CT Collectivist Out For Blood -- as long as the minions of the state collect it and he doesn't have to risk his precious ass.

"NO to Assault Weapon Amnesty – CAGV Dissenter. This is an open letter to the elected officials of Connecticut and concerned citizens."

This is an open letter to the elected officials of Connecticut and concerned citizens:

I am a long-time supporter, financially and morally, of CT Against Gun Violence and have applauded their accomplishments in the last legislative session. The new gun law was a triumph of common sense and the law should be allowed to stand unchanged. Simply put, we can not allow any amnesty nor leniency for owners of automatic weapons and high capacity clips.

Earlier this week, I received an email from CAGV that has me distressed. Apparently, the organization wishes to support a limited amnesty for gun owners who have either intentionally or unintentionally ignored the registration deadline at the end of December. In exchange, CAGV proposes other tweaks to the law that seem too technical to matter much.

I am against this proposal and I am writing today to implore all of our elected officials to block any sort of "amnesty" for owners of automatic assault weapons or high capacity clips. These items are a menace to your culture and it should be left to the courts to decide if changes to the law are warranted, not political back scratching. Our best in the nation law was passed last spring and these people have had many months during which to get their act together and submit the required forms. Offering those who were too lazy or too stupid to comply in the allotted time a window during which to register their now illegal assault weapons and clips is an insult. Ignorance of the law and/or a belated sense of concern about being caught is no reason to change the law. Let these "law abiding citizens" reap what they have sown and leave the ban as it is.

That John McKinney and other Republicans seems to be supporting this "amnesty" should be seen for the political act that it is. McKinney has learned that his noble support of the new law has soured the GOP base against him and he is seeking to get back in their good graces. As residents of Connecticut we should not allow McKinney and other worried/vulnerable Republicans to shore up their support with the GOP gun owners at the expense of the rule of law.

No amnesty, no leniency, no exceptions. Voters are watching you Hartford. And the CAGV membership is watching its leadership.

I am a CAGV dissenter.

Darryl Baxter surrendered to federal authorities today to begin his unjust sentence.

From Darryl's sister Deb:

Darryl surrendered himself this afternoon, 31-Jan-14 at 2:00 PM. At this point, not sure what will happen with AA Army Surplus, but we haven't given up and the fight continues. I spoke with him around 11:30 AM and, all things considered, he was upbeat and has a positive attitude. Hoping this mess gets straightened out on the 04-Feb.

The 4 Feb hearing may straighten this out, but I will tell you one thing: It will free me up to begin writing about this case and you won't believe it.

Of course he's a G.H.W. Bush appointee. Black Robed Traitorous Bastards Strike Again: Setback in Connecticut ‘only first battle in multi-year legal war’.

A federal judge has upheld the State of Connecticut’s sweeping gun control laws enacted last year in response to the Sandy Hook “gun-free zone” shootings, the Associated Press reported Thursday. United States District Court Judge Alfred Covello at Hartford issued a 47-page ruling in the case of Shew v. Malloy admitting “While the act burdens the plaintiffs' Second Amendment rights," but then claiming "it is substantially related to the important governmental interest of public safety and crime control.” Judge Covello, a George H.W. Bush nominee, reasoned the law should stand because “the legislation here does not amount to a complete prohibition on firearms for self-defense in the home.

Decision and Order.

California's evil and deadly new "Ghost Gun" demonstrated.

More time and money than sense. Or, as Mrs. Gump told Forrest: "Stupid is as stupid does."

Oh, my aching ass. "A redneck garage-hacked AR-15 bullpup."

And speaking of uniformed thuggery. . .

More unpunished uniformed thuggery.

Rookie cop who shot 72-year-old dead in his home while investigating burglary at the WRONG address will not be charged.

"The Day We Lost Atlanta How 2 lousy inches of snow paralyzed a metro area of 6 million."

"As a Walking Dead fan, I appreciate all those jokes on social media, but as an Atlantan, I’m concerned that this storm revealed just how unprepared we are in case of real disaster."

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance." The Attack of the Obamanoid Bureaucrats.

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance." -- Declaration of Independence, 1776.

It seems that the Obamanoids are busy re-establishing the predicate for the Founders' notion that it is a patriotic thing to shoot an Imperial bureaucrat intent on stealing your liberty, your property and your lives: Obama’s power play

In an FDA office building in suburban Maryland, the bureaucrats gather over coffee to draft rules meant to squeeze the trans fat out of snack foods.

Four blocks from the White House, in an EPA conference room: more bureaucrats, more meetings, more drafting of rules, these aimed at forcing industrialists to spend billions cutting carbon to fend off global warming.

Congress? Who needs Congress?/i>

Americans heard President Barack Obama declare this week that he intends to bypass the gridlocked Hill to get things done on his own. What they didn’t hear: just how far he’s actually pushing his executive authority.

An in-depth examination of the administration’s actions and plans, agency by agency, regulation by regulation, reveals an executive power play that’s broad and bold — and intensely ambitious. Far more than he let on in the State of the Union, the president has marshaled the tools of his office to advance policies, many unabashedly liberal, that push deep into everyday life for tens of millions of Americans.

See also:

Sweeping higher ed overhaul

Obama’s agenda: EPA leading the charge on climate change

Changing the way we eat

IL gun-haters deny trying to attack gun rights -- while advocating 2nd Amendment repeal.

If ISRA was planning to be confrontational and rude, good for them. King George III probably thought those pesky American colonists were rude, too.

Goodman also said he was making efforts to repeal the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms. “These pro-gun guys say they have rights that can’t be interfered with, but I think we should get rid of the Second Amendment . . . so we can talk about reasonable regulations on guns.”

Uparmored Bradley Could Be Tough Enough For AMPV

At the height of the surge, when sophisticated Iranian-designed IEDs called “explosively formed projectiles” were punching slugs of molten copper through American armor plate, one young officer told me he had to keep his Bradleys in the back of the column and lead with massive M1 Abrams tanks, because the Bradleys were just too vulnerable. The Bradley undergoing the “underbody blast test” that DOT&E mentions, however, was partially upgraded to a new standard called “Engineering Change Proposal 1.” ECP1 doesn’t just add extra armor on the outside: It also changes the passenger compartment, especially the flow, and rearranges how ammunition is stored to minimize potential damage to the troops inside.

Bombing Iran: Tough Tasks for Israeli Intelligence

There are five main operational tasks related to destroying an underground facility: detecting the facility; characterizing the site's features; planning the attack; neutralizing the site; and assessing the success of the operation. A critical question for Israeli decision-makers and the intelligence apparatus is whether they have sufficient qualitative and accurate intelligence on the Iranian nuclear sites.

And you thought Al Gore was bad?

Bloomberg tapped to be U.N. cities, climate change envoy

How the U.S. Army planned to use nuclear backpacks to halt Soviet invasion in the Cold War.

The ALICE Pack from Hell.

Diane Sawyer’s ABC News hit piece on guns may show violation of Florida law

Beyond such inexcusable jeopardizing of children’s lives, the segment may actually violate the law.

If gun makers opposed to 'microstamping' help murderers, so do CA police chiefs

Not a single proponent of "microstamping" in Congress supported this bipartisan plan for scientific study of the technology. It's almost as if they lacked confidence in what would be found in such a study, even one coordinated by an Attorney General with a clear hostility to gun rights, and a long history of manipulating junk "science" to undermine those rights.

“It’s like a Walking Dead TV series.”

John Labreche, the head of a private school in Birmingham, Alabama, called the region a “zombie land.” Gas stations are running out of gas and grocery stores out of food. And semi trucks that normally would resupply the businesses aren’t able to travel on the roads – because of the gridlock and the icy roads, he said. . . “Cars are everywhere, stuck on the roads. Trucks are jackknifed. People are going up the interstate the wrong way. It is crazy.”

The incredible shrinking Maryland mall shooter

Poor babies. It really restricts their blood dancing.

I didn't watch it and frankly don't care, but Politico reports "State of the Union 2014: Gun control mostly vanishes from speech."

A year later gun control is deader than dead. Obama, removed from the wound Newtown left on the nation, has narrowed his legislative agenda to immigration reform, raising the minimum wage and reinstating long-term unemployment benefits.

Hey, these collectivist bastards play a long game and anybody who thinks, like the NRA leadership, that amnesty has nothing to do with achieving citizen disarmament is smoking something.

"Attorney General Eric Holder can't explain constitutional basis for Obama's executive orders."

And this is surprising?

Meanwhile Killer Tomato Cass Sunstein, now out of the regime and safe back in the collectivist night soil of academia explains: What Exactly Is an 'Executive Order'?

GOP to commit suicide? Good, get it over with and we can move on.

GOP CRAFTS PLAN TO WRECK THE COUNTRY, LOSE VOTERS

Government-monopoly-of-violence advocates don't like AR giveaway. They don't like it one bit.

Giveaway of assault rifle riles some Iowa lawmakers

Ladd Everitt, the communications director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a group based in Washington, D.C., said he found one sentence in Dorr’s email message particularly disturbing. That line said few things makes the group happier than the look on the face of a law-abiding citizen who just took possession of a new AR-15, “especially when it’s being placed in the hand of a young Iowan.”

“Children clearly do not have the maturity necessary to handle rifles designed for use on the battlefield; and this type of flip, macho attitude about gun ownership is exactly how accidents happen,” Everitt said.

Of course as Kurt Hofmann has pointed out before, the authoritarian streak of the government-monopoly-of-violence advocates at CSGV is legendary. See "CSGV should change name to 'Coalition to Kill Dissenters'" and "The toxic 'embrace' of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence."

Logistics: Main Gun Military Surplus running sale on ACHs.

"Our ACH/MCH helmets are the first. The Army pays almost $300 for these. Lots more comfortable than the old Kevlar “Fritz” helmet, and have the concussion-proof pads inside, plus much better vision. We normally sell them for the low price of $124.99. While they last, they are going for $99.99 a helmet! Heck, the upgrade kit to upgrade your old Kevlar sells for that much! To get this deal: apply the coupon code HELMET when checking out!"

Why Are London Bank Executives Killing Themselves?

Interesting.

NRA failing members by ignoring immigration threat to gun rights

The excuse given is that NRA is “a single issue organization.” What that evidently means is tangential effects on gun rights are never considered. It’s not a very good excuse, especially when the results of such deliberate indifference are so obvious. . .

NRA silence is more than just not wanting to expand on their “single issue,” and besides, it’s not like they haven’t wandered from that in the past, taking stances on so-called “campaign finance reform” and the DISCLOSE Act. They can and do take positions on tangential issues affecting the Second Amendment when they choose to.

Continuing to reward politicians with high grades, contributions and endorsements without taking such tangential issues into consideration will not serve that single issue in the long run. That's because it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, immune to the effects of other laws. Likewise, NRA directors like Grover Norquist, whose conflicting organizational interests resulted in his endorsing award-winning anti-gunners and championing passage of an amnesty bill, relegates the right to keep and bear arms to a secondary issue among like-minded NRA Board members who may also have competing loyalties.

Well, that was interesting.

Rosey was able to hitch a ride in a four-wheel drive vehicle and made it back home (leaving the co-worker's borrowed car in place where she sheltered for the night). Round about 3PM, she decided against my advice for us to take our car out, pick up the co-worker's car and return it and the borrowed cell phone back to their owner.

Conditions were scarcely better than yesterday, but we were able to thread our way through the wrecks and abandoned vehicles and accomplish our mission, making it back in a little over an hour. Praise the Lord.

I have cancelled the planned procedure for tomorrow that was to have stretched my newly identified stenosis, not because of the weather but because I am now (again, forever) apparently leaking gastric contents out my back. So we are literally back to square one. There is no point in enlarging the esophagus only to aggravate the leak. This should settle the argument and I may finally get that referral to the specialist at UAB. We'll see. But for now, Rosey and I are safe together back at home, and that is something to be appreciated. Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf. Tomorrow afternoon, roads permitting, I'm going to get her a cell phone.

Beretta tells Maryland "Pog Mo Thoin."

Beretta To Open Plant In Tennessee

Mysterious fourth man in Fero's fatal stabbings protected as informant

"Harris was a confidential informant for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on an unrelated investigation when he entered the Denver bar with Lewis and brothers Joseph and Lynell Hill. Little is known about Harris' history, his relationship with the ATF, any compensation he was receiving and whether his relationship with the Hill brothers or Lewis was connected to his role as an informant. Even attorneys representing Lewis and Denver prosecutors seeking the death penalty have learned little about Harris."

JPFO marks 25th Year.

Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership is 25 Years Young.

Rumored Bloomberg shift from guns to immigration likely only a shift in tactics

Bloomberg is now supporting even "pro-gun Democrats," because Democrat control of Congress bodes well for oppressive gun laws, even with a few voices of dissent against the "gun control" agenda. A huge influx of newly legal voters from cultures where draconian government control over private firearm ownership is an unquestioned matter of course does the same thing. Bloomberg can hardly be unaware of that.

The cheese-eating surrender monkeys of the GOP at it again.

GOP ready to surrender on debt ceiling

The day begins as yesterday ended.

Nobody sane is moving right now. The roads -- ALL roads -- are closed by ice and impromptu roadblocks of abandoned vehicles. The various government edicts and emergency declarations are merely superfluous to the reality. I'm just grateful that we have power and communications here and at the scattered locations where my loved ones are. Many do not. This hit so fast and -- largely because of faulty weather predictions -- so unexpectedly, AND in the middle of a busy day that it essentially froze everybody in place. It is the real life application of the term "freeze frame."

It is also a reminder of the inadequacies of the power of man.

Praise the Lord.

Rosey just checked in. She's at her co-worker's house and safe, but the hard-head insists on driving the two miles from there to back home. At least she now has a borrowed cell phone in addition to a borrowed car. Keep the obstinate woman in your prayers.

UPDATE: Unable to make it home, and finding it impossible to get back to where she was at her co-worker's house, Rosey opted to go to the home of Hannah's boyfriend's parents. At least she's safe, although when I'll see her is anyone's guess. Praise the Lord, indeed.

Pushing 6 and Rosey's not home yet.

She left work at 10:30 this morning in company of another co-worker. Checked in at a pay phone from Trussville at noon. And no, she doesn't have a cell phone. We could only afford the one. Keep her in your prayers. Heard from Hannah and she made it to a safe place where she will spend the night.

Later: I'll be damned, however, if we don't find the money to get her a phone after this. In fact, I'll be glad of the opportunity.

If they all would just go away like her, I'd give them all an award.

Evie Hudak named Jeffco Democrat of the Year

It would appear the fears of a global bank run are spreading.

Russian Bank Halts All Cash Withdrawals

Snowmageddon in Birmingham

It's Snowmageddon in Birmingham

Snow continues to fall and the temperature on the back deck is 18 degrees and falling. Not expected to get above freezing until Thursday.

As a transplanted Wolverine who grew up in Ohio I have always been a bit amused at the southern reaction to the first snowflake of impending winter precipitation. Rarely do we see the sorts of real blizzards that I grew up with, although the mere rumor of snow is worth quadruple sales of bread and milk to local grocers. (This is not, of course, restricted to the south. In 1979, if I recall correctly, I watched two big guys get into a fist fight over the last gallon of milk in a Kroger store on Dublin-Granville Road in Columbus OH. While they were duking it out, a little rabbity guy snuck in and grabbed the milk. A cop "arrested" them both, but then had to let them go, much the worse for wear, because there was no way to transport them downtown.)

Now however we have an unexpected winter weather emergency here in Birmingham and the town is shut down with tens of thousands stuck on roads blocked by accidents. Rosey left her work two hours ago with a friend and I still haven't seen her from what is normally a twenty-five minute drive. I left to go to the post office and had to turn around at the end of our street because there are two cars in the ditch where it comes out on a county road. In turning around, I barely made it back up the driveway with my bald tires (after the third try).

Just got a call from Hannah who informs me that after an hour she just now made it out of the parking lot at her work on Birmingham's south side. That only took her an hour. If I see her by dark it will be a minor miracle.

Keep all us silly southerners in your prayers. We're going to need them.

Yeah, they start with the 2nd Amendment and then graduate to the 1st. Funny how that works.

Historic Threat Looms To Public’s Right To Know.

It is historic fact that police, particularly the state police, consistently violate the state’s Freedom of Information laws by refusing to release nonexempt information about ongoing criminal investigations. There are specific exemptions: signed statements of witnesses, investigatory techniques not otherwise known, uncorroborated allegations, for example. Otherwise, documents are presumed to be public, but the FOI Commission docket is clogged with complaints from citizens and the press seeking public information the police routinely withhold.

Interesting letter I found poking around CT newspapers this morning. "What reasonable people should not do is engage in loose talk about armed resistance against a duly elected government."

Protesters hold signs portraying Gov. Cuomo as Adolf Hitler during a pro-gun rally at the State Capitol in Albany, New York, Feb. 28, 2013.

NY’s Cuomo is the real ‘extremist’

 Last week in New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave one of the most frightening and perhaps prophetic political speeches since the days of the beer hall speeches in pre-Nazi Germany. He launched into a political tirade that persons of any ideological persuasion would have to conclude was not only totalitarian in tone, but also almost genocidal in its implications.

    Cuomo stated that Republican “extremists” were not welcome in his state, and should leave. And just exactly who are these “extremists”? They are those who adamantly oppose abortion, federal and state infringements upon the Second Amendment, gay marriage -- and just about anyone else who disagrees with the good governor about anything.

    This is the rhetoric of a lunatic leftist born of the 1960’s campus radicalism who for all his talk about diversity cannot tolerate a single opposing view. But it is also the mark of a morally suspect, seriously imbalanced politician -- a ferociously demagogic breed for which New York in recent days has become all too well-known.

    But the most ominous thing about Cuomo’s demented rant is that underneath its Nuremburg-style political passion one can almost hear the trains pulling into the camouflaged camps somewhere just north of Albany.

    PETER WILSON

    Groton

By the way, the photo above was found at this NY Post panty-waist reporter's column with the comment:

Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of Gov. Cuomo’s gun control law and the rushed way he pushed it through the Legislature.

What reasonable people should not do is engage in loose talk about armed resistance against a duly elected government....

What makes you think it is "LOOSE" talk?

Fabricated FBI reports detailed in corporate exec’s mysterious disappearance

The question is: Why?

Running late.

Feeling better, though. Will have more later.

"Conservatives Must Break the Establishment’s Rules"

The rules say we need to just sit and take it. But we need to tell the Establishment geniuses what they can take their rules and do, and they won’t be able to do it sitting down.

Why Pro-Amnesty Republicans Are So Desperate To Pass Immigration Reform This Year

In other words, this whole immigration push that the GOP leadership in the House is embracing is a scam. It doesn't matter what they tell you, what they promise or how good they make it sound; immigration reform this year would be about as legitimate as a letter from a Nigerian prince.

See also "The House GOP Sounds Retreat (Or Should.)": The leaders of the party in the House, in other words, have to at least pretend to care what the various segments of that party's base care about and how they react to the House GOP's initiatives. The House GOP leadership has to act rationally, and win elections before they "make tough choices" no one asked them to make now, and which they cannot make except to hurt themselves while helping Democrats, as they did two weeks back in backing the attack on the retirement benefits of the career military.

"While Governor Malloy and Connecticut Democrats indulged in their anti-gun fetish, another mother was murdered by a mentally ill young man."

Good job, cultists. You’ve added another body to the pile.

'Progressive' says kill 'plutocrats' and 'climate tyrants,' or 'purge' 2nd Amnd.

The solution, though, is not to surrender an inch of ground on gun rights, but to become more vigilant against all threats to liberty.

Katy Perry embarrassment should be over privileged hypocrisy, not guns

“Katy Perry and Russell Brand's Bodyguards Allegedly Assaulting Paparazzi in India,” AceShowBiz reported a few years back. Per the report, the then-couple’s personal goon squad left photographers stranded in a jungle safari tiger park by taking their car keys, smashing a camera, smashing one’s glasses, and beating them up, leaving one with a cut arm and another with “a bleeding wound on his head.”

Where I'm headed.

Shears: Will someone tell me why I'm so indispensable to this outfit?

MAJ Warden: I know how you feel, but there's always the unexpected, isn't there?

-- Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.

Events of this weekend -- health-wise and otherwise -- have convinced me that wherever I'm headed in this struggle it needs to be soon. To accomplish what I set out to do with the armed civil disobedience and smuggling project I need to get about doing things that require a modicum of health and resources. Both seem iffy at the moment.

My one hope of generating an income stream independent of blog subscriptions and the kindness of friends is to get Absolved out there for sale. While I am beyond making false promises and failed predictions, I plan on touring the upper South and Midwest in the month of April. This presupposes I will have a work product to tour with. If other things, including this blog, have to suffer, well, they will.

My schedule is tentatively to begin at Knob Creek KY, 11-12 April and finish at the NRA Convention in Indianapolis 0n 24-27 April. In between, I am scheduled to give a speech at the Ohio State House on 19 April at a Patriots' Day rally sponsored by Ohio for Concealed Carry. Other events and dates will be filled in as time approaches. If any readers have suggestions for that month and general area of the country, please feel free to email me.

Prior to April, I hope to get up to CT, MD and NY and tweak the noses of the totalitarians up there in speeches, appearances and (who knows?) perhaps a bit of smuggling. (I especially want to visit Connecticut, where the resistance to the new tyrant's code seems to be particularly strong.) I will do my best to avoid the expense of bail money, etc., but then there's always the unexpected, isn't there?

Again this presupposes the health and the funds to do so. The April trip has the advantage of allowing me to conserve resources by falling back on the resources of friends and family in Ohio and Indiana. I should also have some of my income tax refund to use by then. I try to stretch all the donations and subscriptions as far as I can.

To my regular supporters and subscribers, however, I hasten to add that you have already given plenty and I am not soliciting more from y'all. The Lord alone knows how you have sustained my work until now, even in the face of Christmas and hard times. Rather, I am hoping that some of you folks, especially new readers that I have been hearing from, will see fit to send some subscriptions this way to keep the smuggling campaign going until, Lord willing, I can get Absolved out into the marketplace.

This weekend reminded me forcefully that I don't have an inexhaustible amount of time to accomplish what I need to do. So that's where I'm headed. Keep me in your prayers.

The Latest From GOA on the Immigration Sellout.

The Next Big Gun Fight: Stopping 8 Million New Anti-gun Voters

“[A] Pew poll suggests that illegal immigrants, if given citizenship, would vote for liberal, anti-gun candidates by an 8-to-1 margin.” - GOA’s Erich Pratt, commenting on Pew poll findings as reported in The Washington Post (7/22/13)

Next Wednesday, the House Republican leadership will announce a set of "principles" for immigration reform.  Supposedly, if these "principles" are not well-received, the House will shelve the issue for the remainder of the year.

To be blunt:  The health of the Second Amendment relies on demolishing these "principles."

Immigration reform will add over 8,000,000 anti-gun voters to the voting rolls.  There may be as many as 11.5 million persons illegally in the United States.  And, a Pew poll from last year indicated that if illegal immigrants were given citizenship, they would vote for liberal, anti-gun candidates by an 8-to-1 margin.
This is exactly what happened to California -- which was once a Red State.  Because of the Simpson-Mazzoli amnesty bill of 1986, the state lurched violently to the left and now can’t pass gun control restrictions fast enough.

If this were to happen at the national level, we would lose the ability to stop massive gun bans and gun registration schemes.  And all of this occurs at a time when a Fox poll shows the American people oppose Obama’s immigration policies by a margin of 36% to 54%.

The first reality is this:  If the House passes ANYTHING, the Senate will tack on its amnesty bill and send it to conference.  And the national conversation will turn off of ObamaCare and onto immigration.
And guess what?  Every gun-hating institution which moved heaven and earth to pass gun control will move heaven and earth to get the House to retreat -- if not to a "pathway to citizenship," to a "pathway to legalization."

They will have created the biggest and most motivated Obama-loving movement in the country -- devoted to electing anti-gun politicians and retaining Harry Reid's control of the Senate.

What will Republicans get, in exchange for creating an army of pro-Obama election warriors?

Very little.  (Be sure to read GOA legislative counsel Michael Hammond’s analysis, which shows, in great detail, how the Republican leadership’s “principles” will end up back-firing on gun owners.)

The bottom line is that there is a reason why Barack Obama and his "puppet press" have been campaigning for a year to force the Republican House to wade into "immigration reform."  It is nothing but benefits for anti-gun politicians, and nothing but pain for pro-gun legislators.

Who would be stupid enough to inflict that level of pain on themselves?

Connecticut throws 'assault weapon' registration party, (almost) nobody comes.

With the numbers now available, however, it becomes apparent that many of us--and perhaps all of the forcible citizen disarmament jihadists in the Connecticut government--underestimated the state's gun owners' spirit of defiance, and perhaps by an enormous margin. The number of guns and magazines registered was so paltry, in fact, that state lawmakers are trying to spin the situation as a case of willing registrants trying to register on time, but failing to do so, because the post office closed at noon on New Year's Eve, thus causing them to be late.

Crazy is as crazy does.

Republicans have the opportunity to give voice to the working and middle-class Americans whose wages and job prospects have eroded drastically in recent years. House GOP leaders are reportedly planning to release their "immigration principles" this week. Unfortunately, leaks reveal the leaders' plan mirrors central elements of the president's plan, combining work permits for millions of illegal immigrants with large permanent increases in the flow of new workers from abroad. This would be an extraordinary act of self-sabotage.

The most dangerous years of the Obama presidency are upon us. A united front is needed, but we are likely to get a Republican war on the Tea Party instead.

If the Tea Party "is crazy, I don’t want to be sane!"

Praxis: How to test a AA battery without a meter.

Link

"A Step Back Toward Peace Keeping."

I grew up in an America with cops in the background. Most people – being not criminals – had almost no interaction with them and when they did it was generally civil and far more important, almost always on equal terms – with the cop respectful of the citizen. It goes without saying that’s all gone now. Cops are a menacing omnipresence – and when they deal with us, it is usually order barking Command Voice style. You do not discuss, much less dispute. You Submit and Obey. Or else.

Holder position on pot and banks could end up entrapping gun owners

Yesterday, this column asked one of Denver’s major dispensaries if they provide any notice to their customers that purchases are viewed by ATF as disqualifiers from owning a gun (no reply has been received at this writing). Whether these businesses have a duty to inform the public, with attendant liability should they fail to do so, might be an interesting legal question asked by some who will be surprised to learn that their recognized right to keep and bear arms has gone up in smoke.

McCain & Dr. Evil

US Senator for Arizona John McCain (L) talks with Soros Fund Management Chairman George Soros at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 23, 2014. Some 40 world leaders gather in the Swiss ski resort Davos to discuss and debate a wide range of issues including the causes of conflicts plaguing the Middle East, and how to reinvigorate the global economy. (ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images)

A little nervousness goin' on.

HSBC imposes restrictions on large cash withdrawals

"Chipmaker Intel said Friday it plans to reduce its global workforce by over 5,000 people over the next year."

US stocks slammed; Dow falls 300-plus points in worst week since 2011

Lagarde warns of risks to global economic recovery

'The world is catching emerging markets flu': UK and US shares take a hit as plunging currencies worry global investors.

More on the sellout.

House Republicans to Offer Broad Immigration Plan

Mandated defenselessness of Md. shoppers highlighted in mall shooting

“This mall is committed to providing an enjoyable shopping experience for our guests,” The Mall in Columbia states in its Code of Conduct. “Activities [that] will not be accepted” include “Violation of the law,” such as “Any activity that threatens the safety of our guests, tenants and/or employees.” Among the specific cited prohibitions singled out in the posted rules: “No firearms or illegal weapons.”

FICG Files Supplemental Comment in Opposition to ATF 41P

ATF’s failure to timely post public submissions throughout the comment period denied FICG and other interested persons the ability to reference and build upon useful material, on the one hand, and to rebut incorrect assertions and clarify the record, on the other hand. That problem was exacerbated by the slow pace that has continued to mark ATF’s posting of comments, with nearly 12% of all comments submitted still awaiting processing. In addition, developments subsequent to December 9, 2013, that shed light on ATF’s rulemaking proceeding had to be put on the record to facilitate later judicial review.

Mutually exclusive. Firearms Safety and the Twelve Gauge Anal Stimulation Therapy.

The Seven Rules of the Faculty Lounge of the Philosophy Department at the University of Woolamaloo:

1. No poofters.
2. No member of the faculty is to maltreat the "Abos" in any way whatsoever—if there's anyone watching.
3. No poofters.
4. I don't want to catch anyone not drinking in their room after lights out.
5. No poofters.
6. There is no... rule six.
7. No poofters.

Either this guy is a poofter or the dumbest cop around. Perhaps both.

The Face of Evil. Pure, unadulterated, unspeakable evil.

The following links were forwarded to me by a reader with the comments: "Strong stuff. Very strong. Forward these links along to anyone you know who still clings to the foolish notion that absolute evil does not exist. Damn right it exists.

Famous Gay Rights Activist Now Also Famous for Child Pornography Habits.

Kiddie Porn Does Not Count as ‘Moral Turpitude’ to S.F. Govt.

"Mark Newton, 42, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison [in June 2013] . . . Authorities say Newton and his partner, Peter Truong, 36, paid a Russian woman $8,000 to give birth to a boy they said was conceived using artificial insemination with Newton’s sperm. The men began sexually abusing the boy before he was two weeks old, recording the acts on video they shared online with other pedophiles. . . ."

The reader concludes -- "I'll go ahead and say it: Some folks just need hanging."

Can't wait to read this one.

Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms

Since this was supposedly all my fault, I wonder why no one called me as a witness?

Georgia men convicted of ricin plot against government officials.

Logistics: The disappearing military surplus business.

On Thursday I ventured down I-20 East to Bynum, Alabama for a funeral -- of one more Alabama military surplus business. Over the years I bought a lot of surplus from the old couple who ran this business located just down from the gates of the Anniston Army Depot. This is the second Alabama milsurp business to go tango uniform in the past year and if Darrell at A-A goes to prison that will make three.

When I got there, a high-roller from Tennessee (also in the surplus business) was cleaning the place out. I had to content myself with a dozen universal carrying straps like this one:

A couple of GI mess kits new in the wrapper:

A mismatched set of LC-2 ALICE pack straps (one OD, the other woodland) for a large, new ALICE pack that I picked up at a thrift store the other day for five bucks (w.o. straps and frame). The color won't matter to the newbie that I end up gifting this to, but the fact that I still don't have a frame, waist belt and kidney pad will. Ever try to carry a fully-loaded large ALICE without a frame?

Last but not least I scored a woodland butt pack,

And a woodland MOPP suit bag:

All told, I paid twenty bucks for the lot. I didn't even try to dicker, I was so depressed.

Burned fingers.

No sooner had it been reported that Civitas Media was planning on publishing a nationwide database of concealed carry permit holders than we get this burned finger update from The Daily Caller:

Following the publication of this report, Civitas Media announced that it rejected its internal proposal to build a database of concealed carry permit holders. Civitas CEO Michael C. Bush, who declined to comment to The Daily Caller because he was boarding a plane this morning, later said in a statement, “A poorly crafted internal memo meant to highlight editorial discussions and planning incorrectly indicated that such a database was being planned; it has been considered and rejected.”

My, my. Burned fingers indeed. It remains to be seen if they decide to stay out of the citizen disarmament business, however.

Abramski case before the Supreme Court could end tyrannical drive for “universal background checks”

But don't hold your breath.

Marine Corps Association's $5.00 book sale on now.

Some pretty good deals here.

Len Savage's "Economic Waco" case makes the Daily Caller.

Reining in the ATF for American gun owners.

Georgia gun manufacturer Len Savage learned about the ATF’s schemes first-hand. Nine months after ATF approved his new model for sale and distribution, it sent notice that the decision had been reversed.

The flip-flop cost more than half a million dollars in dropped orders and thousands more in manufactured parts. Savage remarked that it’s common in the firearms business for the agency.

This is great.

The Kronies.

"Stupid is as stupid does, Forrest."

Doubling-down on dumb: Homeland Security loses assault rifle in Redondo Beach, cops think it’s a bomb.

Because police didn’t know if explosives were also in the unusual carrying case, officers evacuated surrounding residences as a precaution and called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad, Freeman said.

The bomb squad ultimately determined that the package was exactly what it appeared to be once it was opened: a rifle in a case, Jackson said.

Owens comments: "Charitably, they won’t charge the citizen who found the wayward firearm, in the only sign of intelligence shown during the entire incident."

I'm not so sure. Seems a wasted opportunity to me. If someone made me a present of "patrol rifle" like that, I just might make sure it disappeared, perhaps in untraceable pieces, perhaps even to another state, leaving the idiot DHS employeee to explain the mystery to his bosses. Although I must say that the cops calling the bomb squad was a nice Keystone Kops moment of comedy.

"Undue alarm." Police chief asserts that his officers had to arrest Texas open carrier

“We didn’t know who he was, had no clue but we started getting a mass number of phone calls,” Chief Jones said. “By displaying the weapon, he caused undue alarm.”

Once again, to quote Bob Wright:

 "Our Constitutional rights are not subject to the anti-firearm neuroses of our liberal neighbors."

Newspaper conglomerate Civitas Media discusses building nationwide database of CCW licensees

How about we build a nationwide database of collectivist journalists with their home addresses and phone numbers?

Patti Davis typifies anti-gun ‘progressives’ with death wish for 'wolf hunter'

“I wish they had gotten you instead,” Davis erupted in fury. “Blocking you now.” “[B]locked and death wished by Reagan's lib daughter :-),” he replied, reacting with appropriate humor and ridicule.

Pentagon to launch blimps to guard against cruise missiles

The Pentagon has discovered a gap in the defenses of Washington, D.C., and it's about to test a solution. But depending on your point of view, the solution is either vital for national security or a threat to American privacy.

Connecticut scrambles for amnesty plan after realizing that citizens are refusing to register their “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines

There were a number of craven souls that did line up in the last few days of December to register their arms and magazines, but that is not the reason that Connecticut’s government is spurred to call for amnesty. They’re calling for an amnesty period because their internal estimates likely show that their attempt to browbeat the citizenry into registering their arms for future confiscation has been a abject failure, and they are desperate to do anything they can do to encourage compliance now that their threats have failed.

Rough and rougher.

Just had the worst night I've had in a while. I'm working -- or trying to work -- on several projects at the moment and not getting much accomplished. Please forgive my lack of original work product. The procedure for beginning to deal with the stenosis at the bottom of my esophagus has been, thankfully, postponed until late next week. Keep me in your prayers. Meanwhile, the weather outside is approaching a female occultist's breast temperature. Will someone please file a complaint with Al Gore?

I'll try to have more later.

More inter-faith outreach from the religion of peace.

The world's most ancient Christian communities are being destroyed — and no one cares

Roubini doom scenario: It looks like 1914 again

While Roubini is renowned for his bubble warnings and doom scenarios, his concerns weren't drawn out of thin air, but rather taken mainly from the lips of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Latest on the immigration sellout.

Immigration back on GOP agenda

LATER: House Conservatives Plot Takedown of GOP Leaders' Amnesty Plans

As House Republican leaders prepare an immigration proposal that could go much further towards amnesty than their prior public stances, conservative lawmakers are quietly plotting to push back.

Aides from over a dozen House offices secretly convened today on the Senate side of the Capitol at a meeting organized by Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a top immigration hawk who has recently involved himself more aggressively in the affairs of the lower chamber.

“Over here in the Senate working for Senator Sessions, we learned a lot last year about the strategies employed by the powerful forces pushing bad immigration policies--and how to counter them,” reads a copy of the invitation to the meeting provided to Breitbart News by a House staffer.

Officials close to the matter say conservative critics of Speaker John Boehner's planned immigration push are working to issue their own rival immigration principles to vie with the document Boehner is drafting.

“There is definitely a growing mood of confusion and aggravation among conservatives in the House over the immigration issue right now,” one House GOP aide said in an email to Breitbart News, adding that many on the right find the “political logic” of riling up the party's base so close to a low-turnout midterm election baffling.

“Do we really want to just give up the midterms like this?” the aide asked.

The hypocrisy of this would be laughable if it weren't so creepily Nixonian.

'2016: Obama's America' Filmmaker Indicted for Violating Campaign Finance Laws

Molen says D'Souza is being singled out for "an alleged minor violation" in the same way the IRS reportedly targeted conservative Tea Party groups for retribution. "In light of the recent events and the way the IRS has been used to stifle dissent, this arrest should send shivers down the spines of all freedom-loving Americans," Molen says.

Proposed new IL medical marijuana rules force choice: Medicine or self-defense

That, of course, begs the question of why the state apparently intends to do the feds' job when it comes to enforcing disarmament of patients and their caregivers, but is simultaneously willing to actively defy the federal government on the issue of legal marijuana in the first place.

Why not call it the Kevin Costner Building?

"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend". -- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962.

Chicago Tribune votes for Jimmy Stewart, or is it Kevin Costner?: "Go ahead, put his name on the headquarters."

Proposed Illinois gun ban for medical marijuana users points to larger issues

Patients obtaining medical marijuana in Illinois will give up their state-recognized right to own guns if a proposal by the Illinois Department of Public Health is approved, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. “The plan outlines how adults who have any of 41 specified medical conditions, such as cancer, AIDS or complex regional pain syndrome, may apply to get a patient registry identification card to purchase medical pot,” the report explains.

Michelle Bachman sez Obama’s Legacy Is ‘Establishment of Lawlessness in United States’. V.I.Lenin sez: "And your point is?"

Reading this -- Bachmann: Obama’s Legacy Is ‘Establishment of Lawlessness in United States’.

I was reminded of this -- "The soundest strategy in war is to postpone operations until the moral disintegration of the enemy renders the delivery of the mortal blow both possible and easy." -- V.I. Lenin.

What?!? Again in Texas?

Guns Rights Group Says Member Unlawfully Arrested for Carrying Rifle in Public

All I can tell you is that if some thug counts on this as a victim disarmament zone when I'm coming out of the john at 2 o'clock in the morning he's going to be one surprised thug.

Illegal ‘No Weapons’ Signs At Rest Stops In Alabama.

‘The guerrilla’: Mitch McConnell’s long-shot challenger

“It is thuggery,” Bevin added. “It’s literally like something out of Tammany Hall. It’s dusting off Boss Tweed. I say bring it on.”

Rejecting gun laws on grounds that criminals won't obey them is not 'anarchy'

The argument that gun laws are wrong because criminals will simply violate them is, therefore, in no way akin to an argument for no laws whatsoever, and it certainly is no argument for "anarchy."

Soulja Boy gun arrest typifies ‘progressive’ inconsistencies

“I'm thinking if I shoot this n*gga, I can get that gun and shoot all these n*ggas at the same time,” he claimed. “So I jumped out, shot at the dude four times and missed. He ducked down and ran. He started yelling, so I shot him like two more times. Then he turned around and started running. So I popped his a** like two more times in the back, and he hit the floor.”

Health update.

Okay, if it's not one thing it's another. The docs have been over my last barium swallow results, compared notes and decided that although the leak is plugged I now have a stenosis where the shortened esophagus meets the recrafted stomach. Yeah, the same spot that's been giving us trouble the past two years. This is the reason I am having increasing trouble swallowing food and drink and why I hurl for no other apparent reason in the middle of meals every now and then. I am to go into the hospital to have this constriction stretched tomorrow morning. Keep me in your prayers. I'll try to have more posts later.

"Shooting the messenger: The time I dared to critique gun activists’ agenda ."

Poor collectivist baby.

The Last Generation of the West and the Thin Strand of Civilization

But the old alarmist scenarios — a nuclear exchange, global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps, a new lethal AIDS-like virus — should not be our worry. Rather our way of life is changing not with a bang, but with a whimper, insidiously and self-inflicted, rather than abruptly and from foreign stimuli. Most of the problem is cultural. Unfortunately it was predicted by a host of pessimistic anti-democratic philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Hegel and Spengler. I’ve always hoped that these gloom-and-doomers were wrong about the Western paradigm, but some days it becomes harder.

Boo! California state senator believes in ghosts--and 'gun control'

Who ya gonna call?

SEE ALSO: California Democrat Decries 30-Caliber-Magazine-Clip-Guns in Stunning Display of Idiocy

I rather think he was being honest the first time. "Cuomo Backtracks: 'It Is Fine' to Be Anti-Gun Control, Anti-Choice."

Of course, they have to blame SOMEBODY for such a blunder that doesn't poll well in a presidential election: "And they're attacking the New York Post for highlighting Cuomo's extreme comments. 'The Post can allow any person they want to publish in their paper but if they are to retain any credibility they cannot be entirely reckless with facts and the truth.'"

"The Third Gun" just won't go away. "Fast and Furious questions linger as IG continues investgation."

The Justice Department's Inspector General is looking into whether there was a missing third weapon at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, which sparked the ATF's Fast and Furious scandal. The Justice Department has steadfastly denied the existence of a third weapon.

Argument continues over naming ATF building after Eliott Ness

The Attack of the Morons continues in Chicago: But Kirk is sticking with Ness. “Did you see the movie “The Untouchables?” I think he did pretty well in that movie. As Sean Connery, I thought he was pretty good. I’m going with the Eliott Ness that was in the movie.” Trouble is, Connery didn’t play Ness, Kevin Costner did.

Gun ‘study’ suggests agenda ‘science’ with omission of key considerations

As is typical with such publications, it only looks at (less than) half of the equation, disregarding the substantial number of defensive gun uses that occur each year. Without comparing that, the number of people who didn’t die because they had a gun is excluded from the totals. Much could also be made of suicide numbers, including documentation that police are at much higher risk than the general population, and disregarding that gun-free Japan has a suicide rate that dwarfs that in the U.S.

Security team had warned Arapahoe High School administrators about erratic behavior of communist shooter well before his assault.

Rust claims he and other security guards at the school expressed concern to school administrators prior to the Dec. 13 shooting in regards to a death threat allegedly made by Pierson directly to speech coach Tracy Murphy, as well as “symbols” the teen drew on his math tests and his recurring use of the word “comrade.”

Yet more uniformed thuggery, this time in Houston.

Man gives change to homeless person, is handcuffed and held by police for an hour

Snider agreed to let police search his cars for drugs, and they did so for an hour while Greg remained handcuffed. In that time, ten more police cars showed up and pulled over. The search was not fruitful – no drugs were found in the car. That is, because, as previously mentioned, Snider didn’t have any drugs to give. Snider was not happy about the damage police did to his car, or that the police were actually laughing about the mistake.

"Swiss Member of Parliament Oskar Freysinger has had Enough of Islam: 'It Gnaws at the Pillars of our System of Laws.'"

“Europe is an idea,” Freysinger said, “a cultural landscape, an intellectual space shaped by history. Europe is the cradle of the modern constitutional democracy, the treasure-house of opinion and expression. . . or at least it used to be that, until recently.”

Of course, this guy disagrees:

Uniformed Thug Apparently not "Disabled" Enough to Prevent Him From Beating a Homeless Man to Death.

A Fullerton police officer accused in the death of a homeless man will continue to receive his nearly $40,000 annual disability pension from the city of Los Angeles after his father made an emotional appeal to a city pension board. . .

Cicinelli's case came to the attention of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions staff over the summer when his name surfaced in news reports as one of six officers involved in a violent struggle with Kelly Thomas, 37, a homeless man with schizophrenia who died five days after the July 5 altercation at a bus depot in Fullerton.

Cicinelli faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force in the case, and has been placed on unpaid leave by the Fullerton department.

A second officer, Manuel Ramos, 37, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Four other officers involved in the case were not charged.

The L.A. pension department's staff has asked its governing board for permission to take the rare step of reviewing Cicinelli's pension case to determine if his award should be reduced because he appeared to be working on patrol duty while collecting a generous disability pension.

Pensioners are not forbidden to work, but officials said the fact that he was working as a patrol officer raised questions about his disability status.

This just in from GOA: The Omnibus Appropriations Bill: Pro-gun or Anti-gun?

Received this email briefing of GOA's take on the Omnibus:

The Omnibus Appropriations Bill: Pro-gun or Anti-gun?

Dear Mike,

On Friday, Congress sent a $1.1 trillion government funding bill to the President, who promptly signed the legislation into law.

Like every "omnibus," the bill has a number of gun-related provisions -- some pro-gun, some anti-gun. And we suspect that a majority of our members will probably oppose this bloated monstrosity.

That being said, there were some key victories in this bill. So briefly, here are the pros and cons.

THE PROS

THE "OMNIBUS" KILLS THE ARMS TRADE TREATY. In the 113th Congress, we believe we have about twenty votes more than we need to stop ratification of the UN Arms Trade Treaty. This is extremely important because, if implemented, this treaty -- signed by the Obama administration -- could, without further legislation, result in massive semi-auto and handgun bans, magazine bans, gun registration, and microstamping.

Even though we felt comfortable that we could stop the treaty's ratification, we were concerned that Obama would attempt to implement it by administrative fiat. For this reason, we drafted language defunding its implementation. With your help, we have spent the last year pushing incessantly for the adoption of this amendment defunding the ATT.

That language is contained on the "Omnibus." For many of our members, killing the ATT is more important than any other issue.

IT CUTS A LITTLE OBAMACARE MONEY. This is a good thing, since the anti-gun ObamaCare mandate threatens to centralize our medical data, thus resulting in gun bans for millions of people (similar to what’s already been done to more than 150,000 military veterans). While some cuts are certainly welcome, by and large, we are relying on our amendments to bills like the unemployment bill to put a stake through the heart of ObamaCare.

IT CONTAINS A HOST OF (GENERALLY BOILERPLATE) PROVISIONS DEFUNDING OBAMA'S ANTI-GUN ACTIONS. These include a repudiation of the shotgun import ban, other import bans, and changes in various definitions (such as "curios and relics") which have been eyed by the ATF.

It outlaws programs like Fast & Furious and requires the Congress to report on alleged efforts by our federal government to buy up ammunition.

Finally, while it does contain more money for the Center for Disease Control's violent crime studies, it continues to prohibit this federal health research money from being used to advocate gun control.

THE CONS

FUNDING FOR ANTI-GUN AGENCIES. The bill contains increased money for a number of programs we don't like, including:

* $60 million more for NICS (although we succeeded, last year, in preventing the FBI from using NICS to screen every gun purchase in the country);

* $58.5 million for states to submit NICS records;

* $70 million more for the ATF.

CONTINUATION OF ANTI-GUN BOILERPLATE. The bill continues anti-gun boilerplate such as the Senator Schumer amendment defunding the McClure-Volkmer disabilities relief program. This means that thousands upon thousands of Americans who are disqualified from owning firearms because of non-violent federal felonies have no way to get their gun rights back.

REFUSAL TO STICK IN SOME PROVISIONS WE WERE FIGHTING FOR. We would have liked to see language defunding HHS's new regulations that repeal the HIPAA privacy laws that protect gun owners. This Executive Action means that tens of millions of Americans could lose their gun rights without a court order.

We also would have liked to see a provision defunding the ATF’s efforts to register multiple handgun purchases in the Southwest.

The HIPAA issue is fairly new, and we will continue to fight for these on the regular appropriations bills when they begin to move in May.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Gun control fanatic Michael Bloomberg is trying to do a "victory lap" on the "Omnibus." In the narratives we have seen, Bloomberg carefully ignores the provisions of the bill which go against him, particularly the provision killing the ATT.

This is certainly a desperate effort by a defeated man to appear "relevant," rather than a legitimate assessment of who won or who lost.

More Uniformed Thuggery -- this time in North Carolina. "Operation Something Bruin."

To date, hunters who have had jury trials have not been convicted. In one case in Graham County, agents could not produce video “evidence”. Enticements were made by prosecutors including an offer to drop some charges if the hunter involved would plead guilty. The hunter refused and requested a jury trial. In this case, all charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.

“Oregon Firearms Federation are pigs. . . You people need to be 'put down’ with your own ammunition.”

Lambretta asked if hateful use of trademarked name is authorized

You know, I had to admit my ignorance here and look up just what a "Lambretta" was. Then I found out it was a motor scooter like the one the demonic Randall Flagg's paramour Nadine rode around on in The Stand (although that was actually a 1991 Honda EZ 90 Cub). What motor scooters have to do with firearm rights is beyond me.

Florida movie theater 'popcorn shooter's' rarely acknowledged 'Only One' status

What these groups do not want to talk about is that the accused is not only a retired police officer--an "Only One"--he was a captain of "Only Ones," and indeed "a well regarded" one, according to the Christian Science Monitor. But wait a second--police are the ones we're supposed to trust with guns, aren't they?

CT: Massive Non-Compliance with “Assault Weapons” and “Large Capacity Magazine” Registration?

Robert Farago notices something I commented on here a couple of weeks ago.

New York City deleted from MAIG member roster

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns website appears to have permanently removed the list of mayors who are coalition members and appears to have replaced it with an “About” page that evidently went live Monday. That page features a scrolling list of member cities with one noticeable absence: MAIG's and Michael Bloomberg’s flagship New York City.

By anti-gun 'logic,' Weinstein plans to contribute to millions of deaths

So if the public health "studies" are to be trusted, and if Weinstein's ability to dramatically alter society's view of guns with a movie is as great as he evidently believes it to be, NRA members should be very nervous. As a life member, I don't expect to miss a moment of sleep.

Mega Default In China Scheduled For January 31

Interesting.

But wait, I thought the problem was evil guns.

America's Number One Prescription Sleep Aid Could Trigger 'Zombies,' Murder and Other Disturbing Behavior

The Obama "Recovery" and "The Retail Death Rattle."

"On-line sales account for 6% of total retail sales. If a dying behemoth like JC Penney announces a 20% decline in same store sales and a 20% increase in on-line sales, their total change is still negative 17.6%. And they are still left with 1,100 decaying stores, 100,000 employees, lease payments, debt payments, maintenance costs, utility costs, inventory costs, and pension costs."

‘Stand Your Ground’ rally attendees brave cold to support gun rights in Ohio

Despite cold in the low 20s along with strong, biting gusts that stung exposed skin, dozens of gun rights activists, many openly carrying rifles and holstered handguns, gathered peaceably in front of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus Sunday to show their commitment to the Second Amendment.

ATF’s New Devastating Appropriation Bill – Previous Industry Protections Appear to be Lost

That which is extremely clear from H.R. 3547 is that the Administration is dedicated to destroying our Industry and our Congressional lobbying efforts are NOT sufficient. The removal of the above-mentioned protections for FFLs is indicative of the lack of understanding and comprehension of those issues that face our Industry. If our Industry is to survive this Administration, we must come together, through organizations and trade associations, to challenge the Administration and provide for additional lobbying efforts.

The Firearms and Ammunition of "Alas, Babylon": Pat Frank, Credible Deterrence of Evil and the .22 Long Rifle Ammo Famine. "The first thing I did was buy several thousand rounds of shotgun and small arms ammunition."

Alas, Babylon is a 1959 novel by American writer Pat Frank (the pen name of Harry Hart Frank). It was one of the first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age and remains popular 54 years after it was first published, consistently ranking in Amazon.com's Top 20 Science Fiction Short Stories list (which groups together short story collections and novels). The novel deals with the effects of a nuclear war on the small town of Fort Repose, Florida, which is based upon the actual city of Mount Dora, Florida. The book's title is derived from Revelation 18:10: "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come." -- Wikipedia.

I'm pretty sure my first copy of Alas, Babylon had a cover like the one above. If I recall correctly, I first read it in 5th or 6th grade after buying it at a school book fair. The book resonated with me, as it did with many of my generation, at least in part because it represented more than just fiction, but more likely our probable future. We had come through the Cuban Missile Crisis when the world held its collective breath and we schoolchildren were trained to seek shelter under our desks at air raid alarm drills. Rosey's school in West Memphis AR -- across the river from Memphis -- even went to the trouble of issuing dog tags to students so they could be identified in case of psychic trauma, physical injury or death. We had no trouble believing that a nuclear war could claim us all.

Later, as a teenager I volunteered to help the Marion County, Ohio, civil defense RADEF officer (Radiological Defense) inventory and calibrate CDV-700 radiation detectors and studied the thick, manila-colored, paper-bound manual "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons." It came up missing over the years, probably - like many of my books - at the time of The Great Divorce (circa 1984-85).

I turn to Alas, Babylon for my insomniac reading in the wee hours of the morning several times a year. Like many a good book, you occasionally discover a point upon a re-reading that you missed before. So it was with this passage the other night:

Randy decided not actually to take off his clothes and get into bed because once he got under the covers he would never get up. Instead, he took off his shoes and dropped on the couch in the living room. He stared at the the gunrack on the opposite wall. Until very recent years guns had been an important part of living on the Timucuan. Randy guessed they might become important again. He had quite an arsenal. There was the long, old-fashioned .30-40 Krag fitted with sporting sights; the carbine he had carried in Korea, dismantled, and smuggled home; two .22 rifles, one equipped with a scope; a twelve-gauge automatic, and a light beautifully balanced twenty-gauge double-barreled shotgun. In the drawer of his bedside table was a .45 Automatic and a .22 target pistol hung in a holster in his closet.

Ammo. He had more than he would ever need for the big rifle, the carbine, and the shotguns. But he had only a couple of boxes of .22's, and he guessed that the .22s might be the most useful weapons he owned, if economic chaos lasted for a long time, a meat shortage developed, and it became necessary to hunt small game. He rose and went into the hallway and shouted down at the stairwell, "Helen!"

"Yes?" She was at the front door.

"If you get a chance drop in at Beck's Hardware and buy some twenty-two long-rifle hollow points."

"Just a second, I'll write it down on my list. Twenty-two long-rifle hollow points. How many?"

"Ten boxes if they have them."

This is one of those passages that a modern mindset would find hopelessly naive and even dangerous. Mind you, this is the morning after the bombs have hit. Whike Fort Repose has not yet been affected by blast or overcome with refugees, Randy has already passed in his car on his earlier way into town a group of escaped road gang convicts, some armed with their dead guards revolvers and shotguns. Yet he lets his sister-in-law go into town unarmed and unescorted. The very existence of the gunrack where the entire inventory of rifles and shotguns are stored openly without thought to potential thievery from a B&E artist is dated and today would be unthinkable in all but the most isolated and insular of mountain communities here in Alabama.

And what did Frank mean when he wrote: "He had more than he would ever need for the big rifle, the carbine, and the shotguns"?

What quantity is "more than he would ever need"?

Here, we need to drop back a bit and look at who Pat Frank was, where he came from and what his journey was up until he wrote those words in 1959. Born in Chicago in 1908, Frank was a journalist and information handler for several newspapers, agencies, and government bureaus. He did not come from the rural existence he described in Alas, Babylon, although he moved there after a long career as a writer and reporter, and during his early years he lived mainly in New York, Washington, and overseas during World War II. He worked for the Office of War Information and was a a war correspondent in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Turkey during and after the war.

His novel, Hold Back the Night (another of my favorites) led to Frank's recall into government service and his appointment as a member of the United Nations Mission to Korea in 1952. The Amazon review calls Hold Back the Night "an excellent account of the withdrawal from the Korean reservoirs during the very worst days of the Korean War. It is compellingly and believably written, and tells a wonderful story of courage and dedication under fire, and the interactions and bonds that form in a small unit under continuous threat of attack. The writing is crisp, taut, and believable."

It is all of that. And Frank's description of the Marines of Dog Company on their cruel retreat demonstrates that Frank had absorbed the classic foot soldier's lesson, once expressed by General Walton Walker in the early, desperate days of the Korean War: "We can win without food, we cannot win without ammunition." Here's a couple of snippets from Hold Back the Night:

"It'll take air to find that company, and support it if it's still there," said the general.

"This whole coast is socked in," said the admiral. "I wouldn't send out a buzzard to fly in this weather."

It is decided to send out a one place helicopter to find Dog Company.

"What can it do?"

"I'm afraid not much for this job, sir. It's only designed for short-range reconnaissance, and spotting. It doesn't carry anything except a second lieutenant."

"Can't it drop anything?" the admiral asked. "Medical stores or anything?"

"Not very well, sir. . . "

"Well, what in hell is it good for except spot?"

"That's about all, sir. But it does have a couple of basket letters rigged on the outside, to pick up wounded. It's picked up quite a few wounded."

The admiral scratched his chin again, and then he scratched the back of his neck. "If it can bring back wounded," he said, it can bring up supplies. Ever think of that, commander?"

"No, sir."

"Well, have those basket litters filled with supplies, and send it out. We'll find out whether that company is still there, or not. What kind of supplies do you think they'll need, general, that is if they're still on the road?"

"Ammo," said the general of Marines. "Ammo and food and cigarettes."

"What kind of ammo?"

"Rifle, M-1." -- Pages 192-193.

Earlier, Frank quotes two of the quintessential soldier expressions of the Korean War, which rank in ubiquity just below the concept memorialized by that favorite song, "The Bugout Boogie."

"It isn't going to work, Sam. We haven't got dick." That was a strange and fatherless expression birthed by the Korean war. It could mean many things but one of the things it meant was that they didn't have the stuff, the punch, the power. It was the opposite of another expression of this war, "Ammo's running out my ass." -- Page 162.

Frank, and the anonymous soldiers and Marines he quotes have it right: Plenty of ammunition is one measure of power.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

And as a reporter and student of the Korean War, Frank would have been aware of incidents such as this, described in S.L.A. Marshal's book, Pork Chop Hill:

On his way out, Locklear passed Crittenden, who said to him, "Get back to 200 and tell Fox Company that I've either got to have reinforcements or ammunition; I've got nothing with which to fight." It was hardly an overstatement. The BARs and machine guns were all dry; half of the carbines were empty; all grenades had been spent in getting to the first three bunkers. In the clutch, what saved Love Company for a little while was the discovery of two cases of grenades in one of the bunkers. -- Page 124.

So, if Frank was well informed on the necessity of ammunition to continue a fight, what then did he mean by "He had more than he would ever need for the big rifle, the carbine, and the shotguns"?

In his little neighborhood of River Road outside the fictional Fort Repose, Randy has neighbors: a poor black family, the Henry's, a spinster Western Union operator (who is joined by her friend the town librarian and a retired admiral. He also takes in for the duration of the emergency his brother's wife and two children, his girlfriend and her father and the local doctor. Between them they bring to the community arsenal one battered single barrel twelve gauge shotgun that works almost every time (the Henry's) and an automatic sixteen gauge shotgun (the admiral's). That's it.

Toward the end of the book, this community is forced to seek out, confront and defeat a small band of "highwaymen" armed with pistols and a Thompson submachine gun, Small wonder that they lose one of their number, Malachai Henry, KIA.

A clue to Frank's thinking about ammunition is found in his 1962 non-fiction work, How to survive the H-bomb, and why. Unlike Alas, Babylon, this slim volume of 160 pages only went through one edition and has never been reprinted. When I went in search of it last week, the cheapest example was $200.00. So, I did what I often do when confronted with an economic impossibility in looking for a published work -- I sought it out via inter-library loan and, presto! It appeared at my local library in two days. I now have a thoroughly uncollectible xerox of said work in my library and in explication of Frank's writing in Alas, Babylon I would like to draw your attention to Chapter 9: "Of Rats and Men, and Food and Drink and Drugs, and Animals and Ammo," which he wrote about the same time Rosey and I were being taught to "duck and cover."

In 1957-58, while researching Alas, Babylon, it occurred to me that we were singularly fortunate to live in an area abounding in small game. During this period some crisis flared -- I think it was Lebanon -- and we decided to prepare. The first thing I did was buy several thousand rounds of shotgun and small arms ammunition. "Whatever happens, we won't starve," I told my wife, Dodie. "At least we'll have quail, and dove, and rabbit and squirrel stew, not to speak of possums and coons and maybe alligator tail and rattlesnake steak. And we have a dozen varieties of citrus."

Several months later I learned more about fallout than I had known before. . . The obvious truth was and is that the same fallout that kills humans destroys other forms of animal life. And there will be few, if any, shelter "arks" for animals. . . So I belatedly discovered that buying ammunition to secure game was a waste of money. It would not only be silly and unsporting to shoot sick quail, rabbit, and squirrel, but downright dangerous to eat them. Their meat might be contaminated with long-lived radioactive elements unknowingly consumed as they dined on seeds, grain, nuts, and exposed vegetation. -- Pages 110-113.

Of course Frank was concerned about the principal threat to humanity at that point, nuclear war. The fact that such ammunition would have been of perfect utility in any other systemic crisis was not to his point. He was, I think, too hard on himself for buying ammunition. He seems to understand that as he continues:

There is another, very definite use for guns and ammo. You may have to repel two-legged beasts of prey -- men.

Here again, each man must make his own decision which will be based upon confusing factors -- moral, spiritual, material, emotional, interlaced with love for his family and normal dread of death, spliced to the situation in his own community, and the situation in the world. All I know is what I myself would do, or more properly, what I think I would do.

Assume that I own a staunch home with a deep cellar in (the mythical town of) Missile Gap (Pennsylvania), and in the cellar I have constructed a shelter, of solid concrete block, for my wife, three children, and myself. In the shelter we have water and food. In the kitchen, and the utility room that adjoins it, we have another month's supply of food. . .

On the third day, we hear scraping and shuffling over our heads -- an intruder in our kitchen.

I think, undoubtedly a looter, and what am I going to do about it?

I have a pistol . . .

I must move quietly. The intruders don't know we're down in the cellar unless they're relatives, friends, or neighbors.

So I take off my shoes and go up the cellar stairs as silently as possible. I open the door into the kitchen very carefully. I attempt to achieve tactical surprise.

If it is a genuine raider or raiding party I say nothing. I just start shooting. If i don't kill I can be certain I will be killed without mercy. And I will make very sure that the intruders are dead.

In Alas, Babylon, those of you who have read it will recall, the "highwaymen" do a home invasion on the beekeeper Jim Hickey and his family, killing him and his wife and stealing their food, including the honey and their car. They later pay for this on the covered bridge at the hands of Randy's ersatz River Road squad of militia. Frank continues with an appreciation of his situation -- and his friends and neighbors -- in own community for survival, as I have always believed, is a matter of community more than anything else.

In my own home, off the beaten track in the deep Florida countryside, it would be different. A gun rack is part of the furniture in almost every home hereabouts. All men, and most women, and all boys over twelve, handle firearms as part of their daily life. Even when they have sworn off shooting wildlife except with a camera, as i have, there are varmints to be destroyed -- moccasins and vicious alligator garfish around the dock, rattlesnakes in the grove, a rare coral snake, timid, beautiful, and fatal, slithering across a walk in the moonlight, the salamander rat that defaces our lawn. Only a desperate fool would invade property around here without first announcing himself, and his intentions.

Furthermore, people are serious and thoughtful about protecting their homes, should war come. Some miles away, one of my best friends and a few of his neighbors have combined to dig and equip a small community shelter. At the same time they are, in his words, "standardizing weapons." They have agreed to use the .357 magnum for both rifles and pistols. This is a powerful big-game cartridge that will knock down a tiger or pierce the motor block of an automobile. (MBV Note: A bit of hyperbole there, but isn't it fascinating that Americans were dealing with the same issues of "well-regulated militia" that we are faced with today -- and that our ancestors of the Founding Generation faced as well?)

If you don't have a gun and are concerned about protecting your home, I'd recommend the Remington 66, a .22-caliber automatic rifle with nylon stock, so light that your wife can easily handle it. The new high-velocity hollow-point ammunition makes it deadly, and the ammo is inexpensive. And if there is no war, it is a fun gun. Twice a year, around here, we declare open season on snapping turtles, and use the 66 to shoot off their heads. In many states you must have a permit to possess a psitol, but nowhere is a permit required for a rifle.

Also, for the inexperienced the rifle is more accurate than the pistol, even for snap shooting. If your rifle has a white bead sight, you can hit something in the gloom, in the night.

I have devoted too many words to a tertiary danger. While I was buying ammunition, my red-headed wife was doing something far more practical. She established a revolving food reserve. -- Pages 115-117.

Frank, of course, wrote about dangers as he perceived them in his own America, in his own time, some fifty years ago now. That country no longer exists. It is a different country, less homogenous, more fragile, with little of the social trust that exemplified Frank's America and the dangers are consequently greater, more immediate, more pressing, more deadly. Holding onto a food reserve, even with a community-based militia, is going to be problematic, especially without adequate ammunition. The slow breakdown described as coming over a period of months in Alas, Babylon would happen instantaneously today.

In Randy's Fort Repose, toward the end of the book, Frank describes an expedition up the river to secure salt:

Their five boats crewed thirteen men, all well armed. It would be the first night Randy has spent away from Lib since their marriage, and she seemed somewhat distressed by this. But Randy had no fear for her safety, or for the safety of Fort Repose. His company now numbered thirty men. It controlled the rivers and the roads. Knowing this, highwaymen shunned Fort Repose. The phrase "deterrent force" had been popular before The Day and effective so long as that force had been unmistakably superior. Randy's company was certainly the most efficient force in Central Florida, and he intended to keep it that way.

What works with common -- or even groups of uncommon -- criminals works with constitutional criminals and wannabe tyrants as well. I have written before for many years on the subject of Credible Deterrence & the Logistics of Liberty.

What did the Founders intend with the Second Amendment? Liberals aside, gunnies would all agree that their purpose was to codify the people's natural right to arms. As men who had been compelled to fight for independence by the British seizure of their arms, it was natural for them to ensure that the people of future generations be enabled to maintain the tools necessary to repel tyranny. But I think their purpose was not only to set up the preconditions to resist tyranny when it appeared, but also to deter it by providing future would-be tyrants with a credible deterrent that would discourage them from making the attempt to begin with.

As I wrote back then in 2007 during another ammo shortage:

And this is absent any significant push in the market. Should the Clintons return to the White House, or there's another LA riot or Katrina disaster, the rush will be on and prices that are thought to be high now will be looked upon with fond nostalgia. Unless somebody nukes China, the market forces are going to continue to squeeze us, cutting down on our range time (also important to maintain credible deterrence) and threatening to make our rifles nothing more than expensive clubs.

So I guess I've told you all of this, in part at least, as an investment tip. Buy now. Buy a LOT. Start stocking up on everything from finished rounds to reloading equipment and components. It is the only way to maintain credible deterrence with our political enemies who seek to disarm us on the quiet. We all must turn our attention to the logistics of liberty, lest we lose the deterrence and are forced to fight.

And that was before Obama, which makes those years rosy with "fond nostalgia" as I predicted.

I was in a gun store yesterday and a fellow came in searching for .22 Long Rifle cartridges. The store was out, except for some very high-end target ammo. The would be buyer was nonplussed and more than a little irritated. "Where IS it going?" he asked to anyone, everyone and no one all at the same time. "Where is it?!?"

It wasn't a government conspiracy, I told him, it was supply and demand and the demand was just absolutely unprecedented. Who was buying it? he demanded. The simple answer, I told him, was a lot more people for a lot more different reasons than in the past. First, there were a lot more weapons being sold in past few years. They had to fed. Then there was the fact that ammo in standard self defense calibers like 5.56 and .45 ACP was so expensive that owners of those firearms bought sub-caliber devices to train with the cheaper .22 Long Rifle, hence more demand for .22. Finally, I explained there was the undoubted fact that many folks were, even those who didn't own firearms, were investing in gold, silver and lead.

He looked puzzled. "Ever read a modern survival novel?" I asked him. In almost every one of them, I explained, the currency goes tits up and only items of real property retain their value. Econ 101, I explained: the value of a thing is what that thing will bring in commerce. If they no longer trust devalued currency, people will find a medium of exchange that know will retain its value. Hence, gold, silver and the poor man's investment, lead. .22 Long Rifle has long been considered a medium of exchange in a disaster scenario, the same with 12 Gauge shot shells. He began to understand.

Again, although I did not tell the frustrated customer this, I refer you gentle readers to Alas, Babylon. When the currency became worthless after The Day, the banker Edgar Quisenberry realized almost instantly that he had gone from being one of the biggest fish in the pond to flopping about the shore, gasping for the oxygen of power -- money.

Henrietta was a fool. This was the end. Civilization was ended. Of one thing Edgar was certain. He would not be crushed with the mob. He had been a banker all his life and that was the way he was going to die, a banker. He would not allow himself to be humiliated. He would not be reduced to begging gasoline or food, and be dragged down to the level of a probationary teller. He thought of all the notes outstanding that now would never be paid, and how his debtors must be chuckling. He scorned the improvident, and now the improvident would be as good as the careful, the sound, the thrifty. Well, let them try to go on without dollars. He would not accept such a world.

He found the old, nickel-plated revolver, purchased by his father many tears before, in the top drawer of his bureau. Edgar had never fired it. The bullets were green with mold and the hammer rusted. He put it to his temple, wondering whether it would work. It did.

Again in this scene, Frank has grasped and presented us with the essential. Even moldy ammunition in a rusted revolver is a means of power, even power so negatively applied and foolishly short-sighted. I continued to explain the ammo shortage to the anguished customer:

If you have to blame anybody for the shortage of .22 Long Rifle, blame Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve or the vastly expanded community Preppers who because of the Fed's actions no longer trust the currency and are trying to put their limited resources where it will retain the most value. That that happens to be .22 Long Rifle cartridges is your misfortune but they can hardly be blamed for it. They are just looking out for themselves in the most prudent and possible way they can. You might as well rage at the tide like King Canute.

King Canute commands the tide not to come in.

Just remember one thing. The rules of Pat Frank's world of Alas, Babylon no longer apply, especially as to time-stimulus-response. The day after whatever systemic collapse lays this country low, you will not be able to blithely drive down to Beck's Hardware to pick up ten boxes of twenty-two long rifle hollow-points. In the end, as evidenced by Pat Frank's non-fiction words quoted above, not even he trusted that to be true. And that was more than fifty years ago in a country that has long since disappeared. So stock up on ammunition of all calibers, including .22 Long Rifle as you can, where you can, paying what you must. It is credible deterrence in the box -- to common criminals or constitutional ones.

Mike Vanderboegh

PO Box 926

Pinson, AL 35126

GeorgeMason1776@aol.com

sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com

(Permission to reproduce this in its entirety is granted as long as full attribution is given.)