Ruby Ridge II

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 30 Jan 2002 13:00:00 GMT

russmo.com - The Meaning of Draft - different things to different people. For you and me, it's a bummer. For our congress critters...

Scott Bieser at KeepAndBearArms.com - Diaz Speaks - cartoon commentary on the Violence Policy Center. Hehe. [kaba]

From "Sunbeams" in the February 2002 issue of The Sun:

If a woman gets nervous, she'll eat or go shopping. A man will attack a country -- it's a whole other way of thinking. -- Elayne Boosler

and:

Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purpose is beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. -- Louis Brandeis

and:

The United States is like the guy at the party who gives cocaine to everybody and still nobody likes him. -- Jim Samuels

and:

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. -- Mother Teresa

I bought a Lyman Turbo Twin Tumbler at the little gun shop I visit on Tuesday nights (he's open from 7-9pm that night; I go more for the company than the stuff). Filled it with media, added twenty .223 Remington and twenty .30/06 cases, turned it on for a couple of hours while I did something else, and voila, clean and shiny as new! $70 well spent (tumbler plus media). The .30/06 cases were such a joy to behold that I stayed up late turning them into loaded cartridges.

On the minus side, I learned that even extra high Weaver mounts don't place my scope high enough from the flat top of my AR-15 (I bought a used 3-9x40 to use while I'm saving up for a nice Springfield or Leupold). I could see through it if I squeezed way down, but that would get uncomfortable fast. I'll wait for the Armalite mount to arrive (back-ordered).

Perry de Havilland sent along a little more about the tools of liberty picture I linked to yesterday. First off, it wasn't an AR-15. And there was a good reason for not using the sling. Sounds like fun:

It was a 'walking shoot' against numbered targets that were called out. As the targets were from 25m to 200m away and could be within a 180 degree arc of the shooter when they were called, the sling was not really an option as it would have got in the way for some shots. For a 200m shot I would have used the sling.

The attached picture shows one of the targets. The shooter would walk the length of the course and even when he saw the target, would not know if they were valid targets unless the 'target boss' walking behind him called them (for example shouting 'SIX!'... and if several targets could be seen, shooting the wrong one resulted in 4 points lost for the first hole and 1 lost per each additional hole). Correct targets we scored as 2 points for a single hit, 3 points for 2, 4 for 3 or more hits (i.e. max 4 per target). Sometimes he might shout 'SIX! THREE! NINE!' and there might be five targets visible. We scored on the basis on shots on the paper (STK style: hit or miss rather than location of hit) and time taken for the whole course. One point was deducted for all missed shots at the end.

We shot those sort of courses for several years. Tremendous fun!

Peter Carlson at The Washington Post - Was Rainbow Farm Another Waco? - Maybe more like Ruby Ridge II. But you knew that. Well told story. Too bad they didn't take any nazis with them. Too badder the cops showed up at all.

Snow also covers the spot where Crosslin, 46, was shot through the forehead by an FBI sharpshooter and the place beneath a scraggly pine tree where Rohm, 28, was killed 12 hours later by a Michigan State Police sniper who put a bullet right through Rohm's rifle butt and into his chest, splattering blood over the camouflage paint on his face.

Trena Moss stands in the falling snow and tells a story about the time country singer Merle Haggard played a gig at one of the farm's pro-pot festivals. "Tom told me that when Merle came here, he said to Tom and Rollie, 'I can't believe they haven't killed you boys yet.' Rollie laughed real hard at that."

...

In 1999, [Scott] Teter [Cass County's conservative Republican prosecutor] heard reports of blatant dope-smoking at the festivals and he wrote a second letter to Crosslin, officially warning him that if he permitted drug use on his land, the property could be seized by the county as a public nuisance.

That threat angered Crosslin, who fired back a long, pugnacious reply: "I have discussed this with my family and we are all prepared to die on this land before we allow it to be stolen from us. How should we be prepared to die? Are you planning to burn us out like they did at Waco, or will you have snipers shoot us through our windows like the Weavers at Ruby Ridge? Maybe the Govenor [sic] can call in the National Guard for another Kent State . . . "

Ellen Sorokinat The Washington Times - No Founding Fathers? That's our new history - New Jersey rewrites history. [geneice]

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are not included in the revised version of the New Jersey Department of Education history standards - a move some critics view as political correctness at its worst.

Melissa Radler at The Jerusalem Post - El Al passenger flies with gun to New York - so much for the most stringent airport security on the planet. [geneice]

Carla Howell Declares for Governor - what a joy it would be for her to become the next governor of Massachusetts. I won't hold my breath. If the polls start looking even close, she'd better have really good bodyguards...

I'm the only candidate for Governor who has signed the small government pledge:

"I vote small government. Every issue. Every time. No exceptions. No excuses."

Small government is beautiful ... and it leaves our families alone.

Small government is beautiful ... and it leaves our income alone.

Small government is beautiful ... and it leaves our guns alone.

...

A vote for Carla Howell and small government is a vote for 100% Gun Freedom. I am the only candidate for Governor who will shred every Anti-Gun Freedom Law on the books in Massachusetts. Immediately repeal Chapter 180. Immediately repeal and remove every Anti-Gun law, restriction and regulation on the books. More guns means safe communities.

Alan Korwin at KeepAndBearArms.com - Gun-Free-Zone Liability: Defenseless Victim Act of 2002 - review of a proposed Arizona law that would make people who create a gun free zone responsible for the harm it causes. Take away people's ability to defend themselves, and you are as responsible as the perp for any harm that comes to them. [kaba]

Susan Callaway at Sierra Times - Addiction Or Choice? - the ten commandments aren't just a good idea. They're the law. And not a law mandated from above as some would have you believe. A real law, embedded in the fabric of reality. Ms. Callaway doesn't use the words "ten commandments" anywhere in her piece, but I believe that's what she's refering to. [sierra]

The reality is that without a personal desire to change the behavior, no court or law or program can or will change a single "addict", no matter how much of our liberty or money is wasted on it. Unfortunately, far too few people understand or accept this and, as with so many other things, far too many people will ignore all of it until some activity THEY wish to preserve is attacked.

Do all the folks who support the second amendment also support the decriminalization of drugs? Not on a bet. Do all the folks who work so hard to promote legalized marijuana also support the freedom of the internet, warts and all? I doubt it. We must all support the freedom of choice for each other, or we are doomed to continue this insanity indefinitely.

Where did our congress critters go wrong and forget that their job is to discover the law, not create it? Course it's all been discovered already. Non-initiation of force covers just about everything. I particularly like Richard Maybury's description in Whatever Happened to Justice?:

Do all you have agreed to do.
Do not encroach upon the person or property of others.

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Previous Posts:
Nevada needs tort reform
An old man with a curious little metal cross
The right way to fight a war
The M14
The Skeptical Environmentalist
Neck Resizing for AR-15 Reloading
Refuse To File If They Skip the Trial
It is finally Edward Kennedy's moment
Please get in line ... it's Conga time
Nevada leaders afraid to put federal government in its place

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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