Liberty Notes

By Kevin L. Jamison Esq.

September 2004

It is good day for Liberty.

Sheila tells me that she reads my Liberty Notes before she posts them to the web site.  This is censorship, this is tyranny, this is my job.

One writer states that we have been at war with Islamic-fascists since the Embassy in Iran was seized in 1979.  Recently we have begun to fight back, which is a trifle late.

President Bush is criticized for not “connecting the dots” prior to 9-11.  This is nonsense.  In the world of intelligence it is not so much a matter of connecting the dots as knowing which dots to connect, and those among a world of dots laid out deliberately to confuse.

During the Democratic convention a flack for John Kerry was asked how the candidate’s claims of war crimes by US troops in Viet Nam would play with veterans.  He neatly avoided the question, and the interviewer dropped it.

There is a new documentary about Viet Nam which has then Secretary of Defense McNamara deploring our misunderstanding of the nature of the war.  He says that it was a civil war, and we wrongly thought it was part of the Cold War.  Silly man.  The Viet Nam war was a civil war like the Spanish Civil War was a civil war.  There were civil war aspects of both, but the ideological and international aspects predominated.  To say that it was all one or the other is nonsense.

A writer says that war creates hatred.  Doubtless it does, however if I am to get out of bed early in the morning to go to war, I would have to hate someone a great deal first.

I am told that when these notes reach certain shops, everything stops until they are read.  This is flattering.  It also occurs to me that if I were to increase production, I could bring some commercial activity to a halt.  This has the makings of a protection racket, but just because I can do something does not mean that I should.

WMSA has contributed to the Missouri Veteran’s Home in Warrensburg in memory of President Reagan.  This year WMSA will contribute $5,000 to candidates, Democratic and Republican, who hold to the ideals of Ronald Reagan.

By the time this is printed in the newsletter, it will be days before the assault weapon ban sunsets on 13 September, 2004.  There will be time for more calls to legislators to prevent it from being attached to another bill.

Some complain that President Bush is not completely on our side.  He is not.  He may be only 80% on our side.  Kerry, however, is 100% against us, and gets up every morning thinking of ways to hurt us.  The next president is going to nominate judges, including three Supreme Court judges.  If Kerry wins our hope for a favorable Supreme Court decision on the Second Amendment dies.

Claire McCaskill won the Democratic primary for governor against Governor Holden.  It seems that rural Missouri took revenge against Governor Holden’s hostility to the Second Amendment, primarily his veto of License to Carry.  Ms. McCaskill had a debate with the governor in which she tried to say she was more anti-gun than he was, and she was right.  I have heard Ms. McCaskill express hostility to us at Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Classes, she has attended conferences against us.  In 1992 she made several comments, including a campaign commercial for a legislator claiming that any twelve-year-old can walk into any gun shop and buy an AK 47 with no questions asked.  After the first such claim I told her this was not true and provided copies of the relevant state and federal laws; she continued to tell this lie.  She told the truth in the debate; she does hate us more than Holden does.  If elected she will make her reputation at our expense.  There is resistance to cleaning up the finance problem with the License To Carry law.  If she is governor, it will never be fixed to allow sheriffs to charge the reasonable expense we intended.  If she is governor they will whittle down the law making it more complicated, more expensive, more difficult to get a license.

Matt Blunt is the Republican candidate for governor.  He is the current Secretary of State and responsible for purging the St. Louis voting rolls of dogs and dead people.  Had he been Secretary of State in 1999, Proposition B would have passed.  Matt Blunt is 100% on our side and will work with us.  We can expect to pass the funding fix for the License To Carry law, we can expect to protect our rights; but only if we get out and work for these people, contribute to these people, and vote for these people.

I have heard some complain that it is useless to vote since “They” have the process fixed.  Refusing to become involved makes it easy for “They” to fix the system.  I do not believe that this is a solution.  WMSA exists to make it as difficult as possible for “They” to fix the system, and to tilt things back our way.  We have had some success.

We have beaten back dozens of anti-gun laws.  This year we have fought a License To Carry law into existence.  A federal law has passed which allows police officers and retired officers to carry in all 50 states.  This creates a precedent for licensed carry in all states.  We have an industry protection law in Missouri.  We have a range protection law.  We have a very good chance of forcing the assault weapons ban to sunset.  We have a history of proving that we can win, we just have to make the effort.

Sir Francis Bacon wrote that “We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.”  In the movement we often have disputes between groups and members within a group.  These disagreements have often been more savage than disputes with the prohibitionists.  We need to remember that we do not have to agree on everything, only that all citizens have a right to all guns.

Senator Kerry thinks the UN should have a greater role in Iraq, and American foreign policy in general.  This is the organization that ran the gloriously corrupt Iraqi “oil for food” program which lined pockets but few stomachs.

I have a dog.  His name is Max and he is an Irish Wolfhound.  No sooner did I close the deal than I started receiving e-mails advertising dog food, dog treats and something else connected with dogs I cannot identify.  This marketing thing has gotten out of hand.  However, it shows that we are all on a list.  We just need to make it mean something.

As of this writing, only 5 sheriffs are not issuing licenses to carry.  Buchanan County will only be issuing through the election, once he no longer needs the votes, he will stop.  This indicates that we have a great deal of success, but cannot stop working.  A local weekly claims that there is little interest in getting licenses.  However, license applications are only taken during business hours, which cuts down applicants to the retired and people who can take long lunches.  At this point almost everyone who wants a license has one from Florida.  There are still advantages in having a license from the home state.  The ATF claims that the exemption from the “gun-free” schools act for license holders only applies to persons with licenses from their own states.

The media claimed that if the Supreme Court found License To Carry constitutional, there would be blood in the streets.  Six months later where are the smoking guns?  None of these horrors have come to pass.  We are entitled to an apology at the very least.  Call in to radio shows, write to newspapers, ask them “Where are the smoking guns?” 

The internet carries lists of places banning concealed carry under Missouri law.  These lists help plan shopping excursions.  However, one must realize that THEY chose to boycott US.  There is no evidence of License holders being more dangerous, no evidence of a sudden passion causing a shootout.  Most importantly, there is no evidence of thugs honoring these signs.  A business which decides to boycott us becomes responsible for the safety of customers. 

Rex Shell of Harrisonville has donated a 12 Gauge Benelli shotgun to support our drawing.  Also in the drawing is a Legend derringer, which fires a variety of ammunition from .410 shotgun/.45 long Colt to .380 depending on whim and barrel changes, and a leather NRA jacket.  Rex Shell wanted to name his gun shop after a great American, it is called Shell’s Gun Shop, and we agree.

Together with other members of Missouri Sport Shooting Association I attended a candidate rating session with our NRA-ILA representative Mary Ann Bradford.  I checked with other grassroots groups for their input.  The NRA has rigid guidelines for rating, which often favor incumbents who have supported us, even if they have not supported us at all times.  This provides the advantage of consistency.  The WMSA rating system is more flexible, and there are advantages to both.  Getting input from grassroots people is of some benefit to the NRA rating system, we know these people.  The review of responses from candidates was interrupted with shouts of “liar, liar”.  This did not come as a surprise to the NRA, but the exchange of information was useful.

          In order to safeguard our rights it is necessary to get out and hustle for our candidates.  With a little more effort we can win.  Our candidate for Jackson County Sheriff lost to an incumbent by only 6%.  The 5^th Congressional District candidate of Freedom Inc gained barely 60% of the vote against an outsider.  Freedom did great work during the Civil Rights era, but has recently become a flack for the Democratic machine.  They have hired an outside agency to teach them how to relate to the inner city community.  This indicates that the machine is becoming vulnerable, not bleeding and floundering, but adrift.  Every election season I plead for one more effort to preserve our liberties for another two to four years.  I would not do so unless it was crucial.  After a string of victories this year we must cap it off by electing pro-gun candidates.  If successful, we will have two to four years in which to pursue and destroy.

          The government is recruiting truck drivers into a program to identify suspicious, possibly terrorist activity.  They are given a small amount of training and a phone number to report events which are not normal.  This is a good idea.  Truck drivers get around, and know when something is not normal.  A truck which seems over-loaded, whose driver is new or does not seem familiar with procedures may mean nothing, and it may mean a bomb.  There was a similar program during WW I in which local civilians did low level work for the justice department.  Some of them got out of hand, but learning from experience the truckers have been ordered to take no action, only notes.  This is a use of the classic militia.

          The Independence Housing Authority has a provision in its lease which FORBIDS any resident from owning gun or "offensive weapons" either legally or illegally.  Residents with hunting guns will be evicted.  The Authority does not look at violence or threats; mere possession is enough.  I am now representing a victim of this policy.  The WMSA Board of Directors has not voted on this issue, but my guess is that we are against it.