LEAP

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 21 Aug 2003 12:00:00 GMT

From The Federalist:

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not our circumstances." -- Martha Washington

and:

"We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money." -- Davy Crockett

and:

"They tell me that if, somehow or another, I don't respect this doctrine of the 'separation of church and state,' I am disrespecting the Constitution. I sat down again the other day. I scoured the document -- it's not very long, by the way. ... That was the brilliance of our Founders. ... I scoured it. I looked through it once, I looked through it twice. I looked through it a dozen times. I didn't find a single mention of this "separation!" -- Alan Keyes

From kaba:

"One man with courage is a majority." -- Thomas Jefferson

Troy Record Editorial - Got an illegal gun? Go directly to jail, do not pass go - The Record touts the Capital Region's new "Project Fed Up" program. I wrote the following letter to the editor: [kaba]

The August 19 editorial pushed "Project Fed Up", a rat-out-your-neighbor program that would increase penalties for so-called "gun crimes". I'm fed up with constant infringements on my God-given right to keep and bear arms.

Remind me, in a country where the second amendment to the Constitution says that "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed", what is an illegal gun? Isn't every law proclaiming any gun to be illegal unconstitutional on its face, hence null and void?

I believe that criminals should be held accountable for their crimes, but why does the tool you use to commit a crime have anything to do with the restitution you owe to the victim? If you stole property, you are responsible for returning or replacing it. If you harmed a person, you are responsible for making them whole. If you killed a person, your life is forfeit. Whether you used a knife, a screwdriver, a brick, a gun, or your bare hands has nothing whatsoever to do with it.

The problem isn't too many bad guys with guns. The problem is too few good guys with guns. Too few citizens who carry always and everywhere and are willing to defend against criminal action. Too many unconstitutional laws that make this difficult to do.

New York needs to follow the examples of Vermont and Alaska, rescind the Sullivan Act, and encourage every law-abiding adult to carry the weapon of their choice, openly or concealed, always and everywhere, no license or permit required.

Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly via Alternet - Cops Against the Drug War - a story about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, LEAP, lead by Jack Cole, formerly an undercover New Jersey cop. [smith2004]

"Eighty-five percent of the crime associated with drugs is not associated with people using drugs. It has to do with the marketplace," says Peter Christ, a former police officer in New York state who originated the idea of LEAP. Turf wars, smuggling, violent bill collection -- all are typical drug-related crimes that are not the result of being high. Moreover, LEAP argues, the illegality of drugs has inflated their value to a point where addicts have to steal to get their fix. "If we put 50-gallon drums out on every street corner in America filled with drugs, we wouldn't have the problems we have today," Christ says.

At the same time, LEAP argues that the prohibition has kept society from regulating drugs in a way that keeps them out of the hands of children, for whom it's easier to buy cocaine than it is to buy beer. As in the alcohol industry, LEAP says, legalization would also allow the government to license and monitor businesses that sell drugs and to set product standards that would prevent most overdoses. Says Christ, "When you go to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels, you don't have to wonder if there's a quart of antifreeze in it or rat poison." Legalization would further allow the government to tax this billion-dollar industry and use the proceeds for drug treatment programs.

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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