Bill of Rights Press

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 23 Jul 2005 12:00:00 GMT

From drugsense:

"War is delightful to those who have had not experience with it." -- Desiderius Erasmus

"An ambassador is a person who, having failed to secure an office from the people, is given one by the Administration on condition that he leave the country." -- Ambrose Bierce

and:

"The big rumor is that Chief Justice William Rehnquist is going to resign from the Supreme Court this week. I'm not going to believe it until it's leaked to The New York Times by Karl Rove." -- Jay Leno

# I made a page of pictures of my 2005 Civic LX Sedan. About 300K bytes all-told.

# Bill of Rights Press was created by Jesse Herron and Linda Heuer in response to learning from L. Neil Smith "during a diner conversation" of the refusal of Laissez Faire Books to carry Vin Suprynowicz' The Black Arrow. They say that "the vast majority of our offerings are going to be from what the main-stream people call 'controversial subjects.'" Their prices are good. I count 176 titles in their catalog. They use PayPal to collect money. You can either use a PayPal account or Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express. [smith2004]

# Jim Lesczynski at The Village Choice - Fourth Amendment R.I.P. - scroll down to the "Rant of the Week". Commentary on the subway bag search in the Big Apple. [smith2004]

LPNY Vice Chair Blay Tarnoff puts it into even better perspective: "Iraq is under military rule. Anybody's bag, clothing, or body cavities can be searched at any time for any reason or no reason at all. Terrorist-style bombs are nevertheless going off every day, killing all sorts of people, including the most heavily armed and technologically advanced and highly trained soldiers in the world... Given all that, how intrusive will searches have to be to be effective in New York City? Take your time."

I sent the following message via NYC.gov's Contact the Mayor page:

I have six words to say about your decision to search passengers traveling trains and busses in New York City:

Heil Bloomberg! Heil Kelly! Sieg Heil!

# Joyce Lee Malcolm at Reason - Gun Control's Twisted Outcome - on the rise in crime in merry olde England caused by disarming the honest folk, and declaring self-defense to be a crime. Written in 2002. Things have likely gotten worse since then. [scopeny]

The original common law standard was similar to what still prevails in the U.S. Americans are free to carry articles for their protection, and in 33 states law-abiding citizens may carry concealed guns. Americans may defend themselves with deadly force if they believe that an attacker is about to kill or seriously injure them, or to prevent a violent crime. Our courts are mindful that, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, "detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an upraised knife."

But English courts have interpreted the 1953 act strictly and zealously. Among articles found illegally carried with offensive intentions are a sandbag, a pickaxe handle, a stone, and a drum of pepper. "Any article is capable of being an offensive weapon," concede the authors of Smith and Hogan Criminal Law, a popular legal text, although they add that if the article is unlikely to cause an injury the onus of proving intent to do so would be "very heavy."

The 1967 act has not been helpful to those obliged to defend themselves either. Granville Williams points out: "For some reason that is not clear, the courts occasionally seem to regard the scandal of the killing of a robber as of greater moment than the safety of the robber's victim in respect of his person and property."

# Susan Jones at CNSNews.com via GOPUSA.com - House Renews Expiring Sections of USA PATRIOT Act - the representatives-of-their-own-power in DC have voted to renew much of the U.S.A. T.R.A.I.T.O.R. Act. Oh joy. [scopeny]

# Eric S. Raymond - Gayness is hard, lesbianism soft - interesting. [esr]

Fascinating. This NYT article bears out a suspicion I've held for a long time about the plasticity of sexual orientation. The crude one-sentence summary is that, if you go by physiological arousal reactions, male bisexuality doesn't exist, while female bisexuality is ubiquitous.

# The Price of Liberty - "JUNE 23rd Movement" A Call To Action! - written in response to Kelo v. New London. Includes the following sign to post on your property: "Caution. Private Property. Attempts to steal, or steal from, this property WILL be met with deadly force by the owner. (This includes YOU, Mr. Gov't official.)" [price]

# J. H. Huebert at LewRockwell.com - Free-Market Justice Is in the Cards - is the state necessary to protect consumers from fraud, or could the free market fill that bill? How the credit card system already does it, with rarely any need for gummint guns. [root]

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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