The Most Dangerous Weapons on the Planet

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 19 Jan 2004 13:00:00 GMT

# I delivered a friend to the airport today. In thinking about how I would respond should one of the local gendarmes demand to "inspect" my vehicle and ask if I had any weapons, I came up with the following:

I have a brain that is trained to think and a heart that loves liberty. Those, sir, are the most dangerous weapons on the planet. -- Bill St. Clair

There were three Sheriff's department cars there, but I let out my passenger, retrieved her bags from the back seat, sent her on her way, and drove off without talking to any of their occupants.

# The Hunter at The Price of Liberty - Liberty: The Gold That Does Not Glitter - don't lose hope, oh lovers of liberty. The sword that was broken still holds power, awaiting only the proper time and person to wield it again. [lrtdiscuss]

Freedom as a concept and an ideal is still strong and vibrant in America, whatever the faults of its implementation today. It is too strong to "wither", and the philosophical roots reach so deep that no passing political weather of the day can disturb them. Always they endure beyond the reach of destruction by any tyrant no matter how ambitious.

Just as "Strider" and his forefathers labored and died secret and forgotten for many long years before fulfilling their destiny, so liberty abides throughout this great land. A warning and a promise, it waits in the shadows for the proper time, neither seeking nor needing notice or praise. Even when the fire of freedom might seem to have burned out, it can rise anew like the Phoenix from its own ashes. Despite the gathering gloom the potential is still there for the light to suddenly spring forth dazzling from an unexpected quarter, illumining all for an all-too-brief moment before retreating again to bide its time, hidden safely away beyond the reach of those intending harm.

# Bill Whittle - A Sad Day - Bill has removed his two "Ideal American" essays, 1.0 Introduction & 2.0 Basic Skills, from the front page at ejectejecteject.com. Apparently some nay-sayings from past supporters have gotten him down. I posted the following as a comment on part 2, and sent a slightly different version to him via email. [whittle]

The Ideal American essays have disappeared from the main page. There's a clue as to why at http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000084.html, but that is also not available from the main page.

Yo, Bill, no matter what these whiners say, I love your writing, all of it, and I'm not alone. Yes, I whine too, sometimes, but only because I haven't yet learned to emulate your stellar example of remaining optimistic in the face of hardship. Please don't take that away. It's important. Your writing captures the spirit of America. We need to be reminded of that spirit.

Remember, you're not writing chiefly for the people who comment on your posts. You're doing Isaiah's job, writing for the remnant, the silent folks who need to be reminded of the fundemental rightness of the American Ideal they hold in their hearts. And you've been doing that job well. Don't lose heart.

# Kim du Toit - Resolve - advice from the military on how to prepare to defend your family from predators: rigorous practice, dehumanize the enemy, cameraderie. It's your duty. [kimdutoit]

The same is true of self-defense. Under circumstances of great stress, your instincts take over -- and those instincts should include the firing of a gun, that will have come about through hours of practice. There is no other way.

...

This, by the way, is one of the reasons I don't refer to violent criminals as anything other than "goblins". To me, anyone who will resort to invading a person's home, for whatever reason, is no longer a human being, but a predator -- actually, a raptor (the literal meaning of which is "taker") of life and/or property.

As such, I'm trying to strengthen that perception among my Readers. Unfortunately, as Western civilization has progressed, one of the less-desirable aspects thereof has been to instil in people's minds that violent criminals are just misunderstood, or that their actions are somehow excusable.

They aren't, and this fiction is one of recent vintage. All through millenia of history, men have treated violent criminals with violence, either in situ or through civil punishment. Plato, for instance, talks of execution as a "deterrent", not to deter others, but "so that the criminal may not strike again."

...

Finally, the army will teach its recruits to kill by instilling cameraderie -- that by killing the aggressor, you're protecting others close to you.

Fortunately, this should need little work on the part of a citizen at the wrong end of a burglary or robbery. Protection of one's loved ones is one of the primal instincts, and suppression of that instinct ("leave it to the police") is one of the basest constructs ever imposed on mankind by our supposed "civilization".

...

Now quit reading my fevered rantings, and get your ass out to the range. You need to practice, because as I write this, some sociopathic shitbrain may be planning to rob your house or murder your family, tonight.

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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

End the War on Freedom

The Most Dangerous Weapons on the Planet