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Quote of the Day – Massad Ayoob (2/14/2013)

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In an adult lifetime spent debriefing firefight survivors, I learned that the almost universal epiphany in the aftermath of such events was the realization that when you fight to survive, you’re really fighting to return to the people you love…the people who define your existence.

Massad Ayoob – On Valentine’s Day

February 14th, 2013

[I love my family more than anything.  It serves my family no benefit to be lying dead in a ditch.  To fight for my family though, to fight for myself, those two things most greatly benefit my family and loved ones.

Just the same as Massad points out fight the political battle before us for the people you love.  Don’t get cocky or complacent.  Many claim that X bill won’t move forward or that X bill couldn’t possibly pass.

Look at what happened in New York.  It was a blitzkrieg that took us all off guard before we had a chance to retaliate.  But that was New York you say, it couldn’t possibly happen in a state with decent support for firearms.  Really?

Let’s look at Colorado now shall we.  Do you want to reevaluate that assumption?

Listen folks, it sucks, there is no question we’re in a serious fight.  We cannot fall victim to pride, we cannot fall victim to over-confidence.  Our opponents did that and look at where it got them over the past decade.  We cannot underestimate them and their capabilities.  Each day we move from the tragedy that brought this fight before us, the closer we move to safety, but there will never be a magical time where our rights will be safe.  The price for liberty is eternal vigilance and the sooner you realize this the better.

I love my family more than anything and that’s why I am considerably more politically active than usual.  Usually I just use the written word when dealing with politicians  this time around I have resorted to using the dreaded box known as the telephone.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  I can tell you if the enemy gets an inch, they will do all they can to make it a mile.

I’m going to state this here and now, I will not waver, I will not cower, I will fight by any means necessary, to defend the inalienable right to keep and bear arms, endowed to us by our creator and merely enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

There are some who think that they do not need to support us, who don’t care because it doesn’t affect the guns they use.  The bad news is you either support the right to arms or you do not.  It’s quite simple really, Join or Die.

Join or Die
All profits go to the NRA.

-B]

And Here’s the Big One, Washington State AWB (SB 5737)

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Came across this one tonight, read for the first time today.

AN ACT Relating to banning the sale of assault weapons; reenacting and amending RCW 9.41.010 and 9.94A.515; adding a new section to chapter 9.41 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

The bill in question is SB 5737.  Contact your state representatives, though I have also learned of another important tact.  Contact those in charge of the committees examining the bills.  If you can get the committee to kill the bill it’s better overall.

In this case it is the Law and Justice committee, and you should contact the following people:

My state rep informed us last night that bills are starting to lock down on whether or not they will actually be moving forward.  By the end of next week he said bills that haven’t even got through committee won’t be going anywhere. 

We’re in the home stretch.  Keep up the pressure, yes it’s tiring, exhausting, and honestly shouldn’t even have to be doing this fight.  Instead there’s a group of individuals who constantly insist on throwing us under the bus.

In Which A Republican Betrays Us

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So I mentioned previously something about a protest last Saturday night.  Well we turned out because the president of the Moscow city council has thrown gun owners under the bus.

Enforcement of existing regulations is crucial, but gaps and loopholes pertaining to the sale, trade, and possession of illegal guns and ammunition also need to be closed.  Law enforcement officials here recommend consideration of:

  • Mental illness in the issuance of permits;
  • Limiting multiple gun sales to an individual within a specified time period;
  • Requiring gun purchasers to have a designated extended waiting period and thorough background check;
  • Requiring all gun sales, including at gun shows and personal sales, to be federally-documented, traceable, and completed in-person through authorized Federal firearms licensees;
  • Increasing penalties for unlawful gun possession and use;
  • Limiting access to high-capacity gun magazines;
  • Controlling the sale of ammunition by:
    • Recording all sales and conducting on-site background checks for disqualification;
    • Prohibiting the sale of armor-piercing bullets and explosive rounds to the public

Among many other calls for infringements and attacks on an inalienable right.

This provoked a response from those who live in the community, especially since the Latah County GOP Lincoln Dinner was going to be held last Saturday.  Can you guess what my buddy Jefferson organized?

If you said a protest outside the building the dinner was being held in, you would be right.IMAG0484

IMAG0485

These were the pictures I took before an additional group of miscreants spread the line down the sidewalk towards the intersection.  Overall I estimate the turn out probably about 30-35 at the peak and given there was only about 48 hours notice I don’t think that’s too bad.  Especially given the fact that the protest started at 1700 and it was about 32 degrees.  It ended at 2000 and it was much colder.

The night was filled with humor including a Canadian who seems to hate America and stated so by yelling “F*** America.”  I don’t think he expected an immediately reply before he finished of “F*** You.”  While one would claim my response was unnecessary as he was driving a Honda Element, it was worth it as he almost hit a car, cut another one off, and barely missed a light pole which all happened immediately after the response.

I do my best to remain civil and will remain civil as long as you return that respect to me.  While some would argue about being the better man, many of these people prey upon the fact of expecting no response.  Remember, many of these liberals are very violent and expect us to withhold our opinions in an effort as not to offend.

Screw that.   I restrained myself when I made my sign.

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Image Credit: Dean Hare Moscow Pullman Daily News
It’s not about guns. It’s about Control.

You know what I really wanted to write for my sign?

Why do I need a 30 round magazine?

Because F*** You! That’s why!

Again I agree with Uncle and that’s why I didn’t do it… as much as I really wanted to.

I am a bit disappointed because my friend to the right didn’t let me know he was bringing his carbine otherwise I would have brought mine.  I didn’t want to be the only guy open carrying a carbine because honestly that’s a great way to end up in trouble.  It is worth noting I was standing next to a lawyer, but I’d rather not need one.  There is strength in numbers, especially at a political rally.  Further it ended up when I got there the Moscow PD had sent an email asking people not to open carry… given Idaho is an open carry state that would have made me want to just on principal.

Now some would also argue that carrying a carbine with a real can isn’t worth it.  I can tell you it was.  More than once I grabbed my buddies chest to turn him so it was right there as some little old lady looked like she was going to have a heart attack.

The majority of the people driving by honked in support.  There were a few hecklers such as the Canadian, though we did love the fuel truck that blew his air horn the whole way past us.  The best part of all the honking, we know they could hear it inside at the dinner.

The most entertaining part of the night though was the fact that the protest probably caused a divorce, either that or it was the last date.  A couple pulled up in a minivan and the driver gave us a thumbs up.  The woman was shaking her head and obviously said something negative.  He replied in the positive, she flipped us the bird at which point the light turned green and they drove off obviously in an argument.

We ended up on the front page of the local paper, sadly the print version used the guy who couldn’t spell inalienable, i before e except after c…  Overall though I think the protest was definitely worth it and hopefully we can finally get that tyrant Walter Steed out of office.

Washington Residents, Contact Your State Legislators

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Had something come across my screen tonight, and it’s not good news for those of us in Washington.

Washington lawmakers are beginning to coalesce around a plan that would expand the state’s laws on gun background checks, providing hope for supporters after years of failed efforts.

…

While the measure is supported by many Democrats, the background checks plan also picked up support from Republican Rep. Mike Hope of Lake Stevens, Republican Sen. Steve Litzow of Mercer Island and Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, a Democrat who has aligned himself with Republicans this year. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs also supports the idea.

This is not a joke folks and this is deadly serious.  The bill in question is SB 5711 and as you can see there are some Republican’s selling us and our rights up the river.  Make no mistake folks, this has nothing to do with background checks and never mind that in the end they wont actually do anything.

Our opponents claim that it will not deny anyone their rights, except many are delayed for no reason other than NICS cannot handle the load.  In December the local gun shop was having trouble getting through to NICS to complete purchases.  There are no provisions in this law to create a state system or otherwise provide additional funding to the federal system.  All it will do is increase burden, which will decrease availability and increase the difficulty and delay in getting  a firearm.  Further without a state registry there is no way this law could be effectively enforced.  Given the behavior of California and New York with moves for confiscation, does anyone think that’s a good idea?

Tell me, if the state is so desperate for background checks at the state level, why not just place an endorsement on every drivers license indicating that they are not a prohibited person.  Now the background check merely becomes checking your driver’s license.  Or why not do something like Idaho, your CPL satisfies the NICS requirement, lessen the burden on the federal system.

The problem is those creating this legislation aren’t actually interested in solutions to the problem they claim to be after.  Their problem statement is as follows:

How do we disarm the citizens of the State of Washington?

Their statement isn’t:

How can we work to aid the law-abiding people of Washington in preventing arms from falling into the hands of criminals while also protecting the rights of the law-abiding?

Think about that long and hard folks.  Don’t believe the lies they feed you.  Most certainly do not think that republicans are on your side.  Tonight’s post was originally going to be on an event that occurred last Saturday but that will be delayed until tomorrow.

There are more bills in the works than just this one as well.  Public hearings are scheduled for 0800 on Wednesday the 13th.

What I need, what your fellow gun owners of Washington need is for all of you sound the alarm and contact your representatives and attend the hearings if you can.  This fight is real and it’s down right serious.

via Gay Cynic

Quote of the Day – Jefferson Griffeath

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Half the reason I became a lawyer was so I could get away with being belligerent.

Jefferson Griffeath

February 9th, 2013

[Jefferson made this comment about the fact that he started the Walter Steed protest, more on the protest later, and he was wondering how his activism and blog would affect his professional career.

I offered to set him up with anonymity and that was his reply… Touché Jefferson, touché!

Not to mention there’s a lot to be said for a man willing to stand front and center behind his convictions.  -B]

Attempting to Further Tax a Right

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The email I got this morning was regarding this bill:

AN ACT Relating to promoting firearm safety through an education program funded through fees on firearms and ammunition and creating a sales tax exemption on gun locks; adding a new section to chapter 82.08 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 82.12 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 9.41 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 43.70 RCW; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.

The bill aims to do the following:

  • 1 cent tax per round of ammunition.  Buy 500 rounds pay an extra 5 dollars in taxes on top of the existing taxes.
  • 25 dollars in tax for every firearm sold at retail, 15 if the firearm includes a gun-lock.
  • An account of every round of ammunition and firearm must be maintained.
  • Creates a firearm-related injury and death prevention account to fund a program through the Department of Health.
  • Basically create a government program much like the NRA’s safety programs.

So overall they want to tax us more because the government is going to somehow do something that the private sector already does.  Last I checked, people were funneling money into the NRA in droves, mainly for the legislative reasons currently.  I would think if our legislators were smart they would leave our rights alone so the NRA could focus on safety and youth programs.

Now I mentioned that there were other taxes.  The bill as written just says it will add new sections meaning current taxes will remain in place.  Washington has a use tax which is equivalent to your local sales tax.  So if you buy a firearm off of gun-broker, technically the FFL is supposed to collect a use tax of fair market value at the sale and the 25 dollar fee would be then added to it.

A note on that fee, due to federal law, all new firearms sold must come with a gun lock, so for any new firearm the default fee will be $15.00.

Gun safes however will remain tax exempt in Washington.

Moving forward, we have Federal Excise taxes on firearms that applies up the food chain instead of directly to the consumer.  These rates and affected items are fully defined here.  Here is a small table to give you the outline:

  • Pistols – 10%
  • Revolvers – 10%
  • Other Firearms – 11%
  • Shells and Cartridges – 11%

Remember these are taxes that are applied to the manufacturer or importer.  They are already integrated into the price of your item before you get them. 

So lets look at an example firearm, the Springfield XDm.

Lets say the firearm is sold to the distributor at $490 dollars.  The need to however collect a 10% excise on that so add an additional $49 dollars to the price.  The distributor then marks up 6% to turn a profit making the sale to the retailer $571.34.  Then the retailer to make a profit for himself will give himself some percentage, lets say 6%, making the price to you the consumer: $605.62.  But now under this new law we need to add in the 15 dollar fee, plus the state sales tax.  It isn’t clear which side the fee goes on, but knowing it’s the government sales tax will be the last thing computed.  This makes the final price out the door just for the firearm at a sales tax of 7.8%: $669.03.

Lets break out how much of that goes to the government shall we?

$49.00 in Federal Excise tax.  In the end yes you the consumer does pay for it, don’t be fooled.

$15.00 in the new Fee.

$48.41 in sales tax.

So if you pull all those fees and taxes and recalculate up the chain, (your distributor cost will shift), the actual price without government interference is: $550.57.  But lets go ahead and ad sales tax back in, that’s applied to everything else you buy.  Your total comes out to be: $593.51.

Think about that, you’re paying damn near an extra $80 bucks in taxes and fees on a relatively low priced gun.

But now you need ammunition to go in that gun, two 50 round boxes of 9mm.

Lets from manufacturer sells the ammo at $0.30 a round.  So for a 50 round box it’s $15.00 plus the 11% excise tax.  Bringing the total to $16.65. Then we have distributor and dealer markup bringing the total to $18.71.  But, you need to also pay an extra 50 cents per box for the new fee.  Then add in sales tax, it’s $20.71 per box.  Given it’s two boxes that’s $41.42 in ammo, or $0.41 cents a round.

So what are the cuts for taxes:

Federal Excise: $1.65

New Fee: $0.50

Sales Tax: $1.50

That’s an extra $3.65 per box.  Per round it’s an additional $0.073 per round.

Tell me, why do we keep piling taxes on a right?  Is it to try and cause people to not want to exercise it due to financial burden? 

This bill needs to get shut down.  It is nothing more than an additional burden on gun owners and for what?  A government run program which will be an unsuccessful knock off of a program many of us already fund through the NRA.  Thanks but no thanks.  I’d rather just keep sending that money to the NRA to help support gun safety and gun rights.  It’s an additional unnecessary burden veiled as doing something good.

If our representatives really want to improve safety, they would write legislation to encourage, not mandate, things like Eddie the Eagle in schools along with other programs to teach children how to safely and responsibly handle firearms.  The wouldn’t threaten our rights allowing us  to focus funds and effort on safety programs.

Now, yes you should contact your state representatives about this bill.  While doing so, also encourage them to support this bill.

AN ACT Relating to adopting the Washington state firearms freedom act of 2013 and establishing penalties; amending RCW 43.06.220; adding a new chapter to Title 19 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

If your representative is one of the sponsors, I have noticed one flaw with this bill, there is not a “Severability Clause”.  This means that if part of the act is struck down as unconstitutional the whole act is struck.  That’s bad.  Call their attention to it and ask them to amend the bill.

Let’s multi-task folks.  If we’re going to have to spend time contacting our legislators fighting against one bill, we might as well call for them to support a different one at the same time.  This will help force our opponents to also actually have to expend resources as bills gain traction.

Currently I’m reading through all 58 bills introduced this year pertaining to “firearms”, as I find more I’ll give a heads up.

Quote of the Day – Robb Allen (2/7/2013)

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It doesn’t cost the anti-gunners a damned thing to introduce bills. True, most of them will never see the light of day, but it’s the one you don’t expect that makes it through and makes your life a living hell. This is very much like how an inmate in a prison can harass the person who put them in there – they can file frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit against them. The inmate doesn’t pay a dime, but the target expends a lot of capital fighting them.

This is what is going on right now. They are trying to wear us out with so many horrific bills that what they really want will get passed when we’re too exhausted to fight any more.

Robb Allen – The inmates are running the asylum

February 7th, 2013

[Back when the first pushes were happening in Illinois I figured this was their game plan.  Distract, divide, and exhaust us by creating numerous issues at the state level we cannot as effectively fight at the national level.

We keep seeing little BS bills come up here and there and they all require our attention lest we lets one slip by and get burned.

I’ve got a post I need to write-up tonight.  I just had some WA specific legislation roll into my inbox this morning.  Do I think it will pass? No, but if we do nothing it most certainly will pass.

Yes it sucks and yes it can be exhausting, at the same time though we can start introducing our own bills to push forward.  If we’re going to be stuck writing in about bad legislation, we might as well be able to say at the same time, please support this bill over here.  Our enemies are fewer and not as capable at defeating legislation we push forward.  Lets work this momentum to our advantage. -B]

Quote of the Day – Sebastian (2/6/2013)

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Journalists just assume this stuff is true, and print it as truth, but the truth is that the gun culture changed first, and then the gun culture changed the industry. The industry did not change the gun culture. When is the left going to recognize that this is a movement composed of millions of actual people? Thinking people. People who are often smarter than the journalists who write this crap.

Sebastian – On the Popularity of the AR-15
February 6th, 2013

[When is the left going to realize that fact?  Never.  They want to destroy us and our culture.  They want to imprison us for being different and daring to be independent.  They hate who we are and what we represent and they will peddle any lie they can to help them accomplish their goal.

The idea that this culture is big enough and massive enough to move whole industries is unfathomable to them.  The idea that a rifle became popular due to its utilitarian value just the same is blasphemy.  They are trying to understand and comprehend a culture and an environment they know nothing about.

When you cannot even get basic nomenclature correct, when you constantly describe things incorrectly, it should be obvious that you don’t know what you’re talking about.  Alas they double down on stupid because they have no interest in learning, just in criminalizing those they hate with differing opinions. -B]