Occupy Oregon

By Jeff Knox

(January 14, 2016) A couple of weeks ago, a group angry over a controversial court decision, and led by Ammon Bundy, moved into buildings on a remote Oregon wildlife refuge.  Bundy is known for his role in a tense standoff between federal agents and militia groups at his father’s Nevada ranch a couple of years ago.  Like the Bundy Ranch incident, the occupation of the headquarters buildings of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge challenges federal authority over lands in the western U.S., and like the clash in Nevada, Bundy and his compatriots are armed and say that if attacked, they will defend themselves.  It is this “heavily armed, anti-government militia” angle that has really caught the media’s attention.

Right after the group laid claim to the Wildlife Refuge headquarters, speculation ran rampant that the feds were going to come in hot and quash the dissidents, but so far the feds have shown no inclination to test the occupiers’ resolve.  As a matter of fact they haven’t shown at all.  After two weeks, there has been no sign of federal officers anywhere near the compound.  The local sheriff has made efforts to talk Bundy and his friends into leaving, but Bundy politely declined the Sheriff’s offer of safe passage out of the state for the group.

Perhaps federal authorities actually learned something from deadly debacles like Ruby Ridge and the Waco tragedy.  They have no urgent need to evict the group.  The Refuge sees little activity in the winter months.  There are no allegations of child abuse, illegal weapon stashes, or fears that a mass suicide might be in the works.  There’s not even any indication that the group is mistreating the buildings or property.  As a matter of fact, aside from a highly publicized fence cutting, it looks like they are taking good care of the place, and possibly even making some minor improvements.

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Obama’s “New” Gun Control Bomb is a Dud

By Jeff Knox

Director of The Firearms Coalition

(January 5, 2016) President Obama released details of his “New Executive Action to Reduce Gun Violence and Make Our Communities [sic]” last night, and the here’s the summary: It’s not new.  There’s little action.  And it will do nothing to reduce gun violence or make our communities safe.

The key feature most people have been talking about was the idea of providing a more specific definition of what constitutes “engaging in the business” of selling firearms.  Many of us would welcome a clear definition for that term, because the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has been playing fast and loose with the current, open-ended definition for almost 50 years.  But in spite of all of the hints and speculation to the contrary, Obama left that bit of poorly-worded regulation in place.  Instead, he merely reiterated that anyone “engaging in the business,” whether at a brick and mortar gun shop, a gun show, or through ads on the internet, is still “engaging in the business” and must be licensed.

Just as the requirement for car dealers to be licensed doesn’t prevent you from selling your car, the requirement to be licensed if you are “engaging in the business” of buying and selling firearms does not preclude someone from selling a gun, or guns that they no longer want.  In fact, there are many people who routinely buy, sell, and trade guns as a hobby, like collecting coins or model train cars.  The problem is that under the current definition, one guy might swap or sell dozens of guns in a year and not be considered to be “engaging in the business,” while another guy might only engage in a couple of transfers and face felony charges.

Continue reading Obama’s Executive ReAction →

I Trust You – with a Car or a Gun

By Jeff Knox

(December 31, 2015) Over the Christmas weekend my wife and I spent some time on the road traveling to visit family and friends.  As usual, I was driving about 5 miles per hour over the posted speed limit of 65, and I assume the cars coming from the other direction were doing about the same, which reminded me of an analogy I have often used when talking about trust, responsible behavior, and the different perceptions people have about given situations.

Two cars driving opposite directions on a two-lane road at 70 miles per hour are effectively approaching each other at 140 miles per hour.  At speeds like that, bumpers, crush zones, airbags, and seat belts are not likely to be of much use.  The only thing between you and that 17-year old in the ’95 Chevy Silverado coming at you at 140 miles per hour is a 3-inch wide stripe of yellow paint, yet most of us face this situation almost every day without much thought. So as Janet and I wound our way from Wickenberg toward Yarnell and Peeples Valley, I wondered how many of the occupants of the cars swooshing past us would have been uncomfortable standing in line behind me in the supermarket when they noticed the .45 on my hip.  Most real Arizonans would hardly take notice, but we have a lot of refugees from places like California and New York who are easily shocked by such a sight.  Nothing in my appearance or demeanor presents a threat to them, but they don’t trust me and are concerned simply because I have a gun.  They have an irrational fear of guns – hoplophobia.

Continue reading A Matter of Mistrust →

Americans Catching On To Gun Control Farce

By Jeff Knox

(December 23, 2015) Two separate polls, both sponsored by Big Media agencies that are not historically friendly to guns and gun owners, were recently released, and the results are encouraging.  Polls commissioned by ABC News and the Washington Post, and by CBS News and the New York Times, both found that a majority of Americans oppose the idea of banning so-called “assault weapons.”

Perhaps people are realizing that terrorists and homicidal lunatics are always going to find a way to execute their evil.  Maybe they’re recalling the terrorists who used box cutters to turn planes into weapons on 9/11, the Muslim separatists in China who killed 29 people and injured 130 more last year using nothing more than kitchen knives, or the terrorist who acquired guns and explosives in heavily gun-restricted California, and even more restrictive France, which they used to launch attacks in San Bernardino and Paris.  Maybe people are realizing that abrogating the rights of millions of people in the unlikely hope that it might prevent a handful of evil-doers from committing atrocities, is not only irrational, but also unreasonable.  Or perhaps people are finally looking at the real numbers and seeing that crime has been going down dramatically while the proliferation of firearms, particularly AR-type rifles, has been sky-rocketing, and that rifles of any kind, while they have been used in several highly publicized tragedies, are actually comparatively rare in crimes of any kind, accounting for only about 3% of murders each year.

One thing that is starkly clear from these polls: Gun control has become a major dividing issue between Democrats and Republicans.  Both polls show majority support among Democrats for stricter gun control laws and an “assault weapons” ban, and both show majority opposition to those ideas among Republicans.  Democrats support an AW ban 61% to 36% opposed.  Republicans are even more definitive, with 70% opposing and only 27% supporting a ban.  Independents split 55% opposed, to 43% in favor.  On the broader question of making gun laws stricter, 76% of Democrats support the idea, while the same 76% of Republicans think gun laws should remain as they are or be made less strict.

Continue reading Dividing Lines →

You Might Be A Terrorist!

By Jeff Knox

(December 15, 2015) Are you a terrorist?  A potential terrorist?  A suspected terrorist? A suspected potential terrorist?  Or potentially a suspected terrorist?

As Jeff Foxworthy might say; If you believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the rule of law… You might be a terrorist.

Prohibiting people listed on the government’s secret Terrorist Watchlist and its secret subsidiary the Federal No-Fly List from buying guns is again on the table.  President Obama expressed the argument simply the other night when he said; “If you’re too dangerous to board a plane, you’re too dangerous, by definition, to buy a gun.”  That seems reasonable, but of course, like most government programs, seeming reasonable and being reasonable are two vastly different things. 

More importantly, that is not what the legislation now pending in Congress does.

Politicians, the media, and anti-rights organizations are fond of terms like “terror gap” and “terrorist loophole,” then they float between talking about the “No-Fly List” and the “Terrorist Watchlist.”  In fact, their legislation does not use either of those lists, but instead gives the Attorney General (or her designate) the authority to create yet another list, based on the same vague criteria of the Terrorist Watchlist, but with her discretion as to who to include and who to leave off.

Continue reading Some Say YOU Are a Terrorist →

Will Terrorism Destroy the Conservative Movement?

By Jeff Knox

(December 10, 2015) The string of high profile shootings and terrorist attacks around the country over the past several months has put people on edge, and understandably so.  The Obama Administration provides no comfort with their refusal to call terrorism what it is or admit that it is in any way connected to the Islamic religion.  When Obama’s concern for tainting the “religion of peace” with the blood of terrorism is compared to his zeal in broadly chastising police for indifference to black lives, or his willingness to conflate the acts of one drug and alcohol addled young man to everyone who has ever whistled “Dixie,” it naturally raises questions about just how worried he really is about “cultural sensitivity.” 

Instead of acknowledging the real and obvious threats posed by religious radicals of the Muslim persuasion, Mr. Obama would rather focus on the “easy availability of firearms,” as though terrorists who are willing to die to kill innocents would be impeded by paperwork.  His latest ploy is to stretch the definition of the Gun Control Act’s “prohibited person” to include those on the government’s secret Terrorist Watchlist, and so prohibit them from being able to buy guns from a licensed dealer.  Who is on the list?  That’s a secret.  How does someone get on the list?  That’s secret too.  Could anyone be on the list by mistake?  Ask Ted Kennedy.  Would it keep guns away from terrorists?  Of course not.  They don’t sell AK’s in Paris do they?  Fuzzy feelings trump real effects in Obama’s world.

But the terrorism threat needs some perspective.  Even though we seem to have seen more lunatics and terrorists randomly attacking innocent people in public places over the past few years, the odds of you or me actually being involved in one of those attacks are still incredibly low.  Estimates place the odds of being killed in a terrorist attack at about one in 20 million.  Compare that to the odds of being struck by lightning at about 1 in 5 million.  Add in all of the “mass shootings” in recent years, and you’re still about 3 times more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a mass shooter or bomber.

Then why are we so worried?

Continue reading A Serious Terrorist Threat →

Last Chance to Buy a Gun?

By Jeff Knox

(December 3, 2015) Barack Obama continues his seven-year run as the nation’s top firearm salesman, raising the question in many Americans’ minds whether they might be facing their last chance to purchase the guns they want.  Mass shootings and terrorism, along with the Democratic Party’s open embrace of gun control as a campaign issue are assisting Obama’s unintended effort to push gun sales to new records. 

The FBI released an interim report on the NICS checks for Black Friday and the after-Thanksgiving sales weekend.  The numbers are pretty impressive.  NICS is the FBI’s National Instant Check System that licensed gun dealers go through to verify that their customers are not prohibited from purchasing a firearm.  According to the FBI report, the numbers for Friday, November 27 broke all records.  Not only were more background checks processed that day than any previous Black Friday, the numbers topped any 24-hour period in the history of the system.  The day’s total reached 185,345 checks, shattering the previous single-day record of 177,170 set December 21, 2012.  That previous record, of course, followed the Sandy Hook horror, and was marked by Obama getting out front on the gun issue, which he had previously kept “under the radar.”

But NICS checks are only an indicator of the total number of guns transferred on any given day, since not all firearm sales go through NICS.  Several states conduct their own background checks which may or may not be included in NICS statistics.  Many state-issued concealed carry licenses or purchase permits serve as a “pre-check” and allow the firearm purchaser to bypass the NICS system, and then there is the notorious “private sale loophole” which allows individuals who are not in the business of buying and selling firearms to sell or otherwise dispose of their personal property without having to go through any sort of federal red tape. 

Continue reading Last Chance to Buy a Gun? →

Chinks in The Armor of Light

By Chris Knox

More than thirty years ago my late father Neal Knox contemplated potential faults in the “Guns and Babies Coalition” that played such an important role in electing President Reagan.  He worried that the coalition, although solid with strong cultural and ideological ties binding pro-gun and pro-life views together, could fray along certain ideological lines.  Pro-gun Libertarians tend to lean pro-choice, while pro-life could be stretched and redefined to be anti-gun.  Highlighting these ideological conflicts seems to be the whole point of the new documentary, Armor of Light.

Rev. Rob Schenck, who has spent decades in the pro-life movement working with the likes of Operation Rescue and his own Faith and Action organization, is featured in the film to illustrate exactly the mindset Dad had considered back in the Reagan days.  Rev. Schenck’s break with the Guns side of the Guns and Babies Coalition drives the documentary film, which was directed by Abigail Disney.  Ms. Disney is the granddaughter of Walt’s brother and business partner Roy Disney.  She uses her share of the family fortune to promote causes that interest her, one of which now appears to be gun control. 

Continue reading Chinks in The Armor of Light →