Former San Jose police officer Leroy Pyle in another dated, but still very current video demonstrates the cosmetic features that make an "assault rifle."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
What Now?
I have been involved in a rather loud and largely uncivil clash with a fellow named Mike Vanderboegh over the idea of revolution and being prepared. Mike took umbrage at some comments I made in a recent Knox Report and launched a full-out assault upon his perception of my position and my character. I was a bit taken aback by the whole thing because whenever Mike would get away from the name-calling and talk about his actual position on the issues at hand, I tended to agree fully with what he was saying. Now, in the wake of last night's election results, Vanderboegh has sent out a rather lengthy missive about the immediate and short-term future. While I could quibble with a couple of the finer points, I won't because on the serious issues – the things that really matter, Mike's assessment and his counsel are spot on. I think his essay, while lengthy, is worth sharing and encourage everyone to read it. — Jeff
—————
Resolve
by Mike Vanderboegh
5 November 2008
"Change has come to America." -- Barack Hussein Obama
"Revolution"
If I may, I'd like to begin my first essay of the Obama regime by thanking
U.S. Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, for clarifying matters.
As reported in Michael Calderone's Politico.com blog, there was "an emotional
moment on ABC News, as Georgia Congressman and Civil Rights leader John
Lewis told Charlie Gibson that today's election was 'a nonviolent revolution.'"
Well, yes, thank you. But revolution against what? Overturning what? The
name-calling, nervous-nellie opposition bloggers within the dyspeptic "Second
Amendment community" have been accusing us Three Precenters of seeking a
revolution. My thanks to Rep. Lewis for reminding us that the revolutionists,
Gramscian and otherwise, are on the collectivist side of this argument, thus
proving my point that we are in fact Restorationists. All we seek is the
restoration of the Founder's Republic.
Death Knell: "The masks are going to come off."
The Election
As I write this, John McCain is giving his concession speech. No love lost for him here, but I frankly would rather have seen him in than Barack Obama. But what's done is done. No literate gun owner should have any illusion that Obama has any respect for the Second Amendment. What he does respect, however, is the power of the GunVoter bloc. The Democrats, victims of the wrath of GunVoters from 1994, are wary of the vote of the gun-owning community. Contrast that to the Republicans, who have so often courted the gun vote, but have so seldom delivered on their promises of support for the Second Amendment. We have entered a perilous time for the Second Amendment. We'll know better where we stand when the term starts in January.
It's certain that a reinstatement of the Clinton "assault weapons" ban will be introduced. What happens after that will tell us a great deal about whether the Democrats believe GunVoters still inspire respect. If the bill is consigned to a committee, and languishes there, it means they remember. If, however, the bill comes rolling out of committee and to the floor, we are in for a long hard slog.
looking to start a new organization
Looking to start a new organization called the Armed Citizens of America.