Facebook Bans Firearm, Parts and Ammuntion Sale Posts - A Warning

          Facebook, the world’s largest social media website, has moved against America’s legal gun owners.  In a surprise announcement, Facebook and Instagram immediately banned posts about guns offered for sale between private parties. The ban extended to gun parts and ammunition. Offers that were all completely legal. There was no explanation of what prompted the Facebook policy change, but Obama has long railed against the legal private sales of firearms via the Interwebs; objecting to the lack of a FBI background check. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest applauded Facebook’s action, but smugly would not say if Facebook's decision was the result of any specific request from the administration.

         The impact has been immediate, broad and severe. Facebook started pulling down gun sales posts instantly. Many gun or gun-rights oriented groups were banned outright, removed for what Facebook called violations of its terms of service. Facebook has unjustly equated firearms with marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs and groups that are hateful, threatening or obscene. Members of the Bradys, Bloomberg’s Demanding Mommies and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, as well as many so-called Social Justice Warriors swarmed Facebook, reporting anything remotely gun related. Facebook’s notorious “Ban first - ask questions later” policy resulted in the wholesale elimination of a large swath of gun groups, many with no connection to gun sales.

         Facebook gun group administrators fought back by tightening their rules, eliminating questionable posts, refusing new members and changing the groups names and keywords to limit notice by the SJWs. Often, those efforts were not enough. Many gun groups are going elsewhere, to private websites, forums and friendlier social media sites like GunDistrict,  Myspace and MeWe. This fragmentation has already caused a negative impact to the effectiveness of the gun culture.

         It should be noted that as a private company, Facebook has every right to regulate its business as it desires. Should they be limiting free speech about a lawful, enumerated right is an entirely different question. However, any government coercion aimed at chilling lawful conduct is at best unethical and certainly an abusive use of executive power. We must be on our guard.

         This was a warning. Gun Culture 2.0 is in many ways a child of Al Gore’s internet. The new ability to find one another, organize and communicate significantly changed the game from when communication was largely controlled by a hostile mass-media. To illustrate: gun rights advocates have repeatedly frustrated the current administration by quickly distributing information and coordinating a response to their excesses. However, the new capabilities rely on an internet largely controlled by the left-leaning elite of Silicon Valley. Facebook CEO and majority stockholder Jeff Zuckerberg, recently anointed as the fourth richest man in the world, could indulge a whim or pressure and ban every mention of firearms, self-defense or rights on his site. Other social media sites could follow suit, effectively eliminating most firearm and rights related communication. The remaining sites and forums would also be at risk where the government controls the internet Off Switch and the UN has been given control of what goes on the world wide web. It could happen tomorrow. It’s in our best interest to begin to develop our own secure, gun and free speech rights friendly websites and communication channels.

     We have been warned. 

Herschel Investigates the Malheur County "Standoff"

… and reveals an "interesting" coalition of players leading up to the shooting death of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum.

Full post at The Captain's Journal: Why Did Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum Have To Die? The Connection Between Malheur, Putin, The Clinton Foundation, And Big Money

Thought-provoking, to say the least.

Stay safe.

Quote(s) of the Day — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (January 20, 2016)

After the recent events near Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, something has been tickling the back of my mind about it, and I finally placed my finger on it.

On January 20, 2016, six days before the deadly "traffic stop", Oregon Governor Kate Brown held a press conference and wrote a couple letters. She had a few things to say.

Via OPR:

"Federal authorities must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable," Brown said.

"This spectacle of lawlessness must end."

Also via OPR, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey [PDF warning]:

[F]or the citizens of Harney County and indeed all Oregonians, I must insist on a swift resolution to this matter. Efforts to negotiate have not been successful, and now it is unclear what steps, if any, federal authorities might take to bring this untenable situation to an end and restore normalcy to this community.

I request on behalf of my fellow Oregonians that you instruct your agencies to end the unlawful occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as safely and quickly as possible. [emphasis added]

While I won't go so far as to claim that the shooting death of any of the protesters occurred at the behest of Our Honorable Governor, I will point out that the Feds certainly did end the "spectacle of lawlessness", and they certainly are "end[ing] the unlawful occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as safely [for some] and quickly as possible". The claim can be made that they took the request and ran with it.

I hope she's satisfied.

Stay safe.

BREAKING: Shots Fired Near Malheur County Refuge

One dead, one wounded in "traffic stop" confrontation with FBI and State Police.

I've not reported on the "standoff" at the Malheur County Wildlife Refuge, mostly because there's so much disinformation flying about that it's difficult to tell what's what. For the record, I'm not 100% convinced that the Hammonds are innocent victims of federal overreach (they are victims of overreach, but not totally innocent), nor am I convinced the "militia" — including Ammon and Ryan Bundy — "occupying" a federal facility are completely on the up-and-up. I'm also not convinced the federal agents are acting in good faith to prevent another Ruby Ridge or Waco.

In short, I believe this story is far more complex that anyone realizes, and nobody has all the facts.

So when I report that shots were fired, with one "militia" member killed and one other wounded — and several more arrested — during a "traffic stop" conducted by FBI agents, I urge everyone involved or following along, in the strongest possible terms, not to jump to conclusions until we have actual, verifiable facts. At this point it's not at all clear who fired first — or if the "militia" members even fired at all.

That information will be crucial in the days to come.

Here's what's being reported so far:

Via KATU News: Several of the "militia" leaders — including Ammon Bundy, LaVoy Finicum, Ryan Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Shawna Cox and Ryan W. Payne — were reportedly on their way to a community meeting in John Day (70 miles north of Burns) when they were pulled over on Highway 395 by FBI agents and Oregon State Troopers, shortly before 4:30 pm. During the stop, shots were fired (more on this in a moment), killing LaVoy Finicum. Ryan Bundy was wounded. The men were then placed under arrest (in Ryan Bundy's case, after hospital treatment).

Reports vary on the circumstances precipitating the "shoot-out", and run the gamut from militia members complying with all orders but being shot at anyway to militia members not complying and threatening agents who then took appropriate action.

Via OregonLive:

Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, a vocal supporter of the Bundy family, said that Ammon Bundy told his wife that Finicum had been cooperating with police and had his hands up. Then, Fiore said, Bundy said he watched police shoot Finicum three times.

But sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Finicum and Ryan Bundy disobeyed orders to surrender and resisted arrest. Authorities have not detailed what happened.

Again, I can't stress enough that we don't have enough facts to draw conclusions.

In the meantime, let's offer our thoughts and prayers to LaVoy Finicum's friends and family (and he had a very large family). He will, I'm sure, be missed.

For the rest of us, I have the sinking feeling this is just the beginning. Stay aware, stay informed, and above all, stay safe.
------------
Correction: Original post reported the confrontation occurring shortly after 8 pm. That was incorrect, reflecting the time the linked OregonLive article updated. The confrontation actually occurred shortly before 4:30 pm. This post has been updated.

Recent Happenings and Stuff

I tell you, you step out for a while to deal with mundane things like work, family, and holidays (OK, some of those aren't so mundane), and you miss out on sharing some important happenings.

This won't qualify as a "tab-clearing", but I do have a couple things to report and share.

First, there are a couple legislative items in the upcoming "short session" in Oregon. From OFF, we have two anti-gun bills proposed:

• LC 250 [PDF warning], introduced as a "committee bill" (so nobody's name is on it, though it's suspected perennial anti-gunner Floyd Prozanski wrote it), allows certain persons to call the Oregon State Police Firearms Unit to report a "mental health crisis", causing a 30-day hold on the ability to purchase a firearm. While it's not a full-on "gun violence restraining order", a la California (wherein the police actually seize any guns currently owned), the list of acceptable reporters is pretty long and the conditions pretty loose, with civil immunity for reporters acting "in good faith" and misdemeanor penalties for knowingly making false reports. The identities of such reporters are not released, though, so good luck proving bad faith (or even raising the accusation).
• LC 263 [now HB 4147 — ed.] [PDF warning], "Prohibits transfer of firearm by dealer or private party if Department of State Police is unable to determine whether recipient is qualified to receive firearm." Translation: No more "default proceeds". If you receive a "delay" during a firearm transfer, there's no transfer until the "delay" is definitively resolved.

Both bills, naturally, invoke the "emergency" clause, so they go into effect immediately. Oregon voters won't be allowed to fix or repeal them for at least two years.

Oregon gun owners, it's time to take action. Call, write, e-mail, visit in person, whatever you can do to help stop these bills.

In other news, Mike Vanderboegh, gun rights and liberty activist, citizen journalist, unofficial founder of the III% movement, and proprietor of the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog, is not long of this earth. His friends are asking that people who receive value from his work over the years (and there has been a lot of work, over a lot of years — among other things, "Operation Fast & Furious" would still be unknown if not for him) make a "gratitude offering" to help him get his final affairs in order and see that his wife, Rosey, is taken care of. More information from David Codrea here. They are also organizing work parties to help get his home and yard in working order, so if you have skills, tools, or even just a good work ethic, and are in the Pinson, Alabama, area, see if you can drop them a line and help out.

This last is not gun-related, or even news, but this particular track has been on my heart quite a bit lately. Maybe our dear readers will find inspiration and/or enjoyment in it as well. I could not for the life of me find an "official" video, but I actually like the imagery in this lyric version:

As always, stay safe.

Philly Brand Terrorism -- and Leadership

            A Philadelphia police officer was ambushed last Thursday night; city official’s reactions were as immediate as they were predictable.

CNN.com

            Officer Jesse Hartnett was sitting in his police cruiser when a young black man in Arab-style clothing walked at him from across the street.  Screaming Allahu Akbar!, the man fired thirteen rounds from a pistol, the last few from within the cruiser’s window. Hartnett was hit three times in his left arm. Bleeding heavily, he was able to chase after his assassin and wound him in the rear, helping make his arrest a certainty. The tenacious officer was admitted to the hospital in critical but stable condition and may have permanent nerve damage in the arm, but he will survive.

            Details started emerging quickly. The failed executioner confessed, saying he acted in the name of Islam. He told detectives "I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State, and that's why I did what I did." He shot because he believed the police defend laws that are contrary to the Koran. The attacker had several arrests and a prior felony conviction for assault with a firearm, but was paroled immediately after sentencing. He visited the Middle East several times, without appearing on a watch list. The terrorist turned evasive when asked about any others participating in the crime. Lastly, the weapon used was a police sidearm, stolen from another officer back in 2013.  

Small Man In Big Position

The investigation had barely started when Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney jumped before the news cameras.  With city and police officials staged behind him as props, Kenney stated, “In no way, shape, or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam, or the teaching of Islam, has anything to do with [the shooting of Officer Hartnett]. That claim is absolutely unsupported by what was known then or even now; and it’s likely to be just the opposite. The mayor then further bloviated; “There are too many guns on our streets and I think our national government needs to do something about that.” Even though the gun was actually stolen from the police and used by a terrorist.

          It seems like whatever the problem, the answer is always gun control. 

Analysis of Obama's Anti-gun Executive Actions

Tears of a Clown
financetwitter.com

              As his administration stumbles into its last year, Obama faces a faltering economy, the slow motion train wreck of Obamacare, a growing threat of Jihadi terrorism, his serial failures in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, a resurgent Russia, Chinese hegemony, a nuclear North Korea, and racial tensions at home, to name just a few. Facing all those critical issues, Obama inexplicably chose to focus on his despised bitter-clingers, the nation’s law-abiding gun owners.  

     In Tuesday’s address to the nation, Obama spent 33 minutes in an emotion driven, weepy, deeply narcissistic performance where he mentioned himself 76 times. He proposed a series of anti-gun actions his bureaucracy could take, ignoring the Constitutional process of legislation. It was immediately obvious that NONE of these initiatives could have prevented the mass-killings that drew his crocodile tears. This divisive president once again tried to demonize the gun-lobby, the NRA and the millions of law-abiding gun owners. 

     The White House provided a fact sheet of Obama’s executive actions.  Using that press release along with the transcript of Obama’s address, we’ve analyzed Obama’s thrusts. It should be noted that we are working with Obama’s carefully parsed words. It is a virtual certainty that the administration will twist the words to suit their own ends, and we must opine with that in mind. All of us will have to keep an eye on these initiatives and push back strongly were our Constitutional Rights are threatened. 

  

1.    Tighten Background Checks

Obama: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is making clear that it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business—from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet: If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks.

Analysis: Obama starts with more than a little bit of feldercarb. If you are in the business of selling guns, as defined by the law, you have a Federal Firearms License (FFL) and every gun you sell, be it offered for sale in a storefront, gun show, or internet, goes through a FBI background check. Period. End of story. There is no gun show loophole. 

    The threat in this executive action is a change of the definition, expanding just who is in the business of selling guns. Is it a guy supplementing his income with a few well considered purchases and sales, a hobbyist buying new guns and selling the old ones, a gun owner liquidating part of his collection to pay the mortgage, or a widow selling her late husband’s extensive collection?  They all could find themselves running afoul of this expanded regulation. In his refusal to provide concrete definition of a gun business, we believe Obama seeks to add even more confusion and uncertainty into the process, demonizing the lawful sale of assets.  We do know the creep selling guns out of the trunk of his car will not be affected in the slightest.

2.    Restrict Trusts and Corporations in the Authorization of Class III purchases.

ATF is finalizing a rule to require background checks for people trying to buy some of the most dangerous weapons and other items through a trust, corporation, or other legal entity.

     In an unproven allegation, Obama stated that violent criminals are trying to buy some of the most the most dangerous firearms by hiding behind trusts and corporations. This cannot be supported by any data. To Obama, the fact that no criminals are queueing up with their 200 dollars to buy short barreled rifles, shotguns or a suppressor is beside the point.  Obama was able to mouth the “most dangerous weapons” description. 

     This change to the regulations has been tried before. Public outrage caused the proposed regulation to be withdrawn.  

3.    Obtain Complete Criminal History From the States

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch has sent a letter to States highlighting the importance of receiving complete criminal history.

If this was an issue, why has it not been addressed in the prior seven years?

4.    Make the Background Check System More Efficient

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is overhauling the background check system to make it more effective and efficient. The envisioned improvements include processing background checks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and improving notification of local authorities when certain prohibited persons unlawfully attempt to buy a gun. The FBI will hire more than 230 additional examiners and other staff to help process these background checks.

     In one of our staff’s experience, almost every one of the electronic background checks is already completed in less than 30 seconds.  It’s difficult to believe that could be significantly improved, especially if you are going to throw more government at it. It already seems to be running 24 hours a day, including government holidays. 

     This may actually make it easier on the smaller FFLs who use the telephone call in method of FBI verification. Especially since the Top Gun Salesman of All Time keeps driving the public to buy more and more guns.

    And congratulations on the notifications to local authorities when there is an unlawful attempt to buy a gun, but why wasn’t this being aggressively pursued already?  Only 44 persons were prosecuted in a prior year. What the hell has your administration been doing Mr. President?

5.    Focus on Smart and Effective Enforcement of Gun Laws

The Attorney General convened a call with U.S. Attorneys around the country to direct federal prosecutors to continue to focus on smart and effective enforcement of our gun laws.

We will soon see the awesome power of the telecom.  Or not.  Under Obama, gun prosecutions have fallen dramatically.

6.    200 More ATF Agents and Investigators

The President’s FY2017 budget will include funding for 200 new ATF agents and investigators to help enforce our gun laws.

    That’s roughly $70 million per year for new agents. In a year that that includes only the last 4 months of the Obama’s administration. We’re going to bet that the House round-files Obama’s suggestion during the budgeting process. 

7.    Already Established Internet Investigation Center and National Integrated Ballist Integrated Information Network (NIBIIN)

ATF has established an Internet Investigation Center to track illegal online firearms trafficking and is dedicating $4 million and additional personnel to enhance the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.

     IIC and NIBIIN (ick and nibbin’) Those acronyms should say it all. If the bureaucrats don’t have a cool sounding acronym, nobody’s going to pay much attention.  And the few millions authorized won’t even start to fund an effective program in the bloated Federal government. 

8.    Guns Lost and Stolen From FFLs

ATF is finalizing a rule to ensure that dealers who ship firearms notify law enforcement if their guns are lost or stolen.

     The requirement to report firearms lost or stolen in Transit has been an ATF rule for decades. What this order will probably do is create an immediate notification requirement as well as demanding more frequent audits of the FFL’s inventories. These additional burdens will increase costs to the FFLs and their customers, as well as the risks of criminal prosecution for failing the regulations. The BATFE is already infamous for its “Death by a Thousand Cuts” management style. This revision will certainly not help.

9.    Renew Domestic Violence Outreach Efforts

The Attorney General issued a memo encouraging every U.S. Attorney’s Office to renew domestic violence outreach efforts.

     No real way to tell what this means. However, Federal and State governments have been increasing focusing on pre-crime gun rights restrictions. As in trend-setting California, the Feds would like to eliminate gun rights from anyone who could possibly be considered a threat, based on an allegation, without due process or appeal. Welcome to the world of Minority Report.   

10.  Increase Access to Mental Health Care

The Administration is proposing a new $500 million investment to increase access to mental health care.

     This increase is certainly needed and welcome. However, a half a billion won’t make a dent in the mental health needs of Obama, his administration, and the Federal bureaucracy.

     Snark aside, using mental health concerns, which may be biased, overblown or temporary to permanently eliminating 2^nd Amendment rights, is an escalating threat.

11. Social Security Issues Eliminating Firearm Rights

The Social Security Administration has indicated that it will begin the rulemaking process to include information in the background check system about beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental health reasons.

     This order would allow the Social Security Administration to eliminate firearm rights based on an arbitrary determination of incompetence. A recipient designating another person as having financial responsibility would trigger this notification. Many of our nation’s elderly would be stripped of their firearms just when they are at their most vulnerable. All without due process or the ability to challenge. 

     Obama’s Social Security Administration has already tried this dodge. Public and political outrage forced them to quickly withdraw the proposed rule. This rule should certainly be withdrawn again.  The similar Veteran Administration regulation should also be eliminated. The bureaucratic, unchallengeable, adjudicated elimination of rights should not be allowed to stand.

12. Doctor’s To Report Mental Health Issues to the FBI

The Department of Health and Human Services is finalizing a rule to remove unnecessary legal barriers preventing States from reporting relevant information about people prohibited from possessing a gun for specific mental health reasons.

     This is perhaps the most chilling of all of Obama’s proposals: Doctors would be required to report their suspicions of mental health issues to the FBI. Their patient would then lose his or her 2^nd Amendment Rights – forever. With little or no ability to appeal or the right to due process. 

     The executive order has a host of legal, ethical and professional problems. It intrudes on the formally protected Doctor–Patient relationship and confidentially. MDs without the specialized psychiatric training would be forced to make a snap mental health judgements. As doctors under Obamacare are now de-facto employees of the government, they could be coerced to report on the slightest of suspicions, or even be given quotas to meet.  As the doctor’s license, practice, insurance and career could be put in jeopardy if a patient is not reported as mentally ill, they will be incentivized to over-report. Worst of all, because of Big Brother’s presence in the treatment rooms and the draconian gun seizures, some people will hesitate to get the treatment they need.          
    
     It should be noted that doctors kill 120,000 people each year through errors or malpractice.  That’s more than an order of magnitude more than murders with guns.  Should we actually be banning doctors?  

13.  Conduct or Sponsor Research into Gun Safety Technology

The President has directed the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security to conduct or sponsor research into gun safety technology.

The Progressive fantasy of smart-gun technology rears its ugly head again. Obama even compared this fanciful technology to the fingerprint readers on smart phones.  Considering that phones are treated a lot more gently than guns – and the fingerprint readers don’t work all that well – that is a very poor comparison. 

And given that the government will likely require a disabling backdoor to be installed in the software, this is an extremely blatant assault on the 2^nd Amendment. This proposal could only come from someone used to being protected by guards with hair triggers.   

14. Regular reviews of Smart Gun technology

The President has also directed the departments to review the availability of smart gun technology on a regular basis, and to explore potential ways to further its use and development to more broadly improve gun safety.

     In his address, Obama also called for tracking devices to be placed in guns.  Hundreds of people, including two American law-enforcement agents, could be alive if those devices only been added to the guns Obama and Eric Holder sold to the Mexican drug cartels. Giving the government the ability to determine where the guns are – well, that couldn’t possibly go wrong… right? 

   Obama also called for child resistant triggers. This laughable goal is one more indication of just how far the man’s thinking differs from average American and the Founding Fathers. He certainly would not want child resistant triggers on the guns that protect him.

15. Congress Called to Support the President’s Demands

Congress should support the President’s request for resources for 200 new ATF agents and investigators to help enforce our gun laws, as well as a new $500 million investment to address mental health issues.

     Hopefully, the Congress will be in no mood to support these dangerous fantasies.

16. Urge manufacturers, retailers, and other private-sector leaders to explore what more they can do.

Because we all must do our part to keep our communities safe, the Administration is also calling on States and local governments to do all they can to keep guns out of the wrong hands and reduce gun violence. It is also calling on private-sector leaders to follow the lead of other businesses that have taken voluntary steps to make it harder for dangerous individuals to get their hands on a gun. In the coming weeks, the Administration will engage with manufacturers, retailers, and other private-sector leaders to explore what more they can do.


     This last pronouncement is a reminder of the power of the government’s iron fist in the velvet glove. The Obama administration has been very active in using the coercive power of the government to affect their goals. Actions like Operation Choke Point have hampered lawful activities that the administration found objectionable. This type of extra-legal coercion should be called out and resisted.   

By our count, that’s 16 anti-gun initiatives. None of them would address the problem of terrorism the homeland soil, none of them would have prevented the mass killings of the past, none of them would actually reduce crime. All of them demonize the law-abiding gun owners who are more of the solution than part of the problem. Obama should be called out for his feckless, divisive assault on the Constitutional rights of America’s citizens.  Mr President, we demand you focus on the issue that actually threatening this nation, and stop trying to eliminate the Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. 

Do So-Called "Large-Capacity Magazine" Bans Actually Do Anything?

A common demand from the anti-gun crowd following any "mass shooting" event is to ban so-called "large-capacity magazines". The idea is that if mass-murderers have to stop "spray firing" their "semi-automatic bullet hoses" and reload more frequently, fewer people will be killed.

But does it actually help anything?

Criminologist Gary Kleck says no.

As it turns out, the killers who commit these heinous murders fire, to put it bluntly, take their time. Their rate of fire is slow enough that reloading is a trivial exercise — one that certainly doesn't require Jerry-Miculek-level skills.

Even so, in areas where standard-capacity magazines are already banned, it's equally trivial for the killer(s) to carry several limited-capacity magazines, or even multiple firearms.

Kleck's methodology was interesting; he narrowed his research to "mass shooting" events with more than six victims (in contrast, the "standard" anti-gun definition is only four victims). He did this to attempt to rule out most if not all shootings using standard six-shot revolvers, and thus to truly focus on the use of magazine-fed firearms.

The results speak for themselves. From the linked article:

Even with this restrictive definition of a mass shooting, Kleck found that large capacity magazines – defined as holding over 10 rounds – were used in only 21 of the 88 incidents (24%). So, in 76% of the incidents, a large-capacity magazine ban would have made no difference in any event.

Kleck then goes on to analyze further the 21 incidents in which a large-capacity magazine was used. In every case, the shooters carried either multiple guns or multiple magazines. Therefore, even without a large-capacity magazine, the shooters could easily switch guns or magazines.

So I can now expect the antis to act like grown-ups, apologize, and stop trying to enact bans that are scientifically shown to be ineffective. I will (continue to) be disappointed, but I can expect it.

And I am also looking forward to reading Kleck's full paper (which spans 60+ pages) when it's released.

Stay safe.

[Hat tip: A bunch of people; this one's been getting around.]

National Ammo Day - A True Patriotic Holiday!

National Ammo Day!!!

Michael Bane believes that every American Citizen should have an AR-15, ten standard capacity magazines, and one thousand rounds. You need to Future Proof your rights.

Get On It!  NOW!!!

Thoughts on the Paris Attack - and America

        Our thoughts and prayers are with the citizens of Paris. Mass violence came again to a foreign country, despite the claims of our feckless President. Friday evening, France suffered a horrendous blow at the hands of Islamic terrorists. In a coordinated attack at six separate sites, ISIS terrorists armed with automatic AK-47s, grenades and suicide belts attacked diners, rock concert goers, soccer fans, and other innocents. 129 are dead, including at least one American, with some 350 wounded, 90 of those in serious condition. Paris is on lockdown, and France’s military is once again guarding their borders. One of the terrorist was a Frenchman already known as an ISIS sympathizer, another held a Syrian passport, and two were recently welcomed to France as Syrian refugees.     

   

         There are many lessons to be learned by those wanting to. Europe’s leaders ignored the warnings of what the unrestrained immigration by the largely young, male Arab refugees would bring. The leaders choose to follow their one-worlder ideologies, to the obvious detriment and danger to their own citizens and country. Likewise, Obama continues in his plans to bring an ever increasing amount of the same invaders into the United States. France’s borders were open - allowing the same attacks that America’s deliberately wide-open borders invite. Most telling to us: the French citizens were completely defenseless before the merciless killers. They had no way to defend their lives from the killers their own government sent among them.

         This is just one of the reasons we fight so hard to keep our Second Amendment Rights. We fight to allow The People to defend their lives and way of life, even when their government will not. Even when the President claims Climate Change as the greatest threat to our future. It should be obvious that Radical Islam is the real threat: ISIS is now bragging “The American Blood Is Best, and We Will Taste It Soon.”  The People will need their arms as this new way of foreign and domestic terror comes to their towns, stadiums and theaters. However, ISIS should be warned; historically, our enemies have found that American blood leaves a very, very bitter aftertaste.

CF: French citizens are largely unarmed. However, there is an active contingent of SASS International competitors in France. I expect they are ready to play Cowboys and Terrorists. 

On Failed Solutions and "Scapegoat[ing] the Mentally Ill"

So Oregon's resident anti-gun personality, "Baldr Odinson", recently attended "A Town Hall Forum on Gun Violence in Eugene" (warning: link goes to his anti-gun site).

This article does not rise to the level deserving of a full fisking, but there are a few points that stand out and need to be hammered down commented upon.

First off is this:

I was impressed with the solutions that people suggested, such as smart gun technologies, suicide prevention strategies, mandatory proficiency training for gun owners, and mandatory safe storage of guns, among other suggestions.

"Baldr" must be easily impressed. There is nothing new here. There is nothing that hasn't been tried, measured, and found wanting (by both sides) here.

I'm not going to re-hash the problems with all these "suggestions"; that's been thoroughly done elsewhere. However, I will reiterate that every one of these hinges on whether violent criminals will suddenly start obeying laws. That's not going to happen, so all these will only serve to harass peaceable citizens; indeed, it's all such laws can do.

Second was this:

See below for [CeaseFire Oregon President] Penny Okamoto's response regarding mental illness, and how the NRA and other pro-gun supporters scapegoat the mentally ill [link removed, underline emphasis added]

What do you mean, "how the NRA and other pro-gun supporters scapegoat the mentally ill"? Setting aside how transferring a gun to someone adjudicated mentally defective has been illegal since 1968 (you do recall that some Gun Control Act or other was enacted around then, right?), are you not hearing the NRA itself advocating better mental health reporting and treatment services, along with keeping guns away from such individuals? Heck, even PBS talked about the NRA supporting such measures!

Are you not hearing people on your side saying the NRA just wants to arm every criminal and lunatic?

Which is it, "Baldr"? Is the NRA "scapegoat[ing] the mentally ill", or advocating arming them with no questions asked? You can't have it both ways.

Stay safe.

Interesting Legal Case Out of Pennsylvania

Amish man challenging photo ID requirement to purchase a firearm.

As reported by Legal Insurrection:

As Obama stumps for gun control in Chicago, an interesting case has been filed in an effort to protect both religious liberty and the Second Amendment. An Amish man from Pennsylvania attempted to purchase a gun via legal channels and was denied because he did not have a photo id [sic], and he did not have that photo id [sic] because of his religious beliefs.

The Amish in Lancaster Country believe that a photograph of themselves is the equivalent of a disallowed “graven image” and thus refuse to allow themselves to be photographed. This is a religious exemption/exception that has been readily acknowledged and accepted by state and local government who have issued photoless ids [sic] and drivers’ licenses to Amish people. [links omitted]

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, and what other areas of religious freedom — Obamacare religious exemptions, non-participation in same-sex "marriage" ceremonies, personal prayer in public spaces, etc. — this will affect.

Especially since the state and local authorities have acknowledged their long-standing religious views and made appropriate concessions, like issuing photo-less IDs and drivers' licenses that are equally valid as their photo-including counterparts.

The federal law (specifically 18 U.S.C. § 922[t][1][c]), however, is quite clear: no FFL can transfer a firearm to anyone without a valid photo ID. Leave it to the federal government to make exercising a basic, fundamental right mutually exclusive to exercising other basic, fundamental rights.

Like I said: interesting.

Stay safe.

On "This Generation's 'Duck And Cover'" — A Fisking

Oregon's resident anti-gunner, Baldr Odinson (a.k.a. Jason Kilgore), put up a post recently (OK, a couple weeks back — I've been remiss in checking on him) about school lockdown drills, School Lockdown Drills Are This Generation's 'Duck And Cover'" (warning: clicking through will take you to an anti-gun blog; the safety of your intelligence and sanity cannot be guaranteed). Like so many things over there, it's just begging for a good fisking.

As usual for fisks, "Baldr"'s words will be indented and italicized, and my responses will appear in normal, standard formatting. To be clear, unless otherwise stated, by "you" I'm referring to Baldr. Click through for the takedown.

Yesterday my 10 year old daughter had another Lockdown Drill at her school.

"Another" lockdown drill? Oh, the horror! Do you keep track of these things, and are you concerned they're happening too frequently?

At least the weather was nice.

An email announcement went out to us parents from the Principal, a few days before. From the email:

During our drill on Friday, an intercom announcement will inform staff and students that the drill will begin. Staff will then be asked to secure their classrooms. Teachers will lock classroom doors, close the blinds, move students away from the windows, turn out the lights, and ask students to remain quiet. The drill will last about three minutes, at which point another announcement will be made that the drill is over.

And when the time came during class, the teacher locked the door and turned off the lights, and the kids had to huddle in the corner, absolutely quiet and still while they imagined an armed madman walking the halls of their school.

The e-mail sounds like a pretty standard lockdown drill, and it's nice they let the parents know ahead of time. Of course, that defeats the purpose of a "drill", which should be unannounced.

But was imagining an armed madman wandering the school a mandatory part of the drill, too, or were the kids allowed to daydream about Oreos and video games instead?

The teacher explained to them that, if the windows above them were shot out, it would be a harmless shower of safety glass cubes that could not cut them. Then, he practiced walking quickly and orderly out the back door of the classroom, across the school grounds, and to a staging area in the neighborhood across the street.

Have you ever seen safety glass shatter? It breaks up into small glass cubes with very sharp edges. It can and often does cut skin — not deep enough to be dangerous, but saying it cannot cut skin just invites the kids to play with it, which is a bad idea.

Did the teacher practice walking the kids out the back and across the grounds, or did he abandon his charges and go by himself?

The last time my daughter's school had a lockdown drill, she was in an after-school activity with a mixed-age class of kids, mostly younger than her. Many of them were confused and started to cry, traumatized by the image in their mind of an armed lunatic coming toward their room.

As one of the older kids in the room, did your daughter try to calm the younger kids, or did she join in and/or increase the general hysteria? How have you trained her to respond to these things?

And again, was that mental image a mandatory part of the drill? Who is writing the procedures, and who's verifying that each student is doing their part?

Or is this just Baldr projecting his own mental images onto the kids?

This is the new normal in America. It is practiced in my daughter's school at least as many times a year as fire drills, and more even than earthquake drills. My 11 year old son had a drill in his school the week before.

Given Oregon's position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", you'd think earthquake drills would be pushed hardest. It sounds like your school district has its priorities reversed.

But if you don't practice any drills, the students won't know how to react in a bona fide emergency. That's what these "drills" are for, right?

But as traumatizing as this is, it is an increasingly-necessary precaution taken by schools.

Is it actually traumatizing the kids? Or are you traumatized by the thought of it, so you assume it's traumatizing the kids? (I'll touch on the necessity of drills in a sec.)

Since our federal politicians continue to do nothing at all to keep guns out of the hands of murderous madmen, schools are left to pick up the difference, preparing their staff and students to fight for their lives or hide in darkened corners, or to follow the NRA's suggestion, highly-opposed, to make an armed camp out of our children's learning environment (which hasn't turned out so well for some schools). [self-link omitted]

Wrong. Our federal politicians have refused to take actions that would discourage or disallow law-abiding people to exercise their rights, specifically because there is no causal link between those laws and keeping "murderous madmen" disarmed.

Schools are doing as their told by their school boards, who take their marching orders from state and federal Departments of Education. And really, it's a minor addition to include security lockdown drills with fire drills and earthquake drills and tsunami drills and tornado drills and hurricane drills and whatever other drills they might be doing based on local needs. It's all part of a comprehensive emergency plan, and another part of that plan is rehearsing each person's role. That's what the drills are for!

Or do you oppose having emergency plans, too?

Just this last week in the town of Springfield, Oregon, not far from where I live, Riverbend Elementary had to go into lockdown. Police had gotten a tip that a convicted felon, high on meth and suicidal, was armed with a gun and headed to his child's school. The school responded with the lockdown. Luckily, police intercepted the man. He was armed with three firearms in his car. [link in original]

That right there is a perfect example of a school responding appropriately to a potential safety threat. Good on them, and good on the police for finding and arresting him, and thank God nobody got hurt.

However, did anyone else notice how Baldr isn't even questioning how a suicidal, convicted felon was able to procure three firearms? Is that little detail not important? Or should they just disarm you and me?

Two days later, in Salem, Oregon, three schools went into lockdown for 45 minutes, including South Salem High, Howard Street Charter Middle School, and Bush Elementary schools, when there was a shooting in the streets nearby. One man was injured in the shooting. [link in original]

Another good example of schools responding appropriately. If there's a known, continuing safety threat in the surrounding neighborhood, it's reasonable to hold the students indoors until it's resolved.

No doubt, though, that the Bradys and Bloomberg's Demanding Moms will count this as a "school shooting".

A few days before that, two schools in Portland, Grant High School and nearby Beverly Cleary School, went on lockdown when two men were openly carrying semi-automatic assault rifles next to the schools. [link in original]

Open carry of any firearm (unless you've got the blessing of government) is illegal in Portland, so I'll request some additional context to this claim. I'll not get it from Baldr, but I have to ask.

Absent any other information, this is yet another reasonable response by the schools to a reported danger.

Sensing a pattern yet?

And, of course, we can't forget the Umpqua Community College shooting a couple weeks ago. [self-link omitted]

Of course not. Nobody wants for "forget" the UCC shooting, but some of us choose to learn from such tragedies rather than continue pursuing laws and policies that don't prevent them.

Remember the "Duck and Cover" movement of the 1950's and '60's? A whole generation of school children were asked to imagine a nuclear bomb hitting their little American towns and cities. They were told that, if there was a big flash or a little warning, they were to immediately take cover under their desks and wait for an all-clear signal. In their minds, they could imagine a nuclear bomb exploding and a massive fireball washing over their schools, burning them alive. Nowadays, it's not a specter of a giant bomb killing them, but a more personal, and realistic killer walking their halls. [link in original]

Not quite correct. The kids weren't asked to "imagine" a nuclear attack. They were asked to respond to the potential of a nuclear attack. They could imagine the bomb, or they could imagine Davy Crockett walking out of his Army camp to visit his family. (Seriously, why the continuous focus on what the children should be forced to imagine?)

Not that "duck and cover" would save any of them during an actual nuclear attack, but I'll use this as an opportunity to segue to another key topic: morale. "Ducking and covering" represents something to do. When you have something to do, you have something to focus on, and you have less worry and fear about what could happen. Focusing on action helps prevent the hysteria Baldr's daughter witnessed during her previous lockdown drills.

I don't expect Baldr to understand that part, but there it is.

It's happened 150 times since 2013! See an interactive map of them here. [link in original, but be forewarned; it goes to an Everytown site]

Oh, look! The infamous Everytown school shootings list! And in interactive map form! How helpful!

Except that it's crap. CNN found only 15 of the originally-reported 74 to be "school shootings" (that's about 20%, for the math-challenged), and Politifact rated Everytown's list "Mostly False". Mind you, neither of those outlets are particularly pro-gun by any measure. Those articles are from June 2014 (the 18th month since 2013 started), when the list was 74. Now, another 16 months later, and they've doubled the number. Looking at the rate of increase over the original, I have little faith — let alone evidence — that Baldr and/or Everytown are being any more honest in their numbers.

And school shootings are increasing.

Citation needed.

Oh, wait … no, it's not. And no, they're not.

The Trace did a study of lockdowns and found an astonishing 100 school lockdowns (not drills!) in just a two-week period. From the article:

[A]t least 100 lockdowns made the news during those two weeks. That’s an average of about 10 lockdowns due to a potential threat per school day. Of the 10 school days tracked, only one was incident-free."

And that's just the ones reported by media, that they could find with their searches. [link in original, but be forewarned; it goes to The Trace, Bloomberg's gun-control-advocacy-disguised-as-news site]

Note the implication in the context. We've moved from school shootings to reported school lockdowns, implying that the lockdowns were because of shootings or armed threats. Perusing the interactive map (Yay, another one!) at The Trace, many or most don't have anything to do with guns. A short list, going loosely West-to-East (copied directly; any grammatical or factual errors are in the original):

• Redmond, WA - 10/8/2015: Ridgeview High School went into lockdown after a student threatened another student over text.
• Forest Grove, OR - 10/2/2015: Forest Grove High School was placed on lockdown after students reported seeing another student with what they thought might be a gun. [emphasis added; No threat or weapon was found, and one student was charged with making a false report.]
• Coos Bay, OR - 10/2/2015: Schools in Coos County were locked down because of a non-specific threat. [No weapons mentioned, threat found to be unsubstantiated.]
• San Jose, CA - 10/7/2015: A suspect who escaped from a bail bondsman put a nearby middle school on lockdown. [Suspect was unarmed, and most of the students had already left for the day.]
• Los Olivos, CA - 10/8/2015: An apparent murder-suicide triggered a lockdown at three Los Olivos schools. [Apparent domestic dispute. A gun was used, but it all happened within the home.]
• Santa Fe Springs, CA - 10/5/2015: Three schools were placed on lockdown while officers searched for a man suspected of domestic violence. [No weapon mentioned, and he wasn't charged with any weapon-related crimes.]
• El Cajon, CA - 10/5/2015: An El Cajon elementary school went into lockdown after a woman crashed into a police car and claimed she had a gun. [emphasis added; This sounds like an attempt at "suicide-by-cop" that happened to occur near a school.]
• Newhall, CA - 10/1/2015: A Newhall elementary school went into lockdown as authorities investigated reports of a gun-toting teen. [No person with a gun found. The "dot" on the map has this one in Iowa for some reason. Layers and layers of editorial oversight.]
• Reno, NV - 10/2/2015: Two south Reno schools went under lockdown as police searched for a suspect in the area. [Car burglary suspect; no weapon mentioned.]
• Las Vegas, NV - 10/8/2015: A Las Vegas school went into lockdown while police searched for a suspect.
• Meridian, ID - 10/8/2015: A direct threat against Meridian High School led to a locked of all schools in Bosque County. [The type of threat was not disclosed.]
• Pocatello, ID - 10/7/2015: Pocatello Police Department and school district staff placed Highland High School under lockdown to address a potential threat. [Again, the type of threat was not disclosed.]
• Peoria, AZ - 10/8/2015: An elementary school went on lockdown as police pursued a burglary suspect. [No weapon mentioned.]
• El Paso, TX - 10/2/2015: Schools and offices in El Paso were locked down because of a suspected armed person. ["Suspected" armed person. Two people who initially claimed there was a "gunman" later told police they never saw a gun.]
• Stafford, TX - 10/2/2015: Stafford schools went into lockdown because of reports of a suspicious person. ["Suspicious person"; no weapon reported.]
• Denver, CO - 10/5/2015: The Denver Center for International Studies was placed on lockdown following a report of a student with a knife. [No gun, just a knife.]
• Pueblo, CO - 10/7/2015: A Pueblo County High School went into lockdown after a student was seen walking down the hallway Wednesday in a gas mask and a trench coat. [No weapons found.]
• LaMoure, ND - 10/6/2015: A school in LaMoure went into lockdown while police hunted a suspicious male. [No weapons reported; authorities said no imminent danger.]
• Detroit Lakes, MN - 10/1/2015: A bomb scare put Detroit Lakes schools into lockdown. ["Suspicious device" scare; no other weapons reported.]
• Minneapolis, MN - 10/7/2015: The Eden Prairie Police Department says a statement made by a student prompted a “soft lock down” of Central Middle School. [The AO of another famous anti-gun personality, "japete" (a.k.a. Joan Peterson). Statement found to be unsubstantiated, no credible threat, no criminal charges.]
• Oklahoma City, OK - 10/8/2015: Deer Creek schools went into lockdown while police searched for a burglary suspect. [No weapon reported.]
• Toshimingo, OK - 10/6/2015: The Tishomingo County School District issued a lockdown because of a non-specific threat. [Type of threat not disclosed; no weapons mentioned.]
• Liberty, MO - 10/7/2015: A lockdown of all Union County schools was issued after a general threat. [Non-specific threat. Report mentions in passing bomb threats issued against other districts.]

I could go on, but I'm getting sidetracked. Heck, when I was a kid, I remember all the schools at my end of town being locked down due to a reported tattooed, neo-Nazi rapist (no, I'm not kidding) at a different school two miles away (the report turned out to be unsubstantiated). But needless to say, that's how many non-school-shooting lockdowns we have on the list — in total, 22 out of approximately 35 (over 60%, for the math-challenged), and most of the rest involve armed suspects but still aren't "school shootings" by any measure — and we haven't even crossed the Mississippi River!

It would seem that conflating "lockdown" with "school shooting" might be just a bit disingenuous, don't you think?

Moving on:

School systems are now making videos and programs to teach students and faculty how to respond in the event of an active shooter incident.

Good. Nothing wrong with an informative and educational video.

One video, from an Ohio school system, even suggests that the students attack the shooter if they come in the room. See it HERE. It teaches the ALICE program (which stands for "Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate"), which is being taught in a number of schools and colleges around the nation. The video, which is shown to students, shows a man with a handgun enter a classroom and the teen students attacking and swarming over the man, holding him down, all the while stating, "If it is necessary to counter the aggressor's attack, you may be able to distract and disrupt the aggressor's plan by putting him on the defensive and possibly even disarming him by swarming him into submission until police arrive." One student gets shot and goes down before the other students dogpile the shooter.

That's right, they are recommending that child students attack the shooter if cornered.

It's not enough now that school kids have to worry about grades, homework, tests, relationships, sports, and all the usual things that kids have to think about. Now we are asking them to think about cold-blooded killers stalking their halls, and potentially having to fight them to the death! [link and emphasis in original]

Again, nothing wrong with educating students on all their reasonable options in the face of an emergency. That "counter-attack" video was presented to high school students. Teenagers, some of whom will be legal adults, and plenty of whom will be athletes. To hear Baldr, you'd think they're advocating kindergartners swarm a violent, armed man, but personally I find no problem in offering the 300-pound defensive tackle a chance to … y'know … tackle someone, as a possible life-saving solution to a violent crime-in-progress.

And nobody is advocating they kill the attacker. Subduing him is good, too. Whatever it takes to stop the attack, and no more.

This has to end.

I agree; this fear-mongering article has gone on far too long.

Oh, you mean the drills, the lockdowns, and the culture of helpless fear you yourself contribute to have to end. Huh.

The answer isn't to arm every teacher, faculty, or even students, as the gun lobby has suggested, or to turn our schools into fortresses. The answer is to keep from arming the lunatics in the first place. And the only way to do that is to pass sensible gun laws, such as universal background checks (like the one enacted this year in Oregon)… [self-link omitted]

Are you referring to that universal background check law that went into effect BEFORE the Umpqua Community College shooting? Wasn't that law supposed to prevent events exactly like that from happening, by keeping guns out of the hands of people exactly like that scumbag?

Epic. Fail.

… better mental health reporting to the background check system…

Who gets to decide what's reportable, and on what basis or evidence? That's just ripe for abuse.

… child access prevention (CAP) laws to keep guns out of the hands of school kids… [self-link omitted; Baldr runs that site, too]

"CAP" laws are a euphemism for so-called "safe storage" laws, and the kind you're talking about — that mandate firearms be stored separate from ammunition, and either disassembled or trigger locked — were struck down in Heller v. D.C. in 2008.

… and a renewed ban on assault rifles and high-capacity ammo magazines.

Yes, because the last such ban did so much to reduce violent crime rates or school shootings, right?

Oh, wait. It didn't. Research For The Win!

Naysayers might point to this report (PDF warning) from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), but those authors clearly say the "assault weapon" ban had no clear effect on murder or violent crime ("assault weapons" being rarely used for crime to begin with), and could only suppose that a long-term ban on "large-capacity magazines" might have some effect, and supposed so with the understanding that the use of "large-capacity magazines" by criminals to fire more than 10 rounds without reloading is at best unknown.

So why are we pushing for a ban, again?

Perhaps, if we pass such laws, lockdown drills at our schools will become a nightmare of the past, like "Duck and Cover" became, and we will find a new trajectory for our schools and communities away from gun violence. [emphasis in original]

Or maybe, lockdowns will continue, because there are plenty of reasons to lock down a school other than "gun violence". Review my list above, pulled from Everytown's own map. Many of those security lockdowns — including my personal anecdote — had nothing at all to do with guns.

ADDENDUM (10/21/15): One pre-K school teacher from Washington state describes what it is like during a lockdown drill with her small students, trying to convey urgency without inciting fear or alarm, and the mental considerations that she has to endure as part of the process. From the article "Rehearsing for death: A pre-K teacher on the trouble with lockdown drills":

Instead of controlling guns and inconveniencing those who would use them, we are rounding up and silencing a generation of schoolchildren, and terrifying those who care for them. We are giving away precious time to teach and learn while we cower in fear.

[bold and badly-done link in original]

(BTW, Baldr: the author of that article in your addendum, Launa Hall, is from Arlington, VA, not Washington state. It says so right on top of the article. Schmuck.)

Done incorrectly, we could argue that lockdowns themselves "rehearse for death". Does anyone want to claim that Sandy Hook Elementary didn't try to lockdown as soon as shots were fired, but made the mistake of locking down with the killer inside?

With all due respect to that pre-K teacher, we're not talking about "controlling guns and inconveniencing those who would use them". We're talking about banning guns and making criminals out of those who would use them. That's the end game of "gun control".

Dear Ms. Hall: Maybe instead of "rounding up and silencing" your students, you could take an active role in protecting them. Maybe instead of "terrifying those who care for them", you could empower those who care for them to take decisive action (remember that morale thing?). Maybe instead of "giving away precious time to teach" by "cower[ing] in fear", you could be teaching them to remain calm and follow instructions in an emergency while projecting an image of a protector who keeps them safe.

Maybe, just maybe, you — as someone who calls herself a "teacher" — are approaching this the wrong way. Be a leader. Set an example. If you want them to grow to be strong, level-headed adults, you need to show them what a strong, level-headed adult looks like (hint: it's not always Batman or Superman, or even Officer Friendly). It starts with you. Be the person you want them to grow up to admire.

Dear Readers: As always, stay safe.