14 February 2006

Kevin L. Jamison

It is a good day for Liberty.

We have one year and nine months before Hilary Clinton starts her presidential campaign.

It occurs to me that the Marines were not involved in the Indian Wars; and the Navy was of no help whatsoever. The Marines and Navy may have participated in the Seminole Wars in Florida, but only when there was some confusion over whether the battle was on land or water, swamps can be so confusing. I was therefore surprised to find a Marine field jacket at a gun show being advertised as a relic of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. I asked the seller why a winter field jacket was worn during a summer battle on 25 June 1876. He replied that units in the field often did not get the orders to change to summer uniforms; this is plausible. I asked why no one has mentioned the Marine participation in the battle. He replied that the Marines did not want to be connected to a major defeat and covered up their participation; this is also plausible. I asked him how a jacket with a manufacturer’s date of 1952 showed up in a battle in 1876. He allowed that some time travel was involved. This explains a great deal.

The Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association gave WMSA a very nice replica 1851 Navy Colt in a presentation case. We will have a drawing for this revolver. For you LTC holders, “Wild Bill” Hickock carried a pair of Navy Colts. If they were good enough for him, you just might want to trade in your Kimber 1911. I am storing the revolver in my office. As I understand it, if no one buys a ticket on the Navy Colt, I get to keep it, although some say there is a flaw in my plan.

I took someone to an emergency room and met a relentlessly cheerful intake nurse. She listens to people complain all day long, and continues to smile. I wondered what drugs she was on; my companion opined that she was filled with the Holy Spirit. We both agreed she was on something.

Winchester is now out of business. In the last year the Kansas City area has lost two gunshops in Independence and one in Platte City. If we do not involve young people in the shooting sports we shall lose more.

A movie called The Tip of the Spear recounts missionaries who establish a mission in Ecuador in a region inhabited by Indians with a rich cultural tradition of killing missionaries. The missionaries resolve not to shoot the Indians even if attacked in the belief that they were ready for Heaven and the Indians were not. I understand the thought process; I do not understand why they brought guns. I have often thought that pacifists are simply confidence targets for bad guys. By offering themselves as easy targets they encourage bad guys to do more bad things, perhaps to persons I care about. I find it especially annoying when pacifists not only insist on their pacifism, but also insist that others join them in being confidence targets. Then there are those pacifists who would never raise a hand in their own defense, but insist that others do so for them.

Pat Robinson insists that Israel’s Prime Minister Sharon suffered a stroke as punishment from God for political decisions made by his government. The Mayor of New Orleans claims that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for political decisions made in Washington DC. They see God not only as a hit man, but one with poor aim.

A DNA test was recently done on evidence in a murder case. This was unusual because the defendant had already been executed. The defendant claimed to the end that he was innocent. The DNA test proved that he was guilty. The defendant died with a lie on his lips. Criminals lie frequently, passionately, and often. They lie out of reflex, because truth is seldom their friend.

Tests on the bones of early man shows that they were attacked by birds. Man now shoots birds, which seems fair.

Talking about or showing one’s carry gun in mixed company, which is to say non-gun company, is considered rude. This practice upsets some persons, who may make imaginative police reports. It is not calculated to change their minds.

I have been told of an incident in Lee’s Summit where a group of thugs demanded a lady get in their car. When she refused the lead thug drew his gun, called her attention to it, and repeated his demand while issuing threats involving his gun. While he was talking about his gun, she drew hers and shot him. One does not draw a gun to talk about it, certainly not at close range. The lady failed to make a call to the police, which caused her a degree of trouble when her assailant made an imaginative statement at the hospital. Anyone who carries a gun must also carry a cell phone. The first person to make a 911 call is usually put down as the victim.

I saw a Far Side cartoon which portrayed a cowboy returning to his fellows after conferring with a group of Indians. The cowboy has arrows in him fore and aft. One of his fellow cowboys says “Now stay calm. Let’s hear what they said to Bill”. We are often told to disregard the evidence before us and listen to the “reasonable” proposals that anti-gunners present. We are told that no gun confiscation is proposed; yet we have the evidence of Britain and Australia, and New Orleans. We are told that no hunting guns will ever be affected; yet we have the evidence of Britain, and Australia, and New Orleans. We are told to listen to what they have to say. We know what they have to say, “Watch the shinny object in my right hand (and ignore the dagger in my left)”.

New Orleans proves that the government cannot be counted on to protect us, and the government’s first impulse is to take away our guns if we try to protect ourselves.

A man was arrested in Pine Lawn, Missouri for “Driving while Middle-Eastern” an obscure crime, but one we should have expected. He had a Florida License To Carry, which the officer claimed was no good in Missouri, and if it was, would only allow him to carry one gun, and he had four. The officer was wrong on both counts. A lawsuit is proceeding; however the danger is that he will win, end up owning Pine Lawn, Missouri, and then he will have to take care of it.

Harry Belefonte says that President Bush is the worst tyrant and worst terrorist in the world, which shows that he has not been reading the papers.

During a Richmond, Virginia gun show the BATF send agents to conduct residence checks on people buying firearms. If anyone was home they asked if the family knew that their family member was buying a gun. If no one was home, they asked neighbors if they knew about the gun purchase. This was, at minimum, an invasion of privacy. It is also several other things.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from territory claimed by Palestinians. For this it got the terrorist group Hamas elected to a controlling majority in the Palestinian parliament.

The first 50 years of the Missouri Conservation Department can be reviewed at www.misouriconservation.org/about/50_yrs/ The Department was formed by sportsmen who wanted to save hunting for future generations. It is now our responsibility to save hunting for future generations.

Judge Alito has been sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice and may be tempted to find the Democratic Party unconstitutional. However, this is not how the system works, and should not be how the system works.

Casey Nethercott was part of Ranch Rescue, a project protecting Texas border ranches from illegal aliens. He is accused of pistol-whipping a couple of illegal aliens. Represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the illegals successfully sued Mr. Nethercott, the owner of the ranch he was supposed to be protecting and the founder of Ranch Rescue. The ranch owner settled, but Mr. Nethercott and the founder of Ranch Rescue did not put up a defense and were each ordered to pay $500,000. Mr. Nethercott lost his own ranch to satisfy the judgment. This demonstrates two things. Mr. Nethercott was a convicted felon when he participated in Ranch Rescue. It is a very bad idea to recruit a convicted felon to provide security. The Rolling Stones hired Hell’s Angels to provide security at a concert and a man died from their efforts. Paying them with beer may have been a bad idea as well. The second lesson is that if someone sues, it is necessary to fight back or they will win every time.

A prospective juror in a federal case was asked how many guns he owned. His concern was that this constituted some sort of registration. It is probably because the case involved guns in some way, and the attorneys wanted to know which prospective juror owned guns as well. Whenever I try a self-defense case I not only ask who owns guns, but what type. I work my way around to persons who are horrified at the prospect of owning guns, present or past membership in groups which might be relevant, and if anyone has been in a fight. This helps narrow down the people who would be bad for my side.

The Summer 2005 issue of the UMKC Law Review featured a “symposium exploring controversial issues surrounding guns” (according to the law school alumni magazine). The symposium is titled “Armed Standoff: The impasse in Gun Legislation and Litigation”. I have only had time to glance at a student note in the issue entitled “Missouri Concealed Carry and Schools”. The author is upset that the LTC law does not criminalize license holders who carry into schools. The author repeatedly states that there is no indication that a license holder would do such a thing, or that the license holder would pose a danger if he did absent-mindedly carry into a school. The author insists that the legislature must immediately criminalize this behavior as a ‘symbol”. A symbol of what he does not say, perhaps symbolizing the legislature having nothing else to do, or a solution in search of a problem. The author insists that gun owners should support such criminalization because if there was an incident at a school the reaction of the legislature might be more restrictive. The author clearly has no knowledge of the history of gun restrictions. If we supported criminalization of negligent carry in schools, punishable by death and the Internal Revenue Service, the reaction to an “incident” would demand more. We have seen this before; regardless of existing law, prohibitionists always demand more and dance in the blood of “incidents” like Kali, Hindu goddess of death celebrating another skull on her necklace. These skulls represent our rights, and Kali always wants another.

At the February, 2006 WMSA Board meeting Sheila Stokes-Begley was unanimously elected president of WMSA. A change of WMSA presidents has traditionally been styled a “coup”, complete with peasants armed with pitchforks and torches storming the Winter Palace. In a break with tradition, this time we held a mutiny complete with cutlasses and the outgoing president was forced to walk the plank. It was not difficult to make him walk the plank, we tossed a doughnut off the end and he went right after it.

A cartoonist drew a representation of a military quadruple amputee and showed the Secretary of Defense rating him as “battle hardened”. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a rare move, sent him a protest that the families of wounded veterans might not think this was funny. On a talk show the cartoonist claims that the military didn’t provide freedom of speech, that Thomas Jefferson did. Well, Thomas Jefferson, and other spawn of dead European males, did give us freedom of speech, but it is the military that has preserved it. Doubtless some car dealer provided the cartoonist with transportation, but if not for the services of a mechanic and gas station it would do him no good.

An animal rights activist advocates killing hunters, he wouldn’t do so himself, but only says that it should be done. This was Charlie Manson’s defense.

Osama Bin Ladin recommends a book which refers to America as a ‘rogue state”. The book shoots to a best seller, my book he can’t mention. The author argues that America should not interfere abroad. In other news, an American destroyer interfered with a pirate vessel in the Indian Ocean and liberated hostages. Two hundred years ago Britain decided to stamp out the slave trade, interfering with the affairs of other nations, which were interfering with the lives of certain unfortunate people. If terrorists did not interfere with America, I doubt that we would have over 130,000 troops in the sand.

I spoke at the annual meeting of the Lafayette Gun Club, located conveniently in Lafayette County. They are looking for some land for a new range, which should be in Lafayette County. Afterwards I signed up six members, sold eleven books, and received over $260 in donations for WMSA. I LIKE the Lafayette Gun Club.

We shall overcome.