Awakenings...

No, not the Robin Williams movie but more and more members of the citizenry when it comes to firearm ownership. I received messages from two people yesterday. Here's the text of the first one:

I'd like to get some info from you about rules & laws in the People's Republic of Illinois.

Also - what can I do to join the NRA?

Do you have any recommendations for me when it comes to my first purchase?

I know, I'm behind...after XX years in the Army, you think I'd own more than just the rifle, which my dad gave me two years ago, and was his when he was a teen-ager! But, Ft. Hood has got me moving in the right direction again.

This is going along w/ looking into obtaining a non-resident CCW for when he's traveling.

The second was a series if IM's from an old High School friend now living in FL. Her fiancee went and purchased a Remington 870 Tactical because he's concerned about the way the country is going. He used to own a gun but had sold it some time ago. He plans on taking my friend to a range to make sure she knows how to use it as well since she's just as concerned.

I'm positive this will be the first of many purchases for all of them.

So while this is still anecdotal, it presents even more evidence that the surge in firearm sales that's lasted the last year and still going strong isn't just a bunch of right wing extremist racist tea-bagging militia gun nuts buying their 50th or 100th gun but 'regular' folks realizing that what we 'gun nuts' have been saying may not be so 'nutty' after all. These people are then getting guns for their SO's and talking to their friends and families.

It's unfortunate that it takes events like Ft Hood, Katrina and/or National instability to get people to understand what we have been saying but at least some good is coming out of it. When things improve and the world calms down a little, many of these individuals will lose much of the zeal they have now but most of them will still be firearm owners. Then, when 'gun control' groups and ignorant politicians try and get laws passed putting more restrictions on them (the owners) and that don't effect criminals in any way, there will be even less support for these measures.

Joyce Foundation says NRA = Terrorists.

Kurt Hoffman points to the Joyce's paid mouthpiece, Mark Karlin, calling for the NRA to be labeled as a 'terrorist organization'.

I'm delighted by this as this has been the rallying cry of ineffectual anti-gun trolls for quite some time. That the organization that dumps millions of dollars every year into anti-gun campaign has resorted to this cry of desperation shows the reality of where they stand in influence.

The Perfect Xmas Gift

Florida: Firearms remain big sellers, increasing into the holidays

The season's real present may go to the gun dealers, many of them still counting the post election profits of an "Obama rush" that saw shoppers stockpiling in case a new administration banned firearms. As other businesses hope for the year's low sales to turn around with the holidays, firearms dealers say they're simply waiting for their revenue to shoot even higher.

MAIG Mayor Convicted

MAIG Mayor Shiela Dixon has moved from being indicted to convicted.

What was she convicted of?

Stealing gift cards meant to go to the poor.

As of 12/1, she is still proudly listed as one of Mayor Bloomburg's 450 (or whatever number they're currently claiming)

No Endorsement for You.

IL Gov. candidate Jim Ryan claimed he had been endorsed by the NRA and ISRA in the 2002 election. Turns out, not so much. He WAS endorsed by the NRA w/ a grade of 'B+' but his claim of and ISRA endorsement turned out to be false:

The ISRA-PVF is today calling upon Illinois gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan to retract claims that he received the group's endorsement during his failed 2002 run for governor against Rod Blagojevich. Such misleading claims have surfaced on Ryan's social networking internet sites in recent days. Additionally, individuals have made reports to the ISRA-PVF that Ryan campaign staffers have made similar endorsement claims when questioned about Ryan's stands on issues important to law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

Oops.

Ryan's staffers reply on FB:

Jim Ryan for Illinois Governor Our campaign staffers in 2002 recalled working closely with ISRA on several issues and remembered being endorsed. If we erred in our recollection, we apologize. We have deep respect for gun owners in Illinois and for the ISRA. We look forward to working with them in the governor's office, with or without an endorsement.

Well that's covered in the article as well.

"Some things never change," commented ISRA-PVF spokesman Richard Pearson. "The Ryan campaign's habit of bending the truth is one of them. In 2002 we heard them lie about why Ryan wasn't endorsed by us, now we hear them lie about receiving our endorsement. The truth is that firearm owners had no reason to vote for Ryan in 2002, and they certainly do not have any reason to vote for him in 2010."

I Support The 2A but......

I was pointed to Il Gov. Candidate Jim Ryan's FB page by a loyal reader where Ryan has published his stock reply to any questions about supporting firearm rights:

A number of people here have asked for my position on the issue of the 2nd Amendment. I am pro-Second Amendment and in 2002 I was endorsed by the NRA/ISRA in my run for Governor. As a lifetime prosecutor, I am persuaded by those in law enforcement who oppose concealed carry. I believe the main problem with gun violence is not the lack of new laws but the inadequate enforcement of existing gun statutes.

He must be talking to those in 'law enforcement' that are appointed by the Chicago machine and IACP since the Illinois Sheriff's Assoc. supports CCW overwhelmingly.

As usual, the citizens of Illinois are going to get screwed no matter who the GOP/DNC choose for office.

Nope, Not Just Me.

In a post last week, I'ld mentioned that I've seen a significant uptick in 'Rightwing Extremist Militia' type stories on TV shows and 9badly) made for TV movies. Kaveman then crawled out from under the trailer w/ a copy of the Jan. '04 edition of America's 1st Freedom that had an article, Advise and Decieve, about the Joyce Foundation funding a group whose purpose was to push for guns to be shown in a bad light in the media.

Let's take a look at some of the EIC's 'recomendations' on how they do this and some of the examples the article highlighted:

Recommendation: consider exploring a gun dealer's or gun supplier's remorse about the harm done by someone to whom he or she funished a firearm.

Example: In the movie Liberty Stands Still, a character played by Wesley Snipes threatens to murder a woman named Liberty Wallace, whose company manufactured the firearm used to kill Snipes' daughter. Snipes tells Liberty she can die a hero by revealing her company's dubious business practices and political affiliations; threatened w/ death, liberty attempts to reconcile her past "misdeeds".

Recommendation: Consider giving an account of a family's lawsuit against a gun dealer or manufacturer for supplying a gun that a criminal used to murder their loved one.

Example: Though John Grisham's book was about a juror attempting to barter a decision for cash in a tobacco lawsuit, the movie Runaway Jury is an anti-gun fairy tale focusing on a lawsuit brought by a widow against a gun manufacturer.

I've actually had a person cite that movie as factual in a debate.

Recommendation: Consider using gun safety posters in the background on appropriate sets.

Example: Though the Lethal Weapon series could rightly be described as the pinnacle of shoot-em-up cinema, Lethal Weapon 4 featured anti-NRA posters crowding the background in a scene inside a police station.

Recommendation: Demonstrate parents making gun safety inquiries of other households where their children visit, asking about storage, accessibility and so on.

The article does not list an example but I caught an episode of the short lived series "The Education of Max Bickford" where the main character, played by Richard Dreyfuss, forbade his son to play w/ a neighbor who lets the boys plink at cans.

There are multiple other 'Tips' made including showing 'cool' kids make negative remarks about guns, regurgitate Joyce Foundation provided statistics in scripts, etc.

Then there's also classic examples of movies and the media blatantly fabricating information about guns like the Glock 17 in Die Hard 2 being able to defeat airport screeners and a 'Teflon Bullet" in Lethal Weapon 3 (that series again) penetrating several inches of steel plating. All legal for sale to those accident prone civilians.

I bring this up again since the other night the wife turned on one of those truly awful ghost finding shows and the thing was set in an abandoned WWII era Remington Arms factory where a few people died in accidents (7 people were an 'epic' number of deaths) . The hosts kept going on and on about the 'hundreds of thousands of people' who died because of the products designed for death and all the 'negative' energy of the place. A question during an interview of a former employee.... "Was it like being in Hell working here?"

It didn't stay on long.

VPC Proving a Negative

The Violence Policy Center has released a ground breaking study that proves that there are no deaths by licensed Concealed Carry holders where there is no licensed concealed carry.

Another Joyce Foundation puppet group agrees:

“You really don’t hear about people using weapons on the streets to protect themselves from violent incidents."

Well, not in Illinois or Wisconsin you don't. It's different in the other 48 states.

Nevermind that Chicago the city that has a ban on handguns (unless you're a connected official), ban on 'assault weapons and full registration, has 5x the murder rate of the rest of the state.

I'm so glad that the Joyce Foundation continues to dump money into these groups. It keeps them from spending it with those that might actually have some effect.

H/T to Huffpo poster MolonLabe

Compare and Contrast: Kelo / Heller

Two relatively recent court cases, Kelo v New London and Heller v DC were both basically about the rights of the individual vs the rights/powers of the state.

The Kelo case basically ruled that the state can confiscate your property w/o compensation for whatever reason they see fit.

Heller ruled that the right of the individual to own firearms is not dependent on membership in a state militia.

Looking at the justices for the cases makes a stark contrast. All four judges who ruled against Heller also voted FOR state confiscation in Kelo. These would be Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer.

Two of the justices, Scalia and Thomas, voted for the rights of the individual in both cases. The other two dissenting Kelo justices, Rehnquist and O'connor, were replaced by Roberts and Alito for Heller and both supported the right of the individual.

The final vote? Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. He voted FOR the state in Kelo and against the state in Heller.

Since then, with McDonald v Chicago on the horizon, Souter has been replaced by another Statist, Sotomayor. No others are 'expected' to retire before the case and groups like the Brady Campaign are already conducting damage control in an expected loss.

What a difference 1 vote makes.

AG Holder: Due Process Not Necessary

In my previous posts of gun control advocates, legislators and administrators who think that due process is a thing of the past, I neglected to include one very important one.

Attorney General Holder:

Yes, we will support that legislation. It sems incongruous to me that we would bar certain people from flying on airplanes because they are on a terrorist watch list and yet we would still allow them to possess weapons. I think that the legislation that was initially proposed by the Bush administration was well concieved and we will continue to support that.

Still feel that "Hope and Change"?

Gun Control Groups Helping Catch Terrorists

With their attempts to ban semi-autos by deliberately confusing them w/ machine guns and the reports that you can buy high explosives at gun shows, they've inadvertently gotten the terrorists confused as well:

According to court documents, the chief suspect in that case — who was arrested Saturday — paid $20,000 cash to an undercover operative in July as a deposit on machine guns and shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, and traveled to Philadelphia last week to inspect the merchandise.

Dumb@sses.

"Suspected Terrorists" by the Numbers

With all the support by people perfectly willing to dump due process and deny rights to 'suspected' Terrorists, one only has to take a look at the wonderful history of the "No-Fly List" and the FBI Terrorist Watch List.

As of Nov. 2009, there are well over 1.3 million names on the list covering an alleged 400,000 unique individuals. 5% of those are US citizens or residents and 9% are on both lists according to the FBI.

There are 1,600 names suggested to it daily with over 20,000 added per month.

The qualifications to be put on the list? Classified. (Yet Hasan didn't)

An audit by the DoJ found a 35% error rate based on spot checks of names on the list.

A check on 216 known terrorists found 35 who were NOT on the lists.

A bill (H.R. 559) to create an Office of Appeals and Redress passed the house but has sat idle in the Senate since February (so it's dead).

Countless people, including Legislators, military personal, political activists and even Air Marshals and small children have been harassed, detained and/or had their lives disrupted due to being inaccurately associated with these lists.

Yet gun control activists like John Rosenthal, Rahm Emanual, AG Holder, MAIG Mayors (along with all the sheeple that think the line "Do you want Osama Bin Laden buying a gun?" is a quality argument) think we should put even more power behind these secret, error-laden lists.

Doesn't that make you just all warm and fuzzy inside?

What we're up against....

How do groups like the Brady Campaign manage to survive without Joyce Foundation Funding?
Why are there mayors that still think MAIG actually cares about 'illegal' guns?

Because of people like this:

Many people were worried about the Ft. Hood killer before the rampage, but because of knee-jerk laws passed with the support of the NRA, there was no legal way to stop him from buying a special cop-killer gun, bullets, and high-capacity magazines from Guns Galore in KILLeen, Texas. There was no "political correctness" here, just powerlessness under the law.

So I asked him what specific 'knee-jerk laws' he was talking about. The rambling response was thus:

Knee-jerk NRA weenie laws such as no sane background check for the purchase of weapons, as well as the deletion of records. Check out Ashcroft's record as AG.

He continued to repeat himself several times and threw in the the tried and true gun banner talking points:

As far as gun laws not being able to keep killers from getting guns that is also not true. If we had sane gun laws, instead of the current NRA-written system, we could keep at least legally-procured handguns out of the paws of people that shouldn't have guns.

Gun laws, lax enforcement of them, and lack of sane gun laws have everything to do with this killer getting a special cop-killer gun with cop-killer bullets and high-volume magazines.

And these people vote, write their congress-critters and letters to the editor based off of their ignorance.

Brady Bunch all but admits defeat

My my, this rhetoric is a bit toned down from pre-Heller days.



"The Supreme Court's opinion in Heller does not conflict with allowing states and localities to enact and enforce sensible gun laws that protect the public," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center. "On the contrary, the Court spelled out that such laws are presumptively legal. The police groups and the Brady Center agree that the Court should maintain that position in McDonald."

When the Brady Bunch announced that they would be filing a Friend of the Court brief in the McDonald case "for neither side" we all knew that was a steaming pile of crap.
But the antis are telegraphing that they've already lost and are trying to salvage the shattering pieces of their existence any way they can.

I'd feel sorry for them if they weren't curb sucking maggots.

At least real maggots serve a usefull purpose in the grand scheme of things.

John Rosenthal and MAIG: Due Process Not Necessary

"The Second Amendment should NOT extend to convicted criminals and terrorists, suspected or otherwise. "

So he's officially on the record stating that Fundamental Civil Rights shouldn't apply to people the Gov't chooses to put on secret lists based off of suspicion alone.

According to him, even being under investigation is cause to have your rights removed.

Good thing he's on 'our side' as a gun owner and trap shooter.

He is, however in good company as Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual (among others in the Hope and Change administration ) feels the same way.



Not to mention the Bloomberg Coalition.



( I wonder how many of those names are accurate)

And we should trust these people why exactly?

Magic Numbers 251 58 38 891

251 Representatives
58 Senators
38 State Attorney Generals
891 State Legislators and elected officials

Those are the ones who have filed Amicus Briefs (so far) in McDonald v Chicago in support of getting rid of the handgun ban.

How many have or will filed in support of Chicago? Will the gun banners have to (falsely) claim 'more diversity' this time as well?

So how do you think employees of the Brady Campaign and VPC are feeling right now?

It comes as no surprise that neither the AG nor the Senators from IL signed on. A big thanks to those Legislators that did:

Representative Peter J. Roskam (IL-6, R)
Representative Deborah L. Halvorson (IL-11, D)
Representative Jerry F. Costello (IL-12, D)
Representative Judith B. Biggert (IL-13, R)
Representative Timothy V. Johnson (IL-15, R)
Representative Donald A. Manzullo (IL-16, R)
Representative Aaron J. Schock (IL-18, R)
Representative John M. Shimkus (IL-19, R)

Pamela Althoff, State Senate
Brad Burzynski, State Senate
Dan Cronin, State Senate
Kirk Dillard, State Senate
Dan Duffy, State Senate
Paul Froehlich, State Representative
William Haine, State Senate
Randall Hultgren, State Senate
Mike Jacobs, State Senate
John Jones, State Senate
David Kochler, State Senate
Chris Lauzen, State Senate
Kyle McCarter, State Senate
Bill Mitchell, State Representative
Brandon Phelphs, State Representative
Robert W. Pritchard, State Representative
David Reis, State Representative
Jim Sacia, State Representative
Ron Stephens, State Representative
Patrick Verschoore, State Representative

Ironic Ad Placement

Is It Just Me?

Besides the nonsense news articles on CNN et al about the supposed 'increase' in 'Militia's' and 'extremists', I've been noticing a number of similar storied movies and show episodes on TV.

One was a really bad direct to video (but I repeat myself) movie from 2000 called, in all its originality, "Militia" that's been played on cable several times over the last month or so. Lots of stereotypes, catch-phrases, and stock footage about rural white guys wanting to eliminate the US Gov't.

Last night I caught a 2008 episode of the show 'Criminal Minds' that portrayed a Waco-esque scenario complete with child molestation, dozens of AK's and explosives. A key line from the show:

"However his predecessor, Leo Cane, is doing a 17-year prison sentence. Apparently Libertarians do not like paying taxes."

No bias there, right?

It reminds me of the old Tom Hanks film "Mazes and Monsters" that was produced back in the early 80's when the media was telling everyone that D&D made you crazy and go kill yourself while worshiping da debbil. We all know how accurate those reports were.

Update: A commenter on FB said this weeks NCIS LA also had a 'Militia' episode and Kaveman notes in comments that the NRA did an article a while back on the Joyces funding a group the encourages the media to show guns in a bad light.

Rosenthal + Sugarmann = Henigan ?

What do you get when gun banners mix a steaming pile of Horse manure with a giant mound Bullcr@p?

Why a whole cave full of Bat Sh!t Crazy.

Dennis "Of the People" Henigan has decided that combine the absolute most inane aspects of the various hoplophobe tirades on Ft. Hood and thrown in a few half-truths and inaccurate innuendos of his own.

The result is .... well.... read it for yourself. That's all I can say.

A Real Sentence for Violent Crime

Man sentenced to 85 years for shootings

URBANA — A Champaign man who took the life of another and tried to kill a second will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Champaign County Judge John Kennedy on Friday sentenced Granville Johnson, 29, to 85 years in prison for the July 30, 2008, murder of Gregory Moore, 28, and the attempted murder of Mr. Moore’s cousin, Isaac Moore, 22.

No plea bargains. No serving only a few years w/ parole. This blatant Goblin is going to jail for a long time and is going to stay there.

John Rosenthal Making Crap Up

John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Ownership and former founder/board member of the AHSA decides to fabricate 'facts' to blame the NRA for Ft. Hood. Not that this is really a surprise.

Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood shooter, was on a suspected terrorist watch list, and even the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was prevented from knowing that Hasan had purchased his deadly arsenal from the Guns Galore gun store in Killeen, Texas.

Sounds reasonable right? The problem? It's not true.

Three senior investigative officials, who insisted they not be identified by name because of the sensitive nature of the ongoing federal investigation, told reporters in Washington that Hasan was never nominated to be on a watch list. He was able to purchase weapons legally and had done nothing to justify even a preliminary investigation, they said.

In addition, Hasan had a security clearance at the "secret" level and received good performance reviews, they said....

the JTTF concluded that Maj. Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning," it said.

So Hasan got a gun because the NRA forced Congress to allow firearm purchases by people on a list Hasan wasn't even on?

That's the logic of gun control in a nutshell.

Le jeu de blâme

Police in France averted a potential school shooter armed with a stolen shotgun.

Soon, I'm sure, to be followed by calls for more gun control, the French authorities are blaming the same things that the clueless do here. Video Games.

Christian Sadowski, the Mayor of Allonne, said that he knew the family well and that the boy was a fan of computer games. “Many young people end up finding it difficult to tell the difference between dream and reality,” he told The Times.

Yep. The kid played WoW so that made him into a sociopath.

Morons.

Still Really Busy

Enjoy some more 'Best Of":

Gun Control and Racism (not the Clayton Cramer article)

Gun Control and Racism II

The Myth of the Decreasing Gun Owners

Josh Sugarmann Loves Google

In his continued efforts to smear firearm owners as extremists just waiting for their opportunity to shoot at the nearest minority or police officer, he once again sends his staff of thousands to search the web for information which he can compile into definitive data.

Failing that, he blames the NRA and links a few anecdotes all the while fervently praying that the numbers are higher.

Nevermind the fact that he has to go through years of articles to even get into double digits while there are millions of CCW holders across the US.

Nevermind the fact the last time he did this in July, he got his @ss handed to him when people started looking into the details of his anecdotes.

The Joyce Foundation is really getting their money's worth, aren't they?

Not Getting the Message

Chinese censors block Obama's call to free the Web

BEIJING – President Barack Obama prodded China about Internet censorship and free speech, but the message was not widely heard in China where his words were blocked online and shown on only one regional television channel.

Heh heh.

Petitioners Brief Filed in Chicago Gun Ban Case

Via Chicago Gun Case. Com:

The Second Amendment Foundation today filed its much-anticipated brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of McDonald v. Chicago, which challenges the constitutionality of that city’s ban on handguns.

SAF is joined in the lawsuit by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and four individual plaintiffs. They are represented by attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued the landmark Heller case before the high court in 2008, leading to a ruling that the Second Amendment affirms and protects an individual right to keep and bear arms beyond the scope of serving in a militia.

Brief available here.

1 Hour 36 Minutes

That's how long it took for a 911 police response to an armed robbery in Chicago.

Following an ABC article linked by Uncle on the spike in recovered guns in a City that bans them (even though that included toys and rusty junkers) , the station really puts the screws to the Chicago PD and their response time due to a shortage of thousands of officers.

This contrasts, though, with the CPD's reported decrease in crime this year. But as we've also seen, they've been caught ruling suspicious deaths as 'suicides'.

Do the 'Right' Thing? Go to Jail

Where the UK used to be comes this display of what gun control advocates want for the US:

A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty"...

Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a "strict liability" charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.

Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.

Here's the money quote though:

"The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant."

This is the end result of 'gun control' as endorsed by IANSA of which the Brady Campaign and numerous Joyce Foundation groups (among other organizations) are members.

This is their goal here with their UN 'treaties'.

That is their goal while supporting 'reasonable' and 'common-sense' gun restrictions that restrict no-one but those who try and follow the law like the citizen subject of the UK above.

Anyone who denies that this is their goal in the face of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary is either fooling themselves or supporters.

There are no other options.

Armistice Day

Today, November 11th, marked the end of WW1 in 1918.

How better to celebrate than with a little Hitler rap.

Reasoned Discourse

Remember when Dennis Henigan forgot to quote a significant portion of the Second Amendment while defending the DC handgun ban?

Remember when the Brady Campaign then began erasing the video and transcripts of said Freudian slip?

Well now they're taking it even further by putting Winston Smith to work for their Ministry of Truth. Kurt Hoffman, 45Superman of Armed and Safe, has informed me that they're trying to have the video removed from any other place that has it posted under 'copyright infringement'.

They certainly don't like it when their real agenda gets exposed.

Update: Kurt posted an examiner column on this and noted that the Brady Campaign themselves have a history of improperly using materials by Howard Nemerov.

Can We be a little Less Biased Please?

In their latest bit of anti-gun 'journalism', the Huffington post shows a bunch of pictures of guns with captions stating how bad they are. They use this statistic on the US:

America leads the developed world for murders committed using firearms, with a rate of 0.0279271 per 1,000 people, according to UN reports from 2000.

As I've shown before, 'developed' is a very subjective term. Bryan Miller tried something like that once and this was my reply:

According to an IANSA document, Mexico is considered "industrialized", is a member of the OECD, and has a higher per capita homicide rate than the US. 5+ vs 3.11. Both Brazil, Russia and South Africa are also considered "industrialized" (all are G8+5 members) but are not members of the OECD and have higher firearm homicide rates than the US. 21.07,(homicide around 20/100K) , 22.04.

They also use the murder number from Switzerland which I've proven to be faulty and artificially inflated.

But the real telling thing is that, instead of linking to the actual UN reports with its nice little disclaimer on comparing international numbers and the most current information available, they cite NationMaster which uses data TEN YEARS out of date.

'Authorized Journalism' at its finest. I'm sure there's no agenda. Right?

The Ft. Hood Blame Game

So as more of the story comes out, it turns out the Ft. Hood massacre had nothing to do with 'weak firearm laws' and everything to do w/ an extremist who was under investigation multiple times by numerous federal agencies over the course of his career.

Now the agencies are pointing fingers at eachother trying to blame eachother why they didn't do anything about someone who was actively courting terrorist contacts.

But instead the response by groups like the Brady Campaign is to call for the type of gun he used to be banned and to oppose legislation that has nothing to do with the tragedy.

That's the way these people roll.

Primer on Firearms in Illinois

Talking to a bunch of friends this weekend showed that many of them were interested in firearms but had no idea how to go about it so I gave them some basic instruction on the legalities and requirements to legally purchase a firearm in Illinois. Since I'm sure there are others out there, I decided to put together a basic primer.

First you need an Illinois Firearms Owner ID card aka FOID. The application can be obtained here. You fill out the application, get a passport photo, and send those along w/ $10 to the Illinois State Police. Within 30 days you should get your handy-dandy card good for 10 years.

What this card does is allow you to legally purchase a firearm and/or ammunition in Illinois. You cannot legally buy either without one. Note that this is NOT a license to carry a firearm openly or concealed. We do not have that in this state.

Once you obtain your FOID card, there are several ways to purchase a firearm. You can go through an Federal Firearms Dealer (FFL) at his/her place of business (you can find these online or in the Yellow Pages. There you can pick out what you want and fill out a form 4473 which is required by Federal Law. In this state there is a 24 hr waiting period to purchase long guns (rifles or shotguns) and a 3 day waiting period on handguns. Yes. That means you have to go back.

You can also purchase a firearm from another private citizen. You both must have FOID's and show them to do this legally. You may want to write down their information. The FOID card is a defacto background check and you don't need to fill out a 4473 form. Waiting periods still apply from the time the agreement to purchase is made.

Going to a gunshow is another method. FFL dealers and private citizens both sell at most gun shows. Here though, everyone fills out a 4473 and the waiting periods usually require a transfer of the firearm to an FFL local to you. How they organize it depends on the show so be sure to ask for details.

Online purchases can be made through companies or online auction sites like GunsAmerica or GunBroker. These must go through an FFL and will likely involve transfer fees.

Illinois also allows the private purchase of long arms in states with connecting borders such as Indiana, etc. but not in states w/ unconnected borders like Texas et al. That would require transfer through FFL dealers.

Now as to what you can own, that's a whole other issue. With the exception of Chicago and Cook County which we will get into later, you can generally own anything except machine guns and short-barreled shotguns. Handguns, rifles of all sorts, shotguns. All good.

Chicago. Now Chicago's a whole different world. Basically just take everything I said above and throw it out. Handguns are banned entirely. Many types of long guns are banned both in the city and Cook County. The long guns that are allowed need to be registered yearly (unless you're an alderman). We're working on fixing this but it's still going to be awhile.

Those are the basics. There's lots of other details but this will get you through your first couple of purchases. For more information, a great place is IllinoisCarry.

Dear God, make it stop

I woke up this morning as I have so many times before...to the sound of gunfire. The sharp crack of the gun is obviously drowning out the screams of the fallen innocents. The Oregon town I live in has about 300 residents. I have to guesstimate because we don’t even have a “Welcome” sign with the actual population listed.

I also estimate that we have about 3000 guns in town due to the neighbors I’ve met. And as everyone with a lick of common sense knows; where there are guns, there are gangs, violence and raw death. Not two days ago, I saw a child, no more than 12 years old, walking down main street with a shotgun slung over his shoulder. When he spotted me eyeing him, he threw up a gang sign I’m not familiar with; raising his right arm and rapidly pivoting his hand left and right.

I currently find myself in the crossfire with incoming rounds from the north and south of me; obviously a running gun battle between the rival gangs which infest my community.

MS-13 has taken up shop near a well established deer trail, definitely a high traffic venue where they can ply their drug trade. Their arch rivals, the Latin Kings have recently secured some defensive turf near the large oak tree down by the river.

The Crips and the Bloods have grown weak in the face of these new Hispanic gangs and only hold sway over two small neighboring pastures full of horse crap. There is talk of an alliance between these two traditional rivals in order to survive against the Rolling 60’s, which defend a nearby gravel bar and have shown interest in the fields of horse crap as a strategic expansion.

As soon as the first gangs established a presence here, I got rid of all my firearms in order to keep myself safe from the rising tide of gun violence. My preemptive action helps me feel a bit better knowing that I am not adding to the problem.

Since my town is so small, we don’t have a police department of our own and must rely and those in surrounding locals, a dozen miles away at the nearest.

When I dialed 911 this morning from behind a pile a sandbags in my kitchen, I got what I figured to be a lesson in the latest gang slang.

They were all talking about Turkeys, Toms and Gobblers.

When I asked how long it would be before they could respond to my plight, they coldly stated that they wouldn’t respond at all. Obviously intimidated by the strength of the gangs, even the police are apparently paralyzed in their wake of domination.

My only recourse is to form an alliance with the roving bands of Indian savages which roam the Northwestern United States.

I simply pray that a few shiny beads and bits of colored ribbon will be enough to turn them away from the dark side after the Trail of Tears, Wounded knee and the Custer thingie.

Pray for me…it’s the only protection I have.

Class Acts

In a shout out to the Brady Campaign and Joyce Foundation, I'ld like to show just how these people role.

Senator Accuses Anti-Gun Group of Exploiting Fort Hood Massacre

An anti-gun group is using the shooting rampage Thursday at Fort Hood as an example in its campaign against pending gun rights legislation, drawing accusations of exploitation from a Republican senator.

Helmke, in his latest Huffpo rant, goes on about depriving veterans of their firearm rights. What he neglects to mention is that the shooter wasn't declared mentally incompetent in any way and that the law the Brady Bunch opposes wouldn't have effected him at all. Never mind the fact that Paul blatantly lies:

language to automatically restore access to guns to veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice Department as "mentally incapacitated" or "mentally incompetent."

Sorry, no. It restores the rights of individuals who have successfully completed mental health treatment. A subtlety that would destroy Helmke's premise. But honesty has never been a strong suit w/ them.

Then we go to the Joyce Foundation.

Tragic Fort Hood Shooting Shows Threat From Easy Access To Powerful Handguns, Even For Members Of Military

Such a restrictive policy against carrying guns, even for soldiers who are prepared for combat, should give guidance to lawmakers about the need to better control access to firearms for civilians.

Do these people cheer like an election celebration when they hear tragedies like this on the news? They really do seem to revel in the deaths of innocents.

Quote of the Day

From 'Yeah That Tom' to Kurt:

We still need to make you The Hydraulic and Spring Dampened Chair attachment so you can enjoy the magnificence of .450 Marlin and .458 Lott in a pistol platform without the range master and I having to roll you back up to the firing line :-)

Besides the fact that that image had me laughing till tears ran, it made me think we could rig him up with a system like they used in WWI:

ISP opens ranges to hunters

Via IL State Sen. Rutherford:

The Illinois State Police, in cooperation with the Department of Natural Resources, is opening its firing ranges in Joliet, Pontiac, Pawnee, Effingham, Pecatonica and LaSalle to hunters from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 14 for sighting in and test-firing guns. Any firearm that is legal for deer hunting, which includes shotguns, muzzle loaders, center fire revolvers and center fire handguns, is included.

Reservations are encouraged and can be made by calling ahead to the state police district offices. Targets will be provided. There's no charge for use of the range.

Participants must have a valid firearm owner ID card and transport the firearm legally by having it unloaded and in a case.

Henigan Hypocrisy

We all know that talking out of both sides of their mouths is standard for the Brady Campaign. This latest bit by Dennis "I forgot the people" Henigan is particularly amusing:

I refer to the extraordinary legislation passed into law by the states of Montana and Tennessee declaring that guns or ammunition manufactured and retained entirely within the borders of those states are "not subject to federal law." Apparently, similar legislation has been introduced in Texas, Alaska, Minnesota, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona and Colorado.

Can a state unilaterally exempt its homemade products from the reach of federal law? Only if it is prepared to defy the United States Constitution.

Yet, when it comes to gun control, they openly advocate violations of the law and state constitutions:

On a 7 - 0 vote, the Erie City Council voted today to pass a law requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to the police. This measure will remove a commonly used alibi employed by gun traffickers and help get illegal guns off the streets. Erie joins Lancaster, Wilkinsburg, Allentown, Pottsville, Reading, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh to become the ninth municipality in Pennsylvania to pass the requirement.

Never mind the fact that Dennis can't even quote the US Constitution correctly.

So is secession the next step for all the cities the Brady Campaign supports? According to Dennis' argument it is.

What this really shows is that the Brady Bunch is desperate. They're trying to jump on the "Right Wing Extremist" bandwagon promoted by the SPLC and ADL . This is the same ploy used by Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center and Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence as their respective groups slid into irrelevance and obscurity. They are unable to persuade people with evidence or defend their claims with facts so they can only resort to smearing firearm owners with (usually inaccurate) anecdotes, half-truths and nonsense claims like that above.

It's funny in a "Disco still rules" kind of way.

Happy Birthday Miles

Today is my nephew's Birthday, he's 10 years old. At a very young age he got intrigued by everything pirate. Arrrrrgh.

Ships, swords, knives and Jolly Rogers are a sure way to get his attention. He's already started a WW1 and WW2 bayonet collection. With the exception of his insistence of calling “bowie” knives “buoy” knives(must be a pirate thingie), he’s got a knife catalog thicker than my telephone book and is teaching himself well about all manners of bladed weapons.

He carries at least one knife at all times in his pocket. At this point, he sees it as a tool rather than a defensive weapon since it takes him a full five minutes for him to dig it out from the bottom of his pocket after he empties out all the agates, petrified wood chips and cool looking marbles that are sitting on top of it.

He whittles, he’s abandoned the 102 piece tool set I got him when he was 6 in lieu for a damn nice Swiss army knife with all the goodies and he’s got the bayonets “just for lookin’ at.”

I took him to his first gun show last year and he naturally gravitated towards the .22 Crickets and Chipmunks. He entered the show with $120 in cash that he earned by mowing lawns and washing cars. When he found a Cricket that even gave me a bit of wood priced at $169, he asked me how old he had to be before he bought a gun.

I told him that I would buy him a .22 when he was mature enough, by my definition, my judgment, my decision. He responded that he had a coin jar at home and probably already had enough money to buy it himself.

I thought for a nanosecond about trying to explain the NICS, straw purchases, form 4473 in general and a host of other issues that ya’ll are already aware of. After counting to ten and breathing deeply, I fell back to Plan B and simply pulled rank; telling him that neither I nor his Father would allow him to own a firearm until we both agreed that he was ready to take on that responsibility.

My Brother is not an anti in the sense that gun-control is not anywhere near his radar when he pulls the lever. But my Brother is also nowhere near a pro-2A supporter. Best definition is that he’s an uniformed and uninterested neutral. I blame this on the fact that he’s left-handed and never got much enjoyment trying to switch-hit as a righty.

As passionate as I am about continuing the tradition of firearm ownership within my family, I will not dismiss my Older Brother’s wishes. He already knows that his son will one day own firearms, That cement has already hardened. The only decision before us is when.

I remember asking my Father how old he was when he got his first gun when I was very young. He said that he got a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun at the age of ten. Obviously reading my facial expression, my Father told me that he would give me a .22 rifle at the age of 12, if I proved myself worthy. Reading my facial expression further, he explained that his generation matured faster than mine, just as HIS Father’s generation matured faster than his.

I didn’t understand at the time.

But, I understand now.

I got my .22 bolt-action rifle when I was 12, after shooting that exact gun for 6 years. I’ll probably do a whole post about that exact exchange and the conversation with my Father during that moment in my history.

Happy Birthday, Miles.

I’ll be buying you another knife or some more silver coins for your pirate chest, but the .22 will have to wait until you prove yourself worthy,

I do this because I Love You.

V: The Remake

1st episode wasn't bad. Looks like it has potential.

The latest ADL Smear 'Report'.

Via David Codrea's Examiner Column comes the latest bit of hysteria about 'Right Wing Extremists'.

The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, both part of an anti-government extremist movement that has grown since President Obama took office, promote the idea that the federal government is plotting to take away the rights of American citizens and must be resisted. The two groups are apparently trying to make inroads in the U.S. military.

But reading through the article shows not a shred of evidence for 'Extremism' except for a bunch of individuals who want the Gov't to actually follow the US Constitution.

What a frightening thought.

What Could That Possibly Mean?

From our deliberately obtuse gun banner MikeB in response to Linoge:

What could "firearm-related crime rate has grown seven times faster than its population" possibly mean? Would you mind explaining that?

Fairly simple statement MikeB. What's to explain?

Island Nation.
Near Complete Gun Ban. You know. Everything you hope for plus.
Rising Gun Crime.

What that means, not possibly, is that 'gun control' is a failure at reducing or controlling crime. It is proven as a failure. So that any attempts to continue to promote it show that the motives are not to reduce crime but something else.

Plus Three

Good weekend at the show. Surplus was popular this weekend along w/ books and informational CD's. Had a rep for the Il Governor race show up to stump for Adam Andrejewski. I will be talking w/ more in the coming days/weeks to get a better idea.

Best of all though were the 4 people who either renewed or signed up new for the NRA. One was an annual renewal. Two were individuals who had let their membership lapse some time ago but felt that the current climate required them to join up again and one was a brand new member. Several other people took cards and will hopefully send them in.

That's the way we do it.

Increasingly Commonplace

Via War on Guns come two stories of the Brady/IANSA paradise that is Merry Ol' England.

Culture of violence: Gun crime goes up by 89% in a decade

The most telling line in the story is this:

The statistic will fuel fears that the police are struggling to contain gang-related violence, in which the carrying of a firearm has become increasingly common place.

That's right. An island nation with a near complete ban on private ownership of firearms has seen an INCREASE in the criminal use of them (not just arresting citizens for having them) since their strictest measures went into place.

So what are the responses by the authorities?

Well I mentioned one last week where a judge granted a universal warrant to search and confiscate the property of thousands of citizens, suspected of a crime or not.

Bobbies are now carrying fully automatic firearms. AFTER the civilian gun ban mind you when for decades they went unarmed.

While a third response is to continue to prosecute people DEFENDING themselves from the gangs and violence that has spread uncontrollably across their country:

A council official's son who allegedly stabbed two burglars breaking into his mother's home has been charged with murder.

Well that makes perfect sense. They didn't stab him first so he had no right to try and stop them from vandalizing or stealing his property.

And these are the same conditions groups like the Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center, IANSA and all their endorsed politicians want for the US when they state that only the authorities should have firearms and that we should rely on them for protection instead of being 'vigilantes' by protecting ourselves and our families. Just like Chicago. They can't even keep guns from being smuggled onto an island, nevermind a nation with thousands of miles of borders and coastlines.

That's certainly not the kind of country that I want to live in. Do you?

Tactics of Desperation

As the Rose colored glasses are being removed from people across the nation who hoped for 'Hope and Change' and all they're seeing is politics as usual, it appears the Dems may be feeling the sting from that. And they're responding with , you guessed it, smear campaigns and politics as usual.

In the VA Attorney General race, the Democrat contender is down by 16 points IIRC. His response is to send out campaign literature w/ the usual "Republicans are trying to arm felons and children" meme's.

With just days to go before the election, Virginia Democrats are getting desperate. In the race to become the commonwealth's next attorney general, state Delegate Stephen Shannon is trying to tar his opponent, state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, for purportedly giving guns to convicted felons. Mr. Shannon is sending around literature with a scary picture of a violent criminal claiming: "FACT: Ken Cuccinelli, candidate for attorney general, voted to allow violent felons to purchase guns in Virginia."

So how many seats/offices are the Dems going to lose through 2010 if this trend continues?

Thanks to all.

I'm but a lowly guest blogger on an already established site. This provides me the opportunity to share my thoughts without the constant pressure of coming up with new content on a regular basis.

Ya, I’m a parasite. But as long as I don’t kill my host, I’ll continue to reproduce posts at a very irregular frequency.

I wanted to take some space and thank all of the “new media” for the collection, the research and the insight of this new medium concerning Al Gore’s interweb tubes.

They specialize in reporting stuff you won’t see in the evening news. I can’t compete with that nor do I see my contribution in this arena as a competition. There are plenty of pro-2A bloggers out there who can not only scoop a gun-rights story for all to enjoy; they are the ONLY ones alerting the masses of the particular issue to begin with.

I enjoy reading them all. I should clarify that last remark by stating that I don’t actually have the time to read them all but I am very heartened by the fact that every thread I expose to my eyeballs, the pro-freedom crowd dominates in the only criteria that matters; the truth.

I’m not good at finding stories about other people.

I’m good at telling stories about myself and people I know directly.

All the power in the world to those who take the time to do the research, link to sources, and do the math.

That’s not my bag.

I won’t alert you to the latest legislation introduced by Senator Douche-bag. I only know what’s on the Supreme Courts plate do to the hard work of others. I have a hard enough time internalizing all the gun laws for my own state now that I’ve got my Concealed Handgun License; thinking about the more repressive laws in other states makes my head hurt and makes me drink vodka.

OK, I’d still be drinking vodka if machine guns were sold like candy; ya got me there.

My main point is that you should look to others for documentation.

I offer only my own story.

Illinois Factoids 2008

With the release of the Illinois UCR, a clearer picture of crime in the state can now be seen even though the state still remains in non-compliance w/ the FBI .

Nationally, the murder numbers/rate dropped from 16928/5.6 to 16272/5.4 from '07 to '08.

Illinois had a population of 12.85 million w/ a increased murder rate of 6.1/100K (790) in comparison to 5.9/100K last year.

Chicago had 22% of the population of Illinois yet accounted for 64.5% of murders w/ a per capita rate of 18/100K. an increase in murders both raw and per capita.

Cook County had 41% of the population of Illinois yet accounted for 73.9% of murders(584) w/ a per capita rate of 11.1/100K. It had a population drop yet an increase in murders due exclusively to Chicago.

The Cook County murders in raw number/per capita increased 11.9 and 11/1% respectively while arrest numbers and rates decreased compared to '07.

If Chicago were to fall into Lake Michigan, the Illinois murder rate would drop to 2.8 .

Were the rest of Cook County to follow suit, the rate would drop to 2.72 .

Yet instead we saw that increase. Now it's appearing that, in order to artificially reduce the murder rate from the disaster they saw in '08, they're increasingly classifying deaths as 'suicides'. All to continue to justify their ineffective gun ban.

Then there's the % of murders by types of weapons used, 2008:

Nationally: 66.9

Chicago: 80.8

Choke on it Helmke...

Number Of Women Buying Handguns Increasing

CHICAGO (CBS) ―Local gun shop owners say they're seeing an increase in the number of women shoppers right now. The reasons, they say, are many, including the downturn in the economy and violence on the street.

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, about 48 percent of people taking their first handgun seminars this year happen to be women. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports on the growing trend.

Combine that with the continued increase in firearm purchases clearly indicates the death knell of firearm ownership in the US. Right?

MAIG Mayor Guilty

Birmingham, AL mayor Larry Langford was found guilty of charges that included bribery, money laundering, criminal conspiracy, mail and wire fraud. He faces possible life in prison as well as disbarment from office.

He is still proudly listed as one of Mayor Bloomburg's (somewhat less than) 450.


My apologies to Kurt who notified me of this for initially forgetting to properly attribute it.

Regarding HR 45

Get Over It!!!

The bill is DEAD. No cosponsors. Sitting in committee for nearly a year. Even gun ban fanatics are making fun of people who think it's going anywhere even though it's one of their dream legislations. From a CSGV e-mail:

Never mind that H.R. 45 has no co-sponsors and has received no hearing in a House committee—meaning you're more likely to see a pig fly than this bill passing Congress...

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop sending me e-mails about it or posting it on FB and how we're going to have to register all of our guns on next years tax forms.

All you're doing is crying wolf and ensuring that less people will pay attention when a REAL threat comes up at either the national or state level.

Chicago Crime Numbers

We can trust them. Right?

October 21, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A Chicago pastor was found in his Southwest Side home, stabbed more than twenty times and it was ruled a suicide.

Firearms in no danger in North Carolina.

Ten months after the original posting and 4 months after her original comment, Laura Eshelman of the gun ban organization North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Ownership responds with the traditional SOP ad hominem attacks and insults.

First she says this:

Excuse me- would it matter if I had replied to your "cited and sourced critisms"? I didn't see a single source for your information.

Is she unfamiliar w/ the organizations her group claims connection with? Let's take a look at one. The Joyce Foundation funded Illinois Council Against Handgun Ownership and who they hold up as an example of quality leadership:

ICHV also honored three Illinois leaders with the 2009 Legislative Advocacy Award. Congressman Bobby Rush (1st district), also a survivor of gun violence, his son Huey was shot and killed in 1999 continues to advocate for comprehensive solutions to gun violence. Rush is a sponsor of the of the “Blair Holt Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009,”

Ah Yes. Bobby Rush's HR 45 with its dozens of supporters. Not to mention this:

Finally, Oak Park Village President David Pope has been a stalwart defender of his community's life-saving handgun ban along with Chicago and has pledged that regardless of the looming Supreme Court decision next summer, Oak Park is committed to enacting sensible and effective policies to reduce access to guns.

I could continue for Ms. Eshelman but I don't think she really cares how many quotes or sources I present since I'm sure she's well aware of the policies of these organizations. Why do I think this? Because of her high quality reply:

presenting further information is really just pointless as hardcore gun lobbyists seem to have cotton permanently stuffed in their ears anyway. I often wonder whether it would be a little different if every "responsible gun owner" with that mentality had a child commit suicide with a gun someday- sadly, if you did bother to research the consistent statistics about how frequently that happens, you probably wouldn't care.
I should thank you for reminding me why I refuse to hang out with conservatives.

Isn't Ms. Eshelman cute w/ the personal attacks, stereotypes and bigotry? Nevermind the levels of projection she exhibits. And she just can't help to throw in the classic insult of the gun banners:

I tend to be proactive in my line of work, and thus have better things to do than sit around my computer waiting for people to argue with and stroking my rifle (especially since I don't have anything to compensate for...)

She really did work hard to make my point for me, didn't she? They are their own worst enemy.

So don't worry citizens of North Carolina (F rated, 20/100 by the Brady Campaign), you're in good shape.

How Effective is 'Gun Control' in the UK?

You tell me.



This photo is from a DailyMail article detailing a fishing expedition by UK authorities that resulted in the confiscation of thousands of people's personal property. The people had to prove they legally obtained whatever was taken.

Thanksgiving approaches.

So I'm sitting here paying bills; one of my most favorite activities. Companies that send me electricity are cool. The people who take away my garbage and recycle bins are cool. My phone company sucks some serious ass, but I just send them some cash every month and pray for their violent deaths every night.

It's all good.

Last friday, the latest round of "work force reduction" was completed at my work place. Had to say goodbye to the manager who hired me into my current position.

I've spent a good deal of time thinking about "disposable income" lately and my job security.

As I sift through the stack of mail, there's always the obligatory mass of donation requests from the NRA, GOA, JPFO, SAS, OFF, CCRKBA, National Geograpic and the Oregon State Sheriff's Association. Each time I contribute, I get put onto another mailing list.

I'm not a rich man nor am I poor. I live fairly comfortably by American standards and down right well by world standards. Most of my money I've spent on guns, ammo and firearms accessories, the rest of it I've foolishly wasted.

I figure that I donate about $1000 every year for various causes and have been doing this for about 10 years. Approx. $350-$400 goes to the NRA each year since they are the 800 lb. primate in the room.

I support everything from public radio(OPB) to the cops who give me speeding tickets.

When I was young, I asked my mother why she shopped at Farmer's Markets and small mom and pop grocery stores instead of the big box stores where she could save some money.

She told me that the quality was better and that if these quality venues were to survive, they needed the communities' support. Paying a little bit more for quality fresh delicious locally grown/butchered food was seen as a good decision. All boils down to, Ya get what ya pay for. Something gunnies can relate to.

After thinking about this concept for three decades, now I understand.

The pro-2A community supports pro-freedom orgs out of a sad neccesity. When all of our elected officials, military troops and LEO's take an OATH to Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foriegn and domestic, the NRA should not be needed. Goa should not be needed. JPFO should not be needed. Blah blah blah.

The fact that we do have pro-Freedom grass-roots orgs in existence TO support should give us all great pause.

When the establishment strays from the Founders, it is the Right and the Duty of every citizen to remind our "masters" where the true power resides.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy some sweet corn and write a few checks.

Quote of the Day

"Republicans have THE LOWEST approval ratings since the Clinton impeachment"

And we all remember how badly things went for the GOP after that. They only kept control of Congress for 8 more years and won 2 Presidential elections.

-Poster on Huffpo

Coming to a Gov't run 'Health Care Plan' near you...

'Fat Family' Children Taken From Parents

And this is the kind of 'Change' we can 'Hope' for here.

Simple and effective...I hope

We've all been there. You come across a new anti on the interweb tubes and debate begins...AT SQUARE ONE.

Individual vs collective?
Who is the militia?
The intent of the Founders.
Constitutional Rights vs State powers.
Common sense this and reasonable that.

Every time we turn around, we have to go back to the beginning and start the slow process of teaching people how to unlearn falsehoods.

Not that I'm pooh-poohing that approach, I understand that it's necessary. I'm just growing tired of it. I imagine this is what it must be like being a multi-grade school teacher for small children. Start them out making simple drawings decorated with elbow maccaronni and some wonderful tasting glue. Teach them how to share toys, even the really cool ones. Tell them that pissing in the sandbox is a major no-no(I only did this because we had made a mock-up hick-town farm and the irrigation ditches were dry). I felt that accuracy was paramount, yet my teacher felt otherwise. In hindsight, it's probably a good thing she caught me in the act because as I was relieving myself, I was staring down at the back-forty and thought they could use a few cow patties. Move on to the alphabet, counting to ten and what happens when you mix primary colors. Then comes addition, subtraction and eventually the dreaded multiplication tables.

Your current class graduates and you get a whole new batch of youngsters and start the whole process over again from scratch.

This is the first installment of a theme I'm going to develope for those who wish to bypass all the soft tissue we've all grown adept at delivering out of sheer repetition, and cut close to the bone from the start.

My main gamble is that it will employ pure logic; something the antis seem to have an issue with. But it will be logic of this magnitude...

All men are mortal
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

What I fear is that the antis are coming from a position exemplified by...

All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, all men are Socrates........with a freakishly small penis.

So here goes; feel free to try this out on your local anti and let me know if it works or if I'm a retard on a level usually only achieved in parallel universes where Janet Reno is considered a hot chick.

My hope is to create arguments that I fully admit may not sway the antis, but I hope that if they fall into the trap of trying to refute them, will expose themselves for the naked idiots that they are. Also consider that there are far more nuetrals out there than antis, and they both vote. Fence sitters are both the true "fish in the barrel" and the most valuable ally we can recruit.

1. LEO resources are finite.
1.5 LEO organizations and the associated "Justice System(DA's, jails, judges, parole boards, etc)" MUST pick and choose which crimes they make arrests for, which ones they prosecute and which people they release early in order to make room for this whole new class of criminals.
2. The laws already on the books are not fully enforced due to item #1. Feel free to customize this one due to experience. My standby anecdote is a guy up the road a ways from me who COULD HAVE received 245 years for his latest crime and ended up doing 5 months.
3. If another new law is passed, the limited resources which ALREADY do a piss-poor job at enforcing the ones we already have will DECREASE due to a brand new half-assed attempt of enforcing it.
4. Net result is that all laws will be enforced less. Arrests for violations of prior laws will decrease. Prosecutions for violating prior laws will decrease.

When's the last time the police stopped you for jaywalking or spitting on the sidewalk?

Compensating

Whenever an anti-gunner is losing an argument, they invariably pull out the tired meme that people who own guns are compensating for a lack of manhood.

Well this photo from the Dec. '09 issue of Shooting Times shows that criminals must be the ones subconsciously compensating by modifying their guns to fire bullets that end up looking like this:

Busy

Enjoy some 'Best Of':

Hoplophobe Hoops Circa 1970

For Hunters who don't believe they're on the 'list'

Our Community

"OathKeeper" = "RightWing Terrorist"

Someone has been reading the SPLC's reports on "Right Wing Extremists" and has decided that swearing to uphold the Constitution is a bad thing.

What this article really shows besides a desire to suppress opinions he doesn't like is a lack of a decent editor as well as quite a bit of ignorance of concepts such as sovereignty in a federal system is NOT the same as declaring independence and that it is not contrary to the UCMJ to disobey an unlawful order.

He also gives a nice shout out to the Sipsey Street Irregulars.

The net effect of this will be to get more people to sign up. They are their own worst enemy.

David Codrea also has an Examiner column on another Oathkeeper hitpiece.

Humane Society of the United States Targets Hunting

Yet not a peep from the "Alternative to the NRA".

Is that how they 'vigorously defend' the hunting and shooting sports?

Unemployment rate over 10%? RAISE TAXES!!

That's the response of the Illinois Legislature to the unemployment rate going over 10%. Including discouraged workers and re-training, the number is over 15%.

Obviously the most logical thing to do is to raise fees to make it even harder for people to make ends meet. All to justify an expanded infrastructure that will then require even higher taxes and fees to maintain.

Guns=Nat'l Health Issue

As has been reported, the NIH is trying to revive the meme that owning a firearm is a health hazard.

This is happening at the same time that Congress and the current administration is trying to ram through legislation that will penalize people for doing things considered 'unhealthy' including drinking soda.

Is it me or does this sound like a bad rendition of "Demolition Man"?

The Internet Makes You Smarter

According to UCLA scientists.

I wonder which internet they're looking at?

Catch-22

Fox News is biased.

CNN is biased.

MSNBC is biased.

You get the picture.

When Bush was president, he couldn't even wipe his nose without most of the networks criticizing him while he could do no wrong on Fox. This carried over to Democrats and Republicans in general.

Now the reverse is true.

What I don't think the anti-Bush networks ever managed to do is get the WhiteHouse in a position where they had to respond DIRECTLY to a network and even if they did, they lost.

The WH has, over the last few days, started taking direct jabs at Fox. The only thing this has had the effect of doing so far is getting even more people to tune it and see what all the hubbub's about.

Maybe Obama should hire Glenn Beck as his media czar.

I mean really, when the best response they can come up w/ to video of their main media rep praising one of the biggest mass murderers in history is "I was just kidding" and the equivalent of "They're just a bunch of poo-poo he...ads" while FOX shows video after video of officials sticking their feet in their mouths, they've lost that fight.

A tribute to MikeB...

For those who are already aware of MikeB's blog, I wanted to share something.

I told Thirdpower about 8 months ago that I would convert MikeB to a pro-2A supporter within 6 months.

In this endeavor, I have failed on a level hard to measure. I won't stop trying because it's in my nature to attempt to stop the sun from rising, the grass from growing and the wind from blowing, just to see if it's possible.

Basically, I'm a total retard. I believe in the impossible, one small insignificant impossibility at a time.

I have since revised my bluster to state that I believe that I can convert MikeB to a nuetral within 20 years.

I disagree with everything that dribbles out of his keyboard, but I honestly like the guy and would be more than happy to sit down and buy him a beer or fourteen.

The reason is simple.

He allows comments and responds to comments.

For all those who wish to exercise their 1st Amendment Rights by calling him names and demonizing him on a personal level, I won't directly throw you under the bus.

I simply ask that you appreciate the fact that we have access to a true anti and Brady Campaign supporter who has the intestinal fortitude to make his case and back it up as best as he sees fit.

That's worth something in my book.

Let's engage MikeB on a cerebral level and defeat him with his own words/logic.

Calling him unjust names doesn't really help.

Update: looks like my linking problem is still not resolved, so MikeB can be found here...

http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/