LawDog's Simple Truth of Self-Defense

The great LawDog has a fantastic post up on the effects of self-defense. To many of us in the gun ownership and rights community, this is sheer common sense. We know this in our bones. This should be required reading for anyone who might think folks like Paul Helmke have a point.

The summary sums it up best:

Evil is not defeated by submitting to it. Evil is not defeated by running away from it; nor is evil defeated by ignoring it.

Evil is only defeated by fighting back.

Go read the whole thing.

A Letter to Mike Westervelt

I decided to follow-up today's earlier fisking with an e-mail to its author since he so generously provided his e-mail address for us to comment on. Here is what I sent him (signature line changed):

Dear Mr. Westervelt,

I am writing you in regards to your article " Assault rifle discovery raises questions for Purdue students, city" in The Exponent online dated 01/24/2008. Your article is basically arguing for more gun control on the basis of the discovery of a legally owned AK-47 type rifle and you feel that such a rifle is a deadly danger to the surrounding community and such things must be controlled.

The number of things wrong with your article is astounding. The first of which is basic research. I understand you're just being a journalist. The purpose is to shape an opinion to fit your agenda, not to inform readers of facts and let them make their own conclusions. However, had you done some research you wouldn't have been able to write this article since it would be an outright fabrication.

Perhaps that is what you intended but I digress.

Allow me, sir, to list the facts that you got wrong in your article:

1) The rifle in question is not an AK-47 assault rifle. It is a civilian "look-alike".

2) No license is required in the State of Indiana for the purchase or possession of any rifle or handgun. You have confused a "concealed handgun carry" permit with a permit-to-own. They are not the same thing.

3) The Federal Assault Weapon ban of 1994 that you crow so loudly about banned nothing. If you did some research on that law you would have learned the law banned features, not functionality. Provided that no more than 2 of a specific list of features were present on a given rifle, it was perfectly legal to sell during the entire 10 year "ban" period. And they were.

At no time were rifles such as this not permitted for sale during the ban period nor were rifles that possessed the features leading up to the ban be required to be turned in or registered. In fact, they were legally able to be sold during the ban period provided they were manufactured prior to September 13, 1994.

4) The rifle was not an automatic weapon. It was a semi-automatic weapon. It was not a machine gun. Machine guns are already highly regulated and have been since 1934 (see National Firearms Act of 1934 aka NFA'34).

5) In reference to bazookas, assault rifles (meaning fully automatic military rifles) and machine guns, these can all be legally owned by private citizens provided they submit the necessary paperwork, pass a full Federal background check, pay the necessary transfer tax and follow the regulations for the possession, transport and storage of said items. These items are covered under the aforementioned NFA'34.

6) Your city council has no authority whatsoever to enact local restrictions on the possession of certain types of firearms within its region of control without express authority to do so by the Indiana State Legislature. The State of Indiana preempts any community from enacting local firearms regulation. See Indiana Code 35-47-11 for specifics.

The purpose of preemption is to ensure State citizens only need to know one set of laws as they go about their business throughout the State and their communities. If communities have the authority to dictate how firearms can be carried, transported and used withing their boundaries, a citizen can become an unwitting criminal for merely driving or walking down the street. Preemption laws were passed in Indiana and most other states to prevent this abuse of local authority and the arbitrary creation of "criminals" out of ordinary law-abiding citizens.

7) Like most people who harp on gun control, you never explain how such a scheme as mandatory firearm registration with the Police or any other authority would prevent another Virginia Tech. Perhaps you could devote a future article to answering that question for your readers? Keeping in mind that criminals don't register their guns and frankly wouldn't care less about one more gun law if they are already bent on committing murder. Which there are also already laws on the books against that don't seem to work in stopping murder wholesale.

I would point out that a Virginia Tech type tragedy has occurred under the very mandatory registration system you propose. In Canada, a man used a legally acquired rifle that was registered with the police to kill 19 students at Dawson College in Montreal in September 2006. (Source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/13/montreal.shooting/index.html).

So how precisely would mandatory gun registration stop crime?

8) Gun ownership by itself is not an indicator of criminal tendencies. The fact that you advocate reporting someone for possession of a gun to the authorities speaks volumes for your view on privacy and freedom in this country. Such things have been done in the past in places like Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

It is clear from your article that you have not done any basic fact research, know nothing about firearms, the culture of their owners or their operation and have no clue about the laws that govern them even within your own state.

As a service to your readers, I have posted this e-mail on my blog along with a link to your article so in the event they find it, they will receive a proper education on this topic. Clearly, you have not received one at your College of Liberal Arts.

I would hope your future efforts may actually include a small amount of factual research rather than repetition of discredited gun control talking points.

Sincerely,

The Armed Canadian

Let's see if he responds.

Wealth Distribution

Just read the highlights of the proposed "economic stimulus plan" (which is nothing of the sort). I'd like to thank Congress for not only giving back the People's own money but also deciding that some people aren't deserving of the money they paid in taxes being returned to them.

I guess I'm not middle class anymore. I won't see a cent. Hope someone else enjoys the money I'm giving them that was taken from me without any say on my part.

Hey Washington, you want an economic stimulus package? Try cutting the Federal income tax rate by 5% for the next 12 months with a corresponding cut in the appropriate tax brackets? The way to keep people from worrying about money is to make sure they have more of it from paycheck to paycheck. Then they are more likely to spend it, save it, pay bills or any combination in between.

I'm not upset about this. I just see it as election year pandering to those in the sheep paddock. Keep the masses fed, dumb and entertained, that's the ticket to doing whatever Government wants. People are clueless and will happily be bribed with their own money as so many others have pointed out.

Not a peep about cutting Government spending. If there is a $250 billion dollar deficit, maybe the country can do without some programs. Can't do that. That requires logic and reason.

The fall of the Republic will be nice, slow and gentle when we hit bottom. Enjoy the ride.

Virginia Punts Gun Show "Loophole" Closing

This just in....

The House of Delegates committee rejected legislation that would have closed the so-called "gun show loophole" in Virginia and saved Virginia from becoming more like Maryland.

The first paragraph sums it up perfectly...

Emotional pleas by relatives and friends of Virginia Tech shooting victims failed to persuade a House of Delegates committee to close a loophole that allows criminals and the mentally ill to buy firearms at Virginia gun shows.

Emphasis mine. Good for Virginia. Emotion should not dictate laws and your suffering at the hands of a criminal does not place you on an unassailable moral high ground where the rights of your fellow citizens are concerned.

For the misinformed among you, let me emphasize: There is no loophole in the law. This keeps things as they should be.

Good for Virginia.

Ridiculousness

This post is for fellow blogger Greg. He requested what follows and I am happy to oblige.

As I reported previously, I have finally gotten my long-awaited DSA FAL receiver. On January 12th, I went to my dealer to pick it up. So, here is what a $450 piece of beautiful, machined steel looks like:


The law requires you to transport firearms in a locked case unless you are exempt from doing so under your State or local laws when engaging in intrastate transport or are in possession of special status, such as having a concealed carry permit.

Sounds reasonable, right? After all, don't most people want "reasonable" restrictions on the possession and transport of guns out in the community, right?

Here is the result of four decades of such "reasonable" gun control:

You may not understand what you are seeing here. Why on Earth do I have a cable lock through the receiver?!? Well, under the law, the receiver (or the frame in the case of pistols) is considered the firearm. What that means is that this innocent looking piece of non-functional steel is really a gun!

Not a potential firearm. Not a chunk of metal.

A gun.

And if I transport this piece of steel absent a proper case, I am technically breaking the law.

And given that in the Free State of Maryland this piece of metal is a regulated firearm and subject to strict transport rules, I felt it prudent to go above and beyond. Hence the cable lock. And...

..the padlock sealing this dangerous weapon in its case. After all, a gun, improperly secured, could be used in a deadly fashion against some poor innocent. If I threw the receiver at someone maybe. But if I did that, I'm sure a police officer would charge me with "brandishing a firearm in public.". In Montgomery County, that isn't exactly a joke either.

Do you see any reasonableness in the law that forces me to do this? To be caught violating the law while transporting this receiver, I would lose my 2nd Amendment rights forever and also risk deportation as a non-citizen of this country.

I'll bet you feel safer now because of gun control laws that require this.

Ridiculous.

Update: And I am not the only one who has encountered and espoused on this. Give Existing Thing's entry a read. Robb and Uncle have generously linked to this post.

Robb is right in his post that had I not done this and merely left the receiver in the cardboard box I got it in, I would have been a felon driving it home. Had I been pulled over by a Maryland State Trooper or County officer, I could have been facing gun charges for improper transport and all of the disaster that would have entailed.

In this game, "the citizen acts at their peril". I would echo Robb's sentiment and let this sink in. Reflect upon how far we have fallen that these actions are even required in order to comply with the law. And unlike Existing Thing's commentary, I'm not in California. Maryland is often consider one of the evil "seven sisters" (States with strict gun control) but of them all, Maryland has very liberal gun laws as compared to MA, IL, NJ, CA, NY and HI. I'd prefer being back in Virginia but I sure as hell wouldn't trade Maryland for Massachusetts or Illinois!

Acquisition #1 of 2008

Ahh, the smell of machine oil and feel of smooth precision machined steel under your fingertips.

I have made my first acquisition of 2008. To be honest, it shouldn't qualify since I had ordered it in the summer of 2007.

My DSA FN FAL receiver is in! I received a call from the dealer on January 4th indicating that my long lost receiver had finally made its way home. I did the paperwork on the 5th and I get to take possession on the 12th. Got to love Maryland and their public safety, "heat of the moment" waiting period.

For a stripped receiver.

Here's the funny part: When I go to pick it up, I will stick a cable lock on it and put into a locked, padded gun case. Why do something so ridiculous? Because under the law it is a firearm. I could easily see a Montgomery County or Rockville police officer giving me grief over transport of a regulated firearm without it being in a case. The law says the receiver is the firearm, not the stuff attached to it. Lacking things like a barrel, action, bolt, etc simply means it is easy to tell it is unloaded. I'm willing to bet they'd write me a citation on that and cause me to lose my gun rights forever.

Ridiculous, yes, but I've heard of worse abuses in this area. I'm not going to take the chance despite the comedic aspect of a poor piece of steel being locked and chained in the back of the truck. You know how dangerous those stripped receivers can be. They could, gasp, just go off!!!

In all seriousness, I'm excited. It has been worth the wait and the $450 cost of the receiver. Now I need to get my compliance parts on order and figure out what configuration I am going to build.

I did make one decision on this in the wake of my CETME headspacing fun. My original plan was to build my FAL on an Imbel parts kit largely out of the box. However, the Imbel kit like most FALs are chambered for 7.62 NATO. Since I'm building the rifle from the ground up, I've decided to go with a DSA .308 barrel instead. It will add to the cost but will also guarantee I can shoot any .308 caliber cartridge out of it safely. I'll keep my Imbel barrels as spares.

The FN FAL, also called the C1 in Canadian Forces service, is my dream rifle. I don't know why I like it so much. I just do. Maybe because it was the first military arm I was ever exposed to in the flesh. I like the gun's appearance, its function and its cartridge.

It will likely be my only acquisition this year. Need to save money for bigger purchases. But if it is my only one, it will be worth it. The space is already set aside in the cabinet for my new DSA FAL.

I promise to document the build when I am ready to start. Plus, with the receiver in hand, I can release an uberpost I've had in the hopper for three months. It was the required visual. Trust me, you'll like it.

New Blog

With the new year upon me, I have decided to shake things up a bit.

Not that I am a religious daily poster but I am creating a new blog. It is meant to be a companion to this one and to separate out non-gun and rights related topics. I have other interests as well and would like to talk about them without boring you here.

Please wander next door to Suburban Dingo. The basic themes will be non-gun topics like dogs, life and technology. Guns aren't my only area of interest.

Enjoy!

Supreme Court Brief for DC Available

Hot off the presses, here is the brief the District of Columbia has filed with the Supreme Court in Heller vs. DC. Courtesy of SCOTUSblog.

I'm sure others will be able to tear this apart better than I. On my first quick pass, my opinion is the DC lawyers have argued themselves into a circle. They are going to have a hard time defending their definition of a "reasonable restriction".

Here's a quote that stands out for me:

In en-acting the laws at issue here, the Council responded to the serious dangers created by ownership of guns, considered various alternatives, and sensibly con-cluded that the handgun ban, plus trigger-lock and licensing requirements, would reduce crime, suicide, domestic violence, and accidental shootings. Prevent-ing those harms is not just a legitimate goal; it is a governmental duty of the highest order.

This lets you know exactly how those who run the District feel about your personal right to protect yourself. Essentially, it isn't your duty, it's theirs. How's that working out for you, DC? Have the things you listed here all fallen since the ban was enacted? And if it is a "governmental duty of the highest order", then I think you've failed utterly.

More to come. I can't wait to see the Heller brief.

Welcome to 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

It promises to be an interesting 2008 with all the things coming along. I want to take this moment to look back and look forward as we are supposed to as another year rings in.

I can honestly say 2007 was a positive year overall. Past years have often turned sour for various reasons. I think 2007 was the one that went right. It did start out badly. Things had turned ugly at work and I was extremely unhappy. Essentially, I had watched what I had been working towards for four years disappear in front of me. Some of it was my fault but even my manager at the time admittedly that the organization had handled things badly. Despite this setback, I tried a different tack to find myself a new niche and it just wasn't working out. That and the fact the company was doing company-wide layoffs one division at a time. Mine was in their sights at the time and they took their good, sweet time with it.

Do you know what the threat of losing your job anytime does to employee morale when that looms over you like a Sword of Damocles for five months? They wondered why people were so unhappy there. After those months, people started to leave. I was personally hoping for one of the nice severance packages they had given folks in the previous round. In the end, I decided my happiness was more important and I went looking.

As my Mom has told me, things happen for a reason. As it turned out, an e-mail landed in my mailbox a couple days after I had made the decision to leave. It was from a consulting firm I had interviewed with the previous year. They had made me an offer in the past and I had turned it down since the gig didn't feel right. This e-mail was a general "do you know anybody?" request for specific skills and it was sent to everyone they had on their list.

It was for a senior J2EE developer with Websphere experience. Guess who has that skill set and was working in a Websphere shop at the time? So I sent back a short reply: "Yes, I do know someone with that skill set and would be willing to help you. Me. My resume is on file with you. Please give me a call.".

They did.

We know the rest of the story. I gave my notice a few weeks later after hoping to be laid off in the interim since I would make money in the process but in the end was not. I held out as long as I could and just said I had had enough. The very next day after I left my old building, I walked into a new one and started on a 6 month temp-to-perm contract.

I converted to full-time two weeks ago.

I think I am at the place where I will retire from in 20 years. I know, a bit of a stretch given our modern job ideas but in this organization, longevity is the norm. I work with people who have 15, 20, 25 or even 30 or more years with the company. It goes back a long way. And they've never had a layoff in their over 7 decades of being in existence.

So I can honestly see myself here for a good, long while. Simply for the fact that to advance you generally need 5-10 years of service to be considered. So I think I am in it for the long haul. Plus, what I am doing is the job I wanted to be doing at my last employer before things went south. So that is a good thing.

Another good thing is I got engaged to my wonderful fiancee. The date is not set but will be sometime in 2009. We're in no rush. We aren't kids anymore looking starry-eyed at the wonderful, problem-free bliss of married life sustained indefinitely by love alone. She's wonderful, loves her ring. As she should since she was the one who had it assembled to her exacting desires and I merely provided the payment.

Hint to those of you out there contemplating getting engaged: There are two tiers of ring purchasing. Most of us normal men go to a jeweler. Makes sense, right? To us, that is all there is. However, there is another level to this and that is the diamond broker. Not jeweler, broker. They don't stock rings; they stock stones. When you have $50,000 worth of loose stones arrayed in front of you and comparing them along with various settings, you know you're operating in a different world. Hang on to your wallets for that experience. When you go in to select a stone by appointment only and you're on a first-name basis with the broker, you're going to be in for a wild ride.

I'm sure the lady in your life would love you forever for such attention to detail. If you want to know the name of my broker, drop me a note. He's heading to Israel in February for more stones and will purchase them on an individual basis. He'll also cut stones on site if you have an uncut diamond sitting around that you want to be that next unique piece.

Which leads into the not-so-good aspects of the year. One that is neither good or bad but just is what it is. I finalized my divorce after nearly 2 years of separation. We ended on good terms and get along fine today. It was a no-fault divorce and we settled all our issues like adults. We had many good years together and I think my ex and I both agree we are better off as friends.

On the bad, well, that's coming. The Maryland legislative session opens January 9th and that is going to be fun in the "pummeled with a large sledgehammer" variety. To any gun owner or those interested in freedom in Maryland, pay attention to whatever comes down the pipe. We need to stop this stuff in committee. Expect another push for an "assault weapon" ban, microstamping, Illinois-style licensing, theft reporting requirements, you name it. Maryland is evil when it comes to gun rights and we need to make sure it doesn't fall on the edge into the abyss of evil of places like Massachussets and Illinois. We are still somewhat free and I want to make sure we stay that way. Be ready to fight!

Another bad is more of an annoyance. My DSA FAL receiver still has not come in. Time to place another call to DSA and see where they are at. I'd like it in my hands before any legislative hearings. Just in case.

Lots of good are expecting to come out of this year. Professionally, I am on track. Financially, things have improved greatly. We hope to buy a house by the end of this year. Might as well wait until the market bottoms out because this subprime fallout isn't finished. It is a necessary correction and there is no harm in waiting.

Gun purchases are foggy right now and desire will largely drive that. As always, I desire a 6.8SPC upper and I would like a couple more rifles in the collection. Time will tell.

And of course, the greatest good (or bad, depending on your perspective) of 2008 will be Heller vs. DC being heard in the Supreme Court. I am looking forward to it. I think 2008 will be the year that will be remembered as where our restoration of our gun rights as a nation began after 40 years of incremental loss.

A few more changes are on the way. I'm just trying to find time with them on a new schedule.

Strap in and enjoy. It's going to be a fun and interesting year.