Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Feds consider new gun regs
The Obama administration is working on new gun control regulations that would target stolen and missing weapons. . .
It is unclear precisely what the draft regulations, drawn up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and under review at the White House’s regulations office, would do.The ATF would not comment on the draft rule, since it has not yet been released to the public, but a description provided by the White House asserts that it would target cases where guns go missing “in transit.”
A tale of two alternate realities. “If his (the customer) life was not in danger, if no one had a gun up to him, if no one pointed a gun at him - what gives him the right to think that it's okay to just shoot someone?”
The gun rights folks on the 'Net have been buzzing about this story which is, I'm proud to say, from the great state of Alabama: Customer Halts Armed Robbery Inside Family Dollar Store, Mobile, Ala.
Two employees of a Family Dollar store in Mobile, Ala. were unloading a truck, when a pair of armed robbers approached them.One of the criminals forced one of the employees to the front of the store, past terrified customers, and demanded that the employee open the safe. Upon witnessing the robbery, one customer drew a gun and fired at the thief, striking him and causing his accomplice to flee.Following the incident, another customer inside the store during the robbery spoke with reporters and thanked the armed citizen, stating, “”I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart and God bless you.” (WPMI, Mobile, Ala. 11/13/13)
But that ain't the whole story:
Suspect's family angry at Good Samaritan, police
Yep, you read that headline correctly:
The family of a suspected thief is lashing out after their son was shot during an armed robbery.Relatives of Adric White, 18, believe the Good Samaritan who opened fire should have “just left the store.”
Oh, yeah. Of course. The story continues:
The Good Samaritan, who we are not identifying, told FOX10 News he was shopping at the Family Dollar on Stanton road when he noticed a masked gunman leading one of the employees to the front of the store.“He had the gun to his head. He had him on his knees,” said the man. “I drew my gun on him and I said 'Hey don't move.' At that point he swung around and before he had a chance to aim the gun at me I fired. I didn’t want to shoot him.”White was transported to USA Medical Center, where he remains in police custody.A family member who did not want to be identified said White should have never been shot to begin with.“If his (the customer) life was not in danger, if no one had a gun up to him, if no one pointed a gun at him - what gives him the right to think that it's okay to just shoot someone?” said the relative. “You should have just left the store and went wherever you had to go in your car or whatever.”FOX10 had interviewed White’s parents but they later called and demanded the video not be aired.Court records show that White was out on bond for robbing The Original Oyster House at gunpoint a little more than a month before the Family Dollar robbery.
Uh, well, if you don't want shot by an armed citizen, don't go pointing weapons at innocent people with evil intent. How about that lesson?
Spread of 'knockout' game highlights people's need for 'high capacity' magazines
Granted, the sorts of young thugs whose cowardice tends to dictate that they choose lone victims, while themselves numbering sometimes in the dozens, would seem unlikely to continue to press an attack as their would-be victim fires 10 shots into their fellow predators, it would be a mistake to expect any rationality from the kind of creature who finds entertainment in brutalizing innocent people. The only prudent course is to be equipped stop all of them.
See also, Thomas Sowell: A Very Dangerous Game
Some in the media, as well as in politics, may think that they are trying to avoid provoking a race war by ignoring or playing down these attacks. But the way to prevent a race war is by stopping these attacks, not trying to sanitize them.If these attacks continue, and continue to grow, more and more people are going to know about them, regardless of the media or the politicians. Responsible people of all races need to support a crackdown on these attacks, which can provoke a white backlash that can escalate into a race war. But political expediency leads in the opposite direction.
Update.
Went to my oncologist yesterday and it was, as usual, a mixed bag. The wound in my back continues its "heal, burst open, drain, heal and burst open" cycle, but we have determined that the anti-cancer medicine Gleevec -- which I have been off of now for two months to see if that would help -- is not responsible. Thus, I am now back on the Gleevec, with all its wonderful side effects. Which is okay by me if it keeps the "Alien"-like tumor from regrowing. We have about concluded that the drainage from the back wound is not coming from the esophogeal-gastric resection as it was before they glued me up, but just where it is coming from remains a mystery. My weight has stabilized at between 180 and 190, so I am not looking so gaunt these days. I was marveling the other day that I am now wearing a medium M65 field jacket. Quite a come-down from the XXL I used to wear. Not that I recommend a GI stromal tumor excision as a weight-loss program. Anyway, keep me in your prayers.
How you can go to federal prison as a "prohibited person" never having been a "prohibited person."
Over the years, the feds, frustrated at being unable to get directly at me with various set-ups and entrapments, have targeted my friends, associates and even casual acquaintances. Most of these stories I have been unable to share you, my readers, because the targeted always would suffer more from the publicity of their plight than if they suffered in their -- and my -- silence. Indeed, that is why they are chosen, it seems. I have been aware of this unpleasant fact for more than a decade now, and it is the measure of the evil in the hearts of these armed bureaucrats that they stoop to such deadly pettiness just to make a point with me by making miserable, or even destroying, the lives of people I know and care about.
This particular Kafkaesque story of such abuse of federal power began, I believe, on 28 October 4 years ago with a praxis post on ALICE packs wherein I made the statement "I dropped into my favorite surplus store, AA Army Surplus in Leeds, Alabama."
Several months later, in 2010, just about the time I posted this, the proprietor of AA Army Surplus and a veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Darryl Baxter, was approached by a local cop serving on federal-state-local "Joint Task Force" to try to set up a person on a STEN gun purchase. He refused. That, plus his acquaintance with me, was enough to stir the wrath of Mordor, and the great eye of Sauron turned its attention to the case of Darryl Baxter.
In doing so the Feds discovered that Darryl had pled guilty to a state misdemeanor years before, and Darryl was given paperwork reflecting that fact. But when the case was entered into the state data-base it was incorrectly entered as a felony. Indeed, the original state paperwork after the archivist got done showed both "misdemeanor" AND "felony." Worse, and you would think that this wouldn't have met the smell test at the US Attorney's office, the state actually never filed information in lieu of a conviction. So, not only was he never convicted of a felony but the information of the misdemeanor was never filed. But, as Darryl relates, "the Feds said that it was up to someone higher to determine that."
Again, let me repeat, Darryl had pled guilty to a misdemeanor not a felony and had paperwork reflecting that fact. But this clerical error was enough to give them the pretext of raiding Darryl's shop, where he had previously sold firearms from his personal collection, as a "prohibited person" doing business in firearms. As it turns out, they raided him no more than five minutes after I left his shop, and, just minutes into the raid, they began asking him questions about me.
They arrested him, of course, and seized the firearms on the premises. Then they went to his home and seized the rest of his collection, including weapons belonging to his wife and son.
Darryl was advised by his attorney that he was sure the mix-up would be corrected and that "the last thing he needed was publicity." So, at Darryl's request, I remained silent. For three years, as the case wended its way through the courts, state and federal, I remained silent though it was against all my instincts. Until now, when Darryl has finally given me his permission to write about the case. Long story short, Darryl's attorney was unable to get the state to correct its mistake before the federal trial, where -- the fake felony still standing as fact -- Darryl was swiftly convicted. He is currently ordered to surrender to federal custody on 2 December.
The latest update comes from Darryl:
"The State prosecutor tried to get the State Appeals Court to dismiss our case with them. The Appeal Courts told them no, and that the lower judge had to have a ruling by Dec 3. So that is a positive sign. The Appeals Court sees merit in my case. So right now, we are trying to get a Federal extension on turning myself in."
We can only hope that the error is finally corrected at the state level and that the surrender date extension is granted. It is a hope, but given the way this Kafkaesque case has proceeded, it is not the way to bet. This is as bitter as a gall and wormwood cocktail to me. The plain fact is that Darryl would not have received the attention that he got without his business association with me -- that merely of seller and customer. That is enough to bring the American Stasi -- the secret political police -- out of their tax-paid evil dens to destroy other people's lives at a whim.
There is one thing y'all can do for Darryl, though. He is having a going out of business sale at AA. You can reach him at (205) 699-4209 or on Facebook. Get in touch with him and see if you can help him liquidate his stock.
National Review thanks Michelle Obama. Sincerely. Really.
Obamacare, Gun Control Require a Democratic Senate.
By emphasizing to voters in Kentucky, Georgia, and West Virginia that a vote for the Democratic candidate is a vote for Obamacare and gun control, Michelle Obama has greatly assisted GOP efforts to retain and/or win those seats. Thank you, Michelle Obama, for your efforts above and beyond the call of duty to assist GOP efforts to retake control of the Senate.
Vintage Bob Wright. "Any man who seeks to deny essential liberty to another without cause, is an evil son of a bitch."
I asked Bob to send me this piece he write some time back. It is vintage Bob:
Any man who seeks to deny essential liberty to another without cause, is an evil son of a bitch. He cannot be a “Good Man”. It is irrelevant if his family likes him or if he is kind to animals, sends his mother in-law flowers or makes the trains run on time. It is irrelevant if you served with him, if he has done brave things in the past. No amount of desire to “protect” or to “secure” or “prevent” will improve him. Declarations of his desire to apply “common sense” and be “reasonable” cannot redeem him. His desire to deny essential liberty to one, based on the actions of others reveals the monster that abides in the soul of that man. If he seeks this, stating the loss of liberty is necessary for the health of the society he is the philosophical twin of every tyrant and mass murdering butcher in history. If American society is to survive, the decent, honest citizen must band together to drive these evil people from our society. They must suppress their innate live and let live philosophy and face the unpleasant fact that the man who seeks to deny an individual or a society those essential liberties is a potential killer whose bloody solutions will be incrementally revealed as he gains power.
Feel free to write Bob with your comments. You can reach him at wrightstuff505ATyahoo.com.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Nothing new under the sun. A little trip down memory lane that the neo-collectivists (or those inclined to make excuses for them) might find instructive.
Evno Fishelevich Azef
In my insomnia last night, I pulled down Whittaker Chamber's Witness. I often return to Chambers for inspiration, particularly before traveling to go make trouble for the collectivists somewhere. Chambers reminds me that many have risked far more in this struggle with evil, and his writing is also suffused with his faith in God that sustained him. Witness speaks to me in a way that no other book written by man does.
I have a dog-eared hardback of the 1952 Random House first printing that used to belong to the East Ensley branch if the Birmingham Public Library. I probably paid a quarter or fifty cents for it years and years ago after I came to Birmingham. There is a note on Page 60, an asterisk to this quote which begins on page 59:
The Communist Party, despite occasional pious statements to the contrary, is a terrorist organization. Its disclaimers are for the record. But its record of kidnappings, assassinations, and murders makes the actions of the old Terror Brigade of the Socialist Revolutionary Party look mere romantic.*
The note below it reads in part:
The Terror Brigade, the underground section of the Socialist Revolutionary party, made no secret of its purpose and methods. It organized and carried out the assassinations of the Russian Prime Minister von Plehve, the Grand Duke Sergei, and others. The Brigade was headed at one time by Yevno Asiev, the classic type of the double agent. As head of the Terror Brigade, Asiev planned and executed political murders. As a lifelong police agent, he constantly betrayed the terrorists to the police.
Hmmm, I thought, now doesn't that sound familiar in the present context? Chambers got the spelling of Azev's name wrong, but he was correct.
See the Wikipedia citation for Yevno Azef.
Yevno Azef (Russian: Евгений Филиппович (Евно Фишелевич) Азеф, 1869–1918, also transliterated as Evno Azef), was a socialist revolutionary who was also a double agent working both as an organizer of assassinations for the Socialist-Revolutionary Party (also known as SRs or Esers) and a police spy for the Okhrana, the Imperial secret police. He was an agent provocateur, carrying out acts of terrorism, which justified the police's arresting his accomplices.
Go ahead and read the entire citation. It is a little trip down memory lane that the neo-collectivists (or those inclined to make excuses for them) might find instructive.
Praxis: "The Bullet and the Bayonet."
"Poetry about a decidedly unpoetic modality of war."
Some thoughts on the continued utility of the bayonet from Weaponsman:
"It’s unlikely the British will give up their Sweet Sister any time soon. In 2004, they used bayonets in Iraq to rout Sadrist militia; the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders — perhaps a descendant of Sassoon’s “Highland Major’s” regiment — killed some 35 with a full-on bayonet charge."snip"The psychological effect of the bayonet is two-sided: it strikes fear into the enemy at point end, and stirs confidence in the soldier behind the bayonet. Such de minimis subtleties are the foundation stones of many a victory."snip"Because new things must be taught in Army basic training, bayonet training’s been cut, like other obsolete skills such as much close-quarter drill."snip"The Marines take a different approach. The Marines’ official website says flatly, “Every Marine receives bayonet training in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) and on the Bayonet Assault Course in Recruit Training.”
Every military generation since, oh, I don't know, the War Between the States, has heard predictions about the bayonet being as obsolete as the pike. While it is true that resort to the bayonet represents a tactical foul-up inflicted by a. command failure; b. supply failure; or c. lop-sided enemy numbers and/or tactical skill; the fact of the matter is that such failures happen and then you will have to resort to what the Brits in the Boer War referred to as "the long spoon."
In addition, nothing says seriousness of intent in a situation where bullets ought not be the first resort -- herding prisoners, keeping order at a food distribution facility, etc. -- like a fixed bayonet. I'm sure we'll have a lively discussion of this topic.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)