Articles by Herschel Smith

These observations by Andrew Tuohy have been floating across the gun web for a couple of days.  I have to quote at length, although the entire post is worth reading, as are the comments.

Last year, I was sitting at home when my doorbell rang. Two polite and professional ATF agents informed me that the number of firearms I had purchased from 2007 to 2010 did not match my income. I was disappointed to learn that this fact did not come with some sort of prize or award, but suddenly wondered how they knew what I had purchased. They knew of 5 AR receivers transferred to me on one 4473 (in 2010), for which no background check had been performed. I told them that those receivers, along with most of the firearms I had transferred to me during that time, were provided for free by manufacturers for T&E purposes, and told them about my blog.

When later I asked the FFL about that transaction record, they told me that the ATF had audited their records but didn’t appear to have copied any information – although that is literally the only way they could have known about those five receivers or even the transaction itself. The receivers came from two different manufacturers, and the only time they appeared together was on that 4473, which is supposed to be only retrieved by the ATF if there is a need to trace a specific transaction (and there was no need to trace that transaction). Federal law prohibits their doing so.

A friend was recounting an ATF audit at his gun store, and mentioned that the agents were copying information from 4473s.

I am not the first person to notice this.

I think that ATF Industry Operations agents are using the excuse of auditing the quality of FFL recordkeeping to create a database of firearm owners – or at the very least transferees of certain types of firearms. This is, in essence, a defenestration of the law.

The GAO link states:

Several gun dealers have contacted Gun Owners of America and asked for our advice. Invariably, they say that the ATF is, or has been, at their store — making wholesale copies of their 4473 forms — and they want to know if that’s legal.

We are not going to betray their confidence without permission, but GOA can say that this has occurred enough times to make us believe these are not isolated incidents. (GOA has attached several redacted stories from gun dealers in the Appendix.)

The copying of 4473 forms has happened despite the prohibition in 18 USC 923(g)(1)(D) which specifically prohibits anyone in the Justice Department from “seiz[ing] any records or other documents other than those records or documents constituting material evidence of a violation of law.”

Uncle has the usual quick and insightful summary to offer.  And finally from comments back at Andrew’s blog:

As an FFL who has been through an ATF audit, I can confirm that they are thorough in their investigation, but do NOT scan 4473s (at least not with me). The IOIs, however, are trained to look for patterns of repetition, which IOIs take note of. And, yes, they do appear to be looking for patterns of frequent purchases. Ostensibly, this is to flush out people that are making a business by “flipping” firearms through private sales (which happens, but it’s not rampant).

Now for my assessment.  I have absolutely no problem believing that the ATF has violated the law (and code of federal regulations) at times, and I have no doubt that they will in the future.  I have absolutely no doubt that the ATF wants a comprehensive national gun registry.  Finally, I do not doubt the veracity of any of these anecdotal instances of illegalities.

However, what I do doubt is that the ATF is capable of pulling off a comprehensive national gun registry by audit, and without the assistance of the civilian population.  While they may see form 4473s during audits, and while some ATF employees may make illegal copies of said forms, or write down information that they shouldn’t, I doubt that they could construct a comprehensive database out of said activities that was anything other than laughable and ridiculous.

To be sure, if a national gun registry ever becomes laws, civil war will ensure.  But in the absence of the civil war, the DoJ/ATF would have to rely on FFLs to construct the database for them.

I work with federal employees regularly.  Many of them are stolid and shouldn’t be working in their capacities at all.  Testing should be done before hiring federal employees (assuming that any such position exists after my recommended secession), and any federal applicant who cannot factor a cubic polynomial or solve problems using basic trigonometric functions should be told to hit the road – or go back to school.  Notice that I haven’t raised the bar too high.  I’m not asking them to solve differential equations or Laplace Transforms – just do high school mathematics.

I’m not trying to be insulting, but any database that doesn’t have the input, guidance, formatting and QA to ensure its fidelity from the civilian population doesn’t stand a chance of being anything other than a joke.  That’s why the progressives want it codified into law.  They want the database to be constructed by the very people that it would rule.

In summary, I think Andrew has made a valuable contribution to the state of knowledge of ATF misdeeds, as has the GOA.  I think that the ATF would use any chance to violate the law to press its agenda (Fast and Furious is proof of principle).  I don’t doubt that the ATF has attempted in the past to encroach on the sacred space of form 4473s.  I don’t doubt that they will do it again if given half a chance.  What I do doubt is that the ATF can pull off a national gun registry that has any credibility whatsoever without having us construct it for them.

Pat Buchanan:

… separatist and secessionist movements are cropping up here in the United States.

While many red state Americans are moving away from blue state America, seeking kindred souls among whom to live, those who love where they live but not those who rule them are seeking to secede.

[ … ]

The issues driving secession in Maryland are gun control, high taxes, energy policy, homosexual marriage and immigration.

[ … ]

The Montpelier Manifesto of the Second Vermont Republic concludes:

“Citizens, lend your names to this manifesto and join in the honorable task of rejecting the immoral, corrupt, decaying, dying, failing American Empire and seeking its rapid and peaceful dissolution before it takes us all down with it.”

This sort of intemperate language may be found in Thomas Jefferson’s indictment of George III. If America does not get its fiscal house in order, and another Great Recession hits or our elites dragoon us into another imperial war, we will likely hear more of such talk.

It is of course what I’ve recommended.  One can hope and pray … and other things.

Forbes, via Matt Bracken.

More than 10,000 people in Arkansas were dumped into a blackout Sunday following an attack on that state’s electric grid, the FBI said today, the third such attack in recent weeks. In August, a major transmission line in the region, around Cabot, Ark., was deliberately cut.

The FBI said that two power poles had been intentionally cut in Lonoke County on Sunday, resulting in the outage.

“Though we remain confident that we will identify the person or persons responsible for these incidents,” the FBI said in a press release, “we are enlisting the public’s help to be our eyes and ears. We take threats to our power grid very seriously.”

The FBI said it would pay a $25,000 reward for information about the attacks.

And for good reason. The FBI suspects these attacks are linked with a third incident in September.

According to the FBI:

In the early morning hours of September 29, 2013, officials with Entergy Arkansas reported a fire at its Keo substation located on Arkansas Highway 165 between Scott and England in Lonoke County. Fortunately, there were no injuries and no reported power outages. Investigation has determined that the fire, which consumed the control house at the substation, was intentionally set. The person or persons responsible for this incident inscribed a message on a metal control panel outside the substation which reads, ‘YOU SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED U.S.’

In August, a person or group of people attached a cable to the framework of a 100-foot electric transmission tower and placed the cable across the railroad track in an apparent attempt to use a moving train to pull down the tower.

While the electric power industry has expressed concerns about cybersecurity, the recent spate of attacks in Arkansas suggests that the electric power grid is equally if not more vulnerable to physical acts of sabotage.

Folks, I don’t want to belabor the point because we’ve discussed this in painful detail before.  But do you understand the vulnerability of everything around you – the fake Keynesian money scheme layered on top of a massive entitlement state, the markets, the mobility, television, cell phones and connectivity, and the electrical grid?  Do you understand that it could all disappear tomorrow and not return for a very long time?

Prior:

Survival Preparations: The Electrical Grid Is Still Vulnerable

Electrical Grid Attack

Surviving The Apocalypse: Thinking Strategically Rather Than Tactically

A Terrorist Attack That America Cannot Absorb

Things have been going from bad to worse as the Obama adminstration advances its agenda, but totalitarians will be what they are, and in the end they aren’t interested in liberty, and they aren’t content with the status quo.  Matt weighs in at WRSA.

Will Obama Stop the Music This November?

The current “shutdown” of 17% of the federal government has primed America for chaos with constant left-wing rhetoric and news media reports couched in apocalyptic terms such as crisis, brink, catastrophe, hostage, arsonist and terrorist. But a catastrophe is useful to a would-be tyrant only as long as it can be blamed on a hated enemy. In 1933 Hitler’s agents burned the Reichstag, not just to sow fear and confusion, but primarily in order to charge his Communist enemies with treason as an excuse to obliterate them. The German “mainstream media” dutifully parroted the Nazi Party line, without investigating the true source of the arson.

A similar pattern of scapegoating has been followed in the United States throughout the term of President Obama. For example, leading Democrats and their shills in the mainstream media have long been salivating at the prospect of a “Tea Party” conservative going on a violent rampage. We saw this in Tucson immediately after the Gabby Giffords shooting, after the Aurora, Colorado, theater attack, and after the recent Washington Navy Yard shooting, when Democrats and their media allies rushed to blame “Tea Party terrorists” in early reports based upon zero evidence. As far as we know, all of these attacks were carried out by deranged individuals following the orders of inner demons, but still the left hopes for a violent response by right-wing “bitter clingers,” so named by President Obama himself during a private fund raiser.

The current “government shutdown” seems to be designed to provoke a violent right-wing reaction. War memorials have been barricaded, even iconic national parks such as those at Valley Forge, Yellowstone, and Mount Rushmore have been closed to the American public that purportedly owns them and undoubtedly funds them. At Yellowstone, senior citizens and foreign tourists have been rousted from paid private hotel rooms by armed federal agents and forcibly bused out of the park. Around the closed Mount Rushmore National Park, cones have been set along public highways to prevent tourists even from stopping to take photographs. Meanwhile, a demonstration on the otherwise “closed” National Mall by illegal aliens demanding amnesty was welcomed by the Obama administration with open arms.

In my opinion, the intention of these selected park closures is not only to inflict psychological pain upon the administration’s perceived “enemies” but also to provoke a violent response by fed-up constitutional conservatives. Thus far, none has risen to the bait; so what will the regime do next? I believe that President Obama may be planning to up the ante by orders of magnitude. How might this happen? The “government shutdown” over the continuing resolution bill has turned on the Democrats’ demand for a “clean” CR, but the real battle will come next week when the national debt limit is reached.

What will happen if President Obama and the Democrats in Congress demand a “clean” debt extension, with no upper limits and no attached conditions, just as they have demanded a “clean CR” to fund current government operations?

Great question Matt.  Read the rest at WRSA.  I have a few rather pedestrian observations to make about federal government control over lands, and then some more global observations on Matt’s thoughts and Obama.

First, I’ve never been a fan or advocate of federal control or ownership of land in the U.S.  You can thank collectivist Teddy Roosevelt for that one.  In fact, they are the largest land owner in America, as well as the largest employer in America.  I have vowed never again to go into Pisgah National Forest territory.  I won’t be told by lawyers inside the beltway (who write the code of federal regulations) whether I can build a fire ring and fire, or whether I can take by dog along.

But what’s even more poignant since this National Park shutdown is that not only have federal employees stayed on the job, they have done so in order to piss in the face of law abiding citizens who pay their salary.  They have surpassed overbearing and elitist.  They have shown themselves to be like the creepy old man who stares at little children too much.  It tells you that something isn’t quite right.  And if you’re a federal employee and this is uncomfortable to you, I’m not sorry.  A hit dog always yelps.  You work for a creepy man and enforce creepy rules, and most of you (I’m trying to be gracious here) are just creepy people.

Now to the more global observations.  Yes, I agree with Matt.  Obama is doing these things intentionally.  He doesn’t fear disaster – he welcomes it.  Instability will only be the catalyst for saying that we need “stability operations.”  Emergency will be his pretext for “emergency powers.”  He is a divider, and he is gaming out of Saul Alinsky’s play book.  Catastrophy plays into his hands.

Until … he can no longer control what happens.  Saul Alinsky didn’t prepare Obama for that eventuality.  Not all of the American people are a paper tiger, although many will go along to get along.  Free bread and circuses will pacify many (or most), but there is a thread that runs through history that Obama has not considered.  That thread will seek liberty at the cost of everything.  Obama seeks control at the cost of everything, including his reputation, the reputations of his people, and the very soul of America.  He will soon meet up with others who are willing to invest everything.

But even before that Obama cannot control events.  The evil witchcraft of Keynesian economics superimposed over a massive entitlement state will soon come to an end because it cannot be sustained.  It doesn’t matter who the chairman of the Fed is, it doesn’t matter what policy decisions are made, and it doesn’t matter what the markets are doing.  We owe too much, our money is worthless and the entitlement state too large to repair.  It will not continue.

No amount of collectivist control can prevent the hives from splitting apart at the seams (I have a planned piece on developments in twenty first century counterinsurgency theory coming soon that will help explain this pregnant comment).  Obama thinks he is in control, but the “King’s heart is in the hands of The Lord,” even when he is an evil king.  It isn’t given to us to be fearful or trepid.  There are larger things going on, and while we aren’t in control, our reactions both mold us and define us.

Metrowest Daily News:

FRAMINGHAM — Two weeks before he officially left the Framingham Police Department, outgoing Chief Steven Carl disbanded the department’s SWAT team, about two and a half years after an accidental fatal shooting during a raid.

In a memo sent to the department on Sept. 26, Carl, whose last day was Friday, announced that the SWAT team was no more. Carl left to take a job as the new Assumption College director of public safety and campus police chief.

The head of the SWAT team, Deputy Police Chief Craig Davis also had his last day with the department on Friday. He starts as the new Ashland Police chief on Monday.

“Chief Carl disbanded the SWAT team and one of the main reasons articulated was that myself and Deputy (Steven) Trask did not have the training needed to lead the team,” acting Chief Kenneth Ferguson said on Friday.

The team came under scrutiny in 2011 when a Framingham man was accidentally shot and killed by SWAT team member Officer Paul Duncan in a drug raid on Fountain Street.

On Jan. 5, 2011, Duncan shot Eurie Stamps Sr., 68, who was laying on the ground, when Duncan lost his balance and tripped, firing the M4 submachine gun once. The shot killed Stamps.

Police arrested Stamps’ stepson, Joseph Bushfan, who was the target of the raid that night.

The Middlesex district attorney’s office ruled the shooting was accidental. The Stamps family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Duncan and the town, partially blaming the town’s “policy or custom of grossly inadequate training and supervision of its police officers.”

After the shooting, Carl assembled a community panel to look at the shooting, and the chief instituted several policy changes after an independent probe of the team by SWAT expert Steve Ijames.

Some of the changes included reducing the team from 18 members to 12, increasing training and a mandate for officers to keep a firearm’s safety on until the weapon is needed.

Yes, you read that right.  After defending their SWAT team and its tactics, they disbanded the team because they didn’t have the necessary training to lead the team.

Briefly recall what happened.  Completely innocent Mr. Eurie Stamps was prone as he was instructed to be by the invading police, and Paul Duncan tripped over his prone body causing a sympathetic muscle reflex and firing his rifle into Mr. Stamps, killing him.

And yes, you read that right.  Rather than call the SWAT team murderous thugs, or Keystone Cops with rifles, “SWAT expert” Ijames recommended that weapons’ safety be put on.

Let that wash over you again.  In order to keep from shooting people, SWAT teams were then instructed to put their weapons on safe.  He found no fault with anyone involved with the event.  Think … about … that.  If this wasn’t true it would be so laughable as to be bad fiction.  IJames isn’t stupid – just a dishonest and awful man.  As for the leaders responsible for this awful invasion and murder – eh, off to new jobs.  Good as gold.  Got to tie up loose ends before riding off into the sunset.

In other news, Mr. Eurie Stamps couldn’t be reached for comment.

Prior:

The Moral Case Against SWAT Raids

Chicago SWAT Raid Gone Terribly Wrong

Modified SWAT Tactics After The Death Of Eurie Stamps

The issue of universal background checks never goes away, and the collectivists never give up.

AS I WRITE this, there hasn’t been a mass shooting in weeks.

I’ll use the lull to shoot off my mouth about guns, divorced from the debate that usually follows a massacre in which both sides dance on victims’ graves for PR gain.

When President Obama tried early this year to get gun restrictions passed – including background checks identical to Pennsylvania’s current system – the vast majority of Americans wanted what he wanted. His most important goal was broadened criminal-background checks at the point of sale for guns. Despite overwhelming public approval, Congress chickened out, mainly because of opposition from the National Rifle Association that purports to represent gun owners (like me), gun sellers and gun manufacturers.

I am not a member – the NRA doesn’t represent me or most of my pistol-packing pals. Some of my NRA friends say it doesn’t represent them, either, on background checks.

A poll by Frank Luntz, who usually works for Republicans, reported that a majority of current and former NRA members favor background checks. “Majority” understates the case – it was 74 percent.

That’s an amazing statistic, but I have one (allow me to invent a word) that’s amazinger.

The Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, polled licensed dealers who sell more than 50 guns annually. It reported that 55.4 percent of the surveyed gun dealers support background checks.

I never believed those polls that say Americans want to go down to their local FFL and have to go through a background check to gift a 10/22 to their grandson under the Christmas tree.  And I don’t believe them now.  And of course FFLs favor more control – it increases their revenue by another transfer fee every time somebody comes in to transfer a weapon.  What’s hard to understand about that?

Let me turn my attention to the issue of debates and disagreements over the interwebz among gun bloggers that occur from time to time.  I don’t do that scene.  To me it comes off like church members who agree that they must all agree on paragraph 5.3.6(c), subpart 3.1.6.9 of Section 86 of the book of church order blah blah blah, or else they must separate and cause schism.  Again, I don’t do that scene.  I don’t have to agree with everyone all of the time.

But on this issue I’ve made up my mind.  Universal background checks would do nothing for crime fighting, but everything for the totalitarians.  Universal background checks aren’t about crime.  They’re about state control, and the state does indeed want to control you – every aspect of your life.

So let’s put this in context.  Let’s say that gun rights writer, advocate and reliable journalist and friend David Codrea wrote me and said, “I’ve decided that I am going to support universal background checks, and I think I can talk everyone else of our ilk into the same idea.”

Well, David would still be my buddy, but I would speed up my loosely planned meetup at his place for liquor and cigars over a fire pit, where I would get him loosened up and then say, “So brother David, what gives, and can I persuade you to see it otherwise?  Let’s talk.”

My belief system is what the philosophers call “incorrigible.”  I cannot be changed.  That means that I won’t ever change my mind.  And that, dear reader, means that the NRA will never, never be alone in advocating for freedom and against tyranny, even if I’m the last one on earth who opposes universal background checks.

The commentator is wrong, and one of their favorite tactics is to make you think that, “Hey, everyone else thinks I’m an unsophisticated redneck, so maybe I am.  Maybe I should reevaluate my positions.”  They think that will suffice to persuade you to change your mind.  Everyone else is doing it, so it must be okay.

I repeat.  If I am the last person on earth to oppose universal background checks, I will never, ever, ever change my mind.  To my liberty loving readers: you are not alone.

UPDATE: It looks like Kurt and I were thinking along the same lines last night (Although sometimes I have to wonder about Kurt and if he’s just doing all of this for the largesse – David has written before about the huge money and free beer that Kurt gets for writing for Examiner.  Must have been a note, since I cannot find it in David’s posts).

David  Codrea:

NFL rule bans off-duty cops from bringing guns into FirstEnergy Stadium,” Brandon Blackwell reported Friday on Cleveland.com. “A new NFL policy will keep off-duty cops from taking guns into FirstEnergy Stadium, according to an internal Cleveland police memo.

“The rule, which police said took effect Sept. 11, applies to all NFL facilities and all off-duty federal, state and local law enforcement officers,” Blackwell explained, adding “Off-duty officers who attempt to bring firearms into an NFL facility will be denied entry.”

I wonder if that’s all they’d do to a mere citizen. Still, Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association head Jeff Follmer does not like the change one bit.

Yea.  I’m sure the “only ones” don’t like it.  I took a similar position over at reddit/guns when it came clear that retiring California LEOs wanted to keep their issued “assault weapons” even after the ban.

No, no, and a thousand times no!  It doesn’t work this way.  So there is some utility in so-called assault weapons having nothing whatsoever to do with the official duties of being a law enforcement officer (such as home defense), or the retired LEOs wouldn’t want to keep them.

The collectivists at reddit were aghast at my position.  But this issue about the oath not expiring when the officer isn’t on duty is a crock.  Don’t buy it – not for a single second.

I’ll tell you what.  You go and compare the oath that a law enforcement officer takes with the one taken by men to protect and defend their families, and then tell me that we shouldn’t also be allowed to carry weapons into large gatherings if off duty cops are allowed to carry.

Hey, also think of that issue in terms of active duty officers who are pulling security for the game itself, and then you may have something.  One takes an oath, the other takes an oath.

Read the rest at Examiner.

The case of Jose Guerena has been settled for what is purported to be $ 3.4 million.  It isn’t enough.  Sheriff Dupnik and all member of the SWAT team that crashed into Jose Guerena’s home that day and murdered him deserve to be in prison, or hanging from a rope.

Keep his mouth shut?  Why no.  Sheriff Dupnik isn’t that smart (via WRSA).

What I fear has been lost in this discussion is that the SWAT officers who serve this county are extremely judicious in their use of deadly force.

The Sheriff’s Department approved the formation of the first SWAT Team in Pima County in 1971. Since then, over more than 40 years, there have been more than 2,000 warrants served by the SWAT officers.

Deadly force has been used exactly one time during the serving of a warrant — in this case — even though SWAT is used in only the highest-risk cases.

That isn’t just fortunate happenstance.

When officers are considered for this highly trained unit, physical strength and shooting skill remain important assets. But the critical asset that trumps all others is the ability to practice restraint in the use of physical force coupled with critical thinking, which comes into play in identifying appropriate methods to resolve a tactical problem, whether it’s a hostage situation, a terrorist incident or a high-risk arrest. It’s called emotional intelligence, and it is the No. 1 priority in the selection process.

Words directly from the Sheriff writing in Arizona Daily Star.  And Dupnik is a liar.  He knows that what he said isn’t the truth, and he said it anyway.  That’s a sin.

I invite you to go back and watch the video again of the raid, and read the report(s).  Jose Guerena got off exactly zero (0) shots at the SWAT team, and the SWAT team killed him (Guerena had more self restraint that I would have in those circumstances).  In the end, no evidence was found linking him or his folks to any of the accused crimes.  The solution in matters such as this is to send a uniformed officer who knocks on the door and asks to speak to the owner of the home.  But the SWAT soldier-boys want to be cool.  You know what I’ve said about this.  Pulling off raids on Americans is cowardly.  If you want to be cool, sign up, get the training, and fly across the pond and do it for real like my son did.

But go back again and watch the video.  People are milling around as if nothing important is about to take place, loud music is playing, and the officers look like they don’t even have the discipline of teenagers playing paint ball.

Sheriff Dupnik is an ass clown, and so it’s appropriate that his SWAT team is comprised of ass clowns.  In this case, they’re ass clowns with guns and a badge, and that makes them dangerous and evil.

WRSA has contact information for the Sheriff.

Prior:

The Jose Guerena Raid: A Demonstration Of Tactical Incompetence

Further Analysis Of The Jose Guerena Raid

Sheriff Dupnik Speaks On The Jose Guerena SWAT Raid

First, there is this from The Gazette:

Hunters who threatened to boycott Colorado if gun control legislation was approved may have been shooting blanks.

Indeed, so far, numbers are up about 4 percent on draws and sales of leftover licenses have been on target with expectations, said Randy Hampton, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Actual numbers, however, won’t be available until about mid-November, he cautioned.

“The majority of non-resident hunting occurs during our second or third rifle seasons,” Hampton said.

The second season runs from Oct. 19-27 and the third season runs from Nov. 2-10.

The biggest negative impact on license sales may come from flooding in northeastern Colorado.

Then there is this from Red State, albeit a couple of months ago:

The recent gun control measures approved in Colorado have already taken a toll on local individuals, businesses, and  communities throughout the state. Those who work in the outdoor recreation industry, along with entire towns and counties that center around hunting and fishing, have been the first to experience the real economic effect of the new firearm regulations.

Tom Bowers is an outdoor recreation guide and the owner of Colorado’s High Lonesome Outfitter & Guides located in Yampa. Bowers shared with Media Trackers Colorado how the new gun legislation has already affected his business.

“Many of my hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and rafting clients are choosing to recreate in other states because of the new laws. Before the [gun control] legislation passed I got 15-30 calls from potential clients a day, now I get less than 5.”

Eric Layman with Western Colorado Outfitters in Montrose experienced the same drop off in business bookings, reservations, and correspondence as Bowers.

In a normal year, Bowers and his High Lonesome Outfitters guide between 35 and 40 big game hunters. This year, he said he would be lucky to get 20-25. One big game client, whom he has served as a guide for 15 years, told Bowers that he will not be rebooking or coming back to Colorado. Bowers recalled the conversation with the client, who told him: “It is not because of you, it is because of your Governor. I am not giving any money to that state”.

Bowers’ clients who booked before the new laws still plan to come this season, but many of them have told him it will be the last time they come to Colorado for any kind of outdoor recreation, even beyond hunting.

As such, Bower’s losses are not limited to hunting, as he attests to the fact that many of the fisherman and rafters he guides will no longer be returning to Colorado to recreate either.  He explained:  “Now we are a gun control state. My type of clients think if they come to the state of Colorado they are going to be violating gun laws.”

Layman, from Western Colorado Outfitters, echoed the fact that the boycott is spreading far beyond the hunting crowd, saying that while “the hunter forums show comments indicating that the boycott is in full effect, even summer visitors and skiers are joining in.”

I wouldn’t otherwise even bring this up, except that the Gazette article comes off as so snarky, superior and insulting that it caught my attention.

It might be difficult to tell at this stage of the season, but I would appreciate any input from readers (in the comments or send me an e-mail) with either anecdotal evidence or statistical information concerning the boycott.

You all know about the attack in New York by the motorcycle gang called Hollywood Stuntz, so I won’t repeat that tale here.  I remarked to my wife after this happened that the poor man’s family was endangered as a result of the incident, not to mention his own health and safety.  If this had happened to me and my family, I would have quickly squashed Mr. Hollywood Stuntz like a bug, run over his machine, and run over all of his buddies and their machines in order to get away – right after I blew a hole in his whole body organs with one of my handguns.  Mr. Hollywood Stuntz would be dead now, and burying him would have required picking his multiple pieces off of the road.

And of course, it has been (correctly) pointed out that New York has some of the most draconian laws on the books in America regarding guns (when I say that I would have run straight over Mr. Stuntz after I shot him, I mean if he had done that to me around these parts, since I won’t visit New York city or even fly over or drive through the state due to the gun laws).  So New York would willingly submit you and your family to this kind of volence, and then prohibit you from protecting your family from it.

Great place, right?  Makes you want to hop right in your car and pay a visit to the empire state on your vacation, right?  Oh, and in the most recent news of just how bad this gets in New York, here is New York’s finest as they saw it first hand.

An off-duty, NYPD undercover officer was among the pack of motorcyclists who chased a Financial District family up the West Side Highway — and he stood by as the dad was hauled from his car and beaten, The Post has learned.

The unidentified officer only came forward Wednesday night, four days after the caught-on-video biker predation, and is described as a motorcycle hobbyist who rides with Front Line Soldiers, a New Rochelle-based group that also counts several other cops among its members, a source said.

Internal Affairs is investigating whether those cops, too, were among the bikers, and whether any of them are also witnesses to the beating that left Internet exec Alexian Lien bleeding on the pavement as his wife and toddler daughter cowered inside their black Range Rover.

“It is does not appear that he got involved at the scene,” one law enforcement source said of the undercover.

“He didn’t want to blow his cover,” said a source — though he was not investigating those riders.

The undercover has now lawyered up, the source added.

Lawyered-up.  Yea, I’ll bet.  I think the police use that as a term of derision for us normal folk if we refuse to speak to them.  “Didn’t want to blow his cover,” although he was not investigating those riders.  Let that wash over you again.

That means that he was hanging with the Hollywood Stuntz gang for fun and as his hobby and interests.

Is it possible for this story to get any better – or worse?