On the eve of Thanksgiving, let’s give the political side a much-needed break. If I may, I’d like to focus instead on one “gun guy’s” approach to this particular holiday.

Significant Other and I will be spending the holiday at the home of some fellow “gun folks.” In such environments, you pay as much attention to your carry gun as the rest of your wardrobe. On the Day, I’ll be wearing a classic Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum that’s almost as old as I am, a reminder to be thankful for living as long as I have.

It’s a revolver I’ve written about in this blog, the “grail gun” that I had wanted since I imprinted on it as a little boy looking through his daddy’s firearms catalog at mid-Twentieth Century. That reminds me to be grateful to parents who set me on a useful life path. This revolver was a birthday gift this past summer, a gift of love that is tangibly manifested in blue steel: more cause for gratitude on the Day of Thanks.

It wears a pair of handsome hardwood stocks that I won in a shoot-off at Smith & Wesson Academy many years ago. That prods my memory to give thanks for the limited skills I have in this life. I’ll wear it in a handsome Galco rig (matching belt, holster, and cartridge pouch) that was a gift from one of my graduates. That in turn will remind me to be thankful for having been able to do some good for some folks over the years.

And now, of course, I’m writing this blog entry, to remind me to be thankful for being able to make a living doing something I love.

All at this end wish a wonderful and thoughtful Thanksgiving to you all.

The economic meltdown, the election in general…a lot of folks won’t have much to be grateful for this coming Thursday. Damn, I’m glad I just have the gun corner here at the Backwoods Home blogs. The gun stuff is enough to be worried about.

Some, on both political sides, are predicting that the new President will be too busy with real problems to bother with illusory solutions like “gun control.” If I believed that, I’d be giving thanks for it before Thanksgiving.

However, appointments announced thus far by the President-elect don’t bode well for gun owners’ civil rights. Eric Holder for US Attorney General? The guy is “anti” in the extreme.

At this writing, it has not yet been confirmed that Hillary Clinton will be our next Secretary of State, but it’s darn sure lookin’ that way. Until she tried to reinvent herself as a supporter of the Second Amendment during her failed primary campaign, Senator Clinton was extremely “anti,” indeed, the most vocally anti-gun First Lady in history.

It’ll be interesting to have a Secretary of State whose husband has received so many millions of dollars from assorted foreign countries, as donations to his library and such…

Good that the new Prez is gonna bring us change…J

For the moment, though, I give thanks that my family and friends are together and well and still have their freedoms.

A most pleasant Thanksgiving to you all!

“I hate to see people buying guns out of fear,” Gary Ross told me yesterday at his Trail Boss Gun Shop in Sierra Vista, Arizona, a short walk from the gates of Fort Huachuca. His sales are up as much as 40%, mostly semiautomatic firearms and high capacity magazines, and ammunition.

The national media has picked up on this. It’s happening at every gun shop in the country. The explanation is pretty simple: the party that just ensconced itself in rock-solid power in Washington has long considered firearms restriction legislation to be one of its planks. Indeed, those at the pinnacle of power seem to consider it one of their priorities.

The Obama administration transition website, “www.change.gov” boldly and blatantly posted its intent to ban semiautomatic firearms and much, much more. Early this week, that particular page disappeared from the website. However, it has been archived and you can read it HERE Scroll down to “Crime and Law Enforcement”.

We’ve heard of “hidden agendas,” but rarely do we catch politicians in the very act of literally “hiding their agenda.” It’s really worth it to go to the link and dig up what they’re trying to hide.

The term “panic buying” has been used to describe this phenomenon, which began long before the election when Obama’s lead in the polls was evident, and his history of being hostile to private ownership of firearms had long since become apparent. I think “panic” may be a strong word. It’s more a matter of reasonable fear.

The strangest explanation of the buying spurt comes from a sociologist type who says it’s all about paranoid whites reacting in fear to a black President-elect who will now be Commander-in-Chief of mighty armed forces. An interesting exercise in sophomoric thought, but how does that explain all the black people I saw buying guns in the Trail Boss shop and elsewhere, all over the country? Gun dealers have spoken of the irony of how many folks buying guns right now are wearing Obama T-shirts. One observer asked, tongue only partly in cheek, “Do they know something we don’t?”

It seems like an excellent time to join the National Rifle Association, still the strongest collective voice in the nation for gun owners’ civil rights, and Second Amendment Foundation, which in my opinion has long been the most effective of the small activist groups. I would also recommend joining your state level grass roots gun owners’ organization.

When then-President Bill Clinton triggered “panic-buying sprees” with the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, one gun industry group waggishly gave him a Gun Salesman of the Year Award. Barack Obama will clearly be in line for the next one. And, adds a friend of mine with a bullet business, “NRA Recruiter of the Year” is a possibility for Obama, too.

Sitting here a couple of days after the historic Presidential Election of 2008, and listening to the first reports of the President-Elect’s initial appointment of his right hand men – virtually all cronies of the Chi-town “Machine” ilk – I remarked to my significant other, “Sounds like he’s gonna create Chicago-on-the-Potomac.” Significant Other, a Chicagoan born and bred, looked at me in shock and said, “OMG, you’re channeling John Kass! He just used that exact same description!”

Kass, my favorite Chicago Tribune columnist, is a voice of practical reason and therefore a good channel to dial into. Chicago, you’ll remember, banned private ownership of handguns within the city limits, and also sales of any firearms, many years ago. Obama is on record as vehemently opposing private citizens’ rights to carry concealed handguns in public, and according to NRA, supports a 500% tax on all ordinary firearms and ammunition. So, you’ll understand the concern of our reader Long Island Mike, who wrote the following after reading my blog entry “Oh, Bummer”:

Mas
I respect you tremendously as a man who has a foot in the LE world and is an American. So I have a question for you. Now understand that I am building a scenario here of an extreme situation. If the worst of the worst happens and Mr. O, Ms. P and Mr. R all turn against the gun owners and the Feds pass a really tough AWB. Then they appoint a Supreme Court justice that tips the scales on Heller 180 degrees. What will the reaction of LE be if they start even a limited confiscation?

Mike, your question is a legitimate one. A few very experienced voices in the fight for gun owners’ civil rights believe that Obama and company may tread lightly on the gun issue, for fear of squandering the huge political capital he’s now bringing to his party, on what is essentially a culture war against firearms owners. However, the President-Elect’s history in this area – and that of the Chicago Machine culture that he seems to be so strongly building on during his administration’s formative days after the victory – makes me more than a little pessimistic.

To answer your question, I think a sweeping national confiscation of property that was lawfully purchased and responsibly owned would probably die in its nest before it could spread its wings. Even before our nation’s police were given the order to confiscate in that hypothetical situation, the execution of that order would be restrained by the courts. I’ve long believed that the Fourth Amendment is a stronger barrier to confiscation than the Second. Even if Obama appoints as US Attorney General a vehemently anti-gun personality such as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich or, God help us, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, I suspect that the same Supreme Court of the United States that recently gave us the landmark Heller decision would follow the law, which means, our side would win.

Yes, anti-gun Supreme Court nominees will be put forward by an Obama White House, but let’s remember that most of the aging Justices due to be replaced are among the four who dissented in Heller, not from the five who concurred in the armed citizenry’s victorious Heller majority. (The new President’s ability to appoint Federal judges at a lower but still lofty level is something more important to worry about right now, IMHO.)

At the ground level, I see two strong barriers to enforcement of an unconstitutional confiscation order. At the executive level, CLEOs (Chief Law Enforcement Officers) do not like being sued. They will run such an order by their city attorney/county attorney/state attorney general before ordering enforcement. And I suspect those wise lawyers will, for the most part, say, “Don’t do it yet! Look how the Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association humiliated the New Orleans Police Department with court decisions after the Hurricane Katrina situation, and forced the confiscated guns to be given back! The precedents are against you and your officers…and, Chief, you are personally in the line of vicarious liability from such lawsuits! Wait until it’s sorted out by the higher court(s)!”

The other barrier at the ground level, I predict, would come from the street cops themselves, through their unions and fraternal organizations. “We all remember what happened in Waco and Ruby Ridge, and how the lawmen who did what they were ordered to do got dumped on. And now, you want us to do that, to the power of ten? Gonna ask our own brother and sister officers to take souvenir military rifles from their own parents and grandparents, and shoot them if they don’t turn them over? Naw…we, the police labor organizations, are filing suit to keep our officers from being ordered to carry out what appears to be an illegal, unconstitutional order.”

Long answer to a short question, Long Island Mike, but that’s what I believe would really happen in that scenario.

It looks as if we’re about to experience four years under a Chief Executive who is more inimical to the civil rights of gun owners than any of his predecessors. He’ll have as handmaidens a Vice-President and a Speaker of the House who are perhaps even more vehemently opposed to private firearms ownership than he.

I’m glad Grant Park stayed quiet. Secret Service was on the ball, and Chicago PD was out in huge numbers, riot gear handy, assisted by a reported 73 other law enforcement agencies. Turnout was less than a quarter of what the mayor invited and, probably most important, the attendees got what they wanted.

It’s a relief that, at least, this damn election is over. The pundits are saying, “It was the economy!” Uh, yeah, right. That’s why the electorate rejected the candidate who flew to Washington to work on the emergency fix, and elected the one who flew to California to party with Hollywood stars while that was going on. Yup, I got it … sorta…

Maybe Bob Hope had it right all those years ago, when he said this.

But, hey, I don’t wanna bash Democrats here. Hell, I’m an Independent, and on my local ballot, I voted for as many Democrats as Republicans. It ain’t a Party thing…it’s a “where this country is going” thing.

In the current (November/December 2008) issue of Backwoods Home magazine, editor and friend Dave Duffy wrote, “It doesn’t matter worth a damn who becomes President.”

I hope he’s right.

Stay tuned…

Chicago mayor Richie Daley has never distinguished his administration with common sense. In stark proof of this, he has cheerfully invited “a million people” to attend the forthcoming election night Obama rally at the city’s Grant Park.

Hmmm…let’s look at that. I don’t recall any Presidential candidate receiving as much homicidal hostility during a campaign as Barack Obama. We are told that at least two assassination plots by white skinheads have been interdicted. Someone now invites a million people to come to the “range” and face the “target.”

Take Mayor Daley’s “invitation list” of 1,000,000 un-vetted people…In a city rife with gang culture and presently the “murder capitol” of the nation, despite Draconian gun laws that actually ban ownership of handguns (except by Chicago city council members, who are expressly allowed to carry loaded, concealed pistols). Compare that with the rule of thumb we’ve heard from so many mental health professionals that “one out of every hundred people is a psychopath.” One out of every hundred … a million people there … carry the one …

Yup, the math is right. That’s 10,000 psychopaths. In an area far too huge for screening and metal detectors to be effective. “Ten Thousand Maniacs” was a cool name for an ‘80s rock band, but it’s a most un-cool scenario for a political rally of unprecedented size at the peak pressure curve of a volatile election.

Chicagoland is not without white racists. I was there in the satellite community of Skokie three decades ago, when the American Nazis marched, mocking the substantial local community of Holocaust survivors. The cops were out in force, the racists were few in number, and it still looked pretty dangerous for a while, though the forces of order kept everything contained.

In addition to the white racists, there are those in the African-American community who have no love for Obama, and may even feel a vested interest in “creating an incident.” Chicago is the home of Jesse Jackson, who infamously said during the campaign that he would like to castrate Obama. We are also at war with an entity called Al Qaeda,, which has already murdered Americans…is familiar with American media…and has to have heard Rush Limbaugh’s prediction of a surprise McCain victory and writer-commentator Erica Jong’s recent prediction to an Italian magazine that if Obama loses, the streets will run red with blood and a “second American Civil War” will erupt. It would take only one suicidal terrorist pawn to throw a bomb or bullet at Obama in hopes of triggering just such chaos in the USA.

Chicago, our nation’s third most popular city, has the second largest police force. They’re authorized some 13,000 armed, sworn police personnel, though I think the current rolls are somewhat down from that. (LAPD, serving the second largest US city, has just under 10,000 officers, and NYPD is the largest with some 36,000 authorized.) That ain’t enough to control a million people if things flare up. I hear from usually reliable sources that Chicago PD has done something unprecedented: they’ve put out a call to surrounding departments and the State Police for assistance, supposedly requesting two-man patrol cars.

A part of America sees Barack Obama as the Martin Luther King of our time. We remember the fierce rioting (we call it “civil unrest” now) that broke out after King’s assassination forty years ago. What is going to happen if a shot rings out in Grant Park…?

If I was a Secret Service agent assigned to the Obama protection detail, I’d be waking up screaming in the middle of the night.

Paul Huebl, a retired Chicago cop who now writes a conservative blog, has noted that Grant Park is largely surrounded by bodies of water, and that on a cold night water cannons make very effective riot control devices. Many of the bridges in Chicago are drawbridges that, if lifted, would greatly limit auto/pedestrian access from Grant Park to other parts of the city. But that would only mitigate the aftermath, not prevent it.

This rally may not go down in history as the smartest move Mayor Daley has ever made or approved. However, those who’ve followed his administration will probably ask, “And this is different…how?”

Early voting is already underway in states like Florida. We’re getting down to the wire.

Newspapers around the nation have noted that gun sales are up, everywhere. Semiautomatic rifles, the kind Barack Obama and Joe Biden have incorrectly called “assault weapons,” are flying out the doors of gun shops. So are full capacity magazines for pistols and rifles alike. Current Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden was a prime mover behind the onerous, decade-long Assault Weapons Ban fostered by the Clinton administration that limited magazine cartridge capacity to ten rounds. Folks are stocking up on ammo, too – not just serious collectors and hard-core gun enthusiasts, but ordinary firearms owners of every race and gender.

Both sides desperately continue to throw mud at each other, but none of the mud-balls have a rock in them solid enough to score a knockout. Maddeningly, the McCain side – the “lesser of two evils” in my view – has failed to fire its strongest ammunition: proof that Obama and Biden have provably, demonstrably lied when they said publicly that they supported citizens’ rights under the Second Amendment.

This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed about my new book (Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry) on the middle hour of Tom Gresham’s terrific radio program, “GunTalk.” Catch it if ya want – hey, I can use the book royalties – but you really need to hear the first hour of that show.

That hour is an in-depth, pull-no-punches interview with my old friend Rich Pearson, president of the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), that state’s grass-roots political action group fighting for gun owners’ civil rights. Rich has been fighting Obama on this issue for years, and he has the documented truth on Obama’s positions on Second Amendment issues. Obama does not seem to believe in the concept of self-defense, opposes any private citizen being licensed to carry a concealed weapon in public, and is insistent that you have no right to own the sort of firearms that you and your parents and your grandparents used in military service to defend this great nation.

Listen to it HERE. Send it along to friends, acquaintances, relatives, and everyone else with a vote. They have a right to know that some people who want the White House have flat-out lied to them.