Chris's Blog

Opposition Growing to Holder Nomination

I love it when a plan comes together.  We're far too modest (not to mention realistic) to claim that the opposition to the Holder nomination started here, but Brother Jeff saw an opening early and it now appears that no less a political operator than Karl Rove is stepping in.  Jeff started talking about opposing Holder during the first week of December.  Speaking on Chris Mathews' show, Washington Post writer Ceci Connolly passed along gossip that Rove would be leading the opposition to Holder in the middle of December.  The Huffington Post covered Ms. Connolly's tidbit and included a YouTube link here.  Gist of the story: 

"Word on the street is that Karl Rove is going to be helping lead the fight against Eric Holder when his nomination for Attorney General heads up to the Senate," she said.

Two days earlier, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy accused Rove of the same behind-the-scenes shenanigans when his office released a lengthy statement decrying the hypocrisy of the GOP's Holder criticisms.

Jeff has been agitating against the Holder nomination since the rumors of a Holder nomination started flying, back around Thanksgiving, as a way to demonstrate to the Obama Administration — and to the squishy Republicans, for that matter — that gun owners have not hung it up.  At the time I thought it was a great idea, but I feared the Republicans were so demoralized that they'd fall on their sword rather than fight.  Now it appears that there's some fight left in the Republicans after all.

Hopefully, the NRA will also weigh in to oppose the Holder nomination.  We'll be following this one closely.

The Knox Update

Block Holder

The Knox Update

From the Firearms Coalition

 

Block Holder

 

By Jeff Knox

 

(December 18, 2008)  Barack Obama’s nomination of Eric Holder to be the Attorney General demands an immediate and unequivocal response from gunowners and rights advocates and that response should be “Absolutely Not!”

Holder’s appointment to be AG must be approved by the Senate.  While it is highly unlikely that opponents could muster the 51 votes needed to reject Holder’s appointment, a single Senator can place a “hold” on the confirmation and effectively lock up the system just as Democrats did with a number of President Bush’s judicial appointments and the appointment of John Bolton to be Ambassador to the UN.  Once a “Hold” has been placed, a supermajority of 60 votes is required to break the hold.  With enough vocal opposition to Holder’s confirmation, Obama could be forced to withdraw the nomination and select someone else to be his AG.  Even if opponents cannot successfully block Holder’s appointment, a strong and concerted effort to do so will go far toward warning the Obama administration and the new Congress against trying to interfere with the rights of Americans to own guns.

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States

Block Holder – Act Today!

Just 2 items in this Alert:
1. Personal note and appeal from Jeff
2. Holder Confirmation Hearing scheduled for January 15!!

 

Congress is planning to hit the ground running in a few days.  The new Congress will be sworn in on January 6 and the Senate Judiciary Committee has set a date of January 15 for confirmation hearings on Barack Obama's pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder.  Gunowners need to be pushing members of the committee very hard to delay and block the confirmation.

The Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee are all sworn enemies to the Second Amendment and are unlikely to be swayed at all by any firearms related arguments, but might hesitate to confirm based on Holders participation in the pardons of 16 Puerto Rican terrorists and billionaire financier and arms merchant Marc Rich.  Any letters to Democrats should focus on those issues.

On the Republican side, Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee has never been a friend to gun rights, but he owes his reelection to NRA support and has expressed concern over the pardon issues.  Among the other Republicans, most are relatively reliable votes, but only Coburn has routinely taken a leadership role on Second Amendment matters.  All of them need to be pressed hard to do everything they can to block the appointment.

  (Click "Read More" below to read the entire Alert)

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Jeff's Blog

Coalition Against Holder Growing

Our good friend John Snyder, author of "Gun Saint" and the senior lobbyist on the gun issue in Washington, DC, has released a statement to the press outlining the growing coalition building in opposition to the appointment of Eric Holder to the office of Attorney General.

Snyder's press release can be read by clicking here ,

or you can enter this link in your browser:

http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=24619

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on the confirmation of Holder for 15 January.  That means we must act quickly.  I have supplied a sample letter and a list of the members of the Senate Judiciary in my January 2 Alert available here.

 

Jeff

States

Take Action Now!

1. All is Not Hopeless: There are actions you can be taking now to build up the levee and stem the flood.
2. Oppose Confirmation of Eric Holder to Attorney General!
3. Celebrate Bill of Rights Day – Support the Second Amendment Book Bomb!
4. Help the Firearms Coalition by educating yourself and others.
5. Latest "Knox Report" newsletter is in the Mail.

1. All is Not Hopeless!
    The record gun and ammo sales statistics since the election and the chatter on the various internet forums I monitor tell me that people are worried and want to take some action, but there doesn't appear to be much that they can do except prepare for the worst.  Even though the political landscape has shifted dramatically and the politicians are making stupid moves which are going to do more long-term harm to our economy and do threaten our future, the good news is that the worst is yet to come.  If we can see it coming, we can take action to prevent it.  There are things that you can be doing right now to ensure a brighter future.  Preparing for the worst is prudent, but it is not prudent to sit in the boat waiting for the flood when you could be busy reinforcing the levee to avoid the flood altogether.

Continue reading Take Action Now! →

The Knox Update

The Siege of Mumbai

The Knox Update

From the Firearms Coalition

 

The Siege of Mumbai

 

Madmen Serve As Models For Fanatics

 

By Chris Knox

 

(December 11, 2008) Last month, as we Americans celebrated our Thanksgiving, many of us missed or were only vaguely aware of a dramatic and horrifying story that unfolded on the other side of the globe.  A band of at least nine terrorists took a ship from Pakistan, somehow transferred to an inflatable boat in Indian waters, and just after nightfall, came ashore at the Gateway of India, a British-built stone monument in the harbor of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay).  From the harbor, it was a fifteen-minute walk to their targets. 

Over the next two hours, they hit ten locations: a train station, a Jewish community center, a hospital.  Terror squad members finally dug in at a pair of posh hotels and the Jewish community center.  Armed with automatic rifles and grenades, the terrorists targeted Jews and Americans, but were content to waste as many innocent lives as possible as they launched on a three-day rampage.  “They weren’t aiming at anyone in particular. It was like they wanted to empty their magazines and do as much damage here as possible before heading to the Taj [Mahal Hotel],” said one witness.  Over the three-day siege fewer than a dozen modestly trained, but determined terrorists killed almost 200 people and paralyzed a great city.

Pictures from photographer Sebastian D’Souza, show fresh-faced kids dressed like Western college students sauntering along firing into terrorized crowds.  D’Souza captured an image of two of the murderers seemingly engaged in a calm conversation beneath a billboard advertising tea.  “WAKE UP!” says the billboard headline.  Indeed.  D’Sousa later said that he wished he had a gun instead of a camera.

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Jeff's Blog

Fight Holder Confirmation

1 Comment

Eric Holder, Barack Obama’s nominee for Attorney General, is a totally unacceptable choice and needs to be strongly opposed by the Second Amendment community and all lovers of liberty.
Holder’s record is petty well known and I will provide a brief overview of some of the highlights below, but here I want to focus on the strategy.  
Obama and many Democrats were elected in part by pledging allegiance to the Second Amendment, “with reasonable limits,” but there is clearly a broad divide between what they think are reasonable and what most of us think are reasonable.  Meanwhile, the Brady Bunch is touting a poll they commissioned which they say proves that the public, including gunowners, favors more “reasonable restrictions” on firearms and that the “gun lobby” is effectively dead.
We – the “gun lobby” need to send a loud and clear message to President-elect Obama and the Congress that the news of our demise is greatly exaggerated.  

Government storm-trooper points MP-5 at man holding Elian Gonzalez and demands the boy as Elian screams in fear.

Holder: "He was not taken at the point of a gun." (FOX News)

(Click below to read rest of article.)

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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

 

Continue reading Mumbai — As Seen From England →

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 →

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