"Casus Belli": The Brady Bunch Declares War upon the Rest of Us.

Casus Belli: An event or political occurrence that brings about a declaration of war. -- Random House Unabridged Dictionary,

The Brady Campaign has declared war on American gunowners. Their declaration can be found here. The relevant excerpt:

Congress should enact strong legislation that closes the loopholes in the previous assault weapons statute and restricts civilian ownership of other weapons that were originally designed for military use, such as .50 caliber sniper rifles that have the range and power to bring down aircraft. High capacity ammunition magazines and armor-piercing bullets should be similarly restricted.

"Restricts civilian ownership of other weapons that were originally designed for military use." These will apparently be any surplus military firearm including the Krag Jorgenson rifle in .30-40 Krag, the M1903 Springfield rifle in .30-06, the M1 Garand rifle, the M1 Carbine, the semi-automatic clones of the M14 and M16, the SKS, the Kalashnikov design. One wonders if M1897 Winchester riot guns designed for World War One will be included.

Indeed, if "originally designed for military use" is the test then we'll have to turn in our Brown Bess flintlock muskets, our reproduction Springfield and Enfield rifled muskets used by Civil War re-enactors, even our colonial matchlocks. By this language the weapons held in the hands of Captain Parker's Minuteman Company on Lexington Green in 1775 would be forfeit. And so we come full circle.

In addition the "armor-piercing bullets" mentioned would net anything of sufficient muzzle energy to puncture armor including bolt action and lever action rifles in calibers such as .270 and .30-06.

Never have their desires been so naked, nor their appetites been so omnivorous. Elmer Fudd, the quintessential hunter who has always been willing to throw us "evil battle rifle" folks under the bus as long as he can hunt fuzzy animals unhindered will now join us under the Greyhound as intended road kill.

Now the vaunted NRA is quibbling on Holder and their supposed "big guns" of Barr and Hatch have sold us out already by endorsing him. Well, it is nice to know where they, and we, stand. David Codrea has rightly called Chris Cox and Wayne LaPierre ("He's French!") "the Lairds of Fairfax." Like the Scottish lairds who sold out William Wallace in order to curry favor with Longshanks, the NRA is withdrawing from the battlefield, refusing to seriously engage Holder at a time when their presence is most required.

But no matter how much obfuscation the NRA generates -- like some frightened squid spewing ink -- we must see through it, and clearly. And we must act.

The first thing we must do is to recognize that the Bradyites have declared war upon us all. Not just the fellows who shoot and collect surplus arms and semi-automatic rifles of military utility, but ALL OF US. We must recognize the truth, prepare for the coming of the Brady-inspired confiscationist raiding parties to our doors and decide whether or not we are going to resist.

Understand this: if this proposal is passed, signed and enforced, there will be war. The reaction of the jelly-spined NRA and the professional GOP politicians have made it certain. It is time for those of us who have chosen the course of no further retreat to stand together. And it is time for those who do nothing but mouth soothing words while holding their hands out for money and votes, to withdraw from the field and abandon any pretense that they are in this fight. The "Lairds of Fairfax" have already sold out their last enunciated "principle."

Let us be about the business of making ready to meet the confiscationists at our doors. They are coming to make war upon our liberty and our property. They have announced it. They have proudly claimed our "casus belli."