The Federal Observer

A Police Officer’s Point of View

Gun control! We need to get these horrible, evil guns off the street! Blah, blah, blah! I hear lots of liberals and politicians talking up a storm, but with such selective enforcement of the current laws, I do not know what good they think it would do. Let me offer a sad example.

A few nights ago, my partner and I had a pretty fun night, as in a COPS episode type of fun (don’t tell my wife I said it was fun), that eventually turned into a dismal example of gun law failure.

We initially responded to a disturbance between a male and female, both in their early twenties, that boiled down to a whole lot of baby mamma drama. Their parents, who were all there, seemed like regular, caring, concerned, reasonable people. Their kids, the twenty-somethings, not so much. They were turds with turd friends. As we were getting ready to leave, having done our best to quell the situation, one of the parents got a text message warning her that her house was going to get shot up. Friends of the female found out about the drama and were planning on repaying the boyfriend for breaking her windshield. We did our best to convey to the female the importance of preventing her friend’s stupid behavior on her behalf, but it was falling on deaf ears.

“There’s no living with a killing. There’s no goin’ back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand… a brand sticks. There’s no goin’ back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her… tell her everything’s alright. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley.” – Shane

How many innocent gun owners are going to get caught up in this dragnet? The fact is, this law is a disaster waiting to happen and Californians are going to suffer for it.

LA Times:
The state will send dozens of new agents into California neighborhoods this summer to confiscate nearly 40,000 handguns and assault rifles from people barred by law from owning firearms, officials said Wednesday.

The plan received the green light Wednesday, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation providing $24 million to clear the backlog of weapons known to be in the hands of about 20,000 people who acquired them legally. They were later disqualified because of criminal convictions, restraining orders or serious mental illness.

…and THIS is what the 2nd Amendment is all about!

A man walks through the intersection at Light Street and Harper Avenue, an area of the North Bronx where there has been a string of armed muggings.

The first armed robbery attempt was in October, on a residential Bronx block near an elevated train stop. The victim fought back. He was shot in the leg.

The next came a month later and roughly a mile away. Once again, the victim resisted and was shot.

After the third robbery attempt, in February, two distinct patterns became apparent. The police suspected a single group was to blame, a group that cruised in cars and attacked lone men at night. But a more unusual pattern was seen among the three victims: when faced with a gun and a straightforward proposition — your money or your life — they had opted to take their chances with their lives.

Gun control and confiscation – tools used by bureaucrats to protect them selves while they overthrow the countries and establish control of the people they profess to protect.

I have read in many sources means of hiding firearms to avoid confiscation by the federal government and its hordes of enforcers. Well, I have a far different outlook. I think if you do hide your firearms and believe you are then safe, that you did or plan of doing one of the worst things possible.

Why do I think that? Well, think, People. First of all, whether they have your firearms or you hid them away, the firearm is useless in using it to defend your rights, your home, and your family.

But there’s still a very good chance we can win!

“Gun Owners of America [has] been pressing lawmakers who may have wavered on this emotional issue of background checks.” – CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, April 10, 2013

We’ve been fighting these gun control battles for almost 40 years now. And we almost always win. But it’s almost always a nail-biter.

And so it is on Obama’s gun control agenda.

We’d hoped that we could stop the gun control bribe-o-thon early (and risk-free) by blocking the motion to proceed to the package. But thanks to sell-outs like Pennsylvania’s one-term senator, Pat Toomey, we’re going to have to take a different battle position and defeat the package at a later stage.

The Senate today overcame the Paul-Cruz-Lee filibuster and voted to move to proceed to Harry Reid’s gun control bill (S. 649). Where Reid needed 60 votes, the tally was 68-31. Click here to see if your Senator sold you out by voting to “move to proceed” to the bill.

Republican defectors who voted anti-gun were: Alexander (TN), Ayotte (NH), Burr (NC), Chambliss (GA), Collins (ME), Corker (TN), Coburn (OK), Flake (AZ), Isakson (GA), McCain (AZ), Heller (NV), Hoeven (ND), Kirk (IL), Graham (SC), Toomey (PA) and Wicker (MS).

It is time to speak plainly for the good citizens and patriots of this nation who believe unbendingly in the Constitution of the United States of America. Though foreign governments may disarm their subjects, we will not go down that road. We will not disarm and see our freedoms stripped away. The lessons of history are numerous, clear, and bloody. A disarmed population inevitably becomes an enslaved population. A disarmed population is without power, reduced to childlike obedience to-and dependence upon – the organs of a parental state.

A disarmed population will lose-either piecemeal or in one sweeping act – those basic rights for which the citizens of America gave their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor over 200 years ago.

We will not disarm. The right to self-protection, the internal directive of every living creature, be it mouse or man, is the most fundamental right of all. It is a right that must be exercised against the predators of the streets, against the predators hidden within agencies of law enforcement, and against the most dangerous predators of all – those to be found in government, whose insidious grasping for power is relentless and never-ending.

There is a line from the movie Tombstone (one of my favorite westerns, by the way) in which Val Kilmer’s character, Doc Holliday, says to Wyatt Earp, “My hypocrisy knows no bounds.” (For the record, Kilmer should have won an Oscar for his performance of Doc Holliday in that movie.) Well, my friends, what Doc Holliday said in Tombstone could be said by virtually every prominent gun grabber in the country, because they are the biggest hypocrites the world has ever seen!

Paul Joseph Watson wrote a very enlightening report relative to the way that proponents of gun control are themselves heavily protected BY GUNS. Watson writes:

“The fact that Senator Dianne Feinstein’s gun control bill exempts government officials from the planned semi-auto assault weapons ban illustrates the astounding hypocrisy of gun control advocates who, while working feverishly to disarm the American people, own firearms and surround themselves with armed men.

“As the Washington Times reported last week, ‘Mrs. Feinstein’s measure would exempt more than 2,200 types of hunting and sporting rifles; guns manually operated by bolt, pump, lever or slide action; and WEAPONS USED BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.’ (Emphasis in original)

“Back in 1995, while carrying a concealed weapon for her own protection, Feinstein simultaneously called for Mr. and Mrs. America to ‘turn em all in.’

“Feinstein’s hypocrisy has been matched or surpassed by virtually every other public figure now pushing for the second amendment to be eviscerated.” 

Jesse Jackson cracks me up. Like most liberals who discuss the current gun debate, he wants to ban so-called assault weapons because so many people are being killed by handguns. This lack of honesty by all these anti-gun nuts isn’t working for them, but at least Jesse Jackson finally revealed what their real concerns are: Jackson stated on Fox News (2/3/13) that all these people who are unemployed and armed with these assault weapons is a toxic mix. I’ll give him that one! Jackson went on to say that these assault weapons in heavier calibers like .50 BMG, can bring down aircraft and even disable trains. I’ll give him that one too. These are true statements, but then they try to hide their actual motive behind gun death statistics, statistics of gun deaths overwhelmingly caused by people killing other people with handguns!

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 19: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) (C), speaks about high capacity magazines while flanked by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (R), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) (L) and other members of Congress during a news conference on December 19, 2012 in Washington, DC. Rep. McCarthy urged Congress to pass the McCarthy-DeGette bill banning assault magazines. Credit: Getty Images

House Democrats will waste no time pushing gun control legislation and plan to introduce a bill to ban the production of high-capacity magazines on the first day of the next congressional session, according to the office of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), who is co-sponsoring the bill.

The so-called “Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act” will seek to limit magazines, belts, drums, feed strips and “similar device[s]” to 10 rounds of ammunition. While people who own high-capacity magazines and devices would be able to keep them, they would be prohibited from buying others or transferring existing ones.

“The bill would also exempt retired and current law enforcement officials who use those devices for ‘purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off duty)’ as well as contractors who have been licensed to carry the devices for security purposes required by federal law,” The Huffington Post reports.

I didn’t want to post about this, because frankly, it is exhausting. I’ve been having this exact same argument for my entire adult life. It is not an exaggeration when I say that I know pretty much exactly every single thing an anti-gun person can say. I’ve heard it over and over, the same old tired stuff, trotted out every single time there is a tragedy on the news that can be milked. Yet, I got sucked in, and I’ve spent the last few days arguing with people who either mean well but are uninformed about gun laws and how guns actually work (who I don’t mind at all), or the willfully ignorant (who I do mind), or the obnoxiously stupid who are completely incapable of any critical thinking deeper than a Facebook meme (them, I can’t stand).

Today’s blog post is going to be aimed at the first group. I am going to try to go through everything I’ve heard over the last few days, and try to break it down from my perspective. My goal tonight is to write something that my regular readers will be able to share with their friends who may not be as familiar with how mass shootings or gun control laws work.

The Obama administration is making it easier for bureaucrats to take away guns without offering the accused any realistic due process. In a final rule published last week, the Justice Department granted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) authority to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in controlled-substance abuses.” That means government can grab firearms and other property from someone who has never been convicted or even charged with any crime.

It’s a dangerous extension of the civil-forfeiture doctrine, a surreal legal fiction in which the seized property — not a person — is put on trial. This allows prosecutors to dispense with pesky constitutional rights, which conveniently don’t apply to inanimate objects. In this looking-glass world, the owner is effectively guilty until proved innocent and has the burden of proving otherwise. Anyone falsely accused will never see his property again unless he succeeds in an expensive uphill legal battle.

Editor’s NOTE: Throughout the 11+ year history of the Federal Observer (Kettle Moraine Publications), it has been common for certain emails to make the international go-around every few months. The best – or worst – example is the pre-2000 email regarding Jane Fonda being named one of the 100 “Women of the Century” (the 20th century). Whoever receives this email continues to update it, depending on who the current (p)resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue happens to be. From Clinton to Bush Jr. and now Obama – the story never changes – just the idiocy of those who send it.

That which you are about to read has come around many times as well, and although I find it profound, from a “carrying” perspective – this is the first time that I have noticed the capitalization statement on the window of the bank. “Capital $45,000.00 in GOLD.”

How long ago was this photo taken, and what is the value of the gold today? Banking – the way it used to be… Our thanks goes out to Rolling Thunder for having sent it around again. (Ed.)

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” – Patrick Henry

Throughout July, the United Nations worked to hammer out the details of its Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). We and many other liberty-loving organizations oppose the document because it threatens the Second Amendment rights of American citizens. It’s cloaked in the feel-good language of preventing illicit arms trade, but its solution is, essentially, to register all guns with the UN. The good news is that the UN failed to adopt the treaty. The bad news is that’s not the end of it.

Action was indefinitely suspended after the United States and a few other countries asked for more time to consider it. However, when the UN General Assembly reconvenes in September, it could renew a negotiation schedule for the treaty, or it could declare it open for signature. The UK, France, Germany and 87 other nations argue that the treaty is ready, saying the “compromises” reached had “overwhelming support of the international community,” and they all but blamed Barack Obama and the U.S. for its failure.

NO_LIMIT_NIGGA

If you believe the majority of early news reports, George Zimmerman, an obvious racist, saw Trayvon Martin calmly walking through his neighborhood, confronted him and shot him dead in cold blood. Zimmerman then claimed he killed Trayvon Martin in self defense. You were also told the police were equally racist or incompetent or whatever, and gave Zimmerman the benefit of the doubt by not immediately arresting him.

Who could blame you for being led to believe this version, particularly after a major news network intentionally altered photographs and video of George Zimmerman’s injuries to make it appear Zimmerman was unscathed. Further, Trayvon Martin’s photo, taken when he was much younger, made it appear he was a child, rather than a well-built 17 year-old high school football player.

OUR SOCIETY has reached a pinnacle of self-expression and respect for individuality rare or unmatched in history. Our entire popular culture — from fashion magazines to the cinema — positively screams the matchless worth of the individual, and glories in eccentricity, nonconformity, independent judgment, and self-determination. This enthusiasm is reflected in the prevalent notion that helping someone entails increasing that person’s “self-esteem”; that if a person properly values himself, he will naturally be a happy, productive, and, in some inexplicable fashion, responsible member of society.

And yet, while people are encouraged to revel in their individuality and incalculable self-worth, the media and the law enforcement establishment continually advise us that, when confronted with the threat of lethal violence, we should not resist, but simply give the attacker what he wants. If the crime under consideration is rape, there is some notable waffling on this point, and the discussion quickly moves to how the woman can change her behavior to minimize the risk of rape, and the various ridiculous, non-lethal weapons she may acceptably carry, such as whistles, keys, mace or, that weapon which really sends shivers down a rapist’s spine, the portable cellular phone.

Now how can this be? How can a person who values himself so highly calmly accept the indignity of a criminal assault? How can one who believes that the essence of his dignity lies in his self-determination passively accept the forcible deprivation of that self-determination? How can he, quietly, with great dignity and poise, simply hand over the goods?

Led by feckless chief Justice John Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the ObamaCare law by a 5-to-4 decision, with Roberts voting with liberals Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan.

While the decision means many harmful things for the American public, the Second Amendment community remains greatly affected, GOA’s John Velleco was at the U.S. Supreme Court today to speak with media about how the ObamaCare decision negatively impacts gun owners. as the law requires Americans’ medical information to be culled and entered into a national database.

Centralizing these medical records will allow the FBI to troll a list of Americans for ailments such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to deny them their gun rights, in the same way that the Veterans Administration has already denied more than 150,000 veterans their right to bear arms.

I was at the mall today and while my wife shopped I went for my usual cup of coffee. As I passed a booth a young blonde woman stopped me. The following is the conversation that took place.

Me: Yes?

Salesgirl: Are you shopping for your wife?

Me: No, I’m going to get some coffee.

Salesgirl: Can I interest you in something for your wife?

They pledged to support and defend the Constitution, but the office of North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr says more than 100,000 U.S. military veterans may be being improperly denied one of the most fundamental rights they swore to protect.

Military veterans whose Veterans Affairs benefits are managed on their behalf by appointed fiduciary trustees are deemed “mentally defective” and reported to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a computerized database which prohibits them from purchasing firearms.

I just learned that Aaron Zelman, founder, guiding spirit, and chief cook and bottle washer of Jews for the Preservation of Firmarms Ownership died, more than a week ago.

I woke up this morning to a reader’s letter, passed along by BHM’s webmaster, Oliver. I could hardly believe it. Then I found the above-linked mini-obituary that sadly says so little of the man. There should be so much more! I hope there will soon be tributes all over the ‘Net.

Aaron and I worked together for seven years. I admired him and even though he could be crazy-making at times, he had one of the most creative minds I’ve ever encountered and he was unfailingly a gentleman and a gentle-spoken man. He created a unique niche in the gun-rights movement and I hope JPFO can continue without him.

Aaron was born with Marfan Syndrome, which can cause a host of related problems, some potentially fatal. I don’t know what he died from, but between that and his Type-A, hard-driving nature, it’s not surprising, though it’s shocking and tragic, that he died so young. Rather, I tell myself it shouldn’t be surprising. Yet Aaron was such a powerful personality, it’s hard to think of him being extinguished.

Published December 29, 2010, at Backwood Home

NOTE: It was my pleasure to have worked with Aaron in the late 1990′s while a continuing activist for 2nd Amendment rights. I was privileged to have had him not only as a guest on my radio program, but served for a short time as producer of his program as well. Aaron’s dedication to Truth will be missed. (JB)

President Obama has recently dropped his cagey and coy dissembling about his true “gun control” plans. In July of this year he once again made it completely clear that he was in favor of a renewed “assault weapon” ban.

Obama is no longer laying low on the issue.

Editor’s note: In his concurring statement in ‘McDonald v. Chicago’ — the Supreme Court case affirming that the Second Amendment ensures an individual right to own firearms — Justice Clarence Thomas discussed the history of gun-control laws, whose purpose was to stifle the rights of minorities and to prevent African-Americans from defending themselves against the likes of the Ku Klux Klan. Excerpts from Thomas’ opinion appear within.