Do You Lock Your Doors At Night?

All parts of our country are covered by a law enforcement agency, even if they are a significant distance away. Shouldn’t that be enough to protect your home? The answer is very simply the police can’t prevent your home from being broken into.  They can only respond after the fact to investigate and attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice. That after-the-fact ‘deterrent’ is what is supposed to stop the crime from occurring. That same deterrent effect is what is supposed to be protecting you and your family from assault, rape, robbery, murder or other mayhem in public. The only thing different is you don’t have a locked door between you and criminal. 

Let’s start back at your house. What prevents burglars, robbers and home invaders from getting into your home is having a hard target. That means a house that can prevent criminals from getting in in the first place. Lights outside so their approach can be seen, cameras so they can be observed on your property, sturdy locks properly installed in heavy door jams to prevent them from getting in and alarms to alert you of their unlawful entry if they are able to get inside. These things, and many more, will help prevent the crime from being committed in the first place. 

Criminals may not be the smartest people in town, but they aren’t morons. If there’s a choice between a hard target and a nice soft, unprotected one, they’re going to pick the soft one every time. 

Now let’s talk about you and your family out in public. You don’t have a nice thick, solid core door with deadbolts to carry around with you. You have yourself and whatever you carry with you to keep you safe from harm.  That means how successful you’ll be depends a lot on your gender, size and skills. 

Sad but nonetheless true, the elderly, women and smaller statured individuals are victimized at alarming rates. Quite simply put, without an effective force multiplier, they are not able to defend themselves from larger or better-armed assailants. There are a variety of effective self-defense items available, up to and including firearms. Your choice of what would be effective depends a lot of your physical abilities. 

Even worse, far too many jurisdictions in our country say you are already adequately protected by whatever law enforcement agency is there and that you do not need to carry a firearm for protection. They say you do not have a special need or sufficient ‘just cause’ to carry a firearm. Even though it is the most effective force multiplier available, it isn’t available to you.  

Now take a look at yourself from a criminal’s point of view. Are you hard target? Do you present a confident, strong image each and every time you are in public? That doesn’t mean you walk down the street in your gi, growling at dogs and punching streetlights. It means you are engaged, alert, on the lookout for threats instead of being fully engaged in on social media on your smart phone.  How you conduct yourself is a major consideration for perspective attackers.  

Side note: If you aren’t familiar with Col. Jeff Coopers Color Codes of Awareness, I strongly encourage you to read it and get some quality self defense training. 

So what is going to prevent someone from victimizing you and your family? It’s not the police who are minutes to hours away. It’s not the prosecutor or courts who in many cases aren’t even willing to give criminals a slap on the wrist any more. It’s fear of their potential victim that will stop them. It’s the criminals fear that they will be injured or killed themselves that will keep them from attacking. 

In parts of the country where the average citizen is not legally allowed to carry a firearm for defense, there is very little to prevent them from attacking anyone they have a physical advantage over.  If they are carrying some kind of weapon – and most criminals are – then physical advantage is less important. 

It boils down to this. Your safety and the safety of your family is your responsibility. Just as the locks, lights and alarms at your home is your responsibility, so is your safety in public. If you think you can effectively delegate this to the police because you paid your taxes, you are very, very wrong. To be safe you need to have the most effective self-defense force multiplier that is right for you readily available.

Until our elected officials get off their collective asses and start working on the causes of crime like poverty, jobs and mental health, and parents return to teaching their children about right from wrong, responsibility and accountability– crime is going to continue to increase. 

YOU are the only one who can prevent yourself from being a victim. Become the hard target no criminal wants to deal with.  

Bob

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Just Because They Say It…

Free speech is a wonderful thing, a natural, God-given right of all Americans protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. But with free speech, you inevitably get people who ignore reality and make up their own fantasy world. This is what we face when anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment politicians start talking about guns and “gun violence” in the United States. Just because they say it, doesn’t mean it’s true. 

In a recent speech in Brazil, our 44thPresident made the following comment: 

“Some of you may be aware our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon any time —without much if any regulation, they can buy it over the internet, they can buy machine guns.”

Our former President of course knows better, but as an ardent foe of the Second Amendment protected right for individuals to keep and bear arms, he gets to make up his own imagined world where only he, his government and other elitists can have firearms. 

Anyone who has actually purchased a firearm knows he is full of the worst kind of BS. The vast majority of firearms are purchased from FFL (Federal Firearm Licensee) dealers who must run a background check before delivering a firearm. And while it is true you can purchase a firearm over the Internet, the part he’s leaving out is unless you are a FFL, it has to be sent TO a FFL to do a background check, just like any other firearm purchase. If you are a felon, domestic abuser, convicted drug user, adjudicated as a “mental defective”, illegal alien, dishonorably discharged from the military or have renounced your U.S. citizenship, you cannot be sold a firearm.

Can you buy a machine gun? Yes, but thanks to the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Hughes Amendment in 1986 there are a finite number of legally transferable fully automatic firearms available in our country. Those examples run in the 10’s of thousands of dollars and require an ATF tax stamp and extensive background checks and notifications, a process that takes many, many months.  

Yet if you take our former President’s statement at face value, it sounds like anyone in the country can log onto Amazon, order a fully automatic firearm and have it delivered to their home in two days, presumably for free if it’s Prime. 

It’s not like our former President hasn’t made up his own reality before. He’s infamously said “… this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.” Of course, you have to keep in mind when they compare worldwide “gun violence” rates; they pick and choose the countries to include so as to make the US look far worse in comparison. They preface their comparison list by referring to it as the list of “advanced” countries.  As an example, our southern neighbor is not on this list. However, if you look at worldwide violent death rates, Mexico ranks 15th and the United States ranks 85th out of 172 nations. Remember, if you are setting up your own gun control reality, adjectives matter.

California’s current governor / wannabe dictator recently added his half cent to the debate following a horrific incident and decided to perpetuate the former President’s myth by saying “Recognize and reconcile that we live in the only country in the world where anything like this happens.” 

Very sadly, neither of these men is telling the truth. Violence, mass violence, so-called “gun violence” and worse atrocities occur at a daily rate around the world. Simply putting on blinders and making up an argument that our nation is the most deadly place in the world as a pretext for eliminating your Second Amendment rights is quite simply a lie. 

It is rather interesting our former President chose to make his latest comment in Brazil, a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world. It could be because Brazil’s new President is making good on campaign promises to ease his nations draconian gun control laws on firearm and ammunition purchases.  During the latest decree signing, he said, “it is an individual right of the one who may want to have a firearm or seek the possession of a firearm… obviously respecting and fulfilling some requirements”.  

More lies and more useless gun control laws that only limit the rights of law-abiding citizens are not the answer. But when you have no interest in solving the real problems that cause crime and violence, it’s the perfect scapegoat to get what you really want – total civilian disarmament and control. 

Remember, gun control does absolutely nothing to increase public safety and the answer to fix that shortcoming is always to implement more gun control.

Bob

#oddstuffing, #Constitution, #BillOfRights, #SecondAmendment, #GunControlFails, #JustBecauseTheySayIt, #GunControlLies, #Brazil, #Hypocrites, #BeKindMyEditorIsOnHoliday, #mewe, #medium, #oddstuffing.com

The Lunatic Fringe of Gun Control

When it comes to gun control, there is no shortage of bizarre ideas that are supposed to put an end to “gun violence”. With this in mind, I’d like to share with you a couple of my favorite new additions to the mix and their likelihood of success. I present to you speed bumps, flowers and magic!

The first is from a Seattle Councilmember, a member of the Socialist Alternative party, who wants the city to use raised flowerbeds and speed bumps to reduce drive-by shootings in the Central District. Of course, she’s also calling for the standard “common sense gun measures,” which includes banning all semi-automatic firearms. Keep in mind this Councilmember is looking for gun violence reduction measures that do not involve more policing of the areas where it has been occurring.

Apparently the logic behind these ideas is that people who are considering committing murder on a public street will be deterred because they may scrape the bottom of their getaway car on the speed bumps. Likewise, the calming effect of flowers planted along the sides of the streets will induce such a feeling of peace and calmness that the thoughts of murder will be purged from the shooter’s mind. 

Of course, speed bumps might have been a good idea years ago when most people drove sedans, but today’s car buyer prefers pickup trucks and SUVs, which have a lot more ground clearance. Speed bumps just aren’t going to be as much deterrence to the modern and trendy drive-by shooter.  

Now, it’s hard to argue with bright, colorful flowers being calming. But if beautiful flowers calm, dead flowers may just trigger the opposite reaction. Taking care of these flowers is going to be a stressful job for the new army of city-funded florists. 

The raised flowerbeds however are an idea I can get behind, literally.  Made with thick wood frames and filled with dirt, they would be a great source of cover from incoming rounds.  This will be especially important since the Councilmember doesn’t want additional law enforcement resources in the area. I’m assuming some “duck and cover” training for the residents will come with the new flowerbeds. 

Hopefully Chicago, Baltimore and Los Angeles, cities with some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation – the same “smart gun control laws save lives” being pushed everywhere else – will realize the power of speed bumps and raised flowerbeds. 

Then we have an anthropology professor at Dartmouth College who claims that magic could influence people to use guns to kill other people. She based this on her studies of street politics, insecurity, and social performance in contemporary urban Haiti. Her own quote is the best way to describe this: 

“It would be shortsighted to dismiss these claims as the misguided logic of a ‘superstitious people…That racially inflected trope, long used to marginalize and demonize Haitians, among others, blinds observers to the way in which guns do exhibit a power akin to magic: the power to create a change in someone’s state of mind.”

Folks, I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT let the magic in your firearms turn you into a homicidal maniac. For this very reason, I’ve insisted on having a proper exorcism performed on all of my firearms. Purists – and 1911 shooters – will insist on a Haitian Vodou (Voodoo) priest for this job. Yes, it costs a little bit more but ya know, that peace of mind is worth it.  

Okay, enough of that nonsense. 

In all seriousness, how do these ideas differ from the other useless theories coming out from gun control zealots?  These are the same people who believe putting up a Gun Free Zone sign will actually “repel” homicidal maniacs intent on committing mass murder against defenseless victims.  

You want to make people safer? Address the root causes of poverty and crime. Address mental health and treat it like physical health, something society doesn’t scorn and ridicule. Address parenting, morals and respect for others along with the other basic life skills we seem to be ignoring. Address taking responsibility for ones own actions and holding people accountable for what they do. Address punishment for those who actually commit crimes instead of punishing the law-abiding.

There are no easy fixs to societal problems. But instead of doing the hard work, we have nitwits like this and the rest of the gun control groups saying ‘this one law / one new thing will save lives’. And when that fails, it’s another new law that will save lives. And another. And another. And another. 

Bob

#oddstuffing,  #Constitution, #BillOfRights, #SecondAmendment, #GunControlFails, #LunaticFringe, #SpeedBumpsFlowersMagic,#Voodoo, #RealSolutions, #mewe, #medium, #oddstuffing.com

p.s. In honor of speed bumps, flowers and magic, please enjoy Red Rider’s 1981 hit, Lunatic Fringe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqUa_G1h3pw

Sanctuary

The concept of sanctuary dates back thousands of years. Sanctuary was usually in the context of a religious organization providing a place of safe refuge for someone accused of some type of crime. Throughout the years, the legal significance of sanctuary within the walls of a place of worship diminished, however the concept mutated to political jurisdictions where sanctuary is granted against allegedly unjust laws. As you might expect, you can only support sanctuary for a politically correct cause, otherwise you’re just a criminal.   

Sanctuary cities in the United States got their start in San Francisco, California in 1985 with the “City of Refuge” resolution. It was followed by an ordinance prohibiting the use of city resources to assist federal immigration enforcement.  In the eyes of supporters, so-called sanctuary cities are better off when residents are not in fear of being deported. There are now more then 500 such sanctuaries across the United States.

While there is some logic to the argument, the contention that these individuals haven’t broken any laws is completely invalid. Federal immigration laws exist for many reasons. Less the Native American peoples, we are a nation of immigrants and millions upon millions have jumped through the proper legal hoops to join our nation. 

The federal government, who is responsible for the security of the nation and to oversee immigration, is obviously not supportive of these sanctuary cities. Efforts to force them to comply with federal law have been mixed. Threats of withholding federal grants and funds to sanctuary cities have been met with lawsuits and injunctions, which are still winding their way through the courts. The cities and states that support immigration sanctuary call the federal government racists, the laws unjust and say they have the moral obligation to provide refuge. 

But what happens when a jurisdiction within a sanctuary state says they do not agree and decline to be a sanctuary area? You then see the state threatening to withhold state funds and grants, or those involved face prosecution if they do not comply. If this sounds a lot like the same ‘evil tactics’ the federal government is being accused of, you’re right. The only difference is it is the state imposing its will on the cities and counties. In other words, if you support the politically correct cause, you are okay. If you don’t, you’re a criminal. 

Left wing politicians call the supporters of sanctuary cities and counties in non-sanctuary states heroes for doing what is right for their counties and say the state should stay out of the way of these localities. 

Fast forward a bit and you now have gun control zealots in charge of many state legislatures. Their so-called “common sense public safety measures” tend to trample the Second Amendment to death. But, since they do this in the name of public safety, activist/politician judges have ruled these infringements acceptable and provide the legal stamp of approval.  This has given rise to a new type of sanctuary, the Second Amendment Sanctuary City/County/State.

Second Amendment sanctuaries have adopted resolutions prohibiting the use of city, country or state resources to enforce gun control measures that violate the Second Amendment. Much in the same way immigration sanctuary cities are refusing to cooperate with laws they see as unjust, Second Amendment sanctuary areas are refusing to cooperate with laws they see as unjust. And the movement is spreading. At last count, three states and many jurisdictions within 11 more have declared themselves as Second Amendment sanctuaries. 

As you might expect, the reaction within gun control states has not been favorable. Threats of withholding state funds and grants as well as prosecution for not following state laws are leveled at those responsible for declaring themselves a Second Amendment sanctuary. 

Left wing politicians call the supporters of Second Amendment sanctuary cities and counties in non-Second Amendment sanctuary states rogue politicians, sheriffs and police chiefs who are out of touch with their communities and the call for the state to force them from office or prosecute them for disobeying state laws. 

A little hypocritical? You betcha! 

On one hand, you have supporters of immigration sanctuary openly defying federal immigration laws they believe are unjust. They call the efforts of the federal government to deny them federal dollars illegal and immoral. 

At the same time, and most often the very same group of people, say there is no justification for Second Amendment sanctuary against the gun control laws THEY enacted and vow to withhold state dollars, as well as threaten Second Amendment sanctuary supporters with prosecution for defying them. 

To me this boils down to a single key concept: the lack of respect for the rule of law. 

Despite what many believe, this nation is a republic, a nation of laws. If we were a pure democracy, 51% of the population could vote to take away the rights of the minority 49% and it would become the law of the land. But our republic says you have to obey certain basic rights principles – the Constitution – from which our entire system is built. Even if 99% of the population votes to take away the rights of the remaining 1%, the 1% would be protected, as the law must still pass Constitutional muster. 

The Constitution and Bill of Rights aren’t optional documents. You don’t get to pick and choose the rights and laws you like, while ignoring the ones you don’t. You don’t get to implement your own interpretation of other people’s rights just because it better fits your social agenda.  And lastly, we seem to have forgotten the concept that nobody is above the law. If the law applies to one person, it applies to every person. Yea, I’m looking at you US Congress.  

I admire people who see an injustice and want to correct it. But you don’t get to do that by making up your own laws to follow, and then punish those who do the very same thing with the laws you are unjustly imposing on them. 

Perhaps we should choose our representatives a little bit more carefully. 

Bob

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A Word Of Thanks

A slight diversion from my usual rants to do some thank you’s. For the past two years I’ve been in the Lassen Community College Gunsmith program in Susanville, CA.  I am proud to say my time there is now complete. This was an extremely intensive program covering all aspects of the classical gunsmith trade and I can now look forward to applying the skills and experience learned here with confidence. But it would have never happened without the incredible friendship and assistance of my compatriots.  

I was very lucky on so many things associated with this program. Not just to be able to get accepted to the program when I did, but to be able to come in with such a great group of fellow students.  Not that any group of incoming students wouldn’t be good, but I believe this was an exceptional group.  Not only that, but to be able to get into a work group with talented and supportive friends. 

Gunsmith students are an interesting lot and not what you would expect the typical community college student to be. Most are older – or a lot (damn) older – and working towards second or third careers. Single, married, some with children, even adult children of their own. Each uprooted and relocated from their homes, families and lives all over the western US.  All with their own unique love of just about every kind of firearm. 

Now imagine cramming all of these talented and opinionated oddballs into limited shared spaces, 12 & 13-hour days with long lists of skill development deliverables and homework. Homework?!?! At my age?!?!  What the hell!!! Yup, in addition to learning the trade, it is still a college course. So, homework. 🙁

Throughout these two years we all went through a lot, both in the program and in our own lives. An African proverb says it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I’m going to say it takes a great group of fellow students to raise a gunsmith. 

I know for me, I would never have been able to make it through this without the support and assistance of my teammates. I know there were many times where I ran full speed into a brick wall and if I didn’t have someone to toss stupid questions by, ask for a fresh set of eyes and a clearer mind, give me a helping third hand or 11thfinger, or simply a kind word, some understanding and a bit of encouragement to continue on, I would have never made it.  I know I learned as much from my teammates as I did through the course curriculum. We shared lessons learned, bad experiences and issues with guns likely designed by Satan himself.  My success through the program, and now being able to take what I have learned out into the world is a direct result of the exceptional people I was lucky enough to work with here. 

To say that I am beyond ecstatic of being able to be home with my own family now is an understatement, but I am also sad that our time here is over. Over the past two years, I’ve spent more time with my teammates here than I have with my own wife. During that time we became very good friends and I will miss this group of insane characters more than I ever would have expected. 

While I am sad that we are all going our separate ways to different corners of the country, I am also confident that we will keep in touch and continue to share our personal and professional adventures as we have here. I know in my heart that I will see my teammates again as the thought of not doing so would be intolerable to bear. 

Thank you my friends. It was a hell of an adventure and I can’t imagine going through it with anyone else but you.  I’m proud of what we accomplished together and know that we will continue to learn, innovate and achieve based on what we did together.  

Godspeed to you all. 

Rodd

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Election Theater Act 1, The Lightning Rods

Much like a lightning rod on a building, political lightning rods are sacrificial elements designed to protect the main candidate from damage. Shoved out front and to the top of the candidate pool, the press, opponents and voters focus all of their energy on them, keeping the actual candidate from unwanted scrutiny and potential harm in advance of the general election. Who is the actual candidate? It’s way too early for us to have that information, but we do know whom it is not, the ones who are taking the heat right now. Election Theater Act 1 is now on stage. 

A word of warning: What follows is my opinion and my opinion alone. It is based on my observations of far too many elections and the political process as I currently see it. 

As of today, 22 Democrats are in the running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 elections. There are an additional 23 potential candidates who have discussed but not yet ruled out running on the Democratic ticket. With such a crowded field, it’s only possible to focus on the lightning rods. 

The lightning rods also serve another function, to throw out as many potential policy ideas as they can to see what sticks. If the ideas are well received, it becomes part of the party platform. If it crashes and burns, there’s no damage done to the candidate waiting in the wings.  After all, lightning rods are sacrificial. 

Why don’t I believe the current front-runners will be the ones on the ballot in 2020? The answer is in the voters being targeted by the DNC (Democratic National Committee) for a number of elections. The candidates they would likely support en masse are not two elderly, white male millionaires with more ugly baggage than the Kardashian’s on a weekend trip to Las Vegas. 

It all comes down to the illusion of choice. We believe all of the candidates have an equal chance to succeed and our opinions as voters are essential in the process. Instead, the pre-election campaign process is merely a smokescreen for the chosen few to determine who their favorite candidate is and what will be the winning platform issues. As we saw in the 2016 elections, and the lawsuits against the DNC by DNC’s own members, the DNC has the right to choose whomever they want, regardless of the will of the voters. 

Who is the actual Democratic candidate for President in 2020? Since the DNC hasn’t released their decision yet, we can only speculate.  I have my favorite, as I’m sure you do too. I’ve placed my first and second choices in an envelope, sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall’s back porch to be opened following the Democratic National Convention. 

I should note that while I’ve been talking about the DNC with all this, it doesn’t mean I believe the RNC (Republican National Committee) is any different. I am firmly convinced the denizens of the D.C. swamp are so entrenched in their own little world that they will do anything to protect it and themselves.  Until we as a nation come together to kick them out, impose term limits on congress and ensure that the people who pass the laws are not exempt from them, it will continue. 

You may be wondering why is the pre-nomination process so important to a Second Amendment supporter. For me, it’s not so much the candidate as the platform they and their party are running on. In order to gain the support of the party, each candidate has proudly bought into the myth of gun control as public safety policy. Restricting your right to buy, use and carry firearms, taking your firearms from you, while doing nothing to curb criminal use of firearms against you, is what they are pushing. 

When political policy includes stripping away our Constitutional rights, I become very concerned and very involved. And I’m not just talking about Second Amendment rights, I’m also talking about the First Amendment and every other one of the rights we hold so dear. 

If you don’t think your rights and liberty are at stake, take a look at what has been happening in Venezuela. After being stripped of their arms, the people are at the mercy of a brutal and unjust government. But of course, this could never happen in a modern society like ours, right?  I’m sure that’s what the Venezuelan people believed too. 

If you value your rights, you’ll start paying very close attention to what’s going on. Not just want is being reported by the news or on social media, but all the things behind the scenes.  Get involved now and stay involved. 

Bob

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The Rise Of The Fudds

Once beloved as Saturday morning cartoon’s loveable but hapless hunter, Elmer Fudd has come to represent all the things that are wrong with American’s modern day firearm owner and Second Amendment supporter. Some of this is well deserved and some merely accidental. Nonetheless, welcome to the Rise Of The Fudds. 

Unlike the animated Elmer Fudd who was “hunting wabbits”, I see several different types of Fudd in our modern society.  

The first is the classic, the Hunter Fudd.  Hunter Fudd heads out to the fields and woods a couple of times a year in search of his favorite prey. He grabs his trusty rifle or shotgun, does his hunt and goes back home. He’s not involved in politics or controversy, and if you didn’t see him in flannel or a bright orange vest once a year, you’d never know he owned any firearms at all. He is vewy, vewy quiet. 

Then there is Curmudgeon Fudd. Curmudgeon Fudd’s image of firearms ownership is everyone should be just like him. With his GI standard 1911 in God’s caliber, a M1 Garand in God’s other caliber and his trusty side-by-side 12 gauge, he sees no reason for anyone to need any other firearm. In between his five-times-a-day prayers while facing Camp Perry, he rips into anyone who owns and shoots anything else. All modern firearms are an abomination and as long as nobody tries to take away his, he doesn’t care what the politicians do. 

Next comes the Anti-Gun/Gun Owner Fudd. Anti-Gun/Gun Owner Fudd actually owns firearms, maybe one or two, maybe a dozen. But he’s out there making sure that others won’t be buying, carrying or using firearms.  Nobody, and he means NOBODY, knows firearms and firearm law better than him and he supports all the latest and greatest gun control laws. Keeping guns out of the hands of others makes him feel safer because he knows he will never give up any of his.  

Last but not least, there is the Hypocrite Fudd. Hypocrite Fudds tend to be politicians more times than not, but are also known to be ex-law enforcement administration and former ranking military officers – in other words, also politicians. These Fudds will go out to pro-Second Amendment communities and proudly claim to be gun owners. They often release photos of themselves at a range or in hunting apparel and proudly proclaim they “Support the Second Amendment, but… “. The “but” is follow-up where they say they also support “common sense public safety measures”. Back in front of their home gun control fanatic audiences, they go into great detail about how they will ban and take away guns they don’t like while working to eliminate everything the Second Amendment stands for.  All while standing behind walls of heavily armed security and government agencies. Their motto is — Do as I say, not as I do. 

Are the Fudds a problem? Yes and no in my opinion.  Just as it should be, firearm owners in this country cross all demographics of life. Knowing this it’s going to be impossible to get everyone to agree on everything, and sometimes anything at all.  So while the diversity of America’s firearm owner population is a great strength, it is also a great weakness.  

I can understand and appreciate the Hunter Fudds as the backbone of the firearm community. While they aren’t out helping to preserve our – as well as their own –Second Amendment rights, they are living proof that millions of Americans CAN and DO own firearms safely and responsibly every single day. 

While the Curmudgeon Fudds may be full of piss and vinegar, and love to spread their wisdom/grief around, what harm are they really causing? Yes, I get it, nobody likes to hear the 1911 vs. < any other gun in the world > argument every day, but who really cares? These Fudds are a vocal part of the firearm community, even if an annoying part.  At least they are out there voicing an opinion. 

It’s the last two Fudds I have the biggest problem with. The Anti-Gun/Gun Owner Fudds are themselves firearm owners, taking advantage and being limited by the very same nonsensical gun control laws the rest of us are. Yet they seem to feel that because they already own what they want, they don’t care about new laws limiting others. Somehow they feel they are either exempt or will be magically grandfathered into any new restrictions.  

Sadly, their attitude is very short sighted. As we’ve all come to realize, grandfathering provisions in gun control laws are just deferred confiscation plans. At some point, that grandfather clause will go away and they will be subject to the same restrictions the rest of us are.  

It’s also pretty damn selfish to think that it’s okay to take away the next generation’s Second Amendment rights if it means temporarily keeping some of your own. What kind of society are we turning over to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren if they won’t even have their basic Constitutional rights? 

As for the Hypocrite Fudds, they are exactly what you would expect of politicians. They lie and tell people what they want to hear in order to progress their own agenda. Like the politicians with badges and disgraced ex-military officers they surround themselves with, they have long forgotten their oaths of office and the intent and meaning of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. To them, these are just old pieces of paper that they can pick and choose the parts they like while disregarding the parts they don’t.  And they do this while enjoying the safety and security they want to take away from the rest of us. 

While it would be nice to get all of the Fudds in line with those who are actively working to protect and retain our Second Amendment rights, we know it’s never going to happen. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same rights we are fighting for. When we win, our entire nation wins. 

In the mean time, the rest of us need to be the opposite of vewy, vewy quiet and keep working as hard as we can. 

Bob

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California’s Week Of Freedom

It was a strange and wonderful week here in the People’s Republik of Kalifornistan. For a very short period of time, ordinary law abiding citizens in the state were able to legally purchase standard capacity magazines. Following a federal court ruling that the entire section of law covering the manufacturing, import, sale and possession of so-called “large capacity magazines” was unconstitutional, Californians up and down the state took advantage of the opportunity and stocked up on magazines. But the celebration was short lived. While possession is still legal, sales are no longer allowed. Now it’s the state’s turn and there will be hell to pay. 

In U.S District Judge Roger Benitez’s summary judgment, he declared California Penal Code 32310 unconstitutional and enjoined enforcement of the law.  This section of the Penal Code outlaws everything from the manufacture, sale, import, borrowing, etc. to the simple possession of any magazine capable of holding more then 10 rounds. 

The ruling itself was masterfully and elegantly worded and thoroughly debunked the State’s supposed evidence of a public safety interest in denying standard capacity magazines to law-abiding citizens in the state. He declared that standard capacity magazines were in fact protected as arms in the context of the Second Amendment.  Something most of us already understood. 

The net result was that Judge Benitez’s ruling once again made it legal to purchase and possess standard capacity magazines in California. Immediately after the Friday ruling, the more constitutionally inclined retailers began offering these magazines for sale. Others decided to wait a few more days to see what the state’s response would be and for the lawyers to chime in.  By the first of the week, retailers up and down California began to digest the ruling and began selling.  Out of state retailers, including the biggest names in online and brick & mortar stores also lifted their restrictions on selling standard capacity magazines to California residents. 

Long lines formed at California gun shops and additional shipments from distributers were rushed in. Online retailer’s inventories from across the country were quickly cleaned out of just about every make and style of magazine. The most conservative estimates I’ve seen to date indicate that hundreds of thousands of California residents purchased a minimum of one to two MILLION standard capacity magazines. 

Of course, the State of California wasn’t going to sit by and let this happen. They demanded a stay of the ruling from Judge Benitez, which was granted by the end of the week. However, it wasn’t exactly the result the State wanted. While Judge Benitez stayed the first two sections of Penal Code 32310 (manufacturing and selling), he left in place the judgment against possession.  Judge Benitez also specifically protected those who had sold, imported and purchased during this brief window of legality.  

Both of Judge Benitez’s rulings are a significant victory for California residents. His logic was well thought out and tied to not only the Second Amendment, but to the realities of self-defense and crime in the current day. If you haven’t read it – yes, I understand it is 86 pages long – I strongly suggest you do.  The link is at the bottom of this article.  Reading this will help you to understand not only the flaws in the gun control zealots logic used to justify these infringements, but in your own rights. 

This is an excellent and important ruling, but it is not the final word on the topic. The State of California is not simply going to accept this ruling and go away. Magazine capacity is the cornerstone of modern gun control and if it fails, it will have significant ripple effects in California and around the country.  

This ruling is already being appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – also known as the Nutty Ninth. As we all know, the Ninth Circuit is no friend of the Second Amendment and has already ruled against just about every gun rights appeal, even if it violates the Constitution, Second Amendment or the precedents set in Heller and McDonald.  We can absolutely count on a reversal from the Ninth Circuit, which will need to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

So while we’re all enjoying this little victory as the lawyers are ramping up to fight the pre-destined loss in the Ninth Circuit and appeal to the Supreme Court, I’d like to point out something.  Why are we in this position in the first place? 

If even the extremely low estimates of several hundred thousand magazine purchasers are true, where the HELL where these people when Prop 63 was being voted on? Where the HELL where these people during the Veto Gunmageddon petition drive to put repeal questions on the ballet for these insane, do-nothing but take rights away from law-abiding citizens laws? Where the HELL where all of these people when candidates were running against the gun control zealot politicians?  If everyone was so willing to run down to their local gun shop or hop online and order magazines for themselves, why didn’t this same mass of people get involved and stop the local, state and federal gun control zealots from passing the laws in the first place?

I’ll say what I’ve said before. Fighting to get your rights back after they have been lost is a fool’s errand at best. At BEST you have a long and expensive legal battle with very little chance of actually succeeding, no matter how egregious the constitutional or legal issues are. 

Law-abiding Californians caught a huge break with Judge Benitez, but it could have very easily gone the other way. Meanwhile we have a Ninth Circuit with a well-documented history of reversing anything to do with Second Amendment rights.  Our hope now lay with the Supreme Court, which may or may not even accept it.  

We can also count on a vindictive People’s Republik of Kalifornistan to work on ways to punish every one of us who enjoyed this brief window of freedom and invent new and ingenious ways of eliminating our Second Amendment rights once again. 

In other words – it’s time for everyone to get off their asses and start fighting to keep our rights. 

Bob

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https://www.scribd.com/document/403669664/Duncan-v-Becerra

Gun Control Part 2 – The Words Of A Psychopath

In Part 1 I talked about how criminal justice reform is letting more criminals get away with more crimes and letting those few who are arrested and brought to justice, out earlier. The criminal no longer fears the police or the courts; only their intended victim stands in their way. Enter gun control as the means to take that last limitation to crime and violence away and turn law-abiding citizens into law-abiding victims and set up gun control as the means for civilian gun elimination. 

Gun control in the United States has been a slowly evolving effort with the eventual goal of complete civilian disarmament. Despite all the lies of “common sense public safety laws”, “nobody is coming for your guns” or “I support the Second Amendment, but…” the goal has always been to systematically reduce then eliminate the protections granted under the Second Amendment, or just repeal the Second Amendment altogether. 

For those who haven’t admitted it yet, having a former United States Supreme Court Associate Justice – someone who’s job it was to interpret and defend the Constitution – come out and openly call of the repeal of the Second Amendment should spell it out pretty clearly. Or perhaps a more subtle attack under way with the Hawaii legislature to have the Second Amendment reinterpreted as a ‘collective’ vs. ‘individual’ right is more your style. 

We now have a criminal justice system that does not punish criminal behavior or act as a deterrent to crime. Combine this with gun control laws eliminating the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families and what is the expected outcome? 

As an example, take a look for yourself at the magical gun control cure of gun free zones. 98% of all mass shootings in the United States since 1950 have occurred in these gun free zones. Gun free zones are only a legal barrier for law-abiding citizens who do not wish to break the law and do nothing to prevent a criminal or terrorist from entering and committing any number of violent acts. These gun free zones provide a false sense of security for those who enter and often contain the most vulnerable members of our society, protected by nothing more than a sign declaring that guns are not permitted.

Try to imagine what criminal or civil laws or penalties would ever discourage a person intent on committing the ultimate crime of murder doing so in a gun free zone. Yet we deny the right for an ordinary citizen to bear arms in these magical gun free zones. Further more, gun control politicians continue to create more laws removing the ability of local school boards to allow legally armed citizens access to school ground or from training and arming volunteer teachers as a last line of defense. In fact, in some communities, schools are demanding their on-site law enforcement officers be disarmed while working inside the schools. 

Now let’s look at the most recent massacre of innocents in New Zealand. A properly government licensed gun owner using illegal modifications to his legally purchased and registered guns is unopposed at two places of worship, killing 50 people. The pathetic police response time in excess of 30 minutes is being hailed as heroic. Within hours of the attack, while surviving victims were still bleeding and fighting for their lives and the dead not even cold yet, the Prime Minister promised, “gun laws will change”. 

The government’s response was right out of current Chicago Mayor and former Presidential Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s playbook of “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.  The tragic loss of life was simply an opportunity to progress an agenda that couldn’t get traction before. Now, because of this crisis, gun control in New Zealand, and the rest of the world, gets a big boost. 

The psychopath low life that committed this atrocity released an 87-page manifesto just prior to beginning his homicidal rampage. In it, he explained he used guns because of the extra media coverage and the social discourse it would cause in the United States. He specifically called out the division over the Second Amendment and the division his attack would cause.  

Here in the United States, the gun control zealot politicians are jumping up and down celebrating the new ban on so-called “assault weapons” in New Zealand and their ability to enact a ban, and confiscation of lawfully owned firearms, so quickly following this horrific act. They are calling this “true leadership”. 

If you haven’t seen the connection between it all, let me spell it out for you. In order to achieve the goal of civilian disarmament, you have to create an environment where the atrocities can occur. You do this by making crime easier and more attractive to commit. You remove the penalties for crime and the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime. You remove the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves from the most despicable criminal elements among us and you put the most vulnerable in a position to be the easiest victims.  

In other words, you create the problem and when the inevitable violence occurs, you are standing by with the pre-designed, pre-made and pre-printed “solution”  – stricter gun control – ready to be implemented when emotions are raw and your defenseless citizens are willing to give up more of their rights to “feel” safe.  It’s so simple, even a psychopath could understand and exploit it. 

Fortunately for us in the United States, we have a strong Constitution and Bill of Rights that includes the Second Amendment protected individual right to bear arms. Unfortunately, we have activist politicians and judges, along with mass media empires willing to push their agenda, who are willing to sacrifice our safety and our lives to achieve their goals of people control through gun control. 

We need to defend our rights every single day, one person at a time if we want to keep our rights intact. 

What are you doing to defend our rights? 

Bob

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