Nom de guerre: Rivrdog

Why is it so hard

...for these towns to admit that they are on the wrong side of Heller, and that the Constitution, as interpreted in Heller, trumps their wrong-headed gun laws.

Most of them just said that they couldn't afford the fight like the big guys are bringing it, post-Heller.

The big guys will go down in flames, one way or another.

Why is it so hard to admit you've been wrong?

OK, it's 0620, and I'm up. A few boating tasks and I'm off up the Channel and down the Willamette and up the Columbia to Government Island (so named because the dot.gov raised cattle on it to feed their troops at Ft. Vancouver, just across the rivah from there). It has supported a cattle operation until just recently, complete with the Cattle Ferry Noah, surely one of the last of her kind running in this country. Now it is a large laboratory for Portland State University's Ecology Dept to study endangered plants and methods of protecting them, plus it has two fine marine parks (Bartlett's Landing, East and West Docks) and a sheltered cove (Commodore Cove) to gunkhole in.

Toodle-oo!

An important discussion

...is taking place over at The Smallest Minority. Kevin, the proprietor at that thinker's blog, is a solid citizen who frequently blogs about guns and the right of self-protection with them.

Recently, though, Kevin got into it with one of the more vocal gunbloggers, Mike Vanderboegh of Western Rifle Shooter's Association. Kevin entitled his post "the Threshold of Outrage", and in it he makes a spot-on analysis of the thought process which goes into the lethal-defense mindset.

Unfortunately, and ruining an otherwise good post, Kevin ended it by using the whacko church-shooter Adkisson as an example, and then allowed Mike Vanderboegh to be compared to that whacko without challenge in the comments.

That's just irresponsible blog editing.

We expect that sort of slick-willy editing from our opposition on the Left, because they write about so little that has any basis in truth to start with. We DO NOT expect that level of underhanded editing in a fine blog like Kevin runs.

I don't run a lot of critique pieces here on Rivrdog, because I think our message here is too important to be diluted with flame wars and their damage. I present ideas, and my most important idea is that patriots who support the Constitution as written (NOT as hoped for and changed into as a certain politician wants it) must be PREPARED to defend it, by force of arms and with the expenditure of their lives, if necessary.

I have NOT made any concrete preparations to project force against known targets, I have simply prepared myself, and by writing about my preparations, prepared my readers to be able to project force in defense of our Constitution.

At some point in the future, I am convinced we will have to take the field and project that force, and the enemy will be apparent to all when we do, but it does little good to name that enemy now.

Here's a wider example: the US Army knows that someday it will probably have to fight China, which, when it brings war to these shores, will be a formidable foe. The Army sees no advantage in stating at this point that China is an "enemy", even as China's super-national aspirations make it appear seriously like an enemy.

Kevin is correct to use his blog to point out the futility of useless violence, but he erred badly in allowing his blog's comments to be used to attack a real patriot, Mike Vanderboegh.

Vanderboegh, you see, hasn't killed anyone. He had merely written about it.

We (gunbloggers) all have, one way or another.

We must continue to prepare, but we must cease the useless conflict among ourselves, because we would be foolish to assume that just because we haven't sent anyone to the morgue, we have no enemies.

In my comment to Kevin, I offered a test one can make to see how one stacks up as a patriot. I invited Kevin to take that test. I also suggested that if he couldn't take the test, he might not want to consider himself a patriot. He took the test, quite some time ago as it turns out (simple test: where is YOUR line in the sand?) and even answered it up front. He's a patriot for doing so, but strangely, he wanted to "shoot the messenger" of that suggested test.

Is that a devolution of patriotism?

Gun law "Moratoriums" will outflank Heller

Wilmette, IL (not to be confused with "Willamette" here in gun-friendly Oregon) has just showed their hole card. Wilmette is one of those N. IL cities (along with Morton Grove, Skokie and maybe one or two others) which pretty much banned handguns (except for Aldermen and other political faves). So, faced with Heller, which unequivocally said that such bans are unconstitutional, Wilmette puts their ban "on hold". The City fathers have ordered that it not be enforced.

Yesterday, SaysUncle addressed this issue here, and I contributed a comment. The commenters Kristopher and StraightArrow followed me in the comments section.

The three of us are of one mind. We cannot accept these "moratoriums" ("moratoria" to be latin-correct). Please note that they were done at the stroke of a pen in the Mayor's and Chief of Police offices, and could be undone the same way, anytime those City Fathers feel it appropriate to do so. The laws are still there, and you, as a Wilmette (or Morton Grove, etc) citizen, are still technically violating them if you run out and buy a gun. In fact, I would imagine if your address is Wilmette on your IL FOID card, the paperwork IMMEDIATELY goes to the COP in Wilmette if you buy a handgun. He will file it, and for now, do nothing, but the moment he feels like he can get away with it, his SWAT team will boot down your door to seize the gun and arrest you.

So, do as I suggested in the comment: if you live in Wilmette, or any other city or State in the country with a gun restriction that has been "put on hold" by the government, first, DO NOT CONSIDER THE ANNOUNCED MORATORIUM AN ACT OF FREEDOM. You have merely been put on handgun-parole by the government. THEY ARE STILL WATCHING YOU.

Second, DO join with your fellow citizens in legal action to get the gun laws off the books permanently. You have the Supreme Court AND logic on your side, since there is zero justification in having a law on the books which has been invalidated by a ruling of the SCOTUS.

Consider starting recall efforts for malfeasance in office against any government official who does not want to get rid of the invalidated laws, because their reluctance rightly demonstrates their contempt for constitutional legal process, and by such contempt, they are violating their oaths of office.

It's fairly clear that all these cities declaring these "moratoriums" had preplanned this in case of DeeCee losing the Heller appeal. This is probably what will happen everywhere else in the country where the anti-gun fascists did not plan ahead for a Heller affirmation, they will merely take a little more time to declare those moratoriums. If you live in a City or State which has banned entire classes of firearms, and within the next week or so that government doesn't take action to inform you that such ban has been reversed (or at least "put on hold"), you need to duke in a phone call to Hizzoner or the Guv'ner (Helloooooo, Ahnuld!), and follow up with a letter. When these letters (have them "certified" at the Post Office, so the gubmint can't just toss them and has to file them) start to pile up, some action will be taken. If you are in the legal fraternity, and can put "Esq." after your name, cc that letter to the City (State's) Attorney (also "certified"). These gummint attorneys are under somewhat more of a defined burden to act, lest they commit actionable malpractice.

We have a brief opportunity here to run most of the onerous gun control laws into legal oblivion, but you can bet your last round of ammo that situation will change, and activist Courts will be looking for ways to reclaim for the government the limits on our freedom it has just lost.

Strike fast, and strike hard.

Rounding up Heller

I'm not a Constitutional Scholar, so I yield on interpretations of Heller to those with more talent.

One such talented person is Chris Byrne, the Anarchangel, who wraps it all up well here.

Of course, my favorite Scholar is David Hardy, who has a veritable blizzard of Heller posts up, just start with the freshest and scroll down for all that encapsulated goodness.

OK, OK! I'll take my best shot.

THIS is by far and away the best language in the majority opinion, for it just SCREAMS "Original Intent of the Framers":

"A constitutional guarantee subject to future judges’ assessments
of its usefulness is no constitutional guarantee at all.

Constitutional rights are enshrined with the scope they
were understood to have when the people adopted them,
whether or not future legislatures or (yes)even future
judges think that scope too broad."

In one fell swoop, Mr. Justice Scalia has supported the Framers' original reason for having armed militias (besides for the common defense of the frontiers), that of a militia power which could act as a check on abuse of power by the central government, and then he says that any future Court lacks the morality to change Original Intent!

I may have to get back to work on the novel, it may just have been protected by this opinion, which seems to tell me that offering a fictional plan for the overthrow of the Federal government is NOT a "substantial step" towards an actual rebellion, since that particular idea is merely projecting the Framers' intent out to it's current and ultimate resolution, and no Court possesses the authority to change Original Intent.

Hmmmm, some serious introspection is now required. This calls for at least Glen Fiddich, if not Clan McCallan 17.

Take the last train to Clarksville

...and I'll meet you at Heller Station. Damn, a Beatles Monkees ear-worm while I'm waiting with the rest of you to see if the SCOTUS lives up to it's job or becomes part of the decline downfall of our Nation. I'll bet it's assholes and elbows in the SCOTUS press room right about now...I used to drop in there, some 50 years ago when I delivered Western Union Telegrams on Capitol Hill. There was always a coffee pot on, and as a courier, the staff let me grab a cup as I hoofed it from one place to another. The neat thing about being a telegraph boy was that you got to meet the bigs. I worked out of the New Senate Office Building WU office and I remember meeting both JFK (who was a prince, stopped to talk to me about sailing, my then-current passion in boating), and RM Nixon, who was an asshole (tried to refuse personal service of telegrams that someone had paid the princely sum of $10 (lot of $$$ then) to make sure the message was personally delivered).

And the beat goes on, drums are pounding rythym to the brain....back when something breaks. I think I'll go watch David Hardy's site, "Of Arms and the Law" and AssPress at the same time in a window.

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OK, Heller is affirmed, so sayeth the sooths at Random Nuclear Strikes. I didn't watch the SCOTUS wire because I want to see the first analysis at David Hardy's place. The AssPress was probably watching the wire, and they are crying so hard that they can't post the results.

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OK enough of this waiting, I'm going for the champagne....back later after a toast and a mimosa or two. I should rip off a clip from my M14, but just like the AssPress, the minions of law enforcement are probably crying about the decision right now, and wouldn't be amused.

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Quoting the syllabus: The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. First complaint: didn't say a thing about Original Intent, which was to provide a supply of arms to arm the citizenry so as to be able to remove a tyrannical government.
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Fine scholarly discussion going on over at David Hardy's...I had to go all pedantic on them, of course...

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The entire opinion now sits in it's 157-page glory on my desktop. I downloaded it from here: Thanks to the commenter at Hardy's, and thank you Counselor, for being so bold and forthright as to defend your Constitution so ably. You are one of my heroes, and I have just made a new item on the Bucket List: I will have to meet you down in Tuscon and take you to dinner.

Onwards, friends, but remember, Heller doesn't change a thing for your End Times preparations: you still need to acquire arms, and if HR 6257 gets any play, you will have very few months to acquire those, if they are to be military arms. You still have to acquire and store ammunition, as the next President will be hostile to milsurp ammo and will probably ban it's importation entirely.

So, stop and hoist a dram to your Constitution, which survived a test of it's vigor today, but DO NOT think, by any means, that this is the end of the battles. It may even be the beginning of the end of gun rights, because the (D)onks aren't particularly interested in gun legislation right now, but Heller might just bump that back to the forefront of their warped agenda.

No Heller today

...and it won't be all that important to me tomorrow when it finally arrives, either.

Read my comments here at Phil's post on Random Nuclear Strikes, than again here on Kevin Baker's post on The Smallest Minority.

Ho-hum.

Nothing's gonna change, folks. If you want to keep those military rifles, you'd better learn to and be prepared to shoot them when the grabbers come for them. If you aren't prepared to do that, you'd better sell them now, while you still can (you have at most 9 months, maybe a lot less) and buy ammo for your remaining, "acceptable" weapons with the bucks. Or buy reloading gear and components. Or buy hand tools for farming.

We're "one world" now folks, and in case you haven't been out of the country lately, we are about the only country left where you can still own pretty much any firearm you like. "One world" philosophy says we can't have that, so all the "one worlders" want to disarm us.

When they come, they will be wearing blue helmets. You will need an orange reticle to contrast with them, the newer green reticles won't contrast enough to allow you a clear head shot.

The Mahdi arrives

Blogger's note: A premier gunblogger says that there are errors in this post. He has the correct information in comments. Please accept his correct version and my apology for my incorrect version. I will correct it later when I have more time.

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Perhaps a little prematurely, but that's the only plus I see in it.

By "Mahdi" (an Islamic term meaning "the Expected One", referring to the next incarnation of Muhammad the Prophet), I mean the next incarnation of the Assault Weapons Ban, in this case:

H.R.6257 - Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008      (Introduced in House)

You will be hearing more about it, but it is eleven days since it was published, and if you are an NRA member, you haven't heard it from THEM, have you? It will be interesting to see how they explain THAT away. Yeah, I know, it's probably on one of their sites somewhere, but they didn't email me an Action Alert, nor did I get any sort of snail-mailing about it either. Maybe they are getting ready to go along with it as part of their "good-guy" image re-invention.

To read the salient portions, and to see if you can find the place where it is un-Constitutional on it's face due to an ex-post facto provision, go to Western Rifle Shooters and read and weep.

It will, of course, be instructive for the coming election to see who signs on as a co-sponsor.

Sponsors for now are:

   H.R. 6257 . A bill to reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

   By Mr. BOUCHER (for himself, Mr. UPTON, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. BARTON of

[Page: H5407]  GPO's PDF

Texas, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. WHITFIELD of Kentucky, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. ELLSWORTH, Mr. HILL, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, and Ms. PRYCE of Ohio)

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen was added as a co-sponsor in a separate procedure. She is the Representative of the 18th Congressional District of Florida, and is a RINO.

So, the clock is not only ticking, as I've been telling you here for as long as I could, but the alarm is now set to go off, and WILL go off on this legislation, if not now (in reaction to Heller), then later on this summer as the (D)onks (and certain RINOs) decide to use it as a vehicle to tell us that they are "tough on crime".

I note that several interesting weapons are grandfathered in, notably the Marlin Camp carbines and the Ruger Minis. The Marlin Camps are not made anymore, but the Ruger Minis are.

It also seems apparent that some arms collectors had a say in writing up the list of exempted weapons, because the list, strangely, lists some very expensive weapons that are basically only of use to collectors, such as drillings, double-rifles, etc. I wonder why they are even considered in the appendix, because their configuration is not banned at all by the language in the Bill. I suspect that this list is being built for some future legislation which will try to ban even larger classes of weapons. Does anyone have any info on that?

Gunny Calendar

Do you have a gunny calendar? A calendar that has important dates for gun-related things you need to remember? If you don't, you should pick one up, or if you're a geek, create one in your computer's PIM.

On that calendar, you should mark July 4, this year.

Why, other than it's Independence Day, you ask?

I may be spoiling some big plans by the BATFE with this observation, but July 4th is the last date you can buy a gun through an FFL, wait the required 6 months (to avoid strawman-transfer laws), transfer it PRIVATELY, but still have that transfer occur in THIS POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION. Yep, on July 4th, we will be opening the door on the last six months (assuming six months is 6 30-day months, if it's actual calendar months, the date will be June 30th) of the Bush 43 administration.

Now, since President Bush has TOTALLY failed to control the rapacious BATFE, all this may make no difference at all, but then, again, it just might.

I think that a President Obama (no, I'm NOT going to spit, I don't want to die from dehydration) MIGHT just hit the ground running on January 20, 2009, with a blizzard of Executive Orders, and if he does, some of them might very well be gun restrictions. One thing IS a safe bet with an Obama Administration, that the BATFE (same spitting rule applies) will be a BIG player in his administration. The man has already told us this, not in so many words, but with the type of anti-gun policies he espouses.

I don't think that an Obama Administration OR an Obama-led BATFE will be able to overcome the Constitutional hurdle imposed by that revered document's prohibition on ex post facto laws, so if the strawman-purchase date restrictions are changed, it can't apply until Obama gets into office, which is not earlier than January 20th.

One thinks of the strangest things while taking a crap, eh?

Any legal beagles out there care to comment?

Tidbits

Bit 1: Looks like I have survived the most recent health issue, which appears to have been a kidney inflamation, most likely caused by a kidney stone. Will find out today if it was a stone, and where it is now, and whether I have to have it de-materialized by ultrasound. The pain from this situation, which I mistook for another bad spinal disc, was some of the worst I have ever experienced. I did some homeopathic therapy when I finally got it right (with the help of the RivrDoc), consisting of a water purge (drank 2 gallons of water yesterday) and the use of the aviator's high-G maneuver, basically a major tensing of all the upper torso muscles for a few seconds. Amazingly, this kills off the huge pain spasms as they are starting.

Bit 2: It's looking better and better for Dr. Oleg Sorohktin's climate theory. He was one of the first to say we are in a global cooling situation, not the other way around as has been bandied about for the past 12 years. The proof of his theory, which says that global warming or cooling is dependent on the sun's albedo, or heat output, is right overhead, where the sun still fails to show any sunspots. On a connected note, Aspen, CO ski areas are opening back up this weekend, and the Washington Cascades have gotten a foot of new snow overnight, a very rare occurrence for June. I don't want to wish starvation or crop failure on anyone, but it seems that it will take that to convince us gullible, undereducated filk that GlowBull Warming is a hoax foisted off on us, and the Socialists will need a different excuse to tax the very shirts off our backs.

Bit 3: As I scan my daily reads, mostly gunbloggers, I note a certain sense of urgency among them now, urgency to complete all gun-buying in the next 7-10 months. Folks, I can't stress this enough: We will probably see laws effectively shut down the Second Amendment next year. You will need to have all your gun buying completed by then, and all your ammo as well, especially military surplus ammo, which will probably be forbidden from import (I think Obama will be able to do that by Executive Order). We're all conservative over here, but if you have to go into debt to finish filling your gun safe(s) and ammo locker, you need to do that.

OK, time to get some morning chores done.

BCNU

Obama vs. McCain

...is a reality now, as I have predicted in these pages before. I also believe that Obama will win, not in a landslide, but it won't be close, either.

So, we have to start looking at what an Obama administration would try to do right off the bat:

1. Gun control. Obama will seek to end private sales, will gin up another "assault weapons ban", will try to end possession of most semi-auto rifles and handguns. He might try to do some of that mischief by Executive order on 3/20/09. I can't predict how much of this "death of 1,000 cuts" to the Second Amendment will make it into law, but enough will be ordered to virtually end the Second.
2. Socialized medicine. Guaranteed. The plan (might even be HillaryCare II) will screw up health insurance so badly it will take action of the Supreme Court to straighten it out.
3. Taxes. Obama will break his current promise not to tax the middle class, and will raise taxes on everyone making over $50,000/year. Everyone making under $50,000/year will get tax breaks. All the taxes we have experienced in the past 30 years which were rolled back will be re-instated, including the economically-stupid Luxury Tax (which prolonged a recession all by itself). The top income tax level will be boosted into the confiscatory range, at least 50%.
4. All the US Armed Forces will be pulled out of Iraq IMMEDIATELY, the order being given on 3/20/09, resulting in Iran IMMEDIATELY moving to invade the country and seize it's oil. The Mad Mullahs will appoint Moqtada Al-Sadr to run the place. Millions will be slaughtered in the worst blood-bath since Cambodia-'75.
5. The Israelis will move against Iran sometime in 2009, and Obama will refuse to support them, will even refuse them air refueling support. As a result, Israel will lose THAT battle as a case of too little, too late, having eventually to stave off national enslavement by use of it's nuclear arsenal.
6. Gas will rise to $8.50/gallon or higher, essentially putting most small business out of business. As a result, Obama will institute Carter-style price controls, which will cause an economic crash of historic proportion.
7. There is no #7, because the End Times will have arrived.

You read it here first. Obama will not be "ending his second term in 2016" as he predicted yesterday, since the government (including him) will have ceased to exist long before his FIRST term ends.

What can YOU do? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Rien. Bupkis. With the economic crash, all your savings and pension plans, jobs, etc will be wiped out, and you will be living on what you have of ACTUAL value (i.e.: Gold, Silver). When the End Times arrive, even gold will become worthless, and bullets will be the only medium of exchange (either shot from a gun or traded before the fact). If you can't defend what you have by force of arms, you will become someone else's slave.

Slavery? Didn't we get rid of that 150 years ago? How ironic it will be that a Black President will be the one to bring it back to these shores.

We won't end up as a Communist or even Socialist nation, we will simply cease to be a Nation.

Say goodnight, America.

Goodnight.

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The goal of this blog is to prepare you for the coming End Times. You won't start to prepare until you see the end coming. I've just tried to give you a warning. Heed it or not, the choice is STILL yours, for now.

No, I'm NOT going to advise or urge you to vote for John McCain. Nope, not on these pages.