You’re Doing it Right – Page 41

The Versatility of Firearms

Guns are very versatile tools. Not only can they be used to hunt and defend yourself against an aggressor but they can be used to politely inform an uninvited guest that were mistaken in believing they had been invited:

Police say about 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 3, a man walked into Modern Nails at 2645 E. Second St. and asked a female employee if she wanted to buy some diamonds. The man walked toward the front desk area and the woman replied that she had no money to buy diamonds.

A witness said the man then reached into his coat pocket and began to take out a silver-colored pistol.

At that moment, a woman who was getting her nails done reached into her purse and got her own firearm. Police say the man never fully raised the gun and left the building after seeing the customer had her weapon out.

The mere presentation of a firearm can, and often does, end potentially violent situations before they manage to become violent. What would likely have been an armed robbery turned out to be nothing more than a foot note in a police report because the intended victims demonstrated an ability to greatly increase the cost of performing a violent crime. I do hope that the salon comped the woman’s nail job.

Firearms can also be used to save lives outside of defensive situations. Consider this story, which chronicles a creative man’s employment of a firearm to save a suffocating man’s life:

Jamaryon Middlebrooks was driving along North Emerson on a Sunday night when a frantic person waved him off the side of the road. Middlebrooks found a chaotic scene, as the tow truck driver went unconscious and witnesses described him turning blue.

“He wasn’t breathing. … They felt a pulse but that was about it,” Middlebrooks said.

Middlebrooks made a split-second decision, grabbing his handgun out of his truck and firing nine shots at the chain, eventually dislodging it. Bystanders rushed to help the driver.

Had Middlebrooks not been armed the tow truck driver would likely have suffocated. Fortunately Middlebrooks was armed and had enough gun to destroy the chain that was strangling the tow truck driver. Another life was saved because an armed individual had the means to properly intervene.

According to gun control advocates these stories could never happen. They claim that guns are only good for killing. Their belief is narrow minded because they fail to see that a gun is nothing more than a tool and, like any tool, it’s uses are limited only by the creativity of the individual using it.

The Last Domino Standing Against Legalized Firearm Carry Fell

Zerg593, via Twitter, informed me that Illinois, the last individual state to completely prohibit non-state entites from legally carrying firearms, now has 180 days to craft legislation to allow non-state entities to legally carry firearms:

In a huge win for gun-rights groups, a federal appeals court in Chicago Tuesday tossed the state’s ban on carrying concealed weapons and gave Illinois’ Legislature 180 days to craft a law legalizing concealed carry.

“The debate is over. We won. And there will be a statewide carry law in 2013,” said Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.

In a split opinion (see below), the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling in two cases downstate that upheld the state’s longstanding prohibition against carrying concealed weapons.

The court’s decision can be read here. This case further demonstrates the value of innovation as it was made possible by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the organization that decided to use the court system to advance gun rights instead of relying on political lobbying. I think it also demonstrates the general swing of public opinion from supporting gun control to either opposing it or holding no strong feelings regarding it. Something people often fail to consider is the value of public opinion. Even though judges are supposed to ignore public opinion and rule on the letter of the law their rulings are generally crafted in manners that at least attempt to appeal to public opinion. Consider the ruling in McDonald v. Chicago where the Supreme Court rules that Chicago’s ban on handguns was illegal under United States law but didn’t rule out “reasonable” restrictions on gun rights. Although the decision granted gun rights activists what they wanted it didn’t ignore the desires of gun control advocates. Public opinion is swinging in the direction of expanding gun rights but hasn’t reached a point where most people are willing to oppose all restrictions on gun rights.

Even though I don’t want to denigrate this victory I feel the need to point out two caveats. First Illinois could still maintain a prohibition against legal carry by carefully crafting legislation. Making carry permits $10,000 would effectively ensure only the wealthy enjoy the right to legally carry a firearm in Illinois and a restriction against recognizing any other state’s carry permits could make this ruling irrelevant for everybody living outside Illinois. Only time will tell and any such restrictions can be challenge in court if they arrise. Second the defense has 180 days to appeal the decision, which would take the case to the Supreme Court. This victory hasn’t been finalized yet but it’s certainly a move in the right direction and overall I believe it’s extremely positive. Illinois has been one of the most entrenched holdouts in the fight for gun rights and a hole has just been made in their armor. The trick will be turning that small hole into a massive one, which I believe will inevitably happen in time.

The Dawn of Simple Home Firearm Manufacturing

Individuals have been working on 3D printed AR-15 lowers for a while now and one of these printed lowers was finally tested:

Earlier this year, amateur gunsmiths got together to see if they could print out some parts that could be used to construct a fully functional AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Last weekend, a 3D-printed lower receiver was tested to failure shooting real bullets, and made it through six shots before suffering what you could legitimately call a catastrophic structural failure.

Some people are pointing at this test as a failure because the lower failed after six rounds but I see it as the dawn of a new age. Technology, as a rule, has a tendency to improve. Even though this first lower failed after six shots it proved that the concept is workable. Now that the concept has been proven viable it’s time to improve the technology. This may involve using different materials or making design changes to reinforce weak points. It is my hope that someday future generations will look back at today and say “Man, they had it hard back in the early 21^st century. Did you know that most people had to buy their firearms from dedicated manufacturers? It’s crazy! I’m glad we can just print up our firearms at home, going to the store would be such a hassle.” Decentralization makes suppression impossible. If anybody can simply print a firearm at home controlling firearms becomes impossible.

Krampus

My friend Dean alerted me to what is possibly the most metal mythology to surround the Christmas season. Behold, the Krampus:

Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish bad children during the Christmas season, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards nice ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his lair.

So this most metal of creatures goes around terrorizing wicked children and even goes so far as to kidnap the exceedingly wicked ones so it can drown them, eat them, or send them to Hell. In our society people worry that scary stories will cause psychological damage to young children. The ancient Germanic people had no such concerns and decided children should have the living shit scared out of them at least once a year. I leave you with this creature and one of the more bad ass representations of it:

Amazon Prime is a Great Deal

I subscribe to Amazon Prime because it ends up being cheaper overall than paying shipping on the individual orders I make throughout the year. What I didn’t realize is how good of a deal Prime really is:

While sending off something as a light as an 0.8-ounce pack of feathers doesn’t cost the company much, analysts say Amazon may lose hundreds of dollars covering the cost of lugging around heftier items, such as 149-pound sofabeds or 300-pound treadmills. Shoppers, on the other hand, can more than make up for that $79 Amazon Prime enrollment fee with a single purchase.

[…]

So what’s the heaviest item Amazon will ship for free? The company declined to say, but the makers of a 1,509-pound safe (shipping weight: 1,672 pounds) claim the prize for biggest bang for one’s 79 bucks. See Cannon Safe CO54 Commander Series Premium 90 Minute Fire Safe

$79.00 to ship a 1,672 pound safe is quite the deal:

“We charge customers around $700 to ship this safe, but when they buy it through Amazon they get it shipped for free,” says Pasquale Murena, marketing manager for Cannon Safe. “As a result, we get orders through Amazon every day.” In fact, Amazon will pick up the tab for shipping the safe even for non-Prime members, if they are willing to wait a few extra days for delivery. Like many items priced over $25, it qualifies for “Super Saver Shipping,” which usually take five to eight days to arrive.

If you’re in the market for a Canon gun safe you can’t go wrong with an Amazon Prime subscription apparently.

The Futility of Gun Control

I no longer fear gun control because I recognize its futility. Firearms are relatively simple mechanical devices and home manufacturing capabilities continue to advance. An example of this advancement in home fabrication are 3D printers. Using various materials 3D printers are able to build parts from the ground up. Another person has demonstrated that commonly available 3D printers can be used to manufacture AR-15 lowers. Since lowers are the registered part of the firearm and therefore the only part you need to buy from a federally licensed firearms dealer (unless you live in a state that allows private sales such as Minnesota) you can effectively build an AR-15 that the state has no knowledge of.

Gun control advocates can push for “assault weapon” bans all they want but their efforts are entirely wasted. “Assault weapons,” like any firearm, can be manufactured with readily available tools. Because of this the only way one can even begin to enforce a prohibition against any type of firearm is to perform periodic inspections of every building in the United States (and even that won’t be effective since manufacturers will merely create hidden rooms just as people did during Prohibition to bypass alcohol control laws.

Ron Paul’s Farewell Speech

Yesterday Ron Paul gave his farewell speech to Congress. It will likely be the last speech opposing war to ever be given in Congress so I highly urge you to read the transcript . His speech can best be summed up as the following: Knock off the violence, it’s not doing anything positive. In his speech Paul condemns state violence against foreign countries and people living in the United States. Sadly he is the last true advocate of free market economics and voluntaryism left in the federal government so we will likely hear no more than lip service paid to peace and economic freedom. Before closing Paul had some valuable advice:

The idealism of non-aggression and rejecting all offensive use of force should be tried. The idealism of government sanctioned violence has been abused throughout history and is the primary source of poverty and war. The theory of a society being based on individual freedom has been around for a long time. It’s time to take a bold step and actually permit it by advancing this cause, rather than taking a step backwards as some would like us to do.

[…]

The ultimate solution is not in the hands of the government.

The solution falls on each and every individual, with guidance from family, friends and community.

The #1 responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow. This is of greater importance than working on changing the government; that is secondary to promoting a virtuous society. If we can achieve this, then the government will change.

Steering this country around can only be achieved by changing the hearts and minds of the individuals living here. That means getting a population that consists heavily of violent individuals who support the use of coercive means to force others to comply with their desires to turn over a new leaf. As you can see it’s an insurmountable tasks and one that is unlikely to be accomplished anytime soon. Still the best way of achieving a non-aggressive society is to live a non-aggressive lifestyle. This doesn’t mean opposing self-defense but opposing the initiation of force.

I’m sad to see Paul leaving but am happy to know he escaped the political system with his immoral soul intact. Americans have spoken and they have indicated a desire to live in a violent redistributive society where rights are mere whims of government officials. People want the wars, they want money taken from others and given to themselves, and they want only the rights they approve to be protected. So long as public opinion continues to support the status quo there is no chance of liberty thriving in this country. Those of us that support liberty must do our best to lead by example in the hope that others will follow in our footsteps. Perhaps some day people will be ready for a society built on non-aggression but that day isn’t today.

I want to thank Ron Paul for promoting non-aggressive ideals in the United States. His contribution to liberty is incalculable as noted by the massive growth of the liberty movement since his presidential bid in 2008.

Buying Debt Just to Forgive It

I feel almost alone in the realm of libertarian bloggers who doesn’t despise everything the Occupy movement does. Many participants in Occupy are hardcore socialists but even hardcore socialists come up with good ideas. One of the ideas recently spawned from the Occupy movement is the Rolling Jubilee project, which is looking to buy up debt just to forgive it:

The Rolling Jubilee project is seeking donations to help it buy-up distressed debts, including student loans and outstanding medical bills, and then wipe the slate clean by writing them off.

Individuals or companies can buy distressed debt from lenders at knock-down prices if it the borrower is in default or behind with payments and are then free to do with it as they see fit, including cancelling it free of charge.

As a test run the group spent $500 on distressed debt, buying $14,000 worth of outstanding loans and pardoning the debtors. They are now looking to expand their experiment nationwide and are asking people to donate money to the cause.

I really like this project because it stands to erase much of the debt currently facing individuals voluntarily. No funds from tax victims is required, no money has to be printed, and no coercion has to be used. Instead individuals can voluntarily donate money to the cause of helping people currently facing crushing debt.

Another interesting potential of this project is the creation of a market for distressed debt relief. One of my friends mentioned that this project could cause the price of distressed debt to increase as demand by the Rolling Jubilee project increased. If that happened the project would effectively be self-defeating because it would raise the cost of buying distressed debt higher than its donors could afford. I see another potential outcome, it could decrease the cost of distressed debt. As a general rule a creditor would rather receive something from one of their debitors than nothing. Losing $90,000 is better than losing $100,000 after all. Because of this it’s possible that creditors could enter a bidding war with one another for Rolling Jubilee’s money. Creditors could try to undercut one another in the hopes that the Rolling Jubilee project will buy their debt. Instead of getting nothing from their debitors creditors could get a portion of what they loaned.

It’ll be interesting to watch if this project gets off of the ground.

The Importance of Economic Education

Ron Paul still remains one of the few politicians that I respect. He was a great recruiter to the liberty movement and got liberty loving individuals motivated to help change this country. Ultimately he encourages individuals to participate in the political process in an attempt to hijack the Republican Party and turn it into a free market anti-war organization. Needless to say it would seem that the political process is his tool of choice for bringing liberty to the United States but during the 30^th anniversary celebration of the Ludwig von Mises Institute he went on record saying that economic education is more important than any political action:

If you’ve read any of Paul’s books you’ve likely noticed that he often references the likes of Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. Paul’s knowledge and philosophy stem from reading and comprehending the great minds of libertarianism, which were also the great minds of, what is now referred to as, Austrian economics. Understanding Austrian economics is understanding libertarianism. Reading material by Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and the other big names of Austrian economics will explain why voluntary interactions are more beneficial and coercive force.

Spreading liberty can be done far more effectively through economic education than political action. Economic education teaches why liberty is important and allows individuals to internalize those lessons whereas political action requires participants not already educated in the school of liberty to mindlessly follow orders from figures of authority.

Playing the Gun Control Advocate’s Game Against Them

Via Uncle I came across another story that shows that gun control advocates don’t enjoy it when others playing their game:

As Cleveland cops exchanged gift cards and sports tickets for guns Saturday, they watched as a cadre of young men stood nearby and offered cash for weapons.

[…]

“Isn’t that something?,” said Police Chief Michael McGrath who was at the gun buyback, outside Public Safety Central at East 21st Street and Payne Avenue. “Here we’re trying to save lives and they’re right in our face, trying to buy guns cheap so they can sell them at a profit.”

You have to love McGrath’s double-standard. When the police buy firearms from individuals they’re “trying to save lives” but when private individuals buy guns form other individuals they’re somehow performing a malicious act. This double-standard is especially notable when you read the caption under the picture:

On Saturday police bought back 298 handguns, which will be melted in a furnace at steel company ArcelorMittal.

The police are potentially disposing of crime evidence, which isn’t going to save anybody’s life. Meanwhile the private individuals may resell the firearms they acquired to individuals in need of effective self-defense tools. Who knows, they may even sell those firearms are an incredibly cheap price. That could help poor individuals in need of a firearm, which would certainly have the potential to save lives.