Articles by Herschel Smith

Daily Mail:

Police fear a gang-rape phenomenon known as ‘taharrush gamea’ in the Arab world and seen in attacks on women across German cities at the New Year has now spread to Europe.

The name of the practice translates to ‘collective harassment’ and is carried out by large groups of men who sexually assault lone women, either by groping, or in some instances, raping them. 

The men first surround their victim in circles. Some then sexually assault her, while others not directly involved watch or divert outsiders’ attention to what is occurring.

Two days ago I said this.

The air headed blonde on my local TV channel introduced a video of protest in Germany by saying emphatically, “Germans are furious over the recent sexual assaults.”  Oh, not so much.  I happen to think these are only the preliminaries to the real war.  You can bet that young men are training in the countryside with guns every day, and soon they will be baiting and hunting young Muslim men and killing them.  Muslims won’t be the only ones roaming the streets, and the police will be irrelevant to the coming festivities.  You’ll know there’s fury when the killing starts.  Europeans will win or they will lose, but there will be a war.  You can count on it.

And the very next day, there is this.

The rally came as vigilante mobs have been attacking Pakistani and Syrians in Cologne, leaving at least two in hospital, following calls on social media for ‘revenge’ in the wake of the New Years Eve assaults.

The attacks were carried out by groups of young men, allegedly specifically targeting foreigners, after reports Cologne police are focusing their investigation on asylum seekers and migrants.

I told you so.  Young men.  Baiting Muslims.  Attacks.  War is coming, and what you’re witnessing is just the preliminary stage.

Just in case you needed anything else to convince you that sexual assaults are happening, there are these examples.

The Federalist:

The author, Mollie Hemingway, goes on to explain that this couldn’t possibly mean that Ted Cruz wants Jesus to rise from the grave to endorse him, because Christians believe Jesus is alive.  He is the only risen Lord, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.  Death couldn’t defeat him.  And of course, all of that is true.

But the most ridiculous assertion made by this idiot, Kathleen Parker, is that Ted Cruz wants the body of Christ to endorse him, as in the literal body of Christ!  How such a thing could happen, Kathleen doesn’t say.

Seriously.  This was said on national TV, apparently.  I’m glad that someone watches this shit because I don’t and from time to time we actually need to know how ignorant people are, especially folk inside the beltway.  I do not know who Kathleen Parker is and I don’t read The Washington Post, but it’s a shame that she works in a position of influence.

Of course as most school children know, the “body of Christ” refers to the church.  And Kathleen needs to attend Sunday School a bit to ameliorate her ignorance.

Shooting a gun reaffirmed my belief in gun control:

I’ve never understood guns — why people love them so much, why they think it’s fun to shoot them, why they collect them. I was always simply terrified of guns — which was extra difficult, given that I grew up in the South, nearly surrounded by them. My mother claimed to have one tucked away somewhere in the house when I was growing up, but I never believed her, because I never saw it. My cousins used to shoot BB guns in the backyard on holidays while I would stand on the porch and watch. I went to parties in middle school and high school where we hung out in some basement next to someone’s ridiculous gun collection. As soon as anyone started to get the guns out to show them off, I hightailed it out of there. I hated being in the same room as a gun, and I didn’t want to know or understand how they worked. I didn’t think you needed to know how a gun worked, or what it felt like to use one, in order to know that they were dangerous.

[ … ]

They assured me that everything was safe, we made sure the area was clear, and I shot a gun at a target for the first time in my life. I didn’t feel a rush or a sudden sense of power. I felt nothing. I shot again. Nothing. I shot another gun, and I still felt nothing. There was no thrill here. This is what people were defending? I felt a disconnect. Sure, I’ve wielded weapons before. I taught archery for many years, I’ve chopped wood, and I’ve fenced. My entire family is military. I love so many aspects of Southern culture, and I am proud that our rights to personal property are protected in the United States.

But that moment confirmed that for me, the risks and the repercussions of owning guns greatly outweigh the fun, culture, and tradition associated with them.

Hey.  I see how this works.  If you don’t get orgasmic over guns, I can’t have them either.  Because you’re the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong and good and bad and pleasure and boredom.  Got it.

Jackson Hole News & Guide:

In an effort to bring the town of Jackson in line with Wyoming law, the Town Council is on track to repeal a decades-old ordinance that bans concealed weapons.

The law dates back to the 1970s and outlaws people from having any kind of hidden weapon, including pistols and knives, but also dirks, daggers and “swords-in-canes.”

The potential change is part of an effort by the town to update older parts of the municipal code, but some town officials have paused on the concealed carry ordinance.

Councilor Jim Stanford pointed out that this is a rare instance in which the state has moved to take away local control.

“I disagree vigorously with the Wyoming Legislature usurping local authority to regulate guns within our municipal boundaries,” Stanford said. “And I believe that if this faced a court test it wouldn’t stand up.”

Generally, state statute allows local laws to be more restrictive but not less so than state law. As an example, law enforcement officials said that means that a town can reduce the speed limit on a state road, but can’t raise it.

Stanford said the state’s moves, which are contrary to that concept and came in the form of the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, are attempting to force “extremist ideology” on localities. Through the act, instituted several years ago, the state is essentially taking over regulation of concealed weapons, he said.

Other town officials didn’t totally disagree with his thinking.

“I do find it interesting how we’re for local authority until we’re not,” said Mayor Sara Flitner.

But, practically speaking, she and other town officials said they had to update the municipal code to keep it in line with Wyoming’s laws.

Last winter my wife and I took an extended trip to Jackson, Wyoming, in part to ski, in part to visit the surrounding area.  We visited your wonderful restaurants, from the exquisite cuisine at The Gun Barrel, to Bubba’s Barbecue.  I have eaten barbecue from North Carolina to Texas, and I have said to others that I have never had it so good as Bubba’s in Jackson.  In fact, I have recommended that others go to Jackson Hole as well, the visit being so good and relaxing.  It was indeed a memorable time for us.

But there is a problem.  I noticed bus drivers open carrying, and as an open carrier myself and my home state being a traditional open carry state, I fully support that.  But being new to the area, I didn’t want to do that, and concealed while we were in Jackson.  That’s right.  I am proud to announce that I violated your stupid ordinance.  I didn’t know about it, to be sure.  But violate it I did.  It would have been easy to fix.  I could have just switched to open carry if I had only know.  And therein lies the problem, don’t you think?  The mere act of switching where I was carrying my weapon would have made the difference between being approved and not in Jackson.  But I’m glad I carried concealed if for no other reason than to prove a point, because you are the ones who are in violation of the law.  God’s providence is good and sometimes humorous and amusing, don’t you think?

Your ordinance is underhanded, illegal and immoral all at the same time.  It is underhanded in that unsuspecting, peaceable men like me could get caught up in your idiotic, pompous belligerence towards your own state.  It is immoral in that you could cause peaceable men like me to run afoul of your ordinances.  It is illegal because it violates Wyoming Code 6-8-401(c), which reads “no city, town, county, political subdivision or any other entity shall authorize, regulate or prohibit the sale, transfer, purchase, delivery, taxation, manufacture, ownership, transportation, storage, use, carrying or possession of firearms, weapons, accessories, components or ammunition.”

It’s called state preemption, and you know all about it.  You hate it.  I’ve observed about your kind before that “It’s an odious thing when local yokels (who are usually elected in elections that aren’t well attended and who are usually unknown until they act out their Napoleon fantasies upon others) presume to tell their townships what to do about everything under the sun.  Totalitarianism doesn’t just happen inside the beltway.”

And again, “I am a long standing and diehard advocate of State’s rights, even to the extent that I don’t think the federal court system should be invoked when local gun control is concerned.  All gun politics is local, I have said.  The corollary is that in order to prevent local hicks, ne’er-do-wells and criminals from acting out their Napoleon fantasies upon other men, association with the state means that – assuming robust gun rights laws already exist – local municipalities and townships shouldn’t be able to preempt state laws.  The state is the right size for law-making and control.  Our founding fathers were wise.”

The councilman who said “if this faced a court test it wouldn’t stand up” – Mr. Stanford – is an idiot.  State preemption is tried, tested, proven, and legal.  Towns and cities cannot override state law unless explicitly stated so in state law.

The only “extremist ideology” here is being expressed by Mr. Stanford.  Shame on you, and a thousand times shame on you.  The carry of weapons is a God-given right, and protection of human life is a God-given duty.  As for the city council, you are in violation of state law, placing at risk peaceable men who don’t know about your stupid ordinance, and wasting valuable time and resources sticking your nose up in the air and being offended that you can’t override state law.

The whole episode is unseemly, obscene and [should be] embarrassing to you.  You’re acting out in a tantrum as if you were little children.  This needs to end, and you need to bring Jackson into full compliance with State law in a timely manner.  And then you need to move on about the business of the city without so much smugness, condescension, pomp and arrogance.  You aren’t a board of kings, and you don’t get to fabricate just any law you wish.  If my readers want to send you notes saying the same thing, I’ll list your web site.

They have their own security.

I don’t even know what the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards are.  I suspect it’s when famous people get together and present each other with some kind of awards.  Seriously.  I’ve never seen it.  But take note.  They’re anti-gun only when it comes to you.

David French:

German Women Had To Run The Gauntlet:

Several media outlets on Thursday published an internal report by German police describing how women had to run through mobs of drunken men outside Cologne train station.

The report compiled by an unidentified senior federal police officer recounts how “several thousand male persons with a migrant background” hurled fireworks and bottles into the crowds of revelers who had gathered in front of Cologne Cathedral to celebrate New Year.

“Women had to literally ‘run the gauntlet’ of very drunk men,” the report said. “In the course of the operation numerous crying and shocked women/girls approached officers and told them of sexual assaults by male migrants/groups. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to identify them anymore.”

Those who are prepared shouldn’t be too worried about this coming to America with the increased immigration.  Remember Herschel’s dictum: “There aren’t too many human interaction problems that can’t be fixed with a .45 ACP 230-grain fat-boy.”

Smithsonian.com:

Other than briefly lampooning the idiotic officer who started all of this and the idiotic jury who allowed it to begin with, we may observe the following about this case.

First step: man is charged with unlawful use of a weapon and concealment of a weapon by police.  Second step: Lawyer argues that it’s protected by the second amendment as a weapon.  Third step: Judge decides that knife isn’t really a weapon so it isn’t protected by the second amendment.  Fourth step: Thus the conviction that the man was carrying a concealed weapon is upheld.

Good Lord.  Do lawyers have to take classes in classical logic?  No, I’m not even talking about the hard stuff like modal logic.  Just simple schoolchild level classes to teach them how to think?  If not, they need to.

Comment:

I’m a legal handgun permit owner in Australia. Owning a firearm in Australia is no longer a right, but is a privilege. I am a member of a local firearms range where I compete in pistol shooting (the only permissible reason to own a handgun). My handgun permit only lasts one year, is a privilege, dependent on my competing in at least 6 competitions a year and being a member of a gun club. The police firearms branch review my license every year and have the right to terminate it if they feel I am not a “fit and reasonable person”. I cannot discharge my firearm outside of a designated firing range. I cannot store ammunition or the handgun in the same part of my gun safe. I cannot transport or store my gun with rounds loaded in the magazine, or a loaded magazine within the firearm. I cannot own a magazine with more than a 10 round capacity. I cannot use my handgun for personal protection, even when within my own home- as this is illegal and would result in a firearms act violation and the termination of my license as well as legal proceedings against me. My firearm is registered by law. The possession of a firearm means that the police have the right to search my entire house and inspect my safe and firearm on any day- so long as they have a “reasonable” cause to do so and arrive at a reasonable hour. So there……..

Never trust wicked men to honor your liberties.  It will be like this in America unless you are willing to shoot back to ensure that it’s not.