Rather than rehash the current Open Carry kerfuffle, I’m going to post this video by Dr. Phil Plait. He’s talking about skeptical activism, but there’s some damn good pointers for those of us who want to win people over to Open Carry.
Category: RKBA
Friday Quote – Susan B. Anthony
I declare to you that woman must not be dependent upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.
Susan B. Anthony, women’s civil rights leader
Guns make women able to live without having to belong to a man to protect her. Technology makes women able to earn equitable livings.
If women wish to be free of male domination, then they should be embracing these things instead of eschewing them.
DOJ Using Banks to Shutter Legal Businesses
There is now some evidence that the DOJ is putting pressure on banks to stop doing business with what it considers questionable businesses. Small problem. These are legal businesses.
Under “Operation Choke Point,” the DOJ and its allies are going after legal but subjectively undesirable business ventures by pressuing banks to terminate their bank accounts or refuse their business. The very premise is clearly chilling—the DOJ is coercing private businesses in an attempt to centrally engineer the American marketplace based on it’s own politically biased moral judgements. Targeted business categories so far have included payday lenders, ammunition sales, dating services, purveyors of drug paraphernalia, and online gambling sites.
“Operation Chokepoint is flooding payments companies that provide processing service to those industries with subpoenas, civil investigative demands, and other burdensome and costly legal demands,” wrote Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association, at The Hill.
I have no love for payday lenders. I think they have absolutely usurious rates of interest for their customers. That said, they are a legal business. Same goes with drug paraphernalia. Legal business that somone(s) decided to use the force of the government to destroy.
Yeah, but they’re just doing it to bad businesses like porn actors, bong sellers, and payday lenders. Really? Did you see the reference to ammunition sales? Do you really think that Operation Choke Point wouldn’t be used against firearms businesses? Businesses run by “hate groups” like Hobby Lobby or Chik-Fil-A?
Is Clive Bundy Where We Want to Hang Our Hat?
I can understand the desire to push back against the encroaching imperial federal government and its hordes of heavily armed response teams. Especially with the increasing visibility of police acting badly with little or no accountability.
Still, is the Bundy fight really where we want to make our stand? Is this the ground that we are willing to possibly spill and shed blood?
When I started carrying, I noticed that I was far more cautious about what I involved myself in. Somethings just weren’t worth the possibility that something could escalate beyond my control and result in me drawing my pistol. I had to decide what are the real stakes and what was truly valuable to me, both in real and philosophical terms.
So, now I’m watching some of the interwebz congratulating themselves on staring down The Man. Thankfully, some of the bigger blogs are pointing out that Bundy didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.
Am I glad that someone in the federal chain of command realized that it might not look good to have a firefight with a civilian militia? Absolutely.
Do I think there will come a time when the armed citizenry will have to step up to prevent further abuses by the .gov and its legion of thugs? Unless some radical change occurs yes.
Do I think the Bundy spat was that time and place? No.
Where to Get News You Can Use
I tend to get most of my RKBA news from blogs and podcasts. They tend to find the stories that most of the big news outfits don’t/won’t print.
Kenn Blanchard has put up a list of blogs that he’s found useful over the years. The only reason I don’t read all of these is purely time.
I’m going to poke a little bit of fun that he didn’t include this blog, but I have to face reality about how my currently minuscule readership stacks up to the ones on the list.
Heroism Demonstrated
Boy runs out into street and gets hit by car. Driver gets out of car to check on boy. Enraged crowd beats man unconscious. Nurse steps over man and protects him with her body and her gun.
Deborah Hughes is a true hero. She has my most sincere respect for her actions. To paraphrase: One riot, one good person with a gun.
Friday Quote – Gregg Gutfield
A Smith & Wesson does more for empowering women than feminism ever could.
Gregg Gutfield, host of Fox’s “Red Eye”
Firearms are called “equalizers” for a reason. A woman armed with a gun does not have to belong to a man simply for protection against other men.
I swear Red Eye is the only program worth watching on Fox News.
Florida Carry Sues St. Pete College
St. Petersburg College decided that it didn’t need to change it’s guns-in-cars policy, even in light of the UNF decision. So, Florida Carry has decided to enlighten them by legal means. From the press release:
On Friday, February 28th, 2014 Florida Carry received a member complaint that St. Petersburg College was still refusing to allow students and employees to lawfully store firearms in their personal vehicles while parked on campus despite a widely reported December 2013 ruling of the Florida 1st District Court of Appeal. Our Campus Policy Director contacted the college and was also told that firearms could not be stored in student’s cars on campus. Such illegal policies adversely affect the rights of many of our members, and others, who attend the St. Petersburg College and live in the local community.
In December the 1st District Court of Appeal sided with Florida Carry in our lawsuit against the University of North Florida. The court ruled that college policies prohibiting the otherwise lawful possession of firearms, and other arms, on campus are preempted by both statute and by the Florida Constitution. In Florida Carry v. UNF the First District Court of Appeal ruled that “The legislature’s primacy in firearms regulation derives directly from the Florida Constitution… Indeed, the legislature has reserved for itself the whole field of firearms regulation in section 790.33(1)…” No public college or university has any authority to prevent students and the public from having a functional firearm in places that are constitutionally protected or permitted under state law. In short, colleges with such policies are breaking the law and violating the rights of students, employees, and campus visitors.
On December 23, 2013 Florida Carry issued a warning to public colleges and universities statewide.
“Any Florida public college or university that fails to notify all students and the public that prohibitive policies regarding the storage of firearms, or other defensive arms, in the personal vehicles of its students and visitors are void and unenforceable by the first day of Spring semester classes will be subject to being sued by Florida Carry for violations of 790.33 Florida Statutes and/or Article I, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution.”On Monday March 3rd, 2014 Florida Carry, Inc. filed a lawsuit against St. Petersburg College, it’s board of trustees, president, and the campus security official enforcing the college’s illegal firearm and non-lethal electronic defensive weapons policies. This is the fourth Florida College or University that Florida Carry has been forced to file a case against for refusing to follow state law. Florida Carry will not sit idly by and watch the civil rights of Floridians be violated.
Friday Quote – Gerald Vernon
Black people have been programmed to think self-defense, our defense, is someone else’s responsibility – that good, honest, decent black people have nothing to do with guns, because guns are for white folks, police, and black criminals. I find it to be an absurd notion. The vast majority of gun laws in America have been aimed at disarming black people.
Gerald Vernon, Chicago native and veteran firearms instructor
This quote made the rounds on the Book of Face. I think it’s powerful enough to be restated.
It’s not about guns, it’s about control.
Friday Quote – Kenn Blanchard
The name Black Man With a Gun was not without some drama. It would work in the porn industry too.
Rev. Kenn Blanchard, in his book Black Man With a Gun Reloaded.
Brother Kenn is trying to crowdfund a book tour for Black Man With a Gun, Reloaded. If you have something you can throw in the bucket, please consider helping Kenn.