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Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 12 Jun 2000 12:00:00 GMT

Sen. Craig, U.S. Senate, June 6, 2000 via Washington Weekly - The Second Amendment: Wow! This is one of the best pieces I've seen in support of the second amendment. Reminds us of our God-given right of self defense and contains good stories of people who saved their lives and their families because they were armed when attacked. You can read it directly from the Congressional Record here or my local copy entitled {@Senator Craig on the Second Amendment}. [ww]

In fact, the Second Amendment does not merely protect sport shooting and hunting, though it certainly does that.
Nor does the second amendment exist to protect the government's right to bear arms.
The framers of our Constitution wrote the Second Amendment with a greater purpose.
They made the Second Amendment the law of the land because it has something very particular to say about the rights of every man and every woman, and about the relationship of every man and every woman to his or her Government.
That is: The first right of every human being, the right of self-defense.
Let me repeat that: The first right of every human being is the right of self-defense. Without that right, all other rights are meaningless. The right of self-defense is not something the government bestows upon its citizens. It is an inalienable right, older than the Constitution itself. It existed prior to government and prior to the social contract of our Constitution. It is the right that government did not create and therefore it is a right that under our Constitution the government simply cannot take away. The framers of our Constitution understood this clearly. Therefore, they did not merely acknowledge that the right exists. They denied Congress the power to infringe upon that right.

The Economist - The Consensus Machine: I haven't read this yet, but it looks like a good overview of how the internet is "governed". [grabbe]

Shira H. Fischer at the Harvard Crimson - FAS Asked To Cover Computer Kiosks: Intel strong-armed Harvard University into turning off and covering their iMac computer kiosks during an Intel-sponsored conference at the Science Center. Sounds to me like Intel needs some better PR people. [tbtf]

Angus Glashier of latte is playing with Manila themes. He's switched to ThickLines. Looks good, though as I told him, "I visit your site for the content, not the appearance (modulo the lovely Catherine Zeta Jones)".

Thor is a large-scale distributed object oriented database system that provides reliable and highly available persistent storage for objects. The objects in Thor are specified and implemented in Theta, a new programming language developed by the M.I.T. Programming Methodology group. Theta is based on CLU, a language that Barbara Liskov and friends designed back when I was in college. Good stuff. [wes]

freewwweb is a totally free ISP, with dial-up numbers throughout the country. I don't know how they make money, or whether they slip advertisements into your web experience. [script]

Byte - DoJ vs. Microsoft: Byte.com Sounds Off!: Some comments on Judge Jackson's proposed split-up of Microsoft. My Favorites:

Nancy C. Hanger, Byte.com columnist
I suspect what has happened is that Jackson has ordered that we cut the head off a Hydra, and only more heads will spring up in its place. Instead of cutting up the body until it can't rejuvenate, he's created more heads that will grow until they're as big or bigger than the original company, and act in a similar manner without check.
Jerry Pournelle, Senior Contributing Editor, Chaos Manor
The real effect is this: we have now made it clear that you ignore Imperial Washington at your peril. Does anyone doubt for a moment that if Gates had bought his nights in the Lincoln Bedroom, and made nice to the right Washington, D.C. PR firms composed of former officeholders, none of this would have happened? Does anyone doubt that $100 million in tribute to Imperial Washington would have saved Gates the billions lost in this decision? (And for that matter the pension-fund holders their billions lost.) Is it the task of government to protect property rights, or to aid in cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies? Aristotle observed that just because you take no interest in politics is no guarantee that politics will take no interest in you. Deep pockets are seen as fair game. Pay the troll or die.

Oral Deckard at Sierra Times - Father's Day at the Range: Recommendations for the 50 Million Round March. [sierra]

For those who do not have a firearm, buy two bulk packs of Federal .22 caliber ammunition and go to the range anyway. You will find a wide variety of .22 caliber firearms there, and very friendly people who will be more than happy to lend them to you and provide instruction in their safe operation. They will be happy to lend you their firearms, but if you also expect them to provide you with free ammunition as well, well, ...
...
For those considering the purchase of a firearm, I recommend the .22 caliber Browning Buck Mark with heavy barrel from a dealer who does not stock new Smith&Wesson firearms. This can be had for about $275, and will provide an opportunity to build skills with inexpensive ammunition. A thousand rounds can be fired for just $15. Compare this to $200 for a thousand .38s, .380s, 9mms, etc., or $300 for a thousand .45s. And yes, skills built with the .22 cal. Buck Mark will apply to those other calibers.

Today's issue of The Libertarian Enterprise is the "Sprit of 76" issue. It contains "a compendium of your favorite articles from TLEs past". Check it out. I have to wait till next week to see if John Taylor uses my Hate Crimes in New York essay.

There are some good anti-drug war letters to the editor over at WorldNetDaily today. Don't know how long that link will be fresh. [wnd]

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Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

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

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

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair