Shall Not Be Questioned – Page 883 – The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …

No Golden Age

David Boaz makes this excellent point at Reason:

Has there everÂ been a golden age of liberty? No, and there never will be.Â There will always be people who want to live their lives in peace, and there will always be people who want to exploit them or impose their own ideas on others.Â If we look at the long termâ€”from a past that includes despotism, feudalism, absolutism, fascism, and communismâ€”weâ€™re clearly better off.Â When we look at our own country’s historyâ€”contrasting 2010 with 1776 or 1910 or 1950 or whateverâ€”the story is less clear.Â We suffer under a lot of regulations and restrictions that our ancestors didnâ€™t face.

But in 1776 black Americans were held in chattel slavery, and married women had no legal existence except as agents of their husbands. In 1910 and even 1950, blacks still suffered under the legal bonds of Jim Crowâ€”and we all faced confiscatory tax rates throughout the postwar period.

I am particularly struck by libertarians and conservatives who celebrate the freedom of early America, and deplore our decline from those halcyon days, without bothering to mention the existence of slavery.

I guess Bob McDonnel needs to read this too. A state of liberty, natural law theory to the contrary, is not man’s natural state. It’s only through great effort and never ending struggle that we keep ourselves in this artificial state. This country’s history is about that very struggle, and as Mr. Boaz correctly observes, at various times in our nation’s history, liberty has had the upper hand. But which society would you rather live in?

[W]ould you rather live in a country with a department of labor and even an income taxÂ or aÂ Dred Scott decision and a Fugitive Slave Act?

I said that white Americans probably considered themselves free. But in retrospect, were they? They did not actuallyÂ live in a free society. They were restricted in the relations they could have with millions of theirâ€”I started to say “their fellow citizens,” but of course slaves weren’t citizensâ€”their neighbors.Â They lived under a despotic power.Â Liberalism seeks not justÂ to liberate this or that person, but to create a rule of law exemplifying equal freedom. By that standard, even the plantation owners did not live in a free society, nor even did people in the “free” states.

Go read the whole thing.

Surge in Shooting in the UK

Today we had some good news with Canada. It looks like we also have some good news in the UK too:

There has been a surge in new shotgun and firearm certificates issued by the police, according to an analysis of latest figures from the Home Office by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). The figures, which relate to 2008/2009, show the highest year-on-year rises in certificates on issue for both shotguns and firearms since records began in 1968.

That’s where it has to start. You have to make a political constituency for taking back your rights. That’s hard when you’ve fallen as far as the UK has, but it’s not impossible.

Very, Very Blue Districts can Still be Pro-Gun

You know, there’s one nice thing about living in Pennsylvania. We have seats that have been Democratic for not only my lifetime, but the entire life of my mother as well. Yet, amazingly, pro-gun candidates can still win. It’s so nice when gun rights really can be bipartisan.

So with that, I started a fundraising page on the bluest of the blue sites for solidly pro-gun Democrats – using their tools to advance our cause. For now, I’ve posted one candidate because he has the earliest and most competitive race coming up of those who are currently on the service.

I can’t tell you how much I’m in love with ActBlue’s capabilities for fundraising & promoting candidates. The right has nothing remotely close to this since SlateCard never went anywhere, and more importantly, can’t fundraise for state candidates.

Anyway, I thought of the issue again because a new report shows that in 2007-2008, state legislative candidates had to raise more than $1 billion for the first time. I’m only going to feature state pro-gun Democrats who need help on the site, so you don’t have to worry about other issues like ObamaCare and bailouts. It’s not even a factor in these races. I’m also going to focus on those who need help because they are being challenged by anti-gunners at this point.

So, if you’re really supportive of keeping actual pro-gun lawmakers in office and willing to step over the partisan divide, consider giving a few bucks. The guy up there now is being challenged by another Democrat who wants the government to control how many guns you buy and make your concealed carry license worthless. And if this isn’t a step across the partisan divide for you, then yay! Open your wallet to show your support for the pro-gun guys and send a message to those who are running on a gun ban platform in your party.

If I have volunteer researchers, I’d also be happy to set up a national page that features pro-gun Democratic campaigns from around the country. If that interests you, just email me bitter -at- pagunblog.com.

Gun Control on Defensive in Canada

They are fast approaching the final vote to repeal the long gun registry in Canada. The gun control groups there are doing everything they can to prevent it from happening. To me the greatest argument against the registry is the cost, and the fact that it diverts law enforcement resources from catching actual criminals toÂ bureaucraticÂ administrative functions that have little or nothing to do with catching criminals and preventing crime. Canada’s number look somewhat similar to ours in this respect:

There are nearly 7 million registered long guns in Canada, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics reports. Yet, the public safety department adds, of 2,441 homicides recorded in Canada since mandatory long-gun registration was introduced in 2003, fewer than 2Â percent (47) were committed with rifles and shotguns known to have been registered.

So we’re talking two percent of homicides. Imagine if the billions of dollars the registry cost were instead spent on increasing the number of police on the streets of Canada’s major cities?

FBI Impersonating Conservative Groups

So the FBI has now admitted they are falsely representing themselves as fake leaders of real right-of-center organizations in order to chase leads on potential extremists who threaten violence against lawmakers. This is a pretty disgusting tactic because when the story is resolved and reported, the innocent groups are being smeared through association by law enforcement officials.

As the F.B.I. moved in on a man who allegedly threatened Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, because of her support for health care legislation, law enforcement agents faced a challenge: they needed to confirm that Charles A. Wilson, the man whose phone number was used to leave menacing messages on her office voicemail, was in fact the man who made the threats.

So they found a convenient way to get Mr. Wilson talking about the issue that seemed to be weighing so heavily on him. Special Agent Cory Cote of the F.B.I. called Mr. Wilson at his home number and, according to the criminal complaint, â€œdisguised himself as a representative of Patients United Now, a group that was ostensibly attempting to have the federal health care reform legislation repealed.â€

Mr. Wilson apparently was interested in what the group had to say: the call lasted about 14 minutes, according to the complaint.

Patients United Now is a real organization, part of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a conservative, antitax advocacy group, that has actively opposed the legislation and also runs a project called â€œHands Off My Health Care.â€

According to the report, the suspect had no connection with AFPF prior to the FBI’s actions. AFPF’s leader points out that they have condemned those who make threats, and the organization’s activities have focused on getting grassroots mobilized. They do voter education seminars which are copy cats of the NRA grassroots seminars that educate people on how politics and elections work and how the individual can get involved.

I think there’s a damn good question here: Why is the FBI impersonating leaders of real organizations in their stings? What are they saying to suspects that will ultimately be (falsely) attributed to right-of-center leaders? They could destroy an organization’s reputation with their sting actions when the actual staff and volunteers had nothing to do with criminal activities. There’s no reason the FBI couldn’t make up a new fake organization rather than trying to drag the successful small government groups through the mud.

Crazies Didn’t Used to Get Licenses

This big story in the Washington Post is that a Washington man was charged with threatening to kill Senator Patty Murray over her vote on health care. It has implications for us:

Wilson has a .38-caliber revolver registered to him and has a concealed weapons permit, Woodbury wrote.

You know, it used to be the really hard-core anti-government whack jobs didn’t get concealed carry licenses, because they didn’t want to be on “some government list”, or didn’t want to have to go beg to “the man.” Â I yearn for those good old days.

Where’s My Obama_____?

My mom is a social worker, and has been all of her life. Â I swear, she’s probably one of the only libertarian-leaning social workers you can find. Â She mentioned that as soon as the election results were in, her office started hearing from clients asking, “Where is my Obama money?” Â They believed if they elected Obama, they would get free money from the government immediately – on top of whatever benefits they already receive through various social service programs.

Now it looks like insurance companies and doctors get to answer those fun questions.

Questions reflecting confusion have flooded insurance companies, doctors’ offices, human resources departments and business groups.

“They’re saying, ‘Where do we get the free Obama care, and how do I sign up for that?’ ” said Carrie McLean, a licensed agent for eHealthInsurance.com.

So what will happen when all of those people who showed up to vote for Democrats in 2008 get another knock from ACORN workers (or whatever they are called in your state now, in PA, it’s PCOC) saying that it’s time to go vote again? They didn’t get their free “Obama money” in 2008 or 2009. They don’t have their free “Obama care” in 2010. Hell, they still won’t have free “Obama care” in 2012. What will ACORN promise them this year?

Last year, there were two lines for the two precincts that vote at our polling place. The one representing all of the apartment complexes was hours long & overwhelmingly supporting Obama. Then there were the home owners in the other precinct. Sadly, there was a line of maybe 4 minutes & everyone in it was talking about voting for McCain. I’ll be happy if we can reverse the line trend this year and make sure everyone in ours is talking about defeating the Democratic leadership’s agenda.

Afraid of the People

Clayton Cramer is co-author on a law review article in George Mason Law Review. The title is â€œThis Right Is Not Allowed By Governments That Are Afraid Of The Peopleâ€: The Public Meaning of the Second Amendment When the Fourteenth Amendment Was Ratified. Go have a read.

Cleaning and Lubrication Tips from NSSF

NSSF is producing some interesting videos helping people maintain their firearms. This is one of them:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uZTM6WnICY[/youtube]

It’s a great service, I think, because a common mistake gun owners make isÂ over-lubricatingÂ their guns. I will admit, when I was a beginner gun owner, I used WD-40 to lubricate a gun, which catches fire once it gets hot enough. One advantage to having a Kalashnikov as your first gun is it’ll take pretty much all the abuse you can throw at it with beginner mistakes.

Ed’s Plan for I-80 Foiled

We’ve covered on here in the past Ed Rendell’s plan to toll I-80 across the top of the state. The feds have ruled the plan violates federal law and have invalidated it. I guess he’s going to have to find another way to funnel money into Philadelphia’s crappy public transit system.