms.” It is a pre-existing right, and the Second Amendment was intended to protect it from government meddling. (Since Jones failed to notice it, I’ll provide a recent SCOTUS hint: Heller.)
Words. Meaning. Grants vs. Protects.
Norway, for instance, has a low gun homicide rate and has stricter, more reasonable gun laws. Norwegians need a hunting or sporting license, which can only be acquired by completing a “nine-session, 30-hour course on guns, wildlife and environmental protection.” A sports shooting license is issued only upon completion of a firearms safety course of at least nine hours.
True, Norway has a low murder rate and restrictive gun laws. But Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela have far more restrictive laws — of the sort that would make California socialists swoon with delight — and murder rates that dwarf that of the USA. Jones fails the “observation” test, not to mention confusing a Norwegian hunting license with a firearms license. That ““nine-session, 30-hour course on guns, wildlife and environmental protection” isn’t the requirement for a Våpenkort. That’s the requirement for a hunting license; a hunting license is merely ONE of the possible qualifiers for a Våpenkort. Words. Meaning. Great Ghu, this person expects to be a reporter and is less capable of observation and reasoning than a thirteen year old.
Gun control is not synonymous with annexing the Second Amendment, but it does mean protecting the people who live in this country.
As a humorous Internet meme notes, if Jones likes gun control so much, why not move to the south side of Chicago? It’s worked so well there. Gun-controlled Baltimore might be another good choice for Jones. But… “annexing” the Second Amendment? Words. Meaning.
I’ve piled on Dana Jones here, but only for a convenient example. Consider Gabby Giffords, Shannon Watts, or pretty much any gun controller and ask yourself if that person appears to display adult-level observation and reasoning abilities. Or do their whines for control — ignoring the fact of generally fall violent crime rates (outside of gun control Paradises like Chicago and Baltimore) — sound more like a child crying because she can’t bring her freshly dug hole into the house?
In the past, I’ve accused gun controllers of rejecting reality. Perhaps that was unfair. Maybe they just aren’t grown up enough to recognize it. They still operating at a pre-teen mental level.
Hey! That explains why they always want to “do this for the children”. They meant themselves.
* Several years ago, a friend showed me a Clerke 1st he’d somehow acquired. I looked it over. Then I wiped it down to be sure I didn’t leave any fingerprints behind. I suggested that he clean it very carefully, with forensics in mind, and load it with a single round (likewise forensically sterilized), mount it in a clamp, and fire it with a long string. He should then — still wearing gloves — load one more cleaned cartridge, leaving the fired case in place. He should then put the thing in a sealed envelope labeled “For Emergency Use Only,” and save it in case he ever shot someone in dubious circumstances and needed to plant exculpating evidence. I was joking, but I wanted to reinforce the idea that he should never ever try to use that thing.
Ed. note: This commentary appeared first in 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!
I recently attended a little hour and a half class called “Is it a Mitzvah to be Happy?” It was wonderful, so it got me thinking about happy things, and about decisions to be happy, and just going down that thought path. Then I read a column by a much favored writer, Jack Engelhard, Beware a country that loses its sense of humor. So, I’m not always very humorous, sarcasm can sometimes be a second language, but I thought I’d take a stab at some humor. So as I understand it, first we need a “set up” for context.
Guns can be dangerous, very dangerous. Probably much too dangerous for women to handle. They are more likely to have them taken away and used on them, or at least so warbles the likes of Shannon T Watts.
For sheer craziness, I offer this. Shannon T Watts and her band of merry loonies have decided to descend on poor Douglass Park neighborhood with a high crime rate. Their goal is to create more disarmed victims. If only Illinois had strict gun control I’m sure all would be well.
Little Shannon T Watts does get a bit mixed up at all the times. Immediately after the tragedy in Charlottesville when the lady was killed by a car, Shannon leapt into action!! She called for stricter control of drivers licensing, more car regulation, nothing that can go over 25 mph (except her car of course which will be unregulated) smaller cars, made of used Walmart bags. Naw, just kidding, she blamed it on guns and called for more gun control. In a unrelated story, I think Shannon T Watts needs to have her drivers license and car confiscated immediately, and I mean right now! The unhinged dingbat can’t tell a gun from a deadly assault car! She’s not safe.
But you know, it’s really only some people that should be left defenseless, like poor people. They should be left defenseless, or at least until men with guns called police can come and help them. If there’s a flood going on, then it could get a bit dicey. But if you’re important, like Shannon T Watts, or Mickey Bloomers, or you’re wearing a pink knitted hat that makes you important, you can see so clearly, you simply do not need a gun! No, certainly not! You just hire armed guards for your pink hatted loon brigade.
Leftist agitators like Linda Sarsour and Shannon Watts hiring armed protection while demanding the rest of us turn in our guns into government bureaucrats is nothing new. Watts does the same every time she shows up to protest at the NRA annual meeting. Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who pays Watts millions to take away the Second Amendment rights of everyday Americans, doesn’t go anywhere without his security detail.
But, what I say, just what if, they are wrong? What if women really are smart? What if we really can chew bubble gum and shoot at the same time?
So for example, I present this story of a poor miscreant Ronald J. Kelly who decided to rob a thrift store with a shotgun. It was taken away from him by three thrift store employees including a woman, and she proceeded to beat him severely about the head with it. Kid you not. She’s the one that grabbed the gun, the two male co-workers saw what was going on and came and helped her.
The resident initially called 911 to report a man was trying to break into her home. She yelled at him, secured her doors and hid her children upstairs, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.
The woman then armed herself with a handgun.
He then broke in, she shot him. One shot, one hit. Moral of the story, don’t break into houses, don’t break into houses with a BAC of .250, don’t break into houses that don’t belong to Shannon T Watts and Michael Bloomberg, Rahm Emmanuel and such. For some reason Micky B. and Shannon T Watts don’t like this woman? They think she should have submitted helplessly to the drunk man that broke into the home of her and her children. Huh.
From the don’t mess with women, and really don’t mess with old women, and really really don’t mess with old armed women file, this one,
The would-be robber reportedly grabbed the woman’s purse while it rested on her shoulder, at which point, the victim brandished a weapon she had stored inside.
According to the report, the assailant then fled west through the parking lot of the grocery store and behind Belk.
But this sort of thing only happens in the United States, right? Only in the US are women in danger from this “wild west” atmosphere where men walk around with guns and women are forced to cower helplessly! Unless the women are armed and they shoot the thug.
So let’s take a look at Cherán in Mexico. Actually, this whole article is fascinating, with bits like
More than 180,000 people have been killed in Mexico since then-President Felipe Calderon sent the army to fight organized crime groups in his native state of Michoacan in 2006. But one small town in that state says it hasn’t had a homicide since 2011 because its residents — led by women — took up arms to kick out groups who had expanded from drug trafficking into illegal logging. While overall in Michoacán, federal authorities say 614 people have been killed this year, a 16 percent increase from 2016, the people of Cherán say they’ve become immune to serious crime. They expelled the politicians and local police, and community members now patrol the area wearing uniforms emblazoned with the slogan “For Justice, Security and the Restoration of Our Territory.”
The bold bits I put in bold. This article really is quite amazing.
Speaking on the “Wild West”. Have you ever heard of Annie Oakley? Annie was amazing, born into poor financial circumstances, and then her family made destitute with the death of her father. She rose above those circumstances due to her ability to shoot, and shoot very well indeed. Initially she used her skills to feed the family, by providing them food and then selling her game to the shopkeepers in town and also some restaurants. She met her future husband, Frank Butler by beating him in a shooting competition. Who needs match.com, right? Annie had some strong views on women, firearms and their capabilities.
Oakley promoted the service of women in combat operations for the United States armed forces. She wrote a letter to President William McKinley on April 5, 1898, “offering the government the services of a company of 50 ‘lady sharpshooters’ who would provide their own arms and ammunition should the U.S. go to war with Spain.”
Throughout her career, it is believed that Oakley taught upwards of 15,000 women how to use a gun. Oakley believed strongly that it was crucial for women to learn how to use a gun, as not only a form of physical and mental exercise, but also to defend themselves. She said: “I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies.”
As a side note here, Annie also had trouble with the cnn, mslsd and mainstream media of the day.
Annie Oakley spent much of the next six years winning 54 of 55 libel lawsuits against newspapers. She collected less in judgments than the total of her legal expenses, but she felt that a restored reputation justified the loss of time and money.
Here’s a short film clip, shot in 1894 in Thomas Edison’s studio, of Oakley’s marksmanship: http://bit.ly/2uShYI3
So women can be strong, brave and resourceful. So speaking of strong, resourceful and brave, let me share with you one of my people I regularly check on Twitter. It’s the Daily Freier.
Some of My Best Friends are Freiers. providing fact-based news from Tel Aviv, Israel since 2014. This is like satire and stuff.
Think of freier as meaning fool. The Daily Freier has run a short series that just makes me smile. It’s called Linda Sarsour: Time Traveler. They have done two episodes, so far Linda Sarsour: Time Traveler and Linda Sarsour: Time Traveler. The Golda Meir Episode. I had a great idea for a third episode involving one of my personal heroines, Ruth Moritz. Happily that has not happened, yet. Why do I say yet? Because Ladies and Gentleman, I, your humble lowly scribe, received permission from The Daily Freier to use their format and idea to write a Linda Sarsour: Time Traveler. The Ruth Moritz Episode! Yeah, I’m kind of excited, so here we go.
Linda Sarsour: Time Traveler. The Ruth Moritz Episode
Linda Sarsour
SCENE: Somewhere in the top of a minaret in Yafo the 10th of June, 1948. Two young women clutching K-98 Mausers regard the approaching Arab mob with an air of sad resolve. Suddenly a woman wearing a Pepto-Bismol pink hijab over what appears to be a culturally appropriated Navajo blanket blazer materializes, Star Trek Style.
Woman in hijab: Are you Ruth Moritz, the Zionist?
The smaller of the two women, takes a firm grip on her rifle and regards the pasty faced woman in a mildly amused fashion.
Ruth: I am, and this is my friend Miriam Aharoni.
Miriam spares a brief glance from the rapidly approaching Arab mob to stare at the gaudy outfit, sniffs and returns to lining up her rifle sights on the mob.
Linda: My name is Linda Sarsour, and I have traveled from the future to inform you two that you are not feminists.
Ruth: Is that right? Well Linda, I think we have a different definition of “feminism” than you and your friends do. You see, we know women are smart enough, capable enough and brave enough to help in the fight to regain our homeland after a few thousand years. We know we can not only chew gum, talk and shoot but unlike what you, your friends and the mainstream media proclaim, we can do it all at the same time.
Miriam loudly pops a bubble, takes aim and fires, a loud yelp is heard from the coming hoard.
Linda screeches indignantly.
Linda: OH.MY.GOSH! You SHOT him! You just SHOT him!
Linda angrily addresses Ruth.
Linda: You are so evil! Someone in your command just used a gun and KILLED someone. I don’t have friends like THAT. I have nice friends! I have famous friends! One of my best friends is Rasmea Odeh. She is SO cool, she would never use one of those evil rifles to kill someone!
Ruth venomously snarls at Linda.
Ruth: Your “friend” helped set a bomb in a crowded supermarket that killed two students and injured nine others. They were civilians, there was no battle going on, you attacked innocents.
The sound of another bubble popping is heard, followed by the crack of a rifle shot and another yelp.
Miriam: That’s it Ruth, I’m out of ammunition.
Ruth: I’ve got a couple left, you keep an eye on Gabby there.
Ruth coolly levels her rifle and takes aim at the two she guesses to be leaders of the mob and drops them both in rapid succession.
Another screech is heard from Linda.
Linda: OH.MY.GOSH!! I am feeling SO microaggressed right now! I need my safe space! Where is my safe space?
Ruth: Well, Linda, there aren’t a whole lot of safe spaces to be had around here. Miriam, what do you think? We could throw her body down the stairs, that would slow their entry up here a bit.
Miriam sizes Linda up.
Linda: Oh my gosh! Look at the time! I have so much to do! I’ve got my Hurricane relief fund to check on. I told people the fund was to help victims of Hurricane Harvey, but it’s really going to help political committees and community organizing after the flood waters recede. It worked really well with my scam on the “Repair the Jewish Cemetery” gig. Of course if people like Israellycool or The Daily Freier find out about it they’ll blab it to everyone. I hate that! Then TDF will make fun of me. I really hate those people!
The sound of footsteps coming up stairs is getting louder.
Ruth: What do you think Miriam? Throw her or jump?
(Linda dematerializes, Star Trek style. Fade to Black.)
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
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