Senator Fauxcahontas Warren, the wannabe-commie dictator out for genocide through mandated “carbon-free” (not -neutral, -free) energy and housing, has decided to start with the Gun Culture. Her horrific gunpeople control bill ( SB 3254) has everything a police state tyrant could possibly want, including the neutered kitchen sink. How bad is it? Well, her House co-conspirator is high-on-helium Hank “Tippy” Johnson, noted loon and midget/giant cage match fan.
I could write pages about Warren’s “assault weapon” ban, but let’s just say that unless your semi-auto rifle somehow made it onto the approved list, it’s most likely banned. All it takes is that it can accept a detachable magazine and one of several other features. The kicker is that “pistol grip” is one of them. And what, pray tell is a pistol grip?
‘‘(46) The term ‘pistol grip’ means a grip, a thumb-hole stock or Thordsen-type grip or stock, or any other characteristic that can function as a grip.
If you can hold it, it has a grip.
There is a grandfather clause for existing arms lawfully possessed.
There’s so much more in that bill that I cannot cover it all in less than the 260 pages of the original. But I do want to address the new universal firearm owner licensing part.
‘‘§ 932. License to own firearms and ammunition ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except otherwise provided in this section, it shall be unlawful for any individual who is not licensed under this section to knowingly purchase, acquire, or possess a firearm or ammunition.
Elsewhere, I have written about the new tactic adopted by gun-controlling victim-disarmers: writing laws that make compliance impossible. This is yet another effing example. This license would have a training requirement, which includes a written test on law, and a “hands-on testing, including firing testing”. That “Except otherwise provided” does not include an exception for license training and testing; therefore possessing a firearm in a class or test to obtain a license would be illegal. No license = no gun = no test = no license.
While those currently in lawful possession of firearms do not require a license for those firearms, you’ll still need to get a license for any newly acquired firearm first. But new owners? Not anymore. Gun ownership would lawfully end with this generation.
Assuming you’ve jumped through all the fake Indian’s and Georgian village idiot’s hoops, the license is still may issue. On top of all the usual prohibited person restrictions, they added another qualifier: “unsuitability.” This is… similar to “red flag” orders. If the ATF doesn’t want to issue a license, they go to a judge and tell them your aren’t suitable and -gavel bam- you’re a prohibited person.
Where “unsuitability” differs from a “red flag” order is in the standard of evidence. ERPOs require an unsubstantiated allegation — no proof required, because proof would be grounds for an arrest anyway — that a person currently poses a possible threat to himself or others.
“Unsuitability” actually manages to limbo its waybelow that.
other existing factors that suggest that the individual could potentially create a risk
Suggest”
“Could”
“Potentially
Did you ever criticize Warren or Johnso… Wait. Did you ever not criticize either of those moronic motherhumpers?
Or, as an astonishingly ignorant psycho (don’t click that unless you can spare the brain cells) emailed me a couple of days ago:
“Those who really really want a gun are the very ones who really really should not be able to get a gun.”
— rackjite
I’m sure you’ve heard that sentiment — that anyone who wants a gun is unsuitable to have one.
Or… I’ve publicly related stories of times when muggers decided I was a threat to them sufficient to decide to run away. I’ve demonstrated that I’m potentially a threat to the Democrats’ core constituency. No license for me.
What about you?
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My opposition to Red-Flag laws has been steadfast countenancing no exceptions. Until now. Liberal Time Magazine’s Girl, er um “Person”1 of the Year’s trembling quivering rage-filled Greta Thunberg, who should be starring in H. P. Lovecraft inspired movies, could be that one exception. Ghostwriters and Handlers, please, do not allow Greta near sharp objects or anything that goes bang. Perhaps parents should be scheduling counseling sessions rather than enabling Greta’s delusions of imminent human extinction. Scandinavia once gave the world Vikings. What happened?2
From the Great Depression, mass starvation, to man-created global warming, the Left needs crises with which to menace people. Only through scare tactics terrifying the masses can they evoke reaction based on emotion rather than reason. People who have lost their minds seldom make good decisions. Since the Second World War, the Left, either through ideological compatibility or supreme naïveté, has promoted notions the way to deal with adversarial nations (Communist dictatorships) and people is through non-violent appeasement. Leftists are moral relativists rejecting concepts of good and evil. Therefore global and personal conflicts result from misunderstandings not malevolent intentions. Because people have “issues”, not problems, conflicts can be resolved without anyone having to accept blame or facing consequences. All Stalin needed was a couch, a good listener, and a hug. Today, if the puny underweight wretched victim of bullying stands up to his tormentors, school administrators suspend him along with the thugs. Through its evangelists teaching in public schools, the Left has indoctrinated Americans to reject notions of self-reliance and taking responsibility for their own safety. Lockdowns, shelter-in-place, hide under your desk or in your home…Hence, they grow up to despise the Second Amendment. They are aghast at the idea citizens can own guns and decide when and where to use them in self-defense. Appearing on Fox’s Martha MacCallum Show in response to the Fort Worth Texas church shooting, Democrat strategist Doug Schoen argued people are not competent to carry guns for personal defense. This he added, should be left to the police who, coincidentally, were not there.3 The Left hates the Second Amendment for two reasons; first, it exposes their unwillingness to stand up to bullies and criminals whether on American streets or as heads of State. Think, Justin Trudeau. Second, it is an obstacle to the Great Project.
Whether taking the name Liberal, Socialist, Progressive, Central Planner, Democratic-Socialist, and so forth, Statists are determined to dismantle the Second Amendment either through abolition or redefining it out of existence. Until accomplished, it remains the single greatest impediment to The Project begun by 19th century American Progressives and European Socialists. Its central imperative is to bend the will of the individual completely to the volition of the State to plan, control, and regulate every aspect of human existence. And, the Left is the State. Because altering the Constitution has proven un-doable, the Left has chosen to redefine the Second Amendment as they did the Commerce, General Welfare, Necessary and Proper, and Supremacy clauses until they mean the opposite of their intent. For example they claim owning firearms is dependent upon membership in a federal (Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines) or State (“National” sic Guard) standing army. This claim could not be more wrong.4
Proponents and enemies of the Bill of Rights have debated the Founders’ meaning of “militia” ad nauseam. Rehashing it here would seem superfluous. That is, if its enemies were not using mass media, popular culture, and public dis-education to peddle lies conjoined with an American public too intellectually lazy to read and think for itself. As a recovering public school teacher, I can attest to the pervasiveness of this mental lassitude.
Mises Institute’s Ryan McMaken writes that the Founders’ idea of a militia was not one comprised of “unorganized amateurs”, called up by local authorities, to address insurrection or invasion. Instead, it was to consist of men between a certain age range, proficient in arms, possessing some degree of training in military discipline and tactics, a system of choosing officers, subject to call up by State or local authorities, and under civilian control.5 McMaken’s conclusion is problematic. In the 1740s, the French, perennially at war with England, established a large fort at Louisbourg near Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. From there the French threatened New England with invasion and provided safe haven for pirates and “cruisers” who raided its fishing villages and naval commerce. Finding the British unwilling to act, in 1744 New England raised an army of unorganized amateurs including commoners, farmers, merchants, fishermen, and so forth. With little or no experience, these New England boys executed a successful amphibious landing under difficult conditions, besieged the fort for three months, and forced the French to surrender.6 During the French and Indian War, the British could not have defeated the French without the assistance of colonial militia troops, amateur soldiers who fought as local units under American command.7
On 1 October 1768, in a lead up to what became the War of Independence, Britain dispatched 700 troops led by General Thomas Gage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Boston. His orders were to suppress resistance to British commerce, trading, and tax laws.8 A month later (8 November 1768), King George III declared Bostonians to be in rebellion against English law and government. British political and military leaders drew up plans to subdue the insurrection.9 They employed their standard method of subjugation; round up, jail, and execute the rebellion’s leaders and door-to-door searches for arms and munitions in private hands. Colonials often stored gunpowder in storehouses outside of town due to its volatility. In order to prevent the Red Coats from seizing it, locals formed militias to guard them. In Virginia, Patrick Henry led the Hanover Independent Militia Company comprised of armed locals independent of the Governor’s control. They comprised the nucleus of resistance against British forces. Other colonies replicated this strategy.10
In 1774, British soldiers marched from Boston into the countryside to seize colonial supplies of gunpowder and weapons in Charlestown, Cambridge, Medford, and Salem. Forty thousand militiamen met the British, called “Bloody Lobsterbacks”, by locals, at Charlestown. These amateurs drove them back to Boston without firing a shot.11 British confiscation of private arms led to the “shot heard round the world”, the British march on Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts, to seize arms.12 Among the militiamen awaiting the British attack were farmers, craftsmen, mechanics, gentlemen, laborers, slaves, dairy farmers, and veterans of the French Indian War. Americans gave as good as they got forcing the British back to Boston.13
McMaken contends, “Gun Rights advocates fixate” on the latter part of the Second Amendment, “The people having a right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” as the rationale for private ownership of arms separate from militia membership. He asserts the Second Amendment’s purpose was to guarantee that States “would be free to raise and train their own militias as a defense against federal power and as a means of keeping defensive military force available to Americans while remaining outside the direct control of the federal government”.14 He is correct state militias are supposed to be outside federal control but his assertion the militia is the primary focus of the Second Amendment is incorrect. The Second Amendment clearly contains two independent parts that framers could have fashioned into separate amendments. In fairness to McMaken, his purpose was to demonstrate State Militias are to be independent of federal control and that the so-called “National” (sic) Guard is a standing army and a gross violation of the Constitution.
Drafters wrote definitions of a militia into State Declarations of Rights and later into the federal and State Constitutions from 1791 on. They typically refer to “the mass of ordinary citizens, trained to arms” who would be available for call-up by State or local authorities, and to which was often appended an age range for those subject to service. Founding Fathers from Patrick Henry, George Mason, John Adams to Thomas Jefferson made clear the purpose of the Second Amendment was “that every man” be armed.15 Was this not so that the people would be equipped for militia service if needed? True but only in part. The Founders clearly saw that as an auxiliary advantage. However, the stress was that all men possess the right to keep and bear arms and government in no way have the power to infringe on this right or disarm the people. During debates over ratification of the proposed Constitution (1788) at the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry declared, “The great object is that every man be armed…Everyone who is able may have a gun”. Zachariah Johnson added, “The new Constitution could never result in religious or other oppression because ‘the people are not to be disarmed of their weapons”. Not militias, people. At the Massachusetts’ ratifying convention, Samuel Adams stated, “That the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience, or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms”.16 Again, these rights, freedom of speech, religion, and arms belong to individuals, not states or any other form of organized political entity including militias.
Many States, including Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, and others specifically state people have an individual right to keep and bear arms and it is not tied to membership in a militia, military, or any form of security force.17 The Founders knew Americans opposed standing peacetime armies (as we have today) and that States were reluctant to cede any of their sovereignty to this new untried federal system of government. They also knew government, like an irresistible force of nature, attracts to it men of ambition, those craving power, and men with no moral scruples. Therefore, they added the militia phrase. States would retain the means to resist federal usurpations of their power and infringement against the liberties of people. Under the proposed Constitution, the federal government, facing a national emergency such as invasion or insurrection, could request the states call up their militias. Governors would send them to federal authorities who in turn would arm, equip, and organize them into a standing army. The States would retain the right to choose officers commanding their militia units. Once the crisis was resolved, militiamen would return to their respective states and mustered out of service. Constitution or not, efforts to “federalize” (actually, “nationalize”) State militias placing them under presidential control began almost at once just as so-called Anti-Federalists had warned.18 The individual right to possess arms was always a separate issue.
English philosopher John Locke’s Treatises On Government were widely read (1689) in the colonies. He argued man had a “natural” (G-D given) right to life, liberty, and property. Inherent in each is the right to the means of defending it.19 Under the supervision of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.20 Drawing on many widely held philosophical and theological roots; Jefferson wrote that all rights are individual and a gift from G-D. Among them are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (property, wages, and the fruits of one’s labor). Rights imputed by Divinity are inherent in the nature of each individual’s humanity. People are born already possessing these rights. A right to life presupposes a right to the means of defending it.21
The Second Amendment employs the words “right” and “shall not be infringed demonstrating it refers to “a right that is already assumed to exist” (which comports with the Declaration). It does not say, “The people shall have a right to keep and bear arms.” The amendment recognizes but does not grant the right” [emphasis in the original].22 Requirements to join the military, a militia, or engage in a government specified activity in order exercise a right would negate that right. Any regulation, red tape, or hoops one must jump through before accessing a right is a gross infringement and, again, negates it as a right. Governments can in no way qualify a right. No vote by a majority of one’s neighbors to limit a right in any way is legitimate. In addition, people cannot through constitutions or laws, “agree to an infringement on their rights”.23 This is because of the inherency of rights. Only Divinity can alter or abolish rights divinely created. So why does the Second Amendment continue to confound people?
George Mason’s proposed draft of the amendment read, “That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state”.24 Madison’s version read, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well-regulated militia being the best security to a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person”.25 Madison, like Mason and other Founders, wanted it understood that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right separate from membership in any form of militia. For example, those objecting to military service on religious grounds, still possessed the right to keep and bear arms. This would not be true had the right been dependent on being in a militia. Madison’s intent “is clear not only from his wording, but also from his notes for his speech proposing the amendment”. He states it pertains to an individual right which his “colleagues clearly understood the proposal to be protective of individual rights”. Massachusetts delegate Fisher Ames wrote that among other rights, that of bearing arms “to be inherent in the people”. Writing under the name “A Pennsylvanian” in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, Madison’s friend Tench Coxe argued that the delegates wrote the Second Amendment to “guarantee the right of the people to have ‘their private arms’ to prevent tyranny and to overpower an abusive standing army or select militia”. Madison read Coxe’s articles and agreed, the amendment pertained to an individual right.26
So much, did the Founders write about the Second Amendment; its meaning is beyond question. These documents and writings are available to anyone. On what basis can opponents of an individual right interpretation justify their position? Simple. The truth is unimportant. Only the Great Project matters. All narratives, including history, must be made to fit and support it. Like a starfish turning a clamshell over searching for a vulnerability by which to penetrate its defenses, so too do enemies of the Bill of Rights search for weaknesses. They find it in contemporary American’s unfamiliarity with grammatical construction.
It is important to keep in mind, of the Bill of Rights none refers to “States having rights”. Each refers to a right of the people. These are individual rights. To argue the Second Amendment applies only to members of a military organization turns it into a State not individual right. We have clearly seen that was not the Founder’s intention. If the Founders had intended military or militia membership dependency in order to own or possess arms, “Why would they say, ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”? Madison and those who shaped the amendment’s wording “chose to put the militia reference into a dependent phrase” choosing “the weakest possible construction by using the participle (word formed from a verb) ‘being’ instead of writing say, ‘Since a well regulated militia is necessary…” The militia wording’s weak form demonstrates its framers listed it as a right of states. “The main independent clause” of the amendment reads, “The people’s right to have guns ‘shall not be infringed”.27
An independent clause is a stand-alone sentence dependent on nothing. The militia part of the Second Amendment forms a dependent phrase. It cannot stand alone by itself containing a subject, verb, and complete thought. Therefore, it is secondary in importance to the main independent clause. The words; “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state” would mean what by itself? The words; “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” would mean what without the first part of the amendment? People have a right to keep and bear arms. By reversing this order, the amendment’s drafters made emphatic that the independent clause was its most important part. “The Founders correctly intuited that in a bill of rights (list), the last thing the reader should have ringing in his mind’s ear is the absolute prohibition on infringement of the natural right to own guns”.28
If the Bill of Right’s enemies read America’s founding documents and writings, they know the truth. None of that matters. What does matter to them is total disarmament of American citizens. The Great Project cannot culminate until that happens. Toward that goal, the end always justifies the means.
11 Unlike men and women since the dawn of time, those on the Left are stymied when it comes to determining their sex, of which, there are but the two aforementioned options.
22 As with the Marjory Stoned Man Douglass high school “useful idiots,” Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, David Hogg, et al, the Left cowardly uses kids as stooge props, their youth supposedly giving them and their terribly immature and uninformed rantings an unassailable immunity against critique. Isn’t this what Muslim terrorists do, hide behind children?
33 Martha MacCallum Show, FOX News, 31 December 2019.
44 Sheldon Richman, “Reading the Second Amendment”, The Freeman 2 (February 1998), 112.
66 Marvin Olasky, Fighting For Liberty And Virtue: Political and Cultural Wars in Eighteenth Century America (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, A Division of Good News Publishers, 1995), 93.
1616 Stephen Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right (Albuquerque, New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press, 1984), 73-75.
1818 Edwin Meese III, Matthew Spalding, and David Forte, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, (Washington, D.C., Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2005), 139-143.
2020 Clarence B. Carson, A Basic History of the United States, Volume I: The Colonial Experience 1607-1774 (Wadley, Alabama, American Textbook Committee, 1987), 182-183.
2121 Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution (Lawrence, Kansas, University Press of Kansas, 1985), ix, 60-63. See also, Gary T. Amos, Defending the Declaration (Brentwood, Tennessee, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1989), 35-74, 117-118.
2222 Sheldon Richman, “Properly Interpreting the 2nd Amendment” Human Events (June 16, 1995), 16.
January 20, 2020 will be the VCDL‘s Lobby Day, and thousands opposed to the massive gunpeople control push by the Democrats are expected to turn out. Governor Coonman is so fearful of his constituents that he has declared a state of emergency and will make Capitol Square a “gun-free” zone. He’s doing that citing some “threats” which look suspiciously like false flags designed to give him that very excuse. But I’m cynical. Or realistic; you decide.
Capitol Square will be fenced off, with a single pedestrian entrance where everyone will have to go through a metal detector. Those who wish to enter for the purpose of exercising their First Amendment right to petition the government must surrender their Second Amendment rights.
It may be a little late to coordinate this, but I have a suggestion.
First, the rally will happen. It’s time for naysayers to be quiet; adults are talking.
VCDL has arranged for organizers for specific legislators. Attendees are already being asked to make contact with them. Good; do that. But those organizers should have sign-in sheets so they document exactly how many people are there to petition their legislator. Those sheets should be given to lobbyists who are actually entering the Capitol building to speak to legislators.
Those lobbyists are the only people who should go through the metal detector. They go in, wave their sign-in sheets, and tell legislators, “Look. I’m here representing these [insert count] people who oppose your unconstitutional proposals.”
All other attendees should refuse to enter Capitol Square, and simply surround the perimeter outside of the fence. Peacefully. Your presence will still be visible, making whatever point you wanted. And you’ll be making the additional point that you won’t be disarmed.
I would have preferred that this be a Virginian operation, with out-of-staters staying away. As is, the media will highlight non-Virginians to claim that VCDL had to import protestors because not enough real Virginians oppose these bills.
They have asked that people avoid a militant appearance, because for VCDL’s intent it’s bad optics. That’s good. I hope folks go along. Tactical gear, ARs and AKs, and scary militant slogans aren’t going to suddenly persuade the Democrat delegates, Democrat senators, and Democrat governor that, “Well, gosh. We were wrong; these are just peaceable, reasonable, nonviolent people who make an excellent point.” Militant appearance and behavior at a lobbying event reinforces their belief that mere citizens are too dangerous to be trusted with arms.
If I’d been planning this, I’d have set up the rally as a silent protest outside, with everyone dressed as neatly as possible in their everyday work attire, to drive home the real point that we are just ordinary citizens, not nutjobs.
And that would make the few actual nutjobs — and the inevitable false flag types — stand out so they could be disowned and dealt with properly.
I wish Virginia the best of luck on Monday. As is, they’re going to need it.
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Anti-Semitism is on the rise. No doubt about it, while the left likes to try to blame it on the right politically, that doesn’t pan out. There are no politicians on the right, and most people on the right are not saying the sorts of thing the elected demoncrats in office have espoused. The #Demoncrats seem to be trying to do their best to move as far left towards G-dless communism and have put their far left members, such as “The Squat” in the driver seat. And that may be partly why the left hates Jews, we are suppose to be spreading the light and knowledge of G-d’s handbook for this world known as Torah, or Bible and they are determined to try to eliminate G-d from the conversation. Anyone’s conversation. Communism and socialism are G-dless religions, and so, the left loves those political doctrines. The dark doesn’t want the light, it makes the dark disappear.
There have been several attacks on religious communities lately. For a list of anti-Semitic attacks, including Synagogue attacks there is this, a list of attacks on Jewish institutions.
It includes Poway and Squirrel Hill. But the carnage at Poway was far lower than it could have been. And it was far lower than at Squirrel Hill. Chabad in Poway had armed congregants, Squirrel Hill didn’t.
Within a similar time frame there were also attacks on churches in Texas. The one in Sutherland Springs Texas was stopped by a neighbor who heard the gun shots and ran out the door with his AR-15. Not his shoes, but his AR. Man had his priorities straight. He stopped the murderer. The one in White Settlement near Ft. Worth was stopped by a member of the Church Security team. But he was one of several members on the Security team. Back to the days of New Life Church and Jeanne Asssam, there have been highly publicized incidents of armed citizens stopping killers intent on wiping out life.
“It’s the job of law enforcement to carry guns that kill. We just can’t let the average American have guns in a crowded place…gun control saves lives…”pic.twitter.com/qt7nDRvKxz
No word on if he’s giving up his own armed security. But then, he’s “special” you, are not. Bless his little heart. One more reminder he it totally unfit to be President of the United States of America.
Even more recently the attack on a Kosher Deli in Jersey City, which was originally an attack planned for the Synagogue attached.
But New York has strict gun control there, so Jews and other law-abiding citizens are supposed to be safe!
HA! The Attack in Monsey proved gun control lies are just that. Lies. The Bucket O’Chum used a machete. I understand from this episode of the Tamar Yonah show, the pictures of the victims on social media resemble those of the victims of the 1929 Hevron riots.
Towards the end of the segment she is interviewing Shifra Hoffman, founder of Victims of Arab Terror. They are both discussing that all Jews need to be armed, and we need to secure our Synagogues, we must learn to fight and be prepared to do so. You’ll love listening to Shifra, she really tells it as it is. Shifra is strong on making Aliyah, to put it mildly.
While you’re on Twitter, you could also follow The Zelman Partisans.
This social media thing is interesting. There is a writer for Arutz Sheva that I enjoy. I read a couple of columns, followed him on Twitter and we are in each others network on LinkedIn. Moshe Phillips, the writer, has done some strong columns, as you can see. He is also the National Director of the U.S. division of Herut North America.
This lead to Moshe reaching out to us to see if we could help with publicizing a Synagogue Security toolkit. It is done by Herut, and there goal is to make it much harder to successfully attack a Synagogue. As Pat Parelli says, “Prior and proper planning prevent pee poor performance.” And this time it will save lives as well. There is also advice and things to think about in your daily life, not just at Shul. Life is precious, all attempts must be made to preserve it from those that attempt to steal it. Talk to your leadership today, have them get the book, if you’re in leadership, get it yesterday.
This situation turned out as well as it did because they planned, and they had a team in placed. Be prepared to respond. Someone used to say “A gun is like a parachute. You may only need it once, but if you do need it, you will need it very very badly”.
The Correct Response to a threat
Make the choice, fight back, be informed, be part of a team, contact Herut. Fight back to live.
“Amended” version, because the bill includes some troubling things like a ban on “high capacity” magazines (10+) and outlawing private sales at gun shows. But I want the ban — total, not just “assault weapons;” no grandfathering — to pass as written. It’s all in the definition of “automatic and semi-automatic guns.”
As used in this part, the term:
(1) ‘Automatic or semi-automatic gun’ means any weapon which shoots or is designed to shoot:
(A) Automatically, more than six shots, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger; or
(B) Without any action needed to fire consecutive shots, other than having ammunition loaded in such weapon’s feeding device.
You see it, don’t you? Maybe not: “Automatically, more than six shots” or “Without any action”
So this letter went to Georgia Senator William Ligon, 3rd District:
Sen. Ligon,
I’m one of your constituents in St Marys, and a writer for The Zelman Partisans and The Truth About Guns. I cover firearms policy and law.
Sen Donzella James has filed SB 281 (Dangerous Instrumentalities and Practices; possession of automatic and semi-automatic guns; prohibit), I hope you will consider the following actions and encourage your fellow legislators to go along.
1. Amend to strike the ban on “high” capacity magazines (more than ten rounds) and private sales at gun shows.
2. Vote to pass the remaining ban on “possession of automatic and semi-automatic guns.”
As written, Sen. James has succeeded in “banning” semi-autos without actually banning anything, except possibly malfunctioning firearms. Passing this would be hilarious. If you aren’t quite sure why, this column explains.
If you live in Georgia, you may want to contact your own senator.
For those concerned about Georgians losing machine guns, worry not. The bill leaves intact existing language in the law which had already banned machine guns unless they’re registered under the NFA.
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According to the more lurid propaganda now circulating, the Virginia National Guard will be going door-to-door, searching homes, seizing firearms, leaving law-abiding gun owners vulnerable to attacks by criminal hordes and organized gangs such as MS-13.
Casey hangs around some odd web sites if he’s seeing that. Despite my extensive reading on firearms policy and law, I haven’t run across claims that will happen. I have seen analyses of ramifications of filed Virginia legislation.
Relax. It’s not going to happen. Probably there’ll be some changes to gun laws, and some long-overdue tightening of statutes that were increasingly relaxed during two decades of Republican rule.
But nobody’s going to be going door-to-door seizing firearms. And any legislation that passes is likely to be quite familiar to Virginia’s 8.57 million residents.
Consider just two major proposals on the table.
So he ridicules the possibility of bans and confiscation, and supports his position by bringing up firearm purchase rationing and the elimination of state firearms law preemption, as if that’s all that’s being proposed.
Let me bring up another bill that was filed. I can’t think of how Casey missed it, given the very subject he mocks: VA Senate Bill 16: Assault firearms and certain firearm magazines; prohibiting sale, transport, etc.. Since the Democrats have the house, senate, and governorship it seems likely this will pass. I hardly expect the senate majority leader to let it die… since Sen. Dick Saslaw himself is the original sponsor.
That bill completely bans several large classes of common firearms. There is no grandfathering. No “buyback” provision to compensate owners for their loss. Casey somehow hasn’t noticed this. What did he think prompted Rep. Don McEachin to say, “Ultimately, I’m not the governor, but the governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law”?
That was no “idle, ill-thought-out comment.” That was a carefully crafted proposal made in a planned interview with a national media outlet, in response to most of the state’s counties and towns announcing that they would not enforce that law if passed.
Sure, afterwards, the governor claimed the bill would be amended to grandfather in existing firearms so long as the owners register them like good little serfs. But 1) it hasn’t been amended, 2) no substitute bill with grandfathering has been filed, and 3) the governor is already budgeting for personnel to enforce SB 16, and for an increased corrections budget for people incarcerated under the proposed — and not even passed yet — gunpeople control laws.
When governor, senate majority leader, and a congresscritter tell us that they are going to try to take guns, tell us how many millions of dollars they plan to spend trying to take guns, tell us how many people they plan to hire to try to take guns, and tell us how much money they expect to spend to imprison those that don’t want their guns taken…
Virginians should take them at their word, Casey’s clumsy attempt at dismissal through obfuscation and misdirection not withstanding.
[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]
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“Antisemitism” as Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Is the most ancient disease”.
Anyone familiar with Jewish history, perhaps with almost all of it, knows that irrational attacks targeted against Jews are just that, irrational. The word anti-Semite itself is a misnomer, having been invented in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr. It was to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns under way in central Europe at that time.
Ultimately, all acts of maliciousness, including bullying or targeting any group or nation as a whole, originate from problems within the person or group-think doing the attacking. No rational thinker would ever assume that an entire group or nationality is intrinsically evil. Therefore, it is obviously an issue in the person or gang who is attacking.
As Jews, among the possible responses we have, there are these ten:
There is the common one, not to take it personal.
Fear. Anyone with any life experience realizes there can be, unfortunately a reaction of fear. As the word terrorism implies, it is there to frighten. Sadly, for those who succumb to the fear, the tactic must be deemed a “success.”
I personally took a pledge to never fear terrorism, for the consequence of fear is acquiescence.
This explains the timid fool, who instead of standing with the oppressed, takes the side of the oppressor! This is often seen in J Street insanity, in some sort of odd version of the Stockholm syndrome. To paraphrase Churchill, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
Need we mention that the Jews of Germany were more “German” than the Germans! (In fact Reform, which mimicked the church (placing in in the temple an organ etc.) started in Germany and initially took out all references to Israel feeling their allegiance was to the Fatherland. And as Einstein commented, seeing both Reform in America and Germany, that people respect those who have self-respect, not inferiority complexes.))
Compassion for mental instability. Friends of mine, a couple who came to our synagogue, related an incident to me. They were getting into an elevator in Colorado, and a man began hurling anti-Semitic slurs at them. The husband, with his Yarmulkah and beard, looks Jewish. I asked the wife, “How did it make you feel?” She said, “Well, I could see the person was obviously unwell, so I felt sorry for him.”
Don’t Imbibe Negativity. Never believe negativity. Even, perhaps especially, if it is about you. Perhaps most importantly, the essence of anti-Semitism is jealousy. We all have innate jealousy, our primary jealousy is when we become miserable (either malcontent, frustrated or anxious thereby affecting our self-image.) This causes (as Rabbi Sholom Dovber of Lubavitch, explains in a lengthy discourse, Heichaltzu) a subconscious jealousy/hate, which consciously manifests as logical rationalizations, justifying malicious demeaning. This is the subconscious cause of antisemitism, terrorism, bullying, in fact all radical hate. Their “cause/excuses” are masking a violent jealous hate.
Content people never use demeaning violence or language. One of the wisest of Jews on the subject of anti-Semitism, no less a personage than Albert Einstein, loosely quoted from his book “Out Of My Later Years”
“The Germans hated not the Jews, for they are a race; for Jews come from all races; rather the Germans who stood for power / brute barbarism (a predilection of those who have lost the pleasure of love and compassion) tried to extinguish those who stand for – as all Jews do – social justice – goodness and kindness.”
One of the primary stresses in America today – in fact psychologists say, the primary stress – is the American discord.
Two weeks before the 2016 election, I got so sick of the media circus, I went on what has been my most addictive diet – no news!
Michael Medved who is a syndicated radio show host, former movie critic, as well as a Yale graduate and returnee to Jewish practice, says, polls show that though people (in general) think that theirlife is good, they nevertheless think life is bad.
At a conference, sponsored by Chabad.org and the New York Public Library (a 24 hour marathon of positive speeches) Medved said, he believed the perception of a negative world, comes from the media.
Truth be told, I believed him not.
But a mere two weeks after I went on my “no media diet…” my entire mood shifted. The few friends of mine who have tried this have come to similar conclusions. Instead of seeing negative, instead of feeling miserable, one sees all the beauty, the wonderful country, the wonderful kind people… statistics show as never before, we live in the best of times! According to Gallup data, Americans are the second kindest nation.
Imbibe Positivity. On a practical note, I had the privilege of translating “Kesser Shem Tov,” the collected wisdom and teachings of one of the greatest Jewish Masters, Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov. As I went through the wisdom that forever changed Jewish inspiration into positivity, love, & joy, I realized, that the very core of his teachings (a very deep Kabbalistic concept) is that though naturally, we imagine that the world outside of us causes the world inside of us, it is actually the positive emotions we hold, that paints the world. Amazingly this is the great revelation of quantum physics, namely that the emotions we hold, affect the physical atomic “reactions.”
We create positive emotions by:
A. Expressing our gratitude to G-d for all the good He graciously bestows (particularly, every morning, for the first thought of the day sets the tone for the day) – in fact the very word Jew comes from the word to be grateful!
B. Our choice to unconditionally love and never fear.
C. Our confidence that Moshiach will soon redeem us all!
We see this prophecy clearly manifesting, with the return of Israel and millions of Jews to our homeland, and in general, how much more receptive the world is today, than ever before, to Jews, Judaism, human rights etc. Though the media may make one think we are always on the brink, studies show that we are actually progressively becoming less violent and more peaceful.
World Wide Battle Deathes
In America according to Pew, unbelievably the most respected religion is Judaism, and there is a 70% support for Israel. This figure is replicated remarkably in India, and in many other countries.
Beat Stress. Another very important and life transforming teaching of the Holy Baal Shem Tov is, “When you see the good in the bad, the bad will become good.”
When our inner world is filled with positivity, this will change the outer – so please, in response to the heinous unwarranted hate, increase exponentially in, (even “unwarranted”) grateful love, and faith. What if how you feel changes the world?!
There was a study done in Washington D.C. in which thousands of volunteers meditated for an afternoon – and based on 3,000 – previous studies it was predicted that it would drop the murder rate by 25%! which occurred.
Arm. It is also very important to not have a “battered wife” syndrome. Every single Jew should learn a form of defense such as Krav Maga, the Israeli Defense Force “judo”. As an example, a Arab terrorist came into a Jewish woman’s home in Israel and using Krav Maga, she caused him to flee. Where permissible carry Pepper Spray or a weapon. G-d-forbid to have to, but, as the same G-d who says “Do not murder” teaches, we must kill to prevent others from being killed. It says, “Do not stand by idly, when your brothers’ blood (including your own) is being spilled.” If the punks that are harassing innocent women and children get harmed (or when necessary, killed) the violence quickly, perhaps not totally, but in the vast majority of cases, ends.
Since safety is the primary goal, Jewish communities should consider organizing and implementing a Shmira patrol group. Many of the recent spate of crimes were crimes of opportunity and a Shmira group would serve to reduce those. Additionally a new system designed by Israeli security specialists, “Gabriel”, are for communities to install. This will give law enforcement immediate visual info. It would also make sense (I have written to Zaka…) – to create an app whereby anyone needing “help” could ideally just say that, and it would connect to trained volunteers, as well as local law enforcement. If you are willing to sponsor please be in touch – go to “Contact,” on my website, LacademyofLife.org
Educate. Most importantly, we Jews are called to be “A light onto the nations.” We do this as the Rebbe teaches by being Jewish. We demonstrate, that man is not an animal – we are subservient to a higher code. In fact, G-d specifically chose, from all of humanity Abraham. As G-d says: “For I have known Him, because He instructs his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord to perform righteousness and justice;” In other words, specifically because we are a light onto the nations we were chosen. By nature, without law order and subservience to G-d, as all of human history shows, man devolves into a “man eat man” chaos. This was the primary reality before the flood, and then the light of Judaism civilized. As we call it, the Judeo-Cristian ethic. And hence, particularly now more than ever before, it is our obligation to share the Seven Noahide principles; which are the only way to ensure that the world is based on a bedrock of civility – the world needs you! Share AskNoah.org
Study Torah/Chitas. This Shabbos as I was studying, a hunch I had was confirmed. The Rebbe quotes from Zohar (page 164A)
“The protection of the Beis Hamikdosh (G-d’s Holy Temple) was done personally by G-d, as it is written “If G-d protects not the city, the watchman is useless;”
The Holy Letters (of Torah) Their Protection Is Like The Protection of The Beis Hamkidosh, through G-d Himself!
Wherever, a Tzaddik goes, G-d protects Him continually, as it states, “G-d protects both my going and coming.”
The Rebbe Explains: This is connected to the studying of Torah, meaning, through studying Torah, we are protected in the same manner as, “G-d protects both my going and coming,” just as a Mezuzah!
In other words – and something I personally have discovered, and I know others who do likewise find similarly, every single morning it is critical to study, or at least read the Daily Chitas. This is available in many apps, magazines such as Dvar Malchus, Chayeinu, or through Chabad.org.
Chitas was instituted by the Previous Rebbe, and it is, to read/study the daily Chumash, the Daily Tehhilim (as it divided into the monthly cycle) and the Daily Tanya.
Many times I wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe requesting help and the reply almost invariably was to study Chitas – to be honest I couldn’t see any connection.
However once my, perhaps laziness or whatever… wore off, and I started doing Chitas, my problems dissipated.
The most accurate way to explain this is to imagine if you are on a ship. Now you can either face stormy weather in which all your energies are spent simply surviving or you can have a beautiful ocean, and your little bit of effort results in a smooth meaningful sail.
The letters of Torah (particularly of Chitas) are ultimately Divine names which as Kabbalah teaches, through which the entire universe is sustained. To put it bluntly, the Holy Zohar teaches, that “The Ten Sayings through which G-d created the world (in Breishis/Genesis – the continual flow of Divinity, creating reality) depends on the Jewish people studying the Ten Commandments.”
In other words, as we even just say these holy words, we produce (like flipping the switch) the Divine positive energy! Please, for your and everyone’s sake, start; – give it a week, and see if you can feel how your life is smoother, indicating, like the Mezuzah, a daily protection.
10. Vote Right. Though I am loath to enter into the political arena, it would be foolhardy to ignore. You know a man told me in our Synagogue, that his grandfather was one of nine Jews in the Reichstag (German Parliament) who, are you ready for this? Who elected Hitler! : (
So it seems, that we Jews, particularly coming from love, have a very hard time understanding hate.
The truth of how people become antisemitic when as mentioned, the vast majority, particularly Cristian, particularly Evangelical, Americans have a positive view, is directly linked to the legitimizing of anti-Israel / anti-Semitic rhetoric. Some are unaware or ignore the consequences of the “pro-Palestinian” lobby, an army of millions of Muslims (with incredible overseas funding) who are behind the anti-Semitism, in Europe and, as we tragically see, on American campuses. The most egregious legitimizer was former President Obama. As for something to become mainstream, the “higher” its “authority,” the deeper it penetrates. Many amazingly still cannot recognize how his policies such as giving Hamas tens of millions of dollars each time they maliciously rained rockets on innocent Jews in Israel, supporting the radicals in Libya (still in chaos…) the radicals in Egypt (which their army had to overthrow…) radicals in Syria (causing over half a million deaths and millions of “refugees, which) were a deliberate tactic of ISIS to spread Islam. Jihad according to Islam is also through overrunning (as Islam historically has done) populations. Historically Jihad is responsible for at (the very least) 270,000,000 murders (the most violent ideology in history, as unlike all faiths that see everyone as potential converts (or in Judaism as potential Jews or Noahides) Islam classifies people into either Good Muslim (which as we see itself is in civil war since the year 700 (that’s over 1,300 years!) or bad Jew, Cristian, (which in a benevolent Islam, may live as a dhimmi (subjugated humiliated second class citizen with zero power) or as Infidel / idolater that must be killed (according to recent accounts, when Islam invade India in the medieval period, it caused the largest wholesale massacre in human history 400,000,000.) Furthermore not only did President Obama try to facilitate the ability of Iran to destroy Israel (and the west – as his bizarre nuclear deal which allows them to have the technology to know how to make a bomb and in 2025 make them! (for in fact, unbeknown – as most people don’t understand Islam – Obama never made a deal, he made a “hunda” (an Islamic term of a max. ten year “peace agreement” in which the Muslim country rearms to attack) giving your hard earned money to fund the murderous Iranian Quds international terrorist destabilizing group, operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and more clandestinely, practically everywhere. You didn’t know 50% of the money Iran received from U.S. was given to them?
According to the Pew Research Center, Obama’s radical ideology has become the opinion of 17% of Americans, representing 45% of the Democratic party. What is so disturbing, is that they are the most active, vocal and fanatic Democrats. Their ideology being an offshoot of a radical believes that the “end justifies the means.” Instead of the ideal of democracy and unity, namely the “consent of the governed”, radicals (as expressed by angry – hence evil) people, ignores protocol, law, order, justice, respect, & civility, in its desire (as we saw with Hitler in Germany) to implement its autocratic ideologies.
As Dr. Kulic, a preeminent psychiatrist told me, the desire to control others stems from a sadism.
Now far be it from me to accuse tens of millions of people (17% of our country) of all being malicious, however as disturbing as Hitler with his sadistic anti-social murderous desire was, because emotions and ideas, as mentioned descend from leaders to followers, it were the nazis – otherwise normal people – who actually fulfilled happily this intent.
Of-course, as we see clearly with Brexit, as well as perhaps with the almost majority that elected Trump, people resist totalitarianism.
It is impossible to ignore that the Democratic party has followed the ideology of radicalism, and as it relates to Jews, its benchmark, is seen in the support or denial of Israel. Those who deny Jews the freedom to live in their homeland, in peace and security, as Martin Luther King said, and is obvious to those whose heads are above the ground, are plain old anti-Semites.
Anti-Semitism as mentioned in the top of this article is a fake word – you see, as people become more “sophisticated”… it didn’t appear seemly, to single out a religious group. Hence newfangled cockamamie theories, such as Jews being hated for “racial reasons” or being hated as “they oppress the Palestinians,” were concocted. If this truly was the cause, people would be clamoring for equal rights of Palestinians, in the many Arab countries in which they live!
By way of example, Palestinians living in Lebanon are denied the right to own property, nor do they qualify for health care, and are banned by law from working in a large number of jobs, 75 professions!
Rami Khouri, a prominent Lebanese journalist, wrote in The Daily Star, that
“All Arab countries mistreat millions of Arab, Asian and African foreign guest workers, who often are treated little better than chattel or indentured laborers…The mistreatment, abysmal living conditions and limited work, social security and property rights of the Palestinians [in Arab Countries] are a lingering moral black mark.”
Unless, as one Arab writes in the Gates One Institute, the issue is anti-Israel, the inhumane treatment of Arabs by Arabs is of no concern.
This proves that those who are pro-Palestinian are simply using, as those who believed in the blood-libel, a convenient libel for their murderous intent.
Need we mention, that the African slave trade which inhumanly, ignobly and reprehensibly continues to this very day, was and is, perpetrated by Arab Muslims. There are an estimated 10,000,000 black slaves who died (though often those who hunted and kidnapped were blacks, supported by Arab traders) en-route or during raids from Africa.
In simple words, anyone who aligns themselves with “pro-Palestinian” is nothing less than a neo-Nazi or a naive timid appeaser. As is well known, the Palestinians, were offered numerous times a country; It is not their own country they seek, it is the lack of a Jewish country.
This is why the mere idea of a Jewish country caused murderous riots by Arabs through the middle-east (eventually causing 700,000 Jews to have to flee homelands (which they had dwelt in for often 2,500 years.)
The real reason for the Arab hate – as clarified to me by a former Arab terrorist who converted to Christianity and wrote the book “A Mind Of Terror” (in which he analyzed the Arab pathological hate) stems actually back from (amazingly as the Medrash – ancient Jewish teaching writes) the fact that, as the Bible tells us, Yishmoel, the ancestor of the Arabs, was both expelled from the house, as well as Israel; he went to live in Arabia (notice Arabia /Arab.) Though it may seem hard for one to imagine, that there is a four thousand year old grudge (and certainly I wish not to perpetuate negative emotions – for I wish on no-one shame) but this – as we see in countless societies the shame, say in the Balkans, Ireland (and the desire for vengeance) is centuries upon centuries, and reinforced generationally. In Judaism, as we attribute our loss to our sins, we see it not as shame, but something to rectify.
Those who think they can turn a blind eye to their brothers and sisters – hoping, as we mentioned, by ingratiating themselves to haters and neo-nazis…. are seeing, that antisemitism, like a disease – once going more mainstream, can become viral.
Bonus: Understand It’s Evil.
The ultimate goal of evil – as pretty much the goal of every force, is self-propagation – it does this, as we saw in the Holocaust, as we see in terrorism, and as we see in bullying, and antisemitic bullying; by shaming, which can include violence, but in a unpredictable manner… for if the innocent:
A. Believe they are guilty.
B. Become afraid; Then not only will they give power to the bully, but they will emulate it out of fear.
As the Talmud states “Mercy towards evil, is to cause, not only evil to the merciful – but to become evil!” For as one’s motivation is fear, which is self-protection, this then creates a subconscious desire… “If you can’t beat em’ join em’.” Of course as most protective subconscious desires, it is erroneous (for those who hate based on their irrational jealousy, won’t somehow start loving.)
To a large extent Obama, a product of radical ideologies from his childhood mentor, black radical Frank Marshall Davis, who was a known communist, who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union… Many are unaware that the Soviet Union spent the majority of its budget on subversion, or as they call it “Disinformation.” The tactic of disinformation, as the most authoritative book on it, written by General Ion Mihai Pacepa, is to cause an internal collapse. Pacepa is the highest ranking Soviet General to defect and was head of the Secret Service of Romania where his career spanned 1951–78. In the art of war, Sun Tzu style – they have succeeded in their three highest propaganda goals. Remember this style of propaganda, is not by Soviets, rather by getting, or more accurately supporting disenfranchised radicals, who by entering into the consciousness of the society, will cause its collapse. 1. Pro-Palestinian, as Ion Mihai Pacepa says, the entire notion there ever was a “Palestinian state” was a Soviet idea, one in which he personally trained Arafat. Remember the Arabs fought three wars before they ever claimed there was such an Arab, called a Palestinian – Mahmoud Abbas got a “degree” from a Moscow “University,” and the list is endless. 2. Pro gay and lesbian. 3. Anti-American. It is amazing, that these three clarion calls, are the absolute hallmarks of “liberalism”.
Additionally, Obama chose to listen to twenty years of radical anti-American vitriol, as a member of Reverend Jeremy Wright’s Church. As Stanley Kurtz writes: You don’t join a church when there are literally of at least a million others, unless it is the message you desire. As Kurtz writes in 2008 (so this was a prediction, and as they say hindsight is 20/20, published on CBS) “Far from purging its radical Left, however, the Democratic party is now just inches away from placing it in the driver’s seat. That is the real meaning of the fiasco at (Reverend Wright’s) Trinity Church.”
In conclusion: There is no nation that has crisscrossed civilization – lived with, been persecuted by… – those who hate the Jews, as no less a psychological personage, than Dr. Freud who replied when asked as to the psychological reason for anti-Semitism, “Miserable bastards;” It is in the nature of misery to – from jealousy –to seek to make others miserable through random acts of violence.
If four thousand years have taught us anything, the solution is never in contorting oneself to the whims of deluded maniacs, rather By Proudly Carrying The Torch of G-d, of Judaism, of Love, Hope, Giving, Kindness and Belief – The Moshiach Who Is Practically Here, Will Come!
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
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