Armed and Safe

Jen Lawson's 'Cold Dead Hands' would serve well as gun rights advocates' anthem

2013-05-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

I rarely presume to try to tell readers what music to listen to, but "Cold Dead Hands," written by Jen Lawson and Bo Dottley, is worth making an exception. The solo acoustic version here combines the song's powerful lyrics with Lawson's driving guitar and strong voice.

It's a song I would enjoy listening to even if the lyrics were not a clenched fist of defiance thrust in the faces of those who would trample the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms. That's important, because the wider the audience the song gains by virtue of its musical merits, the more people who are not yet gun rights advocates might listen to those lyrics and realize that what the gun prohibitionists want to take away from us is far too precious to give up without the fight of our lives--the last fight of our lives, if necessary.

The YouTube video is great, but the iTunes version might be the best 99 cents you've ever spent.

P.S. for the lyrics, go to the YouTube video, and click on the "Show More" right below the video. While you're there, be sure to click the thumbs-up "Like" button, too.

Federal 'smart gun' mandate going nowhere unless 'Only Ones' are exempted

2013-05-17T10:15:00.000-05:00

The thing is, one does not need to be an "Only One" to have the right to choose not to gamble one's life on delicate, failure prone technology--technology that even if it works as designed, could make firing the gun with an injured hand (or one's non-dominant hand) impossible, or that could conceivably be shut down with a "kill switch," whether used by the government or by some other entity that wants you defenseless. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

If armed resistance to tyrany is 'un-American,' America has died

2013-05-16T09:38:00.001-05:00

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence must love Professor Fish, because they too have no line in the sand--including when the government rounds up members of "undesirable" races, religions, etc., for shipment to the camps. It would seem though, that like CSGV, Fish has a bigger problem than he realizes. It's not just "militant" NRA members who do have a line in the sand--it's 29% of the voting public--and that should be more than enough. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

'Printed' guns, the interstate commerce clause, and the Tenth Amendment

2013-05-15T09:54:00.001-05:00

As long as every aspect of citizens' lives is ruled to "affect interstate commerce," there is no legal recourse against Congressional usurpation of powers to which it has no legitimate claim.

Without legal recourse, the only remaining option is far messier. But if it's all that is left to us . . . [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Bad news for CSGV: 1 in 3 voters meet their definition of 'insurrectionist'

2013-05-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

That's CSGV's "civics" in a nutshell: the state must never be resisted by force of arms.

If that became more widely known, it's hard to imagine that a great many more Americans would not become "insurrectionists," by CSGV's definition. Given accurate civics lessons, it becomes impossible to imagine. At 29%, though, we already have about 10 times as many as we need. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

CSGV suddenly decides printed firearms are 'hype,' ignores their bigger problem

2013-05-13T09:13:00.000-05:00

At the state level, exploiters of murdered children have over the last few months parlayed the Sandy Hook Elementary atrocity into magazine and "assault weapon" bans--in some cases confiscatory bans--and have castigated Congress for not following the same unconstitutional path at the federal level. 3-D printing has already spelled the doom for the effectiveness of such bans, as well as background check requirements and other restrictions on "assault weapon" sales.

CSGV claims not to be worried about this. Methinks they doth protest too much. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

The Empire Strikes Back at 3-D printed guns

2013-05-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

The governments of China, Iran, and other tyrannies use internet censorship to maintain their grip on power. Now, the Obama administration appears to want to do the same. Whether it succeeds or fails in that effort, it has certainly succeeded in starkly illustrating what kind of regime has taken power in this country. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

'Gun violence' plummets, and 'gun control' groups demand course change; but why?

2013-05-09T09:20:00.001-05:00

If "gun crime" has been falling dramatically for decades, and the "gun control" advocates are still shrieking for fundamental changes in gun laws, what is their objective? It can't be "gun violence prevention," or they would be demanding more of what we have been doing with such favorable results since the mid-'90s: dropping "assault weapon" and "high capacity" magazine bans, more "shall issue" concealed carry (or, indeed, more Constitutional carry), more "stand your ground" laws, etc.

Since they are instead advocating exactly the opposite, whose side are they on? Perhaps the side that benefits from higher "gun crime" numbers? [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Senator Manchin apparently imagines gun owners in a 'cage'

2013-05-08T10:08:00.000-05:00

Hmm--"rattling the cage" of gun owners? That's a chilling way to put it. Does Manchin believe that the proper place for gun owners is in a cage? Perhaps a cage in Guantanamo, as Manchin's fellow critic of the NRA wants to put us in? Granted, Manchin's apologists would no doubt point out that he was speaking metaphorically, and that his meaning was only that the NRA had unnecessarily agitated gun owners.

On the other hand, if Manchin-Toomey had become law, one inevitable result would have been a great many more gun owners in prison--cages, if you will, merely for buying and selling guns privately. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Defense Distributed declares 'government monopoly on force' obsolete

2013-05-07T09:09:00.001-05:00

The hysteria is not really at all about "undetectable" firearms. It's about uncontrollable firearms, unstoppable firearm ownership, and a citizenry exercising an unalienable right to keep and bear arms--a right that shall not be infringed.

The CAD files are available for free download now, and even if one does not yet have a 3-D printer, or plans to get one any time soon, it wouldn't be a bad idea to download them for a tyranni . . . excuse me, rainy day. And maybe a bit of support for the great work being done at Defense Distributed is indicated, as well. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

New Jersey hopes to spur development of .499 caliber firearms

2013-05-06T09:42:00.003-05:00

As this column has discussed before, when officials try to ban the .50 caliber rifle, it is often their own skin they are most worried about. And as stated then:

This is a good thing. Those who take it upon themselves to write the laws by which the rest of us must live should fear the wrath of the people they seek to govern. For the nation to be truly free, those who seek to exceed the limits on their power imposed by the Constitution must be made to live in mortal terror of the consequences.

Be afraid, gun grabbers. Be very afraid. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

NBC Chicago seems surprised US is a republic, rather than 'democracy'

2013-05-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence never tires of referring to the United States as a "democracy," and indeed when confronted on the issue, replied that the distinction "is something only far right wing American gun nuts obsess on" (actually, that would be "far right American gun nuts" and John Adams)--apparently under the wishful thinking that a large enough majority can simply take the rights of the minority.

In the end, CSGV's (and friends') biggest problem will be that they are hellbent on attacking the rights of precisely the wrong minority. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Hollywood late to realize dangers of 'gun control'

2013-05-02T08:51:00.000-05:00

Still, between the noisily anti-gun, and those who enjoy gun rights for themselves, but either consider lobbying for those rights beneath them, or simply cannot bear the thought of being ostracized by their celebrity brethren, Hollywood is a much better friend to those who would disarm us and thus condemn us to serfdom--or worse--than to those of us who do not believe a gun's primary purpose is entertainment.

"The show must go on"? Hell with that--liberty must go on. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Illinois AG Madigan wants more time to decide how to keep citizens defenseless

2013-05-01T09:24:00.001-05:00

Should the Court grant her extension? If, as she still maintains, Illinois' outright carry ban is Constitutional, why has she been so reluctant to appeal already? She has had, after all, months to do so. She is waiting on the legislature, but that body, too, has had months to come up with a law to meet the Seventh Circuit's requirements.

"A right delayed is a right denied," said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Illinoisans' Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms has already been delayed far too long. People are still being jailed for violating a "law" that the federal courts have found to be unconstitutional.

Time's up. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

'Shills of the gun industry' trying to expand 'prohibited purchaser' list

2013-04-30T09:11:00.000-05:00

Mr. Codrea, regular readers will remember, is the originator of the statement that "anyone who can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted without a custodian." In other words, we do not need to designate more "prohibited purchasers"--or even keep the list we have now. We need to realize that people who are so dangerous as to warrant the denial of the fundamental human right to possess the means of defending their lives and liberty are too dangerous to be walking free among society--with or without legal access to guns.

So, Violence Policy Center, CSGV, Brady Campaign, President Obama--join us in resisting the "shills of the gun industry," and stop any attempt to turn more Americans into "prohibited purchasers." [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Local Jewish newspaper wants 'conversation' about guns; history not invited

2013-04-29T08:42:00.001-05:00

The uncompromising pro-armed citizenry stance of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) is the only logically defensible--or morally defensible--product of any accurate reading of history.

The St. Louis Jewish Light has some explaining to do. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

CSGV once again stands against free citizenry, with jackbooted thuggery

2013-04-26T09:05:00.000-05:00

It's a point I consider important. Forcible citizen disarmament advocates, like CSGV sycophant Bob Stone, never tire of contemptuously dismissing the notion of effective armed resistance against a tyrannical government, because even with our so-called "assault weapons" (demonized by "gun control" advocates as ultra-powerful "weapons of war" in every other context, but suddenly dismissed as useless for combat in this one), we would not stand a chance. Boston demonstrates otherwise.

But let's see where Horwitz goes next:

Patriotic citizens from coast to coast rallied around our government after witnessing the courageous actions of first responders and law enforcement in Boston.

Watch the video here (and read the article while you're at it), and decide if this is the government we should have "rallied around." Decide if the "courageous actions of first responders"--going door to door, without warrants, forcing families out of their homes at rifle-point, while screaming threats at them, should be venerated as the actions of a government that exists to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

And CSGV equates Mike and me with terrorists. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Bloomberg says interpretation of Constitution must 'change'--Boston is on it

2013-04-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

Tuesday's column, specifically that last lesson, drew the ire of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Among CSGV's herd of herbivores is one Bob Stone, who, presumably extrapolating from his own cowardice, flatly stated that no gun rights advocate would really dare resist government-mandated forcible citizen disarmament, when faced with "a platoon of Marines" (I suspect, by the way, that Stone has neglected to consider how the Oath Keepers will change the calculus).

Let Bloomberg get his way, and get the "change" to the Constitution he demands, and we'll soon enough find out if Mr. Stone is right. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Missouri House resoundingly passes strong 'Second Amendment Preservation Act'

2013-04-24T09:26:00.000-05:00

The federal government will, as always, resist any attempt by the states to assert their Tenth Amendment prerogative to refuse to recognize federal power that exceeds Constitutional limits, and is therefore illegitimate. Given the history of the federal courts, the states should probably not count on any help from that corner.

Still, though, when it comes down to actual boots-on-the-ground enforcement of the federal laws, and defiance of Missouri's, will the feds' hired muscle really want to poke that hornets' nest? That will most likely depend on how seriously they take the states' (and residents') will to resist unconstitutional federal diktat. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

My turn to put some bees in CSGV's britches

2013-04-23T18:54:00.000-05:00

Sunday evening, I dropped a note to Mike Vanderboegh, congratulating him for having "put a swarm of bees in CSGV's britches," in response to his knocked-it-out-of-the-park speech in Connecticut this past weekend. That speech did not sit well with the cud-munchers of CSGV, as their anguished bleating on both Twitter and Facebook demonstrates. Do yourself a favor and read through the Facebook comments--but don't try to swallow a beverage while doing so--you'll squirt it painfully out your nose for sure.

Today was my turn. CSGV was only marginally less unhappy about my Examiner article today. On Twitter:

Pro-gun activist: "Lesson" of #Boston is militia groups can kill law enforcement, military forces en masse http://exm.nr/13SB2ah

And on Facebook:

A pro-gun activist shares the "lessons" he learned from the terror attacks in Boston:
"If one or two men can so thoroughly shake the security apparatus of the United States, the idea that the Second Amendment's protection against tyranny is outdated, because the U.S. is now a modern superpower, and therefore 'resistance is futile,' is simply not going to hold up. Imagine, after all, what even a small militia group of perhaps a dozen members could do, if the battle were not between terrorists and a country whose people can still convince themselves that they're relatively free; but between a determined and angry citizenry who will no longer submit to enduring a long train of abuses and usurpations, and the government perpetrating those abuses. Now imagine a couple dozen of those militia groups. Now imagine hundreds of them."

Again, the comments are hysterical (both hysterically funny, and literally the products of hysterical bed-wetters).

The honor of being despised by the despicable. They are the gift that keeps on giving, and it should never be thought that I am ungrateful

P.S. By the way, "Bob Stone" left a comment on both my Examiner article, and on CSGV's whiny Facebook post:

“When they come for my gun, they will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands,” is a common refrain I often hear from the Neo-Cons when there is a threat, credible or otherwise, that the US government is going to take their firearms.

And, when I hear this crazy talk, I agree with them openly. “You are right. They will pry your gun from your cold dead hands,” which I often follow with the question, “And where will that leave you except face down in a pool of your own blood [in] the middle of the street, just another dead fool resisting the State?”

This is not a question they are comfortable with, if only because the intent of their saber-rattling was to imply they would fight to keep their weapons, and win.

Nice fantasy. It’s not happening.

And, to you tough-talking Neo-Cons with your AR-15 rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammo, here is the reality: they will take your guns, and no, all your Second Amendment bluster aside, you are not going to do anything about it. You are not going to take on a platoon of Marines with state-of-the-art automatic weapons and the best body armor you cannot buy protected by armed personnel carriers and attack helicopters unless you choose to die that day — for nothing. You will either be in the country or out, and if you are in, you will stay in and you will comply.

That, naturally, demanded a response, and I (naturally) drew heavily on Mike:

Bob, as great American Mike Vanderboegh often says in response to the same "argument" (I'm being charitable here) you are making, "Do not extrapolate from your own cowardice."

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/04/christian-science-monitor-pimps-saints.html

I have no doubt that YOU would do whatever the government decrees you must, that no indignity would be too much for YOU to endure. That YOU are unwilling to die for the liberty you do not deserve is no surprise at all.

Not all of us are so degenerate, so eager to lick the hands of those who would be our "masters." Perhaps because of that, you will still be standing (or at least kneeling) when I am dead. I will still have LIVED far more than you.

'Gun control,' and the lessons of Boston

2013-04-23T09:15:00.002-05:00

What's the relevance? If one or two men can so thoroughly shake the security apparatus of the United States, the idea that the Second Amendment's protection against tyranny is outdated, because the U.S. is now a modern superpower, and therefore "resistance is futile," is simply not going to hold up. Imagine, after all, what even a small militia group of perhaps a dozen members could do, if the battle were not between terrorists and a country whose people can still convince themselves that they're relatively free; but between a determined and angry citizenry who will no longer submit to enduring a long train of abuses and usurpations, and the government perpetrating those abuses. Now imagine a couple dozen of those militia groups. Now imagine hundreds of them.

. . .

And with that final, most important lesson, class is dismissed. Once the people know that they have the power--and the responsibility--to defend their freedom, it's time to move out of the classroom, and to the gun range and training grounds. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Enraged 'gun control' advocates unleash their hate, prepare next attack

2013-04-22T08:38:00.001-05:00

The gun prohibitionist lobby has always claimed to be motivated by a desire to end violence, and by love of humanity. Some, apparently, are now taking that phony mask off. In so doing, they are also demonstrating the wisdom of gun rights advocates being at all times prepared to defend ourselves. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Lautenberg introduces 'gunpowder control' legislation

2013-04-19T13:21:00.001-05:00

Apparently, those exploiting tragedy for the agenda of more oppressive gun regulation are not finding enough shooting victims to exploit. Now they need bombing victims, too. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Illinois gun-haters running out of time to influence defensive handgun carry

2013-04-19T09:41:00.004-05:00

It's time to stop offering concessions. Theirs is the side desperate for a law--any law--because if they cannot come up with something by June 10, Illinois' carry ban simply . . . disappears. In other words, the pro-rights side has very little incentive to meet the mandated defenselessness crowd's demands, while the other side has very little choice but to make a deal, or leave concealed carry essentially unregulated--a notion they cannot abide.

Hell with 'em. Offer a lean, clean, minimalist "shall issue" bill, and tell them to take it or leave it. Speaking personally, I kinda hope they leave it. [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Rep. Israel's 'undetectable' magazine ban requires new licensing bureaucracy

2013-04-18T09:17:00.000-05:00

H.R. 1474's text seems to provide a clue as to how current law would be changed to go after these "lone wolves," while sparing the "legitimate" manufacturers:

`(C) any ammunition magazine, manufactured by a person who is not a licensed manufacturer--

Wait a second--"not a licensed manufacturer"? A license is to be required to manufacture magazines? Firearm manufacturers have been saddled with a licensing requirement for decades, but now magazine manufacturers are to be licensed, as well? [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.