Articles by Herschel Smith

Kurt Hofmann:

… much of the Mexican drug cartel violence uses weapons–like those so infamously used in France recently–far more powerful than those legally available to most U.S. citizens–machine guns, grenades, rocket launchers, etc. If some handguns and “assault weapons” can so easily cross the U.S./Mexico border going south, heavier weapons can do so coming north, along with all the drugs (and illegal aliens/future Democrat voters).

Perhaps the gun ban zealots should re-think their love of open borders.

Yes, but I don’t think they will.  The collectivist mindset will always reflexively revert to more and more government control, including control over weapons.  The collectivists won’t see the problem as open borders.  They will see the problem as the availability of weapons at all among non-state actors.  Thus, they will push for tighter and tighter control over guns, regardless of the fact that this control has absolutely no effect on criminals.

Mike Vanderboegh sends an open letter to Alan Gottlieb.  Mike has more patience than do I.  I consider Alan to be a lost cause, an irrelevant fixture on the gun control scene, a tool for the collectivist media to exploit.  I’m not depressed, and I am not encouraging you to be a defeatist.  I just don’t think Alan will play a role in the coming festivities.

David Codrea:

The role of citizen disarmament in assuring the killers would succeed was expanded on by Kurt Hofmann in his latest JPFO Alert   …

“Let there be no doubt, we are asking that all weapons will be issued for self-protection only, and to designated personnel that will undergo thorough investigation and training by local authorities,” Margolin continued, essentially revealing he never learned the lesson of Alfred Flatow on the dangers of letting “authorities” determine who they will allow to have guns – and who they will not.  While Margolin is on the right track, he’s on the wrong understanding of what a right is. Certainly European Jews have a right to keep and bear arms, and not just sanctioned designees – it’s a human right, one that’s recognized in the Second Amendment, but not dependent on the Constitution, and not limited to Americans. Likewise, it is not limited to European Jews, and any who presume to withhold or dispense it, that is, to “grant” it, assume the roles of usurpers and tyrants, the very people we’re supposed to have guns to guard against and repel.

I’m sorry to lift so much prose out of the article, but it is involved while still worth the time to read it.  David is emphasizing a theme I’ve pressed before.  I don’t believe in the second amendment.  I believe in God.  The almighty gives me the right to bear arms, and no man can legitimately take it away.  What God has spoken is law for all men, everywhere and in all ages and epochs.

Mike Vanderboegh links a piece where a number of armed women drive off a recent Boko Haram attack.  Well, I guess they aren’t such bad asses after all when facing gun fire, are they?  Pussies, they are?

We’ve covered the AR-15 and its adherents and detractors in The Reliability Of The Eugene Stoner Design and Blaming The Gun For The Battle Losses concerning the battle of Wanat.  In the test shown below, this AR-15 endures a test of greater than 800 rounds in a short duration of time.

We previously covered the ill-advised cartoons done in poor taste promulgated by the CSGV.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse and the CSGV couldn’t go any lower, it does, and they do.

An influential anti-gun group is targeting Clint Eastwood’s potential Oscar nominee “American Sniper,” but it might be the group’s corporate sponsors — including the NFL — that get blasted in the assault.

The Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has given critics of the upcoming movie a Facebook outlet to rant about the subject of the movie, sniper Chris Kyle, killed after the leaving the military and while he was at a gun range with a vet suffering from PTSD.

“Good Riddance,” wrote one. “What goes around comes around,” sneered another.

Kyle is an American hero, a sniper so effective in Iraq that terrorists put a bounty on his head. But the movie is a liberal’s nightmare and the anti-gun coalition’s supporters have been eager to condemn it and keep it out of the Oscar spotlight.

You don’t have to be supportive of any phase of the campaigns Chris Kyle was engaged in to keep from being an ass clown about his death.  I didn’t agree with the initial invasion of Iraq (OIF1, while at the same time taking a different view of OIF2 and OIF3 for reasons explained in previous articles).  I supported the initial stages of our actions in Afghanistan (OEF), while calling for the complete withdrawal of troops when it became obvious we were going to engage in nation building, COIN and stability operations.

All of that is irrelevant except to point out that support for campaigns (or lack thereof) can be a complex thing, even among the military (remember that my son was deployed in Iraq and would have been in Afghanistan had he extended his enlistment – his views on these matters are complex and involved).  But for the CSGV to beclown themselves this way shows what they are truly made of.  Their moral character is despicable and repugnant.  I put them in the same category as Westboro Baptist Church.

NRO’s Corner, Jason Lee Steorts.

I have strong misgivings about proposals, such as those that my esteemed colleague Ian Tuttle presents today, to restrict the number of Muslim immigrants and refugees in the United States. My root objection is that excluding people on the specific basis of their religion is illiberal and inconsistent with the spirit of the founding principles of this country. (Some readers will object that the Founders thought of themselves as establishing a Christian nation. This is a vexed question the plausible answer to which varies with the identity of the Founder. What I find dispositive is that the founding documents themselves eschew any endorsement of or preference toward a particular religion or creed. And apart from this textual matter, I do not think the political principles enshrined in those documents require justification in specifically Judeo-Christian terms.)

Well goodness, if Jason Lee Steorts thinks I’m being illiberal, then perhaps I should rethink my positions.  Actually, most of the original 13 colonies had a formally endorsed denomination of the Christian faith embedded into state law at the time of ratification of the constitution.  I’ve written extensively on the foundation of liberty using men far more learned that Mr. Steorts, such as R. J. Rushdoony and Douglas Kelly, so I won’t rehearse that here.  What Steorts said was short, cryptic, flighty and trivial.  It deserves no more response than I’m giving it here.

But I will point out one thing in particular concerning Muslim migration.  I am under no obligation – legal or moral – to invite people into my country.  I am under no obligation – legal or moral – to allow people into my country and give them the right to vote to take away my liberties.  I am under no obligation – legal or moral – to support and provide for any Muslim anywhere, including this country.  And finally (and I took a beating in comments on this a while back when it came up and I weighed in over other blogs), I am under no obligation – legal or moral – to allow people in this country to have weapons when I don’t think they should be allowed to be here anyway.

This country doesn’t just have a welfare problem (as if I would be more supportive of immigration if only I didn’t have to support the immigrants out of my paycheck).  This country’s religious, cultural, and historical heritage is precious property and earned by blood, sweat and tears, and should not be subject to the vote of men and women who have been raised to hate those ideals.  This country is my property, and I consider all illegal immigrants (and most legal immigrants) to be trespassers who need to be evicted from this property.  Put that in your liberal pipe and smoke it.

David Codrea:

Allowing a citizen’s fundamental rights to be stripped without his having been found guilty of a crime, especially on the say-so of an ex-partner with strong motives, flies in the face not only of due process, but also in terms of the nature of rights, and the powers of government supposedly bound by delegated authority. “Do you know of any other right that that requires a citizen to undergo a compelled interrogation under penalty of perjury as a precondition to receiving (or being denied) permission to exercise it?” writer Don Cline asks … For her part, Giffords has not explained …

Anything.  She hasn’t explained anything at all, except by her actions that she is still a meddling collectivist control freak who is butting into the business of other people.  I am reminded of the comments by reader menckenlite concerning mandatory state review.

Control freaks love psychiatry, a means of social control with no Due Process protections. It is a system of personal opinion masquerading as science. See, e.g., Boston University Psychology Professor Margaret Hagan’s book, Whores of the Court, to see how arbitrary psychiatric illnesses are. Peter Breggin, Fred Baughman and Thomas Szasz wrote extensively about abuses of psychiatry. Liberals blame guns for violence. Conservatives blame mental illness. Neither have any causal connection to violence.

Take a look at what this Ukrainian granny can do.

The government is still trying to financially choke the firearms industry.  You do realize that this administration is full of pathological liars who will say one thing and do another, don’t you?

Chris Murphy on Islamic militants in Paris.  Because he’s a pathetic rube and a tool.

Via Mike Vanderboegh, White House still focusing on domestic “extremists” (because Obama hates America).

The following may (or may not) represent what I carry, depending upon circumstances.

Blackhawk rigger’s belt, Springfield Armory XDm, .45 ACP in UTG soft holster with additional magazine (because I don’t like Kydex), .38 Spl S&W Air Weight revolver with wrap-around ankle holster, Ka-Bar folder with sheath, SOG Flash II folder, old standby Surefire 6P (it has been with me a long time), Streamlight ProTac HL3 (1100 lumen), Oakley sports glasses, prescription.

Not shown, Gerber multi-tool – occasional carry, OC spray (occasional carry), and 550 cord (also occasional carry).  The guns may change depending upon circumstances, but I always try to carry a tactical light on every trip, even to the movie theater as I did not too long ago (especially to the movie theater where it is otherwise dark and high lumen means control of the environment).

The small gun is perfect for the movie theater and grocery store since it is ankle carry, the larger gun (whichever one I carry) is more likely to go outside the waist band (not very often concealed IWB), with the belt.  The 1911 has a more slender profile than the XDm being single stack, and I’ve carried it before, as well as other pistols (I prefer to shoot the 1911 to anything else due to balance and profile).  Sometimes it (the larger handgun) will stay in the car, meaning that I have only a single gun, with a tactical folder as backup.

Given the state of affairs today, everyone ought to think hard about what they carry for self defense and protection of their family.  I consider this battle rattle to be very soft and luxurious.  When conditions become steadily worse as the economy collapses, this will necessarily change with the times.

As a followup to Blaming The Gun For The Battle Losses, WeaponsMan posted an interesting response.

… we think he’s missing the degree to which the terrain favored the enemy, and we think he’s missing the very-close nature of some of the enemy positions. True, some of the crew-serveds were 900 meters out, but a lot of bad guys were within 100 meters, in trees, buildings and behind cob walls. It was a knife fight, compounded by the fact that the enemy alone had good covered and concealed firing positions.

Then, there’s one minor point where he’s off on a factual item: he suggests they should have had DMRs armed and designated. They did, but the only one on OP Topside was killed instantly, in the first enemy volley; he had no chance to employ his M21 (a sniper-fied M14). Topside was well equipped with machine guns (2 x 240 and 1 x 249)… and well-supplied with valor.

Topside’s crappy position didn’t offer good cover, concealment, observation, and fields of fire — only to the enemy. It was a lousy position for an OP, for MGs, or for snipers. But the officer that picked it was concerned that it would have direct line-of-sight to the main position so that it could be reinforced (or withdrawn) if need be.

Well, it’s difficult if not impossible to mention everything at one time in a single article.  I did indeed mention terrain, and in multiple previous posts.  I suppose there was a way that a VPB could have worked at that location, but they would have had to find a way to mitigate the advantage they offered to the enemy with the choice of terrain.  They didn’t.  Similar to WeaponsMan, I was highly critical of the way Topside was chosen and manned.

As to the DMs, I suppose I could make myself clearer than I did in the previous article.  I am not saying that they didn’t have DMs.  I am saying that they should have had multiple DMs.  Marine Battalions deploy with an entire Scout Sniper platoon, while at the same time having DMs in the other platoons.  My son was a DM even though he was a SAW gunner, meaning that he had gone through all of the shooting qualifications Scout Snipers do, without the field testing for ingress, concealment, and egress.  Daniel told me he thought he lacked the discipline for that (one Scout Sniper told me that during field testing he inadvertently crawled on top of a red ant hill, was bitten hundreds of times, but had to remain still in order not to be detected).

Continuing at WeaponsMan:

The Paratroopers at Wanat were thrown into a buzzsaw by well-intentioned and bold commanders, who thought they could get away with it just long enough for the small element there to build a secure COP. (Remember, they opened it on the 9th of July and neck-deep in malignant hadjis on the 13th, with the position still in the hasty-establishment mode). Other Taliban assaults in Nuristan had taken longer before the enemy massed, up to a month. And these prior attacks had displayed specific indicators, you might say signatures, and American leaders worked on the assumption that they had about the same time before an attack at Wanat was an enemy capability, and the assumption that they again would receive these indicators and signatures of enemy positioning. As it happened, Wanat appears to have been closer to home for the insurgents, and they didn’t generate the distinct signatures that they had done before other attacks like the one on COP Bella.

Oh, but there’s much more to it than that.

The meetings with tribal and governmental officials to procure territory for VPB Wanat went on for about one year, and one elder privately said to U.S. Army officers that given the inherent appearance of tribal agreement with the outpost, it would be best if the Army simply constructed the base without interaction with the tribes. As it turns out, the protracted negotiations allowed AAF (anti-Afghan forces, in this case an acronym for Taliban, including some Tehrik-i-Taliban) to plan and stage a complex attack well in advance of turning the first shovel full of sand to fill HESCO barriers.

VPB Wanat did indeed have concertina wire, HESCO barriers and other means of force protection, but in every direction the base was on the low ground. One particularly fateful decision was the construction and garrisoning of Observation Post “Top Side,” which sat on slightly higher ground to the East of VPB Wanat.

Just before the battle began on July 12, 2008, troops from VPB Wanat observed men they believed to be enemy combatants positioning and preparing for battle, but consistent with a theme here at The Captain’s Journal, decision-making is not given latitude in these circumstances (e.g., no PID, not actively engaged in hostilities against U.S. troops at the time, or whatever the case – this portion of the report is redacted …

I have contrasted this practice with how the Marines have done it under the umbrella and command structure of the MAGTF (this URL is cited on page 255 of the Cubbison report), and while I don’t know how the VPB at Wanat was constructed (by a contractor like KBR?), it could have be accomplished much sooner.  This failure was a catalyst for the massing of enemy forces.

Let’s return to OP Topside for a moment to mention one very important fact.  “Under different circumstances, i.e., rapid base construction and deployment of the troops, VPB Wanat might have been much more successful and would have been advisable.  It might have been things that occurred one year prior to manning the base that doomed it.  I also believe that the physical location of OP (Observation Post) Top Side with its lack of control over the surrounding terrain, was extremely ill advised.  Had an OP been needed and a good site not located, VPB Wanat might have had to be constructed in a different location.  Remember that eight of the nine who perished that fateful night did so either defending or attempting to relieve OP Top Side.”

David Codrea:

With body numbers described as “too many to count,” but with estimates ranging from “hundreds” to “2,000,” mass murders in Nigeria are being described by Amnesty International as “the deadliest massacre” in the history of the Boko Haram terror group.

“Most victims are children, women and elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on town residents,” the Associated Press reported a government official claiming.

David then goes on to describe the gun control in Nigeria, and states “Nigeria appears to be a land where the results of such “progressive” policies should be evident for all to see and emulate.”  Read all of David’s article.

And gun control has indeed been one of the catalysts for the rise of Islamic extremism.  I have long lamented the failure of men and women to arm themselves against Islamists, Christians in particular who falsely believe that Biblical theology requires pacifism, noting that it is a moral failure to ignore the protection of family and self.

But make no mistake about it, these are heavier weapons, perhaps some ever crew serve weapons, and arming with rifles and pistols wouldn’t have stopped the assault on the city.  But what being armed would do is stop them before they become strong enough to perpetrate such a ghastly attack.

An example of such aggressive use of force can be seen in the history of the Ethiopian Army in Somalia, where they have had measurable success against the Islamists.  The “Christian” army of Ethiopia has no intention of allowing Muslims to savage their people, and they are willing to take action before it is too late to secure those ends.

Individual and segregated actions cannot achieve security against an organized enemy using heavy weapons.  This requires family, tribe and militia, all of which are armed and willing to take the hard measures necessary to kill a determined enemy.

That there are men who allow women, children and the elderly to perish while they run away scared doesn’t bode well for the future of Nigeria.  For men who believe there is nothing after death – that a body cools to ambient temperature and there is nothing more – running away scared may make sense.  For Christians, there are more important things that staying alive because death is just the beginning of our life in eternity.

And finally, don’t be fooled by the recent Islamic violence in France.  The Islamists don’t really care about cartoons in the face of more important things.  They just can’t find anyone left in France who believes anything to attack.  Now, if they hear Christians with one voice, saying something like this:

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended into hell;

on the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;

from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy christian Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting. Amen.

Then the real enemy of Islam has spoken.  Islam is darkness, and it cannot abide the light.  Since it cannot abide the light, it won’t allow a marketplace of ideas where truth can be discerned from falsehood.  Arm yourselves.  Prepare to do battle.  It’s coming whether you know it or not.

The Gazette:

There’s a mantra quickly repeating in my head: “Please have a badge. Please have a badge. Please have a badge.” It’s a steady heartbeat as I begin a conversation with a shop clerk and reposition myself so I can peer over her shoulder.

I’ve already seen the bulge in his jacket, and it’s clear from the size and shape that he has a holstered gun. Now my eyes are quickly scanning, hoping to find a law enforcement badge clipped to his belt.

I’m in a local bookstore and there’s a sticker near the door asking patrons not to carry weapons on the premises. My two children scurried off the moment we entered, each in search of their own treasures.

The man with the weapon is as interested with the bookstore patrons as he is with the books on display. I’ve watched him watch others. The way he tracks them is unnerving.

I do not know this man, have no knowledge of his profession, personality or character. I am unaware of his mental state, of why he feels the need to carry a weapon into a bookstore. Frankly, I’m not that interested in his reasons right now. My mind is too busy filtering through the various scenarios that could be taking place. They flick before me like movie trailers, and I watch, casting some aside and mentally marking others for further consideration.

There’s no badge — at least not one I can see. And my inspection of him has not gone unnoticed. I rotate my handbag so that more of it rests toward the front of my body and gently pat it. It’s a tell by women who are packing heat in their purse. Many do it without thinking, a subtle check of hard steel through the leather. My touch is greeted by the bristles on my hairbrush, but no one else knows that.

The man recognizes the gesture, his eyes briefly flicking to my own before he moves past us in the aisle.

Poor Lynda.  I think she needs to purchase and learn to use a gun.  That way she won’t be bothered by bristles on hair brush when she is reaching for means of self defense.

In other news, a Deputy Sheriff’s gun just “went off” in Walmart recently.

In still other news, a police chief shot his wife.

A police chief in Georgia told a 911 dispatcher he accidentally shot his sleeping wife while moving a handgun that was in their bed, according to a recording released Friday.

Peachtree City police Chief William McCollom called for help at 4:17 a.m. New Year’s Day and reported accidentally shooting his 58-year-old wife, Margaret, while they both slept. The Associated Press obtained a recording of the call Friday through an open records request. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting.

You know it’s “funny.”  I’ve never lost a rifle, had a gun “accidentally go off,” shot anyone in the back, wanted to shoot dogs, or been tempted to shoot my wife or anyone else.

David Codrea:

I understand some have differences, but those are not with JPFO itself, and that’s important enough for me not to automatically abandon my inclination to do what I can to help the organization survive, thrive and grow. If you don’t agree, I’ll not waste any more of your time trying to persuade you. Stop reading and go in peace. This message is intended for those of you who would like to join me in doing what we can to help this entity called JPFO.

I’ve already stated my position.  I align myself with people, not organizations.  I don’t have a lot of money to donate, but I have a Google page rank of 5.  I want to assist David Codrea and Kurt Hofmann.  If that means that I assist JPFO in the process, then so be it.

David Codrea:

In order to counter the well-financed propaganda effort, Nevadans for State Gun Rights has created a fact sheet that presents counter-arguments to those voters are being exposed to, and that warns against the loss of rights should they heed what the Bloomberg coalition is trying to make them believe. Supporters who object to and wish to respond to Sen. Smith’s Everytown talking point-parroting “editorial” can submit letters to the Gazette-Journal being careful to observe the paper’s requirements, including limiting them to 200 words.

This is simple folks.  Do what needs to be done and the gun controllers can be defeated.  Don’t be knots on a log.  Stop watching idiot TV sitcoms at night.  Spend time doing something useful (I know, my readers don’t watch idiot shows anyway, and they’re busy people.  Still, please add Nevada into your do-list over the coming weeks and months.  Patriots there need you.).

In case you haven’t read Kurt Hofmann’s latest at JPFO, please do so.  I previously linked this piece.

Mike Vanderboegh links an article on supply of the Ukrainian military.  I’ve discussed this before, and you know I’m a sucker for logistics.

Mike Vanderboegh says we are not all Charlie.  Hmm … I think Ned Weatherby said something just like that here.

Mike Vanderboegh, all over America, the government is cracking down on preppers.  Wood stoves are mentioned again.  The EPA is as out of control as I’ve ever seen anyone or any organization.  The regulations on stoves are immoral and obscene and the EPA doesn’t have a God-given right to tell people how they may heat their home.  Thus I recommend disobeying those regulations since, being immoral, they have no binding obligation on men.