All posts by Chris Knox

Chris's Blog

Mumbai — As Seen From England

Mumbai — A Perspective From England

Long-time friend of my father Derek Bernard periodically sends out his thoughts on gun ownership and the law.  He lives in England.  It's a relief to know that in Mother England, the torch of liberty is not quite extinguished.  American gun owners have only to look to England and Australia to see what can happen to our gun rights. 

Derek sends good stuff which I will start posting.  If you'd like to receive his updates directly, drop me a line here.  With his latest he forwards an op-ed piece written by another English friend of Dad's, Richard Munday.  The published version appears was published in the Times of London and appears here.  Being the provincial colonist that I am, I had never heard of the Tottenham Outrage, which happened a hundred years ago this January.  I was also unaware of just how well-armed Edwardian England was, much less India.  It doesn't look like the change is what you'd call progress.  

Of course, the Mumbai incident could happen in London.  Or Paris.  Or New York.  Or Boston.  But it might have a different outcome in Miami or Atlanta or Phoenix.  At least I would hope so.

–Chris Knox

 

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Informative

The Truth About AK47 Firepower

In 1989 Larry Pratt of GOA and Neal Knox tried an experiment using an exciting new technology that had just become available:  VHS video tape.  They hauled an AK47 and a bunch of other guns ranging from a pair of 9 mm pistols to a 12 gauge shotgun for a demonstration of comparative ballistics.  The target?  a bunch of watermelons.  The watermelon is a good target for this demonstration because it's something everyone is familiar with (as compared with ballistic gelatin which many people have seen on TV, but few have handled), and reacts pretty spectacularly. 

The size of the watermelon splash is a fair indicator of comparative power based on comparisons of ballistic tables.  The AK's 7.62×39 round yields a splash comparable to the .30-30 and the .30-'06 provides a pretty spectacular show.  But the 12 gauge loaded with No. 4 shot steals the show as it transfers virtually all of its energy to the watermellon yielding the tag line of the video: "There was no grenade in that watermelon!"  My kids have gotten a kick out of watching their grandad say that line since they were in pre-school.

Continue reading The Truth About AK47 Firepower →

Chris's Blog

Obama Questions Appointees’ Gun Ownership

A Yahoo! news story indicates that potential Obama Cabinet appointees are being questioned about their gun ownership.  According to the story, the questionnaire asks (http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081120/pl_politico/15835) “Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.” 

We have counselled calm but alert watchfulness.  It looks like Obama and company intend to give GunVoters something to watch for.  The mindset the question reveals is worth exploring.  It asks whether the gun — an inanimate piece of pig iron — was the cause of personal injury or property damage.

Continue reading Obama Questions Appointees’ Gun Ownership →

The Knox Update

Ignorance is Bliss-tering

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

Ignorance is Bliss — Until the Pain Begins

 

By Jeff Knox

 

(November 20, 2008) The reality of the November 4 elections is beginning to settle in and the more people learn about the choices they’ve made, the more concerned they become.  It turns out that the McCain campaign’s “Celebrity” commercial was spot-on; Barack Obama was famous for being famous and the masses failed to look behind the curtain or into the promises.  What Alan Korwin calls the “lame-stream media” was complicit in the charade as they fawned over Obama and the Democrats while trashing McCain, Palin, the Republicans in Congress, and George W. Bush.  The two major parties were also complicit as they have locked up the election process and locked out many highly qualified and worthwhile candidates and ideas.  But in the end, it all comes down to the American people and how much attention and consideration they are giving to the health of The Republic. 

The simple fact is that the vast majority of citizens pay absolutely no attention to matters of politics and a good percentage of the rest pay only superficial attention.  Gunowners turn out for elections at about the same rate as non-gunowners and often have little or no idea about the candidates’ positions on firearms issues.  While millions of serious “gun-people” buy Shotgun News and other gun publications almost religiously, many of them never even look at the “political columns” like this one and choose to remain oblivious to the erosion of their rights and the threats certain political philosophies represent.

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Jeff's Blog

Parks Rules at Risk

    The new regulations regarding firearms in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges are in serious jeopardy with the pending new administration.  Congressional Democrats and Obama surrogates are talking about taking advantage of little used rules to repeal regulations enacted in the last year of an administration.  Regulations which have not been finalized can be frozen by the new President as soon as he enters office.  Other regulations enacted as far back as May of this year can be overturned by Congress.
    While the primary targets of such regulatory reversion are environmental and industry related, it is likely that the foot-dragging by the Interior Department in finalizing the new firearms regulations could result in either presidential or congressional nullification – as the Firearms Coalition warned back in June.
    At this point it is doubtful that a legislative solution to the park disarmament problem could be pushed through, but it is important that GunVoters let legislators and regulators know that a betrayal on this issue will be remembered and answered at the ballot box.

Information about the Democrat plans to nix Bush administration regulatory changes can be found here in this AP wire story:

 

Additional Note:

Obama has named Ken Salazar of Colorado as his pick to head the Department of Interior which oversees National Parks and Wildlife Refuges.  While there were other names being floated for the position who would have been worse for gunowners, such as AZ  Representative Raúl Grijalva, Salazar is no friend to gunowners or to gun rights.  Heis on record in support of backgroun checks for private sales at gun shows and for band on "ban on specific automatic weapons and assault weapons," whatever that actually means. 

 

The Knox Update

Impending Doom

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

 

Impending Doom

Is the sky really falling?

 

By Jeff Knox

 

(November 11, 2008) Two years ago I wrote a couple of articles describing the composition of the Congress after the mid-term elections and explaining that I didn’t expect to see the new Democrat majority making any kind of serious run at gun rights.  I caught a lot of flak for those predictions.  A few people publicly declared me to be naïve, misguided, or just too stupid to understand the “nature of politics,” which they described as an adversarial system of winners reaping rewards and exacting revenge by pillaging their enemies and ramming through their radical agendas.  According to my critics, the “supposedly pro-gun Democrats” would jump when Nancy Pelosi cracked her whip and that said whip cracking would commence at any moment.  They said that “assault weapons”, .50 caliber rifles, and private sales at gun shows – the “gun show loophole” – would all be history within a year and that if I couldn’t see all of this writing on the wall, I was much too myopic to be a professional gun rights activist, and so on.

Some might have noticed the fact that none of those things has come to pass.  As both brother Chris and I have said, the Democrats remember 1994 and are loath to jeopardize their majorities chasing what has clearly become a failed social policy.  The usual suspects put forward their standard fare of anti-rights legislation and it all languished in committees, never to be seriously debated nor brought to vote.  The Tiahrt Amendment was reauthorized against the strenuous objections of Mike Bloomberg and Sarah Brady, a NICS “improvement” bill passed only because NRA supported it, and a last-minute D.C. relief bill was allowed to pass out of the House (with the understanding that it would die in the Senate) so Democrats could claim they had voted pro-rights before the election.  Even a major firearms-related tragedy – the Virginia Tech massacre – generated no serious moves toward new restrictions.

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Chris's Blog

Get Ready to Party Like It’s 1989

Remember the mass demonstrations of the late 1980's up to the time that Bill Clinton signed his (and Joe Biden's) infamous "assault weapon" ban?  The largest demonstration was in Columbus, Ohio on May 20, 1989.  Police estimated the crowd at 22,000.  In Phoenix crowds were estimated at above 10,000 (wishful recolleciton on my part – Chris) nearly 3,000, this on a mid-June day when the temperature would eventually rise to well above 105.  It occurred to me that it would be a good idea to start gearing up for such demonstrations again.  Hoping to provide some inspiration, I started digging around the Web for pictures.  I am appalled to report that I could find no pictures of any pro-gun demonstration of the late 1980's.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  Google couldn't find an image, neither could Yahoo!  It's as if Winston of 1984 fame made it all go away.  That's just paranoia on my part, but we're looking at paranoid times.

It's time to get ready for a reprise.  

I well remember how uncomfortable gun people seemed to be coming out and marching with signs.  They were strangely quiet, for a demonstration.  Certainly they were well-mannered.  Parks where the demonstrations occurred tended to be cleaner after the demonstration than before.  Frankly, demonstrating in the street is not something that gun people take to easily.  So let's start preparing the ground.

If you have pictures from one of those demonstrations from the late 1980's and early 1990's, put them on the scanner.  Don't have a scanner?  Go to the nearest copy store or even to a drug store.  Then post those photos to Flickr, Shutterfly, Picasa, PhotoBucket, or wherever you store your pictures, and send me a link.  Send a link to every gun blogger you know.  Send a link to me.  Post it on your favorite forum.  Spread 'em around.  It's time to kick off the Great Virtual March for Gun Rights of 2008.

The Knox Update

Drawing Lines

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

 

Where’s Your Line?

It’s hard to draw in shifting sand.

 

By Jeff Knox

 

(November 4, 2008)  Last week in this space I painted with a broad brush and general terms on the topic of armed revolt.  The trouble with speaking in broad, general terms is that the author’s general intent and the reader’s general perception can turn out to be pretty far apart – generally speaking.  That causes unnecessary conflict and is just sloppy writing.  I’ll try to do better.  In this installment I’d like to try to clear up a few things and hopefully get you thinking about what matters to you.

First, about last week’s column:

In no way did I intend to suggest that anyone who quotes Jefferson or wears a “MOLON LAVE” T-shirt is just guff and bluster.  I quote Jefferson and wear a “MOLON LAVE” T-shirt and I’m absolutely serious about them.  I know I’m not alone in that.  I think that sending that message loud and clear to the powers that be is very important and useful.

My suggestion that 99.995% of the time the slogan will be removed before it is lived up to was intended as hyperbole, but when you consider the thousands of people whose gun rights are temporarily or permanently revoked each week by traffic cops, divorce courts, and criminal indictments, that figure might not really be that far off.

Continue reading Drawing Lines →