Note to Chicago City Government Officials: criminals don’t obey laws.  Gun makers are not flooding your city with firearms for the criminal market.  More reasonable gun laws elsewhere are not the reason that you have a problem. 

If Britain had the criminal elements and gang bangers that you have, Britain would have a worse situation with violence than they do now, after they passed their handgun ban and began collecting sharp-pointed kitchen knives.  If gun control worked, both Chicago and Britain would be much safer than they are.

If Japan had Chicago’s gangsters, the Japanese would have a higher crime rate.  Please read David Kopel’s book, The Samurai, the Mountie and the Cowboy, Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?  Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1992, pages 431 and 432.  Consider Mr. Kopel’s conclusion that social controls and not gun control are the reasons for lower crime rates in these two island nations on opposite sides of the globe.

Baseball bats!  That’s it!  Baseball bats!  A baseball bat murderer in Boulder Colorado was just sent to prison on DNA evidence.  Maybe if you ban baseball bats, that will solve the Chicago violence problem.

You never know, bats might the answer.  If we could only get them out of some of the Chicago belfreys…

Def Mech

Senator Stabenow didn’t mention television or the mainstream print media in her call for “accountability.”  Of course, TV, newspapers, and magazines are dominated by Liberal anchors, editors, columnists, and reporters who often disguise “Progressive” propaganda as news reportage.

You may wonder what a Second Amendment blogger is doing talking about First Amendment issues.  “Understand!”  (BHO, “The Chosen One,” uses this so often to imply that his opinions are fact that I like to throw it in every once in a while just to let everyone know how “happy” I am to be under his “rule.”)  Understand! The Bill of Rights is a rich tapestry that protects the fundamental freedoms of all Americans.  Once you begin to tear at any part of the fabric of this most precious national treasure, you risk unraveling the miracle that is our republic.

The Democrats are not the party of free speech.  They are the party of super delegates, of no secret ballots in union elections, of press conferences stacked with Left-wing reporters, and of government research funds used to push political agendas.  Government funding of “Global Warming” studies, “Economic Stimulus” money that rewards “Shadow Party” organizations like ACORN, and funding for gun control studies through the Centers for Disease Control are all examples of ideology driving junk science through the use of taxpayer dollars.

(Read “The Shadow Party,” by Horowitz and Poe to understand what happened in the last election.  Substitute BHO for HRC and you will be enlightened as to how Obama inherited a “turn key” situation of ready-made, top-down-funded, “grassroots” organizations that carried the water for him in 2008.)

President Obama is reportedly on record as being opposed to “The Fairness Doctrine.”  He does, however, seem to support “Localism.”  This term is Liberal code for creating many small radio venues to provide “voices” for women and minorities who will somehow be more “responsive” to the needs of the people than large radio networks that host Conservative programs.  You can interpret this to mean the breakup talk radio as it exists and the replacement of the current system with Libral Radio probably funded by your tax dollars.  National Public Radio obviously isn’t enough for the Left.  I wish we had just one publicly-funded Conservative radio network.

The genius of Socialism and other oppressive statist ideologies is their ability to use tax dollars extracted from productive people to control and disempower the same citizens that they tax.  As we have recently discovered during financial disclosures from several potential Democrat candidates and appointees, some Liberals seem less than enthusiastic about paying their own taxes.  (I guess taxes are just for “ordinary citizens,” not for the Liberal Elite.)

Ironically, Liberals also seek to expand the number of citizens dependent on the public dole, thus broadening their constituent base.  “When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul.”

All supporters of the Constitution and lovers of freedom must be alert to any potential infringement of every liberty recognized by the Bill of Rights.  Eternal vigilance is, indeed, the price of freedom.

As Patrick Henry said, “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.”  Walt Whitman echoed Henry’s sentiment.  “There is no week nor day nor hour, when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance-Tyranny may always enter-there is no charm, no bar against it-the only bar against it is a large resolute breed of men.”  (And women.)

The First Amendment is almost as vital to the protection of our liberty as is the Second Amendment.   Let us defend the entire Bill of Rights and work to regain those freedoms that have been taken from us over the years.  Gun control and control of free speech don’t help our society.  They promote corruption, disregard for law and order, tyranny, and genocide.  Support the Bill of Rights!  (See my recent post, “The African-American experience with gun control,” under the Category: “History.”)

Def Mech

This should come as news to Left-wing politicians and mystery movie writers who promote the idea that ballistics matching is the philosopher’s stone of criminal detection.  Their detectives frequently rely on ballistics and permit systems.  How often do we hear, “We’ve got a match!”  “Do you have a permit for that weapon?” is almost as common in crime movies as having a good character say, “I hate guns.” 

The NRC report does recommend further research into “Microstamping” technology currently required by California on all “new semiautomatic pistols sold in the state by 2010.”  (Other states are also dabbling in this panacea.)  One of the areas for additional study involves exploring the effects of possible tampering by criminals with microstamping mechanisms.

That’s a good line of investigation.  Just how hard would it be for a reasonably intelligent criminal to take a micro-sized file and remove the microstamping capability from a firing pin?  What about the old movie adage that a professional hitter, mechanic, or whoever always leaves the weapon at the scene of the crime?  Of course, an investigator might get lucky on the DNA.  Stay tuned for another report on that issue.

How about the careful criminal who uses a revolver or who polices up his or her brass after a shooting?  No brass, no microstamp.  No case, no how, no way.

How about using an older semiauto with no microstamping?  Ah!  Liberals have the criminal there!  They will simply ban or “license to death” any semiautomatic without the technology.  No criminal bent on robbery or murder would dare to obtain an illegal gun through a clandestine source. 

Wait a minute?  Criminals routinely break the law…  Might have to rethink this one, if in fact, the purpose of gun control is to keep guns out of criminal hands…  Of course it is!  The Dems said so in their draft platform plank on guns for 2008.  But then, I just bought a big bridge and a famous tomb in New York City.  Oh well…

Let’s do what the Liberals always say they want to do.  Let’s build a fence around the top of the cliff, instead of assigning an ambulance to wait at the bottom.  Let’s encourage concealed carry, so the risk-averse criminal will have to wonder if he or she is the only one with a gun in the potential crime scenario.  (Barack Obama doesn’t like this approach.  We (gun owners and civil libertarians) have no influence with him.)  Let’s keep career criminals in jail, instead of sentencing them to probation or community service.  (Not sure that this one corresponds to Democrat plans.)

Let’s also look at the immigration situation to make sure that we are not importing gang members wholesale from other countries.  (We need to influence John McCain on this issue.)  Let’s look at firearms education in the schools and more shooting ranges in our communities, so that guns will cease to be mystical, forbidden, attractive objects, and young people will have more positive role models with regard to gun ownership. 

Don’t hold your breath on any of these proactive approaches, because Liberals are quite comfortable contemplating the use of scientific innovation to strangle civilian gun ownership.  They are not comfortable with the concept that criminals are persons with evil intentions who will use whatever weapons are at hand to intimidate, rob, and kill those perceived to be weaker than themselves.

Def Mech