Gunleaders Blog

Grover’s wrong.

“Third, remember who votes for you and why. The modern conservative movement is made up of people who, on the issue that moves their vote, ask one thing from the central government: “Leave me alone.” ”

That’s no longer enough for gun owners and it hasn’t been for a long time.  We can no longer accept ‘being left alone’ or picking the candidate who will infringe our rights the least.  It’s about how many restrictions they’re going to REPEAL in exchange for our support.  

Do NOT settle for a candidate answer “I strongly support the Second Amendment“.   Be ready for this dismissal and immediately follow it up.

“Great, so you will help us repeal unsafe federal lands restrictions on self defense.  Give me your contact information so we can coordinate submitting this bill.  No, not your campaign staff, YOUR contact information.  You want MY vote and my vote comes at a non-negotiable cost.”  There are many possibilities here, but the key is to immediately try to buttonhole this into a commitment.

Politicians are master manipulators of the spoken and written word.  They practice their craft of not being tripped up by a potential voter, or ensnared into actually doing work by a constituent.  Be prepared, don’t trust any answer you get from a politician and stay on your message.

Do NOT let the conversation continue at the phrase “enforce existing [firearms] laws”.  This is a “NO GO” for gun owners and you need to make sure that the candidate or politician clearly understands the status quo means electoral DEFEAT.  It’s about repealing firearms restrictions and we cannot afford to give our votes to candidates who advocate using the weight of government force against us.  That is after all what “enforce existing laws” means.

Being left alone is a concept of days long gone by.  There is no more “left alone”.  From taxes on your land and house that localities will seize your property for not paying, to state level eminent domain condemnations and other incursions to the ever increasing encroachment into every aspect of our lives by the federal government.  You can’t even breathe in the United States and not be impacted by federal regulations.

What can you do in the United States of America anymore that isn’t regulated by law or regulation?

REPEAL needs to be the 2012 battle cry.

A doppelganger is described as a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune.  When Jeff Knox and David Codrea emailed me and informed me that David Vann had written an anti-gun column (David Codrea, Gun Week Examiner) and was a professor at the University of San Francisco, I knew I had found mine.

One David Vann is on the right coast, a former law enforcement officer, RKBA supporter, Co-Founder of Gunleaders.com & USRKBA.org who believes in the absolute right of individuals, including military personnel, to defend themselves, the other, on the left coast, is a virulently anti-gun professor who writes about those who commit mass murder, teaches at a liberal college, doesn’t trust military personnel to own firearms and believes handguns should be totally banned because, he says, they are only used to kill.

What to do?  I’ll follow conventional and traditional wisdom and confront the beast. So, David Vann, meet David Vann.

I saw exactly what you propose.  I saw a handgun ban at work from 1976 forward in Washington, D.C.  I witnessed the body count rise, steadily, each and every year, as this social experiment continued to fail.  I cringed at the battered, bloody bodies of women who had been raped, robbed, beaten and murdered and had no way to defend themselves.  I heard stories of business owners who were so terrified of being robbed and killed that they were willing to break the law themselves and obtain firearms on the black market rather than risk being shot and killed by robbers, an all too frequent event when D.C. became known as the “Murder Capitol” of the Country.

Gun control advocates have an explanation to all this that is far too simplistic.  “Well, they keep selling guns elsewhere”.  Yes, they do, however, law abiding D.C. residents could not simply go somewhere else and buy a handgun and bring it back to the city, a fact you and others conveniently forget to mention.  Criminals, however, steal guns and laugh at all laws.

As for handguns being only used for killing, every law enforcement officer in this country should be sending you a message loud and clear that if that was the case the body count would be astronomical.  Police officers do not carry handguns to kill people Mr.Vann, they carry handguns to protect lives.  Occasionally it becomes necessary to use that handgun to save an innocent life.  Are you going to object to a police officer using a handgun to save your life from someone who is intent upon killing you?  If you are, please let the police know so that they can avoid responding to your address, putting their lives in jeopardy, when you really don’t want to be saved.

The courts have ruled that the police have no obligation to protect the individual (Warren v District of Columbia), therefore it falls upon the individual to act responsibly in that regard.  A handgun protects the innocent and saves lives every day.  Forty eight States now have licensing for concealed carry and the consistent drop in violent crime attests to the fact that criminals are well aware that it’s becoming dangerous for them to ply their trade, except of course in cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago and a few other holdouts.

Is there aberrant behavior in our society that goes undetected?  Of course, just as there are journalists and writers who present one-sided rants.  Should we require them to register their computers and undergo a mental exam to determine if they are fit to fill the papers and academia with all the garbage we are subjected to today?  It might be tempting but the First Amendment is protected by the Second so we all remain free to express our opinions no matter how far from the truth some of them may be.

You rail against the NRA yet fail to acknowledge that the NRA is the chief training organization for Police nationwide and has developed more educational programs for firearms safety than any other group in this Country.

As a doppelganger you truly are a malevolent entity that seems bent on destruction of our most cherished freedoms; freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  I reject you and I cast you out.

Dave Vann – The real one

From Wisconsin Carry:

On June 6th, 2009, Dave Bernson, a Wisconsin Carry member was unlawfully arrested in
his home by a Milwaukee Police Officer after he had been legally carrying in the
only manner allowed by Wisconsin law (open carry).  Mr. Bernson's house and vehicle
were searched without his consent and without a warrant.  A legally owned handgun
was seized by the police.  Mr. Bernson was then transported to a Milwaukee jail
facility where he was later released without any charges being filed.  After Mr.
Berson applied for the return of his property from the Milwaukee Police Department
over a month later, he was then issued a citation for unlawful transport of a
firearm by the MPD. A Milwaukee circuit judge later dismissed that frivolous
citation.  Despite there being no charges and no convictions of any crime or
wrong-doing by Mr. Bernson his unlawfully seized firearm was not returned. 

On Jan. 10th, 2010, Wisconsin Carry, Inc filed a lawsuit against the City of
Milwaukee and the arresting MPD officer on Mr. Bernson's behalf to seek damages for
his unlawful arrest and seizure of his property.  A copy of that lawsuit is
available here: 

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/GFSZA_Legal_Documents/03_GFSZ_Complaint_A2.pdf 

Wisconsin Carry is pleased to announce that a settlement in the amount of $6,500 has
been reached with The City of Milwaukee to resolve this lawsuit and compensate Mr.
Bernson for the violation of his civil rights. A copy of the settlement agreement is
available here: 

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/GFSZA_Legal_Documents/Resolution-of-Settlement-Oct-2011-10-12-04.pdf

If you have ever wondered if public comments make a difference, they do.  If you don’t believe commenting on rule making, information collections & various other administrative actions by the government is worth it…  You’re wrong

1 public comment STOPS Coast Guard rule dead in its tracks.

Just one public comment stopped this rule.

Now – please:  Help some brothers & sisters out in Arizona.

Update:  Here is the newly proposed rule, conforming to the public comments.