Not yet a VCDL member? Join VCDL at: http://www.vcdl.org/join
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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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1. Panera pulls a Target and has a “no-ban” ban on guns
2. VCDL President to address The Well Armed Woman group in Richmond on Sept. 16
3. 3-stage pistol shoot to benefit VCDL on Sept. 20 in Waverly
4. Open Carry Day in New Castle on Sept. 20 has new name
5. Thoughts on mental illness and gun rights
6. Culpeper wrap up
7. Bloomberg to step away from gun control for a while?
8. MDA mocked by its own hometown paper
9. FBI raids home of “dangerous” doomsday prepper
10. TSA catches top conservative blogger with gun in carry-on
11. Poll: Americans believe owning a gun is an act of patriotism
12. Gun nuts are terrorizing America
13. [CO] Family-run restaurant is the opposite of a gun free zone
14. [FRANCE] Police: Mom kills kindergarten teacher in class
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1. Panera pulls a Target and has a “no-ban” ban on guns
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Panera has joined the small group of companies who are asking gun owners to leave their guns at home, but are not requiring it. I refer to such arrangements as “no ban” bans, as they have no practical effect at all for gun owners.
It was a totally stupid thing for Panera to do, and as usual, a lot of the media makes it sound like it is an actual ban.
Panera is getting hammered in a CNBC poll (below) for their involvement in gun control, as they should be.
The quandary is how to handle this kind of situation.
Do you boycott the business for being stupid and giving gun control a platform? If you do so, you do deny the business your money (good), but you are also giving the MDA what they want (bad).
Do you continue to patronize the business and carry as usual? That gives the business money (bad), but it pisses off MDA and makes a mockery of their efforts (good). I’m in this camp, personally, especially for the latter reason.
From cnbc.com: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101979812 [Includes a POLL toward bottom of page]
From timesdispatch.com: http://tinyurl.com/khg3rvo
From wtvr.com: http://wtvr.com/2014/09/08/panera-bread-gun/
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2. VCDL President to address The Well Armed Woman group in Richmond on Sept. 16
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I am going to be speaking at the Richmond chapter of The Well Armed Woman (TWAW) group on Tuesday, September 16. TWAW educates, equips, and empowers women to make rational decisions on firearms.
The meeting runs from 6 to 7 pm and is being held at:
Colonial Shooting Academy
6020 W Broad St
Richmond, VA 23230
IMPORTANT: the meeting is open to LADIES ONLY, 21-years-old or older. Sorry, guys. I’m the only man given a temporary dispensation on that particular night. I’ll be surrounded by ladies with guns. Oh, the sacrifices I make for VCDL!
Ladies: to RSVP, send a message to Virginia Stirnweis at: twawrichmond@gmail.com
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3. 3-stage pistol shoot to benefit VCDL on Sept. 20 in Waverly
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A 3-stage pistol shoot to benefit VCDL is being held on Saturday, September 20, in the Waverly area.
There is also 3-stage carbine shoot in the afternoon and a pulled-pork lunch provided.
Gates open at 8:30 AM and shooting begins at 9:30 AM. The fee covering the all day event, including food, is $60.
Details on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/n6ha7kn
For more information or to register, contact member Will Radford at will@rtbvtraining.com
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4. Open Carry Day in New Castle on Sept. 20 has new name
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Last year was the first Open Carry day in New Castle. This year they have expanded the concept and are calling it “Constitution Day.”
The event is being held on Saturday, September 20, in downtown New Castle.
VCDL will have a booth at the event. Here are the shifts:
Saturday, September 20: 9:00am - 1:00pm; 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Please contact Al Steed Jr. gunshows.swva@vcdl.org to help in New Castle.
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5. Thoughts on mental illness and gun rights
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In the 9/7/14 VCDL Update, the 12th item, "CNN: the real gun problem is mental health, not the NRA,” brought out some important comments from members.
One of the things mentioned in the article was a proposed law in California where any family member or police officer can have someone committed. That is such a bad idea, that words fail me.
Here is what one member, who has been an expert witness at hundreds of commitment hearings, wrote me:
Robbins states, "We need to adopt a nationwide standard for involuntary civil commitment, and that standard should be "need for treatment." If a family member, law enforcement officer or mental health professional is concerned about the well-being of an individual, they should be able to have that individual held for a mental health evaluation."
Comment: "need for treatment" as a standard for involuntary civil commitment, based on the opinion of a family member (what are their qualifications for expressing an opinion?) , or a law enforcement officer (their qualifications?), or mental health professional (based on what sort of information?) is totally, and utterly, absurd.
I was trained in psychiatry at Charity Hospital, and other facilities, in New Orleans. I then spent 20 years treating the most dangerous and violent and treatment-refractory cases in state hospitals in Louisiana and Virginia, including extensive forensic experience. I then spent 5 years working in an outpatient clinic in the VA system of care treating primarily Vietnam Veterans with PTSD/depression/bipolar disorder. I saw many cases involving dire need for treatment that were entirely appropriate for outpatient treatment. I also saw many cases where the opinions of family members or police officers were ill advised. I also saw many cases where the opinion of a mental health professional was influenced by so many factors that were entirely unrelated to the clinical condition of a patient that the opinions were of questionable applicability.
What Robbins advocates is utterly unacceptable from a mental health point of view, is completely abusive and oppressive towards individuals with treatable psychiatric symptoms, is entirely hostile towards military personnel and military veterans.
Robbins completely misses the following needs for public safety policy:
1) Living in a nation with liberty and freedoms demands that responsibility for each individual's behaviors resides in each individual, regardless of their station in life, circumstances, mental status, or neurobiological condition.
2) The price of liberty includes freedom for individuals to make decisions and to choose actions, and that means allowing each individual sufficient social and cultural "wiggle room" that inevitably there will be some violent and aggressive behavior by some individuals, and it cannot be prevented because it is inevitable.
3) The mere presence of a sleep disturbance, anxiety or mood states, hallucinations, minority opinions about the meaning of life or reality, use of substances that some people might abuse, and personal history of violence (including military activities and domestic conflicts), must not be accepted as sufficient legal grounds for depriving individuals of their civil liberties. One such abrogation of civil liberty is involuntary civil commitment for psychiatric evaluation and treatment, and a higher bar for involuntary commitment than "need for treatment" has been recognized as appropriate for the last half century.
4) In most forensic cases that come before the courts in the USA, individuals with mental illnesses and substance abuse issues are determined to be responsible for the actions, aware of the nature and quality of those actions, and aware that society regards them as criminal behaviors that naturally result in unpleasant consequences. Since that fact is common knowledge to attorneys and psychiatric experts, why would the mere presence of a psychiatric diagnosis or using a substance that some people abuse be proposed as a reason for depriving an individual of their constitutional rights?
5) Living in a condition of social and civil liberties requires a higher level of individual responsibility, and adaptive coping, the price one has to pay to be free from life in a police state. That includes being responsible for holding oneself to appropriate behavioral norms as well as being responsible for one's own self-defense and self-support.
6) The only information we can allow ourselves to take into account, when issues of involuntary confinement arise, is "what has each individual already done"? What have they already shown us? Is there a pattern of behaviors we should be concerned about, and , if so, why?
7) If some demographic groups demonstrate socially unacceptable behaviors disproportionately, then that is a fact that should be acknowledged as fact, and individuals in such demographic groups should be encouraged to step up and straighten out as a matter of responsible behavior.
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6. Culpeper wrap up
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The Culpeper Board of Supervisors decided to table their proposed sound ordinance indefinitely, although it could always be brought back up in the future.
The room was packed, with many hanging out the doors in the hall and outside. Almost everyone who spoke, spoke AGAINST the ordinance. (I was the fourth or fifth person to speak.)
***Several Board members mentioned all the emails and calls they got from gun owners.***
There was no effort at all to remove the exemption for hunting and shooting and I’m convinced that all your calls and emails cinched that deal.
The only thing I wish hadn’t been lost when the proposed ordinance was tabled was the exemption for shooting (hunting is already exempted). But, the proposed ordinance was badly flawed, so this was the best outcome considering the situation.
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7. Bloomberg to step away from gun control for a while?
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Looks like Bloomberg is going to step away from gun control for a while and do something useful. He doesn’t like losing and that is all he has accomplished with all the money he has thrown at the effort.
Mr. Bloomberg, our gun rights are not for sale at any price.
From breitbart.com: http://tinyurl.com/kkuoqqo
Michael Bloomberg Returns to Private Business as Gun Control Push Is Failing
by AWR Hawkins 4 Sep 2014
With gun control failing nationally, The New York Times reports that Michael Bloomberg is heading back to private business at Bloomberg L.P.
This comes after he dumped $150,000 into the August 12th Milwaukee County Sheriff's race in an attempt to beat Sheriff David Clarke's "conservative pro-gun policies." Clarke won. Bloomberg lost.
It also comes after his gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety aired a video meant to justify firearm confiscation for women's safety, but which inadvertently made the case for women to own guns to protect themselves. Breitbart News reported that after a female panel reviewed the commercial on ABC's The View, three of the four panelists came away telling women to get a gun to protect themselves and their children.
Bloomberg's return to private business also comes after the most visible gun control group he supports, Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, only managed to convince five businesses--Chipotle, Jack in the Box, Chili's, Sonic, and Target--to ask law-abiding citizens to come to their stores unarmed. Moms Demand was able to get a sixth business--Starbucks--to ask customers who openly carry firearms not to be so flamboyant about it.
On the other side of the coin, Breitbart News recently reported that 57,000 businesses were fighting this push by putting a "guns welcome" sign on their front doors.
And all this comes after Bloomberg pledged $50 million to defeat the NRA in November 2014. But if red state Democrats are any indicator, the NRA is a much safer bet than the $50 million.
In the end, Bloomberg may still win a few scattered races or a state initiative here or there, but right now, his gun control legacy is characterized by defeat--like the kind of defeat he was handed in Colorado in 2013 when he spent hundreds of thousands to help state Senators John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) survive recall, only to see them both lose.
Interestingly, the day before Giron was defeated, she warned that Bloomberg's gun control push through groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns was over even if only one of the two senators lost, stating, "If they lose even one of these seats, they might as well fold it up. And they understand that."
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8. MDA mocked by its own hometown paper
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Turns out I was not the only one who thought that Moms Demand Action spending 6 digits on keeping you and me out of Krogers was a stupid idea.
Thanks to Brandy Polanowski for the link.
From breitbart.com: http://tinyurl.com/n5brhad
Moms Demand Action's Hometown Paper Mocks Its Kroger Gun Ban Campaign
by AWR Hawkins 6 Sep 2014
On September 4, The Indianapolis Star ran a column mocking Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America's current Kroger gun ban campaign.
Breitbart News reported that Moms Demand launched the Kroger campaign on August 18 and renewed efforts on September 4, after Kroger refused to change its policy on firearms.
In the Star column, opinion editor Tim Swarens asked rhetorically, "Of all the issues that Moms Demand could target, is banning firearms in the produce section really a public safety priority?"
He also seized on statistics provided by Moms Demand representative Michele Mueller, who wrote an op-ed for the Cincinnati Enquirer in which she claimed that "at least 16 shootings and demonstrations by gun extremists" have taken place at Kroger locations. Swarens noted that Mueller made this claim without providing any documenting support; she simply threw it out for readers to accept as Gospel.
To be fair, Swarens made clear that he is not a fan of citizens openly carrying AR-15s and similar rifles in public. Yet he admitted that those who do so, while viewed as "extreme," are "almost all ... law-abiding citizens." He asserted, therefore, that "barring these people from Kroger wouldn't make you or me any safer while buying a loaf of bread."
"The lack of real-world impact," Swarens stated, "doesn't really matter to the Moms Demand crowd," however, because their Kroger campaign "is about symbolism, not practical results.” [PVC: ABSOLUTELY!]
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9. FBI raids home of “dangerous" doomsday prepper [VIDEO]
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In this case it appears that it was the government that was paranoid and went off the deep end.
Member Walter Jackson emailed me this:
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From thedailysheeple.com: http://tinyurl.com/m5sbz4q
FBI Raids Home of Dangerous Doomsday Prepper: Agents Find Legally Owned Firearms, Barrels of Food
BY Mac Slavo
June 23rd, 2014
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies blasted alerts all over the country earlier this week advising Americans to be on the lookout for ‘Doomsday Prepper’ Martin Winters, who police say was stockpiling over fifty “high powered” rifles, deadly booby traps and food in preparation for an “end times” event. Neighbors interviewed by mainstream news were terrified about the allegations, leaving some with the impression that Winters was “crazy” because he allegedly claimed that he would kill federal agents if necessary.
While SWAT officials indicated the likelihood that they would have to engage Winters in a firefight was high, friends and family suggested otherwise, saying that Winters may have had views different from most people but insisting that he is a “good guy” who wouldn’t hurt others unless it was necessary to do so in self defense.
Police went so far as to suggest that Winters had essentially gone off the reservation and that he didn’t care whether he lived or died, and that he was “plotting” a confrontation with the federal government.
But the claims and allegations may have been blown way out of proportion. After police obtained a warrant to search Winters’ home based on information obtained from a confidential informant they were probably surprised that not only did Winters have no explosive booby troops set up all over his property as had been claimed, he was also far short of having possession of the fifty high-powered rifles that police said he had been stockpiling.
Federal agents this week searched the Florida home of a ‘doomsday prepper’ they alleged had stockpiled over 50 high-powered assault rifles and several explosive devices buried around his property as ‘booby traps’.
However the warrant showed up little more than barrels of food.
…
But in federal court on Wednesday, Winters’ defense attorney, Ellis Faught, said the confidential informant’s estimates were wide of the mark.
The informant had bought four so-called destructive devices from Winters, but they were not buried as booby traps.
Five guns were found locked in a safe, according to 10 News.
…
‘None of this was there,’ Fraught told the court, the station reported.
‘And it’s my understanding that no guns were dug up.
‘It was alleged by the government that there were 50 to 60 guns and I’m only aware of five of them that were found and they were found in his house in a safe.’
While Martin Winters’ political ideology and interests may differ from those of most Americans, the government had tried him in a public court before any evidence had been presented or found. Some of his neighbors were terrified of this “crazy” individual after they had been told of his alleged crimes, and the mainstream media was happy to oblige the narrative that this right-wing survivalist extremist was a danger to himself and society.
The FBI issued the following photo to its media surrogates during the manhunt in an effort to depict Winters as a survivalist who had gone off the deep end:
His daughters, however, say that Winters is not violent at all and that he is a loving father and grandfather.
“I think they took the whole context of him being prepared and twisted it,” says his daughter Tracy.
Senator Rand Paul warned Americans about this growing trend of demonizing innocent Americans in a speech he delivered to Congress three years ago in opposition to the National Defense Authorization Act noting that those who don’t subscribe to the status quo could be branded as extremists and terrorists. Paul’s prediction couldn’t have been more accurate, especially considering the manhunt and circumstances surrounding the ordeal with Martin Winters:
There are laws on the books now that characterize who might be a terrorist.
Someone missing fingers on their hands is a suspect according to the Department of Justice. Someone who has guns, someone who has ammunition that is weatherproofed, someone who has more than seven days of food in their house can be considered a potential terrorist.
If you are suspected by these activities do you want the government to have the ability to send you to Guantanamo Bay for indefinite detention?
I suspect, we’re not talking about someone who has been tried or found guilty. We’re talking about someone suspected of activities.
We have, unfortunately, reached a point in America where talking about ideas that don’t go along with mainstream thought has become suspicious activity and those engaging in it are now identified as extremists or persons of interest. With the surveillance state rapidly expanding its capabilities to monitor conversations and interactions with those around us, it has become more important now than ever before to keep our personal activities as private as possible.
OPSEC, a term preppers use to describe operational security, is a key tenet of staying safe in the event of a major disaster. But in this day and age it is a concept that is just as important to implement while everything is seemingly stable, because sharing too much with the wrong people may make you a target, not just to looters and thieves, but overzealous government agents as well.
Today Martin Winters is a domestic terrorist. Tomorrow it might be you.
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10. TSA catches top conservative blogger with gun in carry-on
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Another reminder to always check your carry-on luggage for guns and ammunition before a flight. Lucky for Joseph that this happened in Virginia and not Maryland.
Member Gil Sanderson emailed me this:
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From therighttobear.com: http://tinyurl.com/ourzryj
TSA Catches Top Conservative Blogger with Gun in Carry-On
June 2014
Joseph Farrah, owner and president of World Net Daily, is facing a Class 1 Misdemeanor charge for carrying a gun in an airport terminal.
Farrah was on his way to Seattle when a TSA agent noticed there was a revolver in his bag.
Farrah, who has licenses for concealed carry in several states, did not intend to bring the gun with him.
In his own words:
There is no excuse for my mistake.
In the interest of sympathy, however, I will add that I was stressed out. I didn’t sleep Saturday night, so I worked. I wrote several columns, some of which were published in the days after my “incident.” I’d sleep on the plane to Seattle where I was giving a speech Monday, I told myself.
Somewhat groggy early Sunday, I actually searched my computer bag for my revolver. I’m licensed to carry in Virginia. I didn’t see it.
When I got to Dulles Airport, I put the bag on the security belt.
The TSA agents saw the gun and signaled me over.
At that moment, I was kicking myself for not thoroughly emptying the bag.
The TSA agents were very nice. They expressed concern about my making the flight. They called the Virginia police as is protocol. They took photos of the firearm and me. They gave me a summons. Then they sent me on my way.
I am licensed to carry a loaded firearm in multiple states and carry a concealed weapon virtually all of the time. I get death threats against me.
Many champions of religious and political rights, including Farrah, are constantly under the threat of attack.
Because of this, they choose to exercise their right to carry concealed weapons legally.
It should be noted that Farrah has never been charged with a crime in his entire adult life. This mistake could have easily been made by anyone who was as sleep-deprived and stressed out as Farrah was.
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11. Poll: Americans believe owning a gun is an act of patriotism
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Member Timothy Wise emailed me this:
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From townhall.com: http://tinyurl.com/kkeu9hs
Poll: Americans Believe Owning a Gun is an Act of Patriotism
Katie Pavlich
July 04, 2014
According to a new Fox News poll, most Americans believe owning a gun is an act of Patriotism.
70 percent of voters consider volunteering on a political campaign to be patriotic, 61 percent say the same about participating in a political protest and 50 percent say owning a gun is an act of patriotism.
Some 79 percent of Tea Party activists consider owning a gun an act of patriotism, as do 69 percent of Republicans. Democrats (35 percent) and independents (40 percent) are much less likely to feel that way. Men (60 percent) say being a gun owner shows patriotism, while over half of women feel it does not (56 percent).
Owning a gun is significantly more likely to be seen as patriotic in rural America (65 percent) than in suburban (46 percent) and urban areas of the country (36 percent).
This woman certainly believes owning a gun is an act of patriotism. Happy Independence Day everyone and God Bless America.
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12. Gun nuts are terrorizing America
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An angry article bemoaning that the Democratic Party is not pushing their position as the Party of Gun Control hard enough.
Member Walter Jackson emailed me this:
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From salon.com: http://tinyurl.com/p7nxd86
Gun nuts are terrorizing America: The watershed moment everyone missed
From Cliven Bundy defeating the cops to "open carry" movement's menace, the left's timidity has spawned a nightmare
by Rick Perlstein
June 23, 2014
Here is a truth so fundamental that it should be self-evident: When legitimately constituted state authority stands down in the face of armed threats, the very foundation of the republic is in danger. And yet that is exactly what happened at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch this spring: An alleged criminal defeated the cops, because the forces of lawlessness came at them with guns — then Bureau of Land Management officials further surrendered by removing the government markings from their vehicles to prevent violence against them.
What should be judged a watershed in American history instead became a story about one man’s racist rants. Even as two more Nevada lunatics, inspired by their stint at Cliven Bundy’s ranch, allegedly ambushed and mowed down two police officers and killed a bystander after crying, “This is the start of a revolution.” And now, an antigovernment conspiracy theorist named Douglas Cole recently shot at two police officers in Nevada County, California (though you may not have heard about that, because the New York Times hasn’t found the news yet fit to print).
Such actions are the logical conclusion of a movement that has been veritably sweeping the nation for years now. Early Tea Partiers began attending rallies with guns on their hips. “Open carry” advocates make a fetish of just this sort of brandishing of guns in public places, especially where they are most unwanted. The slogan “molon labe” — “come and take them,” the defiant cry allegedly uttered by King Leonidas I when the Persian army ordered the Greeks to surrender their weapons at Thermopylae — is everywhere on the right: molon labe T-shirts, molon labe cloth napkins for your next dinner party, sexy molon labe thongs, molon labe release-catches for your AR-15, available on Etsy.com from “MolonLabeLLC.”
The message implicit in such products was but rendered explicit by the “patriots” Jerad and Amanda Miller, speaking to reporters from Bundy’s spread back in April: “I feel sorry for any federal agents that want to come in here and push us around or something like that. I really don’t want violence toward them, but if they’re going to come bring violence to us, well if that’s the language they want to speak, we’ll learn it.”
It was the logic of some ultra-leftists from the 1960s: the intentional forcing of violent “contradictions” between citizens and the state, the better to spur revolution. It is, at the very least, a handy negotiating position: In Cliven Bundy’s case, it saved him about a million bucks in grazing fees he owes on land owned by taxpayers like you and me. Armed force trumped law. Armed force trumped politics. Which is, of course, for a citizen of a republic, the opposite of patriotism: The more people who believe that — and more and more are believing it every day — the more irrelevant the Constitution these people claim to revere becomes.
Now, as a historian, it has been my project to demonstrate that there is nothing particularly new about the fetishization of anti-constitutional insurgency as Constitution-worship on the right. I’ve written about the Minutemen, the early-’60s crowd of gun nuts who stockpiled weapons for the final showdown against the state they were sure was imminent once the Communists finally took it over, and slapped stickers on the mailboxes of perceived enemies reading, “Traitors, beware! Even now the crosshairs are on the back of your necks.” In 1966 authorities arrested their leaders and confiscated their stockpiles of tons of ammunition, bombs and even rockets. The right’s vision of sidearms as any patriot’s must-have accessory got a boost from the riots and increasing crime rates of the late 1960s. Inside the National Rifle Association, once mostly an anodyne gun-safety organization aimed at sportsmen, a faction emerged to take aim at any and all attempts at gun regulation, many of which they once supported. Laws, for example, aimed at banning the sale of guns by mail — the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine said that followed the “Communist line.” From there it was but a short distance to the conviction that gun-toting was a patriotic imperative — the better to beat back “those,” as Ronald Reagan wrote in Guns & Ammo magazine in 1975, “who see confiscation of weapons as one way of keeping the people under control.”
So what’s different now? Why is this language so prevalent, and why do so many on the far right seem so eager to act upon it? They haven’t changed. We have.
By “us,” I mean Democrats — though the kind of Democrats, to be fair, who decide party policy from Washington. Once upon a time, Democratic presidential candidates robustly argued for gun control — that, as the party platform put it in 1980 (the year the NRA made its first ever presidential endorsement, of Ronald Reagan), “handguns simplify and intensify violent crime”; Democrats support “enactment of federal legislation to strengthen the presently inadequate regulations over the manufacture, assembly, distribution, and possession of handguns.” Note no mention of machine guns, because back then the notion that there should be no barrier to their ownership would have seemed self-evidently ridiculous to most reasonable observers. It’s fascinating to read the series of “Doonesbury” strips from 1979 in which Garry Trudeau’s resident madman Uncle Duke, who covered his living room couch in land mines and owned a Soviet-made Makarov mortar for deer-hunting purposes, goes to work lobbying for the NRA. In response to Duke’s clichéd claim that “once you have gun control, the only people left with guns are criminals,” a congressman points out that even that would reduce the carnage, because “as you well know, almost 70% of all murders are committed among family members and over half of them involve handguns!”
Responds Duke: “Exactly! So look at it from the point of view of the victim! What if your wife were attacking you with a handgun?”
“I don’t follow, Mr. Duke.”
Duke’s answer reduces his interlocutor to confused splutters: “Well, wouldn’t you want to be in a position to return the fire?”
In 1979, this sounded so absurd as to be self-evidently satirical. Now, it just sounds like an ordinary day on C-SPAN — with congressmen, not NRA lobbyists, being the ones making the once-absurd “argument.”
In the interim, the mainstream of the Democratic Party simply gave most of the gun control argument away. Al Gore ran on a platform in 2000 that devoted about 250 words to gun control, including a pledge to push for mandatory child safety locks and a full background check and gun safety test before anyone could buy a handgun in America. Then, after Gore lost his home state, Tennessee, and other “border” Southern states, the geniuses running the Democratic Party decided to abandon gun control as an issue in order to court Southern white men (how’s that working out?). The gun-control portion of the platform in 2004 was slimmed down to 46 words. 2012’s version gave away the store: It affirmed, “We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms,” and asked only for “an honest, open national conversation about firearms” (yeah, the NRA is really interested in that), “effective enforcement of existing laws, especially strengthening our background check system,” and reinstating the assault weapon ban and closing the gun show loophole. [PVC: The only people to give up anything in such “conversations" are gun owners. Funny how that works.]
In other words, there is virtually no countervailing power to the now-hegemonic acceptance that there’s nothing much to do about the proliferation of guns in America. Democrats, as usual, gave an inch. The right, as usual, took a mile. [PVC: I wouldn’t underestimate the Democrats taking a mile when offered an inch, Mr. Perlstein.] And now we face the consequences. [PVC: Which is what? People still having the right to keep and bear arms? Oh, the horror!]
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13. [CO] Family-run restaurant is the opposite of a gun free zone
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The link has some photos that go with the article.
From theblaze.com: http://tinyurl.com/o3sg5nf
This Family-Run Restaurant Is the Opposite of a Gun-Free Zone – Wait Until You Read the Sign That’s Posted
by Mike Opelka
June 30, 2014
Would you complain about your meal if the waitress serving the food was packing heat?
That’s exactly what you’ll find at Shooters Grill, the aptly named restaurant located in the town of Rifle, Colorado.
The family-run, American-style diner features wait staff who exercise their open-carry rights and invites customers to do the same.
Owner Lauren Boebert told TheBlaze that she didn’t necessarily set out to open a Second Amendment haven in Rifle. She’s just ”always carried,” so three days after they opened, she started carrying on the job. Within days, other staff asked if they could do the same.
Boebert said, “Of course.”
Not long after, customers took notice. She said she arrived one day and found a homemade sign taped to the restaurant’s window that said, “guns are welcome on premises.” Boebert ultimately replaced the homemade sign with a printed one.
She still doesn’t know who taped the original sign to her window, but “he did me a favor.”
Now in its second year, the 55-seat restaurant employs 16 people and is looking to hire, posting about job openings on Facebook.
Boebert told the Post Independent that her friends initially cautioned against the name “Shooters” because it “sounded like a bar or strip joint.” Shooters Grill is neither: The restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol, and the walls also sport reminders of the Boeberts’ Christian faith.
“We called it Shooters and started throwing guns and Jesus all over the place,” she said.
Boebert said the decision to open the restaurant was a “leap of faith,” a backup plan in case her husband Jayson’s work in the oilfields hit a rough patch.
The couple spotted an empty space in the town where she had lived for 14 years and signed a lease within a few days. They got to work, opening in May 2013.
“I give all the glory to God, ” she said.
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14. [FRANCE] Police: Mom kills kindergarten teacher in class
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Why would a teacher in a French kindergarten class need to be armed?
Member Billy Huckleberry emailed me this:
From foxnews.com: http://tinyurl.com/ncs34hr
Police: Mom kills kindergarten teacher in class
by the Associated Press
July 04, 2014
PARIS – The mother of a pupil at a French pre-school stabbed a teacher to death in front of her class Friday, the last day of the school year, authorities said.
The education minister said the mother apparently had "serious psychiatric problems," and pledged support for teachers in the face of angry or violent parents. Police said the mother was taken into custody.
Deadly attacks in a school are extremely rare in France, and the stabbing in front of a class of 5- and 6-year-olds raised concern at the highest levels. French President Francois Hollande expressed outrage at the attack at the Edouard Herriot school in Albi in southern France.
Education Minister Benoit Hamon traveled immediately to the school, and told reporters that the mother of a pupil "committed this abominable act in a class against a remarkable teacher." A police official said the mother stabbed the teacher with a knife soon after school started Friday morning.
Hamon said the attacker's child had been in the school only for a month and a half, and the mother had had very little contact with the school staff until Friday. It was unclear whether her 5-year-old daughter was in class at the time of the attack.
Police and city officials would not comment on possible reasons for the attack on Fabienne Terral-Calmos, 34. The slain teacher had two small daughters, Hamon said.
The regional prosecutor was expected to speak publicly about the case Friday evening.
After Friday's attack, "the children were immediately taken in by another teacher who brought them to another classroom to talk to them, to tell them stories, to try to break them away from what they had just lived through," Hamon said.
Marie-Odile Gay, a member of the regional health and safety committee for the Education Ministry, said the mother thought the teacher had called her daughter a thief, and that misperception might have played a role in the attack.
Gay said that the mother, 47, had received psychiatric counseling in the past, and had been accused by police earlier this year of abandoning her 15-year-old son.
Gay said the 5-year-old daughter had not had any difficulties in school, and was transferred Friday to the care of social services.
"This is something that will stay with her forever," Gay said. "It's very important to ensure that she is cared for."
Some teachers complained that staff cuts have left teachers more vulnerable, and urged better attention to the tensions they face with some parents.
But fellow teacher Robert Couffignal of the regional teachers union insisted that the attack was an "isolated case" that had nothing to do with this particular school, and warned against going overboard with security measures as a result.
"Metal detectors at schools are not the answer," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "We want to have close contact with the parents that creates a link of trust."
He said the larger problem for schools in his region and around France is tension over economic decline and lack of job prospects for young people, especially those from poor or immigrant backgrounds.
The education minister lamented the especially painful timing of the attack.
"This July 4, the moment when we should be happy for all children that school is over, that vacations are beginning, that teachers successfully completed the school year, has been turned into a day of mourning ... by this abominable crime," Hamon said.
France still feels scars from a shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse in southern France in 2012 that left three children and a rabbi dead.
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