Watch out for the Ohio Food Stamp Police!

It is perfectly legal to open carry a weapon in Ohio, but apparently at least two undercover Officers from the Ohio Investigative Unit (Ohio agency that enforces Ohio's food stamp, alcohol, & tobacco laws), were oblivious to that fact. In spite of their ignorance to Ohio Gun laws, Agent Timothy Gales, and his partner Betty Ford, decided to hold up a law abiding Ohio citizen (Philip Turner) who was minding his own business while walking from his apartment to his vehicle while open carrying, for 30 minutes, before deciding to release him without charges.

An internal investigation decided that the Food Stamp agents had done nothing wrong, although it was determined that they were unaware of Ohio's gun laws. No kidding?! I could have saved them the time & money of an entire internal investigation by telling them that from the get go. As a result of that determination, more than 100 Ohio Investigative Unit agents are now going to attend a mandatory refresher course on Ohio gun laws over the next few months.

One question: Why exactly does Ohio need over 100 agents to enforce Food Stamp, alcohol, & tobacco laws? Can't an Ohio citizen eat a little food, drink a little drink, and smoke a little smoke without an undercover Ohio agent getting involved?

73% of Americans Agree: 2nd Amendment protects Individual Right

You may already be aware of the results of the February Gallop Poll, but if not, yes it's true. 73% of Americans know the simple truth that yes, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. For those of you on the 27% side of the issue (20% say no, 7% don't know), please investigate the facts & then come join us.

91% of Gun owners, and 63% of people who don't own guns know that it is an individual right, proving that there is a strong correlation between gun ownership & intelligence. I'm not sure if it's because intelligent people naturally realize that it's smart to own a gun for protection of ones family from thugs (as well as being useful for a lot of fun shooting sports), or if owning guns over a period of time simply causes an increase of intelligence. Either way, go buy a gun (be sure to get some safety training first - there are many excellent NRA certified instructors all over the country) & you'll at least look smarter than you did before you owned one.

Gun Control & Confiscation in Canada

Video about the results of Gun Control laws enacted in Canada, including gun registration, followed by bans & confiscation of specific kinds of handguns & rifles, etc. Punishing law abiding Canadian Citizens without impacting the weapons available to Criminals. The last time (and probably final time since they don't allow me to bring my handgun) I drove across the Canadian boarder the Canadian border agent asked me if I owned any handguns. I said "Of course, but I don't have any of them with me since you don't allow me to bring them here" - she then asked "Why on earth would you want a handgun?" Unbelievable.

England Gun Battle

Video showing the results of the handgun & self defense Bans in England such as a massive jump in crime rates, citizens going to jail longer than the criminals they defended themselves from, etc.

The Anti-Gun Gun Owner

An Excellent article is on the Buckeye Firearms website by Gerard Valentino on the topic of the Anti-Gun Gun Owner. It is a mouthful I know, but a type of Gun Owner all too common. They are the folks that say "as long as you don't take my hunting rifle you can take away handguns" or "as long as you don't take my handgun you can take away the AR-15 or the .50 caliber Rifle"

All gun owners must unite with the common goal of defending our right to bear arms or the anti gun folks will divide & conquer. All for one, and One for All must be our motto. "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." (Ben Franklin after signing the Declaration of Independence).

We also must not leave out the Passive Gun Owner - the gun owner who is pro gun rights but does nothing at all to support them. There are more than 70 Million gun owners in the US yet there are less than 6 Million members of all of the National gun rights groups combined. That means there are at least 64 Million gun owners who are being passive. Pick both a local & a National gun rights group & join both of them. Imagine what we could get done if even half of the US Gun owners stood up as one for our right to bear arms & joined a national gun rights group. 35 Million gun owners standing together as one would indeed be a tough force for the gun grabbers to reckon with.

We can learn a valuable lesson from our neighbors across the ocean in the UK. Many hunters in the UK stood by when the anti-gun folks called for the UK handgun ban in 1997. The hunters were then caught by surprise when the same anti-gun folks introduced and successfully enacted a ban on traditional fox hunting with hounds that went into effect in 2005. They were divided, and then conquered. Let us not make the same mistake.

Gun Rights Advocates Podcast

The most recent episode of the Gun Rights Advocates Podcast (Episode 79 released Friday March 21st) features a discussion Mark & I Had about last weeks DC vs Heller Supreme Court case. Neither of us are legal experts, but we had a nice discussion nonetheless about the things we found interesting. If you have not yet listened to the audio of the DC vs Heller Case, I highly recommend it. Every time that I listen to it I catch things that I missed the first time. Links to the Real Audio version of the video/audio stream as well as to mp3 versions & transcript are here as well as being available in Episode 78 of the Gun Rights Advocates podcast dated March 18th.

eBay Hypocrisy

You may recall from last year that eBay banned the sale of all firearm related ammunition, gun parts, or accessories. Check out this interesting example of recent eBay Hypocrisy. Although eBay is not willing to allow the sale of perfectly legal firearms accessories, they are willing to allow the sale of switch blades which violates Federal Interstate Commerce Regulations. Not that I have anything against switch blades. Just an interesting case of eBay Hypocrisy worth taking note of.

H/T to Sebastian & David Hardy.

Which is better, a gun in your hand now, or a cell phone?

When seconds count, Police are only minutes away:

A woman was asking a 911 dispatcher for help when her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence . . . She was shot to death.

The victim was identified as Hsiao Hsu. She lived in West Covina in LA, an upscale nice neighborhood, but that did not keep her safe. She dialed 911 to ask Police for help, but that did not keep her safe. Police are really much more of a crime deterrent than a crime preventer based on the prospect that crime can lead to jail time. Even when Police don't arrive at all the Supreme Court has held that the Police are not obligated to keep any specific individual safe, their primary purpose is to deter crime as much as possible by their presence in the community and to capture criminals after the crime is complete. Each person is individually responsible for their own safety as well as for the safety of their own family. The intended victim is the immediate responder, not the Police. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a victim waiting to happen.

California is a "May Issue" State - that means that the Sheriff may or may not issue you a CCW permit, depending on whether or not he feels like giving one to you, how Politically connected you are, how much you contributed to his or her election campaign, etc, even if you meet all of the State requirements. She was in her home so only a place like Washington DC would have prevented her from having a gun available for her own Self Defense in her own home, but not all criminals strike in the Home so I thought it was worth mentioning California's "May Issue" status, one of the last holdouts for the May Issue legacy.

Another of many infringed gun rights issues in California is the fact that they refuse to recognize CCW permits from any other State. A bit like a State refusing to recognize drivers licenses from other States, only much worse since it prevents the basic right of self defense. As a result, I drive Around California through alternate States when I drive to a North West Destination such as Washington State, although I could save a little time by taking a shortcut through California. California's loss, Utah & Idaho's gain.

Don't even get me started on the issue that Adult Students & Teachers in most Universities & Colleges throughout the Country are disarmed on a daily basis by so-called "Gun Free Zones" when they head to classes. Not only do such policies fail to provide the crime & victim free Utopia of safety the "Gun Free Zone" proponents claim, but such policies lead to many tragic events on a yearly basis from mass shootings to rape & murder that take place in such victim disarmament zones. "You can't stop insane people from doing insane things by passing insane laws. That's insane!" (Penn & Teller)

H/T to JK, campus leader for U of A SCCC.

Update 1: More details.

Project Appleseed - learn or enhance your Rifle Skills

Have any of you heard of Project Appleseed? I only recently found out about their effort to teach Americans how to be a true Rifleman, as well as to teach about the American Rifleman Heritage, while I was listening to Michael Bane's March 11th Downrange Radio podcast (episode 50). I was so impressed by what was said by his guest (Michael Adams) that I decided to experience it for myself. I've signed up my boys & myself for the next Project Appleseed event in my area, scheduled for April 19th & 20th in Tonopah, AZ, just a bit West of Phoenix. I'll report on my experience after I participate, but I encourage everyone to check for an event in your own area, sign up, & check it out for yourself. Let me know what you think. It sounds like a very good project worth supporting.

Here is an excerpt from their home page describing the program:

The Appleseed Program is designed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to being a true rifleman. All throughout American history, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away — no ifs, ands or buts about it. This 500-yard range is traditionally known as "the rifleman's quarter-mile;" a rifleman can hit just about any target he can see. This skill was particulary evident in the birth of our country, and was the difference in winning the Revolutionary War.

Also be sure to take Fred's IQ test - I got a score of 100%. If you get a score of less than 30% you're what Fred calls a "Doofus Americanus." :)

USA Today GOA 2nd Amendment Opinion Piece

Good USA Today Opinion Piece on the meaning of the Second Amendment written by attorneys who wrote the Brief from Gun Owners of America, Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson.

AZ SB 1214 update

Arizona Senate Bill 1214 which would allow 21 & older adults with CCW permits to walk across our current "gun free zone" boundaries around our Arizona Universities & Colleges with their concealed weapons the same way they walk most everywhere else such as Shopping Malls, Grocery Stores, and crowded movie theaters is being considered in the Arizona Senate.

I've been notified that the following Republican Senators are not currently in support of this legislation (none of the Arizona Democrat Senators are in support of the legislation that I'm aware of, so if your Senator is a Democrat contact them too). If you live in their district please contact them & politely explain why you request their support of this legislation. It will be a close vote & we will need their support to pass this bill. If you don't know who your Senator is, you can look it up here. Although my own Senator is already in full support of this legislation, I have contacted all of the below Senators via Letter, e-mail, and phone call into their office voicing my concerns as well as my request for their support of AZ SB 1214.

• Senator Tom O’Halleran District 1
• Senator Carolyn Allen District 8
• Senator John Huppenthal District 20 (NOTE:See Update 1 below)
  
• Senator Jay Tibshraeny District 21

The text of my letter is below (no response from any of them as yet):

Honorable Senator:

I'm writing to request your support of AZ SB 1214 which would allow law abiding adults 21 & older who have gone through the required process of a full FBI & AZ State DPS background check, fingerprinting, training, have passed both written & skill tests, who already carry their concealed weapon everywhere else allowed such as crowded movie theaters, shopping malls, parks, in their cars in busy rush hour traffic, etc, (without incident), to continue to be able to carry their concealed weapon even when crossing the current imaginary so-called "gun free zone" boundary that surrounds our Arizona Universities & Colleges.

In a time when the Supreme Court is poised to rule that the 2nd Amendment DOES protect our preexisting and granted by God right to bear arms in our own protection of life & liberty, it is important that we move Arizona back towards the freedoms that we built our wonderful country around, freedoms that became infringed less than 20 years ago when schools started to embrace the idea of "gun free zones" - an idea that has since been well proven to be ineffective at best, and a tragic cause of the death or rape of many innocent adult students & teachers at worst, who once disarmed by this tragic policy have become easy victims of criminals or the insane who will disregard any "gun free zone" boundary.

Please join with me as well as with the majority of the conservative Arizona Republican Senators in support of restoring a lost freedom to our State.

Thank you.

Update 1: I just received the following response from Senator John Huppenthal - I've sent him a response requesting clarification on whether or not this means he is in support of SB 1214 - I will update this post when I find out:

Dustin,

No one, absolutely no one, has a better record of supporting the second amendment than I have in the legislature. I was the 16th and deciding vote to bring concealed carry rights to Arizona.

I always vote to strengthen second amendment rights.

John Huppenthal

State Senator

A Field Guide to American Politics on DC vs Heller Case

Today Duane Lester of Allamericanblogger.com did a special edition of his "A field Guide to American Politics" podcast on yesterdays DC vs Heller Second Amendment Supreme Court Case. He interviewed Guy Midkiff of Concealed.wordpress.com during the first section of his podcast and I joined in for a short interview during the last 5 minutes of the podcast. I was supposed to join in a bit earlier but due to some confusion on my part (I forgot that Daylight savings is now in effect everywhere but here) while I did the time zone conversion from Arizona time to Central time I thought I was calling 7 minutes early when in fact I was calling 53 minutes late.

Arizona is a State that does not participate in Daylight Savings so doing time zone conversions can be a bit confusing at times, especially in the periods immediately after Daylight Savings changes take effect in the fall & spring for all of our neighbors. Now that Daylight savings is in effect everywhere else I have to remember that I'm in the Pacific time zone, but later this fall I'll once again have to jump back into the Mountain time zone. :)

Why doesn't Arizona participate in Daylight Savings during the summer you ask? Well quite simply because Arizonans like to play outside in the DARK using outdoor lighting during the summer. That's right - when it is hot outside we stay cool by the swimming pool during the day, and play in our neighborhood park after dark. It's amazing how much cooler you feel while hanging in the Park in the Dark while the sun is no longer beating down on you. Why would we want the sun to be up later in the evening during the Summer by participating in Daylight Savings when we actually look forward to the Sun going down early in the evening so we can go hang out in the local Park utilizing outdoor lighting? :)

2nd Amendment commentary by newssiftr

I came across this video commentary by youtube user newssiftr of spasticmindset.com while searching for commentary on the oral arguments from yesterdays Supreme Court 2nd Amendment DC vs Heller case. He did a good job & I think you will enjoy it:

Today's DC vs Heller case

I've listened to the Oral Arguments (Requires Real Player) & my unprofessional opinion is that DC's argument to keep their handgun & functional firearm ban was incredibly weak. But don't take my word for it, go ahead & listen so that you can judge for yourself. You can also view an official (but subject to review) transcript of the Oral Arguments.

So far today both the NRA & John McCain have come out in favor of the Supreme Court upholding the lower court ruling that struck down the DC gun ban as unconstitutional. The Silence on the case from both Hillary & Obama is deafening. Fox News has released a piece appropriately titled: "In Second Amendment Case, High Court Majority Appears to Support Individual Right to Own Guns"

Update 1: Michael Bane has now released the oral arguments as individual mp3 files broken down by the three individuals who argued the case. Tom Gresham has also released the audio in mp3 format.

Update 2: SAF press release & NRA Heller page.

Update 3: Alan Korwin overview of the Oral Arguments & ABC interview with Wayne LaPierre.

Update 4: The Ruling is IN that YES 2nd Amendment Protects Individual Right to Bear Arms.

2008 AZ Game & Fish Expo

For a ton of free outdoor fun for the entire family be sure not to miss the 2008 Arizona Game & Fish Expo at the Ben Avery Shooting Range (Off of Carefree Hwy just west of I-17) this March 29th & 30th. There were more than 100 exhibitors & 17,000 visitors at last years expo. Find details here. See you there!

Why the gun is civilization

This has been around for a while, so you may have already read it. If not, it definitely is worth a look. It was written by Marko Kloos, and titled "Why the gun is civilization"

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weightlifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

Next Tuesday big day for the 2nd Amendment

Next Tuesday morning (March 18th) at 10AM Eastern time (7AM Pacific) a historic Second Amendment case will be heard in the Supreme Court of the US: Docket #: 07-290 titled: District of Columbia, et al., Petitioners v. Dick Anthony Heller. Heller was the party of the original lawsuit seeking to overturn DC's unconstitutional handgun & functional firearm ban who was found to have standing in the case because he had requested a handgun permit that was denied based on the DC law. Below is the exact wording of the question that the Supreme Court will be considering:

CERTIORARI GRANTED

07-290 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ET AL. V. HELLER, DICK A.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to
the following question: Whether the following provisions, D.C.
Code §§ 7-2502.02(a)(4), 22-4504(a), and 7-2507.02, violate the
Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated
with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns
and other firearms for private use in their homes?

Each side of the case (City of DC asking the Supreme Court to overturn last year's lower court ruling that found its handgun & functional firearm ban to be unconstitutional, and Heller asking the Supreme Court to sustain the lower court ruling), is scheduled to be alloted half an hour to plead their case and answer questions of the Judges. The US Solicitor General will also get 15 minutes to make arguments. If no extension of time is granted than it will all be over sometime around 11:15 AM Eastern Time (8:15 AM Pacific).

C-Span requested that the audio of the arguments be released immediately following the end of the session, which has been granted. You can expect to be able to listen to the audio online at most of the following locations: C-Span America & the Courts, SCOUTUSBLOG, dcguncase.com, & nranews.com. Be sure to tune in to nranews.com next Tuesday evening at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific) to listen to excerpts of the arguments as well as interviews of the experts on how the arguments went.

A Supreme Court decision on the case is expected sometime in late June or Early July 2008. I think July the 4th 2008 would be an excellent time to restore the PREEXISTING but 2nd Amendment PROTECTED Freedom to BEAR ARMS to ALL of the American People (even those who live in Washington DC) in celebration of that very special day on July 4th, 1776 when WE THE PEOPLE declared our independence from a freedom squashing tyrannical government across the ocean:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness . . .

Wayne LaPierre on getting rid of Gun Free Zones

Commentary on the problem with Gun Free Zones from Wayne LaPierre's blog, "What They Didn't Tell You Today," available at nranews.com:

Friday, March 07, 2008
Extending the Right to Carry, Part 1

In Virginia, the state legislature recently voted to extend the Right-to-Carry into restaurants that serve alcohol. Frankly, it wasn't a controversial vote. Both chambers passed the bill easily, with very little opposition. And that's how it should be. Virginians have been exercising their Right to Carry for years now, and fears of "blood in the streets" have, of course, not come true.

So why is there such controversy over extending the Right-to-Carry onto school campuses? The fact of the matter is, we're not changing the requirements of who can exercise their Right to Carry. We're merely expanding where RTC holders can exercise that right.

There are millions of RTC holders in this country. You drive next to them, you shop with them, you see them every day. They're your dentist or your pastor, your boss or your star employee. They're everywhere. And the reason you may not know that is because they're not the problem.

They're already carrying in your church, the grocery store, and the public library. They're with you at your favorite restaurant or your local bookstore. And the reason you never think about it is because they're not the problem.

The problem is that there is evil in this world, people who want to prey on the innocent and defenseless.

The gun-control crowd has also flamed the fears with their embarrassingly weak arguments against extending the Right to Carry. They have played on emotion at the expense of logic and reason. And in my next blog, I'll take their arguments apart one by one. The discussion over extending Right-to-Carry is too important, and knee-jerk calls for more gun control serve no purpose but to avoid the issue.
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Monday, March 10, 2008
Extending the Right to Carry, Part 2

In my last blog, I talked about the importance of having a real discussion on the issue of Right-to-Carry on campuses across this country. Instead of having that honest debate, people like Paul Helmke and Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign seem intent on talking about anything but the real issue.

They accuse groups like Students for Concealed Carry on Campus of being "funded by the gun industry," instead of simply recognizing that this is an issue that is important to tens of thousands of students and faculty. And their arguments against Right-to-Carry on campus are just straw men that collapse with ease.

They say that allowing Right-to-Carry on college campuses would lead to alcohol-fueled bloodshed. But they ignore the fact that there are many young adults who are already gun owners and Right-to-Carry holders across the country. They're serving in our military, they're serving as law enforcement officers, and yes, there are many who are just responsible gun owners. These young men and women are already gun owners of legal drinking age, and they're not causing mayhem. There's simply no reason to believe that extending Right-to-Carry to campuses would cause these responsible adults to act irresponsibly.

The gun-control crowd also likes to say that when a madman is shooting into a crowd of students and faculty, the presence of an armed citizen would actually make things worse, not better. This is a ridiculous argument. At Trolley Square Mall, at New Life Church, at Appalachian Law School, and on and on, the presence of gun owners—whether they were off-duty officers, volunteer security guards, or simply students—didn't lead to more violence, but to less.

That's because these Instant Responders can always do what First Responders can never do: Immediately stop attacks on innocent people.

Finally, the Brady Campaign and others say they don't want our schools to look like prisons. With Right-to-Carry, they wouldn't. They would look just like our restaurants, our grocery stores, our bookstores, and every other place that people lawfully exercise their Right to Carry. And I'd much rather our campuses look like that than continuing to look like slaughterhouses.
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2008 Gun Rights Policy Conference in Phoenix AZ

For anyone not already aware, registration is open for the 2008 GRPC (Gun Rights Policy Conference). I'm already registered & plan to attend. It is scheduled to take place in Phoenix, Arizona on the dates of September 26, 27, & 28, 2008 (Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday morning). It will take place in the Sheraton Crescent Hotel, located at 2620 W Dunlap Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85021. Remember that the event is completely free, so even if you have never been to such an event I highly encourage you to give it a try. As an extra bonus you'll receive free books & other materials, enjoy a free luncheon on Saturday, free receptions Fri & Sat evening, as well as some free snacks during snack breaks. So if for nothing else, show up for the free food & books. How can you pass up on free materials, education/entertainment, & food?

The 2008 Agenda is not yet ready for publication, but to get an idea of what you can expect you can take a look at the 2007 Agenda. I am very much looking forward to attending, I hope to see you there!