Liberty Notes 20 December, 2006

 Kevin L. Jamison

It is a good day for Liberty.

We have one year before Hillary Clinton begins her campaign for president.

The O’Reilly Factor broadcast a tape of a Minuteman spokesman speaking at a college. The Minutemen observe the Mexican border and report crossings by illegal aliens. Their presentation at the college was cut very short when self-righteous students stormed the stage and prevented the spokesman from speaking. The students were represented on the show by a spokesgirl who proclaimed that the minutemen did not deserve free speech, and the students were exercising their right of free speech. She was outraged that the spokesman fought back against the assault. Storm Troopers come in all forms.

Ex-President Bill Clinton is engaged in a campaign against AIDS. He might be more effective if he had a working definition of sex.

The prohibitionists brag about their election victories. The candidates they brag about won while denying that they are anti-gun. Sheila has suggested that we congratulate these people for coming over to our side.

An archeologist has found the location of Sgt York’s Medal of Honor battle. He found a small pile of .45 ACP cartridge cases at the right place. There has been speculation that Sgt. York used a captured Luger in his exploit. This is largely based on the use of a Luger in the movie. Sgt. York was a technical advisor on the movie and it was thought he would not let this pass. However, he was issued a 1911 automatic (it is now in the 82^nd Airborne Museum at Ft. Bragg along with the 1917 Enfield he used). The movie had him using a Springfield rather than the more common Enfield. In his only written comments on the battle, Sgt York referred to his “Colt”.

The new Congress will take office 20 January, 2007. It is suggested that we dub this “Ammunition Day” and buy a box of our favorite loads.

It is suggested that we bribe Iraqi militias. I am appalled that this is a new idea. Pundits continue to declare that a military solution in Iraq is not possible and a political solution must be found. This is akin to proclaiming that an airplane needs a fuselage. While true, without wings the fuselage will go nowhere. A military solution (wings alone) is possible, but difficult, protracted, and expensive on all possible levels. Without military force, a political solution is simply an unprotected idea.

The Oct 1997 issue of The Army Lawyer contains an article called “The Joint Service Combat Shotgun Program”, adapted from a report on the legality of shotguns and buckshot in combat. It found that shotguns and buckshot are lawful under international law. It also defines claymores and M-79 grenade launchers as shotguns. There is a shot round for M 79 and M 203 grenade launchers, both of which have barrels less than 18 inches.

The Gun Report April 1992 at page 16 Uncle Sam’s has an article “Multi-Shot Cartridges” which demonstrates that the US Army has used shot cartridges throughout its history. In the early days it used shot cartridges in pistols. This seems to answer the Supreme Courts” question in the Miller case if there was any evidence that sawed off shotguns had a militia use.

Ann Stinnet has been serving as the WMSA BOD secretary and for a small fee makes us look smart, although I am informed that this is getting harder and I may not be able to afford it much longer.

Suspicious New York City detectives approached a carload of men. One said, “hand me my gun”, even if there was no gun they drove a 3,000 pound weapon at the detectives. The detectives fired 50 rounds into the car, a figure which appears in all accounts of the incident. One of the occupants escaped, and if there was a gun it may have disappeared with the escapee. The NY Police department policy is that officers in a gunfight fire three shots and then reassess the situation. They also say that it is policy that officers do not fire at cars, the theory being that if they have time to take a well-aimed shot, they had time to get out of the way. The shooting was triggered by the mention of the word “gun”. This is alarming for those of us who own guns, but this is New York City where only cops and criminals have guns, or so says the Mayor. It is obvious that it is Police Department policy to micromanage gunfights. They should know that wiser military minds have said “no plan survives contact with the enemy.”

School invasions are rare, but not rare enough. It seems that the various school districts all have the same plan to deal with school invasions, students are to sit quietly and be murdered. School bureaucrats express horror at the idea of resistance. The attack at the Amish school proves that pacifism doesn’t work. The only thing that does work is to fight back. Still school officials claim that resistance is a “recipe for disaster”, and would “get someone shot”. They say that it is better to talk and calm the shooter down. When someone is shooting schoolchildren, how would resistance make things worse? If a psychopath is shooting children inside a building, how could he hear calm words over the gunshots, even if he was disposed to listen? Some people hate the idea of guns and self-defense so much that it seems they would apologize to vampires for not being tasty enough rather than take up a silver bullet. There are vampires of a sort in this world; regrettably sunlight does not dispose of them.

In a 22 November, 2006 editorial Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer refers to the Viet Nam war and declares that the domino theory, didn’t happen. I wrote to her to report that I have clients from Cambodia and Laos who report that both countries did fall to the communists. I asked where she got her information, but she did not reply.

I have a case against the Jackson County Sheriff, contesting illegal questions on his Permit to Acquire form. The case has been continued and we may have abolished the PTA in the legislature before we have a trial.

I am handling an appellate case Carr vs Clay County Sheriff. Mr. Carr has a twenty-year-old conviction for burglary, but he received a suspended imposition of sentence, which traditionally means that if probation is successfully completed, the conviction did not happen. Mr. Carr was denied a PTA based on this old guilty plea. We took it to the Court of Appeals, and they ruled against us. We have asked for reconsideration, but I fear that on reconsideration they may find that I am ugly too.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s senior deputy claims that in January Governor Blunt will sign a bill making only Missouri Licenses To Carry valid in this state. This is not true. No such bill even received a hearing in the last session of the legislature. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department has become infamous for putting out massively wrong information about gun law. I keep a web site for current information at www.KLJamisonLaw.com

In the recent blizzard and ice storm, people were trapped in cars, I-70 was closed, and electricity was out in large parts of St. Louis. This demonstrates the importance of preparedness even without hurricanes.

A NY Times columnist claims that we have lost Iraq, it is a tragedy, but its over. Unfortunately, even if we declare it over, the enemy won’t let it be over. They have written over and over that this is a worldwide struggle. Generations of commentators after WW II wondered how the politicians of the 1930’s could have ignored Hitler’s plan for the world as set forth in his book. Now we know. People want to ignore the inconvenient, the unpleasant.

The Star of 10 December, 2006 page B 3 column 6 reports that the co-owner of a restaurant in Lincoln Nebraska has agreed to sell his business to a private party as part of the City’s plans for a parking garage and high-rise building. The owner’s parent’s lost a construction company to the communist Khmer Rouge and his grandparents lost a farm to the communist Chinese. Luckily he came to the Land of the Free and the Home of Eminent Domain.

In King County Washington, an accidental discharge hit a neighbor who sued the shooter, the gun owner, the owner’s roommate, and the parents of the 21 year-old gun owner and his roommate. The theory was that the parents should have prohibited their adult children from owning guns or given them gun safety classes. The NRA helped defend the case, and it was dismissed but I fear that we will see the like again.

On 3/30/01 Wayne Martin of Antioch Tennessee, went to aid of a neighbor who was being robbed and threatened with death. He ran off the attacker then chased the assailant who had a long, long criminal record. He was forced to kill the assailant in what became a politically charged white on black shooting. The Prosecutor took three tries to get a grand jury to indict Mr. Martin. Despite the evidence the stress caused Mr. Martin to have a breakdown and he pled to manslaughter. This abuse of official position seems all too common.

The commander of WW II’s 101^st Airborne Easy Co, wrote a book about his experiences in the war. He frequently refers to individuals as his “killers”, men who were natural soldiers, aggressive, who would kill the enemy at any and every opportunity. Other military sources have said that the presence of killers in a unit makes the unit more effective. These men were not sociopaths; they only killed the common enemy, they did not hesitate, they did not linger. When there was no more enemy, they stopped killing, and never thought about it afterwards.

I see that Amazon has only one review of my book, Missouri Weapons and Self-Defense Law. President Sheila wrote a very nice review. However, I need more reviews so I shall resort to bribery. I will give a nickel off the purchase of a second book for favorable reviews, and charge a nickel more on the second book for unfavorable reviews.

The election for Mayor of Kansas City is coming up. Reviewing the list of candidates no one jumps out as favorable, although Alvin Brooks positively leaps out as unfavorable. The city has blamed crime rates on pawnshops and gun shows and has threatened to harass them. The City’s proposed course of action is illegal under Missouri’s Uniform Law, however we can expect a hostile administration to attempt to implement the plan.

The only good to have come out of the last election is that it now appears that I can clone myself a girlfriend. All movies which touch on this subject, dating back to “Bride of Frankenstein” caution against such measures. The movies all show the clone turning on its creator, and not in a nice way. I was married for twenty years, a killer clone cannot be worse.

The July 2006 issue of American Handgunner reports that Sam Colt sold 325,000 of his 1849 pocket revolvers in 24 years of production. Colt Firearms took 68 years to sell 357,000 of the large Peacemakers, including government contracts. It appears that concealed carry was popular in the old days. In the Museum in the first floor of the Missouri Capital Building there is a stagecoach with a sample of handguns used by people riding in the coaches, all small handguns. Any reasonably complete work on the guns of the Revolutionary period discusses pocket pistols. I have two such flintlock pistols in my collection; I can cover each with my hand. I don’t have dainty little hands, but my hand can cover the entire gun, ammunition, and all the integrity and scholarship the anti-gun people can muster.

Australian singer Beccy Cole was criticized for her support of Australian soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Her response is “Poster Girl”, the video is at www.Blackfive.net/main/2006/10/beccy cole post.html and well worth seeing.

We shall overcome.