Rebane's Ruminations
January 2013
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George Rebane

Do you notice that on all the media (Fox included) it’s a big no-no to piss off Muslims?  Now with all the action going on in Mali, Obama’s lie about Al Qaeda being on the ropes is exposed, and the reporters are again having to talk about “the war on terror” a lot.  But when they get down to reporting against whom the war is fought, they get all mushy and wind up calling them “Islamic militants”.  That’s it, there are no other enemies in that misnamed conflict called “the war on terror”, except the ragheads who keep killing innocent civilians by the thousands wherever and whenever they can do it.  But no one dare report that we are fighting ‘Islamic terrorists’, that’s a big no-no.  It is politically very incorrect to juxtapose Islam and terrorism, or to call them bad names like ragheads.  Those folks are only militants, you know, just like people all over who happen to be 'militating' for what’s good and right.

And there’s more.  The WH spin is that Al Qaeda is just “shifting its focus” to north Africa, as opposed to expanding its operations from the middle East.  I don’t know, given all the stuff that’s going on and growing in Afghanistan as we prepare for our victorious exit, it sure looks like more than a little shift of focus is going on.  After all they are now operating in two theaters with boots on the ground and guns in hand, and kidnapping Americans.  Oh well, I hope everyone here knows who is fighting whom for what.

Wonder what Hillary will say about Benghazi on 23 January?  Maybe it will be the Richard Pryor confession about when he screwed up heating his heroin or something – ‘Best we can tell, the ambassador and his aides were in the compound getting ready for bed.  They decided to have some milk and cookies in the kitchen before turning in.  And when one of them dunked a cookie into his glass of milk, suddenly the whole thing blew up.  Then a lot of people showed up.  It was terrible.  We really don’t know much more than that.’

Oh yes, the gun banners have gained another public relations advance.  Recall that they went from wanting to ban guns to just ‘controlling’ them.  Well, after Newtown, outlets like National Propaganda Radio have been reporting on Joe Biden meeting with all kinds different groups in order to fashion his recommendations that the President received this week.  So here’s the new look for those who really don’t like guns in civilian hands, they’re now called the ‘gun safety groups’.  Yep, the whole 2nd Amendment debate will be divided into folks belonging to the ‘gun rights’ groups opposing the ‘gun safety’ groups.  Now which of you out there are against gun safety?

Remember all that blather for months and years about not raising taxes on the middle class.  Bygones.  The guy needed to get re-elected, and dammit he had to promise something, don’t you see?  We now find out that taxes are going up for as long as this bunch is in Washington, and don’t you forget it.  Why?  Because that is the way we’re going to get the economy going again and reduce the deficits.  They’ve looked at the whole mess from every which way, and that’s clearly the only solution that will work.  Besides, you didn’t really think he wasn’t going to raise taxes on everyone who still pays them.  After all, there aren’t that many of us suckers left out there – it’s either us or who?

Finally, we recall how responsive this White House was going to be to the people's inputs?  You know, using the internet and all that.  All it would take was 5,000 of you good folks out there signing a petition about some concern, then this White House would jump on the case and provide an answer.  Well, that was a bit low, lotta petitions – how about 10,000?  No, nope, that was still too many petitions.  Let’s make that 25,000.  Whoa! Now that didn’t work; how about we bump it to 50,000 little siggies required on a single petition.  Well hell! Whatsamatta you out there, no one got a job or nothin’, signing petitions alla time!!  Today the WH asked ‘how’s a cool 100,000 sound before we even peek into our inbox?’  I guess the real message is that all such bets are off until 2016 when Hillary can have a go at it.  In the meantime you all can shove your ‘vox populi’ up where the sun don’t shine.

[18jan13 update]  I was waiting for John R Lott Jr to weigh in on the current gun ban imbroglio.  Lott has been the leading researcher on gun laws, and has published extensively on the subject.  In the 18jan13 WSJ he writes ‘The Facts About Assault Weapons and Crime’.  It’s worth a read, especially by those enthralled with all the ‘benefits’ to the safety of school children promised by Barack and Dianne when their next gun bans go into effect.  This is bullpucky season in spades, and it might help to throw in a fact or two on the matter, even if they are inconvenient.

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194 responses to “Ruminations – 17jan13 (updated 18jan13)”

  1. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Gun Safety is just the same as Pro Life, get used to it. Co-opting names is part of the game. Big Oil owns http://www.anwr.org, which you might think would belong to the Sierra Club.
    It just takes one signature on a $100,000 check to get any politicians attention.

    Like

  2. George Rebane Avatar

    DougK 1007am – Well maybe. The Pro Life guys are pro life. But the Gun Safety people are all for banning civilian firearms. Listening to them, they don’t know jack about firearms, let alone anything about the safe use of such things. But they do know how to pick a name that impresses those equally ignorant.

    Like

  3. Videodrone Avatar
    Videodrone

    having read several different English translations of the Koran I understand the concept of Al-taqiyya – to which my response is lan astaslem (I will not surrender/I will not submit)
    Hillery! I expect will do a repeat performance regarding the “lost FBI records & Rose law firm billing records” as in “I don’t recall”
    “Assault rifle” Please define
    hint, I have a Mini-14 and Mini-30 – with the wood stocks they are “OK” (or were under the Clinton “Assault weapon ban”) but put them in a different stock (remove one screw) either a “Bullpup” wood stock or the really scary black stock with a pistol grip and Picatinny rails – and my response to those that think I should not have them is ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

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  4. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    They do apparently concentrate on safety in regards coping with people who are out of control and have gained access to firearms. You have a limited view of what “gun safety” entails. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2013/01/10/fareed-zakaria-begs-courage-lawmakers-enact-gun-control

    Like

  5. Douglas Keachie Avatar

    Obviously the Lanza mom understood ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ to mean, “here, it’s yours, you crazy son of abitch.”

    Like

  6. Gregory Avatar

    The NRA is the oldest and largest gun safety organization in the country. I might still be a member if I wasn’t so tired of getting Republican mailers, and pissed that the NRA wouldn’t give Libertarian candidates on the ballot even a grudging approval despite being more solidly for the 2nd amendment than Republicans in general, and that’s without getting any NRA money.
    While there was a fully automatic, select fire Mini-14 Ruger (in other words, a bona fide “assault rifle”) made for the military (I think the Navy bought some) with a pistol grip folding stock, no civilian Mini-14 has ever been deemed an “assault weapon”, a wonderfully phony classification dreamed up by the Handgun Control/Brady Center Bunch, that helped along the old DiFi “Assault Weapons Ban”. Every news story about “Assault Weapons” showed automatic rates of fire that no AR-15 could match because the human trigger finger just can’t pull through at a 500Hz rate. It was sold to the public with false advertising, but the Congress let it sunset when it became clear it did nothing to curb crime.
    Now we have a fresh mental health tragedy and the same ineffective lawful gun owner controls being sold by purely emotional appeals. “Let no crisis go to waste.”

    Like

  7. Videodrone Avatar
    Videodrone

    Ah, no Doug – he shot his mother in cold blood and stole the weapons
    and I should listen to a known Plagiarizer – why?

    Like

  8. Ken Jones Avatar
    Ken Jones

    George wrote: “But the Gun Safety people are all for banning civilian firearms.”
    Hardly George, nice wide brush you paint with. I consider myself a gun safety person and I have no desire in banning civilian firearms. There may be some firearms I believe belong to the military and not in a home. Distinct difference. And I know many gun safety people that feel the same way. But I do promote the current conversation and some controls. Saying we are all for banning firearms creates division and doesn’t promote a rational conversation.

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  9. Videodrone Avatar
    Videodrone

    again Ken,
    please tell me the differentiating characteristics between your “approved” firearms and those that only should be military
    and “Scary looking” does not qualify

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  10. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    His mom didn’t keep them locked up. She was asleep when he shot her. Until proven otherwise, she left them out where he could just walk off with them. He lived in the same house. Are you saying he plagiarized her guns? What’s that supposed to mean?

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  11. Gregory Avatar

    “There may be some firearms I believe belong to the military and not in a home.”
    KJ, what 21st century military force issues the semiautomatic civilian versions of assault rifles to their troops?
    They aren’t military weapons, but even if they were, it was the SCOTUS in US v. Miller, judging the National Firearms Act, that opined that the 2nd might ONLY cover weapons that might be ‘usable in a well regulated militia’. Miller was caught with a sawed off shotgun, not used in the military at the time but I understand US troops valued them for the ugly and up close clearing out underground Viet Cong facilities in the ’60’s and 70’s.

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  12. George Rebane Avatar

    KenJ 145pm – If I err on describing the Gun Safety people, I err on the margins where it appears that you reside. Good for you.

    Like

  13. Videodrone Avatar
    Videodrone

    Doug, as far as how she stored her weapons that was her decision (agreed, it was not a good decision)
    the plagiarizer is Fareed – or did you miss that?

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  14. Videodrone Avatar
    Videodrone

    gun safety in 3 easy steps
    1 every firearm is loaded
    2 do not point the business end at anything you are not prepared to destroy
    3 keep your finger off the trigger until you have acquired your target
    everything else is detail

    Like

  15. TheMikeyMcD Avatar
    TheMikeyMcD

    The 2nd Amendment insures that citizens can protect themselves from Government (foreign and domestic) using force/guns. It stands to reason that the 2nd Amendment permits (encourages) individuals to hold the same level of weaponry as the government (this includes guns, tanks, etc).

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  16. Gregory Avatar

    Mikey, I think it’s fairly well accepted that it wouldn’t cover tanks, howitzers, aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, etc., but rather those weapons a member of the organized or unorganized militia might be expected to show up with. That said, IIRC it was a small cannon held in common that the British were marching to seize when the shooting started in 1775.

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  17. Gregory Avatar

    “His mom didn’t keep them locked up.”
    We don’t know how she had them stored, it hasn’t been released. A motivated smart young man with a hacksaw after mom went to sleep might have gotten through a reasonable storage. The point is, we don’t know.
    Not that not knowing will stop the usual suspects from making stuff up.

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  18. Ken Jones Avatar
    Ken Jones

    Never stated scary looking Videodrone. That is your assumption and it is wrong. I believe a fully automatic machine gun belongs in our military not in our homes. I know I am in the minority on this site. After reading some of these replies I am glad I am in the minority. And this premise we could own tanks could also be used to assume we could own grenades, and hell what about a dirty bomb too? Just where the hell do you draw the line?

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  19. Gregory Avatar

    “I believe a fully automatic machine gun belongs in our military not in our homes.”
    These have not been available to civilians in California since the ’30’s. Period.
    So what are you talking about, Ken?

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  20. George Rebane Avatar

    KenJ 331pm – I didn’t know that the majority of RR readers are promoters of machine guns in the home. Talk about par force.

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  21. Gregory Avatar

    “When asked if Connecticut state police believe Mrs. Lanza handled her guns responsibly, spokesman Lt. Paul Vance paused for a moment behind his cluttered desk at state police headquarters and cryptically told The Daily Beast, “I think you’ll be surprised” to learn the truth about that once the final police report is released.”
    Daily Beast, 7 Jan 2013
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/07/did-nancy-lanza-handle-her-guns-responsibly-you-ll-be-surprised-police-spokesman-says.html

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  22. Videodrone Avatar
    Videodrone

    As Gregory points out full automatic have been banned in CA for a very long time, even in the states that allow private ownership you have to have the right Federal paperwork and there is a $200 tax on any transfer (on the other hand some of the said states allow private ownership of some serious hardware – see the gun shows on Discovery)
    what I’m attempting to point out is that there is no functional difference between a mini 14 “Ranch Rifle” with a traditional wood stock (which under the Assault Weapons ban was legal)
    and by simply field striping (which you do when you clean it) and place it in a black pistol grip stock became a banned rifle – no other changes, just the handle so yes the criteria was “scary looking”

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  23. Gregory Avatar

    And KJ, the past and hopefully not in our future DiFi “Assault Weapons Ban”, and the new New York laws banning “assault weapons” also have nothing to do with “fully automatic machine guns”.
    Because of the words you use, many here obviously think you’ve been confused by the intentional blurring of terms that the promoters of these bans have used to get political traction. Have you?

    Like

  24. Joe Koyote Avatar
    Joe Koyote

    RE: Islamic terrorism
    In my lifetime, first it was the Red Chinese (Korea), then the Soviets (cold war), then the commies in general (Vietnam), then ethnic cleansing, drug cartels and Sandinistas, and now Islamic Terrorists. There always seems to be some enemy of the state lurking out there to take away our wide screen TVs. Ragheads, sand niggers, gooks, chinks; depersonalizing an enemy makes it easier to dismiss their ideas and their lives. No one is born a racist. No one is born Methodist. No one is born a capitalist or a communist. All of how we see the world and its good guys and bad guys we are taught. One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. So who is really right? The enemy thinks they are equally justified in their actions as we do.
    I know someone who works for a defense contractor in the Pentagon. The group this person works with conjures up various terrorist WMD attack scenarios in US cities and then creates various response scenarios. I asked this person point blank, “Is there a global terrorist network?” Answer: No.. there are hundreds of small independent disjointed terrorist groups throughout the world but very few communicate or are capable of large scale attacks. What we do have are numerous paranoid people at the top of our military who go off at the slightest provocation and overreact, like the shoe bomber fiasco.
    It is well documented that our military incursions into the middle east have created far more Islamic terrorists than we have subdued. Has anyone considered the terror to children of having drones flying over your head, all the time knowing it could instantly kill you by mistake? They see the Great Satan and we see terrorists..it really is all about what side of the coin you grew up looking at. That is the pity of war, both sides think they are right and the enemy is evil. It starts with the truth.. if we can only find it.

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  25. Ken Jones Avatar
    Ken Jones

    I never spoke specific to CA and I am fully aware that you can’t have a machine gun in CA. Way too much projecting by you guys.
    So Greg what I am talking about is a national issue of guns, and I cited a machine gun. Is that too hard to follow?
    And George just who is promoting machine guns? I simply pointed out that I believe a machine gun is a weapon for the military not for a home. Didn’t accuse nor imply that your readers were advocates of machine guns in private homes, but from some of the responses this may be the case.
    Seems pretty easy to follow.

    Like

  26. Gregory Avatar

    “So Greg what I am talking about is a national issue of guns, and I cited a machine gun. Is that too hard to follow?”
    Yes, because machine guns aren’t in any fashion the current “national issue of guns” and its mention seems to me to either be either evidence of a great misunderstanding by you, or a red herring intending to sidetrack a conversation.
    So, if you know California hasn’t EVER allowed real assault rifles to be sold to civilians, and the current “national issue” as discussed by Obama and Gov. Cuomo, and that the “assault weapons bans” have nothing to do with “machine guns”, why did you even bring them up?

    Like

  27. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    As I have pointed out before, perhaps not here, having a fully automatic weapon may be a poor choice, if you are trying to kill as many unarmed children in as short as time as possible.
    My Canon 7D (digital camera) as 10 second dely, 2 second delay, single shot, slow multiples, and fast multiples. I almost never use the fast multiples. The first place shot (Nevada County Fair, photojournalism, pro division) of the Amgen racers going by Grace Lutheran Church, was done on single shot. It was the best shot out of seven, in the approximately 10 seconds it took the entire crowd to go by. You get better precision with single shots.
    The toy assault rifles, in semi auto mode, are ideal for taking down many in a short time, without running out of ammo and having to slap in another clip. This reduces the number of clips that need to be carried. My guess would be the hand guns were in a backpack, along with additional clips, plus a few clips in the pockets.
    I suspect that most of the damage was done with the AR-15, which uses the .223 bore bullet with 10 times the kinetic energy of the .22LR Christmas Eve some idiots on the ridge out on Bear Trap Springs Road riddled two trees with these rounds, with the snowfall the next day, by Dec 26 the trees had toppled. Those of us sleuthing the cases recover .223 shell casings. Try bringing down such a tree with a .22LR.

    It really doesn’t matter what you call them, the entire estate of Lanza’s mom should be divided up among the surviving parents, and that should become the law of the land, so that lawyers don’t get rich on protracted proceedings, and so that others will think twice about how well secured their weapons are.

    Like

  28. George Rebane Avatar

    JoeK 522pm – “depersonalizing the enemy”. If you ever were in the military, you have forgotten what you learned. When human beings are designated as ‘T371’ or ‘Romeo Charlie 14’ icons on a combat system display, they are depersonalized into video game agents. When they are designated as ‘japs’, ‘krauts’, ‘gooks’, ‘slopes’, ‘ragheads’, …, it gets very up close and personal – you know you are fighting a hated human being.
    Now is it correct to hate the human being that seeks to kill you and yours? That kind of philosophizing and truth seeking is a totally different question that you don’t want to ask during the heat of battle. As a combatant, you hope that those issues have been resolved, and you can concentrate on your job of being an efficient killer. Of course, it’s never that cut and tried, especially in the American military. But we know that our historical enemies have overcome such soul searching, and made us suffer tremendously even with our superior weapons and logistics.
    http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2010/02/of-ragheads-and-racism.html
    And apparently you also overlooked how your 331pm of “I know I am in the minority on this site. After reading some of these replies I am glad I am in the minority.” was interpreted. If you were in the minority on the question, it doesn’t take three digits to figure out that the others were in the majority. Perhaps you have a communications problem.

    Like

  29. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    I suspect that if the other side IS shooting back, the full auto makes good sense, especially if you have several guys close together, the fire can be near continuous, as three are reclipping and one is firing. Even so, the footage I’ve seeen from Afghanistan shows the soldiers doing short bursts.
    We don’t know for sure it was an AR-15 at Bear Trap Springs, but the neighbors described it as near continuous fire, hundreds of rounds, and here’s a shell casing:

    Like

  30. George Rebane Avatar

    For the more careful reader – a clip is a receptacle for cartridges that fits into a weapon which has a mechanism to extract the cartridges from the clip and feed them into the chamber. A clip has no stored energy for feeding/expelling the cartridges. The last American semi-auto to be clip fed is the M-1 Garand rifle introduced during WW2. On the other hand, a magazine feeds cartridges by means of an expanding spring that is compressed when the magazine is loaded. All semi-auto handguns and rifles today are magazine fed.
    The layman continues to find this a difficult notion, and easily confuses the two distinct mechanisms when attempting to discuss guns. The difference is important because clips hold only very few rounds – the Garand’s clip holds eight. All of today’s 223 caliber and 5.56mm semi-auto rifles are magazine fed.

    Like

  31. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    And Greg, if it can be hack-sawed, or reciprocating sawed, or frozen and hammered, or Volvo jacked, or lifted and moved by two people it is not secured. Safes bolted to concrete floors works pretty well.
    This would be adequate:
    [outsized photo deleted in favor of a smaller one down below. gjr]

    Like

  32. George Rebane Avatar

    DougK 643pm – Do us a favor with your profuse imagery in these comments. Just post them on your own site, and put a link into your comment here so that those interested can see them. The size of the above picture is obscene, they can be shrunk you know. Thanks.

    Like

  33. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    Sorry, wasn’t watching, you can delete it and I’ll upload a more respectful size, but perhaps the point has been made. As far as the NRA emasculating the ATF, here’s the link for that

    The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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  34. Gregory Avatar

    “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed but they’d better have a bank vault to store them in or we’ll toss their ass in jail if anyone steals them”.
    No, that isn’t the 2nd Amendment. Sorry, Keach.
    George, a kibitz… it’s M1 Garand, not M-1, and while it was the last service rifle to have an “en bloc clip” mechanism, “stripper clips” holding 10 5.56 cartridges have been issued to facilitate reloading M16 magazines quickly and are widely available.

    Like

  35. Walt Avatar

    LOL Dougy,, What was the REAL size of that sapling? What?,, about 3 inches at best? The size of the pine needles in comparison is a dead giveaway. ( Caution,,, Images in Dougy’s photos are vastly smaller than they seem)
    I have seen better Sasquatch ” evidence”.
    ” hundreds of rounds” ? Really?? I call that just an hour or two at the range.
    Just think what a .308 would do to that twig.
    The next item on my purchase list on the AR platform is a SOCOM .468
    That will be my “truck stopper”. But the main reason will be for HUNTING.
    Wild hogs are getting real bad down here, and these make the perfect tool for the job. ( since you believe your so smart, figure out just why that is.)
    And they say “these” guns are no good for hunting.
    BTW,, VP Joe, in his “meeting” with the NRA, he gave them all of 5 minutes
    to give their side of the argument. That’s right up there with,,” Sure…. WE will give you a fair trial,,, Ya’ got 5 minutes to make your case,, before we hang ya’.

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  36. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    I will bet $10,000 against Walt’s $100 dollars that the tree in question is at least 10 inches or larger in diameter. It’s still out there, about a mile down from Cruzon Grade, at the hairpin turn, on the inside of the turn. Walt, I don’t want to take candy from a baby, so make the drive before accepting my offer. When I get a chance to measure it precisely,, I’ll up the ante to #100,000. Personal rough guess is 15 to 18 inches in diameter.
    Corporations were never persons in the Constitution, they are now. The 2nd can be reinterpreted as well.

    Like

  37. Ken Jones Avatar
    Ken Jones

    Greg I brought up a machine gun as a weapon I believe belongs in the military not in the home. It is an example only. I think that is pretty clear. Doesn’t matter if it is or is not part of our “conversation”, it is my example only. No red herring no attempt to sidetrack. This is just an example of a weapon I feel that fully illustrates my contention on some weapons being intended for our military and not our homes.
    A US citizen can own a machine gun in 41 of our 50 states. I think that 80% is a good example of where we need to rethink gun laws.

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  38. George Rebane Avatar

    re KenJ 1104am – Since machine guns are not being used in crimes, but could be used against an oppressive state, why would anyone want to arbitrarily pick such a weapon and outlaw it? Were there numbers to support such fears, the conversation would be different.

    Like

  39. Walt Avatar

    Then look at the possible lives that might have been saved by someone.
    That three could have fallen on someone in the future. Maybe a car ( or a hovercraft by that time) may have slid into that vary same tree and killed someone. Maybe a future heavy snow load would break the top out and go through a car roof just as it passes under.( we hear of that exact thing happening now and then) HAY!,, Ya’ never know.
    Now your back to the Corp. crap?
    “The 2nd can be reinterpreted as well.”,,,, LOL!! Your one of those,” Yaa,, never mind the exact, clear text words they wrote down. “This” is what they “really” meant to say.” ( Progressive revisionism at it’s best) LIB teachers were/are real good at that when messing with young impressionable minds in the classroom.

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  40. Walt Avatar

    Dougy,, I have yet to find a law on the books about “arborside” by gunfire.
    No crime here. Better get Al Gore on the case. BTW,, Did you police the brass? Or did you leave them on the ground after taking the incriminating photos?
    If so, what was the shell count? I’m sure someone would take those off your hands. There are PLENTY of people here that reload.

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  41. Douglas Keachie Avatar
    Douglas Keachie

    Destruction of government property comes to mind, Waltzie, and BTW, the prettier shot was of the smaller tree, which was about 6 inches or more. Trees on Nat’l Forest land, as was the sign (not shown). Three inches? nope, most of brass already picked up and turned into sheriff by neighbors the day after, I got there a week later, looking for a friend’s lost dog.

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  42. Ken Jones Avatar
    Ken Jones

    George
    Again I am citing an example:
    Authorities have witnessed the wrath of machine guns in the wrong hands. In an especially infamous 1997 attempt to rob a bank in North Hollywood, Calif., two men in full body armor sprayed machine gun fire at police, using illegal machine guns. Illegal because they are not allowed in CA.
    True not much crime with a machine gun, but the Risk Impact/Probability would make this a valid discussion.

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  43. George Rebane Avatar

    KenJ 1143am – Excellent. Then we should be even more ready to talk of saving lives from dangers that far outweigh the hoped for statistics to be gained from more gun control/confiscation.
    Are we still talking about how to maximize lives saved from known and demonstrated dangers? If so, then the kinds of gun control remedies offered don’t much bear on the problem. Or is there another agenda at work here?

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  44. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    The only people killed in North Hollywood were the perps if I am recalling correctly. So their machine gun use backfired.
    Using Jones logic I would suggest the people should no longer fly in a plane or drive a buggy. The Union was full of stories a hundred years-plus ago about carriage wrecks caused by runaway horses.

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  45. Walt Avatar

    Better start on that ” CHAINSAW BAN” OHHHH!!!!! The humanity!!!!
    You do realize “those” are legal in arias that contain trees.
    Yup,, the cops are going to get right on that. The perp that did this dastardly deed is at the top of their to do list over and above all the other crimes in the county. Have you contacted Eric Holder yet? Lisa Jackson no longer runs the EPA ( she beat feet when she got caught in a real fat NO NO,, so she’s no help)
    And one more thing… Your not big on following rules and regs yourself. ( as we all know)Those are for ” other people “. Just like Jackson Lee.

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  46. Ryan Mount Avatar

    Corporations were never persons in the Constitution, they are now. The 2nd can be reinterpreted as well.
    [face palm]
    It’s not about reinterpreting, it’s about amending, which we are free to do at any time as often as we want. It’s a reasonable and sane way to handle our affairs and keeps whimsical trends out of our government, for the most part. Why not just amend it? What is the anti-gun crowd afraid of?
    Anyhow, since you brought it up, the only people who say “corporations are people” are people who haven’t read the judgements. More propaganda.
    Now I don’t particularly like the might of a large company, especially those in crony relationships with our government, manipulating the system for their benefit, but the this whole “Corporations is people” is the wrong interpretation if we read the actual Citizen’s United arguments and the subsequent decisions. But that would require actual reading instead of repeating Internet stories. Reading of BOTH (they got two! And the government screwed up twice! Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.) arguments before the court. It was Ginsberg who evoked this “corporations as citizens” language. Which, BTW, caught everyone off guard, including the Solicitor General.
    What the majority found, was this was a 1st Amendment right of the people within the companies and UNIONS. Not that corporations/unions are people, which a ridiculous assertion by any measure.
    Now Justice Stevens did his best in the dissent to show how these large bodies of people have the power to tilt elections and that corporate (no mention of Unions in the dissent, BTW) spending is “furthest from the core of political expression,” but that just didn’t rise to the standard of the 1st Amendment with the majority opinion that felt the speech trumps all of the complaints.
    Read (again, more reading) all about it and the Obama Administration’s embarrassing botchery of the case: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/05/21/120521fa_fact_toobin?currentPage=all
    Don’t like the Citizen’s United case? Me neither particularly. What are the options? Like the gun issue, it’s simple to understand: amend the Constitution not to declare that corporations and unions are not citizens, which isn’t true anyway, but rather than money does not equal speech.

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  47. Walt Avatar

    Speaking of that bank robbery, as I recall the cops were out gunned, but a gun shop in close proximity to the event offered up his entire store to the police and told them to grab what they needed to even the playing field.
    Just think what the outcome may have been if that gun shop wasn’t there, and idn’t have what the police needed ” right then, and there.” ( because of some stupid ban)
    And what did the bleeding heart LIBS have to say when the smoke cleared?
    ” The police didn’t get the downed shooter to the hospital fast enough.”
    Just one more example of where Progressive priorities are.

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  48. Gregory Avatar

    Ken, the ’97 North Hollywood bank robbery, as you mentioned, didn’t involve any machine guns that were legally possessed. But not just in California. Those were real “assault rifles” that were never legally possessed in the USA, probably smuggled in from some banana republic along with an illegal agricultural or pharmaceutical product… If machine guns were imported in the same volumes as pot, we’d be up to our asses in real AK’s.
    To actually get Federal approval to own a machine gun, besides living in a state that allows it. you have to pass the equivalent of a Secret clearance, and such folk tend not to rob banks or murder people. Not to mention that the folks able to cough up $10K or more for a gun (you can only buy one that is already legally owned) that would cost less than $1K at a normal retail markup are also not the types to rob banks, at least with guns.
    Since, as far as I can tell, no such licensed firearm has ever been used in a crime, and there’s something like 600,000 of them in circulation, I’d say the NFA legal machine guns don’t represent a hazard to anyone.

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  49. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Just to be my normal annoying self on RR.
    Why is it the further we go down the rabbit hole of Supply Side Economic/ Conservative and Republican Reagan Counter Revolution government we have less trust that our government represent our interests? Thus the need to stockpile weapons and increasingly more militarized weapons. By Conservative and Reagan Revolution Republican I mean we are only individuals that reside in American not the we are Americans and are in this together. Notice that Conservative and Republican are both capitalized.
    “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The nine words that kicked off the Reagan Counter Revolution.
    Here is a lesson learned by non violent activists and why it is a dead give away when a non violent movement turn violent has pro-establishment provocateurs among the movement. Only non-violent movements will create the desired change from OUR OWN government because any kind of force/violence used towards the establishment/ state justifies a return of overreaction abusive force. The difference in between Egypt and Syria revolutions are the Egyptian revolution was based in non-violence and the Syrian was based in violence. Egypt had a civilian death toll under 1,000. Whereas the ongoing armed violent revolution in Syria has death count already of over 60,000. Righteousness nonviolent movements will always be more powerful as long as the media or information gets out to the public.

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  50. George Rebane Avatar

    re BenE’s 1231pm – “All power grows out of the barrel of gun.” Chairman Mao. “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Joseph Stalin. “At the bottom of every stack of government regulations lies a marshal’s gun.” Alan Greenspan. “The pen is mightier than the sword only to the extent that it can invoke a mightier sword.” George Rebane.
    Governments live by these truths, that’s why they seek to control both the gun and the pen.

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