According to news sources, Hasan is a Muslim who disagreed with U.S. foreign policy and was resisting deployment to the Middle East.  The politically correct spin is that Hasan had been harassed about being a Muslim and was at the end of his rope with regard to legal methods of avoiding deployment.  The report that Hasan yelled “God is good!” before he began murdering his fellow soldiers would tend to indicate that the killings were a Jihadist act of terrorism.  “Alu Akbar” is the venerable battle cry of a Muslim warrior.

The shocking killings by a U.S. Army field grade officer raise disturbing issues about the role of Muslims in the military.  All service members take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies.  Christianity urges that its followers “render unto Caesar.”  Islam teaches that devotion to Allah supercedes all national loyalties.

The U.S. is committed to religious freedom.  How do you reconcile that value with a religious doctrine that prescribes the death penalty for leaving the faith?  Islam may, depending on interpretation, legitimize the killing of “infidels” during Jihad as a way to obtain blissful eternal life. 

Unfortunate fallout from this incident will probably include more calls for gun control and more discrimination and harassment against Muslims.  There are no easy answers on this massacre.  There are not even any easy questions.  For our part, we must not let Left-wing politicians parlay a shooting in a government-mandated “criminal-safe free fire zone” (gun-free zone) into more restrictions on our fundamental natural right to armed self-defense from crime, tyranny and genocide recognized by the Second Amendment.

Def Mech

As least two other individuals have been detained in conjunction with this event.  Their roles appear to be uncertain at this time.

News sources seem reluctant to call the shootings a terrorist attack, but the officer involved seems to have a name associated with Middle Eastern origins.  As a major in the U.S. Army, the shooter would have to have undergone some sort of background checks to obtain security clearances.

The shootings undoubtedly occurred in a nominal “gun free zone” on the sprawling Fort Hood Military Installation.  It is beyond imagination that one man with two handguns could have killed about a dozen armed soldiers.

The families and comrades of the fallen deserve our somber thoughts and heartfelt prayers.  My initial reaction leans toward a terrorist explanation.  Only time will tell, if this plays out.

Under any sort of gun control scheme imaginable, the army major would have had access to firearms.  We will see if the Left tries to use this tragedy as a springboard for more gun control.

Def Mech

A quick wrap up of ongoing and recent events:

HR 45 is still a threat to gun owners’ rights.  This bill registers owners of handguns and semi-autos with magazine wells, registers all future sales, appears to ban all possession of any firearm by a person under 18 (no exceptions), and may allow BATFE personnel to come into your home to inspect your gun storage arrangements.  (See my posts under the Category: “Registration.”)

S. 843 is a new threat on an old theme.  This bill is designed to “close the gun show loophole,” which in my opinion doesn’t really exist.  In any case this bill could very well “regulate” gun shows out of existence.  I don’t see how a promoter could meet the requirements of this bill without registering every single person who enters the show.  (See my posts under the Category: “Registration.”)

The OAS CIFTA Treaty remains a threat to gun owners in conjuction with AG Holder’s misinformation regarding the number of U.S.-made guns going to Mexico and supposedly “fueling” the endemic violence in that country.  (See my post, “OAS Treaty threatens Second Amendment,” under the Category: Foreign Gun Laws.”)  (See also, “Left overstates US gun impact on Mexican Violence,” under the Category, “Media Bias.”)

Homeland Security Chief Napolitano’s report linking gun rights advocates and other “right wing extremists” to possible terrorism dovetails with HR 2159, which is a retread of a bill introduced last year that allows the Attorney General to designate you to be a terrorist on the basis of hearsay information.  Once you have been so designated you can not legally own a firearm or board an airplane.  You may not have the right to confront your accuser and getting off the list in the case of a mistake may be very difficult.   

Governor Bill Ritter vetoed HB 1180, a Colorado bill that would have allowed concealed carry permit holders to use their permits to buy a gun without going through an additional background check.  Montana, Wyoming, and Utah are using this system without having a flood of blood in the streets.  (See my posts on HB 1180 under the Category: “Colorado State Issues.”)

On the positive side, the U.S. House and Senate just passed an amendment to a credit card bill that will support the Bush Administration ruling allowing concealed carry permit holders to defend themselves and others in national parks in states that recognize their permits.  We’ll see how this shakes out in Colorado.  Left-wing, Mainstream Media bias shock jocks are working overtime on this one.  Even Fox News aired a misleading, simplified version of the legislation.

Don’t get complacent, because we won this battle.  The above listed bills. the Obama record on guns, and his anti-gun appointments to key positions portend a hard road ahead for the Second Amendment, once the Democrats finish socializing the rest of American Society.

Look for a high profile shooting spree in the near future to boost the Left’s argument for more gun control.  (See my posts under the Category: “Conspiracy Theories.”)

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, “  Thomas Jefferson.

“Nothing in politics happens by chance,” (paraphrase) FDR.

Def Mech

On Page One, “Obama takes aim at flow of arms to Mexico,” the Post quoted Mexican President Calderon as saying that, “90% of the weapons seized in Mexico can be traced to the United States.”  You would think that somebody, the President of Mexico, someone on the Associated Press staff, or someone at The Denver Post would have watched the Fox News story that blew the “90%” canard out of the water.  (See my post: “Left overstates US gun impact on Mexican Violence,” tagged: “Mexican gun violence,” done on 04-07-09.)

In actuality, about 17% of the crime guns seized in Mexico came from the US market.  By allowing this “90%” misinformation to stand without comment, both the AP and the Post seemed to demonstrate either ignorance or bias.

On Page 12 B, The Denver Post printed an editorial from the anti-gun rights Washington Post.  In this piece, the writers opined that the Interior Department should reject the Bush Administration rule allowing concealed carry permit holders to carry in national parks in states that honor their permits.  The editorial mischaracterized the rule by saying that the regulation allows “visitors” to carry concealed, loaded guns.  In reality, all CCW permit holders in parks would be visitors, but not all park visitors would be CCW permit holders.

The uninformed reader would naturally believe from this piece that all visitors could legally carry concealed.  The writers go on to emote a “parade of horribles,” including increased poaching, accidental shootings of wildlife and park visitors, and apparently (Gasp!) lead pollution from the tons of bullets that would presumably be sprayed around the parks by red-necked, racist, sexist, one-toothed, beer-swilling, gun-toting barbarians.  (See my posts on the parks under the Category: “Concealed Carry.)

(According to a more recent post on the Volokh Conspiracy, the Washington Post got its wish.  The Obama Administration has apparently decided not to appeal the liberal judge’s injunction against the Bush rule.  The Department of the Interior will reportedly keep the matter under study, but I think that we can conclude that concealed carry in national parks is a dead issue, at least until after the next presidential election.)

The Washington Post editorial reflected its usual animus toward armed self-defense against crime.  The Denver Post, by publishing this piece without comment, either exposed its own indifference to the details of the situation or a tacit agreement with the misinformation contained in the editorial.

David Sirota, in his op-ed piece, “Columbine questions we didn’t ask,” blamed spree killings on our warlike, violent society, that, according to him, has a “winner take all economy,” and “The killing machine…” of our “defense and security” establishments.  Michael Moore said essentially the same thing in his distorted “mocumentary,” Bowling for Columbine. (See David Kopel’s excellent deconstruction of Bowling…here.)

Sirota wasn’t shy about his own bias.  ”…the assault weapons ban expiration is an abomination.”  Never mind the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and the National Academy of the Sciences could find no significant crime prevention benefit from the ban or other gun control laws. (See my posts under the Category: “Research.”)

At least, Sirota rejected the simplistic notion that guns cause crime, although he didn’t bother to explain his animus against semi-automatic firearms, which he misnames, “assault weapons.”  It would be interesting to see his rationale for this dislike of these common guns, which many liberals seem to view as a necessary article of their faith.

Sirota’s opinion that the American defense establishment, journalists who support the military, and “every other suit-and-tie clad industry,” (whoever they are) promote the idea that “…killing is a legitimate form of national ambition and self-expression,” seems to be a bit over the top for my taste.  (See my politically incorrect posts under the Category: “War on Terror.”)

In conclusion, Friday’s Denver post was rife with sentiment against guns and gun owners, without so much as a single, mewling letter to the editor expressing the other side of the argument.  It’s no wonder that people who only get their “news” and opinions from Mainstream Media outlets are misinformed about the costs and benefits of firearms to society.  (See my Category: “Benefits of Guns.”)

“Obviously a man’s judgement cannot be better than the information on which he has based it.  Give him the truth and he may still go wrong when he has the chance to be right, but give him no news or present him only with distorted and incomplete data, with ignorant, sloppy or biased reporting, with propaganda and deliberate falsehood, and you destroy his whole reasoning processes, and make him something less than a man.”  (Address to the New York State Publishers Association, August 30^th, 1948)Bartlett, John, Familiar Quotations, Fourteenth Edition, Brown, Little and Company, Boston and Toronto, 1968, Page 1020 a.)

I would argue that the same concept applies to women and students of all ages.  If more Americans do not get a balanced view of the world from the New Media, (Internet, Talk Radio, and Cable News) I believe that we are headed for a new Dark Age of ignorance and savagery.  The ancient Romans thought that they had grown beyond the reach of history and that their republic would last forever.  (Remember!  Rome is the “Eternal City.”)  Many Americans believe that we have grown beyond the reach of history…

Def Mech

The murders of police officers in California and Pennsylvania and the New York immigration center killings have provided a bloody backdrop for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call for gun registration.  The Second Amendment Foundation issued an alert on her April 7th pronouncement.

The Democrats just happen to have a bill in Congress that registers semi-automatics (”assault weapons”), handguns, and the people who own them.  HR 45 is the dream bill for the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center, and all the other organizations that call for the disarmament/dis-empowerment of the American People.  (See my post: “House Bill 45, the anti-gun rights campaign begins in earnest,” 01-19-09, under the Category: “Culture War.”

If you haven’t read The Shadow Party by Horowitz and Poe and you own a gun or love the Constitution and freedom, you are like a blind cow being led down the chute at a slaughterhouse.  The above posts contain links to relevant web pages that I believe assemble the puzzle regarding the rush to Socialism by the Obama Administration.

Contact your senators, representative, Ms. Pelosi, and Mr. Reid and politely let them know your feelings about gun registration.  They are nervous about the political consequences of gun bans.  They need to be as nervous about registration, which is a necessary first step to the confiscation of privately held firearms in America.  (If you don’t believe it, check out what happened in England, Australia, New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, and California.)

If you don’t belong to and support  pro-individual rights organizations like the NRA and the Firearms Coalition of Colorado, get on board, now!  This may be your last chance to make a difference!  (See my Category: “Order of Battle.”)

This is not a drill!  This is the real thing.  Either respond now, or get ready to register and eventually give up your guns, or become a criminal subject to fines and imprisonment.  These people are serious!

Def Mech

Def Mech

We can debate whether these clusters of murders are copycat killings caused by  “immortality” conferred on killers by the Mainstream Media, or caused by the “easy availability” of firearms (scientific evidence to the contrary).  Mass murders could be linked to  government creation of “gun-free zones,” which are really “criminal- safe, free-fire zones.”  There might be a conspiracy to manufacture these incidents in order to further an anti-individual rights agenda.  My inclination is toward the first, third, and last of these explanations, but I could just be paranoid.

In any event, lovers of freedom and advocates for the right to armed self-defense against crime, tyranny, and genocide must brace ourselves for another onslaught against our right to own inanimate objects that can be used as tools for protection, recreation,  or destruction.  The other side sees them as “Demon Guns.”

David Kopel of the Independence Institute has made the case that media outlets should minimize publicity regarding the names of spree killers to dampen the enthusiasm of those who would emulate mass murderers in the hope of gaining lasting notoriety.  Kopel also discusses the correlation between the rise of the electronic media and increases in criminal violence.

Open almost any newspaper or tune into any mainstream TV station to get the argument that the “easy availability” of guns is going to kill us all.  (See my posts under the Category: “Research” for a bit of the evidence that guns don’t cause crime.)

I believe that Kirby Ferris has insight into the possibility that some shadowy anti-gunners are using Manchurian Candidate-like mind control to motivate shooters into perpetrating mass murders at strategic times.  (Before you write us both off as crazy, read his articles here and here.)

I have done a considerable amount of research into this issue, myself, and have found a number of anomalies in many shooting incidents that have occurred at times that were much too convenient for the other side.  Then again, I could just be paranoid.

Look for a moment at Columbine.  It occurred days before the NRA Convention in Denver.  The State Legislature was considering an improved concealed carry law at the time.  The Columbine is the Colorado State Flower, so the incident stuck in the minds of many people.  The mass murder occurred on Hitler’s birthday and one day after the anniversaries of the Battle of Lexington, the Waco conflagration, and the Oklahoma City Bombing.  The shooting tainted an upcoming, annual,  pro-individual rights rally at the State Capitol.  One of the teens killed at the school was named Mauser.  (For anyone unfamiliar with firearms, Mauser is also the name of a famous gun maker.)

How did the Columbine killers get all those bombs into the school without help?  Given the extremely volatile nature of propane, why didn’t the two propane tank bombs go off?  Who was “KiBBz,” (Kibitzer?)  a code-named person in the killers’ writings?  Too many questions without answers cloud this mass murder.  There are other examples.  It could be coincidence, but a gunman at the State Capitol came from Rifle, Colorado.  How many shootings have occurred in places named “Springfield?”  (Springfield is also the name of a gun maker.)

If something “accidental” happens to me, I hope people will be suspicious.  How’s that for paranoia and ideas of reference?  So far, I’m willing to admit that I could be wrong, unlike a lot of really emotional folks on the other side of the debate.

In any case, look for more shootings that “conveniently” occur at the worst possible times for gun owners.  Look at the details surrounding mass murders and things that don’t fit in.  “Question authority!”  The folks on the other side often liked to say that.  They don’t say it so much, any more.

Def Mech