Liberty Notes

By Kevin L. Jamison Esq.

August 2004

It is a good day for Liberty

I have watched NYPD Blue since the beginning, and I have learned one important lesson; stay away from Detective Andy Sipowicz.  His wife is shot, his son is shot, his partners die, and this was after he kicked alcohol.

On “The Shield” Detective Vince Macki is corrupt and violent.  The actor playing Detective Macki told an interviewer that police officers he’s met really LIKE his character.  This worries me.

I’m listening to a tape of BEARING THE CROSS, about the early civil rights struggle.  It shows some decisions Martin Luther King made during the Montgomery bus boycott.  After the police chief joined the White Citizens Council, after threats on his life, after his home was bombed, Reverend King applied to the sheriff for a pistol permit.  His reason cited on the request was to arm the guard at his house.  The request was refused.  He later spoke to the Governor of Alabama and asked for a license to keep a gun in his car, the Governor said that he would have to talk to the sheriff about that, and it was not mentioned again.  Later a pacifist argued that it was inconsistent for the leader of a non-violent movement to have a pistol in the house.  Reverend King disagreed.  The Deacons for Defense in Louisiana found that racists were less violent when the civil rights workers carried guns.

THE AWAKENING is a take of a book about a Protestant pastor in Germany who exorcised a demon or demons from a woman in 1848.  This drew a great deal of attention.  There were several attempts on the pastor’s life.  One would attribute these attempts to agents of the Devil, but the pastor also drew parishioners from other congregations, and patients from doctors.  He was disliked for secular reasons as well.

          The May edition of the NRA magazines shows two pistols carried by nazi saboteurs who landed at Long Island in 1942.  One pistol was a Mauser, the other a Walther.  The Mauser clearly has nazi proof marks on it.  This sort of screams “spy”.  These were the guys who were supposed to be so clever.

          At a recent gun show, I could not find any women to date, but contented myself with buying some copies of the NRA’s “Rifleman” magazine from 1952, a year of some importance to me.  The magazines carried articles warning of laws restricting firearms.  They did not carry the “Armed Citizen” column, which may not have been standard until the 60’s.  I found a column of news from the shooting community.  One traveler had found a flintlock blunderbuss marked “U.S. Navy”.  From muzzle to buttplate the gun was less than 21 inches.  It seems that these small smoothbores were useful in boarding parties and firing at guncrews from the rigging.  This need for handy shotguns continues.  A buckshot round was issued for the M-79 grenade launcher, which had a 14 inch barrel.  The same round was used in the M 203 grenade launcher.  Today we frequently see shotguns used to blow open doors in dessert cities. 

A medieval Rabbi in Prague was warned of the prospects of anti-Jewish riots in the city.  For protection he created a Golem, a supernaturally strong being made of clay and endowed with life.  Regrettably, a golem has no soul, no conscience, and so strong it could not be controlled.  It ran amok and had to be destroyed.  Today we create governments to protect us, also without a soul or conscience.  We have some measure of control, but the ultimate control is the ability to destroy the beast.  If we do not get out and vote, we will ultimately have no choice but to destroy the beast, and we do not know what beast will rise in its place.

A rancher suffered a predator killing his cattle; so he bought a donkey.  Donkeys are territorial and will protect other animals in their territory.  There always has to be someone to protect the cattle.

          The Second Amendment Sisters appeared to counter the “Million” Mom March on Mother’s Day In Washington DC.  They headquartered at the same hotel.  One of the “M”s found herself on an elevator with a Second Amendment Sister and told the Sister “If I had a gun I would shoot you.”  This illustrates the hypocrisy of the opposition; and the media.  If one of us had said the same thing it would have been all over the news.

          Members of the Pink Pistols, a pro-gun group of gay people, appeared at the Columbus Ohio Gay Pride parade.  This seems normal to me.  However, the organizers appeared with clubs and announced their intention to take their (unloaded) pistols.  The police arrived and the matter was settled.  It is never easy in the movement.

          I attended the NRA convention in Pittsburgh, as did Dean and Gary and some 60,000 other people.  Dean and Gary planned to travel together; imagine, two old sailors on Liberty in an innocent town, and Homeland Security allows this.  Fortunately their wives came along and Pittsburg still stands.  It was nice to have the convention in a hall which did not ban the possession of guns by members.

          At the convention there was a seminar for lawyers on firearms law.  There was a block of instruction on ethics.  I asked if there should be something done about the plaintiff attorneys in the License to Carry lawsuit who, in the opinion of many lawyers, lied to the Supreme Court in their brief.  I was told that it would be wasted effort; the bar would not sanction anyone for lying for the anti-gun crowd.  I do not find the attitude acceptable.

          Minnesota has enjoyed a License to Carry system for two years.  By all accounts it has been enormously successful.  On 13 July, 2004 a judge found the law unconstitutional, on technical grounds.  It is being appealed.  It is interesting to note that the judge found that because the law was attached to a natural resources bill, no one could know of the law and it was not given hearings or debated.  The gunowners introduced evidence of hearings and that it was the most debated bill in Minnesota history; the judge ignored this.  This goes to show that we cannot let down our guard; the opposition will never leave us alone.

          The St. Louis County lawsuit against License to Carry still hangs over us in Cole County Missouri’s county court.  The plaintiffs say that the county cannot afford to issue licenses and demand that the entire law be invalidated.  This would take away all our licenses, in state, out of state, car carry, everything.  This “remedy” so far exceeds any damages the plaintiffs can claim that it should be dismissed out of hand.  However, the court has ruled that it will go forward, and we must see how far.

          WMSA was incorporated on 5 September, 1989.  I mentioned this at a Board meeting, and Tom VanEyck said that he was celebrating his anniversary on that day.  I have met Tom’s lady wife.  If do not think that one celebration is nearly enough.  I have ordered Tom to celebrate the 5^th of EVERY month for the remainder of the year.

          WMSA will celebrate its 15^th anniversary this year.  It has been a long fight, and it is not over.  We will have a picnic with politicians and a fun shoot (two completely separate events).  A company is advertising a shotgun round called “safetydisc”.  Instead of round buckshot, it has discs stacked in the shell.  The idea is that the discs open up making a serious wound, but are less likely to penetrate walls and so forth.  I wrote the company asking for details, whenever I write a company on legal stationary asking about their product they write back asking “Why do you want to know?”  I explained myself, and they have sent me 25 rounds we can test at the picnic.  See their web site at www.safetydiscammo.com.

          Our anniversary picnic will be on 5 September, 2004 at 1:00 in the afternoon at Crossfire Range/Arms Mart at 21200 E. Truman Rd in Independence this is east of 291 Highway.  It is potluck, bring something to eat.  We will test the "Safetydisc" ammunition at about 2:30.  Politicians will be invited; we will see who shows up.

          Claycomo Guns in Claycomo, Missouri has a new gunsmith, Steve Clark.  It seems that he is another one of these people who shoots just so he can have empty brass to reload.  Give him a piece of reloadable brass and he’s your friend for life.

          I am a gun nut; and a damn good one.

          At President Reagan’s death many liberal commentators felt compelled to tell us what a horrible person they thought he was.  This is how horrible they are. 

A lawyer I know is in Iraq working with their department of corrections.  Formerly each department of government would have its own prison system, the department of education, agriculture, transportation; etc all had their own prisons.  Have an argument with your boss and you go to prison.  When he got to Iraq, our government issued him an AK 47.  They would have given him a pistol too, but they were out.  I envy him, not for the hardware, but for making history.

          WMSA Board member Jacq Tucker showed up for the last Board meeting wearing a cap in the Marine’s new camouflage pattern; everyone noticed it.  This appears to defeat the purpose of camouflage.  Context is important.  When I was in Korea I often saw fighting positions prepared for the Southern Homeland Defense Force.  This is a tightly controlled militia used for security purposes during alerts; thus releasing regulars for combat. I saw a street in Seoul lined with small concrete buildings, one was painted camouflage colors, guess what was inside. 

          I recently purchased a camouflage pattern suitcase.  Some might argue that it is a floral pattern, but I am a snake eating Special Forces veteran and I say it is camouflage.

          Canada has a new government coalition.  Its foreign policy appears to be advocating gun control in the United States.

This fall we will be prohibited from publicly supporting our candidates.  However, TV programs will spread hate and propaganda about our friends.  Newspapers will publish fawning "reviews" of Michael Moore's propaganda epic.  We have to do a lot, and we have to do it early.

The Libertarian candidate for Lt Governor indicated that I might get a job in his office cutting out unnecessary laws.  It could work, I just bought a chain saw.

Some people refuse to vote, claiming that all politicians are corrupt and therefore not worth voting for.  This is not really their problem.  They disdain politicians who are corrupted by the other side, and object to the lack of politicians corrupted by our side.  There is a shortage of politicians who are true believers on our side.  This is unfortunate, but it is not necessary that they be true believers on our side, only that they vote our side.  If they vote our side because we have corrupted them, they can never be fully trusted, but it is enough.   Politicians become corrupted by many non-traditional factors.  Beyond money, they want re-election, they want power, prestige, approval, the opportunity for more power, prestige, and approval.  So, go out and corrupt a politician for our side.

          Mom thinks that I should get an electric pencil sharpener for the office.  This from the woman who thinks that electric typewriters were an unnecessary extravagance.  I don't need pencil sharpeners, I have a drawer full of pocketknives, and for serious work a chain saw.