"Mike was here demonstrating the impotence of the King’s edicts." Well, I don't know about that "world renowned" part. "Meeting Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars."

Another perspective on my recent trip to Connecticut. From the Connecticut Carry November 2014 newsletter:

"Meeting Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars." by Rich Burgess.

Mike Vanderboegh is a very interesting character in our community. He has proven to be quite polarizing and quite controversial. One thing is for sure, he is deep into defending and fighting alongside us for our rights to defend ourselves and deserves great respect for doing so.

Residing in Alabama, Mike Vanderboegh writes for Sipsey Street Irregulars, a blog that is his own creation and has become world renowned. He writes about many things, but some of the most notable in the past few years were his investigative and reporting work on breaking the Fast and Furious scandal alongside David Codrea. He has also written in depth about the Ruby Ridge and Waco sieges and about the right to keep and bear arms along with government opposition and actions meant to destroy the right.

Recently, he has taken on assisting in educating and mobilizing people to fight against the Connecticut 2013 Gun Ban as he sees this as a battleground state, like so many other people in the pro-rights community do as well. Mike Vanderboegh does take the ‘battleground’ part a little more literally and seriously than others do, as he was around for the militia movements of the 90s that were fueled by the Waco and Ruby Ridge murders by the Federal government. In that, we differ a bit from Mike. We do not believe that the state of Connecticut is interested in or capable of full scale door to door confiscation. We also do not believe that we are on the verge of an all-out civil war in Connecticut.

Mike Vanderboegh also happens to be the founder of the ‘Three Percenter’ movement; a status that has resulted in no lack of heartburn for his enemies in state and federal governments.

Controversy follows Mike as he not only openly admits, but proudly advertises his smuggling exploits in bringing ‘illegal’ magazines, ammunition and firearms into states like Colorado and Connecticut after their respective gun bans were passed. He also issued repeated warnings to the state officials of Connecticut, New York and Colorado to not attempt confiscations against the respective residents of those states. The Southern Poverty Law Center has denounced Mike Vanderboegh as some kind of ‘Domestic Terrorist’, despite his constant writings about militias and the force that they may need to apply someday being purely defensive. According to Mike, some organizations in Connecticut have apparently cut ties with him deeming him ‘too controversial’ as well.

Connecticut Carry does not feel that way. We do not see reason to discourage or cut ties with someone who is fighting alongside us to make Connecticut residents safer. As far as committing supposed ‘crimes’ like bringing once legal ammunition feeding devices across state lines, we think that is between Mike and the Connecticut State Police, but we always appreciate our members or prospective members being better armed or educated.

We also recognize the positive contribution of Mike’s visit and his defiance of our state officials. Mike announced on his blog and through a formal press release that he would be coming to Connecticut to “Defy. Resist. Evade and Smuggle”. He did not try hard to hide his actions or to evade the Connecticut State Police, however, nor was any resistance needed to defy the State Police by smuggling his wares. In fact, the Connecticut State Police were nowhere to be found. They made no attempts to apprehend a known arms smuggler (one conspicuously wearing a very obvious ‘Arms Smuggler’ hat all over the place).

The fact is, the 2013 Gun Ban is a long and comprehensive set of edicts that are largely unenforceable written and ‘enforced’ by people with too weak a stomach to try and enforce those laws on anyone that they believe will fight back. Instead, they look for anyone that they can victimize easily and demonize in the media to keep public support behind their heavy hand. Mike was here demonstrating the impotence of the King’s edicts, just as we did when we put up our challenge for the state to ‘Shit or get off the pot’ with regards to enforcing the 2013 Gun Ban. We were considered controversial by the same people and groups then, so we can understand Mike’s frustration at such cowardice in the face of stating simple and obvious facts of life.

Mike publicized that he would spend Saturday at the Ye Connecticut Gun Guild gun show, and that is exactly what he did, sharing table space and talking to people about what is going on in Connecticut and what we need to be ready for. We also attended at least one brainstorming session on what some possible courses of action were to be and Mike ‘held court’ with anyone and everyone that would listen as they explored the show.

I must admit, I found it a bit surreal to meet Mike Vanderboegh. Just a few years ago I was reading his blog (which is still on my daily reading list) and trying to find anything ‘3 Percent’ related. I would (and still do) wear shirts and hats with the logo and I hung the Nyberg Battle flag to show my position on our rights. And now, here I was sitting around a table sharing stories and opinions of our ‘boots on the ground’ in Connecticut with Mike Vanderboegh himself. What a small world..

Anyway, I want to thank Mike Vanderboegh for all the work he does to support us in Connecticut, specifically Connecticut Carry, and the work he does nationally. This is a worthy fight, and this is a person worthy of you giving your attention to. Read his blog, send him your thoughts and support and make sure you show up to future events. You never know who will surprise us with their presence, and you never know who you will meet..

NOTE: My thanks to Rich for his kind words, but it is important to remember that I pull my britches on one leg at a time just like everybody else. And as I noted here, I make lots of mistakes.