February 2013 – Page 5 – A Geek With Guns

You Can’t Rely on the State for Protection

Almost two years ago I reported that firefighters in Alameda, California allowed a man to drown because they were pissy about budget cuts. Not surprisingly the family of the victim filed a lawsuit and even less surprisingly the court ruled that the firefighters couldn’t be held responsible because they have no duty to protect individuals:

The police and firefighters who remained on shore as Raymond Zack waded into San Francisco Bay on Memorial Day 2011 and succumbed to hypothermia were under no legal duty to help him, a judge ruled Monday.

Officers and firefighters also did not worsen the 52-year-old Zack’s condition by clearing Robert Crown Memorial State Beach or by preventing people from going to his aid, Judge George Hernandez said in a ruling that effectively tosses out a lawsuit that Zack’s family filed against the city of Alameda.

Granted I wouldn’t hold the firefighters responsible either, nobody should be coerced into taking an action they don’t wish to take. What I take offense to is that we’re forced to pay these bums and receive no guarantee of service in return. Effectively we have to pay them or we’ll be kidnapped and locked in a cage or have are wages garnished but if they fail to provide the service we’re paying for no punishment befalls them. The true tragedy of this story is the fact that the firefighters allowed the individual to drown because they didn’t receive as much protection money as they wanted. This is askin to mobsters breaking your kneecaps because you failed to pay them protection money.

Olympic Arms No Longer Selling to Employees of the State of New York

It’s too bad Olympic Arms is currently unable to meet current demand for their rifles because their recent announcement makes me want to buy something from them:

Press Release: Olympic Arms, Inc. Announces New York State Sales Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Olympic Arms is a staunch believer in and defender of the Constitution of the United States, and with special attention paid to the Bill of Rights that succinctly enumerates the security of our Divinely given Rights. One of those Rights is that to Keep and Bear Arms.

Legislation recently passed in the State of New York outlaws the AR15 and many other firearms, and will make it illegal for the good and free citizens of New York to own a large selection of legal and safe firearms and magazines. We feel as though the passage of this legislation exceeds the authority granted to the government of New York by its citizens, and violates the Constitution of the United States, ignoring such SCOTUS rulings as District of Columbia v. Heller – 554, U.S. 570 of 2008, McDonald v. Chicago – 561 U.S. 3025 of 2010, and specifically the case of United States v. Miller – 307 U.S. 174 of 1939.

Due the passing of this legislation, Olympic Arms would like to announce that the State of New York, any Law Enforcement Departments, Law Enforcement Officers, First Responders within the State of New York, or any New York State government entity or employee of such an entity – will no longer be served as customers.

In short, Olympic Arms will no longer be doing business with the State of New York or any governmental entity or employee of such governmental entity within the State of New York – henceforth and until such legislation is repealed, and an apology made to the good people of the State of New York and the American people.

If the leaders of the State of New York are willing to limit the right of the free and law abiding citizens of New York to arm themselves as they see fit under the Rights enumerate to all citizens of the United State through the Second Amendment, we feel as though the legislators and government entities within the State of New York should have to abide by the same restrictions.

This action has caused a division of the people into classes: Those the government deems valuable enough to protect with modern firearms, and those whose lives have been deemed as having less value, and whom the government has decided do not deserve the right to protect themselves with the same firearms. Olympic Arms will not support such behavior or policy against any citizen of this great nation.

Olympic Arms invites all firearms manufacturers, distributors and firearms dealers to join us in this action to refuse to do business with the State of New York. We must stand together, or we shall surely fall divided.

Sincerely,

Brian Schuetz
President
Olympic Arms, Inc.

Emphasis mine. Were every firearm manufacture to follow Olympic Arms’s example New York politicians would likely find themselves having to repeal their recently passed gun control legislation or face the realization that their primary expropriators, the police, would be unable to expand their expropriation operations. After all, the state would find it very difficult to steal from the general population if they didn’t have an arsenal of weapons to backup their threats. Imagine the headaches that would be faced by various police departments in New York if Glock and Smith and Wesson refused to do business with them.

For now I will make a note to purchase an Olympic Arms rifle when they catch up on production.

State of the Union

Obama gave his State of the Union address last night. For those who didn’t watch it and don’t feel like reading it let me offer a summary. Obama spent a good deal of his time stating that the United States will be killing less brown people Afghanistan but more in Syria and Yemen. He also said that the United States is looking at killing a lot of brown people in North Korea. In addition to killing people Obama also discussed the economy, education, and gun control, all subjects he knows nothing about.

To give a one line summary of the address: A lot of people overseas are going to die and the people living in the United States are going to get shafted.

Registration Leads to Confiscation

A recent move by politicians in California demonstrates why I will never register one of my firearms:

All semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines would be banned, all guns would be registered and no ammunition could be bought without a special permit in California under a sweeping list of bills rolled out Thursday by state Senate Democrats.

The 10-bill package constitutes the single largest gun control push in decades in the Golden State, which already boasts some of the nation’s strictest gun laws. It joins equally controversial proposals from Assembly Democrats that would regulate and tax ammunition sales and consider taking the state’s 166,000 registered assault weapons from their owners.

Gun control advocates often claim that they want to compromise. When those of us in the gun rights movement refuse they claim we’re unreasonable. Truth be told gun owners have compromised numerous times and gun control advocates always want more. Gun owners compromised when they registered machine guns, short barreled rifles, and short barrled shotguns after the National Firearms Act was passed. After that gun control advocates demanded that gun owners cease interstate sales of firearms unless such sales were done through federally licensed dealers and agree that certain individuals be prohibited from owning firearms. Once again gun owners compromised and abided by the Gun Control Act. Then gun control advocates came for more, they wanted a ban on the transfer of all new machine guns. This compromise came when gun owners submitted to the Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act. Still not satisfied, gun control advocates then demanded that all individuals wanting to buy firearms from federally licensed dealers submit to a background check, which gun owners compromised on by abiding to the terms passed into law by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.

From where I stand it appears that gun control advocates are the unreasonable ones. Gun owners have compromised with gun control advocates time and time again and time and time against gun control advocates demand more. It’s impossible to make agreements with individuals that continue to move the goal posts. Gun owners in California compromised with gun control advocates when they registered their “assault weapons” and now gun control advocates are trying to use that compromise to sieze those registered firearms. This is why I won’t compromise with gun control advocates in any way, shape, or form.

I’m Sure it’s a Coincidence

The New York Police Department (NYPD) release some information regarding their “stop and frisk” strategy. The data speaks volumes:

The NYPD last night released a report on its controversial stop-and-frisk procedure that breaks down by precinct — and by race — those who’ve been targeted.

The figures, all from 2011, show the precinct with the most stops by sheer numbers was Brooklyn’s 75th, which includes East New York and Cypress Hills.

More than 31,000 people were stopped, 97 percent of them either black or Hispanic.

Brooklyn’s 73rd Precinct, covering Brownsville, was the next highest, with 25,167 stops. About 98 percent involved minorities.

The 115th Precinct — which includes East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights in Queens — ranked third, with 18,156 stops. Nearly 93 percent of those involved minorities, the figures show.

The 40th Precinct in The Bronx, which covers Mott Haven and Melrose, racked up the next highest number — 17,690 — with 98.5 percent involving minorities.

And at No. 5 was the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where there were 17,566 stops, with 88.6 percent involving minorities.

Many people who live in the Northern United States have a holier than thou attitude when it comes to racism. They believe that the South has a monopoly on racism and that those of us who live north of the Mason-Dixon Line are far more enlightened. Obviously this isn’t the case. Racism is plenty rampent in the North, in fact it’s plenty rampent throughout the United States so-called justice system.

Don’t Drive a Truck in Los Angeles

Driving a truck in Los Angeles has become a real hazard:

David Perdue was on his way to sneak in some surfing before work Thursday morning when police flagged him down. They asked who he was and where he was headed, then sent him on his way.

Seconds later, Perdue’s attorney said, a Torrance police cruiser slammed into his pickup and officers opened fire; none of the bullets struck Perdue.

His pickup, police later explained, matched the description of the one belonging to Christopher Jordan Dorner — the ex-cop who has evaded authorities after allegedly killing three and wounding two more. But the pickups were different makes and colors. And Perdue looks nothing like Dorner: He’s several inches shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter. And Perdue is white; Dorner is black.

It’s a damned good thing that the police are unable to hit their target, otherwise Mr. Perdue would be a dead man now. What makes matters worse is that this is the second time the Los Angeles Police have unloaded on a random truck since their manhunt began. Perhaps the police believe the fastest way to convince Dorner to turn himself in is to injure or kill innocent individuals. That strategy may work if you’re trying to appeal to somebody’s humanity but recent developments have lead me to believe the Los Angeles Police Department disqualifies applicants who display any real humanity.

I think it goes without saying that the likelihood of these officers being prosecuted for assault, attempted murder, or even reckless endangerment hovers somewhere between zilch and nada. Yet these are the people gun control advocates believe to be responsible enough to carry firearms.

Joe Biden is an Arrogant Ass

I know, I’m not saying anything that the general public is unaware of but I really must state, for the record, that I think Joe Biden is an arrogant ass. Consider the following statement made by him:

During a press conference on gun safety in Philadelphia, Vice President Joe Biden said that any reports that suggest that he was trying to take weapons away from gun owners was a “bunch of malarkey.”

“I know that’s a word that you’ve never heard before, although it’s now in the dictionary,” Biden boasted.

He knows that malarkey is a word that I’ve never heard before? He could have fooled me. Needless to say the rest of what he said was equally idiotic.

A Proposal to Save the Australian Government Time and Money

I don’t claim myself to be a financial genius but I believe I can save the Australian government a lot of time and money:

Three American companies-Apple, Microsoft and Adobe-have been summoned by the Australian Parliament to explain why they charge higher prices Down Under than in other countries.

My proposal is to call of the hearing because I can provide the answer. The reason Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe charge what they charge is because those are the prices people are willing to pay. It’s as simple as that. If I manufacture a laptop, charge $2,000 for it, and enough people buy my laptop to turn me a profit I find acceptable then I know I’ve set the right price. Unfortunately the Australian government is unlike to find, “Because those are the prices the market will bear.” as an acceptable answer.

More People Submitted Notice to Carry at the Minnesota State Capitol

How can anybody be surprised by this news:

The number of people who have notified authorities they will be carrying loaded weapons in the state Capitol area has spiked since the DFL-controlled Legislature put gun-control on the agenda in the wake of the massacre of schoolchildren in Connecticut.

While there were 56 people filing such notifications all of last year, there have already been 148 notifications filed in the last month.

It is legal for a permit-holder to carry his or her loaded weapon into the state Capitol and most surrounding buildings — state Rep. Tony Cornish says he is armed every day, usually with a 40-caliber Glock with a high-capacity ammunition magazine. This past week, supporters of gun-owners’ rights have been a force at the nearby State Office Building, swamping committees that have been discussing background checks, bans on weapons and ammunition and other gun issues.

[…]

In all of 2012, when the pro-gun GOP held control of the Legislature, only 56 new notices were filed, according to a spokesman for the Department.

Based on this article it appears that the author is attempting to insinuate that the increase in notices is due solely to the Democratic Party taking control in the legislature. It’s not until the last paragraph that the real reason is mentioned:

Since Jan. 7, the day before DFLers took control and began talking about responding to the Connecticut shootings, there have been 148 notices filed. More More than 50 new notices were received from Feb. 1 to Feb. 6, which includes days the hearings were taking place in the State Office Building. That is nearly as much as were received all last year.

The sudden spike in notices wasn’t due to the Democrats taking control, it was due to the sudden push for gun control. People in the gun rights movement who carry everywhere and were planning to attend the hearing simply gave notice so they could do what they always do, legally carry a gun on their person. While the author notes that a mere 50 of the 148 notices this year were filed between February 1^st and 6^th he fails to note that the hearings were known about in January. Many people likely filed their notices as soon as the hearing dates were announced so they didn’t have to file their notices before entering the hearings.

In other words this story is really a non-story and required no more than one sentence to cover. What the author should have wrote was, “Gun rights activists who carry firearms everywhere carried their firearms when attending the hearings on gun control.”

One Ring to Bring Them All and in the Darkness Bind Them

Perhaps Ron Paul spent just a little too much time in the presence of the One Ring. The only politician I hold any respect for, the man who tirelessly advocates the free market, is apparently forsaking his free market advocacy and taking a rather statist move:

Ron Paul is feuding with his rabid fan base over the ownership of RonPaul.com. Paul wants it, but his fans own it. They’re willing to sell it to him… for a price Paul doesn’t agree with. So now he’s taken the dispute all the way to the United Nations.

[…]

The proprietors of RonPaul.com say they reached out to the retired politicain and offered him RonPaul.org as a free gift, but if he “insisted” on owning RonPaul.com then they would sell it to him. There was a catch, though. It would be part of a “liberty package” with the site’s 170,000 person mailing list for… wait for it… $250,000.

[…]

But Paul did not respond to their generous offer. Instead, he went to the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization to file a 13 page complaint asking for control of both domains. Oops! Paul’s opting for legal action is notable because he’s spoken out against the U.N. in the past. They generally aren’t very popular among libertarians. They aren’t so bad now that he wants control of his own name’s website.

Several people I routinely communicate with have said this is likely the work of a family member and not Ron Paul himself. While Ron has been screwed over by family members before the responsibility of calling off the dogs still lies with him. If he truly has no part to play in this attempted thievery he needs to get his ass in gear and make it know then call off the dogs or buy the domain name for the asking price. With that said, I find myself forced to speculate on whether or not Ron simply spent too much time in the presence of the One Ring. Given time the One Ring will corrupt even the most wholesome person, which is why I avoid the political system like the plague. It’s too easy to become comfortable with the state and even an steadfast advocate of liberty can find themselves justifying how the state can be “Used for good in this one instance.”

In the end it doesn’t matter if move is a clandestine maneuver being performed by a family member or the direct order of Ron Paul himself, it makes him look like a hypocrite and that is the fastest way to become discredited.