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"A man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -- Robert A. Heinlein
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"The uncomfortable fact is that roughly 80% of the US homicide rate is associated with the drug trade, and the drug trade is violent because the drug war reserves it for violent criminals. We have a system in place where the government subsidizes poverty in urban areas, imposes economic blight in those same areas through heavy taxes and regulations, renders the residents permanently unemployable via the criminal justice (sic) system, and creates a lucrative black market in drugs by restricting supply (not to mention increasing demand as people are desperate to escape their circumstances by getting high), meaning the only game in town is often entering the drug trade. The drug trade is violent because those in it have no access to courts to settle disputes. Powerful industries lobby to keep the drug war going; the top spenders are law enforcement unions, the prison industry, big alcohol, tobacco, and pharma." -- Michael Owen
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"[W]e dont really have a single America with a moderately high rate of gun deaths. Instead, we have two Americas, one of which has very high rates of gun ownership but very low murder rates, very comparable to the rest of the First World democracies such as those in western & northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea. The other America has much lower rates of gun ownership but much, much higher murder rates, akin to violent third world countries." -- Michael Owen
Another 2A Screed
In response to this Slate article, I wrote another 2A screed. Nothing new here, for me, but a for-some-reason necessary reiteration of the obvious.
I won't pretend that this comment will change the author's mind. He's stuck in progressive wonderland, where words mean what he wants them to mean. But it may embolden some lurkers.
Unlike much of the slime that oozes out of DC these days, the Constitution was written in plain language. "Shall not be infringed" is the strongest restriction on state power in the entire document. It means exactly that. The state may place no limitations whatsoever on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. That means every single gun control statute ever passed, federal, state, or municipal, is unconstitutional on its face, hence null and void. The National Firearms Act (NFA), the 1968 Gun Control Act (GCA), the 1986 machine gun ban (FOPA, so-called Firearm Owners' Protection Act), the Brady Bill, Feinstein's new "Automatic Gunfire Protection Act", all of them, null and void.
The militia clause means that infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? Treason is a capital offense.
But it doesn't even matter. The Bill of Rights does not create any rights. It simply highlights important pre-existing rights, and attempts to remove them from the domain of legislation. A right is supposed to be something that no legislation may impede. But one of the fears of that time has occurred, and many, even those who support particular amendments, see the Bill of Rights as the source of those rights, not merely a high wall telling legislators, in impossible-to-misunderstand-unless-you're-a-lawyer language, "Thou shalt not venture herein."
As a living being, I have a right to defend my life, and the lives of my loved ones, using whichever tools I find useful for that purpose. I have a right to defend my life from aggressors of all stripes; badges and titles make no difference. A gun is the most useful tool invented to date for that defense. If you would deny me access to guns, any guns, you are denying my right to life. How dare you.
National Concealed Carry
I posted this as a comment at The Zelman Partisans, in a discussion on Concealed Carry Reciprocity.
I dont like permits. "Do not be infringed" means exactly that. No background checks. No permits. No interstate or mail-order restrictions whatsoever.
I should be able to order from Amazon a full-auto M-16A4, a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum, a 9mm Glock G43, and 1,000 rounds of ammo for each, pay for it with Apple Pay, have it brought to my house via free two-day Amazon prime delivery, put the G43 under my coat, the Redhawk on my belt, the M-16 over my shoulder and walk from one end of Manhattan to the other without any cop saying a word to me about it except, "Nice holster!"
But that ship has sailed. National Concealed Carry is a good small step back towards sanity.
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"Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, ANYTHING -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission." -- L. Neil Smith
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I sent a Tweet to President Trump.
https://twitter.com/billstclair/status/915540255532617728
"I did nothing wrong last Sunday. I will NOT be penalized for it. Not by one single regulation. Not by one thin dime." -- Bill St. Clair
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"Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what ANY of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is TREASON. What else do you call an act that endangers 'the security of a free state'? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings." -- L. Neil Smith
Disk Full
I've had a cold for the past few days, so haven't checked my News Aggregator. I check it for two reasons:
1) I find interesting things there.
2) To ensure that it's still running every half hour.
Well, it hadn't run since Thursday. A little poking around discovered that the reason was because my virtual disk was full. Found 2.5 gigs to delete, and I'm back in business.
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"I'm an equal opportunity racist. I hate all races equally. I hate the concept of race. End it." -- Bill St. Clair
