The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

The Power of One

By Jeff Knox

(Clarksville, TN, September 30, 2010) What can I do?  I’m just one person.  I don’t know anything about campaigning and I don’t have much money.  How can I impact an election in which thousands – or millions are going to be voting?

I hear that a lot and the simple answer is: Pick your candidate and then do your very best to make sure that everyone you know, and everyone you meet, knows why you have picked that candidate.  To further illustrate exactly how much influence one person can have I’d like to present a real-life, fictional story.

I have a good friend by the name of Jim Tomes who is running for a seat in the Indiana State Senate.  Jim is a modest, common sense, working class guy who works hard for the things he believes in and who gets things done.  He is in a very tough campaign against a woman who is better known, better connected, better educated, and much better funded.  Jim’s greatest asset in the campaign, besides his devoted wife and work-mate Margie, is his wide network of friends who are actively supporting him.

Continue reading Your Influence →

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

Ignorance, Apathy, & Emotion Destroying America

By Jeff Knox

(Manassas, VA, 9 September 2010) By reading this column you prove yourself to be an exception to the rule.  You are an exception because you are doing things that most people don’t do or are not doing yet.  First off, you are reading which is becoming exceptional all by itself, but not only are you reading, you are reading about politics and it’s still several weeks before a major election.  On top of that, you are reading about gun politics which most people understand is all written by dangerous radicals and extremists.  You are an exception because you care enough about our nation to seek out information, study issues, learn about candidates, and cast an educated vote.

A few days after the 2008 General Election I was exploring how Americans research before casting their votes and I discovered a surprising phenomenon.  Looking at search data from the giant Google internet search engine to see how often people searched for key phrases, such as “Obama + gun control” in the days leading up to the election I found, as expected, that search traffic increased dramatically as the election drew closer.  But the surprise was that the highest number of searches on key issues − almost double the previous day’s count − did not occur in the days before the election, but on the day after.  The data indicated that to a significant number of Americans, the major political question is not, “What are we going to do?” but rather, “What have we done?” Continue reading Damage Control →

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

Gays and Lesbians and Guns!  Oh My!

Gun Rights Activists Invading San Francisco

By Jeff Knox

(Manassas, VA, 25 August 2010) Gun rights leaders and activists from around the country will be invading San Francisco, California next month and, while there should be plenty of explosive comments and possibly some other rhetorical fireworks, no shots are expected to be fired.  September 24, 25, and 26 are the dates for the 25^th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.  The event is being held this year at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at the San Francisco Airport and, as always, it is absolutely free to attend.

GRPC is an opportunity for those concerned with protecting (or just learning about) the right to arms to come together with leaders of the movement to network with one another and discuss strategy, tactics, and techniques.  They will review what has been accomplished in recent years and set goals and objectives for the year to come.  And this year they will do it all right in the “belly of the beast” in San Francisco, California, home of Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, and Barbara Boxer, not to mention rabidly anti-gun Mayor (and now candidate for Lt. Governor) Gavin Newsome. Continue reading GRPC 25 →

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

Second Amendment Crazy?

By Jeff Knox

(Manassas, VA, 19 August 2010) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) recently introduced a TV ad attacking his Republican opponent, Sharron Angle for a comment she made about the Second Amendment.  During an interview on the Lars Larson Show Angle commented that if the government continued straying from the Constitution and could not be brought back into constitutional compliance by voters at the ballot box, she feared that people would resort to the Second Amendment as a means of correcting the nation’s course.  The Reid ad features a spokesman who identifies himself as a police officer, a Republican, and a member of the NRA.  He declares his own support for the Second Amendment and then calls Angles statement “crazy.”

Of course there was nothing crazy or extremist about Angles statement.  If politicians disregard the rule of law under the Constitution it is the peoples’ right and responsibility to force compliance and the only viable means available for doing that is exercise of the right to arms.  Angle did not call for armed revolt or even indicate support for such; she merely pointed out a truth that the politicians in Washington would do well to recognize.  The beauty of the Second Amendment, in theory, is that its existence is supposed to nullify its need.  As long as the people have the ready means to rebel against a rogue government they should never need to do so because politicians, aware of the people’s power should be scrupulous about avoiding anything which oversteps their authority and might incite the people to rebellion.  Many of the founders and subsequent great leaders commented on the Second Amendment as a guarantee of perpetual liberty since the people would always have the means to overthrow a tyrannical government.

Continue reading Crazy Angle? →

The Knox Update

From the Firearms Coalition

Arizona Returns to Wild West

Blood Runs in Streets…

By Jeff Knox

(Manassas, VA, 12 August 2010) On July 29 the new Constitutional Carry law in Arizona went into effect removing all requirements that a lawful gun owner obtain permission of the state before carrying a firearm concealed.  Just as the folks from the Brady Center Against Guns and the Violence Policy Center had predicted, virtually everyone in the state has either been killed or seriously injured by gunfire in the ensuing two weeks and drug and outlaw biker gangs are running rampant since the police can no longer ticket them for unlicensed carry of concealed weapons.

In other news: Dewy Wins, Elvis Presley is alive, and Martian spacecraft have attacked New York.

In the real news: After implementation of the new Constitutional Carry law in Arizona no one has really noticed any change.  Certainly there has been no surge in firearms related violence, accidents, or general stupidity.  What a totally unsurprising result.

Meanwhile, Dennis Hennigan of the Brady Bunch is breathlessly telling his 12 readers over at the Huffington Post about an unfortunate mistake made by an NRA certified firearms instructor in Florida who broke several rules of firearms safety and NRA instructor guidelines resulting in an unintentional discharge injuring a student in the foot.  Of course Hennigan doesn’t mention that there are thousands of firearms instructors teaching tens of thousands of classes every month and that an incident like this is so incredibly rare as to be virtually unheard of.

Hennigan uses the incident to reinforce general hoplophobia (irrational fear of weapons) in hopes of his small organization maintaining some relevance as more and more Americans realize that gun control simply doesn’t work and law-abiding, armed citizens are not a threat.  In desperation Hennigan points to expanding concealed carry recognition around the country as well as increased utilization of open carry laws as serious threats to the public.  There are CHILDREN in some of those public places and who knows what might happen when someone has a gun…

He goes on to point out that training to obtain a concealed carry permit is generally minimal and that in most states no training or permit is required to carry a gun openly. (Oh My!)  But those facts are good evidence that responsible gun owners who carry concealed or openly, with or without mandatory training, pose no threat to their fellow citizens.  Untrained, unlicensed open carry has been the law of the land in most places for the better part of the past 230 years and it hasn’t been a problem.  Hennigan suggests that if a highly trained firearms expert like an NRA certified instructor can make a mistake resulting in an injury to self or others, then all of those minimally trained “gun extremists” out wandering the streets with their gats and “Dirty Harry” attitudes must be a serious threat to public safety.  In reality, law-abiding citizens who choose to legally carry for self defense have a remarkable record of responsible, lawful behavior.  Concealed carry permit holders – in states with mandatory training and those without – have lower rates of crime and stupid gun mistakes than do highly trained, sworn law enforcement officers.

Another consideration, that instructor in Hennigan’s article was handling a loaded gun when he let off the shot, something that doesn’t happen when the gun is in its holster where it belongs – and where it would stay if it weren’t for fear-mongering hoplophobes like Hennigan insisting that legal carriers remove their guns here, unload their guns there, disassemble their guns before proceeding through this zone, etc.  When it comes to fear of unintentional discharges – not to mention concerns about guns being stolen – it is laws which force a legally carried gun off of the law-abiding carrier’s belt or purse and into a glove box or trunk which generate the greater risks.  Training requirements, permit fees, and “No (legal) Guns” zones are generally much more about discouraging gun owners and making carry more difficult than they are about safety.  A responsible, law-abiding permit holder is not more likely to do something stupid with his gun in a school, library, or church than he is anywhere else and a criminal or lunatic bent on mischief is not likely to be deterred by a “No Guns” decal on a door.

#  #  #

Those serious about protecting and defending the Constitution and the right to arms should be planning to attend the upcoming Gun Rights Policy Conference being held this year in the belly of the beast, San Francisco, California on September 24 – 26.

Mix and mingle with gun rights leaders and attend outstanding presentations from the most influential thinkers in the movement.  For more information, click on the GRPC link at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

Permission to reprint or post this article in its entirety is hereby granted provided this credit is included.    Text is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.    To receive The Firearms Coalition’s bi-monthly newsletter, The Knox Hard Corps Report, write to PO Box 3313, Manassas, VA 20108.

Copyright © 2010 Neal Knox Associates – The most trusted name in the rights movement.

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

Evil + Stupid = Bipartisan

By Jeff Knox

We are now just a couple of months from the midterm elections and the political gamesmanship has begun to heat up.  It was former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson (a Republican) who declared that in America we have the Evil Party, and the Stupid Party, adding that he belonged to the Stupid Party.  For those committed to restoring and protecting the rights of gun owners, the labels are broadly accurate.  While there  absolutely are Democrats who are personally committed to individual rights, the Democrat Party itself is not only opposed to gun rights, they lie about it.  There are two basic policy positions for Democrats on guns and they both start with politicians declaring, “I strongly support the Second Amendment.”

Members of the first group are generally part of the “Blue Dog” caucus, representing rural areas.  Most of them are hunters and gun owners who actually believe that they support the Second Amendment, but they also tend to support their party on what they call “reasonable restrictions” on gun ownership and possession – reasonable restrictions which are clear violations of the Second Amendment.  Under no circumstances does their support for the Second Amendment trump their obedience to Party Leadership either.  Granted, the existence of “pro-gun” Democrats probably helps to reduce the amount and severity of gun control proposals introduced or advanced in Congress, but it’s been a long time since a “pro-gun” Democrat broke party discipline to help pass a pro-rights measure, defeat an anti-rights bill, or block confirmation of a rabidly anti-gun presidential appointee.

The other group of Democrats who “strongly supports the Second Amendment” are those who are simply lying.

John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama fall into this group.  Even notoriously anti-rights Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has claimed to support the Second Amendment.

There might be a few Democrats who haven’t been able to bring themselves to declare support for the Second Amendment, but the official party line is broad support for the constitutional right, while interpreting it in the narrowest terms, and doing all they can to undermine and dismantle it.

Appointing and confirming Federal Judges and Supreme Court Justices who are hostile to the Second Amendment – or any other part of the Constitution – is a travesty and an unforgivable sin, yet we see Democrat Senators who claim to be staunchly pro-gun like Tester and Baucus of Montana, Casey of Pennsylvania, and Webb of Virginia, casting votes for the likes of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.  (The Kagan vote is expected within days of this writing.)

Republicans, on the other hand, are generally supportive of the right to arms, but few of them have any more understanding of the issue than do the Democrats.  They definitely lack the resolve and the backbone to vigorously oppose the Democrats’ attacks on the Constitution and the President’s appointments of radical extremists to the courts and high level government positions.

Under the new Democrat power structure the President will be able to simply declare his desire and his minions in the various bureaucracies will fulfill his wishes – without all of the mess and smell of going through Congress.

The next such bypass could directly impact shooters as the EPA is considering a petition to ban all traditional, lead-based ammunition from hunting and possibly even target shooting.  The petition claims that raptors such as Bald Eagles are eating remains of game animals and contracting lead poisoning from remaining bullet fragments.  The fact that there is no scientific evidence to back up this claim is unlikely to interfere with enacting a lead bullet ban because doing so would help further two fundamental objective of Democrat leadership: making the “environmental movement” happy, and making it harder, more expensive, and more troublesome to own and use firearms.

If Republicans don’t discover some spine soon and start fighting Democrat assaults on our system of government and our way of life, the voters might be so frustrated and fed up that they shift to third-party candidates or not to bother voting at all.  Either way, that would leave Democrats in control and the destruction of the Constitution would be accelerated.

The Republic is in grave jeopardy and the “leaders” in Washington are either participating in its destruction or uselessly wringing their hands.

The Knox Report

From the Firearms Coalition

NRA and Freedom of Speech

By Jeff Knox

Note: The bill discussed in this article passed the US House on June 24 and is now headed to the Senate.  Contact Senators to express opposition. – JK

A Firestorm was ignited this week when it was announced that House Democrats had carved out an exemption for the National Rifle Association in proposed new federal campaign law legislation and that NRA was no longer going to oppose the bill.  The new campaign legislation is a response to the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission. In that case the Court held that groups like NRA could not be blocked from mentioning a candidate’s name during the 60 days prior to an election.  The proposed legislation – which is still only available in synopsis form – would tightly regulate the political speech of any corporation (most non-profits and political organizations are corporations) and require extensive recordkeeping and public disclosure of contributors names.  Such disclosure is particularly hard on gun rights organizations as our members tend to be vehemently opposed to having their names put on lists – particularly lists identifying them as likely gun owners.

NRA has long been a leader in defense of constitutionally protected political speech and they had stepped up in opposition to this latest threat.  Unfortunately, rather than stand strong on principle of liberty and the rule of the Constitution, NRA suggested to the bill’s sponsors that as long as the proposed legislation did not apply to NRA, the association would withdraw their opposition.  Good for NRA, but bad for every other group and the Constitution.

Continue reading NRA and Free Speech →