Hoplophobes, Gun Grabbers and Jack Booted Thugs

The Nature of the Malady -- ever notice that a lot of these people seem, well, obsessed?

• Jeff Cooper's piece on Hoplophobia. "Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them." If it's not in the DSM-IV, it should be. Some of those people are clearly touched in the head on the matter, unable to think clearly. Very sad.
• Stupid, Insane or Evil El Neil, as usual, cutting through the crap. "You're people, in short, who must be stupid, insane, or evil to continue arguing -- in the face of indisputable facts and irrefutable logic -- that others must be forced into a state of helplessness and victimized by individual criminals or the state. . . .Smart people, sane people, good people know, in the words of Robert A. Heinlein, that "An armed society is a polite society."
• The amazing things one has to believe to support gun control. Middlin' funny, and a good example of mental disconnect.
• The Seven Varieties of Gun Control Advocates
• The Alamance Independant details scandals involving antigun politicians and activists
• An Army of Gun Lies by David Kopel

"Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others" --Animal Farm

• Diane Feinstein's gun handling skills could use some work. A bit careless with the trigger finger, and watch where you point that thing!
• Also from Californica, gun grabbing Democratic State Senator Don Pareta has a hard-to-get permit to carry a pistol. See here here for a copy of his letter of application, explaining why he needs one.
• The Racist Roots of Gun Control from the Kansas Journal of Law and Policy.

Private Sector gun grabbers

• Mid 2001 -- Handgun Control and the Million Mommies March have merged to become the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. See also their "Legal Action Project" gunlawsuits.org.

  who they really are

  The handgun they use on their page is a Beretta like that used by the military and by police all over the country. They're not using the image with Beretta's permission. See Beretta's home page. "HCI does not have Beretta's permission to use the image of this firearm for their anti-gun crusade. Our legal department has been advised and is preparing our response to this unauthorized use."

• Misconduct (as in abuse of 501(c)(3) status) by gun grabber organizations.

 
• America Online is notoriously antigun. Gun discussion groups have been censored, e-commerce sites hosted by AOL dealing with guns have been removed, pro gun employees have been fired, and more. Do your Internet through someone else.

 
• Liberal Protestant Churches

Presbyterian Church in the USA decided in their 1998 General Assembly that they officially didn't like handguns and "assault rifles". Big surprise. Fortunately they're way down on the list of groups I worry about. See also their documents on criminal justice policy here 2000-may-12 The United Methodist Church joins the aptly initialed PC-USA and the Episcopalians in wanting to outlaw ""ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal detection devices." (excuse me -- traditionally used metal detection devices??? Ain't nothin' traditional about them.)
2000-mar-28 The National Council of Churches also weighs in against guns. For what it's worth, the denomination I'm currently associated with, the Evangelical Free Church of America does not appear to care what I think about guns. "In essentials unity, in non-essentials charity."

• firearmslitigation.org " . . .established in 1981 to facilitate the reduction of firearms injuries through the use of the civil justice system." Waaaaaaa-pteui!  A good argument for a loser pays judicial system.
• The AARP doesn't like guns.

 
• Boeing says "owning a gun meams you're "highly prone to violence". Boeing, let's see, they make . . . The horse's mouth (700K Acrobat file) .  Pretty typical corporate HR stuff.
• Kenneth Cole's spring 2000 ad campaign went like this: "Dear Gun Manufacturers. Congratulations, your product sure is making a killing. -- Kenneth Cole. cc The NRA, Gun Show Dealers, 1 in 4 American households, Charleton Heston, the State of Texas" They have a link here to leave an opinion.
• El Neil tells us why Smith & Wesson Must Die

" Smith & Wesson must be amputated from the American social body like the gangrenous excrescence it has become and thrown out with the rest of the medical/political waste. Otherwise the infection will spread."

• The press just can't seem to report abut guns accurately. They don't know diddly, and they don't want to know. What's an "assault rifle"?
• Your kids' doctor:The American Academy of Pediatrics

ABSTRACT. This statement reaffirms the 1992 position of the American Academy of Pediatrics that the absence of guns from children's homes and communities is the most reliable and effective measure to prevent firearm-related injuries in children and adolescents. A number of specific measures are supported to reduce the destructive effects of guns in the lives of children and adolescents, including the regulation of the manufacture, sale, purchase, ownership, and use of firearms; a ban on handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons; and expanded regulations of handguns for civilian use.

• Your doctor. The medicalization of the gun "problem":

Scientific Misconduct By Physician Propagandists: A Perspective On Gun Violence by Dr. Martin Fackler.
Boundary Violations --- Gun Politics in the Doctor's Office
Public Health Pot Shots the CDC and the "gun epidemic"
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Is your doctor a spy?

Student Pledge Against Gun Violence One shot in the war of ideas.

The schools passed this thing around for the kids to sign October, 1998. It came out of the blue--I'd heard nothing about it until my daughter mentioned it (she'd refused to sign). Since then I heard other (secondhand) reports of some students at the local Catholic high school ripping it up.

Superficially it looks acceptable. What's wrong with it? They're not interested in teaching gun safety. They're interested in teaching gun avoidance--in demonizing the technology. Gun safety consists of familiarity with the technology and following the rules of safe gun handling. The pledge presents only rules suitable for small children: "don't touch", "leave", "tell Mommy or Daddy". Look at the list of endorsing organizations. The one national organization most capable and most experienced in teaching gun safety, the NRA, isn't there.

It also bothers me that this group says so little about themselves at their web site. Who are they?

Join Together just spotted this one--don't know much about them yet.

Violence Policy Center Alas, none of the grabbers seem to have 800 numbers ("oops, sorry, wrong number." ).

The VPC has it in for "high powered sniper rifles", aka deer rifles.

The Joyce Foundation where some of the money comes from. Where their money goes.

The NRA's list of Antigun organizations and National Organizations with anti-gun policies

Gun Control Network British gun grabbers.

Amitai Etzioni's Communitarians don't think much of you having toys that go bang. See also here

Satire Alert: Criminals for the Prevention of Firearms Ownership

It's The Guns Dot Com textbook example of simplistic thinking.

Anti-Gun Coalition of America a discussion forum and some links, nothing much else.

Gunfreekids.com does not say who's behind it. Links to the usual suspects and also to

The "Million Mom March" is dedicated to the mission of educating our children and our country about the life-threatening danger of guns." Again, not much about who's behind them.

(2000-may-10 It's much more clear now who's behind it. The head honcha, Donna Dees-Thomas is 1) a CBS publicist and writer for Dan Blather, and 2) sister in law of a Friend of Hillary. In other words a Clintonista. "An ordinary mom" my ass!)

(2000-may-??) Well, they went and had their little march. Pics from the march are here . Compare the Promise Keepers march, estimated at 300K, which filled the mall from end to end with people, with the "Million" Moms.

(2000-may-23) They're somewhat unclear about their exact tax status. They also seem to have merged with the Bell Campaign.

more RKBA graphics from Oleg Volk:The original Million Mom March

The SAND Project "Tracking Small Arms and Light Weapons". See also here

• The FBI, for their efforts to pervert the National Instant Check System (the NRA's baby) into a de-facto national waiting period and national gun registration system. Instead of immediately destroying the records as the law requires they decided they were going to keep them around for a while "for audit purposes". (After the barn door was open, the NRA filed a suit. Ongoing, but doesn't look good.) The "Instant Check" is, by all reports, often far from instantaneous (contrast that to a VISA authorization). They've had nowhere near 99.99% uptime on the system (it tends to go down at politically opportune times, like the Million Myrmidon March). They were going to charge for the check, but that got knocked down. NICS was supposed to replace the Brady law waiting period. Well, guess what, "they" (the usual suspects) want to re-institute the national waiting period.

American Rifleman (the NRA's magazine) April 2000 reports: "The never ending stigmatization of gun owners by the Clinton-Gore Administration has now found an outlet in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. In an article entitled "Vehicle Stops Involving Extremist Group Members" in the December 1999 issue, law enforcement officers are cautioned when making traffic stops that the display of pro-gun bumper stickers is a sign of possible extremist group involvement. Officers are also warned about displays of the Bible and the U.S. Constitution."

On changing ballistic fingerprints. One recent hobbyhorse of the grabbers is maintaining a database of "ballistic fingerprints" -- a way of tracking a spent bullet or shellcase to a particular gun from the impression of the rifling on the barrel, the chamber on the cartridge, or the firing pin on the primer. It shouldn't be too hard to get around.

• California's list of approved handguns.
• California's "Deadly Yellow Line", or how to tell a Good Gun from an Evil Assault Rifle.
• The Bureau of Alk-uh-hol, Tabakee and Faahr-arms not on anybody's list of people you want to come knocking (or "dynamically entering"). The enforcement division has a rep for playing rough sometimes (they did the initial assault at Waco). Also read the remarks of the assistant director to the 6th Annual Citizens Conference To Stop Gun Violence.

The the things they do (Frank Ney's Abuses of the ATF page)

what to do if they show up at your door.

ATF should not be confused with BATF.com

ATF's Gun Trafficing Report

Pentagon to begin using biometric based computer security

• Bubba hisself and his sidekick Algore. Turn it off and walk away. You'll feel better. Eventually.
• Mr. Bill and Algore's "Safe Cities" campaign. Just let them have guns, Al.
• "The police support gun control." Do they now?
• Chances are fair to middlin' that your Senator or Representative is would-be gun grabber. Go to Congressvote.com to find out, and maybe pester him, her, or whatever about it.
• Senator Diane Feinstein deserves extra special mention. She doesn't want you to have a gun. She has (or had. Word I got from a net correspondent is that she gave up her permit for a "special deputy" status that also allows carry) a CCW (gun jargon for Concealed Carry of Weapons) permit. A few years back she made a big media show of turning in her piece. Rumor has it, as soon as the cameras were gone, she grabbed it back and left. If anyone can document this for me I'd greatly appreciate it. I also suspect this is quite common among that class.
• Charles Schumer, once a Representative, now Senator from New York, another big time grabber.
• Senator Ted "Hot Wheels" Kennedy has been a grabber for many many years.
• The United Nations doesn't like small arms for the Rest of Us. Welcome to the New World Order. (Yeah, I know the U.N. isn't strictly a government. Yet.) See also here.

See also this article in Scientific American: