By Robb Allen:
There’s a sickness in the belief that only a gov’t can keep everyone safe via regulation, regulation, regulation.
‘Nuff said.
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By Robb Allen:
There’s a sickness in the belief that only a gov’t can keep everyone safe via regulation, regulation, regulation.
‘Nuff said.
END OF LINE
Posted by Jake on September 12, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/quote-of-the-day-2-2013-09-12/
This is still a developing story, and the veil of lawyer-advised silence is descending, but TJIC has again been targeted by the repressive government of Massachusetts and/or his local government. This time, they’ve dragged his fiance into it, confiscating her legally owned firearms after he applied for a new MA LTC. From Tam, who has been in direct communication with the TJIC household:
Well, TJIC got his Massachusetts FID* reissued, and has reapplied for an MA LTC**.
Now the local po-po*** is surrounding his crib, wanting to inspect the premises. Without a warrant. In the suburbs of Boston. On Independence Day.
More from Tam, in various comments to her original post:
Jenn was like “There’s a cop looking at me through the window with a flashlight and his hand on his holster!”
—
I’m on the phone with Jenn; she’s walking through the house with the officer. They’re seizing her guns as we speak.
—
They’re already in contact with counsel.
TJIC himself chipped in a little info:
I had an EXCELLENT gun lawyer on speed dial. It took half an hour to get a callback on a vacation day, but after that, he was with us every step of the way.
I repeatedly refused the cops’ requests for a voluntary walk-through of the house.
I repeatedly refused to answer any questions.
The cops repeatedly told me that if I had nothing to hide, I should just allow a walk-through, and if I was a good guy, I’d have a “conversation” with them.
In the end they illegally seized my FID (just plan CAN NOT do it, but they took it and wouldn’t give it back) and they illegally seized Jennifer’s firearms. My lawyer was appalled but not surprised.
Jennifer and I have been talking about moving out of MA in 3-6 years.
We are officially looking for real estate tomorrow; I will not spend one more day than is necessary in this totalitarian hell hole.
At the end, some of the cops who ransacked the house tried to shake hands with me. “No hard feelings”.
I refused and said “Gentlemen, please think about what you’re doing. On the fourth of july, the day we celebrate freedom, you stole legally owned firearms from a women who is engaged to a guy who made a joke you don’t like. You are not the good guys. You are ‘just doing your jobs’. Look in the mirror. You’re the bad guys.”
Response: “I’m sorry you feel that way. Have a good Fourth.”
My lawyer says that there’s a decent chance I may yet be arrested.
And with that, I should probably go radio silent for a while.
Words do not describe how wrong this is. Tam seems to have the direct scoop for now, keep your eyes open there for new information.
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Posted by Jake on July 4, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/a-july-4-assault-on-liberty/
Linoge linked to a couple of articles last week, and one of them – once I finally got around to reading it – tripped one of those switches in my brain that said “Oh! Now I get it!” regarding the deceptively clumsy phrasing of the Second Amendment.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. – U.S. Constitution, Amendment II
The relationship between the two clauses, and how or even if they cause the Right to relate to militias, has been debated for at least a century. A popular argument among those who favour gun control – whether outright bans on all guns, or bans of “assault weapons” – is that the 2nd Amendment is preconditioned on membership in a militia, and that the National Guard and/or the advent of professional police forces has superseded the founder’s model of local militias. As a result, they argue, the 2nd Amendment does not apply to ordinary citizens, only to police and National Guard members.
While this argument certainly ignores the fact that the unorganized militia is still embodied in US law, it is flawed on a much more basic level – the 2nd Amendment clearly and specifically assigns that right to the people, not to the militia or members of a militia. This is the classic dependent/independent clause argument – that the reference to a “well regulated militia” explains the necessity of protecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms, but does not limit that right to membership in a militia.
But there was a point in reading that article where something else clicked for me, though I can’t point to any one sentence or paragraph and say “this is where I understood”. It’s a surprisingly simple concept.
When the Right for each and every citizen to own, possess, and carry arms is restricted, a militia cannot be formed without those people first going out and obtaining arms. If the government is allowed to restrict how, when, and if a citizen can purchase firearms – yes, even military weapons – then the government can restrict or prevent the formation of any militias.
But why, you ask, in our modern society, would anyone need to form a militia so quickly that they couldn’t wait for the government to approve it if it truly was needed?
Leaving aside the assumption that the government a) would approve it in the first place, and b) would do so quickly enough to do any good, it also ignores the speed in which bad situations can develop. A perfect modern day example of this is the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992, and the events that took place in Koreatown during those riots.
With the police overwhelmed (and, by all accounts, not terribly motivated to intervene in that neighborhood anyway), it fell to the citizens there to defend their homes, livelihoods, and their lives themselves. They banded together in small groups for their own defense – the very definition of an unorganized militia. Once the riots started, they didn’t have time to go to a store and buy a gun. They didn’t have time to sit through a background check. They were dependent on the guns they had at the time.
Without the protections afforded by the Second Amendment, Koreatown would have been destroyed by the rampaging mobs.
What would have been more effective in Boston last month – unarmed citizens cowering in their homes with the police and National Guard imposing martial law (lite! with only half the jackboots!) while searching house to house, or armed citizens standing watch over their own neighborhoods while directing the police towards any suspicious activity?
I’ll say it again. The Second Amendment Right to keep and bear arms does not depend on membership in a militia, it is what allows us to form militias where and when they are needed.
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Posted by Jake on May 8, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/a-second-amendment-epiphany/
Sebastian has a post up with some information on the federal “background check” bill that was voted out of the Senate committee yesterday. It’s bad. Very bad. Go, read the whole thing, follow his link to the actual text of the bill, and decide for yourself how unbelievably bad it is. Then get on the phone and computer to call and email your senators. Let them know that their vote on this bill will be remembered, and that a vote against freedom will not be forgiven.
Which leads me to today’s Quote of the Day, by jdrush, in a comment to Sebastian’s post.
Wow, they really aren’t coming for our guns. They are coming for US.
This looks to be the real point of this legislation – make gun ownership so fraught with legal dangers that it actively discourages people from trying to own firearms. Make teaching others how to shoot so difficult to do legally that it discourages people from trying.
Their aim is to strangle gun ownership with such a dense web of laws that are easily unintentionally broken, in order to choke the Right to the point that it is so weak that it can be excised out of American culture entirely.
Call and write your legislators. Kill this bill, before it can kill us.
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Posted by Jake on March 13, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/legislative-update-federal-and-quote-of-the-day-2013-03-13/
From an anonymous comment at No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money:
It’s not about the DEER, it’s about the BOXCARS !
Also, take a moment to watch the video in the original post. It’s one of the most angry public meetings I’ve seen that didn’t end with somebody being hauled off in handcuffs.
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Posted by Jake on February 5, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/quote-of-the-day-2013-02-05/
Background checks to prevent some people from gaining access to firearms is like checking ID to prevent underage drinking and smoking.
How long does it take your average high school dropout to find a way to light up while drinking a beer?
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Posted by Jake on February 1, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/quote-of-the-day-2013-02-01/
From Roberta X:
And I’m done listening to calls for “compromise.” The antis don’t really want compromise. They want whatever they can get now and they’ll be back later for the rest of your firearms rights later — followed by the rest of the Bill of Rights, already plenty nibbled-at.
It’s well past time to say “enough” — and to keep on saying it, by whatever means it takes to get ’em to hear.
This. A thousand times, this. They keep wanting more and more of our cake, and we’ve “compromised” again and again for so long that all we have left is half a slice and some crumbs. Now they want that half-slice. No more. It’s beyond time that we tell the Anti-Rights cultists to go bugger themselves.
By whatever means are required to make them listen.
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Posted by Jake on January 30, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/quote-of-the-day-2013-01-30/
Some more gun bills have been filed in Virginia. In addition to the ones I listed previously, they are:
I’ve put the bills that are more relevant to the average citizen in bold type, and critical bills are in red. Contact your Virginia state representatives!
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Posted by Jake on January 11, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/legislative-update-virginia-gun-bills-2/
A bill, HR-35, the Safe Schools Act of 2013, that would repeal the Gun Free School Zone Act, has been introduced.
It’s short, sweet, and to the point, as it should be. Call your CongressCritters, let them know this needs to pass.
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(h/t SayUncle)
Posted by Jake on January 9, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/legislative-update-u-s-house-its-not-all-bad/
They are effectively declaring martial law.*
[Paragould Police Chief] Stovall told the group of almost 40 residents that beginning in 2013, the department would deploy a new street crimes unit to high crime areas on foot to take back the streets.
“[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck,” Stovall said. “If you’re out walking, we’re going to stop you, ask why you’re out walking, check for your ID.”
[…]
[Mayor] Gaskill backed Stovall’s proposed actions during Thursday’s town hall.
“They may not be doing anything but walking their dog,” he said. “But they’re going to have to prove it.”
The Constitution, you say? Probable Cause, you say? Don’t worry, the police chief has answers for that nonsense!
“To ask you for your ID, I have to have a reason,” he said. “Well, I’ve got statistical reasons that say I’ve got a lot of crime right now, which gives me probable cause to ask what you’re doing out. Then when I add that people are scared…then that gives us even more [reason] to ask why are you here and what are you doing in this area.”
See? There’s a lot of crime, so the Rights of non-criminals can be set aside! Easy!
The mayor apparently backed down a little on the severity of this police-state plan, but it looks like he still intends to have police in battle gear out patrolling the streets like some Amerikanized Gestapo unit.
I suggest the subjects of Paragould learn the phrase “Papieren, bitte!” It sounds like you’re going to be hearing it a lot. Your police department has become the standing army our nation’s founders were worried about, and your government is perfectly willing to use them to control you.
To paraphrase a great pearl of wisdom from Battlestar Galactica, “There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the police become both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.”
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* Note that the linked article is dated December 15, 2012. The town may have abandoned this plan, but I haven’t found anything to indicated that, so I am assuming that the plan is still moving forward.
[Source: Paragould Daily Press article, retrieved 1/9/13]
Posted by Jake on January 9, 2013
https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/note-to-self-avoid-the-police-state-of-paragould-arkansas/