I-594, the Political War and Educating Outsiders…

I had a request come in last week to be a guest host on 2AToday to talk about I-594 and I-591, Washington political history, and basically provide a solid overview to educate people on the situation, especially those outside of Washington.

The creator worked his tail off and got it posted at BF 30 this morning.

There will be a part 2 follow on episode for after the election where fallout and the political horizon will be discussed.

While you may not live in Washington so you have no ability to vote on the initiatives I highly recommend you listen. I didn’t do this  just because of Washington politics. There is more going on that many people realize and we’re already seeing the glow of smoke on the horizon. We’re in a fight whether you like it or not and I suggest finding out what’s going on from people currently on the front lines before you find yourself in a middle of a political war zone with no clue what’s going on.

You will notice I broke out the “It Can’t Happen Here” category, because I suspect we will be hearing a lot of it in the near future.

Open Mouth Insert Hoof… Nick Hanauer

So I knew about this over the weekend and was marinating on it waiting to see what the other side bothers to do if anything regarding the events of last Friday.

While many may think I am talking about the school shooting in Marysville, I am not. Quite honestly I’m getting sick of people working to exploit tragedy for political gain. Which brings me to the events I am talking about…

nick-hanauer_tweet

To the right is a real screen shot from Nick Hanauer’s Facebook Friday while in the wake of tragedy.

Now many who read this blog are from outside of the state, are not fully familiar with the ongoing legal battle, much less exactly who Nick Hanauer is.

Who is Nick Hanauer?

Nick Hanauer is a leading I-594 proponent and heir to the Pacific Coast Feather Company. To say that Nick Hanauer has had his hand in the development of I-594 is to put it mildly as he had a significant role to play in funding the initiative from the start.

Not only does he fund the initiative but he is heavily involved in Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility being their primary funder and founder.

WAGR…

Well after Friday it is obvious that WAGR is merely a xerox of every other gun control organization we have seen that is not about the things they claim but are really about exploiting tragedy for their own political gains.

Why has WAGR not immediately made a public announcement distancing itself from Nick Hanauer? Could it be because they love his money over their principles? Could it be because deep down they agree with Hanauer’s statement? Honestly I don’t think it could be put any better than a response I overheard at the fun show over the weekend:

What a ludicrous, insensitive and quite frankly, vile, comment!  I find it
offensive and morally reprehensible.  WAGR should publicly disassociate
itself from Nick Hanauer (and return the blood money they have received
from him)

That ladies and gentleman is the cold hard truth and the most basic demonstration of exactly what the other side is. They are so desperate for money that they are willing to swim with scum and villainy the likes of which would make most good-hearted people vomit.

We however will never see WAGR respond, much less distance itself from Hanauer, and never in a million years return his money. Our opponents are too desperate and honestly rely on tragedy to fuel their funding.

We hold events to raise money for charities outside the shooting sports not to mention charities within from time to time. Name one event organized by CSGV, WAGR, or the Brady Campaign where they were raising funds for anyone other than themselves. At Boomershoot we’re regularly raising money for Soldiers’ Angels.

So let me ask one real simple question, who do you really think is trying to make their communities better? The people screaming for more violence so they can capitalize on tragedy. We on the other hand get together for a weekend and say, “Hey lets help some other people while we’re at it.”

This is why we win…

Why We Win…

So if you are thinking about sending money to WAGR, you might want to think again and find a better choice.

Liars, Thieves, and Cheats

So I came in to work the show this morning and was informed of this insanity:

Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 10.18.42 AM

It has been a good while since I’ve done a good fisking, shall we?

Myth #3 – Gifts of firearms are exempted. Nowhere in the text does it imply that all firearm gifts are exempted. To imply that anyone assumed that makes *them* look not too bright. Any responsible gun owner should WANT it to be known whether a specific gun was transferred to someone else or not. Why? Because while you may have given it to someone you “think” would never use it in the commission of a crime, the fact of the matter is, you don’t know. You couldn’t know. How many times do you see friends and family members shocked and incredulous over what the people they have known their whole lives end up doing? How many times do you hear interviews with family members who say “I just can’t believe he did it. He was always so easy going. I don’t understand where that came from.”? Do you really want to be the person who “gave” your gun to a would be assassin regardless of the fact that you think “they would never do that”?

Gifts are exempted in very limited circumstances. I can give a gift to my mother but not mother-in-law. There is no straight exemption of gifts and to claim otherwise is deceptive and misleading. Here is the exact wording on gifts:

  • (a) A transfer between immediate family members, which for this subsection shall be limited to spouses, domestic partners, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles, that is a bona fide gift

If you were really about increasing the knowledge to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands, why not a public background check number or an indicator that is printed on all drivers licenses. While that has other issues it’s certainly a fair cry better than the monstrosity you’re trying to sell.

Myth #6 (loaning a gun to a friend for repair) and Myth #8 handing a firearm off to a student…etc. Yeah, this is a real bummer because most people want to have friends and family fix their guns or teach them how to use them properly. Seriously? If you were a responsible gun owner, you SHOULD want these things done by a professional. Someone licensed to do so. Not uncle Joe.

Difference between an amateur and professional is whether or not you are paid and nothing more. I am an amateur radio operator and let me tell you, there is nothing amateur about us. I’ve had law enforcement park next to me because I will have comms when they don’t. I have the tools and training to change barrels and do other work on firearms however that is not my everyday job. So I should not be allowed to do work I enjoy for friends and family despite my training?

Further there is no exemption for “professionals” except for gunsmiths who have an FFL. Let me repeat, there is no exemption for certified trainers or at a professional training event. The only exemption that may help is as follows:

  • (f) The temporary transfer of a firearm (i) between spouses or domestic partners; (ii) if the temporary transfer occurs, and the firearm is kept at all times, at an established shooting range authorized by the governing body of the jurisdiction in which such range is located; (iii) if the temporary transfer occurs and the transferee’s possession of the firearm is exclusively at a lawful organized competition involving the use of a firearm, or while participating in or practicing for a performance by an organized group that uses firearms as a part of the performance; (iv) to a person who is under eighteen years of age for lawful hunting, sporting, or educational purposes while under the direct supervision and control of a responsible adult who is not prohibited from possessing firearms; or (v) while hunting if the hunting is legal in all places where the person to whom the firearm is transferred possesses the firearm and the person to whom the firearm is transferred has completed all training and holds all licenses or permits required for such hunting, provided that any temporary transfer allowed by this subsection is permitted only if the person to whom the firearm is transferred is not prohibited from possessing firearms under state or federal law; or

There is no definition of what an authorized range is. Also many loaner weapons used in firearms training are owned by the instructor and not the range. Further you will not there is no exemption for instructors handling firearms owned by students. The only other line that comes close is “practicing for a performance” but that pertains to drill teams, not training.

Not to mention that deep down is economic elitism and discrimination as you are require additional money to be spent when honestly they may know someone who is perfectly capable of fixing their firearm or offering training.

Myth #9 – I can loan a hunting rifle to a friend during hunting season. Again, nowhere in 594 does it state that.

You can only loan a rifle in a very specific set of circumstances:

  • (v) while hunting if the hunting is legal in all places where the person to whom the firearm is transferred possesses the firearm and the person to whom the firearm is transferred has completed all training and holds all licenses or permits required for such hunting, provided that any temporary transfer allowed by this subsection is permitted only if the person to whom the firearm is transferred is not prohibited from possessing firearms under state or federal law;

What this means is if you wander within 150 feet of a road, or cross a stream or any other area where hunting is not legal you are committing a misdemeanor the first time or a felony the second. It is only legal as long as you are in the hunting area. You better get the firearm back before you reach your truck.

Myth #10 – I keep a rifle in my truck and occasionally allow my daughter to drive this vehicle on our property – this can’t be a crime? All I can say is this…if you think it’s ok to drive around, unsupervised, with a weapon, then you really aren’t a responsible gun owner.

Myth #10: You have never lived in a rural area have you? I regularly drove around my friends rig with his rifle in the back while helping with their farmland. Under this it would be crime, not to mention I regularly drove around my uncles truck as a minor, with a rifle. Why would I have a rifle? To shoot coyotes and other predators that prey upon livestock. But such a well-rounded and educated person such as yourself knew that there are predators out there right? Because me trusting the person I’ve given the keys to my truck and is acting to protect my property is irresponsible? WTF?

So there, I have backed up my case by citing the initiative text and if you think I’m wrong, here’s a past supreme court justice from the state of Washington on the subject.

Maybe you should leave the interpretation of the law to professionals instead of amateurs.

And since you’re a “gun owner” I’m more than happy to meet up with you at West Coast armory so you can get some practice with your firearm, if it exists. I will pay your ammo and range fees, my treat.

Tibor Kovacs Update & Legal Threats…

Tibor Kovacs. Picture via Starr Telegram and the Arlington Police Department.

Tibor Kovacs. Picture via Starr Telegram and the Arlington Police Department.

So over two years ago while I was running the State Sponsored Criminal Count I did a post about this incident out of Arlington Texas.

Update regarding Tibor Kovacs’s legal entanglement:

Now according to this following quote from one of his local papers a Judge ruled him to be rehired in June. While at the same time the city has stated its desire to continue to appeal.

A Tarrant County judge reinstated an Arlington police officer who was fired three years ago after being accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend and interfering with the investigation.

State District Judge David Evans ruled late Monday that the Police Department should immediately rehire Tibor Kovacs and awarded him $164,471 in back pay.

Assistant City Attorney Melinda Barlow said that Arlington plans to appeal the ruling and that Kovacs had not rejoined the force as of Tuesday and had not received the back pay.

The story does state that a grand jury failed to indict him on the charge however that is neither a guilty nor not guilty verdict. The priors of the case remain as a matter of public record and historical documentation.  If I were a magic 8 ball my response regarding Tibor Kovacs and his place on the count would be something like this, “Reply hazy try again later”. I don’t know the details of what’s going on in this pissing match but obviously there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark and I don’t know who’s good or who’s bad.

Now I hadn’t been keeping up with this specific case, there’s a huge pile of them in the criminal count, though I am more than happy to give updates and corrections when things are taken care of in a civil manner. Seriously that update was an email from one of the involved parties and said, hey you might be interested in seeing this. It was two different news articles detailing the update which I then reported. It was polite, they understood the value of not being confrontational, providing information and letting people arrive at their own conclusions.

How not to become my friend.

When something like the following hits my inbox, I am less than pleased and even more specifically less than inclined to converse directly with said individual and instead promptly seek legal counsel.

Email 1:

From: Tibor Kovacs 
Subject: information removal request

Message Body:
The link:  http://www.the-minuteman.org/2012/09/12/sscc-409-arlington/

is incorrect and highly defamatory!  I request the prompt removal from your website.
Thank you Barron for your cooperation in this matter.

Tibor Kovacs

--
This mail is sent via contact form on The Minuteman http://www.the-minuteman.org

Semi-polite but obvious legal threat. My father didn’t raise no fool, I was raised in a house filled with law books by a man with a Juris Doctorate. I know the basics and I know when to shut my mouth and not deal directly with someone.

So I contact a law-smith on the subject to get the extra ins and outs and find out that there are numerous reasons this is NOT defamation, that I should not be concerned, and am directed to ignore the email because any response should go through counsel given the obvious threat. Had things been more polite I probably would have been more receptive but using the phrases “incorrect” and “highly defamatory” to a set of quoted statements from a news paper makes me want to dig in my heels. Then a couple days later I get the following into the inbox associated with my domain registration:

Email 2:

Subject: information removal request
Date: 09/26/2014 07:41 PM
From: Tibor Prince <>
Reply-To: Tibor Prince <>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
The following link on your website: http://www.the-minuteman.org/2012/09/12/sscc-409-arlington/ is outdated, false and defamatory.
For legal reasons I request the prompt removal of that link from your site!
Thank you!
Tibor Kovacs

I write-up a post and am then directed by my preliminary law smith to just let it die. It will just rile him up and no good can come of it. The law smith states the same as before but that I might start preparing with full counsel for a response letter. Bam, prep the lineup and say I’ll give him one more chance to just let it die.  Well you’re reading this and a bunch of my friends on Facebook were asking me WTF was going on and well here it is.

Email 3:

From: Tibor Kovacs <[email protected]>
Subject: legal request for information removal

Message Body:
Mr.  Barron,

In light of District court decision to obliterate all claimed arrest records, Tibor Kovacs was never 
arrested in accordance with law and Texas Code of Criminal procedure 55.03.  Therefore I respectfully
make the request to remove all such reference to my arrest.  I was also reinstated by the District 
court to my position in light of the false allegation made against me.  

I ask you to stop disparaging my name and jumping on the bandwagon of trashing officers based on the 
barrage of constant complaints we get after arresting thousands of offenders you wouldn't want around 
your family.  It is an ungreatful career and we don't make many friends by arresting people.  Don't be
one that makes our job harder!

Thank you.

Tibor Kovacs

--
This mail is sent via contact form on The Minuteman http://www.the-minuteman.org

I just immediately shook my head and fired off the email to the full counsel. Now he did advise me I could just pull the article, make it all go away and it would cost me less money. I don’t care, at this point with the intimidation behavior I wasn’t budging and I’m more than happy to shell out cash to do the right thing, even if it hurts. Overall from my interactions thus far, Tibor Kovacs seems like a petty tyrant instead of a polite individual. I’m more than happy to stand up when others won’t. As I said on Facebook:

“Barron you can just make yourself feel better by just taking it down and doing what the guy asked.”

“How does me giving a petty tyrant what he wants when I’m in the right make me feel better?”

That seriously was a conversation I had yesterday. It reminded me that I am unique when it comes to principals when compared with many. I am willing to suffer discomfort, pain, and expense purely because of principal. While many would look at me like a fool, I feel more physically upset at doing the wrong thing to make my life easier than it is just doing the right thing.

Many people often wonder how they will react in a trying situation. There are many more who later on regret their decisions.

I do not have to wonder. I am glad to say I have yet to ever regret a decision or action I took that I believed to be the right thing to do. Even when doing the right thing worked against me.

That’s why I just dropped 6 bills with the potential to spend more on something I could just make go away by pushing a delete button.

#‎CharacterCounts, especially when the other guy doesn’t appear to have any.

I had done some searching and couldn’t find any record of the District court decision, however my lawyer was more than happy to fill me in on TCCP 55.03. It is an expungement of the arrest from the courts, nothing more. It is not a finding by a judge of not-guilty with prejudice, it is merely clearing someone’s arrest record who wasn’t convicted. Hey, good, that’s the way it should be. If asked in a legal setting if you were arrested you should be able to say no if you weren’t convicted. I know better than anyone, I have two felonies that follow my ass around I was never convicted for.

I however did not and do not run around like a 5 year old screaming at people who wrote news articles and commentary at the time.

Seriously this behavior spinned me into a world of pissed off and is the absolute wrong way to approach me correcting information in the count. Doubly so since he waited until email 3 to even present any of the information above and even then didn’t provide copies of the orders or documentation, I was merely supposed to take his word on the subject.

So my lawyer sent this in response:

So here’s my full summary of the above and interpretation.

Tibor Kovacs may or may not have committed the crimes he was accused of.  While a grand jury failed to indict, that is neither an indicator of guilt or innocence. That does not change the actual history of the case and honestly wish him the best of luck.

That said the behavior of Tibor Kovacs as outlined above implies to me he is a petty tyrant of the exact type I ran the criminal count to highlight. While the original charge may have evaporated his behavior of intimidation and legal threats in an attempt to intimidate me to pull what is quite honestly a 2 year old news article highlights his character quite well. Doubly so since the statement of being willing to interview Tibor Kovacs was sincere and after proofing the letter I also told my lawyer to note I would even allow him to provide a written statement which I would include in its entirety unedited.

It has been one week since this all went down. I have heard nothing at which point I believe Tibor Kovacs does not wish to talk to me or make a statement. If he sees this he is free to say something in the comments on his own behalf and I will publish it unedited. Note the comments are automatically closed after 30 days due to spam. 

Deep down I have a serious issue with scrubbing things or otherwise trying to erase them from history. This to me is the equivalent of asking a newspaper to delete all of the stories relating to the topic. While yes this is the internet and I can make it go away, is that correct with regards to the historical record? 25 years ago people would look up the history of a series of events using microfiche in a library. The internet is the modern day library.

Winning Quote Related to the Subject:

I had many friends text or message me asking what was going on. One friend had a conversation with me that was just epic:

Buddy: So what’s the deal? Someone try to come between you and the last Snickerdoodle?

Me: Basically cop emailed me and tried to intimidate me into pulling down a 2 year old post.

Buddy: WTF? But you’re white.

Buddy: Sorry… someone must have got a pic of us walking to lunch, and said, “That’s him… the “threatening guy” That’s Barron!”

Buddy: Maybe it’s your choice of donut providers…

Well more than just a single quote but frankly after the beginning context the statements were just hilarious. Again, I love my friends.

Additional Observation

There is a much different attitude between Tibor Kovacs and myself; and it is actually kind of disturbing. I am more than happy to talk about my arrest and legal experience despite the fact I think it was complete bullshit. I lay it out in front of everyone and am more than happy to discuss it with anyone who asks. I have nothing to hide, I stand behind my actions that day and while I wish the outcome was different I do not feel I did anything wrong.

Tibor Kovacs is moving to sweep things under the rug, doesn’t want to discuss it, and is yelling at people to try and make it go away. I only have one question on that front, Why? My conscience is clean and I don’t give two shits about that case because there’s always two sides to every story and I’m more than happy to make sure people hear mine.

Lastly the woe is me, people hate me for doing my job, so on and so forth. Here’s the thing Mr. Kovacs, I don’t want you anywhere near my family just as I don’t want a violent felon around them. You have this badge which you seem to think grants you extra rights and immunities and while I can shoot a felon attempting to harm my family without fear of reprisal, the same can not be said for a thug with a badge. Your attitude and behavior in directly interacting with me doesn’t indicate that you’re an honest man with a badge but a thug. Like any brotherhood though, your brothers will circle the wagons even if you’re totally in the wrong. Taking all that into account I’d actually rather have the violent felon around them, at least then I could perforate them and be assured a equitable and fair investigation into what happened.

*TL;DR:

Stolen as a direct quote from a buddy:

well, here’s the deal:  if he were 1) not a dick, 2) didn’t pull the “woe is the life of a cop” card, or 3) actually provided some evidence on his behalf, then it’d be reasonable to at least ask you to add some extra info to let people make their own grown up decisions.

It should also be noted that picking a fight like this is never a good idea if your objective is to suppress information. Your best bet is to just ignore it and let it fade into obscurity. That page in its entire existence has had a whole whopping 57 views as of the time I wrote this article. Now that number is likely to go up given another post referencing it, especially with the threat of legal consequences. Behavior like that attracts attention, just ask Barbra Streisand.

Ladd Everitt – Safety for Gay Bashers!!!

I’ve said it before in a nice long post, if you don’t know why I get angry and will go into a rant like what is about to follow, go read the post.

So why a friend forwarded me this article this morning I didn’t think much of it, until I hit the end.

Ladd Everitt, communications director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said that hate crime is an issue our federal government has taken very seriously, pointing out the Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2009. 

“The law contains explicit protections for members of the LGBT community,” he said. “If groups like Pink Pistols are feeling targeted or under threat, it might be from members of their own community in the pro-gun movement.”

Because people who are so willing to beat the crap out of someone over sexual orientation actually give a crap over some “hate crime” bill. Get real boy wonder. If felony assault or attempted murder charges don’t already phase someone the extra gravy of a “hate crime” charge isn’t going to matter.

Like a restraining order, a law merely a piece of paper and doesn’t physically stop anyone from doing anything. Know what works great to stop someone who hates your race, your sexual orientation, or any other thing about you from physically assaulting you?  A 230 grain hollo-point center of mass. Repeat application until said assailant has stopped his attack on you.

The idea that people who are active in this community, who most of which are devout in securing the civil rights of all, is just complete bull crap. The idea of telling someone who may very well be assaulted over their sexual orientation, “Don’t worry about it, there are hate laws in place. You may die but we’ll send him to prison” just makes me sick. If someone wants to take responsibility for their own self-defense who is that petty tyrant to chastise them, look down on them, or otherwise disparage them. Ladd is nothing more than a sniveling coward who preys upon those who fall victim to evil in this world. Ladd needs evil to triumph to continue his assault on the rights of innocent people, it’s why he is the most evil of evils.

Heaven forbid a person be allowed to choose to exercise their right of self-defense, to say no with such conviction no harm befalls them but hell rains down upon the aggressor.

Then again this is the same asshat that called Joe Huffman and me the most offensive.

Lastly I have numerous friends who are very out of the closet and very active within the community. I have yet to personally see an incident of bigotry against them by the community personally, much less anything even approaching what you claim.  Even then even after years in the community they’ve only run into one or two and they were quickly dealt with and everyone else around was equally pissed off at said individual.

Here’s a direct quote from one of them:

That sorta bigotry particularly offends me both as bigotry per se AND with its wild departure from reality – I have been largely open in the 2A community and with but one or two exceptions received naught but support…

So Ladd, do the world and go fornicate with a rusty chainsaw you bigoted ass. Because quite honestly the only way you can come to some off the deep end conclusion such as yours is if you yourself would try it.

The Worthlessness of Background Checks…

So this came across my inbox today via Sean and my immediate though was of I-594.

According to an Executive Summary “on the investigations the Oregon State Police (OSP) is conducting regarding denied firearm transactions through the Firearm Instant Check System (FICS) Unit”   of the 331 “denial” investigations only 8 people have been arrested. That’s a total of only 2.41% of the people denied!

And of course, there is no way of  knowing how many of the people taken into custody were arrested for actual offenses and how many were victims of the same sloppy record keeping that kept most of the other 97%  from completing transfers.

Honestly this is not surprising to anyone who is actually active in this community or works with the facts on the subject. Doubly entertaining is when you also consider that criminals need not take part in this system since that would require them to self incriminate.

I am one of those who has received a NICS denial, got a couple of them actually while the state took it’s time updating records associated with a felony charge. But I hear you cry, how do you know you were legal? Because the prosecutor who charged me ordered the firearm I was carrying the day of the wreck returned to me.

So let’s think about this, what does an overly broad definition of transfers, where any handling of a firearm can be classified as a transfer get the other side?

The answer is simple, it makes firearm ownership so dangerous and precarious that very few will want to exercise their rights. Further even fewer of those will be willing to risk felonies to educate others. Not to mention the costs of attempting to stay within the bounds of the law given transfer fees and the use tax involved.

Vote NO on I-594. Don’t let the 1% confuse you in to vacating your rights.