Politics

Protesting is terrorism?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Whoa. (h/t SayUncle)

I used to be a “card carrying member” of the ACLU, and while I am no longer I am still thankful they are around because while I don’t always agree with them they are certainly a vital force in keeping our country free.

Antiterrorism training materials used by the Department of Defense teach that public protests should be regarded as “low level terrorism,” according to a letter of complaint sent to the department today by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

“Teaching employees that dissent on issues of public concern is something to be feared, rather than encouraged, is a dangerously counterproductive use of scarce security resources, making us less safe as a democracy,” Northern California ACLU Staff Attorney Ann Brick and ACLU Washington National Security Policy Council Michael German wrote in the letter to Gail McGinn, Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

“DoD employees cannot accomplish their mission of protecting our nation and its values unless they understand that those values encompass the right to criticize our government through protest activities,” they wrote. “It is imperative that they are taught the difference between political, religious or social activism and terrorism.”

State AG’s against gun bans

/ hsoi

Have I mentioned how I love living in Texas?

Texas State Attorney General, the Honorable Greg Abbott, was among 23 other AG’s sending a letter to U.S. AG Eric Holder opposing any attempts at gun bans.

It’s not about guns folks, it’s about freedom. And yes, freedom of choice, and the ability to protect that freedom of choice. If you don’t understand what I mean, ask.

Lemonade and healthcare

/ hsoi

Driving out of my neighborhood a couple days ago I saw a couple kids setting up a stand to sell shaved ice, $0.50. I thought that was pretty cool and consigned myself to stopping by on my way back home. Unfortunately the kids weren’t there when I returned. My guess, it was hot out, they were setting up in the middle of the day (i.e. little traffic), got bored, went to go play. Fair enough. I did think to myself that they should have set up in the evening when everyone had gotten home and was out walking their dogs or just walking around the neighborhood, as the increased foot traffic would have been better for business. Nevertheless, it was nice to see kids still continuing to do such things.

An old college buddy of mine just posted an article he wrote on lemonade stands and healthcare. Give it a read. Food for thought on these hot summer days.

Concealed Carry Supports Law Enforcement

/ hsoi

Howard Nemerov examines the data, the conclusion of which is that yes, concealed carry supports law enforcement.

In Right-to-Carry states, private citizens have greater freedom to defend themselves in public. Because the ratio of justifiable homicides by police and citizens is more balanced, and because the level of police defensive justifiable homicide is lower, one can only conclude that armed citizens are adept at self-defense, enough to provide a quantifiable level of protection for law enforcement. In non-RTC states, the reduced self-defensive capability of the citizenry correlates with higher rates of violent crime and a more dangerous work environment for police officers.

Read Howard’s article for the data analysis. You can even email him to get the spreadsheet.

Gun control saved the day

/ hsoi / 15 Comments

So the shooting at the Holocaust Museum continues to be fodder for the anti-gunners. (h/t SayUncle)

“Congress should think very hard about their responsibilities for public safety before weakening gun laws in our nation’s capital, and should rethink their decision to allow more guns in our national public areas,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“It is dangerous to force more guns into places that American families expect to be gun-free and safe,” he said.

Let’s see here. Our nation’s capital has about the strictest anti-gun laws in the nation. Yet those laws didn’t stop anything. That’s unpossible! So if the strongest laws didn’t stop it, how will more laws make any difference? No matter how many laws nor how strong they may be, they are not going to stop anyone but the law-abiding — criminals by definition don’t obey the law; if you are lawless that means you are without law, and if there are more laws these people will still be without them. Sorry folks, but towards the end of stopping violence, passing more laws that the people you’re targeting won’t obey anyways… the math doesn’t add up. Folks, even if you hate guns, can you not see the flaw in the logic?

As for being dangerous to force more guns into places…. there is no forcing going on. To force more guns somewhere would mean that you have no choice, you must have a gun. If you want to enter the museum, you must be at least this tall and have a Glock 19 on your hip. No shoes, no shirt, no Smith & Wesson, no service. No, sorry Mr. Helmke, that’s not how it works. Right now the laws restrict, the effort is to remove the restrictions. That way there’s choice so if you choose to carry a gun, you can. If you choose to not carry a gun, you can do that too. I thought people of this country liked having choice. That’s what this is all about: restoring freedom of choice.

Could the scene play out any differently if there were more gun-toting folks around there? I mean, in this situation guns actually did save the day. If there weren’t some people with guns at the museum, who knows how ugly things could have gotten. The “rampage” was stopped because Good Guys had guns. These Good Men had control over themselves, control over their guns, and their gun control saved the day.

Updated: Joe Huffman echos similar sentiments.

Act now to defend knife rights

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

It’s unreal to think that simple pocket knives are being worked to be made illegal, but yes, it’s true. So much for useful tools.

The trouble is, the comment period for this is very narrow so we must act now. For information check here.

Take a few moments to read the information and send in your comments both to CBP and to your US Congressman and Senators. You can probably email your Congresscritters (and there’s no excuse not to). But the CBP is refusing to accept electronic communication. They only want snail-mailed stuff — seems like someone doesn’t want to be bombarded by comments that they know are inevitable, and they are counting on you to be a lazy, apathetic citizen. So which are you? And that you can’t take 5 minutes to download, fill out, and print and mail a letter that could help to preserve your rights instead of allowing our freedoms to be slowly chipped away? If you can’t take 5 minutes to do this, how lazy and how (a)pathetic are you?

Do it now.

Important points to remember

/ hsoi

In reading the latest entry in the annals of reasoned discourse, it reminded me of a few key things that are worth pointing out:

* The D.C. v. Heller decision was unanimous (9-0) that to keep and bear arms is an individual right. The 5-4 split was about D.C.’s laws.

* That to keep and bear arms is a right that existed from the get go (“God Given” if you will). All 2A does is state that the government shall not infringe upon it, as a specifically enumerated limit upon the powers of the government.

TSRA Legislative Wrap-up

/ hsoi

Here’s the Texas State Rifle Association’s 2009 Legislative Wrap-up.

My feelings:

* Employee Rights

As I’ve stated before, I am not happy how the Voter ID bill held up this and hundreds of other pieces of legislation. 

* Campus Personal Protection

Not happy about this one, but it’s evident there was a majority of support and it only lost out due to process.

* CHL Notification

I’m happy the penalty was removed, but I have no real problem with the requirement as I think it’s good to show your CHL anyway.

* Firearms purchases

I actually was surprised this was even a problem, so it’s good to see this come about.

* DPS Sunset

Good stuff here.

 

So, you win some, you lose some. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on chugging. Regroup for next time. See you in 2011. 🙂