Clueless in Miami. Loophole? Here's a loophole fer ya, Debbie, although perhaps not the one you were looking for.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Clueless in Miami.

FOX News reports: "Wasserman Schultz Calls for Background Checks on All Gun Purchases."

The incoming head of the Democratic National Committee says she supports background checks for all gun purchases, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., says she'll co-sponsor a bill in Congress to enact a new law requiring them.

Wasserman Schultz announced her support for the measure at a Miami rally held by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The Hill reports the Florida congresswoman, who is also set to take the helm at the DNC, told rally goers she was "outraged" by loopholes that allow buyers to purchase guns without a background check.

"While we likely cannot end all gun violence, we certainly can do much, much better," Wasserman Schultz said. "We have laws on the books designed to keep guns out of the hands of those that should not have them. We just need to close the loopholes and improve the information available to law enforcement."

Loopholes. Yes. Well, I've studied loopholes throughout history. And back before Sipsey Street, Pete at WRSA posted this for me regarding John McCain's advocacy of "closing the gun show loophole."

Mind you, "closing the gun show loophole" is collectivist-speak for banning the individual transfer of firearms without federal permission. Want to hand down your grandpa's twelve gauge to your son? You'll both have to undergo a background check. Not even King George the III was this grasping.

Some pertinent historical facts from that loophole post in May, 2008 --

Loophole: noun
1 a: a small opening through which small arms may be fired
b: a similar opening to admit light and air or to permit observation
2: a means of escape; especially : an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded -- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Regardless of who wins the next election, we will have a president who has pledged to "close the gun show loophole." Funny word - "loophole," especially when used in a firearms context. I'm sure the liberal lawyers pals of Josh Sugarmann who came up with the canard "assault weapons" invented this one as well. Products of their law school upbringing, I'm sure they meant the second definition rather than the first. Indeed, being completely ignorant of the history of firearms, I doubt they knew of the first meaning of the word at all.


Fort Barrancas, Entrance to Pensacola Bay, Florida

One of the wonderful things about living in north central Alabama is its proximity to the Gulf coast of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Pensacola is one my favorite places along those white sandy beaches. What with Fort Pickens and her sister Fort Barrancas both available for exploration, a history buff like me can't resist their ghostly charms.

Completed in 1844 as a small sea coast defense fortification capable of resisting a land assault (if not a regular attack) Fort Barrancas is one of most interesting and creepiest little masonry castles on the Gulf Coast. Fort Barrancas was sited on a slight bluff above a pre-existing battery built by the Spanish opposite the entrance to Pensacola Bay where it could cross the fire of its water bearing heavy guns with those of Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island and Fort McRee on Foster's Bank. The fort itself consists of a main work traced as an irregular quadrilateral redoubt with two fronts positioned for land defense and two fronts for defense of the bay. A counterscarp wall covers the two land fronts and is itself covered by a massive earthen glacis that seems to slope a bit too sharply for the foot to be well seen from the interior crest of the parapet of the main work, a fact of some importance since the work does not feature a covered way for defense against a land attack. The main ditch, which was about 34 feet wide, was defended by crenallated scarp and counterscarp galleries; embrasured and loopholed casemates were built into both extremities of the counterscarp gallery (to flank the water fronts of the main work) and within the salient angle of the two land fronts. -- Source: http://civilwarfortifications.com/

Colonel H.L. Scott, in his 1864 Military Dictionary, defined loopholes as "apertures formed in a wall or stockade, that through them a fire of musketry may be directed on the exterior ground. . . Loopholed Galleries . . .are vaulted passages or casemates, usually placed behind the counterscarp revetment, and behind the gorges of detached works, having holes pierced through the walls, to enable the defenders to bring a musketry fire from unseen positions, upon the assailants in the ditch. Loopholes, however, are not confined to galleries. In modern fortifications, the revetments, both scarp and counterscarp, are very generally pierced for a musketry fire." Here is an example of a loophole in the scarp gallery of the northeast land front of Fort Barrancas:



Loopholes as a feature of military fortifications predate both gunpowder and masonry castles, being originally built as angled slits in wooden palisades to give bowmen good fields of fire while affording them excellent protection from enemy bowmen. Loopholes are murder holes, designed to allow one marksman to kill the maximum number of attackers from cover. Loopholes are still used today, especially in city fighting. Witness this quote from a recent Marine manual on Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT):

"Machine guns play an important role in urban military operations. . .Upon entering a building, all windows and doors should be secured. If boards are used, leave small gaps between the boards to allow for alternate firing positions. . .Loopholes should be used extensively when defended a building. Loophole construction should not follow any logical pattern or be constructed at floor or tabletop level. By varying the height and location of loopholes, you will make it difficult for the enemy to pinpoint and target the loophole firing position. Dummy loopholes should also be used to deceive the enemy in his efforts to locate actual firing positions. Loophole openings should be small in front and wide in back" Machine Guns in Urban Terrain, http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6453/moutpoi43.html


Canadian riflemen use an improvised loophole in a building in Vaucelles, France, 23 July 1944.

Thus, from bows and arrows to machine guns in the 21st Century, loopholes have served their purpose. Just where and when the terminology used for killing became a "an ambiguity or omission in the text through which the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded" is lost in time. I don't know, ask a lawyer.

Here's what I propose if Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets her loophole bill passed. We, the Three Percent, can deliberately flaunt it with a fed-free gun show held in Fort Barancas. Then the gun-grabbers can show up to try to close up her loophole and we can use ours. Seems fair. It is, I think even she would admit, harder to close a loophole with a rifle muzzle sticking out of it.

Of course, she's welcome to try.

When Democracy Turns to Tyranny . . .

I still get to vote.