Liberty Notes for May 2004

K. L. Jamison

It is a good day for Liberty.

I listened to a tape of WE REMEMBER THE HOME GUARD, a book compiled by Frank and Joan Shaw.  It is an oral history of the British Home Guard of WW II.  After Dunkirk Britain expected invasion and called on men who were exempt from service to form a militia.  This being Britain the upper classes became officers, this being Britain, there was a shortage of arms.  One platoon had a half-dozen rifles, but no ammunition.  This was not the major problem that it seems; the rifles had no firing pins.  In the early days some units were armed with pick handles.  There were shotguns, and some .22 rifles, one veteran of the first war carried a captured Mauser, but had only a single cartridge.  An old Africa hand donated an elephant rifle and eighteen cartridges.  The Home Guardsman used one cartridge to test the rifle, and determined that if Hitler invaded with elephants they could take care of the first seventeen up to 500 yards away.  There were many veterans of WW I and boys who received basic military training with the Home Guard before being called up to the regulars.  Many members were in critical occupations who did a full day's work before a full night's guard.  They released regular troops for training and reaction forces.  When a regular is guarding factories, he is not learning to call artillery fire or other professional skills.  They served as opposing forces in war games with the regulars to good effect on both sides.  Even with volunteers the British Army penchant for mindless regulation of an irregular force emerged.  One man could not wear the boots he was issued, and was repeatedly arrested for being out of uniform, eventually doing a total of six months imprisonment.  Another man took his unloaded rifle to a crashed German plane and captured the pilot.  He took some items of equipment as souvenirs.  He was subsequently charged with stealing enemy equipment which was the property of the Crown.  He beat the charge.  There is much speculation over how useful the force would have been in combat.  One unit was asked how it would disable to local railway if it was threatened with capture.  One brave partisan said he would destroy all the train tickets, in the belief that without tickets the enemy would not be allowed on the train.  There were false alarms in which the Home Guard took up prepared positions ready to do their duty.  If there was an invasion, and each fired off his five rounds and threw his molotov cocktail this would probably not cause a wholesale nazi retreat.  It would delay the invaders, forcing them to deploy and maneuver.  This could be enough.  In June 1944 the Panzer Division Das Reich moved from southern France to counter the Normandy landings.  It was met with small groups of Resistance fighters at every town.  The constant fighting was hard on the tanks causing them to break down.  It entered Normandy understrength and in small ineffective groups.  The Home Guard could have done as much.  A number of the Guardsmen fondly remember days when men and boys had rifles and ammunition at home, and later submachine guns and machine guns.  There was no wholesale murder.

          Any group outside the Kansas City area that wants to form a group similar to WMSA will receive help incorporating, writing bylaws and organizing.  They can operate under our charter until they are ready to become independent.   We can arrange some literature for gunshows.  I will donate ten copies of MISSOURI WEAPONS AND SELF-DEFENSE LAW that the group can use as it sees fit.

          The prohibitionists think that we are stupid.  John Kerry does a photo with a shotgun claiming to be a hunter and supporter of the Second Amendment ("as it has been interpreted").  He then goes to Congress to push an amendment to the Industry Protection Act to outlaw 30-30, 30-06, .308 and .223 ammunition.  If it was illegal to own such ammunition I'm sure that real hunters would notice.

          I've listened to a couple of books in the "Gunsmith" series.  This series features a lady who operates a gunsmith shop concentrating on antique firearms.  The twist is that she has some type of magical power which reacts to the history of guns.  When a gun comes into her shop which has an unfulfilled destiny she is snatched back in time to fix events as well as the gun.  This disrupts business operations, her love life, other things.  They are well written with an interesting plot and well drawn characters.  It is good to see a strong female character who appreciates and uses guns.  There is the occasional error regarding firearms, taking the safety off a Ladysmith revolver, or firing both barrels of a shotgun elsewhere described as a pump action.  I contacted the author who says that she knows better, but the type of gun was changed in a rewrite and not all references were caught.  This is fine, part of the fun of a gun nut reading such books is catching mistakes.  At least she is trying to be accurate.  Of course she has a web site at www.CKCrigger.com.  She writes other types of books as well.

          I keep hearing about racy billboards along I-70.  Gary, Dean and I have made a couple of I-70 trips to grassroots meetings, and the billboards did not make the experience any more enjoyable.  We met with our NRA-ILA liaison and grassroots groups in Jefferson City and then in St. Louis.  It was decided that absolutely nothing would be sacrificed in order to get a Hancock fix to the License to Carry law.  There are legislative races we need to concentrate on.  The legislative session ended without loosing ground.  Next year we gain some.

          At this time 80% of Missouri sheriffs are issuing licenses.  Approximately 5,500 sets of fingerprints are being processed for licenses.  This is added to the unknown thousands of licenses obtained from Pennsylvania, Florida, and other states.  For over two and a half months people have been carrying concealed weapons (legally).  Now that we have won the right, we have to fight to keep it.  St. Louis County has filed a lawsuit claiming a Hancock (financing) problem with implementing the LTC program.  The relief they seek is to restrain enforcement of the entire law, licenses issued by any Missouri sheriff, car carry, out of state licenses, everything.  The court should not consider such relief because it is grossly disproportionate to the hardship they claim.  However, we cannot count on the court doing what it should do.  The Missouri Attorney General has filed an answer to the suit, a very good answer.  There is discussion among our people about intervening in the lawsuit.  I have spoken to the attorney representing the NRA.  He has an excellent plan.  The grassroots groups may intervene, however we are over $40,000 behind in legal fees as it is.

          When you get a Florida LTC it comes attached to a card which says “Fresh from Florida”.  Nice.  For a Florida license call (850) 488-5381.

          Gary has thirty years worth of shooting pins on his NRA hat.  That is why no one wants to stand next to him in a lightning storm.

          Dean Johnson wore his personalized NRA hat to the St. Louis grassroots meeting.  On leaving someone offered him $100 for the hat.  Dean refused, but the guy gave us the $100 for the legal defense fund.  If you like Dean’s hat, the bidding starts at $101.

          Prime time TV shows increasingly mock politicians who are on our side.   The shows make bald critical statements that are not true.  This is a bad sign.  By the time the new TV season starts, we are prohibited from supporting our friends, but they can do as they please. 

          I remember a movie about the OSS recruiting German POWs to work as agents in Germany.  One of the recruits was fingerprinted and asked “In America I thought only criminals were fingerprinted”.  Well now we are fingerprinted for a License to Carry.  Some have reported that law enforcement agencies refuse to do fingerprints for a Florida License to Carry.  Tell them it is for a job, in Florida, if they ask.

          I have done some more work on my new .275 cartridge.  Having decided on a diameter, I need to determine the bullet length and weight.  It can start with 100 grains; this will make it easy to work percentages if it is made heavier or lighter.  The length is easy, it shall be long enough.  Moreover, it shall be shaped like a barbell.  In the days of wooden ships, gunners fired barbell shaped projectiles to tear through enemy rigging.  It has never been done with pistol ammunition, and therefore it must be done.  This design alone will sell enough cartridges to cover expenses as gun writers try to see if it actually tumbles, tears, hits sideways, or whatever action marketing claims.  The next question is the cartridge case.  It could be straight, tapered, or bottle-necked.  It could be rimed, semi-rimed, or rimless.  I say rimless, this works best for semi-automatics, and if anyone wants to use it in revolvers, they can use moonclips.  I have also decided to make it bottle-necked.  This will require a dramatically curved magazine.  This bothers certain anti-gun persons, which is reason enough to adopt the design.  This leaves the powder charge.  I have decided to leave this to the reloaders; they will enjoy it and it will save me a great deal of work with chemistry, and perhaps some lost fingers.

          Anyone who wants a Florida license needs only call (850) 488-5381 for an application.  The fingerprints MUST be on the card provided by Florida.  Read the instructions carefully.  There is one question which asks if you want to keep your address secret.  Only law enforcement officers are eligible for this.  It also requires a passport photo.  These can be done at any Kinko’s, or Sears.  It must be a passport type photo; they will not accept snapshots, digitals or really neat caricatures.

          We shall overcome