Articles by Herschel Smith

CSM:

At least in popular culture, Texas has always been synonymous with gun-totin’ cowboys, but until midnight on New Year’s Eve, the reality has been far different. Texas, in fact, has been one of the most restrictive gun-rights states in America.

Thanks to a new law, however, the state will be one of the most relaxed.

How relaxed? Police are discouraged from even asking about someone’s holstered gun. And if they do, they may not have much power to do anything if the person refuses to show a license.

The upshot is that the sight of civilians carrying visible weapons is about to become commonplace in the Lone Star State.

The lawmakers who crafted the legislation passed it in part as a symbolic measure at an unusual time in the United States. Even as gun control groups link America’s obsession with firearms to a slight rise in the number of mass shootings, the US public seems more enamored than ever with weaponry and the power it conveys. Black Friday this year saw the biggest gun cache ever purchased in one day – enough to arm a new military the size of the Marine Corps, as Bob Owens points out on the “Bearing Arms” blog.

Indeed, with notable exceptions in New York, Connecticut, and Colorado, the bulk of states have steadily expanded gun rights since the sunsetting of a 10-year assault weapons ban in 2004. But the new Texas law is Texas-size, given that more than 800,000 Texans are already licensed to carry concealed weapons. Their rights now extend to carrying openly in the halls of the state Capitol.

Given those trends, there’s a fervent debate about whether the new Texas law is a model piece of legislation for a changing America – or a walking disaster just begging for trouble.

To be sure, the law is strict in its own way, offering a model for regulation. Under the law, open-carry folks have to be licensed, a process that includes safety and shooting tests. They also have to show no prior psychological problems, and they have to be at least 21 years old.

But a major sticking point is how the law will affect policing in one of the nation’s most populous expanses. The fact that the law doesn’t provide any sanctions against those who refuse to show a license to a police officer has critics fearing that officers may be handcuffed in their ability to respond to volatile and potentially deadly situations.

Oooo … boogey man gonna getcha!  Hold me Uncle Bob!  I askeerd!  “Walking disaster.”  “Trouble.”  “Volatile and deadly situations.” Oooo …

Again, as a citizen of a traditional open carry state, I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen here.  Nothing.  That’s right, nothing.  Life will continue in the lone star state unabated, and the doomsday predictions of law enforcement and the progressives will go down as a monument to their hatred of the common man.

And no, it’s not a model for open carry law.  It’s a half way measure that still recognizes the state’s right to permit the carry of weapons, an illegitimate and bastard right that has no place in a free society.

AP:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday the idea of religious neutrality is not grounded in the country’s constitutional traditions and that God has been good to the U.S. exactly because Americans honor him.

Scalia was speaking at a Catholic high school in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana. Scalia, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 is the court’s longest serving justice. He has consistently been one of the court’s more conservative members.

He told the audience at Archbishop Rummel High School that there is “no place” in the country’s constitutional traditions for the idea that the state must be neutral between religion and its absence.

“To tell you the truth there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition. Where did that come from?” he said. “To be sure, you can’t favor one denomination over another but can’t favor religion over non-religion?”

He also said there is “nothing wrong” with the idea of presidents and others invoking God in speeches. He said God has been good to America because Americans have honored him.

Scalia said during the Sept. 11 attacks he was in Rome at a conference. The next morning, after a speech by President George W. Bush in which he invoked God and asked for his blessing, Scalia said many of the other judges approached him and said they wished their presidents or prime ministers would do the same.

“God has been very good to us. That we won the revolution was extraordinary. The Battle of Midway was extraordinary. I think one of the reasons God has been good to us is that we have done him honor. Unlike the other countries of the world that do not even invoke his name we do him honor. In presidential addresses, in Thanksgiving proclamations and in many other ways,” Scalia said.

“There is nothing wrong with that and do not let anybody tell you that there is anything wrong with that,” he added.

He’s right, of course.  Moreover, this thinking is right in line with the historical reformed thinking of men like Cornelius Van Til, Gordon Clark, and my own professor C. Gregg Singer and others, on the logical impossibility of neutrality.  All syllogisms have presuppositions, those presuppositions being axiomatic irreducibles, with the balance of thought and deduction being impossible without them, and the rest of the system able to be judged on its logical consistency based on those presuppositions.  And I agree with Scalia, even if he doesn’t invoke reformed thinkers for his basis.

Unlike Scalia, however, who is Roman Catholic, I don’t think God cares very much whether we invoke His name in a presidential address or some similar charade.  The invocation of His name must be sincere, humble and within the context of repentance.

This is what I don’t see in America, and thus God will not long bless her.  She is even now experiencing the lack of God’s favor because of her stubbornness.

So Scalia is right, and he is wrong.

News from South Carolina:

CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. — A Gaffney man was killed while playing with a gun at his house New Year’s Eve.

Witnesses say Tezlar Wayne Ross, 20, and three other people were in his bedroom looking at a .380 handgun when he reportedly took the clip out of the gun and placed it to his head joking with the others when it discharged.

Ross was pronounced dead at the scene.

“This is certainly a tragic way to end the year.  Guns are not toys and this is an example of what happens when they are treated as such and not respected.  My heart breaks for this family,” Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.

Please don’t ever do anything like that.  Please.  Always observe the rules of gun safety.  Just like car, or the presence of prescription drugs in the home, bad things can happen when the rules aren’t followed.

David Codrea – drinking tea, shopping at a gardening store is justification for a SWAT raid.  How about being a black-robed Fascist like the asshole U.S. District Court Judge John W. Lungstrum?  Then we could send the SWAT team after him.  No, I’ve changed my mind.  I don’t like SWAT teams.  Hemp rope and lampposts will do just fine.  Or tar and feathers.  Sometimes I have such a hard time making my mind up.

Ha!

I also find it very disturbing that gun owners in North Liberty feel they have the right to carry their guns … [More]

I guess the irony of that statement doesn’t occur to her.

Mike Vanderboegh is commenting on the Harney County, Oregon standoff, here, here and here.

We’re not trying to shoot to kill.  Um, why else would you shoot?

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts urged trial judges on Thursday to manage cases more efficiently and advised lawyers to avoid “antagonistic tactics” … He suggested that lawyers often tried to wear down their opponents and implicitly advised against “antagonistic tactics, wasteful procedural maneuvers, and teetering brinkmanship.”

Oh good.  With all of my confidence in the American judicial system, I was beginning to fear the overreach of lawyers in defending the rights of the accused.  I’m glad the chief justice set us all straight.

The Des Moines Register:

A Des Moines police officer accidentally fired his gun inside an office at the Des Moines International Airport while he was practicing his “quick draw.”

Officer Brady Pratt, 23, was inside an office at the airport Wednesday around 4 p.m. when he drew his gun from his holster to practice “his quick draw skills,” according to a police report. Pratt, who joined the force in 2013, “unknowingly” had his finger on the trigger and fired a round from the gun, the report states.

Another officer, Taylor Olson, witnessed the incident.

The bullet hit a ceiling tile above one of the office doors. It traveled through the wall and out into a hallway, landing in the hallway’s ceiling tile.

No one was in the hallway at the time, and nobody was injured.

Pratt reported the accidental shot to his supervisor, who then notified a lieutenant.

“Discipline is always a possibility when (officers) are negligent. The level will be determined by the circumstances,” said Sgt. Paul Parizek, a spokesman for the department. “There will be a very thorough review.”

Gosh, I hate it when that happens to me.  I remember the last time I was doing that.  I was in a shopping mall, with thousands of people around.  I didn’t shoot anybody, and I hope they go as easy on the cop as they did on me.  The police came and we all laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation.  From Matthew 1:21-23: “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.  Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’.”

It always seems to be a tactic of the detractors to charge Christians with co-opting pagan holidays and calling them their own.  This removes the joy of the Christian as he celebrates what no one else can, i.e., God becoming man.

True enough, celebrations of Santa Claus and Frosty miss the point.  But as for real celebrations of the incarnation in church history, a bit of fact telling is in order.  Don’t Google the history of Christmas.  Google will return all manner of bunk.  Here is your source.  When I studied church history, historical theology and systematic theology under Dr. C. Gregg Singer, who was one of the foremost church historians of his era, he relied heavily on Philip Schaff, “History of the Christian Church,” all 8 Volumes.  Oh, he used hundreds or thousands of other sources, some primary, some secondary.  But Schaff was the authority.  So be it for me too.

In Volume III, Schaff outlines the history of the celebration of the incarnation in the early Christian church.  I’ll let you read it for the details, but around the time of the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), where the deity of Christ and the trinity was affirmed by Athanasius and the church council conta the heretic Arius, Christmas was being celebrated by the churches as a festival of food and gifts.

If you celebrate Christmas with feasting, the giving of alms, and the giving of presents to children, you stand squarely on the shoulders of the church fathers circa two millennia ago.  Enjoy it, Remember what you’re celebrating.  Football isn’t it.  Santa Claus isn’t it.  Frosty isn’t it.

The manifestation of the deity, God with us.  That’s what you celebrate.  Do it well.  Have a great festival.

Mondoweiss:

After more than a year of stonewalling and what some might call obstructing justice, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued an apology for the horrific execution of Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason van Dyke. Laquan McDonald was the black 17-year-old who was shot 16 times by the police officer on Oct. 20, 2014. The video showing the shooting was only released by Chicago officials when they were ordered to do so by a judge in late November 2015.

But apology or not, the underlying substantive issue is that the summary execution of McDonald was the sort of atrocity that one would expect to see in what the U.S. once called “police states.” In fact, one can imagine a death squad execution in El Salvador in the 1980s looking very similar on video to McDonald’s slaying.

“Police state” is a term which has fallen into disuse since 9/11 with the adoption of so many similar practices by the so-called “democracies” in their domestic policies. The term generally was applied to Fascist or Communist governments and described a country where the police and the military exercised martial law over citizens or military occupation powers that uses military force to control a civilian population.

Sometimes these arbitrary powers were enforced by summary executions, depending on how much the authorities could get away with in their “extreme measures.” This was the practice in countries such as Nazi Germany; Pinochet’s Chile; El Salvador and Guatemala during the Cold War; to a lesser degree, apartheid South Africa; and military occupied territories such as Tibet, Israeli-occupied Palestine, and Eastern Europe under the Soviet Union.

But Chicago isn’t under martial law or military occupation, is it? Nor is it an apartheid state, with apartheid enforced by domestic martial law and military force, is it? To a normal civilian-oriented mind, one would think it is not under military occupation or martial law.

Yet, under Mayor Emanuel, a former civilian volunteer on an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) base, and Garry McCarthy, the now former Chicago Police Superintendent (Emanuel fired him Dec. 1), it seems that parts of Chicago were treated as if they were occupied territory under police or paramilitary rule.

That is, under arbitrary martial law, just like the repressive martial law regime of the Israeli Defense Forces in the occupied territory of Palestine. Martial law or occupation law is arbitrary as it is not law, but is the manifestation of the occupying military commander’s “will.”

How could this be in the civilian government of Chicago? In part, because Police Superintendent McCarthy and the City of Chicago sought out and received training by Israeli occupation forces in “counter-terrorism” policing, that is, “pacifying” a population through aggressive intelligence gathering and the application of military force. Counter-insurgency is the term used for when this doctrine is applied by military forces.

This collaboration between Israel and U.S. police agencies, including Chicago, emerged after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Since then, by one count, at least 300 high-ranking sheriffs and police from cities both large and small have received counter-terrorism training in Israel. For instance, in January 2003, 33 senior U.S. law enforcement officials from Chicago and other major American cities flew to Israel for sessions on “Law Enforcement in the Era of Global Terror.”

In 2009, Israel’s Midwest Consulate General co-sponsored “an intensive seminar” in Israel for senior Chicago police officials “on intelligence-led policing techniques.”

[ … ]

… over more than a decade, senior Chicago police officials have been studying Israel’s militarized police practices for how best to maintain a repressive military control over an occupied population living under permanent, strict martial, or occupation, law.

Why this matters is that Israel doesn’t have a domestic civilian policing model but instead applies a counter-insurgency policing model intended for a population under military occupation, or otherwise considered as hostile under martial law.

This policing model is being sold by Israel’s government to gullible or authoritarian-leaning U.S. police officials as a legitimate domestic policing model when, in fact, it is a military model of the sort used by militaristic, authoritarian regimes, customarily referred to as “fascist.”

You can read the rest for yourself.  First a bit of nuanced correction to the article.  What the author refers to as counterinsurgency (COIN) is not counterinsurgency, not in its classical sense, and certainly not in the modern sense.  Just to take one example for purposes of illustration, the U.S. Marine Corps was very successful in the Anbar Province with COIN.  Terrorists had been driven out, young men had jobs, weapons caches had been found, insurgents had been rooted out and killed, and much blood had been spilled, most of it not American.

The tactics, techniques and procedures were extremely aggressive, and if they are ever implemented in the U.S., it will be considered full blown war.  What you see in Chicago today, and in Israel as well, is more correctly termed stability operations.  The difference is important, not pedantic.  The author has no idea of the kind of TTPs were used in Iraq (I do because my son was there in the thick of it), and if he did he wouldn’t use the term COIN.

But what the Marine Corps couldn’t accomplish is fixing millennia-old hatred over rights to succession between Sunni and Shia.  What they couldn’t do is fix the seed of hatred and violence inherent in Islam.  Thus, the root problem remains today.  And this is the point of analogy between COIN in Iraq, stability operations in Israel and stability operations in Chicago.

While we aren’t dealing with millennia-old problems, we are in fact dealing with at least fourth or fifth generation entitlement, with fatherless families, SNAP payments, welfare, “free” medical care, and so on.  Just enough government largesse to keep the inner city blacks on a leash, not enough (yet) to create revolution against it.  And therefore the elites get their voting bloc, which is the intended outcome all along.

But the monster this created is ugly and difficult to control.  I’ve read comments about the rioters in Ferguson, to the extent that any protest against “the man” (or the state) is a good thing and they must be our ally (I’m not sure who “our” is).  Such a view is a sign of lack of attention to detail, immaturity and weakness of mind.  Most of the rioters in Ferguson would sooner gut you groin to throat with a knife and then rape your wife and daughter as to look at you.  Anyone who feels an alliance with the rioters in Ferguson is a fool.

This is a monster the government and effete urbanite elitists created.  The hive is coming apart at the seems, and the only way to keep it together is harsher and harsher stability operations.  Make no mistake about it.  The Chicago Mayor knows all about the tactics in use in Chicago and approves of them.  The firing of the chief of police was a sacrifice to the masses.

The lesson for us is that police departments are more and more using stability operations as a model or paradigm for their work, with the approval of those in charge.  As these tactics want to work their way into the fabric of American society like a cancer, one goal will be to kill the cancer before it takes over the host.  This battle will be gradual, fought initially on the fields of town hall meetings, boards, blogs, and so on.  If the battles are lost there, it will expand, and if lost entirely, dystopia (and maybe insurgency) will come to the American countryside.

The wars for the inner city cannot be won.  America is going broke and the largesse cannot continue forever.  Sooner or later, the riots will expand.  The more important thing will be what happens to the medium and smaller towns of America?  Stability operations can lead to COIN if not successful (and couple this with Islamic terrorism and the influx from South of the border, and the potential for success seems bleak), and neither COIN nor stability operations is an acceptable model for this country.

News from Boston:

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is ramping up enforcement and oversight of the state’s gun laws, which were updated last year as a response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

The Boston Globe reports Healey sent out a letter Tuesday to the 350 gun dealers in Massachusetts and her office plans spot checks on Bay State gun stores to make sure they’re not selling illegal guns.

“For me, this is a public health crisis and acting to address it is a moral imperative,” Healey wrote in the letter, which was also obtained by MassLive.com. “There are simply too many guns that are too easy to obtain.”

Healey noted that there were 102,081 sales and transfers of handguns, rifles and shotguns by dealers to licensed state residents in 2014, “more than double the number from 2006.”

“You are selling more weapons to more people at a scale and at a time that demands a heightened vigilance from every dealer and employee,” she wrote.

Massachusetts gun laws, often referred to as some of the nation’s toughest measures, ban semiautomatic assault weapons and “large capacity feeding” devices, though law enforcement officers are exempt from the ban.

In her letter, Healey reminded dealers of the ban.

“At this moment of deep and justifiable anger over gun violence, you have a serious role in ensuring public safety,” she wrote.

She added: “The gun violence epidemic demands our collective action. As responsible gun dealers, I urge you to redouble your commitment to ensuring the safety of your neighbors and ask you to share any ideas you may have to increase gun safety and reduce gun violence.”

Legislators at the State House moved to strengthen the state’s gun laws in 2014 after the Sandy Hook shooting.

The updates included requiring licensed gun dealers to run criminal offender background checks on current and new employees, and post information on suicide awareness and prevention.

The update also required all personal sales and transfers of firearms, rifles and shotguns to be completed through a state gun transaction portal.

“Illegal guns”  … “There are simply too many guns that are too easy to obtain” … “You are selling more weapons to more people at a scale and at a time that demands a heightened vigilance from every dealer and employee.”

Notice the confusion in this language.  She naturally assumes that since more guns are being sold, there must be something illegal going on.  Shocked, she is.  Never heard of the free market, I suppose.  Too easy, says she.  Laws notwithstanding, of course.  Since the laws allow too easy purchase of guns, there are too many of them.  Or, since laws have been “strengthened,” it must be that “illegal” guns are being sold and the law is not being followed.  Or something.

I do indeed understand that progressives are evil, and their desire to control others a reflection of the evil in their heart.  But here there seems to be more at work.  This lady doesn’t impress me as the brightest bulb on the hallway.  In fact, she seems like an unmitigated dumbass to me.  But take note, whether it’s the AG position in Virginia or this AG, executive actions seem to be the current wave of attacks against God-given rights to self defense.

Washington Post:

Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced Tuesday that the commonwealth will no longer recognize out-of-state concealed handgun permits, part of a national push to circumvent legislatures opposed to tightening gun laws.

[ … ]

But Herring’s office could not say how many people are suspected of crossing into Virginia with concealed weapons to commit crimes …

[ … ]

The states losing reciprocity are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Washington Post article comes via Mike Vanderboegh.  As for Mr. Herring, he can’t prove that any crime has ever been committed in Virginia by an out-of-state concealed handgun permit holder, and he knows it.  This is raw politics, progressive statist tactics to deprive men of their right to self defense.  And as we’ve seen before, it’s more than a matter of mere politics, and even more than a matter of rights.  It’s a matter of moral duty.

God expects men to defend themselves and their loved ones as a corollary to being created in His image.  Second amendment or not, men must act to preserve life, their own and that of others.  It is an obligation that attends being servants of the most high God, the only potentate and eternal ruler of the universe.  Your actions, Mr. Herring, go to the heart of God’s expectations for man, and thus there is a deeply moral element to your seemingly political actions.

As I said, we’ve studied this time and time again, and so there is absolutely no question that Mr. Herring is interfering with man’s duty before God and thus has become a stumbling block for God’s chosen people.  There is a whole host of questions and things to consider from this point forward.

For instance, what is the NRA going to do?  If they’re worth two cents, they will go to war over this.  What will Virginia LEOs do?  If they enforce this sinful and unconstitutional law, they are no better than the current Governor and Attorney General Mr. Herring.  I don’t care that those in power want this enforced.  I don’t care that those in power were elected to that office.

Breaking covenant with God’s law means illegitimacy before mankind, and thus their laws must be disobeyed.  I don’t want to hear from LEOs that the people of Virginia should elect better men, different men.  The majority doesn’t have a right to decide when God’s laws are to be dishonored.  If LEOs can’t stand the moral heat, it’s time to get out of the kitchen.  These are weighty questions for weighty times.  What will LEOs do?  Seriously.  LEOs should ponder hard on these words.

But one thing I can do about this is appeal to the most high King over these sinful actions.  In the Christian faith there is a rich tradition of imprecatory prayers, and it’s a tool we don’t use often enough.  It isn’t a substitute for action on our parts, but we must bath everything in prayer.  The last time I prayed an imprecatory prayer it was over Arlen Specter and his support for abortion rights and another candidate who supported abortion rights.  Soon after that prayer, Mr. Specter was diagnosed with cancer and left the senate.  I don’t do this lightly.  But Mr. Herring has forced my hand, and I feel led by the spirit to do this.

“Dear Lord of heaven and earth, whereas Mr. Herring has made it impossible for many of your servants, your children, those for whom your only begotten Son died on a rugged cross, to preserve their lives and the lives of those whom you love, Mr. Herring has declared himself to be your enemy.  Tyrants need willing lieutenants to carry out their evil plans, and Mr. Herring has decided to align himself with the forces of darkness.  This is no small matter to you.

I am hereby constrained by your spirit to pray for his demise.  Bring desolation, destitution and disrepute on the house of Mr. Herring to the fourth and fifth generations.  May his very children and children’s children disavow his beliefs and actions to the fourth and fifth generations.  May Mr. Herring live in shame for what he has done, and I pray that you, oh sovereign Lord, would bring all of his actions to naught and render him impotent and powerless, with the reputation of a worm.”

It’s that time of year again.  Be careful out there.  This is one man’s take.

Though Falls Creek is a short hike, winter is no time to fool with the elements. Read the harrowing account of Mischelle Hileman of Wallowa, who lost both legs to exposure after what was intended to be a 45-minute elk hunt in 2002, if you’re thinking otherwise.

Regardless of the time of year, I always carry matches, kindling, water, a compass, whistle, survival blanket, poncho, flashlight and lots of power bars — and generally the dog. Off-leash Well=behaved dogs are allowed off-leash throughout Eagle Cap.

I have my own list, similar to but slightly more robust than above.  I’ve discussed it before.

550 cord, a tarp or rubberized rain poncho, trekking poles, a gun, water, protein bars, a tactical light, redundant means of fire starting, a small water filtration device or a small container of household bleach, a tactical knife, clothing for warmth (e.g., parka, emergency Mylar thermal blankets), and a compass.

With this simple list you can have shelter, fire, self protection, warmth, light, and ability to stay dry.  And if you’re going out in the woods, stop and buy a lighter or Ferrocerium rod.  Do this whether you’re going in the wilderness for one hour, one afternoon, or one week.  Do it regardless of how long you intend to be in the wilderness.

I’ve also explained what I do for fire when intending to go into the wilderness.  For every night I expect to be in the wild, I put a briquette of match light charcoal and a cotton ball soaked in Vaseline into a waterproof container (one piece of charcoal and one cotton ball for each night).  The cotton ball starts immediately, and helps the charcoal to start within seconds.  This makes fire starting quick in the event that you get wet when it’s cold or in the case of wet wood.

As I’ve implied, with 550 cordage and a poncho or tarp, along with trekking poles, you can have shelter in under two minutes if needed.  With redundant means of fire starting along with charcoal or char-cloth, you can have fire even when everything is wet.  With a parka and mylar blanket, you can have warmth when you need it (I have many parkas, my all-time favorite is Simms).  With a handgun (and an additional magazine or a few loaded moon clips) you have protection, and with a good tactical knife, you have a cutting tool or a chopping tool.  I carry a heavy folder, such as a Ka-Bar Mule, or CRKT M16-14DSFG-Tanto, always something with serrated edge.  Otherwise I carry a Ka-Bar straight edge fighting/utility knife, again, with a serrated edge.

This is my version of ultralight.  This list doesn’t weigh more than 10-15 lbs.  In case I haven’t mentioned it before, unless something has gone badly wrong, I will always have my baby with me, like the writer above.