Quote of the Day — J. Kb (Oct. 21, 2015)

"J. Kb", in case any of our readers don't know, is a blogger who fairly recently started contributing to Miguel's site, GunFreeZone.net.

After telling a personal DGU story, he knocked one out of the park with this:

When some pearl-clutcher tells you, you don’t need something, and you will just hurt yourself with it and just leave your self reliance to the professionals. Go out and buy what they tell you not to have. Go out and buy two of them.

Boom.

Never let anyone who doesn't have any skin in your personal business dictate how you run it or what you need (or don't need) to run it.

Stay safe.

ALERT: Oregon Gun Owner Action Required!

That didn't take long.

Barely two months after S.B. 941 (Oregon's shiny new "universal background check" law) went into effect, and two weeks after the mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, we have the anti-gun crowd's new demands for infringing our rights.

From Oregon Firearms Federation, we have a partial list (shamelessly copied from the alert, [with my thoughts in brackets]), including but not limited to:

• Central registration of all firearm owners and their weapons, and coordination of this data with criminal, mental health, and domestic abuse records at both the state and federal level. [Holy S@#t, they're going after the big fish, here.]
• Enactment of a 28-day waiting period on all firearm purchases. [Four weeks? Isn't that a bit excessive?]
• Institution of a license requirement to possess or purchase a firearm, with obtainment of a license requiring a gun safety course, an evaluation of personal history and mental well-being, and a thorough background check. [So Oregon will require some hybrid of Illinois' FOID card and Washington, D.C.'s gun license?]
• Requirement of a license to buy, sell, or transfer a firearm and ammunition, including through registered weapons dealers, private sales, individual transfers, and family transfers. [Knocking down all the exemptions in their already-extreme S.B. 941, I see, along with requiring another, separate license to transfer a firearm or to purchase ammunition.]
• Require that weapons be stored unloaded, in a gun safe, with a trigger lock. Possession of these safeguards should be necessary to obtain a firearm license. [Weren't "firearms must be stored incapable of being fired" laws struck down in D.C. v. Heller?]
• Render concealed carry illegal, and ban the open carry of a loaded firearm. [Weren't effective outright bans on carry struck down in multiple Ninth Circuit cases (of which Oregon is a part), including Peruta v. San Diego County?]
• Restrict ownership of automatic weapons, semi-automatic weapons, and handguns to existing owners and require their storage at a licensed gun range. [There's currently no licensing scheme for "gun ranges". Are we going to set that up, or will this become a de facto ban? And again, weren't bans on whole classes if firearms also struck down in D.C. v. Heller?]
• Ban any clip or magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds. [You knew this was coming, right? At least they're now recognizing a distinction between "clip" and "magazine".]

These proposals, if passed, would represent a severe blow not only to gun ownership in Oregon, but to home- and self-defense.

Most, if not all, of these demands are blatantly unconstitutional, but I doubt our Legislature (with a Democratic super-majority) or unelected anti-gun Governor will care much. They'll see "new gun laws" and jump at the chance of passing them.

I hate to beg, but please, please, please hit up OFF's mailing form (at the bottom of same link) and strongly consider donating to the cause of fighting these outrageous proposals, none of which — separately or together — would have prevented the UCC murders.

It's time to act.

Stay safe.

Proud to be Hillary's Enemy

In the Democrat debate, Hillary presented her Enemies List. Quite a number of enemies.

Enemy Number 1 was the NRA. 

NRA Proud.

Quote of the Day — Taylor Armerding (Oct. 11, 2015)

Taylor Armerding

From his article at EagleTribune.com, "'Safety' rhetoric a thin disguise for anti-gun agenda" [emphasis mine]:

[President Obama] regularly mocks as paranoid those who suggest he wants to take their guns away. He claims nothing he would do would remove guns from those who want them to “hunt and protect their families.” Yet, he cited Great Britain and Australia as examples of what the United States ought to do to curb gun violence.

What Great Britain and Australia did was conduct a mass confiscation of guns. It is not paranoia to think the president wants to do what he says he wants to do.

Never let them get away with telling you nobody wants to take your guns.

Stay safe.

Quote of the Day — Tam (Oct. 12, 2015)

Commentary on a CNN article about air-dropping small arms and supplies to Syrian rebels:

I have to ask, wouldn't it be quicker to just hand the weapons to ISIS rather than to the people who will surrender them to ISIS at the first sign of danger?

Zing! The Mistress of Snark strikes again!

Stay safe.

OCC and Obama's Real Plan For Guns

         We'd like to extend our sincere condolences to the family, friends and community of the nine victims off the Umpqua Community College tragedy. Trapped by madness and religious hatred and bigotry, the students and staff of UCC paid a fierce price in what the school administration had declared as a gun-free zone. Not even the school’s single security guard was allowed a firearm to preserve the fantasy of an unarmed oasis.  

         Obama didn’t wait for the bleeding to stop before he rushed before his cameras. In twelve minutes of rambling petulance, he expressed his frustrations with his six years of gun-control failures. Referring to himself 28 times, much more than twice a minute, he personalized the gun-control debate, holding it as a personal affront that his desires had not been granted. He trotted out the usual non-sensical “common sense” demands, backed by discredited studies, half-truths and outright lies. And he pledged to politicize the tragedy even further and push the usual gun banner’s dreams - NONE of which would have prevented the murders.

USA Today

         Obama targeted a unnamed, sinister, shadowy organization that was wholly responsible for frustrating his whims. His willing minions in the media were quick to take up the boogeyman fallacy. More than a few people who should have known better responded and demanded it should be labeled as a terrorist organization. No mention was made of the millions of people that actually make up, support and guide the NRA.

         It’s hard to believe this latest divisive distraction from his collapsing presidency will go anywhere legislatively. The Congress is in relatively friendly hands, even if Boehner and McConnell roll over once more for old times sake. The danger is in Obama’s lawless and unConstitutional executive actions.  The one phone and pen action that has been floated will do absolutely nothing to affect violent crime, other than possibly criminalizing some wives for selling their late husband’s firearm collection.

         What the Obama tantrum did is identify his desired end state for the gun “problem.”  He favors the British and Australian models of gun control. Have no doubt those models mean draconian bans on nearly every firearm in private hands, door to door confiscation, mass destruction, and the centralization of all arms and power in the hands of the government. This, Mr President, we will resist.  

         It’s going to be a long, difficult wait until the Twentieth of January, 2017.  

Quote of the Day — Derek Hunter (Oct. 8, 2015)

From his Townhall.com piece, "Words Matter, Or At Least They Used To (And Need To Again)":

Word choice may not seem like much, but it matters. Subtle manipulation is still manipulation. […] Marriage used to have an unambiguous meaning, as did racist. Not anymore.

He makes a lot of sense, and based on this, henceforth I will not be using the word "shooter" to reference any scumbag seeking postmortem fame with the deaths of others. These individuals will instead be referred to properly as "killers", "murderers", or other appropriate terms, and the modifier "mass" will be added as circumstances warrant.

This being a gun blog, it's likely that most of our readers can rightfully be described as "shooters", and I do not desire to conflate our good readers with the murderous scum of the earth. Let the "Progressives" fall over themselves doing that; I'll have no part in it.

Stay safe.

Trigger Words

Stop what you're doing right now and read Michael Bane's post.

You Need To. 

Enough!

BREAKING: Shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon

First, a reminder to all readers: initial reports are often light on facts, so everything must be taken with a grain of salt.

It appears about 10 people have been killed in this tragedy, and about 20 more injured. No definite status on the shooter yet; as of this writing, USA Today is saying "The shooter was reported to be dead, according to police," while NBCNews is saying the shooter is "down", and CNN says he's in custody and it's unclear if he's injured.

Pray for the victims and their families.

Then, gear up for the anti-gun legislature to "Do Something!!!" I really hate to put a call for action so soon after a tragedy, but you just know the gun-haters aren't going to wait, so we can't either. It's the unfortunate reality they created, but we live here, too.

I'll attempt to update this post as new, corroborated information comes in.

Hug your families. And stay safe.

[UPDATE 1: 10/1 2:40 PM] It's been confirmed that the shooter, an as-yet-unnamed 20-year-old male, was shot and killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement. The current estimated toll is 13 dead, 20+ wounded. No information yet on the identity of the shooter, the weapon(s) used, where he obtained them, or his affiliation with the school or students therein.

If it's true he was 20 years old, then he's ineligible for a concealed handgun license (CHL); we can discount the possibility that he was carrying the firearm(s) lawfully. It's still possible the firearm(s) was/were purchased legally, but it's too early to know for sure.

The links provided above are continually updating as new information is reported. Simply refreshing those sites will get everything currently available.

Edited to add: particularly chilling, from the USA Today link above (emphasis added):

[18-year-old UCC student Kortney] Moore said she saw her teacher get shot in the head, apparently after the gunman came into the classroom. At that point, Moore told the newspaper, the shooter ordered everyone to get on the ground. The shooter then asked people to stand up and state their religion and then started firing, Moore said.

This may be a clue as to the motive, or it may mean nothing. Too soon to tell. [/UPDATE]

[UPDATE 2: 10/5 9:30 AM] I've been remiss in updating; family matters take precedence, but all's well on the home front.

The shooter's identity has been released, and I'll write it exactly once, and only in the interest of reporting news. After this, we'll be following the Douglas County Sheriff's example so as not to "glorify" his heinous actions. He's been identified as Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26 years old, originally from Torrance, California.

Reportedly (keep refreshing the links above), he has struggled with mental health issues, had an obsession with guns, and described himself as "conservative" and "Not religious, but spiritual" on a dating site. That should be plenty of ammunition for the antis to run with the "gun-loving right-wing extremist" meme for quite a while, despite the fact that he targeted Christians. We'll see how that plays out.

And now that the anti-gun politicians have come out of the woodwork to (rightfully) condemn his actions and (wrongfully) call for more gun laws, it's time to gear up for the political battle. Especially when Obama actually comes out and says mass shootings are something we should politicize. Those killed haven't yet been put to rest, and those injured are still recovering, and he's already calling for action. Despicable, but also why we can't rest or hold back.

Finally, for a bit of inspiration, I heard this over the weekend. You'll recall that the shooter demanded everyone stand up and declare their faith before he opened fire. The bravest person in America — possibly the world — was in that room that day. It was the second person to stand up and say, "I'm a Christian," after the first person was executed for doing just that.

That's something. [/UPDATE]

[UPDATE 3: 10/5 2:55 PM] Via Mike Vanderboegh, we learn that all of the shooter's guns — some sources say 13 total, some say 14 — were purchased legally, with background checks.

I for one am glad to see Senate Bill 941 (that gave us "universal background checks") is doing its job at "keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them", and preventing mass shootings. [/sarcasm] [/UPDATE]

Fisking CeaseFire Oregon's New "Gun Law Survey"

Oregon's resident anti-gunner, "Baldr Odinson" (a.k.a. Jason Kilgore), has been busy posting on his "New Trajectory" site lately.

On Friday (Sept. 25) he linked to a CeaseFire-Oregon-promoted survey of Oregon's gun laws. I won't link to his article, but here's the survey: How Well Do You Know Oregon's Gun Laws?

It's a short, 10-question survey that's in dire need of a good fisking, so here goes (correct answers will be underlined).

Five Little Monkeys — A Parable

We've all heard the children's song, Five Little Monkeys, right?

Five little monkeys, jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Momma called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

And repeat with four monkeys, then three, etc.

USCCA's Beth Alcazar offers an interesting "gun control" parable in her article, Five Little Monkeys … and Why Their Beds Are Not Banned.

She makes a good point. The doctor's approach is not to engage a "bed control" group to pass "common-sense" legislation to ban beds — y'know, "For the Monkeys Children!!" and "If it saves just one bumped head life!!" — but to discipline the monkeys and keep them from jumping on the furniture.

Heck, the 5½-year-old gets it, it's so simple!

Stay safe.

Dangerous Advice From the Today Show - The Stupid is Strong With NBC

In our discussions on defensive gun use, much of our conclusions are based on the broad range of advice from leading self-defense thinkers, authors and instructors. They’re people with literally centuries of cumulative experience; Mas Ayoob, Kathy Jackson, Michael Bane, Andrew Branca, etc. We try to stay well within the  opinions of people who know the best.

Jeff Rossen
(nbc.com)

NBC’s Today Show apparently felt none of these obligations to their viewers. In a September 8th scare piece on home invasions, contributor Jeff Rossen spoke with William Zeins, a retired NYPD detective and hostage negotiator. How his 22 years as a negotiator made him an expert on home invasions was never explained. Zeins has almost no Google or web presence, nor any books or articles we could find. He does, however, have a bullet-proof hair-spray pompadour.  

            Zeins’ advice runs counter to much of the accepted advice for home invasions. Among other things, Zeins wants the victims to treat the invaders like royalty, sleep with bedroom doors open, run throughout the house gathering the family, and keep a can of wasp spray by the bed. There was no mention of training, awareness, on hardening the perimeter of the house, dealing with strangers at the door, hunkering down in defensible spaces, nor any any active defense with firearms or any other weapons; with the exception of the long-discredited wasp spray.

Williams Zeins
Ex-Hostage Negotiator - Current Fool
(abcnews.go.com)

           If you're concerned with the growing threat of home invasion, get some professional training. Certainly don’t listen to the mainstream media; they don’t know what they’re babbling about -- and most likely, they don’t care. In our opinion, the Today Show has put their viewers at significant risk with their dangerous advice. 

Bad show, NBC. 

Bad show.  

Teaching Our Kids What Sticks Are For

Found this article at Patheos.com. It's been making the rounds, so I don't remember who to credit for the hat tip.

"Boys with sticks", by Simcha Fisher.

My favorite exerpt:

Boys who are never allowed to be wild are boys who never learn how to control that wildness. Boys who are not allowed to whack and be whacked with sticks never learn what fighting is like. What’s so bad about that? Well, they may end up hitting someone weak, with no idea how much it hurts to be hit. Or they may end up standing by while the strong go after the weak – and have no idea that it’s their job to put a stop to it.

Either way, the weak suffer. The whole world suffers.

Read the whole thing, right down to the (also quotable) last paragraph.

Stay safe.

Ferguson Commision Report

“Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Read the entire thoroughly stupid thing here: Ferguson Commission Report

 

Remembering…

I was in college.

A local college, so I wasn't living in a dormitory. Fall term hadn't started yet, so I was still winding down from the summer break.

It was early morning, and I awoke to somewhat of a ruckus in the room down the hall. Got out of bed, went to see the commotion, and saw everyone fixedly watching the TV. In the shaky, slightly blurry video feed, I saw a city skyline, one I had seen portrayed in hundreds of movie scenes. I recognized it, but had never given it more than a passing thought before.

That would change. This time, one of the towers was on fire, smoke pouring through a massive hole in the side.

Then I heard the description of events given by the reporter. Someone, they were saying, had crashed a small airplane into the side of the building.

At that moment, we didn't know if it was some suicidal maniac, a disgruntled or incompetent pilot, or a tragic accident. But I went numb at the thought that this might not be an accident; that someone — anyone — could do this to other people.

And then I saw a second plane — the video was clear enough to identify it as a large jetliner — cross the video feed, disappear behind the smoking tower, only to erupt in a massive fireball coming out the side of the second tower — directly toward the camera.

I went numb all over again; the hole in the second tower was the same size as one in the first. It was no "small plane" that hit the first tower. I thought of all those people — business-types heading to meetings and conferences, families on vacation, all the hundreds of men, women, and children on board the planes and thousands more in the buildings — what their final moments must have been like, and all the lives, hopes, and dreams lost in an instant.

We knew, then, that this was no accident. Nor was it as simple as a suicide or disgruntled employee.

This was deliberate. We were under attack.

We all watched, transfixed, as first one tower collapsed, and then the other.

In the following weeks, we would learn more about what happened, about the terrorist hijackers, about the two other flights — one which hit the Pentagon, and the other, Flight 93, which crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania. We would hear about the fearless NY firefighters who entered the buildings to rescue survivors; the last act of bravery many of them would ever perform. We would see images of the aftermath; some horrifying, some inspiring, every one unforgettable.

We would hear hopeful commenters say that the passengers of Flight 93 must have fought back and given up their own lives to prevent their plane being used on another building.

We found hope in that possibility, and those hopes were raised higher when it was confirmed that that's exactly what happened. The phrase, "Let's roll!", has become an American icon.

We saw terror, horror, cowardice, hate, and violence. We found courage, integrity, honor, hope, and resolve.

We were given villains, and we found heroes.

The smoke has cleared, but we will never forget.

(image links to source)

Stay safe.
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Disclaimer: This article represents how I personally remember the events of September 11, 2001. Memory is not foolproof, and therefore I cannot guarantee 100% historical accuracy. YMMV.