Articles by Herschel Smith

Breitbart.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2018 National Vital Statistics show 37,455 people died from unintentional falls throughout the year.

The same CDC data shows unintentional firearm deaths for 2018 came in at 458, which means accidental death by falling was about 82 times more likely than accidental death via any kind of firearm.

The numbers become especially pertinent to today’s political climate when FBI Unified Crime Report figures are brought into the equation. The FBI figures look at the intentional, criminal use of firearms, and show a total of 297 deaths from rifles of any kind in 2018. This means accidental death by falling occurred 126 times more often than intentional death by a rifle of any kind in 2018.

Breitbart News reported other FBI figures for 2018 showing death by hammers and clubs far exceeded death by rifles of any kind as well. Whereas there were 297 deaths by rifle, 443 people were killed with hammers, clubs, or other “blunt objects.”

I’ve discussed the dangers of assault hammers before, and as an engineer I certainly know about fall protection and the dangers of a fall, engaging in safe practices when I’m elevated, including in a tree stand.

But if I engage in more safe practices than the average person, does that mean we should outlaw falls, maybe?  Or perhaps we should outlaw any activity that means placing your body more than 6′ off the ground?

For the children.  I don’t hear doctors complaining about falls, and yet I know they treat falls commonly in the ER of most hospitals.

Since they’re focused on rifles instead of falls, I can only conclude they don’t care about the children.

First up, I had failed to mention that David Codrea did a followup at Ammoland on the commentary Rob Pincus co-authored supporting universal background checks.

Second, Anthony Garcia, president of Save The Second, ostensibly a Rob Pincus organization, wrote a commentary at Ammoland defending Rob, or so it seems from his words.  He pleads for unity.

I am sure by now most of you have read Rob Pincu’s article. And if you haven’t read his co-authored article with Dan Gross and only the commentary about it then I would highly suggest you go read it and listen to his videos about it. Nearly all the attention that has been focused on the article has revolved around his discussion of background checks.

What this article has done is laid bare the state of the Second Amendment community. And this has shown us that there is a demonstrable lack of unity, far too much knee-jerk reactionism, and little to no focus placed on messaging and narrative. A portion of Rob’s article was related to those last two topics, narrative and messaging, yet no attention has been paid to them. Ironically, controlling the narrative is one of the few ways that we will win and something that everyone can play a part in. Let’s discuss these topics one at a time, beginning with unity.

Gun control extremists and proponents of citizen disarmament have shown us for decades why it is important to maintain a united front. They have maintained an appearance of unity through thick and thin, regardless of nearly any scandal that comes out against one of their own, and they have plenty of legislative and cultural victories to show for it.

We must stay on point with our messaging and not allow ourselves to be distracted by internal politics.

There, you have the gist of it.

But the problem is that a discussion about whether we are going to support a bill that effectively creates a national gun registry isn’t about internal politics.  We covered that in my response.  This commentary by Garcia reeks of a demand for agreement with Rob, with the tool of extortion being the appearance of lack of unity.

But the lack of unity wasn’t created by me, or most of my readers.  It was created by Rob.  One cannot simply defenestrate one of the core doctrines of liberty and then demand agreement with those who love liberty by simply appealing to unity.

This has been the trick of traitors, quislings and turncoats for millennia.  It has occurred that way in politics (witness the tide of collectivism in America over the past 150 years), the church (witness here the agreement of the mainline Presbyterian church [PCUAS] with the Auburn Affirmation in 1924, and in gun control (witness the push towards UBC, a renewed AWB, permitting schemes, etc.).  Many more thousands of examples could be given.

The example of the Auburn Affirmation should be telling.  It reads at the beginning, “An Affirmation
designed to safeguard the unity and liberty of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America Submitted for the consideration of its ministers and people.”  Unity, they said.  Unity means everything.

In that document, the ministers and elders of the PCUSA denied that the Scriptures are the word of God (they only “contain” the word of God), denied the deity of Christ, denied … They had the audacity to affirm that “The doctrine of inerrancy, intended to enhance the authority of the Scriptures, in fact impairs their supreme authority for faith and life, and weakens the testimony of the church to the power of God unto salvation through Jesus Christ.”  A bolder lie cannot be imagined.

Concerning the person and work of Jesus, they affirm that “we are united in believing that these are not the only theories allowed by the Scriptures and our standards as explanations of these facts and doctrines of our religion, and that all who hold to these facts and doctrines, whatever theories they may employ to explain them, are worthy of all confidence and fellowship.”

This all led to the separation of the PCA and OPC from the PCUSA.  And unity in politics has led to the separation of the people from the controllers.  And we must separate from Rob Pincus and anyone else who affirms that UBC must be approved.  Amos 3:3 rhetorically asks, “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?”

They can’t.  And we cannot walk with Rob Pincus, or Mr. Garcia for that matter.  Unity in error is no unity at all.  No, we can’t all just get along – not when core values are at stake.

Here is the last question: Is this the sort of commentary we should expect from Ammoland in the future?

Just The News.

A strong majority of U.S. voters in a new Just the News Daily Poll with Scott Rasmussen – including nearly half of Democratic voters surveyed – say they would prefer to live in communities where gun ownership is legal.

Sixty-three percent of voters said they would prefer to “live where individuals are allowed to own guns.” Just 26% said they would prefer to reside “where guns are outlawed.”

The remaining 12% was unsure.

Well that rather harshes the narrative, yes?  Remember that the vast majority of people believe in the right of self defense.  Not that it should matter to you whether people recognize your God-given duty when it concerns your conduct, but it’s interesting to note that the constant barrage of narrative in support of gun control is just that – a barrage, sound and fury signifying nothing.

If people really believed what they say people believe, then they wouldn’t have to repeat it all the time.

How to deal with Nazis.

Absolute legend 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/aRlFoDfIpL

— Tony (@Mrtdogg) April 3, 2021

This apparently occurs somewhere in Canada.

One of my sons sent me this and had some salient and quite insightful remarks about it.  He didn’t focus on the pastor, although his words were powerful and he didn’t back down.  He is to be commended.

Notice the police.  They are there to support a mouthy “Karen.”  She wouldn’t stop talking.  She is a controller.  They are waiting like dogs in the background for her next commands.

Men who have been eviscerated of morality and manliness, and who have jettisoned their God-given duty of leadership, retreat into a Nietzschean suffering.  They are all in bondage.  They could no more properly think their way through what’s happening at that moment that an animal.

But they are responsible before God because their slavery is self-selected and voluntary.  The Soviet empire was also keen on the use of women as controllers and informers, and men as the thugs who backed them up.  Such men beg for abuse by the nearest dominatrix.

You should find such men to be sickening. Their actions are shameful, and yet they will go home and look their wives and children in the face, eat dinner, and go to bed as if they have done well today.

The status of the bill can be found here, with a PDF of the full text here.

The people of Arkansas have vested the General Assembly with the authority to regulate the manufacture, possession, exchange, and use of firearms within this state’s borders, subject only to the limits imposed by  the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Arkansas Constitution, Article 2, § 5.

All acts, laws, orders, rules, and regulations of the United States Government, whether past, present, or future, that infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to  the United States Constitution and Arkansas Constitution, Article 2, § 5, are invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, are specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state. (b) Such federal acts, laws, orders, rules, and regulations that are null and void in this state under subsection (a) of this section include without limitation:

(1) The National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.; 11 (2) The Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. § 921 et seq.; (3) Any tax, levy, fee, or stamp imposed on firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition not common to all other goods and services that could have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by  law-abiding citizens; (4) Any registering or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition that could have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens; (5) Any registering or tracking of the owners of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition that could have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens; (6) Any act forbidding the possession, ownership, or use or transfer of any type of firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition by law abiding citizens; and (7) Any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.

This is just an excerpt.  The full text is powerful and deserves a hearing.  Its chances are unknown to me, but readers in Arkansas should contact their representatives about this.

Of course, it remains to be seen if this is just symbolic or if it ends up having teeth.  The wording has teeth.  Whether it will redound to real enforcement of the bill, should it become law, would be up to the people of Arkansas.

The original.

Now for a version re-orchestrated and performed much later in life by Matthew Ward, who still has a beautiful voice.