Independence Day this year is surrounded by grave challenges to that very independence.
California’s Governor Brown has just signed some truly grim new gun restrictions into law.
The most anti-gun Presidential candidate in our nation’s history is now leading in most polls.
The current national push for “no fly/no buy” comes at a time when certain politicians and pundits are simultaneously using “NRA” and “terrorists” in the same sentence. The due process concerns in the proposed legislation seem irrelevant to many on the left, but thankfully, not to all. When a piece of legislation is opposed by the NRA, and the ACLU, and the New York Times, it is nature’s way of saying that the bill in question needs to die.
Speaking of terrorists, America’s Independence Day is a symbolic time for ISIS and others who hate our country; probably an especially good day to stay away from the hunting preserves full of helpless victims known as “gun-free zones.”
Have a great Fourth. Celebrate responsibly. It’s the 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, so I think it will be appropriate for me to send some 240 grain .44 Magnum rounds downrange. After all, responsible gunfire is the very sound of freedom.
Actually it should be the 2nd olf July. As rapidly as our independence is being eroded we soon may have nothing at all to celebrate. I have read the house Rebubs are pushing some kind of gun bill and want to vote next week. Little known about it. Rhino Ryan scares the hell out of me.
Pray for the Republic.
Marc
Just can’t believe that California was able to pass some very restricted gun laws in a matter of days without little debate or much news. It will have absolutely no effect on the crime or criminals in their state but only make criminals jobs easier when they are up against less.
After celebrating tomorrow with the family and friends will take time out to do our traditional shooting of variety of firearms on my private range. I will let freedom ring!!!
The opinion cited from the New York Times refers to a Federal Districts Judge ruling with regard to elements of the no-fly list procedures from 2014. In as much as the no fly list is often cited I wonder if this ruling was overturned on appeal.
Everyone I know thinks it will be harder to take away the guns one already has than it will be to acquire more after Hillary is elected. So now is a great time to buy a lifetime supply of firearms. I also know some older people who talk about buying whatever they think their children and grandchildren may someday need now.
12 gauge pump shotguns are still affordable and easily available. Any adult that does not have at least one should get one now.
Mas what should we do if the gun grabber are successful and they require us to start turning in weapons, starting with the “assault rifles”?
Mary Beth, it looks so far as if we’ll see passive non-compliance on a very large scale.
The biggest thing I see is polarization. The differences between pro- and anti-gun factions are wider now than ever before. At the same time as some jurisdictions are tightening restrictions on private citizens, others are loosening them. In contrast to California, New York and Connecticut, there are Arizona (constitutional carry), Kansas (public buildings must provide high level security if they want to ban carry) and Tennessee (businesses are responsible for the safety of customers they force to disarm). The pro-gun side has been pretty successful over the past 30 years. I think the counterattack by the anti-gun side is a reaction to that. What we don’t know is the extent to which they will succeed.
Mary Beth Robinette,
I believe that, as Mas aid, there will be a lot of passive non-compliance. I also believe there will be, at least for the near future, passive non-enforcement. My fear is, if there is ever aggressive enforcement, we will see the beginning of armed resistance to that enforcement. I sincerely hope this never happens.
Having said that, on this day of remembrance of our Declaration of Independence, there comes a time “when in the course of human events……………”
As reported on The Truth about guns, it took engineers less than a week to modify the AR back to compliance. I am watching the ammo sales ban cause that is harder to go around.
Though we may all disagree on many things, the one thing that all the regulars here agree on is that we deeply love the liberties, freedoms, and nation which were begun with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. May you all have a safe and happy 4th.
Re passive noncompliance: If that means just keeping the guns in your closet or basement and never taking them out or mentioning to anyone that you have them, that’s likely to work. But it also means that it becomes extremely hazardous to, among other things:
– Take a gun anywhere, due to the possibility of a extremely serious bad end to what might otherwise be a minor traffic stop or the surveillance of a nosy anti-gun neighbor.
– Practice shooting.
– Buy ammunition.
– List them in the inventory of your estate when you die so that they can be sold or transferred to your heirs.
Those last two points may be the most important. As Dennis says, the enforcement may be lax. But the effect over decades and generations would be significant. What might be the biggest effect would be to, due to the restrictions on public use mentioned above, make future generations less and less familiar with guns, less interested in them, more fearful about them (and about the safety and reliability of the ancient ammunition), and less invested in defying the law. When that happens, fewer and fewer heirs will be interested in noncompliance and will simply turn in their parents’ or grandparents’ guns when they die, especially if there’s an amnesty for that purpose.
Do I think such a total ban is going to happen? No. There may be restrictions on certain kinds or forms of guns — California is going to be an interesting test case — but I don’t believe the 2nd A will ever allow a total ban.
And while there are some calls for the repeal of the 2nd A, I can’t see that happening in the foreseeable future, either, even if Trump’s candidacy ushers in a Clinton presidency and the loss of the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. For that to happen, anti-gun Democrats (and not all Democrats are anti-gun) would have to take over 2/3 of the seats in both chambers and 3/4 of all state legislatures. If a Hillary victory accompanied by the capture of Congress were to occur there might be the possibility of the beginning of a trend to make the nation blue again some time in the future (especially since the Millennials and subsequent generations are far less conservative than the Boomers), but I severely doubt even that. A better liberal/conservative balance might be obtained, with a higher number of blue states, but 3/4? Highly unlikely.
Well whatever the future holds, and let’s hope it’s bright, here’s a Happy 4th July from across The pond.
Mas, Dennis, EthenAllen, thanks for the replies.
I hope passive enforcement is all we see! Our world could get very tense.
Hubby and I recently visited the Yorktown Battlefield in Virginia (That is where Washington beat Cornwallis in the last major battle of the revolutionary war) and those folks had a lot on the line.
It’s sad that in this day and age that our country is so divided. I’m not sure how closely it compares, but the last two times this country was seriously divided we had a Revolution and then the Civil war.
God Bless our Nation and heal our divide.
A great book to read is; “The Founders’ second amendment, Origins of the Right to Bear arms”, by Stephen P. Halbrook. The book keys in on the fact that as tensions rose, England tried to restrict/confiscate arms and ammunition in the time leading up to the Revolution.
A couple of years ago the pro shooter Bruce Piatt retired as LEO. It was then that he realized the State (NJ) had zero respect for him as a “civilian”. They wouldn’t let him own all those cool guns he had and shot with in competition as a LEO. He went from being one of the privileged to untermensch. He had never spoken out when he had the badge.
Those police officers who will kick in your door, shoot your screaming wife and kids and disarm their fellow citizens, will in the end understand that they are not exempt from the wrath of the state. They will also pay the price when the purges begin. Read history.
Happy 4th of July to You and the Evil Princess Mas 🙂
Happy Independence Day Mas.
Weary. I am weary. My FitBit topped 21,000 steps one day this weekend (mountainous terain in NH). I helped a friend build a kayak rack yesterday. Babysitting a grandchild in Cambridge, MA as I type this evening. Helping with friends, family & community are naturals. I am weary yet I keep moving as best I can.
I really don’t want to have to make myself heard here nor elsewhere. Yet I trudge on. I try to do so like I saw my father do. I see so many who I aspire to honor with my feeble efforts. So I stand up and engage when I can as best I can. The fella with the kayaks is now an avid gunny with a ccp and seems to know more than I about guns now. I just had an enlightening discussion today, in Cambride, MA with a Brit who seemed to understand reality (and he was thankful to have a July 4th cookout without jokes at the expense of the British). We talked like brothers though he is 25 years my junior. He gets the Brexit vote, gun control, immigration and more. His take on Brexit? There are times you need to walk away from the car dealership when negotiations fail to meet your needs (paraphrased). So I trudge on. Planting seeds. Learning. Engaging. Sharring.
Weary. Hoping I never have to make decisions my ancestors (including my father) had to make. I praying I may influence the future just enough to leave them a better world. Praying I never need to answer the question Mary Beth R asked above. Doing what I can today. Thinking nowing I will do what I must tomorrow. Expecting I will know what is best for the future when it comes. Though I know not what that may be.
I have a beautiful picture of todays sunset in the Boston area. Red sky at night, Sailors delight. Tomorrows weather will be nice. Enjoy. And remember what Independence is all about, past, present and hopefully, future.
@Dave (the Liberal, non-Uncle one), yes. You make some excellent points. One of the reasons we have have so many who dislike and/or misunderstand guns today is the transition from rural to urban/suburban. Historically, most were exposed to the country and firearms even if they were from a city. Today, many never have any exposure to guns beyond the news & possibly as a crime victim.
My potential answer is … As I age, I need care. If I am to be made a felon buy decree, I may elect to stand my ground and go to prison. Medical, food, and more. Sounds easy but it is not. And neither is giving up rights. Just after the CT incident, I spoke at local state hearings in RI. I told my local legislature to arrest me then & there if they planned to pass a couple laws as I simply would not comply. Their proposed laws would have made me an instant felon and subject me to 10 years minimum with no possibility of parole. And parole had just been granted to a thrill killer after only 13 years of a 40 year sentence (he had killed a prostitute just to see what it was like to kill someone).
There are many ways to resist passively. I have others in mid as well. As I stated above, I hope & pray (agnistic/Christian who cannot resolve the circular – rational to a fault but understand faith).
Peace, health & Happiness to all on this aniversary of great note.
@ Dave (the Liberal, Non-Uncle one):
The scenario you outlined above, about subsequent generations becoming “far less conservative”, cannot happen. For the reasons that I have previously explained, the ratio of left-wing to right-wing supporters, in any large-scale human population, will always hover around 50/50. The concept that any large-scale human population can be 2/3 or 3/4 left-wing is so statistically improbable as to be safely discounted.
Most left-wing oppressive ideologies (like communism, the prohibition of alcohol or gun-control) succeed because the left-wing world-view is inherently activist whereas the right-wing world-view tends to be more re-activist.
Thus, if a left-wing oppressive movement can (a) mobilize fast enough to prevent a right-wing counter-movement from forming and/or (b) actually find some common ground with the right-wing view, then it is possible for a left-wing oppressive movement to temporarily succeed.
Note that, in the long run, all oppressive movements (whether left-wing or right-wing in nature) fail.
An example of temporary success (in an oppressive movement) is the Prohibition of Alcohol. It succeeded because (a) it obtained some right-wing support from the religious right who viewed drinking as a “sin” and (b) the opposition was slow to get organized to fight back.
The result was that the Prohibition movement steamrolled a Constitutional Amendment against alcohol into place before anyone could stop it.
Once the failures of this oppressive movement became apparent, however, and the opposition to Prohibition got organized, the situation was reversed and this oppressive movement was (fortunately) shut down.
The oppressive gun control movement is very similar (ideologically) to the old oppressive Prohibition of Alcohol movement. However, I suspect that even temporary success will not be obtained for the Prohibition of Firearms movement. This is because the gun-grabber movement lacks the advantaged that alcohol prohibition enjoyed. It does not have much (if any) right-wing support since owning a firearm is not widely viewed as a “sin” as drinking alcohol was. Furthermore, the opposition (in the form of the NRA and other pro-gun rights organizations) is already well organized. Despite their best efforts, the gun-grabbers will have a hard time just “steamrolling” their oppressive program into place.
Firearm Prohibition will fail because, in the long run, all oppressive movements fail. The only question is how bitter will be the struggle to suppress this latest left-wing oppressive movement and how long will it take to finally drive a stake in its heart.
This is the first piece I’ve read that tells what’s in the house Repub bill.
http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/justin-amash-warns-about-gun-control-bill/
Doesn’t sound good.
TN_MAN: The war against drugs is nearly identical to Prohibition. It, too, is a failure and the consequences in terms of violent, organized crime are even worse. It took 13 years to recognize and correct the error that was Prohibition. We have yet to reach that stage with he war on drugs even though it has been going on for over a century (It began in 1914.) The leftists’ position on violent crime is that it’s everyone’s fault except the perpetrator. Notions like that are so fundamental t their world view that I don’t see them recognizing and correcting their error.
Depending on who gets to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office in 2017, this 4th of July 2016, our country’s 240th birthday, may be the last one America celebrates as a free nation as we know it.
This is a sad and sobering situation which I hope turns out better than we can expect. Maybe soon, I will wake up from this terrible nightmare and find out that John McCain had become President in 2009, then croak a few days later and Sarah Palin has been running the country since that day, and now Ted Cruz/Rick Perry/Scott Walker has just been elected as POTUS.
Never saw a battle yet where occupying the high ground didn’t yield advantage. Defending from prone is much less tiring while looking upwards from just behind the military crest of a hill, though, rather than holding one’s head up constantly while looking downhill. Hillary is doomed to fight from low ground, and may be able to advance to the crest, but will never be able to hold it against a prepared barrage from alert troops on the reverse slope. She will fold in November in the face of moral persistence like a house of cards in a tsunami.
Sad to see the recent death of a mountain-biking USFS LEO due to a grizzly attack near Glacier Park in Montana. If his companion had been packing something like the short Ruger Alaskan in .454 Casull or .480 Ruger, which weighs only about 3 pounds loaded, a few 400-grain hard-cast bullets to the bear’s head could have proven especially deterring. Willingness to take a warlike attitude towards a bear attack, plus adeptness with an exceptionally adequate weapon, can be essential assets out in bruin backcountry
The grizzly is NOT Tyrannosaurus Rex. A .25 ACP round at the ear has been known to give the coup de grace to an Alaskan brown. Bigger is just better.
Kendahl,
Yes, you are correct. It is a matter of degree.
Oppressive ideologies can linger for decades, even centuries, at a low level. When I said that all oppressive ideologies ultimately fail, I mean that they fail once they advance past the low-level stage.
Even the Prohibition of Alcohol took a lot longer than 13 years. The Prohibition idea dates back to at least the 1840’s in America. It lingered for decades before it finally entered the advanced stage (which was triggered by the passaged of the 18th Amendment). It then rapidly bloomed and then died (as you noted) about 13 years later.
Unfortunately, like the Prohibition of Alcohol, the Prohibition of Narcotics also enjoys a mix of left-wing and right-wing support. This has allowed it to continue to linger on despite its obvious failures.
The Oppressive Prohibition of Firearms movement has also “lingered” on for decades due to rabid left-wing support. It dates back to at least the Great Depression era. Witness that the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934. One would think, with the failures of the Prohibition of Alcohol fresh on everyone’s mind, people would not immediate start repeating the same mistakes with narcotics and firearms. The left-wing mindset, however, prevents those afflicted from learning the lessons of history. Therefore, this leaves the human race doomed to repeat it!
@TNMan – “The scenario you outlined above, about subsequent generations becoming “far less conservative”, cannot happen. For the reasons that I have previously explained, the ratio of left-wing to right-wing supporters, in any large-scale human population, will always hover around 50/50. The concept that any large-scale human population can be 2/3 or 3/4 left-wing is so statistically improbable as to be safely discounted.”
The scenario as described by Dave has already happened internationally in many places. Australia and Canada, for instance. If it happened there it could happen anywhere… The bottom line is that such a scenario can (and has) happen(ed) anywhere with ease though perhaps less likely in the U.S.A. due to the constitution yet even that could change via mismanagement. I have less than no faith in Human governments, it never works out alright. I have even less in statistics! Nothing can be discounted nor taken for granted.
Hopefully all U.S. Readers of this weblog had a very fine 4th. Happy 240th, America!
@ Spencer B.
You are confusing left-wing programs and policies with a left-wing population. In effect, you are assuming that a pre-condition for the implementation of large-scale left-wing policies is a human population which is majority left-wing in world-view.
This is not true at all. The left-wing mindset is inherently and aggressively activist in nature whereas the right-wing mindset often tends to be more passive and reactive. Left-wing policies are very often “steamrolled” into place by vocal left-wing activist.
One should not assume that such policies are universally beloved by the population. In many cases, these policies are opposed by about 1/2 of the population (the right-wing leaning half) but they are not organized enough or yet angry enough yet to openly or vocally protest them.
Therefore, I stand by my statement. I believe that human populations tend to split about 50/50 on the right versus left world-view question. Even so, activist and aggressive left-wing (and occasionally right-wing) groups are sometimes able to literally ram their policies into place. In effect, shoving them down the throats of the other half of the population.
That is the scenario that is happening rather than a majority left-wing or right-wing population.
@TN_MAN
I appreciate your viewpoint yet do differ some in mine own. Your points are good, yet not what I was thinking. Could be it’s mighty presumptuous to speculate on the thoughts of another.
This (my train of thought earlier, that is) is more along the lines of perhaps reading about governments yet not necessarily experiencing much interaction with a variety of peoples within that governments nation. I just don’t hold with statistics much, Friend.
I too stand by my statement – There are indeed places where the vast majority of the populace are conditioned from birth to have certain responses to stimuli along with strongly held beliefs that do cant a certain way Sir! Not at all uncommon for generations to swing quite a ways in their view, too. That’s a fine aspect of why Dave is not out to lunch with his sentiment there.
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