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Liberty Notes |
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By K. L. Jamison Esq. |
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December 2004 |
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It is a Very Good day for Liberty. The election is done and well done. The reaction of leftist pundits to the will of the people is remarkable. One takes comfort that a second term will be a punishment to the American people for failing to heed the advice of their betters. Another says that all the people in the red states have lost his respect. We are portrayed as mindless, intolerant, primitive, bigoted, religious ,fools who should not be trusted with sharp objects (doubtless we shall.. hear more on this point later). It seems that we are unworthy even of the contempt they so generously give us. These people demand that President Bush reach out to them, to the people who are disgusted by him as well as the people who voted for him. They seem genuinely hurt and confused that he has not done so. Some of the defeated party advocate the secession of the states that voted for Kerry, perhaps joining with nearby Canada. I can visualize the president calling up the Na1!ionalGuard units of northern Virginia and asking if they would like some pay back. A lady who has spent her career cleaning houses has written a book "Other People's Dirt". She recounts what people throwaway, what they keep, and the eccentricities of her employers. The book demonstrates that one should be polite to everyone. You never know who will write a book. Speaking of which, Christmas is coming and not everyone has a copy of MISSOURI WEAPONS AND SELF-DEFENSE LAW available through my office.. Gun shows require that guns be unloaded and patrons not have loose ammunition or 1oaded clips This is uncomfortable for those of us who have become used to carrying a loaded gun, and an extra magazine or two. Shows must be careful about guns being loaded by negligence or misadventure. Finding a new holster, grips, or bayonet for the carry gun make it tempting to draw the gun. This may create a very remote chance of an accident. There have been accidental discharges. There have been incidents where it appears that a cartridge was deliberately loaded into a gun on a dealer's table. XI Yonder see the morning blink: The sun is up, and up must I, To wash and dress and eat and drink And look at things and talk and think And work, and God knows why. Oh often have I washed and dressed And what's to show for all my pain? Let me lie abed and rest: Ten thousand times I've done my best And all's to do again. A E. Housman Last Poems No matter how many times we work an election, man a gun show, or debate prohibitionists, it seems that we always have it to do again. Only by doing it again and again will we keep our rights. I am told that the cause of mad cow disease defies disinfectants, heat, and sterilization. The prohibitionists, however, are even more persistent; and so must we. A television program videotapes real jury deliberations. One of these involved a murder case in which the defendant claimed self-defense. One of the jurors insisted that it is not self-defense unless the other party is actually pointing a gun at you. The jury insisted that the lesser offense of manslaughter applied only to hunting accidents and the like. Neither claim is true. There must have been definitions of these terms in the jury instructions; this shows that such basics must be hammered home to the jury over and over; and if to a jury then even more to the general public. An article on our web site is titled "Don't Hesitate to Kill the Rapist". Some have wondered if it indicates that we are intolerant of rapists. Let me put your mind at rest. We are VERY intolerant of rapists; the only good rapist. is a dead rapist, rapists bad, rapists very bad, rapists evil. Rapists are not just a little bit evil; rapists are Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of evil. Some people have trouble with this concept. I was on a radio call-in show once, and a lady called in to oppose self-defense. She said that if someone tired to rape her she would try to understand him. I'm afraid that I did not refute this statement; my jaw dropped so fast and hit the table so hard that I was unable to express what I thought of this statement. This is the sort of person we confront. At a gun show I bought a stainless steel magazine for a 1911. The seller said that it was used at the battle of the Little Bighorn, so I paid the extra dollar. It had no markings on it of any kind, which the seller explained indicated that it was made for the CIA. Some will argue that the CIA did not exist for the Custer fight in 1876;which is just what the CIA wants you to think. The things you learn from venders at gun shows. The magazine functioned flawlessly. When I took it apart for cleaning it was encrusted with carbon and unidentified crud. It was only a matter of time before the follower stuck on a layer of crud, even rust (stainless steel can rust if given time and opportunity). Another time I found a magazine with a slight, almost imperceptible dent; this prevented the spring from moving smoothly and feeding bullets. Today I cleaned my carry gun and the brand new magazine I had been testing. All was well; however I had some patches left over and decided to clean one of the used magazines I had purchased. It soon appeared that the magazine had been "rode hard and put away wet" so many times that it took longer to clean the magazine than it did to clean the gun. On another occasion I tested a sack of old 1911magazines;a third of them had persistent malfunctions. WhenI was in the Army I was often the range officer for rifle and pistol qualification. I always took a hatchet with me. When I found a magazine with cracked feed lips or parts rusted off, I beat it into scrap metal. The quartermaster could turn it in for a new one, but it would not have the opportunity to fail in combat. People test their hand guns paying attention to the firing pin, extractor, and ejector, they check to see if the hole in the chamber goes all the way to the muzzle. People test the ammunition for compatibility with their gun but they do not check to see if the expendable little box will reliably push bullets into the bullet launcher. Sometimes the peculiarities of magazines are not apparent until they are loaded., At the same show I bought a 1911 magazine with a shooting star stamped on the follower, which the vender told me indicated early Star Fleet issue. It had six inspection holes on each side of the body, which usually indicates that it will hold eight rounds, instead of the usual seven. When I tested it, it would only hold seven rounds. After cleaning I reassembled it, and it would only hold six. I took it apart and again reassembled it, and it took seven. then I left it alone. I have seen magazines which did not show cracked feed lips unless loaded. You can never tell what feathers or Klingon blood might coat the insides of these magazines unless they are disassembled, which must be done before taking them in harm's way. My oldest son, my treasure, my jewel, my joy, one of them, went to a gun show with me. He got a set of dogtags. I told him that I could get him dogtags for free, but he didn't want the foreign travel that went with them. On the line for branch of service he put "private citizen"; so he is a private after all. At the same gun show I bought a bundle of socks with a Winchester label. The label also warned the user to be safe. I am not sure how one could be unsafe with socks, but there is no end to human mischief. Virginia Tech geological scientists have found that lead bullets in an old shooting range have no environmental impact. They found that the lead does not wash away and remains in the soil inches from impact. This is good news for ranges, and bad news for prohibitionists who will seize any
excuse to harass our sport. |