Rebane's Ruminations
February 2018
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“Over the last fifty years, it’s the Left that has assaulted every moral norm and disdained every religious and cultural restraint.”  Andrew Klavan

George Rebane

Student groups across the land are now forming to protest the ownership and availability of guns in America.  Their tearful yet uninformed emotions will supply more grist for grinding down the Second Amendment in the name of ‘saving the children’.  I don’t want to re-circle the barn on all the arguments that correctly point out that no new gun control law suggested by the Left would have prevented the Parkland massacre.

Ramirez_180219

I gave my views on a reasonable approach to preventing such shootings in ‘Stopping School Shooters’.  We know it works because it is successfully applied in Israel and at the schools to which the elites send their kids.  However, the peasant children can serve a far more useful role for the elites as pawns – to sacrifice in their schools, or parade for the press where they can influence the country’s neurochallenged, a new term to join ‘neurodiverse’, ‘neurotypical’, ‘neurodivergent’ … introduced by leftwing academicians (more here).

The only thing that I’ve heard which merits discussion and possible immediate implementation are the so-called Red Flag laws.  Five states have these which allow a family member, who is almost always aware of a developing situation, to alert authorities who can then temporarily but immediately remove access to guns by the disturbed individual.  The removal of the guns is not permanent, and their return depends on how the case is subsequently diagnosed and adjudicated.  Bottom line, it is those close to the individual who can nip a developing situation in the bud, and thereby prevent a suicide or a tragic shooting like in Parkland.


California’s crazy and crazier gun laws are Exhibit A in all this, especially as it applies to the constructive prohibition of ‘assault rifles’, specifically the AR-15 variants.  Never mind that this gun is rarely used by criminals, and that ‘gun violence’ has been decreasing over the last 25 years.  Our state’s continuing path toward confiscation will have as much impact on the Parkland type shootings as its climate change laws have on global warming.

The answer, as most students of the contemporary American scene know, lies in the disintegration of what used to be our common culture.  NY Post columnist Arnold Ahlert collects these thoughts in his ‘It’s the Culture, Not the Guns’.  There he makes the case that “Leftists want to restrict the entire conversation to gun control. But their destruction of culture is the culprit.”

In the final analysis, the cost of living free means living with risks.  And removing risks inevitably redeems our liberties, which itself is useful for powering elitist agendas.  Everything has a price, which includes returning to tyrannical autocracies like the many states of the 20th century, today survived by North Korea, Cuba, China, Vietnam, … and now joined by Russia and Venezuela.  The gun control issue, along with several others (e.g. federally funded abortion, free speech, religion and state, …), was and always will be about the new world order under control of the elites. 

[21feb18 update]  Subsequent to my comment on the role of par force in a free society, the comment stream below took up the thread and expanded on it, but so far without much profit from examining it in a reasonable manner.  I responded with the following which I now post here as a needed update to the above commentary.

Sadly none of the Left have read my piece on par force, let alone understand its main tenet. All the above horseshit about grenades and tanks and private armies attests to that. The function of civilians possessing par force with the local constabulary is that the state cannot quickly snuff out or shut down legitimate protest against the rogue/illegal behavior of state agents/agencies (in the well-practiced manner of totalitarian countries). That people so aggrieved have the means to gather, hold off authorities long enough for the word to get out to other citizens across the land who then decide to join the resistance, or demur and let the initially aggrieved be taken by the state’s eventual superior force and face the full consequences of their ill-advised (or ill-timed) opposition. Without such available par force, there is no chance of such penultimate resistance. This has been demonstrated time and again during the last two centuries.

The last beneficial use of par force was the recent Bundy ranch standoff. It brought (and continues to bring) attention to an aspect of government overreach that would have been buried in the courts had not the Bundy family and their many compatriots (some travelling hundreds of miles to join them with their arms) been willing to risk their lives to draw attention to what they believed was rank injustice. A free people should always have the means to exercise their will through par force when they feel the established legal avenues no longer work. A nation of disarmed sheeple no longer have that option, for they have become the herded and compliant livestock of the state.

And here is what a reasoned, researched, and referenced response looks like in this debate written by Ignatius Piazza, head of Front Sight, a well-known firearms training firm – Download FrontSight.  The Left is invited to submit their best equivalent – I will post it here.

Posted in , , , , ,

456 responses to “Gun Confiscation – again on the march (updated 21feb18)”

  1. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Gregory | 22 February 2018 at 09:53 AM
    A waste of breath Gregory……Punchy doesn’t even know to whom he is trying to respond!

    Like

  2. Bill Tozer Avatar

    “Thanks for answering my question Walt. Just confirming that you believe 8 year olds should be able to buy rifles similar to the one used in Florida.”
    I have no problem reading. Depends on the eight year, I reckon.

    Like

  3. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Noticed the FBI as well as the school bullies who taunted and ridiculed Cruz get a pass.

    Like

  4. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Now they are ripping into guns and Cruz gets a pass. So predictable.

    Like

  5. Walt Avatar

    Dad took me to Alpha Hardware when I was 8 so I could buy my first BB gun. And no background checks!
    I didn’t kill anyone, or shoot the barn cats.

    Like

  6. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Gregory. You’re just trying to avoid taking a public stand on this issue. I corrected my self on the use of “automatic” Thanks for informing me.
    What does “assault rifles similar to the one used in Florida” mean to you? That rifle is commonly referred to as an assault rifle. Example
    “The White House said on Tuesday setting an age limit for buying AR-15-type assault rifles, the type purchased legally by a teenager who shot dead 17 people at a Florida high school last week, was under consideration. ”
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-white-house/age-limit-for-buying-ar-15-assault-rifle-on-the-table-white-house-idUSKCN1G42SR
    the AR 15 is commonly referred to as an assault rivle. Just google AR 15 Here’s a link for your convenience
    https://www.google.com/search?q=ar+15+assault+rifle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

    Like

  7. George Rebane Avatar

    Regarding ‘gun violence’ – can any progressive tell us their version of the culture change over the last 50 years, during which we transformed from an equally-armed yet non-violent citizenry to the one today that weekly kills/wounds minorities by the thousands, and makes possible the all too frequent massacres? I have asked this question over the years with every revival of the gun confiscation debate (most recently in my 511pm above), and the only reliable response I have gotten is crickets, and a change of subject such as PaulE’s recent interest about the age at which certain kinds of firearms could be bought, as if that had any bearing on any solution.
    The cultural change focus of my commentary continues to be fiercely ignored by our collectivists. I explain their sound of silence because the thinkers among them know that gun violence is a byproduct of the culture they have successfully implanted in our nation. Bottom line is that leftist cultures have never supported an armed population, for such a population would be impossible to govern since its first motivation would be to overturn collectivism after having an opportunity to sample its fruits. This demonstrates that collectivism offers no system of governance that is based and rests on the consent of the governed – this is the dirty secret that our union public schools have successfully denied their students for two generations. (Recent products of that system are now marching, emoting, and demonstrating across the land.)
    Once more, what say you on the culture question?

    Like

  8. fish Avatar
    fish

    You OK Punch……? Should we have somebody drop by for a welfare check?

    Like

  9. Walt Avatar

    Denying your memory problems Paul?
    You need evaluating. You corrected nothing. You just denied saying it.

    Like

  10. fish Avatar
    fish

    From Gregorys wiki link for the link following impaired…..

    “Semi-automatic-only rifles like the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities”.

    Of course there’s no need to let technical and legal accuracy get in the way of the overwrought marketing messaging!

    Like

  11. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Since when have facts mattered to the po’ ol’ putin party parrot?? 😉

    Like

  12. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Let me simplify things for Gregory and Fish. Walt is hopeless.
    Trump has called for raising the age for purchasing AR 15 rifles. Do you support this position?
    Trumps Tweet
    “I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!”

    Like

  13. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: George Rebane | 22 February 2018 at 10:09 AM
    Once more, what say you on the culture question?

    There is no more unique American culture! We have (and are developing still more) cultural Balkanization with an administrative state trying to hold things together just a bit longer!

    Like

  14. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 February 2018 at 10:27 AM
    Trump has called for raising the age for purchasing AR 15 rifles. Do you support this position?

    Do you support this position?

    Like

  15. Walt Avatar

    I love how Paul is all for restricting something just based on age alone. Yet won’t utter a peep when his own age begs for mandatory restrictions.(DMV already has age related regs on the books)
    The geezer that drove into the drug store yesterday was about Paul’s age.

    Like

  16. Walt Avatar

    LOL! ,, Paul, “hopeless”? That’s what a Proggy with no defense to stand on says. You lack simple common sense. That leaves with age. And faster with those with the recessive Lib. Gene….

    Like

  17. Walt Avatar

    BTW,, Paul,,, Trump wants to end your pet “gun free zone” crap.( Gun free, means shoot here first)
    You support that Paul? Agree with Trump for a change?
    Armed personnel are everywhere else a shooting might happen. Like the welfare office.

    Like

  18. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Yes I do Fish. What is your view,
    Do you support Trumps position Walt? Yes of no.

    Like

  19. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 February 2018 at 10:43 AM
    Yes I do Fish. What is your view

    Actually I support it….and would have been happy to volunteer that without the usual circus antics that goes on here to a less disingenuous interlocutor.

    Like

  20. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Well we agree on something. that’s a start. My view is that if the shooter had to go through the process of obtaining a rifle through black market means he just might have changed his mind. No guarantee though but it might have saved those lives if the age was 21 to buy an AR 15. Raising the age might help prevent some future shootings.
    What is your view on this George?

    Like

  21. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Paul… there is no “AR 15” rifle.

    Like

  22. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 1053am – My view is that you and yours should address the point of this commentary and answer my 1009am.

    Like

  23. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Gregory
    What does this mean to you? Do you support raising the age to 21 to possess this rifle
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_AR-15

    Like

  24. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Different question George that does deserve a thoughtful answer. My question is do you support Trumps idea of raising the age to 21 for possessin of rifles similar to the one used in Florida.

    Like

  25. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Now it’s possession you’re talking about, Paul.
    How long of a possession? Can I hand such a rifle to a person for a short time to look at it? Or fire it?
    If I own such a rifle, can I give it to a close relative to use for an indeterminate time despite them being under 21?
    Are you using Colt AR-15 as shorthand for any semiautomatic centerfire rifle with a detachable magazine?

    Like

  26. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    George
    I disagree with a basic premise of your question and that is:
    “The cultural change focus of my commentary continues to be fiercely ignored by our collectivists. I explain their sound of silence because the thinkers among them know that gun violence is a byproduct of the culture they have successfully implanted in our nation.”
    My answer to your question is that I cannon answer it without examining the basis for your opinion that led to the question.
    If you wish to categorize me as a “leftist” which is not true then I have to say that I accept the 2nd
    Amendment but it has limits that should include allowing the mentally infirm and under 21’s from purchasing certain weapons.
    Also your romantic notion that an armed citizenry can be a deterrent against totalitarian takeover is a joke with a good example as to how the American right rolled over when the Patriot Act was passed severely restricting the privilege of privacy from intrusion by government agencies.

    Like

  27. Walt Avatar

    The 1ST Amend. needs an overhaul.
    The “press” has abused their right.
    Since Paul is fine with restricting rights under he 2ND,, the 1ST, needs some to match.. Right Paul? Skewing the facts to fit ones political agenda should be criminal.
    Any other things in the Bill of Rights you care to crap on as well?

    Like

  28. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Dr. Rebane @ 10:09 am.
    Nobody answers the cultural question, “What changed?” What happened to our culture? My short answer is the devaluation of life. You can parlay that into a myriad of tell-tell signs and festering boils.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P89CBU8E6jU
    Read last year than a couple in some place in the Mid-West were charged with child endangerment because they let their kid walk to school. Police and CPS were involved. We all walked to school growing up, with the exception of one who two kindergarten kids who got teased for having Mama hold their hands…..and, yes, we caught rides on days were it was raining cats and dogs. What happened? What changed?
    Followed with interest the stories of kids in inner cities who were endangered walking to school. The parents got in an uproar for their children’s safety and volunteers were posted on one side of the street in gang hoods and formed a safe passage route for children to walk safely to school. They called it the “tunnel” through the hood between the children’s home and the school.
    My point is simple. You can ban every rifle in America and our schools are still soft targets. Why? Because our culture has changed, our culture is a shithole. Schools remain soft targets. Not every teacher needs to pack, just like not every parent can or needs to line up on the streets for children’s safe passage through enemy turf. It just takes a few. Schools are the same. Just takes a few on the scene, closest to the stink.
    Nichalos Cruz was in and out in 3 minutes. LE arrived in 5 minutes. Time to harden up these soft targets solely because our culture changed. Seconds, not minutes, count. Cruz would have done the same carnage against defenseless folks using any semi-auto hand gun with clips or a revolver with speed loaders.
    ————————
    What really gives me nightmares lately is the latest fad in Europe of people randomly throwing acid in faces of young pretty innocent girls. Repulsive and reprehensible. Now I see that fad has come to our shores. What happened? What changed?

    Like

  29. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 February 2018 at 11:26 AM
    Also your romantic notion that an armed citizenry can be a deterrent against totalitarian takeover is a joke with a good example as to how the American right rolled over when the Patriot Act was passed severely restricting the privilege of privacy from intrusion by government agencies.

    You are embarrassingly ignorant about just how concerned the federal government is about individuals with guns impeding them when they want to perpetrate some injustice!
    One wonders why the US Army systematically disarmed Iraqi civilians after the war started. I mean we have tanks and attack helicopters and all that hardware that allows Michael P. Wanna to achieve non-Viagra aided erections! Why was it deemed so crucial to remove small arms from the civilian populace?

    Like

  30. Walt Avatar

    Bill.. The LIB answer to the stated acid attacks,, “well,, no one was killed”.

    Like

  31. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 1126am – First, it is clear that you have completely missed the half of the country that is firmly focused on the culture question – which blinders you share with the country’s leftists, so it is not a reach to assign you to that part of the political spectrum, especially when augmented with the years-long record of the issue-responsive comments you have left on these pages. The culture question today is a firmly fixed premise (e.g. see Ramirez’s cartoon) that you choose to ignore through your abject dismissal. In that light, I will continue to put you in the column of leftists who wish to remain silent on the subject.
    As to the “romantic notion” of par force, you miss the boat completely on the grounds of history, current events, and simple logic. All of the anti-gunners’ arguments against par force rest on the red herring of the futile resistance of a small group with small arms fighting a massed combined arms assault by the federal government’s military establishment. Such a response only attests to either lack of reading skills or the ability to reason with evidence (see also Mr fish’s 1141am). Every government that has confiscated guns and made them illegal has always had such overwhelming force to quash your ridiculous scenario of isolated and contained (silenced) micro-resistance. But repressive governments all know that the if news of one such act of ongoing resistance spreads among an aggrieved AND armed populace, the government with its military and police will be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of those who will rush to man the local barricades and take to the hills as militias and guerrilla bands. And autocratic governments know and fear that all these resisting civilians will be ‘fish swimming in a nurturing and supportive sea’ (per Chairman Mao), while the government’s units will quickly become the targets of released hatred formerly repressed.
    As their debates and writings reveal, our Founders understood the seminal function of par force from both history and direct experience of the American Revolution. That is why they wrote its access into the Second Amendment as the last recourse of the people, should the remainder of their finely honed Constitution fail to restrict the powers and prerogatives of government as originally outlined in that fateful and now foundering document.
    And finally, in the light of your sanguine acceptance of a perpetually benign yet bloated government, one that you claim is now impervious to the will of the citizens it is supposed to serve, you pass the final litmus test for a leftist.

    Like

  32. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    George
    I support the 2nd Amendment but not in the same way that you do. Are you saying that the Amendment is not subject to interpretation?

    Like

  33. Walt Avatar

    Paul. Ever hear of Afghanistan? “the futile resistance of a small group with small arms fighting a massed combined arms assault by the federal government’s military establishment”
    Those camel jockeys, supplied with minimal firepower
    thwarted how many armies?
    You believe any “redneck army” would fight with any less tenacity on our own soil?
    Lets hear it.

    Like

  34. Bill Tozer Avatar

    The libs do not understand human nature. We can’t keep drugs out of elementary schools or even out of our heavily guarded and frequently searched federal prisons. Pass a law. That will keep drugs out of school.
    The good news is that the NRA (completely member supported) offers good gun safety courses for its law abiding members and they voluntarily send in their membership dues, a community supported organization, if you prefer. To the Left, the NRA must bei comprised of gang bangers, drive-by shooters, and has been involved in every school massacre looking at they way they always attack the evil NRA. Although I am not an NRA member, I can clearly see that the Left’s attacks on the NRA is an attack on its membership. Oh well, nothing new under the sun.

    Like

  35. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    @ 1235- The SCOTUS has and it was not your way ya po’ ol’ putin party parrot. 😉

    Like

  36. Walt Avatar

    How fast would LIBS be getting guns in ca “if”?
    http://www.breitbart.com/california/2018/02/22/trump-im-thinking-pulling-ice-california/
    Be careful of what you wish for.

    Like

  37. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Paul, are you saying you think your interpretation is correct and Georges, and mine, are incorrect?
    You ask questions but are woefully ignorant about the meaning of the words you use. Why is that? Slop is not useful in public policy debates.
    How many visits by police officers about disturbing behavior should trigger a requirement to put the person into a “verified nutcase” database? Should an 18 year old who has never had police visit even once (let alone 39 times) and is an Eagle Scout, straight A student be allowed to purchase a gun that looks like the gun he’d be forced to shoot were he drafted?

    Like

  38. Walt Avatar

    Since Paul WON’T read the link,,
    ” A church in Pennsylvania has thrown itself into the nationwide debate on gun laws by announcing they will be hosting a blessing ceremony for couples with an AR-15 assault rifle.
    The controversial event is set to take place just two weeks after 17 people were killed in a Florida high school by a gunman using the same weapon.
    The World Peace and Unification Sanctuary in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, an offshoot of the Unification Church, is inviting couples to bring their semi-automatic rifles to the church on Feb. 28 to “show their willingness to defend their families, communities and nation.” “

    Like

  39. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    I am saying exactly that Gregory
    We may not agree but can we agree that we can have our own interpretations?

    Like

  40. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 February 2018 at 12:35 PM
    I support the 2nd Amendment but not in the same way that you do. Are you saying that the Amendment is not subject to interpretation?

    What a coincidence……I support the Voting Rights Act……but not in the same way you do! I mean it’s fine and all just so long as women and blacks don’t vote!
    Honestly do you give an iota of thought to the things you post?

    Like

  41. Walt Avatar

    OHhhh This is a good one I found. Sure with I thought of it.
    “Blaming a gun in a shooting is like blaming the manufacturer of Hypodermic needle in a drug overdose death”

    Like

  42. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 1235pm – Of course the 2nd Amend is subject to interpretation; look at all the ineffective and unenforced gun laws across the land, all the handiwork of you and yours. The current effort, as so many of us have pointed out, is to interpret the 2nd Amendment out of existence. I’m not sure why you asked such a tautological question, was it supposed to be a gotcha? (see also Gregory’s 1248pm)

    Like

  43. fish Avatar
    fish

    Just what is this “interpretation” to which you refer?

    Like

  44. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    George
    The second Amendment says simply:
    “The Second Amendment says that “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
    What is your interpretation of “a well regulated militia” ?

    Like

  45. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 February 2018 at 01:22 PM
    George’s interpretation isn’t at issue now…..you brought up your “interpretation” ….if you would be so kind as to enlighten us!

    Like

  46. Bill Tozer Avatar

    Continuing on the subject of what happened, what changed. Yep, another andedotal story.
    Once read a great in-dept article on India. Wasn’t about Gandhi or the Islamic who plugged him. No, it was about something that happened in the last 20-30 years. A riot broke out and the usual destruction and mayhem ensued . The local authorities placed one person in uniform on the steps in from of the government building to protect the building from the rioters. Unarmed, a solitary man stood alone. The riots and burning and destruction of property happened everywhere around the guard and before his eyes, but not a thing happened to the unarmed guard or the building.
    Why? Because, as the article explained, the people respected the uniform, the symbol of authority. They respected what he stood for, even with tempers and emotions out of control in mob mentality.
    What happened to the unarmed Bobbies in merry ole England? Once had a immigrant neighbor here who was a policeman in his native Costa Rica. He carried no firearm. But, he carried a screwdriver. If he found a parking violation or such, he would take out his screw driver and remove the license plates. If you wanted your plates back, you had to go to the police station to pay the fine or spend some time in the jail for the violation to get your license plates back. Nobody dared drive without plates. What happened?

    Like

  47. Walt Avatar

    OK Paul,, have a beef with this?
    http://www.cal-militia.com/
    We all know how LIBS feel about them.
    Are you fearful that they are not behold’n to State or FED control?

    Like

  48. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Paul, you first. What is your interpretation of “a well regulated militia” ?
    If you’ve not read this, it was cited in one SCOTUS majority opinion and a discussion about the issue will require being familiar with it:
    http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/common.htm

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