Articles by Herschel Smith

ProPublica:

The morning after the Sandy Hook shootings, Shannon Watts, a mother of five and a former public relations executive, started a Facebook page called “One Million Moms for Gun Control.” It proved wildly popular and members quickly focused on renewing the federal ban on military style assault weapons.

“We all were outraged about the fact that this man could use an AR-15, which seemed like a military grade weapon, and go into an elementary school and wipe out 26 human beings in less than five minutes,” Watts said.

Nearly two years later, Watts works full-time as the head of the group, now named Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, is a significant player in a coalition financed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But while polls suggest a majority of Americans still support an assault weapons ban, it is no longer one of Watts’ top priorities.

“We’ve very much changed our strategy to focus on public safety measures that will save the most lives,” she told ProPublica.

It’s not just that the ban proved to be what Watts calls a “nonstarter” politically, gaining fewer votes in the Senate post-Sandy Hook than background check legislation. It was also that as Watts spoke to experts and learned more about gun violence in the United States, she realized that pushing for a ban isn’t the best way to prevent gun deaths.

A 2004 Justice Department-funded evaluation found no clear evidence that the decade-long ban saved any lives. The guns categorized as “assault weapons” had only been used in about 2 percent of gun crimes before the ban. “Should it be renewed,” the report concluded, “the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”

With more information, Watts decided that focusing on access to guns, not types of guns, was a smarter approach. She came to the same conclusion that other gun control groups had reached even before the Sandy Hook shootings: “Ultimately,” she said, “what’s going to save the most lives are background checks.”

So in other words, we (the control freaks) lost, we were wrong, and we admit it.  Or perhaps we don’t admit it so much as we have to give a reason for our “pivot” to universal background checks.  But we all know why you’re interested in that.

The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing. This is the only thing that we can possibly do to keep our children safe from both mass murder and common street violence.

Unfortunately, right now we can’t. The political will is there, but the institutions are not. Honestly, this is a good thing. If we passed a law tomorrow banning all firearms, we would have massive noncompliance. What we need to do is establish the regulatory and informational institutions first. This is how we do it.  The very first thing we need is national registry. We need to know where the guns are, and who has them.

But you’ve tried that one too.  You lost.  And you’ll lose again, and even if you won, it wouldn’t have any more effect than does your much heralded assault weapons ban.

Because this isn’t about guns and safety and you know it.  As for your pivot, bring it.  ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ.

An open letter concerning TrackingPoint from an anti-gunner:

On August 20, 2014, the National Gun Victims Action Council issued a press release calling for a ban of “Smart Scope” Military-Style Precision-Guided sniper rifles, manufactured by Texas-based TrackingPoint, from being sold to the public. These weapons, legally sold to civilians, allow even people who have never fired a gun to hit a target the size of a soup can from 1,000 yards away every time—that’s 10 football fields or over half a mile.

Promptly, the pro-gun outlets guns.com, Outdoor Life and Ammoland and Lee Williams of the Herald-Tribune issued pleas for sympathy and “understanding” for this weapon while non-gun extremists remained chillingly silent.

“If we start banning technology like this, what’s next? What scope is next? What firearm is next,” whined poor, victimized TrackingPoint in Williams’ Sept. 2 Herald-Tribune column. “We have to stand together to prevent this kind of erosion of our constitutional rights.”

And stand together they did. We, at NGVAC, received an enormous amount of email from followers of these outlets, explaining how ignorant we are, what a threat to the sanctity and security of our country we represent and how our “gun grabbing” legislation-driven agenda violates “constitutional rights.”

None of the defenders of the “can’t miss” Military-Style Precision-Guided Sniper rifle addressed its dangers to the public’s safety and indeed the safety of our public spaces or the fact that the weapon has no legitimate purpose such as self-defense or hunting by “real” hunters who rely on skill.

So if you’d never heard of Charles Whitman, didn’t know how to shoot a rifle, didn’t know how to use a scope, and didn’t know anything about how effective a bad guy can be with even rudimentary weaponry, and if you thought the second amendment was about hunting, and if you didn’t think much at all about amelioration of active shooter situations, you might write something like this.  But we all know better.

My problem with TrackingPoint has nothing whatsoever to do with how good they supposedly are.  First of all, such gadgetry is too expensive for me.  If I can purchase half a dozen high end rifles and scopes for the money I would pay for TrackingPoint products, I’ll just take the rifles and scopes, thank you very much.

Second, remember what TrackingPoint gave up when they sold out gun owners.

“Developed by military experts and over forty engineers, TrackingPoint precision guided firearms virtually eliminate shooter error,” the ad claims. “Their Tag-Track-Xact system more than doubles the proficiency of a skilled shooter by maximizing accuracy, taking into account a slew of variables such as wind speed, air pressure, and temperature. Such unprecedented accuracy enables shots at distances many shooters have never before attempted – up to 1200 yards.”

What’s not to like?

Well, while the right hand is providing American riflemen (albeit well-heeled ones, if you take a look at some of their prices) a chance to apply for one of their limited supply systems, the left hand is urging the government to adopt its patented technology for the Holy Grail behind the ultimate purpose of so-called “smart guns,” the ability for “authorities” to turn them off. Automatically.

“TrackingPoint patents technique to disable guns near schools and ‘gun free zones,’” Steve Johnson of The Firearm Blog reported on Tuesday.

“The invention uses a GPS or mobile phone towers to determine location, sensors to determine orientation and a mobile/radio network connection to download a list of’ ‘gun free’ locations from a central database,” he explained. “Tracking Point Chairman John] McHale suggests that a ‘Gun Free Zone’ database could be maintained by the BATFE.”

Right.  Just give up control over your weapon to the ATF.  Sounds like a plan to me.  You too can get started for just under $10,000.

David Codrea:

Regular readers of this column know it is one of the few venues, following a lead established by Gun Owners of America, warning that the administration’s position — that those who have violated U.S. immigration and residency laws have “earned” the right to citizenship — will lead to an increase of millions of Democrat voters and a political threat to the right to keep and bear arms.

But forget what GOA says, and about past columns here, and again let’s focus solely on that which simply is. To do that, let’s again reference the AP report.

“Hispanics make up nearly 70 percent of the district that she seeks to represent, and nationally, Latinos overwhelmingly support Democrats,” it observes.

And nationally, aside from individual voting records which can be consulted, and aside from being the party from which the overwhelming majority of “gun control” measures are demanded, the official Democrat platform calls for “reasonable regulations … like reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole.”

Torres is in lockstep with that program.

I’m glad David has focused on this again.  It bears repeating.  Hispanics and Latinos will vote progressive because that’s their world view.

“For historical reasons to do with the nationalisation of the land under Lázaro Cárdenas and the predominant form of peasant land tenure, which was “village cooperative” rather than based on individual plots, the demand for “land to the tiller” in Mexico does not imply an individual plot for every peasant or rural worker or family. In Mexico, collectivism among the peasantry is a strong tradition … one consequence of these factors is that the radical political forces among the rural population are on the whole explicitly anti-capitalist and socialist in their ideology. Sometimes this outlook is expressed in support for guerilla organisations; but struggle movements of the rural population are widespread, and they spontaneously ally with the most militant city-based leftist organisations.”

One of the reasons for this reflexive alignment with leftism has to do with the the mid-twentieth century and what the Sovient Union and allied ideologies accomplished.  South and Central America was the recipient or receptacle for socialism draped in religious clothing, or in other words, liberation theology.  Its purveyors were Roman Catholic priests who had been trained in Marxism, and they were very successful in giving the leftists a moral platform upon which to build.  This ideology spread North from South and Central America into Mexico, and thus the common folk in Mexico are quite steeped in collectivist ideology from battles that were fought decades ago.

But just to rehearse the events that are occurring at breakneck speed, the GOP is about to be swamped with two million democratic voters.  There is a growing backlog at the immigration courts.

The backlog of pending deportation cases in federal immigration court has risen to nearly 400,000 amid a crush of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families caught crossing the Mexican border illegally this year, according an analysis of court data released Friday.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University said in its latest report that as of the end of July, 396,552 cases were pending in the Justice Department’s 59 immigration courts. TRAC collects and studies a variety of federal prosecution records.

Cartels are taking over the border, and illegals have been recently responsible for kidnapping and extortion on American soil.

So in addition to ensuring that the civil war the progressives demand occurs, they are adding voters to the rolls to ensure that America is disarmed.  On one side are the bankers, politicians, DEA, DHS, DOJ, ATF, EPA and BLM, and on the other side is you.

Whatever fights you think we’ve had over guns until this point will prove to be skirmishes.  Hard times are coming, and the notion of ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ will take on new meaning.

So says a real estate agent who is afraid of guns:

I am not in favor of real estate agents bringing guns to work, unlike my colleague Trey Garrison.

First and foremost, let me issue a positioning statement on guns. I recognize that we live in a scary world full of scary people. Realtors, real estate agents, brokers, and others have every right, duty, and responsibility to protect themselves.

But count me among those who think that the answer to gun violence is not introducing more guns into the equation.

That argument has never made any sense to me. It’s like saying we can defeat heart disease by eating more cheeseburgers.

The real answer is making sure we live in a safer world. I’ve often said that the world would be a better place if guns didn’t exist at all. Maybe that’s naïve or narrow-minded, but it’s what I believe.

But I also recognize that I’m fighting an uphill battle when I argue that all guns should disappear. Despite my pie-in-the-sky ramblings, I certainly appreciate and understand the rights granted to all U.S. citizens by the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights is something that I hold very dearly. I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if the First Amendment didn’t exist. But I also recognize that the founding fathers couldn’t possibly have predicted that we’d live in a world when a 20-year-old man can walk into an elementary school and brutally murder 20 young children and six adults in a few minutes.

In 50 years, will we think of this time like we think of the Wild West? It seems like some folks won’t be happy until we can all carry a handgun in a holster on our hip wherever we go.

If I see a stranger carrying a gun, I turn and run. I don’t feel safer.

But as I said before, I recognize that we live in a scary world and we all have to protect ourselves. Some people work in professions where they’re more prone to encounter bad people with bad intentions.

Hear that, ladies?  Some professions are just more dangerous than others, and since you chose real estate, you are at greater risk of being raped.  That’s just the way it is.  Got it?

Actually, I thought of just such an instance near my home town, where a female real estate agent was recently raped while at “showing” home.

The real estate agent says he choked her, pulled out a knife, and raped her inside a home she was scheduled to show him in Salisbury Tuesday.  The two then drive to a second house in Granite Quarry where the agent convinced Cooper to allow her to call her office.  She gave a secret code that told coworkers she was in danger.

“As a woman, you’re supposed to be safe.  Period,” said Salisbury resident Hattie Johnson.  “Especially if a person was assaulted and they were on their jobs, they’re doing their job… it’s scary.”

No, you aren’t supposed to be safe, period!  Despite the idiotic ramblings of Mr. Social Darwin above who thinks we are constantly evolving to a higher state (perhaps he has watched too many episodes of Star Trek), nothing you do can change the heart of man.  You must carry means of personal defense.

Or, if you wish instead to listen to Mr. Social Darwin above, he would rather you be raped.  Perhaps he even takes pleasure in the fact that you lack the means to protect yourself in some sort of sick way.  Make up your own mind.

Literally, if they have their way.

Defund.com:

A mob of Wisconsin teens attempted to rob a group of adults in Milwaukee only to be shot at by a West Allis man carrying a concealed carry weapon.

Police say that a group of teens attempted to rob a group of adults when one of the men pulled out his gun and began shooting at the teens.

He fatally shot one of the robbers, a 15-year-old known gang member who was already the victim of another non-fatal shooting on August 1.

The teen had previously been charged with armed robbery, auto theft, theft, and fleeing.

 Police have arrested another two 14-year-old males, a 16-year-old male, a 17-year-old female, and an 18-year-old male.

Police say this particular group is responsible for multiple armed robberies that have recently hit Milwaukee. Police say the group may be responsible for “dozens” of robberies over just the past three days.

“This is criminals that are running around the city creating opportunities for them to rob people all over and this was just the timing,” Alderman Jose Perez said. “This has nothing to do with the district or the neighborhood.”

The Daily Caller reports that a “similar incident involving a Milwaukee robbery gang occurred in July. A nurse carrying a concealed carry permit shot a 15-year-old assailant as he and a 17-year-old accomplice attempted to steal her car. During the investigation it was discovered that the two teens had been involved in previous armed robberies that involved numerous others.”

Whether it’s due to a “group of adults” or a nurse who trying to get to work or back, if enough thugs get shot, there will be no more thugs.  The solution to the problem of crime is to kill the criminals.

Chicago Reader:

“The gun violence in this city is the result of lax gun laws, period,” McCarthy said after a bloody weekend this spring. “It couldn’t be more clear what we need to do.”

[ … ]

Before the movers and shakers of the City Club, McCarthy summarized that whole backstory by noting, “The African-American community is very concerned about mass incarceration.”

But he also said he understood why: “The war on drugs has been a failure.”

Not so long ago, that would have been a bold statement by a big-city police chief. But increasingly it’s smart politics to acknowledge the unsustainable costs of locking up drug offenders, if not the racial and economic disparities in who’s punished. And around here Mayor Emanuel and his police chief have trailed other elected officials in calling for reforms.

In fact, it’s sometimes unclear which side of the drug issue McCarthy hasn’t taken. He’s described the police approach to the drug trade as a “ground war” that’s meant to prevent violence—and, at the same time, he’s said that the police can’t solve what’s fundamentally an economic issue.

“Law enforcement will never fix the narcotics problem in this country,” McCarthy said Wednesday. “But we can use narcotics enforcement to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in the community.”

He pointed out that drug offenders outnumber gun offenders at the county jail by more than five to one.

“If the system is designed to put people in jail for narcotics possession, then we’re doing a really good job. But if the system were designed to keep people from getting shot, then those numbers would tip, wouldn’t they?”

McCarthy seemed conscious of it this time. “Jobs, poverty, lack of education are certainly cornerstones of what causes crime. But it’s going to take decades to fix them. We can do something about gun laws very simply with a conversation.”

On this point, at least, he is quite clear.

It’s the drugs.  No, wait!  It’s not the drugs, we’re making drugs too important.  It’s an “economic issue.”  No, wait!  It’s guns.  No, wait!  It’s jobs, poverty and lack of education that causes crime and mass incarceration.  No, wait!  Since I really don’t have an answer, it must be the guns.  Let’s have more onerous gun laws.  That will fix it.

So there you have it folks.  It’s obscene to watch, I know, secularists and progressives trying to plan society and engineer solutions to problems that they don’t understand.  It’s really a pitiful sight to see.

The best information comes not from what Garry McCarthy has to say, but what one commenter has to say about McCarthy.

Reprinted from NYPD Rants via Newark Speaks.com:

1. Gary McCarthy was found “guilty” in March 2006 over an traffic altercation he had in 2005 with two New Jersey police officers. A traffic court judge ruled that Gary McCarthy had blocked vehicular traffic with his police-issued car while he and his wife confronted two plainclothes members of the Palisades Interstate Police at a gas station along the Palisades Interstate Parkway. The officers in question had just issued a summons to McCarthy’s 19-year-old daughter, who was driving another car and became verbally confrontational toward the two police officers whom in essence were enforcing the law. When Gary McCarthy had arrived on scene he was clearly irate and violently confrontational and had to be grabbed by the two police officers whom also confiscated McCarthy’s firearm and handcuffed him as well as restrained his wife when she attempted to grab the gun from the two police officers. The judge fined McCarthy $200 for blocking traffic.

NOTE: Had this incident occurred in New York City to an NYPD Police Officer the individual in question would be charged with Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, Obstruction of Governmental Administration, Assault on a Police Officer, and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon. That is not even including the possibility of driving while intoxicated. Now mind you that is just the charges faced by an average civilian. McCarthy was acting as representative of the New York City Police Department so imagine when the next incident occurs, in what capacity is he going to be acting in Newark Police Director?

A not-so-pleased Garry.
2. McCarthy’s wife Regina – was charged with “unreasonable noise” – when she verbally abused and cursed at the Palisades Park Police during the entire incident. Most disturbing is the fact that she had attempted to retrieve Gary McCarthy’s confiscated firearm from an Official Police Vehicle while Gary McCarthy was fighting with one officer. Regina McCarthy had to be physically thrown to the ground as she fought with the officer over the firearm and rear cuffed face down on the ground. My question is what was her intention if she had obtained complete control of that weapon which was a 9mm handgun? Was she going to shoot the officers, break Gary McCarthy free, or just hold the officers at gun point? That is a very, very, frightening thought to comprehend!

3. McCarthy acknowledged he had had two glasses of wine at dinner hours before, but said he was not drunk. He also acknowledged that it was Regina who had backed the NYPD’s black Ford Explorer into the gas station against oncoming traffic. My question here is why was a non-certified civilian driving an “Official NYPD Police Vehicle” when she was not trained by the NYPD Drivers Training Unit as required by the NYPD Patrol Guide for all Line and Duty Officers? The bottom-line is she had no permission to operate the said vehicle! Is she going to be doing this with Newark Police Vehicles as well?

4. When the New Jersey Officers in question tried to calm Gary McCarthy, McCarthy only became more irate and confrontational and told the officers when they informed him that they were going to arrest him for gun possession McCarthy replied; ” “Knock yourself out.” Here is a man whom has no respect for police officers when he himself is an executive level law enforcement official in the worlds largest police department. How can men under him respect him? They certainly did not in the NYPD that is for certain.

Happy Garry. His wife Regina is out of town, perhaps?
5. McCarthy acknowledged that he had cursed in retaliation, that he had disregarded Regina’s advice to leave the scene when they realized that the Palisade Park Police were giving him more than ample warning to leave the scene before it escalated. He added that that one point a Detective Rossi threatened to put McCarthy “through the system,” while saying of his career, “Twenty-four years down the drain. How does it feel?”

6. McCarthy had also lied and denied a report that he had been reprimanded by the NYPD after he had gotten into an physical altercation with a off duty NYPD Sergeant at a cop bar in the Bronx on City Island the night he was appointed deputy commissioner.

On a separate incident McCarthy who was also out drunk again on City Island one evening was shooting out street lights with two other police officers one of whom was McCarthy’s brother whom is a New York State Trooper.

When McCarthy was confronted by an NYPD Sgt concerning the shooting incident McCarthy had retaliated against the officer later on who insisted on pursuing the shooting incident as a criminal matter. Needless to say the incident was quietly swept under the rug by the NYPD!

7. Gary McCarthy spent two days in a New Jersey traffic court in an attempt to explain away the circumstances that led to his being disarmed, handcuffed, and arrested. It is estimated that McCarthy had spent about $7500 on legal fees and court costs concerning the traffic violation. When confronted by reporters outside the courtroom McCarthy glared at the reporters for about five seconds before uttering the words through clenched teeth, “Get away!”

8. The traffic incident might not have even occurred had Gary McCarthy done nothing instead of intervened after his teenage daughter Kyla was ticketed for parking illegally in a handicapped zone on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in February 2005. The Palisades police officers who ticketed Kyla and later arrested McCarthy and his wife Regina testified they told Kyla that if she brought a handicapped parking placard to court, they would recommend her ticket be dismissed.

My goodness.  It just keeps going on from there.  I didn’t reproduce all of the comment.  None of it is surprising.  McCarthy sounds like a typical totalitarian to me.

California Healthline:

On Wednesday, a group of California mayors sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) urging him to sign a bill (AB 1014) that would allow temporary restraining orders to prevent individuals who are suspected of having mental health issues or who are potentially violent from purchasing or possessing guns, the Los Angeles Times‘ “PolitiCal” reports (McGreevy, “PolitiCal,” Los Angeles Times, 9/3).

If signed, the bill would take effect on Jan. 1, 2016 (O’Neill, “KPCC News,” KPCC, 9/3).

The bill, by Assembly members Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) and state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), would allow family members and friends to contact law enforcement if they believe an individual could be a threat to themselves or others, and officers then could ask a judge for the temporary restraining order.

[ … ]

Meanwhile, Gun Owners of California Executive Director Sam Paredes voiced concerns about the measure being used in an unintended manner. He said the restraining orders could end up being used as a legal “weapon or tool by those who want to cause harm … or discomfort” to individuals who own guns (“KPCC News,” KPCC, 9/3).

Eric Wooten, president of the Liberal Gun Owners Association, said the measure also could be an “enormous disincentive” for gun owners to seek mental health and substance misuse treatment.

Oh, and I’m absolutely certain that no one will ever use said latitude to settle squabbles, right?  Read it again.  “Family members and friends.”  Does that sound rather broad to you?

Besides, it’s a myth that violence can be correlated to mental health, and it’s prejudiced to think so.  And as I’ve quoted before, here is reader menckenlite on psychiatry.

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. The issue is criminal conduct, crime. Suggesting that persons with legal disabilities are criminals shows the nonsensical argument of this politician and his fellow control freaks.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The Blaze:

A Oregon-based gun maker said Thursday that it has been blocked from processing credit card transactions by its long-standing credit card company, and believes it is the latest victim of the Obama administration’s “Operation Choke Point.”

The Obama administration has said Choke Point lets the Departments of Justice and Treasury crack down on illegal businesses by blocking their access to banks and other parts of the U.S. financial system.

Calico Light Weapons Systems believes it is the latest victim of the administration’s overreach. In a statement released Thursday, Chris Holmgren, the company’s owner, says he was unexpectedly warned in mid-July that his credit card processor would have to close his account due to “illegal activities.”

Firearms producers are prohibited by law from selling guns over the Internet. But Holmgren says his company does not sell guns online, and only sells certain parts.

“The [credit card] company thought that I sold firearms over the Internet, which I do not,” he said. “My company only sells parts online, like screws, washers, and other soft goods.”

After several phone calls to his credit card processor, Intuit Merchant Service, Holmgren was told a “policy change” related to “illegal activities” is what was forcing Intuit to close Calico’s account.

Holmgren said that his company later indicated it would re-open his account, but said this has not happened yet.

“I am certain that this is the work of Operation Choke Point, and that my company was targeted because it is considered a ‘high risk’ by the Department of Justice and FDIC, even though we do nothing illegal,” he said.

First of all, to all of the idiots who think it’s illegal to sell guns online, let’s deal with this once and for all.  It’s not illegal to sell guns online.  Got it?  Guns can be purchased and sent to anyone who can successfully complete form 4473, done at the time of receipt at the FFL to whom the gun is shipped.  So let’s stomp that red herring into the ground please.

Second, let’s please end the unconstitutional thuggery of targeting law abiding businessmen with the power of the government because those currently in power happen to dislike the business.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Obama and Holder were a bunch of evil, totalitarian, collectivist, communist members of a criminal cartel from Chicago.

Prior: Sun Trust Bank Implementing Operation Choke Point

David links a comment on his piece at Guns Magazine:

Sorry but like many have already said, you should know the laws of the states you travel through. Even as a sheriff’s officer when I go to another state on personal business I call ahead to the town I am going to and ask if there are any laws I need to know about, or if I should just leave my gun home. Pennsylvanians aren’t very smart to begin with, so I am not surprised by this story. I don’t think she should do time in jail, but a nice heavy fine would work. What the hell do you need hollow points for in the first place? You planning on shooting a cop through a vest?

First of all, personal defense ammunition doesn’t penetrate soft body armor (Kevlar).  Even FMJ or MC ammunition (ball ammo) doesn’t penetrate soft body armor unless it’s high velocity like 5.7 X 28.  Second, HR 218 allows sworn LEOs to carry weapons across state lines regardless of any other considerations (not that it should if our rights aren’t similarly recognized).  I doubt that the commenter is a LEO.  That would make the person a liar.

David Codrea:

How the gun owner community will react to the merger remains to be seen. At this writing, it does not appear those opposed to the acquisition are doing anything other than expressing strengthened resolve, while those intent on helping JPFO through the transition remain hopeful. Based on interest expressed in limited venues where the development is being discussed, it appears many are either unaware or else unconcerned.

So it’s a done deal.  You know my views on this.  I don’t have relationships with corporations.  I do with people.  I’ll wait until David and Kurt tell me their experiences with this arrangement.  I’m in a holding pattern and will continue to link those individuals to whom I’m committed.  I have no commitment to organizations.

More on the vulnerability of the electrical grid.  You do understand, don’t you, who was first to discuss the vulnerability of the larger step up transformers (nearly four years ago now), and who (Bob Owens) was first to discuss the vulnerability of the smaller, lower voltage infrastructure?  And we didn’t even get paid for it.