The Police Are Not Obligated To Help You

There are many good reasons for the 2nd Amendment to exist.  The original reason was so that the people had access to tools t hey would need in case they wanted to overthrow a tyrannical government.  This is still a good and valid reason but these days, we still need a 2nd Amendment so we can have the tools to protect ourselves.  Many people believe that the police are a simple phone call away so we don’t need guns to protect ourselves.  I beg to differ…unfortunately, most of the time the police will NOT be there to protect you.  They can’t be everywhere at once and it isn’t even their job to protect individuals!

You need to understand that nationwide there are about 300 million American citizens and only about 500,000 police officers, only about 125,000 on duty at any given time.  An average police response time in an urban area is about 15 minutes, could be 45 minutes or longer in a rural area.  A spectacular response time  would be 5 minutes or less.  Although, in most violent situations, this is about 4 min. 30 sec. too late.

You have a fire extinguisher at home, don’ you?  If your a responsible person, you most likely have several.  Why?  Why wouldn’t you just call the fire department in case of a fire?  Obviously, firemen can’t be everywhere at once.  You are going to at least try to contain the situation before help arrives.  The same concept applies to firearms.

I made a comment earlier that it is not the job of the police officers to protect you, well what did I mean by that?  I mean exactly what I said.  There have been many court cases throughout American history that says exactly that.    Lets have a look at Linda Riss v. City of New York.  Linda was an attractive young woman who had recently gotten engaged to be married.  Her ex has been threatening her for the last 6 months, wanting her back.  Linda, fearing for her life,  had repeatedly asked for help from the police.  She was constantly turned down.  Also, because of State law, it is illegal to carry a weapon in New York City.  One night after her engagement party, her ex threw acid in her face.  She was blinded and disfigured.

Riss attempted to sue the police for not helping her but the court found that the police were under no obligation to protect her.  Their job is law enforcement, not personal protection.  The same was found in these cases:  DeShaney v. Winnebago County, Ford v. Town of Grafton, and  Warren v. D.C.  You need to take responsibility for your own personal protection.  Put together a system…training, weapons, action plans, etc.  Firearms may not be  a part of your plan and that’s ok.  There are other options such as tasers and pepper spray.  I believe that in certain situations these devices may not be adequate  for stopping some criminals.  However, you need to put together a system that works best for you.  Stay safe out there!

The Rise of Concealed Carry

Here is a good little tidbit of information.  A recent Zogby International poll shows that 83% of Americans support the right to carry a concealed handgun.  Even Democrats have a high percentage of support.  The poll shows that 80% of Obama voters support concealed carry!  Just thought you would like to know.

Guns Kill 30,000 People Every Year

This completely wrong statistic is very well known and can be found on the web site of the Brady Campaign to Stop Handgun Violence.  However, according to the Journal for Criminal Law and Criminology in 1995, an estimated 2,500,000 times each year people use firearms to defend themselves from crime each year!  Giving the Brady’s the benifit of the doubt, that means the percentage of people killed by guns is only .012% of the people who use their firearms to protect their lives.  I suppose you’re right Mrs. Brady, if we can only save one life, it’s worth it…you sicken me!

Now lets look at that 30,000 number.    The National Center for Health Statistics says that 54% of these are suicides.  Since Japan has a suicide rate more than 4 times ours (and cannot own guns) you have to throw those out of the statistic.  Studies show that the absence of guns does not decrease suicide rates.

Dems On Our Side

This is old news but it wasn’t coverd too well so for those who don’t know…several months ago, 60 house Democrats signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder saying that they would not vote for an assault weapons ban.  This has effectively killed any hope of a ban any time soon!  This was excellent news!

More recently, a bill worked its way through congress allowing national reciprocity of concealed carry permits.  Basically, if you have a CCW permit, then you would be able to go to any other state and carry concealed as long as you followed that states laws (Wisconsin and Illinois does not allow concealed carry so you still would not be allowed to carry in these states).  It would have made your concealed carry permit like your drivers license, good in all states.  This bill only lost by one vote in a democratically controlled congress!  The pro-gun climate is looking pretty good.

Another great thing that has happened recently is that CCW permit holders are allowed to carry their firearms concealed into national parks.

J.B. Van Hollen, Wisconsin’s Attorney General released a memo to all of the states law enforcement agencies reminding them that open carry in Wisconsin is completely legal and that our states constitution says that open carry is a right of ours and that citizens cannot be arrested for other crimes such as misdemeanor misconduct for simply carrying a firearm.  Soon after the memo went out, Milwaukee police chief Ed Flynn stated that he didn’t care about the law and that he would still arrest people.  He later rescinded his stupid remarks!

Things are looking up!

More Lies From MSNBC

I will try harder to post here a bit more often.  A lot has been happening lately in the gun world.  It seems that the Anti-Gunners over at MSNBC are up to their usuall tricks; making up the news instead of covering it.  A few weeks ago at an Obama ralley in Arizona, over a dozen peacefull protesters open carried their firearms and gathered accross the street from the event.  No one was hurt or arrested.  If you watched the MSNBC report, you were told of one protester in particular that had an AR-15 slung over his shoulder.  They even showed a picture of the protester.  Well, they showed a very tight photo of the mans white shirt and a porting of the gun.  The photo was shot from the mans side.  MSNBC then cut to an interview with some moron who started ranting about racist whites carrying guns at Obama rallies.  Switch the channel to Fox News…you then saw the same photo, zoomed out, of an African-American man, well dressed in white shirt and black tie.  AR-15 slung over his shoulder, pointing in a safe direction at all times.  MSNBC couldn’t possibly show a well dressed black man safely carriyng a rifle at a peaceful anti-Obama rally!  It doesn’t fit their agenda very well.

Gun Show Confirmation

We knew it all along that gun shows do not increase crime.  The law doesn’t stop at the door of a gun show, all sales must go through a background check, just like outside the show.

Well, the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan just completed an 11 year study of gun shows that concludes that they do not increase crime and might even reduce crime!  Here is the link to the NRA article:   http://www.nraila.org/legislation/read.aspx?id=4200 and if you don’t trust the NRA as a source, here is the link to the actual study:  http://www.closup.umich.edu/research/workingpapers/papers/gunshows-sept08-final.pdf

The study included both extremes in America.  They looked at gun shows in Texas and California.  Texas of course being less restrictive and California being much more restrictive.  The study found no increase in violent crime in California following gun shows.  The study found that in Texas “there are approximately 16 fewer gun homicides resulting from the 200 gun shows in the average year.”

Will this study sway the opinion of the anti-gun crowd?  I doubt it, but here are the FACTS anyway.

Wisconsin Gun Grab!

I’m getting sick of all these casual gun owners when the subject comes up about gun confiscations in the U.S.  The pejorative answer is always:  “It will never happen in America”.  Well, it has happened several times throughout American history.  Recently in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, police went door to door confiscating firearms when the residents needed them the most.  While evil people were running all over the city, raping, murdering, and looting…the police were confiscating legally owned guns from law abiding people!

Well, it has happened right here in our own backyard.  Last Saturday a police officer was wounded by a gunshot in Oshkosh, WI.  During the search for the assailant, police went door-to-door in the area of the crime and confiscated firearms of area residents!  Officers promised that the firearms would be returned after they were tested forensically.  When an armed police officer shows up at your door and demands your own private legally owned property, that is called armed robbery!  I can’t believe this has happened so close to home.  What a great idea, steal everyone’s firearms while there is a criminal running around the area.

This obviously was a blatant disregard for the rights of the citizens of Oshkosh and apparently most of them did not understand their rights.  No one can search your property without a warrant.    Sadly, like what happened after Katrina, it wouldn’t surprise me if these people never get their guns back.

Now what do we do?

There is no question that Obama is going to systematically go after our God given right to keep and bear arms.  Here is some proof…Click Here.   This is Obama’s Urban Policy from his Change.gov website.  The page is no longer there but thanks to the wonders of Internet archiving, it is now preserved forever!  If you scroll to the bottom and read the section on Crime and Law Enforcement, it will tell you everything you need to know.  A little interesting side note.  This website was taken down during Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk (nationally syndicated radio show) as Tom was talking about the page.  I’m not saying that is the reason it was taken down but it is a possibility.  I think a bunch of gun owners hit that page all at once and the Obama camp got scared and took it down.

So now we know his plan of attack.  First is to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which prevents anyone except law enforcement to access gun tracing information from gun stores or the FBI.  Next he will re-instate the Assault Weapons ban, the very ban that sunsetted in 2004 after 10 years of showing that it had done absolutely NOTHING to reduce gun crime.

He will close the non-existent gun show loophole.  Every firearms dealer at a gun show must perform a background check, the law doesn’t wait outside the door of a gun show, all laws still apply.  The supposed loophole is when a private individual sets up a table and sells their own personal gun collection.  Private gun sales have always been legal.  It is YOUR property and you have the right to sell it to ANYONE as long as they are not felons.

Obama wants to make guns “childproof” which no doubt means adding expensive mechanical devices to every firearm manufactured.  Gun prices would skyrocket because the research and price of manufacture to create such a device would force prices up.  Oh, and the devices won’t work anyway!

So, what do we do now?  First of all, everyone who is a gun owner that is not a member of the NRA…shame on you!  As Tom Gresham puts it, you are in the wagon while the rest of us are pulling your weight.  Write over a check that equates to 2 boxes of .45 ammo and enjoy the magazine, rental car and hotel discounts, and free firearm insurance.  Next, look around for local gun groups to join, like this one.  Volunteer at the grassroots level.  Call your Senators, write letters to the editor, talk to people, protest anti-gun activities, volunteer on your local pro-gun candidates campaigns.

We can fight and win this battle, I believe we still have a pro-gun majority in congress.  Many of the Democrats elected in 2006 are pro-gun.  So get out there, join the NRA, and get active.  We can do this!