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Just another reason why the second amendment counts

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:24:38 +0000

Proof of what legally armed citizens can do when the police let them down.

John Stossel Myth: Gun Control Reduces Crime

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:58:25 +0000

The myth of gun control is busted by John Stossel, buy, using the governments OWN statistics and number. A must see.

The UN anti gun treaty started being discussed on July 12 to end July 23. News from SAF

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:25:52 +0000

The Arms Trade Treaty Prep Committee began on July 12, 2010 and will conclude on July 23, 2010. Ambassador Roberto Garcia Moritan of Argentina is the Chair. On Friday, July 19, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representatives were told that the majority of the meetings would be closed to them. The critical discussions on the scope of the treaty will have no input from any non-governmental entity. Scope is critical in the Arms Trade Treaty process. In North America, some Pan Asian Countries and in some other parts of the world, the arms that we expect to have covered in this treaty are nuclear weapons. In much of Europe and most all of Africa, the delegates anticipate that the ATT will cover rifles, shotguns, handguns and ammunition as well.

There appears little doubt that some sort of treaty will be adopted by 2014, if not by 2012. It is anticipated that the final treaty will attempt to register all firearms, require micro-stamping, destruction of surplus ammunition on a very set schedule, registration of all firearms and restriction on any transfer of arms including between private individuals and many other restrictions. If the United States is a signatory and this is ratified by the U.S. Senate, this UN treaty would be the law. On October 30, 2009, UN members voted in favor of an ATT. The United States voted in favor of an ATT.

The UN has an aggressive schedule of meetings planned to push for these restrictions and we will be there representing you in every way we can. We will be at the CTOP/COP meeting in Vienna the week of October 18 and a General Assembly meeting at the end of October. In January, the five permanent members of the Security Council will meet and this is on the agenda. There will be another ATT Preparatory meeting at the end of February in New York. The regional UNIDIR meeting sponsored by the EU will start in March. We will come full circle with the Programme of Action Experts Meeting in May 2011 and the July 17-21 ATT Preparatory meeting that is expected to offer the final draft to the treaty.

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee in 1946

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:49:38 +0000

As Recently As 1946, American Citizens Were
Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort
Against Corrupt Government Officials.

Published in Guns & Ammo October 1995, pp. 50-51

On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government, used armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted honest open elections. For years they had asked for state or federal election monitors to prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot counts and intimidation by armed sheriff’s deputies) by the local political boss. They got no help.

These Americans’ absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by service in World War II. Having fought to free other countries from murderous regimes, they rejected vicious abuse by their county government.

These Americans had a choice. Their state’s Constitution — Article 1, Section 26 — recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. Few “gun control” laws had been enacted.

These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between Chattanooga and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were Athens and Etowah. McMinn County residents had long been independent political thinkers. For a long time they also had: accepted bribe-taking by politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit whiskey-making and gambling; financed the sheriff’s department from fines-usually for speeding or public drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting fraud by both Democrats and Republicans.

The wealthy Cantrell family, of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved.

Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936,1938 and 1940 elections, but by slim margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In 1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the sheriff’s office.

At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn County; the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield’s doings. Early in 1946, some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge Cantrell politically by offering an all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket. They promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads and speeches that there would be an honest ballot count and reform of county government.

At a rally, a GI speaker said, “The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county” (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County residents’ complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.

FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS

The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield brought in some 200 armed “deputies.” GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at once. At about 3 p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by a sheriff’s deputy that he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie persisted. The enraged deputy shot him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back; he later recovered (C. Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions, Chattanooga, TN, 1987; pp. 155-57).

Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made the ballot counting “Public” A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his deputies to disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and escaped, the crowd surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a tight half-circle around the front of the polling place. One deputy, “his gun raised high…shouted: ‘If you sons of bitches cross this street I’ll kill you!’” (Byrum, p.165).

Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies seemed to fear immediate attack by the “people who had just liberated Europe and the South Pacific from two of the most powerful war machines in human history” (Byrum, pp. 168-69).

Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them. By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1 rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war’s end. By 8 p.m. a group of GIs and “local boys” headed for the jail but left the back door unguarded to give the jail’s defenders an easy way out.

Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs were wounded. Other GIs returned fire.

Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen. Thick brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs’ rifle fire was uncoordinated. “From the hillside fire rose and fell in disorganized cascades. More than anything else, people were simply shooting at the jail” (Byrum, p.189).

Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff’s deputies wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.

At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail’s porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield’s deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.

THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY

In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox Henry, won 1,168 votes to Cantrell’s 789. Other GI candidates won by similar margins.

The GI’s did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government. On August 2, a town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular police having fled, six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition, “Individual citizens were called upon to form patrols or guard groups, often led by a GI… To their credit, however, there is not a single mention of an abuse of power on their behalf” (Byrum, p. 220).

Once the GI candidates’ victory had been certified, they cleaned up county government, the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced.

The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives. Pat Mansfield moved back to Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in Etowah. “Almost everyone who knew Cantrell in the years after the Battle’ agree that he was not bitter about what had happened” (Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).

The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County’s sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department’s repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings was delighted that “…at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. ” (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870).

THE LESSONS OF ATHENS

Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a cornerstone of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get federal or state election monitors and had used armed force so as to minimize harm to the law-breakers, showing little malice to the defeated law-breakers. They restored lawful government.

The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use armed force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access to firearms and how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the forces of government gone bad.

Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law. However, Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal to many. An individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments alone can brutalize thousands, or millions.

Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they were not hamstrung by “gun control ” They showed us when citizens can and should use armed force to support the rule of law.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department Celebrates U.N. Gun Destruction Event

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:19:56 +0000

Gun owners hold onto your firearms. This may come to a city near you.

Today, the U.S. State Department announced its support for the United Nations’ “International Small Arms Destruction Day.” The State Department, under the leadership of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calls this ridiculous event part of the United States’ ongoing efforts to support the “rule of law around the world” and boasts of spending more than $130 million to destroy “1.4 million small arms and light weapons.” A press release from the State Department says this money was spent at the behest of the anti-gun United Nations to reduce the impact of “illicit flows of small arms and light weapons.”

We win you loose dems Supreme Court rules in favor of citizens and gun owners in McDonald vrs. Chicago

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:11:57 +0000

We would like to thank the SAF for bringing this suit to the high court. Note it was not the NRA that did it.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling in the Second Amendment Foundation’s challenge of the Chicago handgun ban is “our call to action,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb.

“This morning’s high court ruling clearly shows that the right of the individual citizen to have a gun is constitutionally protected in every corner of the United States,” Gottlieb stated. “We are already preparing to challenge other highly-restrictive anti-gun laws across the country. Our objective is to win back our firearms freedoms one lawsuit at a time.”

In striking down Chicago’s handgun ban, and incorporating the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms so that it applies to state and local governments as well as the federal government, the high court affirmed that a constitutionally-protected civil right cannot be arbitrarily regulated as though it were a privilege, he added.

Gottlieb announced that in recognition of SAF’s victory, the organization will host the 2011 Gun Rights Policy Conference in the Chicago area. The event will serve as SAF’s official celebration of today’s Supreme Court ruling.

“By that time,” he said, “we should have some exciting news about other actions we are currently planning.”

The ruling marks another important Second Amendment victory for attorney Alan Gura, who also successfully argued the Heller case in 2008. This time around, Mr. Gura represented SAF, the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and four Chicago residents. The case was McDonald v. City of Chicago, named for plaintiff Otis McDonald.

“I’m glad the Supreme Court has ended the years of oppression of law-abiding gun owners by the City of Chicago,” added ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson.

“Thanks to the Supreme Court,” Gottlieb observed, “average Chicago residents like Mr. McDonald will now enjoy the same right of self-defense as a squad of bodyguards provides to Mayor Richard Daley. Now we can work to lower the deplorable violent crime rate in Chicago, something that the anti-gun mayor’s policies have been unable to accomplish.

“The Second Amendment Foundation is delighted to have worked with Alan Gura, who brought together the individual plaintiffs and organized this landmark case for us and our colleagues at ISRA,” Gottlieb concluded. “Today, it feels great to be the most effective community organizer Chicago has ever had.”

Supporters of gun control are RACISTS!

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:51:13 +0000

The historical racist roots of gun control by JPFO

We here at Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog first heard of this from Kenn Blanchard. The host of The Urban Shooter Podcast. Now the JPFO yhas done a video about it as well.

The liberal social engineers, and their political shills, have fed their lapdogs in the Mainstream Media the “gun control” party line. For generations it has poisoned the American consciousness.

Without the sophisticated brainwashing agenda of NBC, CBS, ABC, and the “educational” PBS, the socialist proponents of citizen disarmament would have long ago been crushed and defeated.

To aid in the goal of destroying “gun control”, JPFO has prepared three versions of a placard (and handbill) that are aimed directly at the soft underbelly of the media. These are purposely designed to be used at gun shows, Tea Party rallies, or any form of demonstration that seeks to send a hard core rebuttal to those who smear gun owners as racists.

During rallies, make sure you shove the placard in the face of everyone holding a camera. We never know when that image might turn up on the news or go viral. Go here for free pdf files of the placards and handbills –
http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/freebies.htm#latest

Many print shops can expand these files up to size 18″ x 24″.

The goal? To bring millions of eyes and ears to the irrefutable historical facts presented in the landmark documentary made possible by JPFO supporters.

Go here to view a free download of “No Guns for Negroes” –
http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-n-z/ngn-download-view.htm

Do your part today to destroy “gun control”.

Big mother government grabbing more power over the second amendment, business, and firearm rights

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:27:02 +0000

In a recent ruling regarding the “transfer” of firearms, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATFE) has reversed policies that have been in place for more than 40 years.

In the ruling, BATFE declared that a temporary shipment of a firearm by a federal firearms licensee to a non-employee for business reasons (such as a manufacturer’s shipment to a gun writer or engineering consultant for a technical evaluation), will now be considered a “transfer” and require completion of a Form 4473 and background check.

This reverses a ruling issued in 1969, right after the passage of the Gun Control Act, although BATFE provided no explanation of the need for the change. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, BATFE hasn’t been able to name a single case in which a gun temporarily shipped under the old rule has been used in crime.

The short-term impact may be limited, because many major manufacturers already require firearms sent to non-employees to go through the transfer process. But manufacturers who didn’t follow that practice will now have to ship guns to licensed dealers to complete these “transfers.”

Furthermore, the ruling only applies to temporary shipments by federal firearms licensees to carry out those licensees’ business operations. Given that limitation, the new ruling won’t affect private individuals who ship guns to themselves when traveling to shoot or hunt, or who ship firearms to a manufacturer or gunsmith for repair or customization.

However, this new ruling may have broader implications for future issues. For example, some have suggested that although the ruling doesn’t relate directly to rental of guns for use on commercial shooting ranges, its reasoning might require rentals to be treated as “transfers” subject to recordkeeping and background check requirements.

The current USA government is terrified of firearm ownership. This report show why

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:15:30 +0000

Executive Summary – It seems like the Fed spends a major portion of its time, energy and resources dreaming up ways to try to convince the gun owners that they need to not have guns. This is generally done using the salami theory. The salami represents gun rights. They cut off a slice each time until there is nothing left.

The way they are treating soldiers is even more illustrative of the extreme fear the fed has of gun ownership. They even tried getting Mexico President Calderon to ask for a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. The NRA should call for a boycott of any Mexico tourism until Calderon renounces this statement and he would renounce it to stop a boycott. If he closed his border no guns would get in, Duhhh. Do they think we are as stupid as they are?

Fort Riley Kansas – Overzealous base commanders can impose their will on the soldiers and their privately owned firearms. For example see what the base commander did at Fort Riley:

They require the registration, with Fort Riley administration, of its soldiers’ privately-owned firearms kept off-base, and those of the soldiers’ family members residing anywhere in Kansas. This violates the rights of the family members big time. The family members are having their rights violated in that they are not in the military and thus not under the constitution. It gets worse:

The Fort riley base administration prohibits their soldiers who have firearm-carrying permits from carrying firearms for protection off-base. Absurd. They are also allowed to to set arbitrary limits on the caliber of firearms and ammunition their troops may privately own. So if a soldier transfers from one base to another he may have to sell his guns and ammo.

Analysis of this Action – The government is scared to death of an overthrow of their administration. They are guilty of many violations of the constitution and in fact their administration is repugnant to the constitution and everyone knows what the laws say to do with a government repugnant to the constitution. They know that and the informed citizens know that. The military is also acutely aware of the gross violations of law being advocated and enforced by the administration. Obama is now giving speeches minus the American flag. He would not go to Arlington for memorial day being the first president to not go there. Well he is also the first non qualified Kenyan Muslim President too.

The controlling of private firearms reassures the government that the soldiers will have a harder time uprising. The military weapons are under serious lockdown on the bases. If the soldiers have personal weapons they can over run the base and get the military weapons. Of course the flaw with this thinking is that those guarding the base can become involved in the overthrow as well. The government is of course not thinking straight these days. They have fears of standing trial for treason sedition, theft of government property and resources, fraud, falsification of documents, violating numerous laws and who knows what else will turn up when the secret files and bank accounts get opened up. Those mutual legal assistance treaties will bite them in the butt when used against them to get their money from foreign banks.

This of course makes one wonder why Saudi Arabia a member of the G-10 did not sign any tax treaties. Kuwait also did not sign any treaties. Is this where they plan on keeping their wealth when the egg hits the fan and they have to hit the helicopter to the submarine or jet? Images of Sadamm Hussein being hung with reporters present goes through their minds. They know they are guilty and are trying to hang on. They cannot just let go because that means imminent doom for them in a trail of their peers. As more and more people become educated to the evils and violations of law their situation becomes more and more precarious. By now the paranoia has sunk in big time and they will behave more and more irrationally.

The stunt with Calderon appearing before both houses illustrates the lack of logic they are operating under. Using a leader from another nation to call for USA gun control, come on what idiots. A good question is how many of their employees who are not Muslim or communist are actually loyal to the administration. Sure they are being bought off with large salaries disproportionately large considering the state of the economy but this is just a real cheap superficial form of loyalty that anyone who ever lived in the third world will recognize clearly.

The Nazis gave extreme exemptions from law and accountability to their people yet many tried numerous times to kill Hitler. They did come close too. Hitler and the Nazis even had their own army (SS) to protect them from the soldiers and people. Then they had a secret police the Gestapo as well. In spite of this he came close to getting killed a few times. So far Obama has not raised his own army to protect him from the regular army and the people. He does have the secret police thing down as good as Hitler right down to the secret prisons, torture and no courts involved.

Of course the Obama youth corps is the groundwork for a special army. They use these camps as a recruiting forum for those easily brainwashed and corrupted into being tyrannical. This Obama will fail. He takes the shortcuts, is lazy, likes to lie about who and what he is and cannot keep his story straight. People are getting madder and madder daily. Do not expect him to back off he does not wan to stand trail for his frauds and treason. Obama has painted himself into a corner being the jerk he is and has no way out except to place the country under dictatorial powers thus ensuring his freedom from prosecution.

I wonder how much of these slaps in the face the government workers and military are going to put up with. How can you have a two bit lying street punk muslim like that as your boss and look yourself in the mirror every day?

Idaho National Laboratory’s Microsight: A new kind of sight for a new era

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:51:10 +0000

Idaho National Laboratory’s Microsight: A new kind of sight for a new era

Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog » Guns and Ammo News

Just another reason why the second amendment counts

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