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It is a good day for Liberty

I was reviewing THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND, an excellent history of disregard of intelligence during Viet Nam. It reports that Ambassador Lodge kept a .357 magnum in his desk.

Reviewing NAVY SEALS, I found a section on how the WW II demolition teams dismantled Japanese defenses after their surrender. They found cases of Belgian shotguns the Home Guard was to use in the final battle. I would love to know how those shotguns got there, I would love to know where they went, but I am afraid it involves many fathoms of salt water.

Our friend who was forced to kill in self-defense will not be prosecuted. The prosecution declined to file charges. This is unusual, they usually send it to the Grand Jury and let them make the decision.

I was at a forensic law seminar in Wichita Kansas. I only went to deepest, darkest Kansas, because Phil Journey was doing a section on firearms. He gave a very good basic seminar. Any of our members would know this material, but I saw lawyers paying rapt attention, obviously never having heard that the hole in the barrel goes all the way from one end to the other. This is why the NRA has a list of lawyers. Part of the seminar was in the old county courthouse. This is one of those fine old buildings that looks like a courtroom, and not a Howard Johnsons conference room. With high ceilings, and a carved wood judge's bench, its a courtroom in which a man would be proud to be sentenced to death. One of the instructors had watched a case in the state court of appeals involving bank records. The bank claimed the privacy rights of their depositors. One judge asked if, since 9-11 anyone could claim a right to privacy. If a judge, could seriously ask such a question in relation to a bank case, those of us in the movement are in trouble. I read an article in which law enforcement complains that terrorist suspects will not talk. Those spoke wistfully of torture. When law enforcement floats trial balloons about using torture, we all have to worry.

Gun shops report a spike in sales after 9-11. States with License To Carry report more applications. Shop owners tell me they are seeing new faces. We need to reach these people. At the suggestion of SACMO, we are getting the addresses of people who applied for permits to buy pistols. This will allow us to reach people with safety and organizational information. Some sheriff's departments charge from $3 to $5 a page for a permit. This becomes too expensive. Asking only for names and addresses in an electronic format works much better.

The book THE TEMPLE BOMBING covers the terrorist attack on the Atlanta Temple during the Civil Rights era. It also covers local Jewish, bigot, and civil rights history. After WW II, a new Rabbi came to the community to find that his congregation had gone native, more Southern than Jewish. His first objective, was to make them more Jewish, then righteous Jews. His first step was to demand that mothers not send kids to Hebrew School with ham sandwiches. Many of his congregation ate ham, it is alleged that the Rabbi partook. His point was that the Temple was special, and must be treated as such. We have the same problem. We must have some gun owners take the first step to identify as gun owners. The first step will have to be small, but it must be taken. Accepting the small principle that all shooting is a sport, and all gun ownership legitimate is a start. The book quotes the Talmud, "It is not required that you complete the work, but neither are you allowed to withhold your hand from the work". Some of the congregation was unwilling to aid the civil rights movement, thinking that they would be targeted. They were targeted anyway. In the play "Driving Miss Daisy" (but not the movie) Miss Daisy is informed of the Temple bombing and blurts out "Don't they know we are Reform?" Meaning that Reform Jews are like other Southerners, unlike the Orthodox Jews who look and dress and act decidedly and deliberately different. Despite attempts at assimilation, the bigots saw no difference. No matter how we compromise, the prohibitionists see nothing different; all gun owners are the same to them, trap shooters, cowboy action, personal protection, we are all the same to them. We meet gun owners outraged over restrictions, but afraid to do anything for fear of being targeted. We are all targeted. Prohibitionists think that all shooting is practice for murder, and all gun ownership a threat.

THE TEMPLE BOMBING also mentions a criminal defense lawyer, one of the few of the time who would represent African-American defendants. The attorney recounts hostility to daring to present a defense. He was often refused hotel rooms, and slept on pews in African-American churches, while church members mounted armed guard for protection.

Massad Ayoob wrote an article about the use of small arms during the Pearl Harbor attack. A Japanese pilot records watching an American shoot at him with a .45, one enemy plane may have been brought down by pistol fire. According to the article, an officer drove up to a group of servicemen firing at the enemy and told them to stop, they would only make the Japanese angry and they would shoot back. This is a response we see among gunowners. They fear taking any action in defense of their rights for fear of provoking the prohibitionists. This is merely an excuse for doing nothing. For over a century prohibitionists have attacked our rights and demonized our members. They have never stopped. The only thing to slow them is our own action. Without a defense, they will have everything their own way, it has happened elsewhere. The best defense is a good offense.

Some claim that a complete ban cannot happen here because the Second Amendment forbids it. The Second does forbid it, but like a fine .45 auto, a legal defense is only as good as the person that uses it. If the person expects the gun to jump out of the drawer and run about doing all the work itself, he will be disappointed. It is the same for the Second.

The reaction to the tape of Bin Laudin boasting of his part in the 911 attack sounds familiar. There are Islamic Fundamentalist claims that it is a fake, and there he never did such a thing, it is a Jewish lie etc. Yet, a journalist attended a fundamentalist school and found students, proclaiming Bin Laudin's innocence, and showing pictures of Chicago's Sear's Tower, and saying "this one is mine". This reminds me of recent nazis who claim that the holocaust never happened, but it should have.

I attended a firearms auction in which the auctioneers could not pronounce the make or model of the guns, seemed vague about shotgun gauge and shot size. It pays to work with professionals, who know what they are doing.

In giving blood, I have had a mild rash where the antiseptic was swabbed on. It appears that I am allergic to sterile conditions, but not germs; must be a lawyer thing. My sister Kim, The Doctor, tells me that I must be allergic to iodine, betadine and phisohex. If I could get her to give me a note that I'm allergic to gun control I may be on to something.

At an auction, I purchased a couple of personalized rifles. One was a Spanish Mauser captured by Teddy Rooseveldt on San Juan Hill. Because it was captured in Cuba, Teddy carved his initials in Spanish, which are "AM", which I did not know. The other was an SKS carried by Mao Tse Tung on the Long March. A literal change of Mao's name from Chinese to English letters has it spelled NORINCO, which I also did not know.

After bidding on these rifles, I put in the yellow sheet for "instant check", and waited three hours for approval. I have no criminal record of any kind. I am told that because I am an officer of the court, used to have a liquor license, used to have an FFL, and once had a security clearance, I am in more files than usual, and it takes longer. All of these files indicate that I have been checked before and come up clean. This is "instant check" guilty until proven innocent.

Jim Talent is running for the US Senate, the seat held by Jean Carnahan. Mr. Talent came out in favor of concealed carry even after Proposition B was defeated by the St. Louis cemetery vote. We need him.

The newspaper recounts the death of a music critic. This critic wrote a bad review of a concert President Truman's daughter gave. The president wrote him a letter "Someday I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes and perhaps a supporter for below.". Anyone writing such a letter today would be arrested for issuing a terrorist threat, or at least made the respondent in an adult abuse action.

A Kansas City Kansas man had a man answer his ad for the sale of a gun. The guy came back later and tried to rob the man. The robber did not consider that this might not have been the only gun the guy owned. We must be careful when doing business with strangers.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a challenge to New Jersey's "assault weapons" ban. The local tabloid reported this as "another setback for gun ownership groups". The phrase "another setback" is putting it too strong. When prohibitionists lost one of the products lawsuits after another, then they lost the Emerson decision, it was never reported as "another setback". We have a number of victories, now is the time to build on them.

Prohibitionists claim that they only want to keep guns out of the "wrong" hands. Recently reserve law enforcement officers in Cass County were found to have machine guns through the department. They were the wrong hands. A prohibitionist from the "Violence" Policy Center wrote that pilots are the wrong hands, just like teachers are the wrong hands. It does not appear that there are any "right" hands. It does not appear that they think there are any "right" guns either. By some bizarre Goldilocks standard, all guns are either too big or too small, shoot too far, or not far enough, there is no type of gun that is "just right".

After pressure by all elements of the firearms community, the bill providing for the destruction of all guns that have ever been owned by the military is dead; for this year. We killed the Brady Bill every year until it passed. We must improve our organization and prepare to fight it again next year. Mr. Talent in the US Senate would be a good first step, a reasonable measure, for the children.

We can't take Dean to topless bars. He wants to dance.

I have an alarm system, when I leave, I push a button and an authoritative female voice tells me to get out, not the first time. Between the alarm, an anti-social dog, the dog's anti-social owner, and John M. Brownings best effort, we should keep evil at bay. So far it's only keeping out girls.

There is a cartoon called "Mommy Liberty" making the rounds. It shows a youthful Statue of Liberty cradling a baby and holding a smoking revolver in the other hand. The caption is "The most dangerous place in the world is between a mother and her child." We need more like this.

We could use a good song too. With all the artists on the NRA Board, we should have an album. Some clever person could put movement words to an old song, Battle of New Orleans, Yankee Doodle, We Shall Overcome.

Jim at The Armory, has bought J.R.'s building in Kearney. There is a range, a classroom, and possibilities. He will be teaching police courses, of course, private security services, and if things go well in the legislature, a CCW course. He sells a full line of police equipment, except for the doughnuts.

As the legal representative of Santa Clause, we ask that you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, or we will SUE!

We shall overcome.