Liberty Notes

by K. L. Jamison

17 July 2005

We have two years and four months before Hillary Clinton starts her presidential campaign.

I was writing something about Dean Johnson when I learned of his death. It was one of those stories that Dean inspired, if it is not true, it should be. For as long as I can remember Dean was a mainstay of any action we had going on. He put together signs, and put them out, he folded and mailed the BULLET, he drove to meetings around the state sometimes only to save one of us the effort of driving. He was unfailingly generous, the only time I ever saw him angry was when he offered something, and was turned down. The following is the story I was writing.

I saw Dean Johnson at the gun show. His blood pressure is low these days, but he expects it to go up when Hillary starts her presidential campaign. In the meantime he is riding one of those motorized chairs which are popular with people whose stamina is not what it was, only his has a ram; and gun mounts.

Dean liked these little stories, which might not be true, but should be. Dean is missed by all. Some one will step up to take his place, but there will be no one like him. The Board has voted to establish the Dean Johnson Award for Grassroots Activism. It will be awarded to the individual who best lives up to Dean’s example.

At the last gun show, a group of nazis had a table. The air conditioning was not working. The two things may not have been related; I just mention the coincidence. I am often mistaken for being Jewish, so I have to worry about nazis. The Jewish people spent 4,000 year of exile, slavery, persecution, discrimination and genocide to end up looking like me. It sort of adds insult to injury. My Uncle Charles used to drop bombs on nazis. A pity he ran out of bombs.

Gerald Nunziato, former head of BATF’s national Tracing Center and now a partner in Crime Gun Solutions an anti-gun consulting firm recently told the Houston Chronicle “If it wasn’t for criminals, there wouldn’t be a gun industry in this country.” This is the sort of hatred that we face.

Manhattanville College is sponsoring a “My Soldier” program which sets people up with military pen pals in the war. Contact www.manhattanville.edu or 2900 Purchase St, Purchase NY 10577. I remember the importance of mail from when I was in the Army.

Over the last fifteen, nearly sixteen years we have developed certain political reflexes: 1) Every opportunity is an ambush, 2) Every bill is life or death, 3) Politicians can’t be trusted, 4) Every action is a conspiracy against us. These reflexes need to be re-examined.

Sometimes opportunities are opportunities, but could always be an ambush. Every bill is not life or death, defending what we have is life or death, increasing our rights is why we exist, but not life or death. If every fight is all out, we will wear out. Politicians CAN be trusted, to do WHAT is the problem. Not every action is a conspiracy. The opposition is not smart enough to launch that many conspiracies. However, when a number of different groups are all trying to hurt us, they will blunder into the same projects at the same time, which is close enough I suppose.

The war is Iraq is said to be in its last throes, and at a high level of violence. Both statements may be true. When the war started the enemy had to kill Americans until we got tired and went away. Then the Iraqi military and police began recruiting, and they had to kill enough to discourage this opposition. Then the Iraqi government began to organize, and they had to kill government figures to destroy a competing ideology. Then the Sunis began to join the government, and they had to kill enough to discourage the defection of their base population. Then their allies from Sadam’s Baath Party began to negotiate with the government, and they can’t have that. Foreign counties are now recognizing the Iraqi government and sending ambassadors. The terrorists cannot have their ideological enemy given such legitimacy and they are kidnapping and killing ambassadors. The terrorists cannot win while the United States Military is involved; yet, they are five or six steps away from a strategy that will remove their greatest obstacle. This keeps them very busy. Yet, every time they come out of their holes, someone sees them. Every time they plant a bomb they kill someone whose cousin collects their trash or sells them vegetables and knows who, where, and what they are. Today a bomb killed a street full of children. Their relatives' anger will be directed at the terrorists for the atrocity, or at the US and Iraqi government for failure to protect them, or failure to take revenge. We could still loose this war, but they are not winning.

Governor Blunt has signed the Hancock fix to the License To Carry Law. Missouri's Supreme Court had ruled that the fee language in the original law violated the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution. When we wrote this law, we thought that we were giving the sheriffs $100 for each license. The prohibitionists used this language to delay implementation of the law. They succeeded only in robbing the sheriffs of this fee. Sheriffs have voluntarily issued licenses with a fee, if any, that covers their costs. The fix allows them to collect $100 and use it at their discretion. The opposition claims that all licenses issued up to this point are unconstitutional. This is an absurd statement from an absurd group. The Supreme Court never said anything of the sort. The licenses were never unconstitutional, only the fee process. There is no credible argument that existing licenses are unconstitutional, however, that will not stop them.

It occurs to me that I have never been to a bill signing before. No one I know has been to a bill signing. This is because our victories to this point have involved preventing bad bills. We have never had the strength to pass a good bill before. We have friends in the legislature now. In the past I have been told that the legislature was pro-gun, however something else was always more important than passing one of our bills. The legislators were afraid of controversy; they did not want to oppose the governor, of late we even had to remind them of their strength. Now we can get things done.

Gary Davis and I were the only grassroots representatives at the signing of the Hancock fix. Gary represented WMSA and I represented Missourians for Personal Safety. It was an honor to be invited. Gary's grandson Dimagio came with us, wearing a "Blunt for Governor" sticker on his shirt, which made him a new friend. The Governor handed us signed copies of the bill, I gave him a copy of my book MISSOURI WEAPONS AND SELF-DEFENSE LAW, can't have the governor getting into trouble over a permit to buy a handgun.

Some have criticized the Governor for waiting so long to sign the bill. After attending a signing ceremony, I understand the effort that goes into a signing ceremony. They do not simply hand him the bill and a pen. People are invited to attend, people for whom the bill has significance. The bill is signed along with other bills which may distract or attract attention. It is quite a production.

The $250,000 bond put up by the prohibitionists when they began their constitutional challenge is still held by the court. The judge has heard arguments on what should be done with it, but has made no decision. This does not hurt us, and keeps the prohibitionist money tied up.

When we were debating the LTC law, I was asked what I would do if (they said "when") it caused mass murders. I was asked, for example, if I would apologize. Over a year later none of the horrors predicted by the opposition has come true. Instead of apologizing, they continue to harass us.

At a recent employment fair a speaker told a group of young people that strippers can make up to $250,000 per year. More recently a Community University was puzzled that a class in stripping was over-enrolled. It seems that the sort of persons involved with Community Universities cannot understand such basic economic considerations.

As of 11 July, 2005 Colorado announced it will recognize Missouri’s License To Carry. At present, seventeen (17) states will honor a Missouri License. While Missouri has a recognition system which automatically honors all licenses, other states operate on a reciprocity system. The reciprocity system requires an affirmative action by another state to recognize our license. An affirmative action usually requires an initiative by Missouri’s Attorney General. Our Attorney General hates us. This makes it surprising that so many states recognize our License. It appears that individual activists have sent copies of our law to the attorney generals of other states, pointing out that we recognize their licenses and require background checks for our licenses. On occasion, they have been successful. This is encouraging.

The NRA made a deal with Illinois to agree to a gun show bill if the state would agree to ending the state’s gun owner database. When the bill passed, the governor announced that he never intended to keep his end of the bargain. This demonstrated that a deal with the devil never works out well.

I’ve reviewed a book on gunpowder, coincidentally titled GUNPOWDER. It gives a history of black powder, its creation, improvement, use and role in inspiring the infant sciences. It provides a layman’s explanation of the chemistry and physics of gunpowder explosions. The book also reminds us that gunpowder weapons were not superior to bows and arrows until Colt made his revolvers. Guns replaced bows far earlier, it seems, because man noise and fire. Man is the only animal that instinctively likes fire. This affection has caused no end of destruction, but we have come to accept the risk, and it provides employment for fire fighters.

In a recent episode of “Rescue Me” the only female fire fighter in the cast made a mistake and was called a “stupid twat” by her endangered partner. She was naturally offended and reported his slur to headquarters with predictable bureaucratic consequences. The other fire fighters sat her down and explained that the use of ethnic and sexual slurs is a matter of male bonding. Since she chose to enter a male dominated profession, she should accept this male eccentricity. While I see the argument, a gentleman would not offend a lady under any circumstances.

I am teaching the legal section of the License To Carry for free. It keeps my hand in and allows me to sell my book and promote WMSA.

Claycomo Guns will reopen in mid-August under brand-new management. The previous owners lost a lawsuit, and the winners seized the store. Since postrial motions had not been ruled on, much less an appeal, this is a daring move. The winners sold the business to the owner of Enforcer Ammunition. At least the community will not loose another shop and range.

I am told that the federal prison in Marion Illinois is surrounded by gun clubs. So, if Manuel Noriega escapes, he will have to evade the local population of hunters and shooters. Perhaps that motivates him to stay in prison where it is safe. I have seen nature preserves that are surrounded by gun clubs. This provides a green belt around the preserve, which works better than shopping malls and condos.

California proposes to require all ammunition in the state to have a serial number. At first one assumes that they do not understand that when criminals steal guns, they steal ammunition as well. On investigation we find that the purpose is not to detect crime, but to make ammunition too expensive for the ordinary person to buy.

We have a new “Stay Out of Jail” card which summarizes the LTC law, firearms and self-defense law. As always, this card is free, but if it keeps you out of a dollars worth of trouble, send us the dollar.

We shall overcome.