Mission statement:

Armed and Safe is a gun rights advocacy blog, with the mission of debunking the "logic" of the enemies of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

I can be reached at 45superman@gmail.com.You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45superman.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 31

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Yih-Chau Chang/Oakland:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

Obama and 'gun control': 'Under the radar,' or is the radar going unwatched?

The information, in other words, has been available--but information doesn't act on itself. The "activist" in "gun rights activist" is supposed to mean something--and what it's supposed to mean is not that a Mayors Against Illegal Guns astroturf campaign gets more than twice as many supporters for the gun registration requirement than comments from those opposed.

Today is the last day to comment. John Richardson (and PT) have made the process effortless.

Get to it. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

BREAKING: Oath Keepers to muster in memoriam of Marine vet slain by SWAT team

Don't do a lot of weekend stuff, but David Codrea has some very time-sensitive, very important news.

Go read, and spread the word.

Friday, May 27, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 27

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

Anthony Bouchard/Cheyenne:

David Codrea/National:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

Friday amusements

Yeah, I'm utterly without artistic talent--I know. I can still have fun.

Celebrating those who died for liberty, too lazy to spend 1 minute to defend it?

Read Mr. Knox's article (it's not long), and Mr. Codrea's (also short), then go to No Lawyers, and send your comment to the BATFE, and urge friends and family to join you. The comment period closes Tuesday.

No one is being asked to hold Bastogne against the Nazis here, but while preparing to honor the people who did fall in that battle, or any of hundreds of others, is it too much to ask that we send an email (a pre-written one, no less)? [More]

That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Mike Vanderboegh home and safe

Just got a note from Mike, asking that I inform folks that he is home, and fine, but unable to post at Sipsey Street, for the moment (Blogspot is again being problematical for many).

Update, morning of May 27: He's posting again--go take a look.

GRE Round Up, May 26

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Yih-Chau Chang/Oakland:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

CSGV's savvy, sophisticated messaging



See also:

Rand Paul stands up to Orwellian 'Patriot' Act for gun owners, all Americans

Sen. Paul's specific objection is the potential gross abuse of gun purchase records, but he would also like to open up debate about many other Constitutionally questionable (to put it politely) provisions of the Patriot Act. That law, passed in haste in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, was a victory for terrorism, because in surrendering liberty for the supposed safety provided by the new law, we left no doubt that our fear of terrorists was greater than our love of liberty.

The "Patriot" Act lessens our nation, and any effort to block its continuation is an effort to reclaim the greatness that is the legacy handed down to us by the Founding Fathers. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 25

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

Are guns becoming less capable?

Those are just a few examples of a common theme among those who object to private citizens possessing the means to protect their families, their liberty, their homes and their lives, and they're all variations of the more fundamental idea that "a gun's only purpose is to kill."

Those who find these arguments convincing should be very concerned, then, about the fact that there are now more privately owned guns in the U.S. than ever before, with handguns (particularly those that use "high capacity magazines") and so-called "assault weapons" (fthe very guns most often denigrated as existing "only to kill") leading the way.

People must be getting gunned down left and right then, right? Um . . . not so much . . . [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 24

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

Criminal home invaders pretending to be cops, or the real thing? Does it matter?

Oh--one more thing. In an earlier article, we saw Josh Horwitz, of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, defend this kind of wanton butchery (37-second video clip), saying that we shouldn't "pile too much on the militarization of law enforcement," because they're "faced with an unbeleivable amount of firepower."

If Sheriff Dupnik's SWAT teams are to become the norm for law enforcement in America, it would seem that private citizens need a more "unbelievable amount of firepower." [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Monday, May 23, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 23

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Yih-Chau Chang/Oakland:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter, and also here.

IL gun owner privacy bill goes to governor, despite senator's hurt feelings

Additionally, even apart from any discussion of the appropriateness of the use of Holocaust imagery in this debate, Sen. Schoenberg owes his constituency an explanation as to why his personal affront should be more important than good public policy. If he "understand[s] the need to balance an individual's privacy with the public's right to know," but votes against the bill simply because he is "outraged" at the tactics of some of the bill's supporters, is he not putting his personal feelings ahead of the needs of the people he ostensibly represents? [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Friday, May 20, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 20

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

Dave Workman/Seattle:

Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

'Gun control' pusher disagrees with MLK, says right delayed is NOT right denied

In other words, if someone gets on a terrorist watch list by mistake, his right to bear arms will be only delayed, not denied.
Oh? So you disagree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Clifford? If your writings were determined to be dangerous, and you were not allowed to publish, First Amendment notwithstanding, that would be OK with you? After all, there would be a "straightforward procedure" by which you could appeal that ruling. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 19

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Yih-Chau Chang/Oakland:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

CSGV and the doubleplusungood couple days

I was going to call this post "CSGV and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Couple Days," after the children's book, but with CSGV being who they are, I think the Orwellian reference is more fitting.

It started small. They posted on their Facebook page a write-up about me, intended to denounce me (along with their favorite "insurrectionist" bogeyman, Mike Vanderboegh) as "treasonous." The actual effect, though, was that Mike and I each got a good laugh out of it, and that even spawned not one, but two "Quote of the Day" posts for me--and one for Mike, from generous gun bloggers. Oh--and I bestowed upon David Codrea the esteemed Portmanteau of the Day award.

Well, maybe that wasn't so bad for CSGV, despite all the fun I had with it, and the fact that it did me no discernible damage, and in fact have gotten pretty decent traffic the last couple days. CSGV actually decided to repeat that Facebook post--three nutty times. Running out of "insurrectionists," guys?

But then, things started really going downhill. Their Twitter account was suspended yesterday, for maliciously posting gun rights advocates' personal information, with the intent of harassing them--and then got caught lying about the circumstances surrounding the Twitter suspension. Some of the most detailed explanations of that can be found here, here and here.

Then today, with Facebook about their only available outlet, one of their posts gets taken down for an intellectual property theft.

What are you going to do tomorrow, CSGV, get arrested for sexually assaulting a maid?

Update: And it just gets worse.

Why does CDC's 'zombie apocalypse' preparedness list omit guns?

Still, though, if the intent was to take advantage of pop culture's strange affinity for zombies, as a way to highlight the importance of preparing for a wide variety of potential real disasters, shouldn't self-defense be part of the plan? When social order has broken down, who but ourselves will protect us? Not the police--we have already seen that if they're still around to play any role at all, that role might be as the killers themselves. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 18

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner honored by Coalition to Stop Gun Violence?

Still, I was mentioned in conjunction with one of their perennial denunciations of Sipsey Street Irregular Mike Vanderboegh (whom they were able to work into the discussion because I had cited him in explaining why, minority or not, there will be enough gun owners to defend the right to keep and bear arms) and that's company I'm happy to be included in. CSGV has in the past likewise claimed that National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea is a "threat to the rule of law," and Mr. Codrea is yet another with whom I am honored to be associated. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 17

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

HB 294 would kick Mayor Bloomberg's 'sting operations' out of Missouri

In other words, it bans Mayor Bloomberg-style (and Brady Campaign-style) gun show "sting operations," in which the mayor sends private detectives to gun shows and gun shops in other states (at enormous expense, courtesy of NYC taxpayers). There, they secretly record what Bloomberg presents as being irresponsible, unscrupulous, and dangerous gun sales, in order to justify more gun laws, such as laws to close the mythical "gun show loophole." If Governor Nixon signs HB 294 into law, Bloomberg would be committing a felony were he to try one of his "stings" here in Missouri. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Looking for some help with Latin

I would like to know how to say:

Despised by the despicable
. . . in Latin, for reasons that will soon be clear, if they're not already.

It seems that everyone I ask has a different answer. I've seen:
Despectus (Dēspectus?) despicabilibus (dēspicābilis?)
And:
ab despectivis contemptus est (meaning, I was told, "By the despicable many, he is despised."--I kinda like that).
Today, a local Catholic priest suggested:
Contemptus per despectivus
Any guidance anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

GRE Round Up, May 16

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Yih-Chau Chang/Oakland:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

Concealed carry 'compromise' considered in Illinois actually abject surrender

Still, sheriffs are not forever--a county with a rights-supporting sheriff today might have a rights abuser tomorrow. Also, "may issue" invites corruption, in that it gives a sheriff the power to withhold recognition of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right to keep and bear arms out of personal dislike for the applicant, or because he wouldn't pay a bribe.

More fundamentally, a right that can be denied at whim is no right at all, but merely a privilege. The Second Amendment is not part of the Bill of Conditional, Arbitrarily Denied Privileges. One hopes and suspects that SAF, NRA and ISRA realize that, and would not drop their lawsuits simply because sheriffs would now have permission to choose to (or not) recognize citizens' Second Amendment rights. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Friday, May 13, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 13

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

Second Amendment Foundation files lawsuit against Illinois self-defense ban

With the Supreme Court having already ruled in the Heller and McDonald cases that the right protected by the Second Amendment is a right of individuals, and one that must be honored by state and local governments, anti-gun lobby groups have been reduced to protesting that those cases only found Constitutional protection for the keeping of arms in the home. That's true, as far as it goes.

Unfortunately for those groups, and fortunately for America, the Second Amendment protects not only the right to keep arms, but to bear them, as well. The "gun control" groups' allies on the federal bench (and they have more than a few of them) will presumably be hard pressed to master the mental gymnastics required for an argument that the "keep" part of "keep and bear arms" is an individual right, but the "bear" part isn't. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 12

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

And yet another lie from CSGV

They just can't help themselves.

From their Facebook page (emphasis mine):

Burgess was actually being modest about Wisconsin Carry's contributions to The Badger State. He didn't even mention the "Madison 5," those legendary patriots who ventured into a Culver's restaurant while openly carrying loaded handguns on September 18, 2010 (http://thetruthaboutguns.com/2010/09/robert-farago/wisconsin-carry-files-federal-lawsuit-v-madison-and-madison-police-chief/). When a 62-year-old woman in the restaurant panicked and called 911, the Madison 5 were arrested by Madison police officers and charged with disorderly conduct.
Hmm . . . "panicked and called"?

Not so much. Let's read some of the transcript of that 911 call:
The caller, Ms. Phyllis Micke, emphasized to the 911 dispatcher that the guns were in holsters, and that “there’s no problem” . . . [the men are] “just sitting there extremely relaxed.”

After the dispatcher explained that open carry was legal unless they are threatening or disturbing people, Micke declared that

“there’s no problem and it’s no emergency . . .I feel bad then, if they’re not doing anything wrong then it’s my mistake.”
And lest "gun control" apologists note that the above quotes of the 911 call transcript were provided by a gun rights activist, and thus perhaps suspect in the minds of forcible citizen disarmament advocates, there is also an audio recording of the call available.

Keep those lies coming, CSGV--keep digging that hole.

Legal self-defense coming to 21-year-old Missourians?

Of the 49 states that do not outright ban defensive handgun carry, Missouri makes would-be applicants wait the longest. Only in this state must young adults who wish to equip themselves for self-defense wait until their 23rd birthday before becoming eligible to apply for a concealed carry permit. Yesterday, the Missouri State Senate took a major step toward righting that wrong, by passing HB 294. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 11

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

Liston Matthews/Knoxville:

David Codrea/National:
Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

Why is Mexico Prez. still blaming U.S. gun shops, not 'Gunwalkers'?

Or then again, perhaps that's not so surprising after all. As discussed here before, the only sensible explanation for the motive behind "Project Gunwalker" is that it was intended to justify more restrictive gun laws, including a new, permanent, and more comprehensive federal "assault weapon" ban, and more power and funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). Calderón is almost obsessively in favor of more American gun laws, especially a new AWB. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 10

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

'Project Gunwalker': What Obama will NOT talk about in El Paso today

That his Department of Justice facilitated the trafficking of the guns used to kill a border patrol agent who died fulfilling his duty of protecting the border is bad enough, but that the same operation may also have armed the killers of an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer would tend to be rather hard on one's "tough border enforcer" credentials.

At the same time, that the "walked" guns are almost certainly linked to untold hundreds of "nameless, faceless dead" in Mexico, with Obama's hand-picked Attorney General trying to explain that the operation wasn't big enough to be worthy of his attention, hardly speaks well of the President's commitment to the well-being of the people of Mexico. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Monday, May 09, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 9

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

247 on 'terror watch list' buy guns, terrorize no one with them

What the editorial doesn't bother to mention is that the NY Times can find, among those 247 "suspected terrorist" gun buyers, precisely zero incidents of terrorism or violent crime. In fact, according to Fox News, this lack of "gun crime" among "suspected terrorist" gun buyers is something of a tradition, going back at least as far as 2004 . . . [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Friday, May 06, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 6

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:

Working to keep citizens disarmed, seeking long term, tax-supported bodyguards

So, in other words, Daley wants not only to keep people disarmed, but to in effect leave them protected with an even more depleted police department, as well--at their expense (Daley will also receive a $180,000 per year pension, again courtesy of the taxpayers). This, in a city so violent that local hospitals have trouble keeping enough blood on hand, that some have thought needed the National Guard to come in to restore order, and whose police superintendent wanted to invent a new category of "indoor homicides," the prevention of which he thought should not be expected of the police, to make the statistics look better. "What 'works' in Chicago"--right, Mr. President?. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Down the memory hole with @CSGV

If one had been following the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) on their Twitter feed this afternoon, one might have seen the following (click to enlarge):



Specifically, I refer to the middle tweet:

@MikeSeils Thanks for passing this on. Terrifying. Another apparent gun-related threat to our democracy.
"Terrifying," indeed.

Except for the fact that this "threat to our 'democracy*'" was no threat at all, as the Wall Street Journal explains:
Officers believed he was acting suspiciously. They emptied his messenger bag, then brought him inside a post office located steps from the trade center site. At least one officer had a gun drawn.

The man was questioned and released. He was not armed.
I politely pointed this out:
@CSGV @MikeSeils Not enough "gun-related threat to our 'democracy'" for CSGV, so had to invent one http://on.wsj.com/kYZlf3 "not armed"
CSGV, typically, didn't respond with an, "Oops--my bad," but instead simply tried to revise history. Here's the same discussion now (click to enlarge):



Notice anything missing? Pretending embarrassments never happened is SOP for CSGV, but their history tends to be harder to hide from than they bargain for.

*CSGV almost always refers to our government as a "democracy," rather than acknowledge that it's a republic. I have a theory as to why:
Perhaps, though, this kind of thinking explains CSGV's insistence on referring to "our democracy" with such regularity, rather than acknowledging that our nation is a republic. Promoting the notion that we live in a society where the majority rules, meaning that 51% can legitimately vote away the fundamental human rights of the other 49%, fits right into CSGV's agenda, especially when coupled with the VPC's latest theme, of gun owners as a minority.

GRE Round Up, May 5

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, take John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets Survey.

'Gunwalker' too small for senior officials' attention? Have we told Mexico that?

Are we to understand, then, that we are being asked to believe that deliberately facilitating the illegal trafficking of thousands of firearms to brutal criminals in a neighboring country and important trading partner wasn't important enough to warrant the Attorney General's attention?

One must assume that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is fervently hoping that Holder's testimony somehow escapes the notice of the Mexican government, and the loved ones of the hundreds of "nameless, faceless dead" in Mexico. Not exactly a diplomatic home run, Mr. Attorney General. [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 4

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

Liston Matthews/Knoxville:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter.

'Gunwalker' and AG Holder: Are we to hold Pakistan to higher standards than DoJ?

Senator Grassley sent Holder a letter on Feb. 9--eleven weeks ago--that while it didn't refer to "Fast and Furious" by name, that was clearly the operation being discussed. One week later, Sen. Grassley sent Holder another letter (thanks again to Sipsey Street Irregulars' Mike Vanderboegh, for the central listing of official correspondence about "Project Gunwalker") that does specifically mention "Operation Fast and Furious" by name. Did Holder not read it?

Congress is seriously considering reducing, or even halting outright, aid to Pakistan, prompted largely by the problem of what to call that nation's failure to be in the least inhospitable to bin Laden: incompetence, or complicity with evil. Pakistan is listed in the "Failed States Index of 2010," compiled by the Fund for Peace, as 10th in the list of nations most threatened with instability and unrest.

Doesn't America deserve a Department of Justice run better than that? [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

GRE Round Up, May 3

Here's the latest from my fellow GREs:

David Codrea/National:

Dave Workman/Seattle:
Also check out these other Liberty-oriented Examiners:
Finally, and just as importantly, see John Longenecker's Liberty News/Safer Streets newsletter--actually, see both of them.

Tucson shooting victim and widower speaks to NRA board

The testimony of that kind of victim of "gun violence" is, of course, not what CSGV or Media Matters (to whom truth is apparently not a priority) want the public to hear.

Similarly, when I pointed out to CSGV that the father of 9-year-old Christina Green, who was also killed that day in Tucson, said that she would not have wanted any more restrictions on Americans' freedoms, CSGV called that attitude a "shame," and "sickening." [More]
That's today's St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner. Please give it a look, and tell a friend.