Don't Laugh at the French Anymore

We have surrendered. Surrendered with barely a whimper, just like the French. That's right, surrendered part of our Nation's sovereign territory to Mexico, by way of the Mexican drug cartels. This is what was posted today on the Fox News website:

"Federal officials make 80-mile stretch of Arizona-Mexico border -- including part of national wildlife refuge -- a virtual no-man's land as violence by drug smugglers and illegals runs rampant."

So what would you call it? A foreign entity has crossed our border and now controls part of the United States of America to the extent that a Department of the US Government has warned American citizens not to go there. What is it going to take for the Obama Administration to do it's constitutionally mandated duty and protect us from our enemies? Send in the military and don't tie their hands with asinine rules of engagement. Just shoot the bastards.  I hope we have plenty of radiological detection equipment there as well because this surrender of 80 miles of US border territory is a clear signal to the jihadis that the backdoor to America is now wide open for them to bring in a nuke.

Would we be willing to surrender the border from Pebble Beach to Ragged Point? How about from Cape May to the Barnegat Light? So why on our southern border?

So much for the illegal immigration invasion just being "poor people just trying to make a better life for themselves and their family." I think the movement to reclaim Aztlan has taken a giant step forward.

How To Fix the BP Oil Well Mess

The massive leak of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico from a broken pipe almost a mile below the surface is a continuing disaster, threatening to reach epic proportions.  Now six weeks into the crisis, multiple attempts to stem the flow or capture the leaking crude have been unsuccessful to date. If the latest attempt fails, it could be August or later before relief wells are drilled to fix the problem.

They have been going about it all wrong from Day 1.

I'm not a scientist, geologist, or oil drilling expert. You don't have to be for my solution.  What is needed is comprehensive oil drilling reform. Oil that has already reached the shores of Louisiana and Mississippi must be allowed to remain - after all, it's come a long way to get there.  Trapped more than a mile below the sea floor for millions of years, it just wanted to come to America to fuel our cars, planes and factories and be a part of the American Dream. It just went about it the wrong way. Are we going to collect all the spilled crude and force it back under the ocean floor and make it return via the usual manner? We must be realistic. It had the best of intentions in coming to America's shores, which we know reigns supreme. Regardless of the devastating effects to the fragile ecosystem, to the Gulf fishing industry and to Gulf Coast tourism, it's too simplistic an approach to just stem the flow. We must all join together to craft a comprehensive reform measure.

The Gun is Civilization

Insightful piece that has been around, but still worth reprinting




The Gun is Civilization




by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)



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 gang banger, and a single 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 [armed] 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 victims 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 weight lifter. 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.



By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)



So the greatest civilization is one where all adult citizens are armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.

San Diego Bay Tsunami Storm Surge Video

Thanks to San Diego Urban Search & Rescue - California Task Force 8 (CA-TF8)

Some Good News for Maryland Gun Owners

SB 516 - Assault Weapons Ban 2010 has been withdrawn from consideration.  However, a number of other onerous pieces of anti-gun legislation remain to be defeated. They think they can throw us a bone and we'll drop our guard, allowing one or more of these to get through. We must redouble our efforts and defeat these attempts, such as those in previous posts, to infringe on our Consitutional rights.

Molon Labe!

The Mount Vernon Statement

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This speaks for itself - go here to sign if you agree

Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century


We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.

These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.

Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The selfevident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.

Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?

The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man’s self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.

The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.

A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.

A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.

* It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.

* It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.

* It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.

* It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.

* It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.

If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.

We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America’s founding principles.

State of Maryland Continues It's Assault on Gun Owners

The following is from an email just received from Maryland Shall Issue - www.marylandshallissue.org - a gun owners rights group.  Liberal anti-gun activists in the Maryland Legislature have been unrelenting in their assault on the legal gun owners of Maryland. This is a call to arms for Maryland gun owners and anyone who loves liberty and respects the Constitution.

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Maryland General Assembly Introduces Gun Safety Act of 2010 

- Or the Scarlet G for Gunowner Bill of 2010

Senator Brian Frosh (D), District 16 Montgomery County and Chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, and Delegate Sandy Rosenberg (D), District 41, Baltimore City have introduced the Gun Safety Act of 2010.

This proposed legislation would fundamentally change the face of gun ownership in the State of Maryland as no bill has in the last 10 years.

Now that the text of the bills have been released, we can give you our full response.

HB820

SB645 

Highlights :

1. An individual with more than one DUI conviction may not purchase a firearm within 5 years after an alcohol-related conviction.

2. Maryland State Police shall inspect each state-licensed gun dealer at least once every two years to ensure compliance with gun law.  Cost of inspection shall be covered by licensing fees, which may be increased as necessary.

3. Gun dealers shall provide records of their inventories and sales to aid State Police inspectors.  

The records shall include: 
(I) the name and address of each person from whom the dealer acquires a firearm and to whom the dealer sells or otherwise disposes of the firearm;  
(II) a precise description including the make, model, caliber, and serial number of each firearm acquired; and 
(III) the date of each acquisition, sale, or other disposition.

4. Law enforcement officials may use body-wires to collect evidence against gun traffickers and would be traffickers.

5. Penalties for illegal sale or transfer of firearms increased from 1 year, $1,000 to 5 years, $10,000.

6. Ignorance of the requirements to conduct background checks of firearm purchasers shall not be a defense for individuals charged with illegally selling guns.

7. Individuals buying handguns shall secure a handgun purchasing license before acquiring a handgun.  Licenses may be issued by local police or Maryland State Police.  Police shall secure fingerprints, verify IDs, and conduct background checks.  Licensing fees shall be set at a level to cover costs.

(the following is paraphrased in places)

(A) A regulated firearms dealer or person may only sell or transfer a handgun to another person if the purchaser or transferee presents to the seller or transferror a valid Maryland driver's license with an approved handgun
      purchase designation or photographic identification card with an approved handgun purchase designation issued to the purchaser or transferee by the Motor Vehicle Administration.

(B) A person may only purchase or receive a handgun if the person:
(1) Possesses a valid Maryland driver's license or state issued ID as outlined in (A).

(C) The MVA shall issue a driver's license with an approved handgun purchase designation or photographic ID with an approved handgun purchase designation.

(D) In order to obtain the required driver's license designation or state issued ID card an applicant must submit the following to a state or local law enforcement agency.

(1) A completed application on a form provided by the Secretary (of the Maryland State Police)
(2) A non-refundable fee set by the Secretary
(3) Proof of satisfactory completion of a firearms safety training course approved by the Secretary
(4) A complete set of the applicant's legible fingerprints to be taken by a state or local law enforcement agency
(5) Any other identification or documentation required by the secretary
(6) A statement made by the applicant under the penalty of perjury that the applicant is not prohibited under federal or state law from possessing a handgun

(G) Provides for the revocation of the handgun approval designation and the surrender of the driver's license or state issued photographic ID if the Secretary determines that the licensee no longer meets the qualifications set forth in the rest of the bill.

8. Felons illegally possessing any firearms shall be subject to a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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Our analysis, corresponds to items under "Highlights"above:

1. The penalties for the DUI convictions are not usually as harsh as the 5-year prohibition on firearms ownership proposed by this bill. 

2.  An obvious ploy to drive up dealer costs and force them to bear the financial burden for a new level of bureaucracy in the hopes of bankrupting them.  The open-ended fees are blatantly punitive.  This provision of the bill will also create opportunities to revoke or suspend dealers' licenses for minor record keeping errors.

3. Obtaining dealers' records of sales will allow the Maryland State Police to create de facto registration lists of all firearms sold in Maryland.  They can then start cross referencing your purchases of ammunition and gun supplies against their registration list and use them to continue their midnight raids.  We saw this with the ammunition logs in the past that we have all but eliminated.  There's no indication that they will not continue to abuse their power with this either.  The Maryland State Police has demonstrated that they can not be trusted with this sort of power.

4. "Would-be traffickers".  That is you.  In their eyes, every gun owner in this state is a "would-be" trafficker.  Do you relish the thought of there being state agents tapping your gun club meetings, gun shops and shooting ranges?  This will give them basically unlimited license to use a wire to record your conversations if you fit their definition of a "would-be" trafficker.  The section of Maryland code where this provision is contained lumps us in with murderers, rapists, sex offenders, pornographers and kidnappers.  Furthermore, let's also not forget that the Maryland State Police has already been implicated in illegal surveillance of peace activists and death penalty opponents.

5. This sounds great, except that provision #6 above would lump the citizen who accidentally runs afoul of the law in with the hardened criminal who deliberately seeks to circumvent the law.  Case in point:  A person moves to Maryland from another state where face to face sales of all firearms are permitted and decides to sell part of their lawfully purchased handgun or Maryland regulated long gun collection after moving here.  This person, unaware of our convoluted laws, now faces 5 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine just as a person actively engaged in the deliberately illegal sale of guns would be. While ignorance of the law is never an absolute defense, this provision would seemingly prohibit it from even being used as a mitigating factor in a defense.

6. See preceding comment.

7. This is the nuclear option in this bill.  It essentially brands all purchasers of handguns (and we would presume regulated long guns) with a Scarlet G for Gun Owner on their drivers license.  You will have to jump through an entirely new set of hoops just to be approved for jumping through the hoops that we already have to navigate in order to purchase a handgun.  We would expect this to also be applied to regulated long guns.

Where to start on this aspect of the bill?  

This is proposing that anyone wishing to purchase a handgun actually have a designation added to their driver's license that labels them as being licensed to purchase that firearm.  This means that you have essentially been branded for being a gun owner.  

This should be an outrageous affront to any civil liberty minded citizen even aside from the gun issue.  

There have been numerous times in the history of the world where citizens have been singled-out for what they thought, what they believed, what God they prayed to or didn't pray to, or who they associated with and it has never ended well.  Whether it be a yellow star, a tattoo or a special designation on a government-issued ID, governments have time and time again demonstrated that they simply can not be trusted when it comes to singling out designated undesirables from the general population.

All rhetoric aside, this bill is fraught with pragmatic dangers for the gun owners of Maryland as it increases not only the bureaucratic difficulties of lawfully purchasing a handgun, but also increases the financial burden for these citizens. How many Maryland Families will be deprived of their right to protect themselves because they do not possess the means to meet this new financial burden?

In response to item (D) above, we raise the following specific concerns:

Section D will be a de facto handgun ban for huge swaths of the Maryland population. The Maryland State Police are only accepting fingerprints done on the LiveScan system that can, with one exception in Baltimore, only be done at a few privately-owned locations across the state. Citizens without the means to access one of those locations, either due to geographic distance, financial hardship, disability or a combination of the above would be out of luck. Not clearly defining either the forms required or the costs associated with the applications gives the Secretary free reign to make the process as expensive as possible and gives the Secretary unlimited power to dissect our personal lives as they see fit

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Commentary:

The Scarlet G for Gun Owner aspect of the bill alone, if passed, would most likely bring about a landmark lawsuit against the State of Maryland because of the blatant effort to create so much financial and administrative hardship for citizens to exercise a Constitutional right that it equates with a government led effort to ban the individual possession of handguns.  Per the usual modus operandi of the anti-gun wing of the Maryland General Assembly, we can expect that they will expand this to first include all firearms and then all ammunition.

In a time of an unprecedented financial crisis for governments and citizens alike, Senator Frosh is proposing a monstrous addition to the Maryland State Police's workload and then asking cash strapped citizens to back it so that they can be granted the privilege of exercising a fundamental right.  In addition, such a law, if passed, would certainly be challenged in court, forcing the state to spend even more of its limited resources trying to defend indefensible regulations.  Given that Senator Frosh is rumored to have his eye on the Senate Presidency, we have to question the judgment of an elected official who ignores the budgetary exigencies of both the State and citizenry in the name advancing a personal radical anti-gun agenda.  

We must unleash a response to this abomination unlike any in the history of our community.  The damage resulting from the passage of this bill will set back our efforts for decades.  We must flood their emails, their snail mail boxes, their fax machines and shut down their phone service.  MSI can only provide you with the information and the tools that you need to stop this.  It is up to each of us as individuals to take the fight to them and stop this before it ever gets heard in committee.  

Snail mail letters are best and can easily be done with the  Activist's Tools.

Phone calls are good.

Emails are easy and a good follow up to the above actions.

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Here's what we need you to do :

•Contact your Senator and let them know that you oppose SB645.

•Contact the members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and let them know that you oppose SB645.

•Contact your delegates and let them know that you oppose HB820.

•Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee and let them know that you oppose HB820.

•Contact the press.  Here is one resource.

•All of the information you need in order to easily make mail contacts can be found in the Activist's Tools below.

•Remember to stick to the facts when making your contacts.  Avoid over emotional rhetoric that only fuels their stereotypes of our community.

Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Phone Numbers

Brian Frosh - Chair
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3124 (toll free)

Lisa Gladden - Vice Chair
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3697 (toll free)

Jim Brochin 
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3648 (toll free)

Jennie Forehand
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3134 (toll free)

Larry Haines
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3683 (toll free)

Nancy Jacobs
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3158 (toll free)

Alex Mooney
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3575 (toll free)

Anthony Muse
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3092 (toll free)
Jamie Raskin
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3634 (toll free)

Bryan Simonaire
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3658 (toll free)

Norman Stone
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3587 (toll free)

House Judiciary Committee Phone Numbers

Delegate Joseph Vallario - Chairman (D-27A)

(410) 841-3488,

Delegate Sandy Rosenberg - Co-Chair (D-41) Lead sponsor of HB820

(410) 841-3297

Delegate Curtis Anderson (D-43)

(410) 841-3291

Delegate Benjamin Barnes (D-21)
(410) 841-3046

Delegate Jill Carter (D-41)
(410) 841-3283

Delegate Frank Conaway Jr. (D-40)
(410) 841-3189

Delegate Kathleen   Dumais    (D-15)
(410) 841-3052

Delegate Don Dwyer Jr. (D-31)
(410) 841-3047

Delegate William Frank (R-42)
(410) 841-3793

Delegate J.B. Jennings (R-7)
(410) 841-3698

Delegate Kevin Kelly (D-1B)
(410) 841-3404

Delegate Benjamin Kramer (D-19)
(410) 841-3485

Delegate Susan Lee (D-16)
(410) 841-3649

Delegate Gerron Levi (D-23A)
(410) 841-3101

Delegate Susan McComas (R-35B)
(410) 841-3272

Delegate Tony McConkey (R-33A)
(410) 841-3406

Delegate Victor Ramirez (D-47)
(410) 841-3340

Delegate Todd Schuler (D-8)
(410) 841-3526

Delegate Luiz Simmons (D-17)
(410) 841-3037

Delegate Michael Smigiel Sr. (R-36)
(410) 841-3555

Delegate Kriselda Valderrama (D-26)
(410) 841-3210

Delegate Jeffrey Waldstreicher (D-18)
(410) 841-3130  

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Activist's Tools

 

HOUSE OF DELEGATES TOOLS TO ASSIST YOU:

•Quick email tool

•Find your delegate

•Pre-formatted mailing labels for the House Judiciary Committee

•How to create mail merge letters using pre-formatted labels

SENATE TOOLS TO ASSIST YOU:

•Quick email tool 

•Find your senator

•Pre-formatted mailing labels for the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee

•How to create mail merge letters using pre-formatted labels

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Maryland Shall Issue.org

P.O. Box 314

Libertytown, MD

21762-0314

ph. 240-446-6782

Mission Statement

"Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners' rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that 'shall issue' laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime."