So, a newspaper in New York State decided that since guns were obviously tools of the devil, they should publish the names and locations of people licensed to have them in their community. Predictably, the thing backfired on them.

The community they ostensibly served realized that the attempt to demonize gun owners had just put a huge number of vetted, card-carrying “good guys and gals” into the sort of pit of condemnation usually reserved for registered sex offenders.  It had also created, literally, a “shopping guide for gun thieves.”

It was not a wise thing to do in the time of the Internet. One enterprising blogger countered by publishing the home addresses of the newspaper staff.  Utterly horrified, the powers that be at the newspaper called the police and told them they’d been threatened. The police investigated, and determined that readers expressing outrage at the paper having done a stupid thing did not constitute criminal threatening.  The paper, wetting its institutional pants apparently, hired armed security: an act of hypocrisy that will probably be cited in journalism school forever into the future.  (The armed security firm they hired is run by a family named Ayoob; no relation that I know of, but I hope you will forgive the author if he is amused.)

And soon on the heels of that, local corrections officials discovered that inmates were threatening the correctional officers because those officers’ had been named by the paper as permit-holders, and now the prisoners knew where they and their families lived, so they could take revenge when they got out from behind bars.

Most recently, a judge (a permit holder herself, and on the published list) called out the paper for its utter stupidity, here: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/01/06/judge-jeanine-pirro-slams-the-journal-news-for-publishing-names-of-gun-permi-owners-including-herself/ .  Bless you, Judge Pirro!

This is the sort of thing that happens when elitists who declare culture wars on people they don’t understand, and try to legislate issues they obviously don’t begin to understand, start throwing their power around in reckless pursuit of “political correctness.”

Speaking of which, the Huffington Post reports that Joe Biden says the President is ready to use Executive Order to bypass Congress to achieve serious firearms ownership restrictions. (Ya know, HuffPost, we knew that, but thanks.) It’s worth reading their account to go to the end for their featurette on ten people who are past the BS symbolism and support something that CAN stop atrocities such as the Newtown Massacre: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/joe-biden-gun-group_n_2440359.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D254877#slide=more270656

1 COMMENT

  1. Mas, a friend sent me a link to a group which is calling for a peaceful but ARMED march on Washington, D.C. on George Washington’s birthday, Friday February 22nd. Sounds like fun, but I would feel safer doing that in a gun-friendly place like AZ or TX. What do you think of this idea?

    Here’s the link: http://partyof1776.net/

    (Sorry, can’t get the link to activate)

    I decided to retire “Old Fezzywig” and become “Roger Willco.” “Death Wish Dave” and “DoomsDave” were gnarly, but sounded too ominous. 🙂

  2. Even (antigun) syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts just said in his column that the paper involved was way over the line – and this area’s daily said it had no journalistic value.

  3. Mas,

    Do you have a source for the threats made to the corrections offficers? I’d like to use it for a letter I’m wiritng to my officials here in New York.

    Thanks.

  7. Peaceful unarmed march, everyone polite and respectful.
    Dress casual…
    Have a good speaker of the people.

    Also states are affirming their own constitutions against bamacare and other issues.
    Maybe more states can thumb a nose at a fed gun ban, and keep their own gun laws.

  8. Wasn’t “Shouting FIRE! in a crowded moviehouse” an example used in First Amendment cases where an action is technically legal but ethically questionable?

    I guess they don’t teach ethics in journalism school anymore…just how to whine.

  9. Well this is what you get when acted so stupid for publishing those gun owners name in public. Now you needed a security with a gun to protect you from those whose names you published. Welcome to the real world and hope you will learn some lessons not to play games with people’s lives. I hope all these gun owners take you to court.

  10. Mas, As a frequent attendee of your classes and a CT resident, the temperature is rising against gun ownership in our CT legislature everyday. The Left feels compelled to do something about preventing the next Newtown but at the same time hijacking the debate to confiscate weapons. There is a bill on the floor to out all 160,000+ carry conceal holders in the entire state of CT. In the case of the Journal News, what the editors did there was tantamount to crying fire in a movie theatre. This was clearly not a Freedom of the Press issue. The have put off-duty correctional officers, law enforcement officers, private law abiding citizens and their loved ones at substantial risk of violence. What is even more ironic is a number of local papers are saying the Journal News has now put the non-carry conceal houses at risk because the burglars now know who will not be able resist an armed encounter. This is getting bad. God help us. J.

  11. You know, I’m scared of Racial Group X, which is responsible for a dispraportionate amount of violent crime, including homicide.

    Perhaps newspapers should publish the names and addresses of members of Racial Group X, because my fear of X gives me the right to know this information.

  12. “local corrections officials discovered that inmates were threatening the correctional officers because those officers’ had been named”

    “Most recently, a judge (a permit holder herself, and on the published list) called out the paper for its utter stupidity”

    The State will respond by protecting the privacy of judges, officers, and other government officials by putting their names on a separate, private list.

    Problem solved.

  14. Mas,
    The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN did a similar stunt in 2008 and to this day has a search box for names and addresses of permit holders in TN. Other papers have done the same in recent history. Won’t link to the CA’s website as I don’t want to give them traffic. This idiocy and privacy invasion is despite the fact that Memphis is one of the top five violent cities in the U.S. Ideally, the Appeal would better use its talents to give us a searchable database including names and addresses of convicted criminals out on parole or probation.

    See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Commercial_Appeal
    Behold new journalism at its finest.

    Fortunately, in Georgia, there is no state database of GFL (Georgia Firearms Licenses) as each of the elected probate judges in 159 counties maintain their own lists which are exempt from the Georgia Open Records Act. Thankfully, Georgia Carry persuaded legislators that a statewide database was not desirable when they redid the GFL permit process a few years ago.

    Those of you so inclined may want to talk to your representatives to exclude lists of permit holders who have not been charged with misconduct from FOIA type laws in your state. Now is a good time to put an end to possible foolishness from your state’s papers. Remember we don’t calll it pack journalism for nothing.

  16. ● ● WE ARE MARCHING ON THE STATE CAPITOLS ON JAN 19 2013 AT NOON LOCAL TIME.

    Watch video http://youtu.be/MUAfft7l4wQ for details and check out http://www.guncontrolmorecrime.com. This is another in a series of many Calls to Action (CTAs) here in TNP as we work as a unified team to defeat anti-self defense gun legislation in 2013. The proposed AWB seeks to criminalize millions of good Americans is a power grabbing, Marxist attempt at people control. We stand and be counted NOW, not cower in our houses hoping for the best and ranting anonymously on the internet about crap that doesn’t matter. Time to nut up or shut up.

    ● http://youtu.be/MUAfft7l4wQ

    ● WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

    ● Pledge not to use an Executive Order to restrict the 2nd Amendment rights of law abiding Citizens.

    ● This is a petition to prevent the Obama Administration from issuing Executive Orders restricting the 2nd Amendment rights of law abiding citizens.

    https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pledge-not-use-executive-order-restrict-2nd-amendment-rights-law-abiding-citizens/JPXqVSqV

    ➪ WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
    Secure the borders of the United States for the safety and security of American citizens.
    Secure the borders of the United States for the safety and security

    https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/secure-borders-united-states-safety-and-security-american-citizens/29tHzqh7

    ● WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

    ➪ Disregard and Dismiss Senator Feinstein’s proposed Gun Control Bill.

    https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/disregard-and-dismiss-senator-feinsteins-proposed-gun-control-bill/dwW488QB

    “A free people … should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. – George Washington”

    ➪ PLEASE Share these links & Get over there & sign it!

    Μολὼν λαβέ

  17. Roger Wilko, NEVER go into DC with a gun, loaded or unloaded, magazine or a single hollow point round. They do not play for a second there even if you are law enofircement from out of town. It’s best to do it in Northern VA, within sight of DC. Manyh LE officer get cuffed and stuffed for mistakenly carrying in DC. They have a history of showing no professional courtesy.

  18. Someone needs to point out the best way to get Americans to do something is threaten to no longer allow them to do it. And that it was the Brady bunch that made it cool to own ugly guns.

    Since semi-auto’s were first sold nearly 100 years ago (i.e., Remington model 8) up until the late 1980’s they were no big deal. Something for collectors and enthusiasts.

    Up until then all the gun banners were going after “Saturday Night Specials” that were low cost, low quality, and easily concealed. That was the debate.

    The Brady bunch gave up on that. Probably emboldened by the 1987 ban on new NFA machine guns, they stated that they would go after military-looking guns so as to exploit the publics’ confusion of them with full auto guns. The pimps in the media showed full auto guns in news clips to add to the confusion.

    In short, the Brady bunch went after a class of guns that were not used in many crimes. How did it go from cheap, low quality, hard to conceal to expensive, rugged, hard to conceal over night? They are the one’s that made it cool to own them. If they had just shut the Hell up about it, there would probably be a fourth or a tenth of the number in circulation and, just like up to the end of the 1980’s, it would be collectors and hobbyists interested in them. Looking at an M1A serial number lately, it seems that more have been made in the last ten years than in the previous 30.

    Unintended consequences.

  20. Nitpick: Check the link to the “10 most” list. Instead of the beginning it links to the end slide advertising other lists.

    “Utterly horrified, the powers that be at the newspaper called the police and told them they’d been threatened. The police investigated, and determined that readers expressing outrage at the paper having done a stupid thing did not constitute criminal threatening.”

    1. Publish a list of handgun licensees that, because of the state’s strict gun control, has a high percentage of law enforcement and corrections officers.
    2. Run to the police and expect them to crack down on people who disagree.

    Darwin moment.

  21. VP Biden’s Gun Control Proposals to Obama Next Tuesday

    “After consulting with a series of stakeholders in the ongoing debate over gun control, Vice President Joe Biden will present his recommendations for reducing gun-related violence in America to President Obama on Tuesday,” cbs.com reports. “The vice president, speaking to reporters before [emphasis added] a meeting on gun violence with sportsmen and women, outlined a series of the recommendations he said are emerging in the course of his conversations with various stakeholders in the conversation — among which include universal background checks, restrictions on high-capacity magazines, and federal abilities to effectively research gun violence.” It gets worse. Far worse. From the horse’s mouth . . .

    If you look at every one of the tragic events that have attracted so much attention, it’s hard to be able to pinpoint what you would have done to assure it wouldn’t have happened. But there’s also things we know, we know, that there’s certain actions we take that have diminished the extent of the gun violence that otherwise would be occurring in the United States. There’s an emerging set of recommendations, not coming from me, but coming from the groups we’ve met with, and I’m gonna focus on the ones that relate primarily to gun ownership, what types of weapons can be owned.

    So even though nothing we’re proposing could have prevented the slaughter at Sandy Hook, we’re going to exploit the death of 20 white suburban children to push a civilian disarmament agenda in the name of public safety, generally.

    This is gonna get ugly. Er. Uglier.

  23. NRA Not Impressed by Meet with Biden Civilian Disarmament Commission

    Raise your hand if you didn’t see this coming. After yesterday’s announcement by Tailgunner Joe Biden that the President stands ready to use his executive powers — sidestepping the legislative process — to institute gun control measures yet to be announced, the NRA’s meeting (along with other “sportsmen and wildlife interests”) with the Veep and his fellow blue-suited yes-men today didn’t really go well. Which is as self-evident as saying that Liraz Cherchi looks good in cowhide. Make the jump for the NRA’s statement of disappointment after today’s kabuki act . . .

    Fairfax, Va. – The National Rifle Association of America is made up of over 4 million moms and dads, daughters and sons, who are involved in the national conversation about how to prevent a tragedy like Newtown from ever happening again. We attended today’s White House meeting to discuss how to keep our children safe and were prepared to have a meaningful conversation about school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence to our kids and the collapse of federal prosecutions of violent criminals.

    We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment. While claiming that no policy proposals would be “prejudged,” this Task Force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners – honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans. It is unfortunate that this Administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems. We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen. Instead, we will now take our commitment and meaningful contributions to members of congress of both parties who are interested in having an honest conversation about what works – and what does not.

  24. I see a strange irony in this whole gun law thing. Not too long ago congress was on a witch hunt to find out who on the White House staff gave/ sold guns to the drug dealers in Mexico–Fast and Furious–remember? What ever happened to that? They better get their house in order first. My other point is that they seem to only want to deal with the gun and not the handler. It is my contention that the manufacture of violent movies and video games have to carry the burden of responsibility for what has happened. I say they are poisoning the minds of our youth and are a co-conspiritor in the murder of those kids. They are hiding behind the First Amendment and need to be called out.

  26. Mas, thanks for all of the great work you do. I do have two comments/questions that I would like to present for general thought. They are in a sennse linked to the disconnect of common sense, so often experienced by the liberal elite, and I feel they are relavent.
    1. Has anyone ever located even one relative, or friend, of someone who died due to a criminal assault that is willing to proclaim that they are so happy that no one was around that had the ability to offer protection to the innocent victim? (I don’t think so)
    2. How can the current administration state that the 2nd amendment was not intended to enable citizens to protect themselves against oppressive governments when they go around the world arming rebels and freedom fighters on the very same premise?
    Once again, thanks for all of the work you do.
    Regards

    Ray K.

  27. Joe Biden, dumb as a bag of rocks and who has always hated guns is looking into gun measures, what a joke. Then we have the most liberal President Chicago boy Obama who is so arrogant towards the American people he is threatening executive powers to take our guns.
    What a mess we gun owners are in with this radical pair in charge and Holder as A.G..

  28. Mas and Mike, thanks for the good advice about the march. Being from NJ, I knew D.C. was just as bad. However, it would have been neat thinking about Europeans watching Americans having a peaceful, armed march on their capital. Ah, dreams.

    If you gave an atom bomb to an NRA member, he would take it home and put it in his gun safe. If you gave Adam Lanza a hammer, he would take it to a school, break a window with it, and then begin to bash the heads of children with that hammer.

    Like Michael Savage says, “Liberalism is a mental disease.”

  29. The anti’s in new york should be more irate at the newspaper because they just told the criminals who CAN’T protect themselves. (Soft targets) by not being on the “list”

  30. Mas:

    FYI an extremely wealthy woman with the last name of Ayoob owned one of the largest sailing yachts on the planet several years ago. Maybe she was a member of the clan, or snagged one of your distant rich relatives.

    Well, looks like our malevolent Dear Leader has finally dropped his cloak
    of innocence and stands revealed as the diabolical Anti-Christ he truly is.

  31. A few successful civil lawsuits, should burglary or injury result from the published addresses, might deter other publishers from trying this sort of thing in the future. Does anyone know if previously published lists of gun owners or permit holders (or prison workers, for that matter) has resulted in loss, injury, and successful lawsuit?

  32. This is going to get rough, especially for those who feel having guns is a bad idea.

    Those with the means of protecting themselves with arms, will face less crime. I feel for those, who’s names have been published, if family members don’t know how to handle weapons, for example kids and the elderly. They get hurt.

    I can see a class action suite taking place. If my family members were hurt by criminals, as the result of my information being published. Then the newspapers should be held responsible.

  33. People like them are part of why I tore up my Society of Professional Journalists membership card… Granted, the job went away when the editor I was “Reverse Embedded” into the office to protect moved to another state, but at least if the profession had had some degree of institutional integrity so I could be proud of my association with it I woulda kept the card as a memento. (As I see it, the only pride to be had in those two years was helping get the straight story out on self-defense since I actually DID do some writing to maintain my cover, and helping protect a young lady who truly needed it from a really scary, evil [epithet of choice here] of a violent stalker ex.)

  34. IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE!!

    You people don’t get it. There is NOT going to be any “taking this gun ban to court”, etc.

    This administration is using the nazi playbook step by step and nothing will deter their progress.

    You guys with the “cold dead hands” thing don’t get it either. What good are you dead? Living to FIGHT another day is a better plan.

    According to a local LEO, they are already considering confiscating weapons.

    When the National Guard and reg military go AWOL the blue hats will invade.

    As I have stated redundantly,
    Things are gonna get real intense soon.

  35. “Infringed”…….

    By definition isn’t ANY regulation or taxation at all is an infringement.

    Even a hunting license? CCW?
    Was Vermont correct in its “freedom of ownership and carry” rules?

  36. Connecticut Bill #122: Restrict All Guns to A Single Shot

    General Assembly
    Proposed Bill No. 122
    January Session, 2013
    LCO No. 543
    Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
    Introduced by: SEN. MEYER, 12th Dist.

    AN ACT CONCERNING RESTRICTIONS ON GUN USE.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

    That the general statutes be amended to establish a class C felony offense, except for certain military and law enforcement personnel and certain gun clubs, for (1) any person or organization to purchase, sell, donate, transport, possess or use any gun except one made to fire a single round, (2) any person to fire a gun containing more than a single round, (3) any person or organization to receive from another state, territory or country a gun made to fire multiple rounds, or (4) any person or organization to purchase, sell, donate or possess a magazine or clip capable of holding more than one round.

    Statement of Purpose: To reduce the use of guns for criminal purposes.

  37. I never believed I would live to see the day that Russians would not only be giving us advice on freedom, but also that they would also be RIGHT! Take a look at this piece which appeared in PRAVDA titled, “Americans Never Give Up Your Guns”: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/28-12-2012/123335-americans_guns-0/

    The last paragraphs of the article above summarizes well the clear and present danger of the knee-jerk reaction to the atrocity in Newtown, CT that threatens our dearly held Second Amendment rights:

    “… Do not be fooled by a belief that progressives, leftists hate guns. Oh, no, they do not. What they hate is guns in the hands of those who are not marching in lock step of their ideology. They hate guns in the hands of those who think for themselves and do not obey without question… .”
    “So, do not fall for the false promises and do not extinguish the light that is left to allow humanity a measure of self respect.”

  38. Right now we are in the midst of a fight that could determine the future of gun ownership in the United States. Don’t be fooled, there are those among the anti-gun camp that would move to eliminate gun ownership in this country, whether by Executive Order or oppressive laws targeting law-abiding gun owners.

    Our Second Amendment does provide protections for gun owners, but Our judicial system is based on the idea of legal precedent. All judges review past legal cases for guidance, so once something sets a precedent, other judges follow suit. And no one ever knows how SCOTUS will rule. We cannot sit back and wait for a bad law to be enacted, challenged and ruled on by the court. That route is a strategy for defeat.

    Senator Diane Feinstein admits she has been “working on” her proposed law for more than a year. Read between the lines–she has been keeping this legislation on the shelf, ready to be revealed during a crisis. As former White House Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is quoted as saying, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

    I find it saddening and sickening that before the victims of the Sandy Hook atrocity were laid to rest, Senator Feinstein was making her move to capitalize on these deaths.

    The gun control advocates are bent on first restricting, then confiscating guns. Recall Senator Feinstein’s interview with 60 Minutes in whch she openly declared her intent to confiscate all guns, “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, ‘Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in.’ I would have done it.”

    Source (second video clip): http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/19/Sen-Feinstein-in-1995-I-know-the-urge-to-arm-yourself-because-that-s-what-I-did

    Find and Contanct your Representative in the US House by Zip Code:
    http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

    Contact Your Senators :
    http://www.senate.gov/

    Voice your opinion.

  39. “Well this is what you get when acted [sic] so stupid for publishing those gun owners names in public. Now you need a security [guard] with a gun to protect you from those whose names you published…”
    Actually, that’s what they THINK but it’s not so. The legal gun owners may be irate but are not going to illegally use their guns (or any other illegal means) to attack the journalists. They are law-abiding citizens which is why they have those permits. But we won’t tell the journalists this; we’ll just let them spend their money on armed security and cower behind shuttered windows…..

  40. Mas,

    This is off topic, but I am trying to find reference to the time the United States dropped handguns over Europe (France?) to help with the resistance. I believe it was a form of six shot repeater that was more or less disposable. I want to say the weapon was never names but more or less bore a model number like name.

    Thanks.

  41. PA Senator Bob Casey Supports the Second Amendment But . . .

    Dear Mr. XXXXX:

    Thank you for taking the time to contact me about the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue.

    As you know, on December 14, 2012, an individual in Newtown, Connecticut forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire on teachers and staff in the building. In total, the perpetrator murdered 20 students between the ages of six and seven years old, as well as six adults, many of whom heroically sought to stop the shooter and save the lives of children. Like many Americans, I was deeply affected by the scope and brutality of this act. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families . . .

    The motives that led to this senseless massacre will likely never fully be comprehended. However, I believe that all public officials have a responsibility to work to prevent such an event from occurring again. This incident reflects a complex problem that requires a comprehensive strategy, including funding for law enforcement officers and the mental health care system. Too many individuals with mental illness are not receiving the services they need and tragically, sometimes a small number of these individuals turn violent. I have supported access to affordable and accessible mental health services for all Americans and I will continue to review proposed solutions to improve our mental health system.

    As you may know, I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Pennsylvania has a fine hunting and sporting tradition, and I will defend the right to bear arms as it is enshrined in our Constitution. However, I also believe that the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School highlights very serious dangers posed to public safety by the misuse of certain weapons and technology originally developed for warfare. According to reports, the shooter was able to kill many children and adults very quickly because he possessed a military-style semiautomatic weapon. He also allegedly used magazines containing up to 30 rounds of ammunition and carried hundreds of rounds more. After much reflection and careful study of the issue, I have decided to support a federal assault weapons ban as well as legislation restricting high capacity clips. In light of what occurred at Sandy Hook, these are two measures that will lessen the chances that this will happen again soon.

    Our Nation has already begun a critical dialogue as we examine what steps must be taken to prevent this type of tragedy in the future. On December 19, 2012, President Obama announced the formation of an inter-agency task initiative, led by Vice President Biden, to study these issues and recommend possible actions. I look forward to reviewing these proposals, as well to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address this complex issue.

    Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.

    For more information on this or other issues, I encourage you to visit my website, http://casey.senate.gov. I hope you will find this online office a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.

    Sincerely,

    Bob Casey
    United States Senator

  42. I’ll bet you’re sick of reading and hearing about gun control by now. To be honest, I’m with you, but maybe for different reasons…Some folks will admit that they are just annoyed by the constant rhetoric from the news media. Others will say that they care more about other issues like the economy. As for me, I am tired of the gun control debate for one reason: I don’t believe our right to bear arms should be up for debate at all! Forget the fact that our Constitution affirms the right of Americans to bear arms. Forget the fact that it’s a part of our nation’s heritage and tradition. Forget the fact that guns save countless, innocent lives every year (something you’ll never hear from the mainstream news media). The reason I believe that the entire debate is ludicrous to begin with is simple: Every person on earth has the natural born right to defend themselves from harm.
    This is where I believe so many people get off topic. Many folks argue about our rights based on the wrong precedent. Don’t hear me wrong, I’m as thankful for the 2nd Amendment as the next guy, but what I’m talking about goes much deeper than a man-made amendment to the United States Constitution. I clearly remember the day that I was first struck with the truth that we are all born with the undeniable right to defend our loved ones and
    ourselves from harm. If you’re anything like me, you will agree that when you are gripped with a conviction that transcends a man-made law, it becomes all the dearer to you. It becomes a cause worth fighting for.

  43. Executive Orders have never been used as far as I know to pass a law on American People. They are used to pass orders to a branch already existing in our government. Executive Proclimation have been used to pass laws that pertain to civilians. They have only been used to pass silly laws to save a turkey or put a Christmas tree somewhere things like that. I am by know means an expert on these matters. Obama has stepped out of bounds and does not have the power that he is going to try to use. Every step we can take to stop him will help us and our kids from a man wanting to take our freedoms away. Our voices have to be heard.Congress can stop an Exective order and so can the Supreme Court.

  44. Oh, and by the way, in addition, let’s not forget the upcoming bouncebacks from our recent trek to the fiscal cliff:

    Over the next three months, our nation face four new and likely even more threatening fiscal confrontation deadlines:

    1. Sometime in February: the president will send Congress his FY 2014 budget submission — we don’t know what to expect, but it could include proposals for significant new troop, pay, and benefit cutbacks.

    2. Late February: the country is expected to hit the statutory ceiling on the size of the national debt. Many in Congress adamantly oppose an increase, but absent a deal to raise it, America would default on its debts; the last time Congress had a debt ceiling fight, America’s credit rating was downgraded, which tightened credit limits for individuals and companies. Any deal almost certainly will require more spending (including defense) cuts.

    3. March 1: Sequestration (a $1 trillion, 10-year, across-the-board budget-cut) will go into effect unless Congress adopts an alternative for spending cuts/revenue increases. DoD would be required to absorb $41 billion in cuts before the end of October (a devastating cut in so short a time) and $450 billion more over the next 9 years.

    4. March 27: The continuing resolution under which the federal government now is operating expires. Without an extension, the government will shut down. Here again, many legislators are talking about accepting a shutdown unless major spending cuts occur.

    Any one of these problems would be a challenge for our rancorous Congress to address, but combine all four events converging in such a small amount of time, and it greatly increases the likelihood Congress and the administration will fail to reach agreements to successfully navigate all of these major pitfalls.

    The consequences could be dire. Default on our debt, a government shutdown, or massive and immediate defense spending cuts could have a prolonged and negative effect — not just for currently serving and retired servicemembers and federal civilians — but also for America as a whole.

    We have a seriously stormy few months coming before we learn whether increasingly fierce partisan acrimony can be overcome in the national interest or whether the divide is so severe our elected officials actually find “shooting the hostage” preferable to negotiating compromise solutions.

    We really do get the government we deserve through our action, or inaction, at the ballot box!

  45. This whole thing is stupid the man proposing this obviously has no f-ing idea on what “gun control” really means. Maybe if the ass hole people on welfare or section eight or in employment who are sitting at home while their gang member kids or mentally screwed kids are out looking to dumb ass gang bangers and ass holes for advice while their parents sit at home and cry poverty never leaving the house or talking to their kids should in my eyes suck start their own gun.!! And figure out how to teach their kids that shooting people is wrong and isn’t done in the free world like ours instead this happens and good people suffer while ass holes but gun illegally think about it

  46. Obama not backing down from assault weapons ban

    Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle is displayed at Firing Line, an indoor shooting range and gun shop, in Aurora, …
    The White House says President Barack Obama is still committed to persuading Congress to ban some semi-automatic weapons, despite comments from the vice president that suggested he and Obama would instead embrace more politically popular gun reforms.

    “The president has been clear that Congress should reinstate the assault weapons ban and that avoiding this issue just because it’s been politically difficult in the past is not an option,” Matt Lehrich, a spokesman for Obama, told Yahoo News.

    Vice President Joe Biden told reporters on Thursday that he will issue a plan to the president next week to address the nation’s gun violence problem. Though both Biden and Obama have voiced their support for an assault weapons ban, Biden didn’t mention it on Thursday, instead focusing on proposals to close a loophole that allows gun buyers to forgo background checks and a bill to limit the size of ammunition magazines to 10 bullets. Biden also noted that many senators are opposed to a ban but are more receptive to magazine limits, according to the New York Times.

    Any assault weapons ban would most likely face a tough road in Congress. President Bill Cinton, who pushed an assault weapons ban through a majority Democratic Congress in 1994, said later that the ban fueled a Republican comeback, with the party winning back the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years in the next election cycle.

    Attitudes about assault weapons and gun control have also changed since the ’90s: Polling shows that background checks and magazine limits enjoy majority support among the public, while an assault weapons ban does not.

  47. dr, you want to do a Google search for the Liberator pistol. It was a cheap single-shot (didn’t even have rifling in the barrel, as I recall) designed to be furnished to Resistance forces in Europe during WWII.

  50. Here is one of the best arguments that I have ever heard for the place of Firearms, in our Society.

    “The Gun Is Civilization”

    By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

    Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.

    In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

    When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

    The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken guys, with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

    There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat – it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed.

    People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

    Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

    People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force, watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier, works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

    The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply would not work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.

    When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation… And that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act !!

    By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)

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