We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:40:16 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Last Thursday the House Oversight & Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, chaired by out-there presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.), met, and was used by anti-gunners as a platform for pushing the same old shopworn list of desired anti-gun restrictions. The hearing had the catchy title of "Lethal Loopholes." To anti-gunners, a "loophole" is the lack of any restriction they wish to impose, and they lived down to my low expectations of performance on the issue. Brady Campaign president Paul Helmke used his testimony to promote the gun ban lobby’s agenda to include a gem which admittedly gores... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html Tue, 15 May 2007 07:17:25 -0600 Robin - another odd dichotomy between the two of us is... you can own a fully-functional mortar, pretty much anywhere in Canada, and get it mail-order. Same thing is true for an RPG-7. Or a 25 pounder howitzer. But you better not have a Luger, unless it's the Artillery model. Here, I can have all the Lugers I want, bought via the mails (because I have a license to do so, my neighbor, he's got to go through a dealer), across the river I can own a functional mortar or artillery piece, if it's over 50 years old *and* on the National Firearms Register, but I can't get any ammo for it. On my side of the river, I can own it if it's been demilled, and I can get it via mail-order, unless, of course, even though it has a bore-sized hole in the tube and rods blocking the tube - if it has a trigger mechanism, like say, the Brit WWII 2-inch mortar - well, *then* I have to buy it like a longarm, with a 4483 and a NICS check. And I have to keep all this straight - and I know that many LEO's do *not* keep it straight, and will bust me in a minute. I'll walk, but only after having been through the grinder proving to them that they are ignorant of the law. Which they, of course, don't like. I should note - the flavor of LEO depends mightily on where you live. In my town and county, it's not a problem. One county south of here, it's a problem. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60044 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60044 Wed, 16 May 2007 06:45:23 -0600 Up here in Canada rather than use the word arsenal the government simply called anyone with 10 or more firearms a collector. Collectors can have their houses and records searched by the CFC/RCMP at any time the chief firearms officer wants. We're slowly gaining back our rights while you guys lose yours. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60041 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60041 Tue, 15 May 2007 23:29:47 -0600 Quite frankly, it's a legal and political system designed by lawyers, for the benefit and perpetuation of lawyers. As Billy Unsteadypointything said: "Kill all the lawyers!"]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60035 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60035 Tue, 15 May 2007 14:58:18 -0600 John - Analysis Paralysis is a terrible condition. Heh. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60034 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60034 Tue, 15 May 2007 14:05:54 -0600 " ... In the past, written laws reflected already well understood, unwritten social laws that had created good society. Now people try to make good society by writing laws. It simply does not work that way. Good society must come first or no amount of written law can make it "good". ..." I blame the lawyers! LOL In the past, those "unwritten" social laws were based on common sense and "right" sense - doing what a good society deemed was right and just. Because of legal and judicial activism, we've been forced to try to codify, or write, EVERYTHING in the most minute detail to avoid legal loopholes and technicalities. This, of course, has resulted in a perpetual cycle of codifying more clarifications and more addenda to the ever multiplying written laws. Quite frankly, it's a legal and political system designed by lawyers, for the benefit and perpetuation of lawyers. At our expense.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60032 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60032 Tue, 15 May 2007 12:48:04 -0600 Darn! While I've got an 'arsenal' the ever-indulgent wife is a couple items short. Oh well, the stupid Jim Crow "Mommy, May I?" Permit To Acquire repeal just passed so starting August 29th there's no hassle in adding some more to her side of the safe. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60031 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60031 Tue, 15 May 2007 12:44:27 -0600 I guess I am an originalist because all I keep thinking about are the small arsenals private owners obtained, including field artillery pieces, up to, during and after the Revolutionary war in order to provide for privately raised or community militias. Most of which that was not secured by any form of central government, state or national. Was life so much more violent then? Not according to these folks and their studies, yet, it seems perfectly acceptable to have had a cannon in the barn. The real issue here, is whether we are going to let some commonly held social misconception be the guide post by which we decide what rights we will give up or whether we will insist that they are left to us. I am an originalist because I think that our founders created two rights in the Bill of Rights that address this issue and no other laws are required: 2nd Amendment 9th amendment Everyone knows what the second amendment says if they read here. The 9th amendment says that congress will make no laws abridging the rights of the people either indicated on the Bill of Rights or those not otherwise specified, but held to be inherently true. Every time there is a law requiring registration and keeping any citizen from a gun, it is a violation of the 9th and 2nd amendment. When we are required to wait 5 days, it is a violation of those amendments. When it restricts the number of weapons, it is a violation of these amendments. When it restricts the type of guns, it is a violation of these amendments. I also believe that violation of those amednments and rights are simply symptoms of a greater problem within the nation: the suspension of rights, even if it is largely an action that does not affect everyone. We don't even care. People believe that it is fine as long as the bulk of them can go about their business without any undue hassle and maybe only slight pain, all in the name of "good society". Good society has become highly misunderstood and misrepresented as some utopia we are supposed to reach by enacting written laws that restrict citizens as opposed to a society that requires few written laws, but understands its responsibilities towards one another implicity. Including respect for the property and person of another. This good society is a product of our socialization, not of written laws. In the past, written laws reflected already well understood, unwritten social laws that had created good society. Now people try to make good society by writing laws. It simply does not work that way. Good society must come first or no amount of written law can make it "good". It is not that I demand the ability to own an arsenal or plan to own one. It is, in fact, the problem of diminishing rights across the board. I find it disturbing that we are moving to the point where the rights and privileges of an upstanding citizen are nearly equivalent to those of a criminal. That is not "good society". In order to balance the acts of criminals against the safety of the general populace, we are taking rights away from the general populace. At the same time, because we have embued the "sanctity of life" with the idea that all people, regardless of their crimes, have the right to life (except unwanted, unborn children), we have given the criminal more rights than the victim. And, if we say, give me my gun and execute or imprison for many years the man that murders with one, we are considered some sort of extremist who might be the next to go on a rampage. The simple truth is, when we speak of such ideas, it is not because we do not have compassion, but for whom we feel compassion. It is not because we want to kill people, but because real prevention of murder can only come by keeping murderers off the street, not by making everyone else a criminal. The criminal has broken the law, both written and unwritten. we have turned the criminal into the victim of the law instead of the breaker of the law. We have made them the recipient of our compassion instead of commiserating with the victim of a crime. In most cases, the actual victim becomes superfluous to the trial, an inanimate object that had no feelings or meaning beyond the act the criminal committed. Some view this as appropriate objective judiciary. But, I believe that this takes away, not just the emotionalism that may impair judgement, but the value of the victim. We have provided the criminal with the gift of our understanding at the expense of our own safety and rights. Placing an emphasis on prevention of crime instead of the punishment of crime has put the onus for the actions of criminals upon the would be victims and general, law abiding citizens; placing us behind bars for years with these sorts of laws while a murderer can walk in two after plea bargaining. we have, in fact, turned the entire premis of "good society" on its head. Through these actions, we have also taken away our ability to insure that our good society is defended against by the inroads of the government upon our rights. every inroad being that much smaller a box we can operate in without potentially becoming a criminal ourselves. HOw long before every action, whether the food you eat (transfats), the air we breath (pollution and emission controls on cars), or the very act of living (euthanasia) becomes a crime? The whole issue of the 2nd amendment has a much wider connotation to me than simply whether we can own a weapon or not. It is a bellweather for how our society and its views on law and "good society" are changing the very essence of our Republic that has made us strong enough to last over 200 years. And no one seems to give a d@mn except gun owners that the rest of society thinks are just shy of a screw loose. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60030 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60030 Tue, 15 May 2007 11:05:03 -0600 My problem, Barb, is I can't go berserk - if I go downstairs, I simply can't *choose*, so I go into stasis and vibrate for a while, caught in the feedback loop. Then SWWBO comes down and knocks me on the head and everything is okay again. Heh. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60028 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60028 Tue, 15 May 2007 10:34:23 -0600 ... gun control advocates think YOU are nuts because you like guns ... That's the crux of it, right there. Since they can't comprehend wanting to fire, much less own, a weapon for personal sport and pleasure, then we must all be wackos waiting to go violently postal. And the more you own, the more violent they figure you will become, I think. Oh - and the AARP pi$$es me off as well. Vultures indeed. Helk, my invite arrived On.My.Birthday. They are entirely too organized ;-)]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60023 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60023 Tue, 15 May 2007 10:28:14 -0600 But Steve, gun control advocates think YOU are nuts because you like guns and are not afraid of them. LOL http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60019 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60019 Tue, 15 May 2007 09:47:28 -0600 I have an arsenal? If you count black powder rifles I have an even dozen firearms; four pistols, seven rifles and one shotgun (and a 45 lb. pull bow and a crossbow). I've been thinking I need to get a couple of different shotguns to go with the single shot 12 gauge I now have, a double barreled one and a pump. One of the rifles, a Turkish Mauser is currently in several pieces as I still haven't gotten the cosmoline out of the wood and I need to get the front sight put on the barrel. I own a rifle I've never fired, a Japanese 6.5mm Arisaka that has been sporterized (not by me.) I tried to find some ammo for it once and nearly went into a coma when I saw the price. A single box of ammo for it cost nearly twice what the gun cost me (what can I say? When someone lowers the price enough I'll buy just about any kind of a rifle.) I have no desire to get more weapons so I can someday go on a shooting spree and the vast, vast, vast majority of gun owners feel the same way. Personally I like to buy military weapons that have some history to them. I not only get to take them apart and see what makes them tick, I get to delve into their history and (once I get them back together) I get to go out and see if I can hit what I aim at with them. Not an easy proposition with iron sights, nearsightedness and advancing age (Not that advanced but AARP does annoy the hell out of me by sending me invitations to join. I may be over 50, but just barely. Someone tell those vultures to stop hovering, I'm not retired yet.) In conclusion, don't let nutters have guns and leave the rest of the population alone. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60018 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60018 Tue, 15 May 2007 09:31:20 -0600 Exactly. So, look for finding more picayune ways, such as misdemeanor encounters, down to and including traffic tickets, as a way around that problem. Certainly, I'm overstating the case, but then I've talked to these people face-to-face before, and I can just see the wheels turning. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60017 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60017 Tue, 15 May 2007 09:14:18 -0600 " ... Since most of the spectacular crimes Mr. Helmke is concerned about involve the mentally ill, perhaps more effort should be put to improving the handling and tracking of those people, rather than more hassles for the law-abiding ... " There's a lot of irony in this whole issue, as you well know, John, but this one really poses a problem for many liberals who support gun control. Because they are the same type of people who often fetishize "personal rights" at the expense of the common good, and because they also, rightly in my opinion, wish to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. They may wish to "handle" the mentally ill better, as in providing better treatment, psychotherapy, medications (but damn those rich Big Pharmaceutical companies!), and housing / employment, etc. But "tracking" will be a deal breaker for many because this raises the specter of an evil "Big Brother" government closely watching over individuals, and will perpetuate the stigma associated with mental illness because it inherently creates a differentiation between "normal" people and those who are "mentally ill". Those who are now blaming VA's system because of the loophole that allowed the VT murderer to evade stricter controls because he was not "involuntarily" ordered into counseling should ask themselves this: How likely is it that ANYONE will voluntarily seek mental health assistance in the future if they know that doing so will push them into a system where they will be "monitored" and "tracked" permanently from that point forward, and where they will lose all future ability to purchase a firearm for self-defense even if their mental health status is returned to "normal" through counseling, medication, or other therapy? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60016 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/gun_news.html#comment-60016 Tue, 15 May 2007 08:57:58 -0600