I may have more of a report later, but this is my favorite pair (out of the very few I took) of photos from the march in DC yesterday. I met up with some Three Percenters and Oath Keepers (with a surprising contingent from Massachusetts) around 9:00am in front of the White House. This woman had a sign in honor of Joe Wilson’s comment that was, though inappropriate for the forum, most definitely, true. Here’s the before:
And here is the after:
Her plan was to get as many signatures as possible and send it to Joe Wilson as a thank you. I never dreamed how many she would get. As you can see, the signatures completely cover the white space. People even started signing the back of it and filling that up!
Also, here’s another one where I’m trying to show the size of the crowd:
You can see the Washington monument in the background. I’m told the crowd went all the way back to it and more people were still flowing in. Estimates varied from 1.2 million to 1.6 million.
Will they listen? If they don’t, then it’s worth taking note of what one sign said at this rally: “Plan A: Peaceful restoration of the Constitution. Plan B: Restoration of the Constitution.” And that *wasn’t* from a Threeper or an Oath Keeper. More people are waking up to the seriousness of current political climate. We were handing out Oath Keeper push cards and had several in depth conversations with people from all walks of life and I don’t think we got a single negative reaction.
Please pray for Plan A to be successful. Plan B won’t be fun for anyone.
All posts by paul iadonisi
Headed to D.C.
I’ll be heading to Washington D.C. this weekend for the Tea Party March on Washington on September 12. That’s the generic reason, of course, as there are a number of liberty oriented groups that are congregating there on the 12th. Another notable group is the Oath Keepers which I hope to hook up with and, possibly, take the Oath for the first time, since I’ve never been in a position to take it before.
But my specific reasons are related, of course, to the Three Percenters that will be there. I have no big signs or any real clear plan, but I do hope to at least print out and laminate some makeshift Threeper Patches, so I can at least be recognized by other Threepers.
I do hope to have some good pictures and video of the event, however, so there may, possibly be something interesting to read about here. š
The sad and ironic thing about this event is though we say we will not disarm, we must disarm before entering D.C. or we will likely be arrested, due the unconstitutional edicts that the masters of that domain have instituted.
Doctrine of the Three Percent
Getting motivated to start posting again. Figured a good way to start was to reiterate one of my favorite recent posts at Sipsey Street that Mike has added to his permanent sidebar on the right.
The Doctrine of the Three Percent.
We will not disarm.
You cannot convince us.
You cannot intimidate us.
You can try to kill us, if you think you can.
But remember, we’ll shoot back.
And we are not going away.
Your move.
I’m not in any way sympathetic to groups such as Hamas or Hizballah, but I always thought it was odd when the “international community” was calling for Hizballah to disarm during the last conflict with Israel a few years ago. Why? Because disarming is what you do when you are surrendering. Then, and only then. If you are asking someone to surrender, the presumption ought to be that you have the firepower and the will to use it to wipe them out if they don’t surrender.
(On that topic: Israel at the time, thanks in large part due to the pressure from most of the rest of the world, as well as impotent leadership, didn’t have the will to do what was necessary. Hopefully, with Netanyahu as PM, they will, now.)
Another one down, 313? to go
Another of the Bloomberg Bunch bites the dust. Will it ever end?
It was “a lapse in judgment”
“There is no excuse for it”
“I apologize for putting my family and my city under this situation.”
However:
but said he did not commit a crime. He pledged to remain in office.
And yet we are supposed to believe this tripe:
As mayors, our highest responsibility is to enforce the law and to protect the people we serve.
Compelling Connectivity
Though I know my readership is — thanks in part to my very light posting and also in part to the newness of it all for me — is low, I figured it was the least I could do to post a link to David Codrea’s Gun Rights Examiner column.
It’s been taking off beyond his wildest dreams. See this for the history.
MA LTC
I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this. I’ve heard a wide variety of views on how far we should go with respect to civil disobedience regarding conceal-carrying firearms. In my current state of residence, it almost makes no sense to have a conceal carry, given that the penalties for carrying where you are not supposed to are greater than if you have no permit at all and are caught carrying. I’ve been told that it’s only a misdemeanor and if you’ve used it in a self-defense situation, you will likely have any ‘gun charges’ dismissed. No, I am not a lawyer, and haven’t actually asked a lawyer about it, though. So caveat emptor.
But I do visit the VDZ of MA a few times a year. It’s a long drive and I pass through a few other states that are problematic. I can at least transport my equipment through any of them and if any of the JBTs in those states decide to make an example of me, I may be able to slap them down in court with 18 U.S.C 926A.
But due to the draconian, anti-human rights laws in MA, it could involve much more than a short visit to the courthouse should you run afoul of the whims of the faux royalty in that state. So, given my typically three times a year visits up there per year, and the fact that it’s not my state any more, I figured it’s not my battle at the moment. Yes, I know we can all help with battles in other states, but I figure focusing my energies on my current home state and it’s problematic laws as well as laws at the federal level would be the best approach. Don’t want to wind up in a re-education cell in a foreign land. So I’ll obey the statists in MA for now. At least until my few remaining relatives there defect.
I do feel like I’m conceding that MA officials have the authority to allow or deny me the ability to carry my mark. But one relative put it this way:
As for conceding that MA officials “have authority”, I don’t see it that way. I see it as conceding that MA is a communist, totalitarian thug state.
Soothed me at least a little bit.
The brief summary of the process is as follows. Note the first step may change if MA updates its web site. The current phone number for the FRB is (617) 660-4780, but here’s how I got it for posterity:
- Visit http://www.mass.gov/
- Click on the ‘For Government’ tab
- Click on ‘A-Z Agency List’ under ‘Branches & Departments’
- Scroll down and click on ‘Criminal History Systems Board’ (yeah, I know)
- Click on ‘Firearms Records Bureau’
- Click on ‘Firearms Possession Information’
- Click on ‘Non-Residents’
- Call number listed on that page to have an application snail-mailed to you.
- Get a pair of passport style photos taken. Most Post Offices will do this.
- Fill out the application.
- Take the fingerprint card and the actual blank license (in triplicate) to your local police department or sheriff’s office. Be sure to call them in advance to see if an appointment is required. Note that one issue I had is that my sheriff’s office no longer had a process for ink fingerprints which is what’s needed for the actual license (just the right index finger). They dug up the old ink fingerprinting equipment just for me, but you may not be as fortuitous.
- Draft your reason for ‘all legal purposes.’ I suggest avoiding statements like “It’s my constitutional right!” or “It’s the mark of a free man!”. Either play the game and give a reason that doesn’t rub their immature hoplophobia in their faces, or don’t bother applying. My reason alluded to my elderly mother whom I visit in MA and take on errands and don’t feel I can protected sufficiently due to my own advancing years.
- Find an instructor at GOAL and schedule and take your safety course to get your certificate of completion. That’ll likely run you about $100.
- Bundle it all up with the $100 fee and send it along.
Note that MA issues Class B licenses that aren’t really LTC licenses, but also issues two types of Class A LTCs, one of which, annoyingly, isn’t really an LTC at all. It’s only an LTC if it says ‘NO RESTRICTIONS’ on it or something else that indicates carrying is okay. Kind of reminds me of an airport I went to recently that has all these signs inside the terminal indicating what you must do to transport firearms on your flight. Yet there’s this huge sign on the road leading to the airport warning drivers that no firearms are allowed on the premises and violators will be prosecuted. Leave it to a bureaucrat. I’d say weirdness like the non-LTC LTC in MA and the conflicting signs at that airport are a good indication that the policy was devised out of pure emotional panic and no rational thought. The cognitive dissonance of the hoplophobes never ceases to amaze.
III
Lose, lose?
Reasonably good coverage of a citizen defense story. Even though the father didn’t intend on killing the perp (or so it seems), it appears law enforcement at least acknowledges that deadly force was justified. But I take issue with the victim’s statement that it was a “lose-lose” situation. Yes, the perp and his family lost. But the victimized family, without a doubt, won. Emotional trauma? Sure. A little sadness at taking a human life, possibly for the first time? Absolutely. But, Mr. McNally, you won. You won your daughter’s life and likely your own as well. And, you won your dignity.
Sometimes, I Can Agree with the Lightworker
But then, as the saying goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day. (For all you young’ns out there, clocks used to have ‘hands’ that pointed at static numbers on a circle of numbers 1-12.)
According to an article referenced in John Sigler’s TownHall article, Obama is quoted as saying:
National legislation will prevent other statesā flawed concealed-weapons laws from threatening the safety of Illinois residents.
in a February 20, 2004 Chicago Tribune story.
What I agree with is the first part of that. Let’s have national legislation that codifies the incorporation of the Second Amendment against the states. Part of that should be elminating states flawed conceal-weapons laws on the books and just, by golly, getting out of the way of citizens exercise of their God given right to bear arms. Vermont style.
Open vs. Concealed, Right vs. Privilege
I have a video collection of presentations that were given as the 2006 (or possibly 2005) Firearms Law and 2nd Amendment Symposium that I grabbed from the NRA ILA web site. In there, Brian Patrick of the University of Toledo makes an allusion to a tidbit of information I hadn’t heard elsewhere (and haven’t heard since). And that is that even before this country reached the sorry state that it is in where so many people get their undies in a bunch at the mere sight of a firearm, that among those that carried guns, concealling a weapon was considered unmanly and it was actually this old gun culture that contributed to legislation prohibiting conceal carry.
Though I haven’t been able to corroborate this claim, I bring that up because I see something coming from the open carry activist as well as something else from the conceal carry activists that both bother me. Not that we can be divided into those neatly segmented groups. Sure, there’s some overlap. But I have heard on more than one occasion, someone from OpenCarry.org make the assertion that “open carry is the right, conceal carry is the privilege”. I would like to know by what authority can someone make the claim that carrying a concealed weapon is not a right. All one has to do is witness this dash cam video of Danladi Moore being harassed by Norfolk Police and listen carefully to what they say to him regarding how harassing they are going to be if even lets the gun get ever-so-slightly covered:
at gunpoint in downtown Norfolk
Of course, the officer ignores the fact that Dan has a conceal carry permit. (Though, to be fair, I couldn’t hear if Dan actually informed the officers of that fact.) That, of course, is the point: without the conceal carry permit, he can’t comfortably risk carrying even openly in the face of this abusive, tyrannical police department.
And then there’s the conceal carry crowd. A certain three letter gun rights group frequently sends out surveys to its members asking their views on some gun related issues. One of those questions has got to be one of the most awkward contortions of the English language I’ve seen. It asks if members support “Right to Carry Permits”. Huh? You don’t need a permit to excercise a right. If you are going to advocate for permits, then at least admit that you aren’t acknowledging it as a right. “Conceal Carry Permit” would be more appropriate for what you’re advocating, I believe.
Of all the fighting that this group does for conceal carry, which it is effectively conceding as a privilege, I don’t think I’ve seen any advocating for what OpenCarry.org has been fighting for. Yes, there are only six states that outright prohibit it, but what about fighting for it in those six as well as working to eliminate the ‘anamolous’ states where it’s not prohibited outright, but because of a lack of pre-emption, it’s essentially prohibited. At least OpenCarry.org is honest about their position, erroneous as I believe it is, that they believe open carrying is the right, but concealing is the privilege.
The problem here is that whether you take the OpenCarry.org position or the NRA position, it forces you, if you are honest, to acknowledge that you are conceding that carrying a weapon, concealed or not, is a privilege. The problem lays in the fact that one official’s open carry is another official’s conceal carry. Just look at the despicable position of the current governer of Arizona.
She’s not willing to admit that it is a problem when someone gets arrested for illegally concealing a weapon simply because an officer approaches him from the non-gun side and can’t see the gun on the guy’s other hip. Her response on several occasions has essentially been “get a permit”. In other words in order to excercise the right to carry a firearm openly, which Arizona doesn’t unconstitutionally prohibit (except possibly by prohibiting in certain ‘sensitive’ areas, I don’t know), you need to get a permit to carry concealed or risk an obnoxious LEO hauling you downtown with a pair of nickel braclets.
Arizona is a year round warm climate, but what about seasonal places like the New England states. Ever try carrying openly on the *outside* of a heavy down winter coat? You effectively loose your ability to exercise your right to carry in New Hampshire (i.e.: without a permit) in the winter. Brilliant.
And as far as the NRA’s advocacy for conceal carry, how about at least attempting to push for Vermont style laws (or lack thereof). I haven’t heard a peep from the NRA about possibly pursuing that. Indiana now has lifetime conceal carry permits. Perfect opportunity for the first target area. Note that here I am acknowledging that the grass roots is where it has to start, but it would help to hear something from the leadership of our “leading” gun rights groups.
Let people who feel confident about their holsters, their retention skills, and their tactical awareness carry openly. And for those who would rather not give away an advantage, and can effectively conceal, let them carry concealed. Keep the criminals guessing. So the police are kept guessing, too. Isn’t that already the case? Criminals will conceal and not inform the police that they are concealing. How is forcing someone who has no ill intent to reveal to an officer — under penalty of law — that he is armed going to help him identify those with ill intent and will never reveal to the officer that he is armed (until he engages in his criminal activity and is, hopefully caught, stopped, and, if necessary, put down by either the cop, or an armed citizen)? Same goes for forcing him to get a ‘permit’ to conceal a weapon. The mere presence of a firearm does not put a police officer in danger. If it does, then why does he carry one? The presence of a criminal, on the other hand, who is likely to ignore all laws requiring him to reveal he is criminal (notwithstanding possible 5A infringements), does endanger an officer (not to mention, everyone else).
I’m not naive, by the way, about the current political situation. But remember what people were telling Marion Hammer in Florida when she was lobbying for shall-issue CCW permits in there. They told her it would never happen. And after it passed against all odds, it spread across the country to ~40 states like a brushfire. We’ve got Vermont and Alaska (sort of). Let’s get to work in IN and cause another brushfire.
1A can mitigate the need to exercise 2A
Well, at least some of the time.
To most free men, the right to speak freely is as important as the right to keep and bear arms. If that describes you, you should be following the case of Ezra Levant closely. Yes, I know, this is up in the land of our nothern neighbor, and we don’t have national or state (ironically named) “Human Rights Commissions” here in the US. But browse Ezra’s archives and you’ll see definite rumblings of it happening here in the good ole USA.
A recent example that sticks out is the case of Joey Vento of Geno’s Steak in Philadelphia. He has a sign posted in his store telling customers “This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH.'” Someone, or many someones complained, and his case was referred to the city’s Commission on Human Relations, previously unknown to this author, at least.
And then, of course, there are the Islamic supremacists fighting in the Underworld of the NazgĆ»l for strategically misnamed defamation laws across the globe which are really nothing more than blasphemy laws. You can find plenty on that in Ezra’s archives, as well.
Start out by checking the archives from the very beginning of his blog around the beginning of this year. Look for the eight or nine part video of his hearing with the Alberta Human Rights Commission “Investigator.”
It’s been a while since I watched that interrogation, but I remember Ezra making an excellent point regarding just how important the right to free speech is. He pointed to some war torn areas of the world that got that way at least in part because citizens believed they had no other recourse. In the USA, we at least have a strong foundation for the redress of grievances. A process by which we can influence government and stop abuses of power and infringements on our rights. When citizens believe that speaking out has no effect, or carries with it the risk of imprisonment or violent suppression, then there is little else left to do but either submit and become enslaved, or resist using force.
So, although the right to keep and bear arms protected by our second amendment is extremely important, were it not for the right of free speech (and the like) protected by our first amendment, then we most certainly would, eventually, be exercising one of the rights implied by the second amendment: to fight against tyranny.
This is why that no matter who occupies the White House for the next four years, one of our most important fights is going to be to get campaign finance reform — or as others have more correctly termed it, the Incumbent Protection Act — repealed. It is a slippery slope that we have already stepped onto.
But getting back to Ezra Levant, I want to refer you to a particular post from August:
…I’m not really interested in trying to “convince” Moon — or anyone else at the CHRC — that censorship is wrong and freedom is right. I don’t need to convince them, because those are my natural rights, and I don’t need their permission. I think it’s a moral mistake to even grant the CHRC and its contractors the legitimacy as arbiters of right and wrong
Some months before reading that, I had an encounter with a foreigner who is here on a green card, and whose country of origin shall remain nameless, at least for the time being. He’s an admitted statist and believes the government should run everything. We were having a conversation about the right to keep and bear arms and he chimed in with “it’s a privilege, not a right.”
I walked away from the argument a little flustered. Not because I couldn’t defend my position of it being a right. I could. But because he stated it in a way I hadn’t heard before. Usually we hear either that it is a) a right, b) a right with some allowed limitations, or c) not at a right at all.
I hadn’t heard anyone say it was a privilege before and wasn’t prepared for how annoyed I was by it. I felt a little righteous indignation about the comment. And I found myself rehearsing in my mind what I might say to him should the topic come up again. It went something like this:
So, you think it’s privilege. Well, you smarmy little *blank*, I don’t care if you think it’s a privilege, I claim it as my natural, God-given right. And you, personally, cannot take that away from me. Not even the Brady Bunch can. Nor can my legislators, nor law enforcement officers, nor judges. Sure, they can oppress me by passing unjust laws, arresting and charging me when I exercise the right, or convicting me when I’m innocent of any wrongdoing, but nothing on God’s Green Earth will ever change the fact that it is my right. My final authority is not the opinions of men; it is the fact of God’s gift.