Chris's Blog

Memphis Paper “Outs” CCW Holders

An important oversight in the drafting of the Tennessee concealed carry permit system left the record of who has a permit to carry concealed weapons resulted in a grandstanding newspaper putting up a web site with permit hoders' names and zip codes .  A huffy editorial from columnist Chris Peck resed on the sanctity of the public's right to know, pointed out that the paper only published a matter of public record, and feined shock and dismay that anyone should object.  Some bloggers responded by publishing home addresses of the paper's staff including Mr. Peck's.  

The issue heated up recently as an argument over parking escalated into an incident such as the Brady Bunch would have scripted and a man was shot.  Locals tell me that it looks like the permit holder was in the wrong and probably needs to go to jail. The Brady Bunch told us this would be happening all over the place.  That such incidents are exceedingly rare is the news that doesn't make the news, much as an armed citizen who stops a rampage barely makes a ripple in the media.

Chris's Blog

NYTimes warns of “Coming Swarm”

NYTimes warns of “Coming Swarm”

A New York Times Op-Ed piece by John Arquilla, a Naval Postgraduate School professer, titled “The Coming Swarm” warns of a possible terrorist threat in the form of a “swarm” attack, a series of simultaneous smal-unit actions much like the Thanksgiving Mumbi attacks.  The piece correctly points out that anti-terrorism respondents are geared toward a single mass-casualty event, where Mumbai was paralyzed by a half-dozen two-man teams. 

 I made a similar prediction shortly after the Mumbai event in a Knox Report column, “The Siege of Mumbai ” and friend Derek Bernard followed up with a piece by Richard Munday that was printed in The TImes of London.  Mr. Munday focused on an obvious point that seemingly went right over the head of Professor Arquilla, that being that some of the would-be victims might happen to be armed.  That there could be an armed citizen to fight back would indeed be a tall-odds proposition in disarmed Mumbai, London, or in Monterey, California, home of the the Naval Postgraduate School.  But in Phoenix, Dallas, or Orlando, where roughly two percent of the population have obtained concealed carry permits, the odds tilt. 

In those cities, I suppose we can expect the attacks to occur in airports or other disarmed victim zones.

The Knox Update

The NRA Board: Where Is Your Voice?

The Knox Update

From the Firearms Coalition

 The NRA Board:  Where is Your Voice?

By Chris Knox

(February 11, 2009) If some mythical “conservative” President were to appoint James Dobson of Focus on the Family to head the Federal Communications Commission, can you imagine the stink that would arise from the American Civil Liberties Union?   Likewise, if some hypothetical “liberal” President were to appoint Planned Parenthood Vice President Dr. Vanessa Cullins to be Surgeon General, the protests from pro-life activist organizations would rattle the walls.

So why is it that when this President appoints a virulently anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment activist to be the chief enforcer of the nation’s gun laws (and defender of the Constitution), the largest and most powerful organization tasked with preserving, protecting and defending the Second Amendment confines its opposition to a nicely written letter to the Judiciary Committee that closes with a meek request to “consider our concerns carefully?” 

Continue reading The NRA Board: Where Is Your Voice? →

Jeff's Blog

Latest “Page 9”

Alan Korwin, author of a number of books on gun laws and rights related matters, writes a review of the news which he calls "Page 9."  If you don't subscribe to this clever and thought provoking e-newsletter (it's free) I would encourage you to do so, or you can read it here as we plan to post each new eddition.  Here is the table of contents for the current eddition.  Just click the "Read More" link to read the entire newsletter.

 

PAGE NINE — No. 59

The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, No. 59, Feb. 10, 2009

by Alan Korwin, Author
Gun Laws of America

 

Contents:
(searchable by item number)

1- Million Gun March
2- State Sovereignty Bills
3- No-Fly Gun Ban
4- Gun Rights Commerce
5- Pork Free Stimulus
6- Kelo's Empty Lot
7- NewsBull Continues Unabated

(Click "Read More" for the full report)

Continue reading Latest “Page 9” →

Member Blogs

The Khyber Pass Gun Markets

I was employed as the Pakistan AF F16 jet fighter program manager from 1982 to 1993 and I had the pleasure to visit the Khyber Pass on invitation of the Khyber Rifles on many occasions. The video is very good but does not show the wild west side of the gun markets. There were no laws, no police or miltary in the area  other than the Khyber Rifles whos function was to guard the pass.  At the time an AK47 style weapon sold on the market for about $30 in US dollars. Needless to say the craftmanship of the weapons left a lot to be desired and most weapons were not very relieable.

The Knox Update

Surrender or Die!

The Knox Update

From the Firearms Coalition

 

Interpreting the Second Amendment

 

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,

the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

 

By Jeff Knox

 

    (February 5, 2009) It has been famously said and often repeated that the Constitution means what the Supreme Court says it means. While this statement is generally true, it is incomplete. Regardless of what the Supreme Court says, the Constitution ultimately means what the People believe it to mean.

 

    So far in our history the Supreme Court has refrained from any interpretation of the Constitution that was so flagrantly at odds with the beliefs of the People that a serious, violent uprising ensued.  But they may have come perilously close in last year’s decision in DC v. Heller. In that case the Court unanimously agreed that the Second Amendment refers to an individual right to arms, but disagreed in a 5 – 4 split as to whether the District of Columbia’s virtual ban on handguns violated that individual right. Even in the prevailing opinion, the justices expressed positions which are completely at odds with the understanding of those of us in the Second Amendment community.

 

 

(Click "Read More" for the rest of the story) Continue reading Surrender or Die! →

Chris's Blog

A Sig Sticker

Jeff's been after me to create a "bumper sticker" image that guys can put in their sig files or on their web sites.  Clicking on this link will bring people directly to our home page.  We'll be more effective if we get more traffic.  That's good for us, good for your readers, and ultimately good for our gun rights.  We hope you'll agree and add us to your signature line and web site.

 

The Firearms Coalition

Here's the code.

HTML:

<a href="http://firearmscoalition.org/s.php " title="The Firearms Coalition" target="_blank"><img src="http://firearmscoalition.org/fclogo.gif" alt="The Firearms Coalition" /></a>

BBCode (for forums and such)

[url=http://firearmscoalition.org/s.php][img]http://firearmscoalition.org/fclogo.gif[/img][/url]

 

The Knox Update

Holder Reminiscent of Mikva

The Knox Update

From the Firearms Coalition

 

Who’s Haunted now?

 

By Jeff Knox

 

(January 29, 2009) When Barack Obama announced that he intended to nominate Eric Holder to be his Attorney General, we at The Firearms Coalition launched an aggressive campaign to block the appointment and urged all other Second Amendment organizations to do likewise.  Holder was Janet Reno’s top deputy in the Clinton administration and has proven himself to be a radical opponent to the rights of firearms owners.  Holder has not only testified before Congress in support of expanded restrictions on firearms ownership, he signed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in DC v. Heller in which he espoused the theory that the Second Amendment’s “right of the people to keep and bear arms” is actually a right of the states to organize militias.  Someone with such twisted opinions about the Constitution should not even be considered for the position of Attorney General.

 

 

Continue reading Holder Reminiscent of Mikva →

Jeff's Blog

Holder Confirmed

Eric Holder Confirmed as Attorney General

    Anti-Second Amendment extremist Eric Holder has been confirmed by the Senate to be the Attorney General of the United States.  In that capacity Mr. Holder will have unprecedented power to limit, restrict, record, and otherwise interfere with the right of the people to keep and bear arms.   You know, that right that the Bill of Rights says "shall not be infringed."

    The vote to confirm Holder was 75 to 21 with 3 not voting.  The Senators who did not vote were Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who is probably on his death-bed; Mark Begich (D-AK), I don't know his excuse;  and Mel Martinez (R-FL), who was an early endorser of Holder, but who should be at risk of lynching by his own Cuban-American community in Florida where they still remember Holder explaining that the storm-trooper assault to seize 6-year old Elian Gonzalez and send him back to Cuba was not a "midnight raid," it happened in the morning – just before dawn, and that thejack-booted thugs went in with sensitivity and did not take the boy at gunpoint.  Which of course was verified in the photo record of the event as seen here.  I have to wonder if Martinez wasn't feeling some serious heat from his constituents and decided that the better part of valour was to hide out until after the vote.  His actual vote shouldn't matter.  Mel Martinez said he was supporting Holder and he should be considered to have cast a vote for him.

    I am extremely disappointed in the results of this vote though I expected just such an outcome when I learned that NRA had decided not to count a vote for Holder in their grading system.  The sad truth is that most politicians vote not for the benefit of the nation, but for the benefit of themselves.  If they believe that a vote will help their chances of retaining their position of importance, they are likely to cast that vote.  If they believe that voting a particular way will hurt their chances of reelection, they will tend to swing the other way.  If given a pass by the NRA, they will be swayed by some other factors.  NRA failed to even make Holder's twisted views on the Second Amendment a primary issue in this fight, instead focusing on his disinclination to support NRA's misguided "Project Exile" which encourages strict enforcement and federal prosecution of existing federal gun laws.

    You can see details of the vote to confirm Holder on the Senate web site by clicking here , but here's how the voting broke down state by state: (click the Read More link below)

Continue reading Holder Confirmed →

Chris's Blog

Republicans Elect Steele to Chair

The Republican National Committee yesterday elected former Maryland leiutenant governor Michael Steele to its top post.  Described as a "moderate," Steele showed little understanding of Second Amendment issues in a Washington Post interview snippet that's been making its way around the Internet.  In the interview he advocates "enforcing the laws that are on the books," echoing one of NRA's "kinder and gentler" lines from a few years ago.  Inviting strict enforcement of existing law can be a dangerous wish if that law is as broken as the 1968 Gun Control Act.  Steele also demonstrates the upside-down "needs-based" theory of "assault weapons."

"What do you need an assault weapon for, if you're going hunting?"

We'd point out that a) hunting is not a Second Amendment issue, and b) as Americans we are blessed not to have to demonstrate need for everything we want.  NRA endorsed his unsuccessful 2006 senatorial bid.  In the virulently anti-gun state of Maryland, an NRA endorsement could mean that he salivates less at the thought of banning guns than the other guy.

So, congratulations to Mr. Steele.  We hope to be able to work with him.

Ammunition for the grassroots gun rights movement