Another "gun free" disarmament zone invaded by terrorizing criminal.

No one has been reported injured. It looks as if the 17 year old gunman had plenty of opportunity to kill inside the Oroville CA school, but didn't .

Let's look at the facts.

1. The school was a "gun free" zone.
2. Someone carried a gun into the school.

What's wrong with this picture? Well, it's not a clarion call for gun control. Let's look at the facts.

1. 1. The shooter was 17. He had a handgun. This is illegal under Federal and California law. He didn't pay any attention to the law.
2. 2. The shooter carried his illegally obtained handgun into an area where it is illegal to carry a handgun under Federal and California law. He didn't pay any attention to the law.
3. 3. It is against the law to threaten someone with a firearm. He didn't pay any attention to the law.
4. 4. It is against the law to hold people against their will. He didn't pay any attention to the law.

I'm sure there are many more I could mention here, but I'll refrain since I don't know details. The point is, people who are determined to break the law, BREAK THE LAW. It's what criminals do. Now, before you say he isn't a criminal, look at the list above. He may not have been one yesterday when he was thinking about it, but the moment he picked up that handgun this morning; he was a criminal.

And no, the little gun wasn't whispering in his ear and leading him on. If it was, I'm sure the psych interviews will bring it out, and it still wasn't the gun's fault.

There are still rumbles filtering south from the efforts of some to allow teachers to arm themselves for the protection of themselves and their students. Incidents like this can only make that option more reasonable to more people as time goes on. See my post below about the terrorist threat to our nation's schoolchildren, and it seems almost inevitable.

Valor

from The Patriot

Profiles of valor: Airman Phillip King

On 8 August 2006, in Ebrahimkhel, Afghanistan, just north of Kandahar, Air Force Senior Airman Phillip King was leading a convoy to help the Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan National Army (ANA) when a rocket-propelled grenade landed within five yards of his Humvee. A full-scale insurgent attack came right on its tail.

Returning fire, King positioned his Humvee to shield the convoy against the incoming barrage. When a second RPG blast gave him a concussion, King persisted, exposing himself to intense enemy fire to direct defensive fire by Afghan soldiers. This allowed an ANA soldier to neutralize the enemy site using a hand grenade.

As King led his team out of danger amid continued sniper fire, he discovered a second ambush site where Taliban forces had entrapped five Afghan soldiers with gunfire. King maneuvered his vehicle, freed the soldiers, then led the ANP and ANA troops to establish a perimeter.

Still taking heavy fire from machine guns, small arms, and RPGs, King’s team called in air support. Just before it arrived, King again exposed himself to intense fire to mark the targets for the bombers, which effectively took out the Taliban position. Airman King’s actions saved the lives of more than a dozen Afghans and helped eliminate 20-25 Taliban militants. His team suffered no casualties.

King, who volunteered for the 365-day Afghanistan deployment, called it “another day on the job.” The U.S. military called it heroism in ground combat. For his actions, Airman King was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V” for Valor.

Senior Airman King, thank you for your service.

I pray daily for those in harm's way. Part of that prayer is that their service might continue when they return home by vigorously engaging in the political process, even to the point of running for office. We need men and women of Valor in public service.

Remember Beslan??? "Al Qaeda Targets Our Schoolchildren"

On September 20th I posted about the continuing shriek of "gun free zones" for schools that I believe will almost certainly turn into killing zones for terrorists. Mark Sheppard of The American Thinker has written an article, "Al Qaeda Targets Our Schoolchildren", that should turn your blood ice-cold. Here is his introduction and pressing question. Follow the link for the rest.

While Democrats prepare witless campaign slogans blaming Republicans for millions of children not protected by health insurance, al Qaeda's blatant threat to exterminate 2 million American kids remains unheeded.  And it will likely continue to be, notwithstanding mounting evidence that there exists no peril on Earth our young need greater protection from today than merciless jihadist monsters.

Not lack of a national insurance plan. Not global warming.  Not racial or cultural disparities. Not even the Patriot Act, any of its overplayed incursions into individual liberties, or any of the other countless silly and diaphanous liberal causes célèbres, but rather that which would abruptly and savagely end their innocent short lives.

Nearly 6 months have passed since I first challenged the inexcusable refusal by DHS and FBI authorities to publicly connect the obviously connectable dots representing an unnerving number of alarming events -- particularly in the wake of the Beslan school massacre. These include:

• Videotapes confiscated in Afghanistan showing al-Qaeda terrorists training to takeover a school [newly available Video]
• Spokesman Suleiman Abu Gheith‘s declaration of al-Qaeda's "right" to kill 2 million American children
• An Iraqi national with known terrorist connections caught with a computer disk containing information detailing Department of Education crisis planning for U.S school districts. 
• Two Saudi men - one wearing a black trench coat despite the Florida heat -- terrifying a busload of Tampa schoolchildren by boarding a school bus and remaining for the entire ride to school, all the while laughing and speaking Arabic.
• A March FBI/DHS bulletin noting "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who drive school buses, are licensed to drive them, or have actually managed to purchase them right here at home. Including "members of the unnamed extremist groups" who have obtained commercial drivers licenses with school bus endorsements.
• Osama bin Laden's promise that the 2004 terrorist attack at Beslan will happen many times over in the United States.

In that time, little or nothing has been done to relieve parents' understandable anxieties, despite the fresh dots which continued to accrue on this disturbing non-puzzle.

Dots like the seventeen full-sized yellow school buses reported stolen from charter schools, business schools and private bus companies in Houston, Texas, over the past few months. Connect to that and previous disturbing stories the fact that thousands of school bus radios have also been stolen (2000 in California in 2005 alone), and the images shaped should be triggering earsplitting alarms throughout all branches of media and law enforcement.

But instead -- the silence looms apparent while the question remains: Why?

Government doesn't really want to be Big Brother...

They want to be God.

Well, at least the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent parts. Of course, depend on U.S. cities to spend a fortune on technology the Brits have already proven does not reduce crime.

Actually, the Brits have had some success in apprehending some criminals, but with their screwed up way of looking at things, sometimes the victims can go to jail longer than the criminal.

Just what we need here.

Got the GRPC draft agenda today...

 

Tartaro,Gottlieb, Pratt, LaPierre, Lott, Cramer, Parker v. D.C. counsel, Wheeler, Knox, Kopel, Kates, Taff, and on and on and on.

I can't wait.

Why don't we just TALK to them?

Our friends on the Left often ask why the Right is so opposed to just talking to the Iranians.

Why, a dialogue is all we need!

Yeah, dialogue. That's the ticket. Of course their dialogues tend to be a bit one-sided.

( thx to The Anarchangel.)

Giuliani and Gun Control.

If we judge a man by the totality of his actions, Rudy is in deep doo-doo.

(Update: How did 9/11 change the Constitution? The Bill of Rights said the same thing on 9/10 and every day before.)

See this from the Washington Post .

"Thank you very much for your efforts on behalf of H.R. 4296, the assault weapons ban," Clinton said in a May 6, 1994, "Dear Rudy" letter.

"With your support and encouragement, the U.S. House of Representatives took a critical step toward getting assault weapons off the streets, out of neighborhoods, and out of the hands of criminals," said Clinton, adding he was "grateful" for Giuliani's "dedicated" backing of the bill.

Many Republicans joined the NRA in opposing the assault-weapons ban, which lapsed in 2004. The law also included funding for cities such as New York to hire more cops and imposed stricter sentences for repeat violent felons.

Giuliani wrote Clinton back on May 31. "Thank you for your autographed photo and your kind note," he said. "Please know that you have my continued support for this crucial legislation."

Later in the year, after signing the anti-crime bill into law, Clinton wrote Giuliani again to thank him.

"You can be proud of all of your efforts to promote this bill," Clinton said in an Oct. 4 letter to Giuliani. "Your hard work made this victory for the American people possible. Please accept the enclosed signing pen as a token of my appreciation and admiration."

Giuliani again returned the praise.

"Thank you for the signing pen. I greatly appreciate your thoughtfulness, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in New York City and across the nation," he said in an Oct. 13 "Dear Mr. President" note.

Criminal use of a gun NOT an exercise of Second Amendment rights...

Sigh...

One more time.

When someone uses a firearm when they commit a crime, it is not an exercise of Second Amendment rights. It. Is. A. Crime.

Abusing the First Amendment? Slander or Libel.

Abuse of the Second? Murder, armed robbery, wanton endangerment, etc.

Abuse of the Third? Criminal Trespass

Abuse of the Fourth? Criminal Trespass, or if the Government, denial of due process

Get the idea? When someone is convicted in a slander or libel suit, no one (except the perpetrator) says, "Oh, he just exercised his First Amendment rights." No, they say he committed slander or libel.

I think it would be entirely appropriate to sue some of the people who are continually equating law abiding citizens who are exercising their right to keep and bear arms. Some large awards might shut them down. Or shut them up. Either one is fine with me.

Concealed carry charges dismissed, man has right to self defense.

Driver's gun charge tossed

Judge finds prosecution of delivery man unconstitutional

By DERRICK NUNNALLY
dnunnally@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Sept. 24, 2007

A Milwaukee County judge found the concealed-weapon prosecution of a pizza driver who shot two would-be robbers in seven months unconstitutional Monday.

The ruling by Circuit Judge Daniel A. Noonan means Andres Vegas won't face criminal charges in the non-fatal shootings. Prosecutors had filed a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon after the second shooting, in January, and said Vegas had been warned after a July 2006 shooting not to carry a concealed gun while driving for his job.

However, Noonan agreed with defense attorneys' contention that Vegas needed the gun to protect himself in his chosen work, citing state Supreme Court decisions that found justified exceptions to the state's concealed-carry ban.

"Given Vegas's experience, he has a need for a gun at a moment's notice," Noonan writes in his decision. "Enclosing and unloading the weapon is not a reasonable alternative to secure and protect his safety. Plus, Vegas while delivering pizzas enters and exits his car constantly; it would be unreasonable for him every time that he enters his car to require him to unload it and place it in a case and then reverse the process every time he exits. This defeats the purpose of having the gun for security and protection."

Craig Mastantuono, one of two attorneys who represented Vegas, said the weapons ban had presented Vegas, 46, with two untenable choices: either carry a gun illegally or else go unarmed on delivery runs in the same central-city neighborhoods where he has been robbed four times.

"Mr. Vegas's situation may seem unique," Mastantuono said, "but given the gap between the rights that are afforded Wisconsin citizens in the right to bear arms amendment and the prohibitions that restrict Wisconsin residents in the concealed-carry general ban that was never updated by the Legislature, I think it's going to be a recurring situation, quite frankly."

Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern said the office has no plans to appeal the decision. An appeal could give a higher court an opportunity to hand down a precedent-setting decision on whether the concealed-carry prohibition is constitutional, whereas Noonan's decision applies only to Vegas's case.

Mastantuono said Vegas has moved on, career-wise. After the charge was filed, Vegas became a delivery driver in a Milwaukee suburb. He is now a cook.

"Mr. Vegas felt required by circumstances - not only of threats to his safety but being prosecuted for defending himself - he felt required to change careers," Mastantuono said.

(from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online)

Another open carry harassment...

Another hassle for a citizen exercising his right to carry openly, this time in Washington County, VA.

The Sheriff of Washington County, VA, thought someone's PC complaint about lawful behavior was sufficient reason to send his deputies to remedy the situation.

Wouldn't it be nice if law enforcement told these people to shut up and leave people alone?

Twain on cradle to grave...

“The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivalry of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in time, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise.” —Mark Twain

I wonder what he'd say now?

(from The Patriot Brief)

Cowboy Assault Rifles

Cowboy assault rifle. Hmmmm.

Found this at MadOgre via GeekWithA.45.

Might have to try this with my .44 Marlin. Synthetic stock, 16" barrel with ghost sights or red dot. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Why I'd vote for Cthulhu

(I posted the comment below in response to "Why vote for Cthulhu" over at View from the Porch. I'm cross posting here because I've decided that any comment over 300 words gets cross-posted. Yeah, ok, I know that just makes me lazy) 

I’m not about making anyone do anything they don’t want to do. I make my choices and respect at least the right of others to make their own even when I don’t agree with them. So instead of saying what you should do, I’ll tell you why I’d vote for Cthulhu.

Even though I’ve never served in the military or any elected office, as an American who loves my country, I consider myself no less bound to an oath which might read,

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute my duties as a citizen of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, I hereby declare, on oath, that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God." This is substantially the oath of the naturalized citizen of the United States.

As a citizen in this republic, one of my duties to preserve the Constitution is to vote for people to represent me in the government. Sometimes I’m happy to cast a vote for someone. Sometimes I’m happy to vote against someone. Sometimes I just have to suck it up and vote for the lesser of two evils. However, I will be at the polls to vote on every Election Day. In my opinion, to do less is to spit on the grave or in the face of every person who has ever worn a uniform in service to our country.

Now, if you disagree with me, we can still be friends. You can stay home or vote third party: that’s your business. But practically speaking, how does that differentiate you from the lazy slobs who stay home because they can’t be bothered to figure out what’s going on, or the folks that write in Britney because, like, she’s had a hard time and could use the boost in self-esteem?

I’m not a one issue voter, and I suspect that’s true of most of you. So far, I can’t find a single issue where I agree with any of the announced Democrats, with the possible exception of Bill Richardson. I’m sure I can find at least one with any Republican candidate. That’s all I need.

I'm glad for Giuliani's new pro-gun views...

Really I am. Anytime someone sees and agrees with the wisdom of the Founders, for whatever reason (and 9/11 was a good one), I am well pleased. Rudy Giuliani has every right, and even an obligation to change his mind when more information changes the way he views something. The same goes for Romney and his new pro-life views.

However, even with his new-found attitude toward arms and their owners, I can't vote for a man who, as a matter of course while Mayor of one of America's largest cities, rejected  and worked against the Constitutional rights of all Americans. I feel the same way about John McCain and his staunch support of the unconstitutional campaign finance "reform" law. I have a lot of respect for both of these men, but I can't vote for either of them in the primary. You'd think folks running for office which requires an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States would read the darned thing before they run. Give themselves a chance to back off gracefully, before they make themselves look foolish.

I was hoping Hunter or Huckaby would make a better showing. Right now, it looks like Fred Thompson is going to get my vote. We'll see how things turn out.

Lest anyone think I am a one-issue voter, let me assure you, I am not. There are other reasons I am not pleased with most of the Republican field. But if you don't respect the Constitution when it speaks plainly, you don't have any business running for office, particularly Federal offices.

I don't know much about football, but...

Aren't you supposed to have a defense? U of L dropped it's 2nd game in a row to a Syracuse team that hadn't shown much this season. Of course it really helped Syracuse that the U of L defense pretty much hasn't figured out the other teams may pass the ball every now and then. Gee whiz!

These guys are starting to look like UK used to!! No effective coverage in the secondary, a sleep-walking attitude and, remember tackling fellows, where you grab the other guy and pull him to the ground? U of L's highlight reels of the Middle TN, UK, and Syracuse games are full of "broken" tackles. Broken is about right. After the game with Middle, I thought it might be coaching, but after today, I'd put most of the blame on the field.

Sheesh! I expected a few rough games this season. That has been radically upgraded to a rough season.

I guess it was all the answers in the middle...

Your results:
You are Will Riker

Will Riker 70% Worf 70% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 65% Chekov 60% Uhura 60% Beverly Crusher 60% Mr. Sulu 50% Jean-Luc Picard 50% Deanna Troi 50% Spock 49% Data 38% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 35% James T. Kirk (Captain) 30% Mr. Scott 30% Geordi LaForge 30%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

If I knew any martial arts, I guess it would have kicked it over to Worf, but I can't figure this Riker thing. Not that there's any thing wrong with Riker.

I'm a baaaad boy?

(Gun x 34)+(Shoot x 2)+(Hell x 1) = NC-17?

I guess it's maintained by GFWs.

Valor

from The Patriot

On the evening of 2 February 2007, Army Lt. Brennan Goltry was commanding the second truck of a five-vehicle convoy in Samarra, Iraq, when enemy insurgents fired on the lead humvee, crippling it and wounding its gunner. After directing his driver to position his vehicle as a shield for the injured soldier, Goltry opened his door amid a barrage of incoming rounds and returned fire. He sustained two gunshot wounds to his left leg. Undeterred, he continued shooting until the enemy was neutralized. Disregarding his own injuries, Goltry rallied his men and countered the ambush with an offensive. His platoon repelled the enemy, securing strategic positions and capturing one enemy combatant. When a medical vehicle sought to evacuate Goltry, he refused, choosing instead to remain with his troops.

Lt. Goltry is quick to redirect any praise for his actions toward his soldiers: “I’m real proud of my men,” he says. “They fight real hard for me and they’ve saved my [rear] more than once.” He terms the events “just another day.” Indeed, fellow officer Capt. Buddy Ferris notes, “[T]his is the type of stuff he does every day. It’s not the first time he’s been shot, and it’s not the first time he charged the enemy.”

For his actions, now-Captain Goltry was awarded the Silver Star, the Combat Infantryman Badge and two Purple Hearts. He is expected to receive a third Purple Heart for injuries sustained during an insurgent attack on 6 May.

Lt. Goltry, thank you for your service.

I pray daily for those in harm's way. Part of that prayer is that their service might continue when they return home by vigorously engaging in the political process, even to the point of running for office. We need men and women of Valor in public service.

Western Kentucky University students plan protest FOR concealed carry

Some WKU students are planning an "empty holster" protest in support of Students for Concealed Carry.

Protests are important, but join KC3 (Kentucky Coalition to Carry Concealed) and the NRA and work to get the legislature to change the law.

Hmmmm. I wonder why the police already had their pictures?

From Zendo Deb I see two goblins will no longer be victimizing citizens in their homes here in the Peoples' Republic of Louisville.

See the story here from WHAS.

And the man that was defending himself has been arrested for drug trafficking and tampering with evidence after the police found cocaine in his freezer.

That story here from WAVE3.

The money quote:

"If someone comes up on the dwelling or the premises, with the intent to commit a felony, the presumption (is) that they are there to cause death or serious bodily harm," said WAVE 3 legal expert Bart Adams. 

Adam says that "gives the owner, the person that is there, the presumptive right to use deadly physical force or physical force to repel any attacker or any invader.

Thank you Kentucky Constitution and the General Assembly.