Equalizer

"People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic
rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's
the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even
an armed one, can only make a successful living in a
society where the state has granted him a force monopoly."

---from the Gun is Civilization By Major L. Caudil, USMC (Ret)

http://homemadedefense.blogspot.com/2009/06/gun-is-civilization.html

Thoughts on firearms from the Revolution

George Mason's Fairfax County Militia Plan, 1775:
"And we do each of us, for ourselves respectively, promise and engage to keep a good firelock in proper order, & to furnish ourselves as soon as possible with, & always keep by us, one pound of gunpowder, four pounds of lead, one dozen gunflints, & a pair of bullet moulds, with a cartouch box, or powder horn, and bag for balls."

Patrick Henry, 1775:
"They tell us that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us."

 
Samuel Adams:
"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can."

John Adams:
"Arms in the hands of the citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of the country, the overthrow of tyranny or private self-defense."


Patrick Henry:
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."

Noah Webster, 1787:
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."



Tench Coxe, writing as "the Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 1788:
"The power of the sword, say the minority of Pennsylvania, is in the hands of Congress. My friends and countrymen, it is not so, for the powers of the sword are in the hands of the yeomanry of America from 16 to 60. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."


Connecticut gun code of 1650:
"All persons shall bear arms, and every male person shall have in continual readiness a good muskitt or other gunn, fitt for service."


Article 3 of the West Virginia state constitution:"A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use."

Virginia Declaration of Rights 13 (June 12, 1776), drafted by George Mason:
"That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power."


A proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution, as passed by the Pennsylvania legislature:"That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and their own states or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game; and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals."

The strongest reason...

Australian Gun Identification Chart

There has been a lot in the "Firearms Media" about Australia and their efforts to eradicate private ownership of firearms. Many people seem to believe that crime has increased since the ban has been enacted. I just find the idea of all those beautiful old Enfields being crushed and burned so sad. I would be happy to buy them straight from the Australian Government for $180.00 a piece, they could spend the money on gun control efforts. Everyone would be happy. Other than the Australian former gun owners.

Where do criminals get guns?

Well according to this, most if them get them from ummm, extra-legal ways.
Look at this, only 19% of firearms used by Federal prisoners were bought from licensed dealers (I am including gun shows, were 99% of buyers go through a FBI background check)
At least some of these guys were not convicted felons at the time of their arrest, so we can assume the system has a less than 15% failure rate. Not too bad for government work. Another thing that is left out of this is the "straw sale" were a person legally barred from buying a firearm gets someone else to buy it for them. There is not a whole lot that can be done to stop such sales, unfortunately. Gun dealers I know have seen a lot of them, and worked with Law Enforcement to have the perpetrator arrested. Nice fact: straw sales are very often done by the convict's mom. For real. Another point to think about when looking at this information is that some of these upstanding gents were no doubt lying. I don't know about the other 6%, but I do think its safe to say they didn't get them legally.

Before you ask - I don't have any documentation to back up this graph. We here at Homemade Defense don't do that kind of shit. Pay here is low.

Who lets someone borrow a gun? "Hey Cletus, lemme see that shotgun, the wife's been cheatin' again"
I mean really.

So, "gun control" advocates, gun grabbers, and the dedicated professionals at the ATF, focus on the largest part of this that you can impact. Dealers and Fences. If it can be proved that you stole a gun, you should receive a heavy prison sentence. Like 10-15 years. The whole point is that legal guns in the hands of adults in this country make up a very small portion of gun violence, and as that is the case, law enforcement and those great folks who feel the need to save the rest of us should direct almost all their efforts towards illegal guns, not legal ones. How about unannounced searches of the homes of those on probation or parole for firearms offences? How about a PSA? Give a gun to a felon, do his time for him? Something like that?

Happy now?

Click to enlarge.

Firearm Safety

OK people, lets go over this again.
After hearing about yet another situation where some idiot has maimed or killed someone else through their amazing negligence and stupidity, I felt it is incumbent on me to once again lay out the basic rules of gun safety.

So for the basics:

Four Rules of Gun Handling:

RULE I: Always treat all guns as if they are loaded.

RULE II: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

RULE III: Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.

RULE IV: Be sure of your target and be aware of what is behind it.

Also:

It is your duty to know whether the gun you are holding is loaded. I have a lot of friends with guns, some never have their guns loaded, some always do. But whenever I pick up or are handed a firearm, I check it. POINTING IN A SAFE DIRECTION. Check the safety, check the magazine, check the chamber. REMEMBER TO CHECK THE CHAMBER.

The saying (which I believe is from the Marine Corps) is that there are no firearms accidents. Only negligent discharges.

Another way to say that is anything that happens with your gun is always your fault. ALWAYS.

Also keep in mind should you ever shoot someone you did not intend to, it will very likely be a family member or friend. So be even more careful than you think is necessary.

Another tip- if you think the person holding a gun is an idiot or drunk or any other reason you wouldn't want to trust your life to them, you should probably get the hell away.

Never let breaches of gun safety go. Always let people know when they are in error.
They might be ignorant or forgetful or stupid. That does not relieve your responsibility to yourself and others. This goes the same whether they are new to firearms and learning about
them, or an experienced shooter or a combat veteran. Keep in mind the next time they do something dangerous, it could be your ass.

OK, that is all I have for now.
BE AWARE AND BE CAREFUL

The Worldwide History of Arms Confiscation

Some more interesting facts that I ran across and thought I'd share with you.


In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
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Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
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China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
——————————
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
_____________
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated

A Journalist's Guide to Firearms

Anyone who knows anything about guns and watches or reads the news should get a good laugh out of this.


I believe that the major media companies and outlets have fallen into a trap of their own making, refusing to think for themselves, enforcing political stereotypes to keep people from questioning authority. Since 9/11, the main job of the television media has been to keep us scared enough to be quiet and maintain the status quo. They hide behind false claims of impartiality to make tens of millions of dollars a year selling us shampoo and financial advisers while ignoring their high-minded ideals or prostituting them for Pulitzers, turning them into something that reminds me more of televangelists than the search for the truth to enlighten the masses.
OK, rant ended.

The Gun is Civilization

Something I ran across a couple of years ago, I thought that I would share it with you.
The Gun is Civilization
by Major L. Caudill, USMC (Ret)


Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another:
reason and force. If you want me to do something for you,
you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or
force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every
human interaction falls into one of those two categories,
without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively
interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid
method of social interaction, and the only thing that
removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as
paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You
have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have
a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound
woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year
old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang
banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a
carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes
the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers
between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the
source of bad force equations. These are the people who
think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed
from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a
[armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only
true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed
either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no
validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are
armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic
rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's
the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even
an armed one, can only make a successful living in a
society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes
confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in
injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways.
Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the
physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury
on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't
constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people
take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at
worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier
works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the
stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands
of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight
lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force
equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for
a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun
at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded.
I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it
enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of
those who would interact with me through reason, only the
actions of those who would do so by force. It removes
force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is
a civilized act.

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)
I don't have anything to add because the Major said it all.
All credit to Maj. Caudill, of course.