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By Stephen, on September 28th, 2011
So the Obama administration has put up a website for citizens to post petitions. And they have a policy that any item that receives more than 150 votes will be made public, and any item that receives more than 5,000 votes will get a response from the administration. So please join me in bringing this subject to the attention of other firearms owners and pushing the Obama administration to remove the prohibition from the 1986 Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) against registering automatic weapons produced after 1986 (or at least to take a position on it). It’s just common sense that if something is legal, it should be legal for everyone.
This petition doesn’t go as far as some would like by removing even the 1934 restriction that all automatic weapons be registered, but what say we take this one step at a time?
Here is the petition. And here is what I wrote:
American ownership of firearms is a constitutional right and cherished tradition. This includes thousands of automatic weapons. But though virtually none of them have been used in a crime, and for political reasons rather than public safety, ownership of this type of weapon has been limited by production date. But is a 2011 firearm more dangerous than an identical firearm from 1986?
This law has not reduced violent crime. It has simply made such weapons too expensive for middle class hobbyists – which is not fair or democratic. Should we limit ownership of any legal item to only the well heeled?
President Obama claims he is a class warrior for the middle class. Will he fight for us on this issue and allow registration of newer weapons? Or continue to restrict ownership to the wealthy?
Please take a minute to sign up and vote for this and pass it around to everyone you know. Wouldn’t you love to see the administration have to take a stand on this issue?
You do have to create a login to vote, but it only requires your email address and zip code. If you don’t think the government already knows that much about you … well, don’t know what to say about that. Not everyone wants to get themselves noticed on 2nd amendment issues, of course, but as a wise man once said: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.!
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or from the iBooks book store for Apple products. Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on July 28th, 2011
So the Wisconsin Anti-GunViolence Effort group thinks it can talk businesses into banning CCW. Hmmm. They can only get 3,164 followers on their FB page — and considering an occasional gun-friendly comment pops up before it is immediately deleted (can’t have anyone debating, dontcha know) some of those are on our side rather than theirs. To put that number into perspective, I have over 3,000 followers on FB myself, and the national NRA group has 1.1 million (with the latter constantly rising). Yeah — I’m guessing their grass roots chi is all about bark and not bite.
But most interesting in their article, which assumes Wisconsinites are all bumpkins who have never been out of state:
Bonavia says they are calling on businesses to ban guns from being carried inside. She says similar steps have been taken by about 80-percent of the businesses in other states that allow concealed carry.
As a statistic, that one is laughable. 80% would be 8 out of 10 businesses, and I haven’t seen anything close to even 8% of business posted, much less 80%, anywhere I’ve traveled. Probably more like 4%.
If you include all states that allow CCW (49 now) it becomes even more ridiculous; I’ve traveled all over California and NY and never seen any posted “no gun” signs. CCW is so rare it’s below the radar.
But even if you limit your statistics to the 41 “shall issue” or no permit required states, the number is still miniscule. Though I don’t usually carry when I go out of state, I watch for “no gun” signs, and rarely see them.
The only thing I can figure is that WAVE is playing with the numbers (SOP for anti-gun groups) and instead of reporting on businesses that post signs for the general public, they are reporting on businesses that have a restriction buried in their employee manual against carry — which affects the public not at all. I don’t doubt, for instance, that both Starbucks and Walmart have some policy in a manual that employees are not to carry firearms on the job. But that doesn’t affect any of us as customers.
When the legislation was being passed the WAVE FB site was busy and full of fearful posts and guarantees the legislation would be overturned and was the product of Republican boogeyman and governor Scott Walker — even though it passed with a wide bi-partisan majority with many Dem votes. But as someone who’s been through this transition in Colorado and watched it in other states, I can tell you how this will turn out:
A number of businesses will post. Then they will realize that many of the customers they are pissing off are generally conservative and gun friendly small business owners, whom they really need. And that, ironically, anti-gun people feel nervous seeing ANY sign mentioning guns, even a gun ban sign, while pro-gun people will find somewhere else to spend their money. And so there are more negatives to being anti-gun than neutral. And thus the signs will quickly come down.
The few places that keep signs up will post small, difficult to find signs so that they can point them out to anti-gunners but pro-gun people won’t notice them. So they will become defacto carry spots.
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or from the iBooks book store for Apple products. Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on July 14th, 2011
Taking a break from my posting break for this delightful bit of paranoid crazy from the WAVE FB page (an organization for Anti-Gun Wisconsinites that has only managed to get 3,160 followers — slightly less FB friends than I had at my peak (I’m little below that now)).
 Common Sense Takes a Holiday in Wisconsin In case you can’t read the above:
the law will not only put cops at risk but store owners and women on dates and people wearing rolex watches or large diamond rings or fur coats…………yes we all new this—–really there are but 2 types of people nowadays in the USA “religious zealot knee jerk liberals of which I am one and then our opponents neo nazi gun death power and sex obsessed psychopaths.
To be honest I am thinking this may be sarcasm, as few people refer to themselves as “religious zealot knee jerk liberals,” … but given the quality and mental state of the anti-gun groups/liberal Wisconsin groups it’s really hard to say.
But regardless whether it’s parody or serious, well incorporated in this post is that bizarre fear that having a gun available turns otherwise law abiding people into criminals or murderers. i.e. That I, a suburban homeowner and father of 2, will see someone wearing a fur coat or a little bling and just lose control and whip out my .357 and take it from them — thus acquiring the Rolex watch I couldn’t otherwise afford and putting myself in a position where I will never own a gun again and spend many years in prison. While my children are changed from college bound daughters of a fairly successful IT guy to the daughters of an excon living in a trailer.
But in any case … I’ve been carrying on a fairly regular basis for 7 years now, and this has yet to happen. And it won’t … because I’m sane. Which is a claim this poster would have a hard time supporting — unless it actually is sarcasm.
Now … a reminder why we don’t want every cop on a traffic stop to be able to search by our driver’s license for a CCW or, worse yet, identify it on our license plate. The logic is simple, made more so because WI included in their CCW law a provision for unlicensed people to carry firearms in their vehicle as well as licensed, which we also have in Colorado.
- Anybody may have a gun in their car, licensed or not. A police officer who doesn’t assume there’s a gun in a pulled over car is an idiot.
- A criminal prepared to murder a police officer will almost certainly NOT have a CCW but will have a gun. Duh!
- In terms of non-car contact, having a CCW has nothing to do with a gun in the house. Many, many more household’s will have guns than a CCW holder. A police officer who goes into a domestic violence situation assuming there are no weapons because there is no CCW is an idiot.
- It puts an unfair and worthless burden on CCW holders. i.e. in Colorado where the cops do look up CCW on traffic stops (though they’re not supposed to) they’ll always ask me about my gun because I have the CCW. If I didn’t have the CCW I could still carry a gun legally in my car and they’d have no way of knowing ahead of time.
- If anything, a police officer should be relieved if s/he sees a driver has a CCW, because it means they have gone through a thorough background check and are HIGHLY unlikely to be a danger to them.
Hold the line against these crazies, my northern friends. And again … ON WISCONSIN!!
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or from the iBooks book store for Apple products. Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on July 9th, 2011
First off, I’d like to apologize to the people that follow this blog in some manner that I haven’t been posting. I’ve just been too involved in family vacation, trying to keep a job that is in jeopardy (story of my freakin’ life these days) and finishing my 2nd novel, which I had hoped to have published by now or at least have contracted. It’s the novel that keeps me away from here — I’m trying to stay in full blown writing mode and lay down 1500 fresh words an evening (a goal I’ve been regularly failing at, though I’m doing better) and I just never feel like laying down another 800 or so words for the kind of lengthy blog posts I do.
There’s certainly been plenty to post on, but just no time. Sorry. As soon as I get the first draft of my novel down I hope to jump back on in a normal fashion, so hopefully those few followers are all on RSS feeds or following me on facebook or twitter will still be doing so.
If not, I’ll just go back to posting for my own stress relief. Like when I started  .
In the meantime … congrats again to Wisconsin. I’m really proud of you Badgers for becoming the 41st “Shall Issue” state, and I’m having a blast checking out the hysteria on the FB WAVE site. I just love reading comments like this:
Without a metal detector or actual pat down & unless there is trouble no one will know if the guy standing next to you is packing or not. I for one don’t know if I can trust the general WI gun-toting public. Afterall, statistics show WI has a higher percentage of alcoholism/abuse than most other states in the union….which doesn’t make for sound judgement from this part of the general gun-toting/alcohol laden public.
And I thought we gun guys were the paranoid ones!?
There’s no metal detector or actual pat down now most places you go, so people could be carrying guns next to you right now. And the crazy, dangerous ones are. This new law ONLY allows the non-crazy/non-dangerous ones to carry. You know … the ones that actually might protect you. Think of it as a free way to get tens of thousands of concerned citizens/auxiliary policemen/women on the street to make you safer.
And perhaps one of these brilliant anti-gunners who put in comments like this:
oOK,THIS SERIOUS.PEOPLE START SHOTTING ANYONE IN SIGHT
or this;
And who will be the first victim of an “In home” gun accident? Anybody want to take bets on the victims age? Under 5 yrs, Under 10 yrs, Under 18 yrs. At least we can all rest safe knowing how much violent crime will be going down now.
could tell me why this new law will have such a profound effect in Wisconsin when it hasn’t elsewhere (especially in the home, where nothing has changed).
The bottom line is … except for the truly insanely anti-gun this controversy will all be quickly forgotten. No shootouts, no big change in any crime stats, etc. An idiot WILL make a mistake with a CCW every other year or so (as even happens with real police officers), hopefully harming only himself, but there will be many, many people who will defend themselves or others because of the new law. It will be a net good.
And with 50,000 or so licensees within a year, every one of them voters … whatever happens to Walker and the Republican agenda in the recall election process the chances of this law being repealed are very, very slim.
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or from the iBooks book store for Apple products. Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on June 21st, 2011
So with the Wisconsin assembly having sent their shall-issue Concealed Carry (CCW) bill on to the governor (who’s promised to sign it) another 5.7 million American’s are empowered with the ability to legally arm themselves for defense of themselves and their communities. Good Job!
I’m not a Wisconsinian/Wisconsinite (whatever) so I haven’t been following this closely, from what I read it’s a fairly clean bill with good reciprocity rules and NO exclusion for colleges. Only school grounds. If the legality of carrying on a college campus is true, this makes them the 3rd state to allow that, after Utah and Colorado. Hopefully we’ll be getting a lot more in years to come.
On Wisconsin!
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or from the iBooks book store for Apple products. Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on June 16th, 2011
I don’t know if anyone’s still reading after my rather extended (and unapproved) leave of absence, but after almost a year Off Road is finally available on iBooks. Only 99 cents — heck, that’s not even a dollar.
I’m actually working fast and furious on my new novel, and it’s definitely going well. I still don’t have a publishing date, though, because this one I’m going to market more aggressively to traditional publishers before I self publish.
Self publishing has worked out surprisingly well for me, but not being in all the big bookstore chains has hurt sales by a lot, of course.
As always, plenty of info about the book is available on the left, and below is my normal self promoting plug:
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on May 20th, 2011
The liberal panic over the Federal government reaching its debt limit, with the Democrats and Obama claiming it’s a catastrophe of epic proportions that will throw us into a second recession (like we ever really got out of the first one), just shows how lousy our leadership has been for the last two years. Because it’s not like tax revenues aren’t still pouring in — they are, with every paycheck we receive. And from every business. What this is is about is not cutting off all government money, it’s about cutting up the Government’s credit cards.
My family, like many others, tends to maintain a small credit card debt — sometimes higher, sometimes lower — though after over-borrowing early in our marriage and sacrificing to pay it back we keep it under control (something Democrats have yet to learn). The credit cards are a way to handle the unexpected car repair one month, or pay for the vacation we didn’t saved up enough for, and then we can pay it back as quickly as possible.
But if you yanked all our credit cards away but we still had our jobs, we would be OK. We’d have to be careful and cut back and build up a bit of a short term savings to handle unexpected expenses, but we could do that. My parents grew up in the great depression and I never knew them to take on a penny’s worth of debt in their lives except to buy their house — and then they bought a relatively small house and paid it off early.
But the government is so badly overspending under Democratic party guidance that they can’t imagine living without a credit card. There’s no way they can even think about cutting back to what they actually make. And they have no plan to pay it back, just images of throwing Grandma off a cliff if they don’t get more credit.
And man … that’s sad. Let’s just hope the next election brings some sanity back to Washington. And that we elected enough sane people into the House of Representatives in the last election they hold the line and make something worthwhile happen.
Though it’s also a fact that no party holds an absolute majority, and concessions are going to have to be made by both sides, and concessions to the current Democratic majority will be very, very expensive for all of us.
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on May 19th, 2011
So President Obama wants Israel to pull back to it’s pre-1967 borders, but from what I’ve read of the stated mission of Hamas they won’t be happy until the Jews in Israel have pulled back to their pre-1945 borders. In Germany.
Now I understand there’s a little give and take necessary to get a peaceful outcome, even if it’s not really just to one side or the other, but I haven’t seen any give whatsoever from the Palestinian side as I’ve watched this situation over the last few decades. In any case … the 1967 war was fought 44 years ago, and it’s pretty ridiculous to think that Israel should give up everything they’ve fought for for two generations.
But even if they did … what’s the point? This won’t be enough to placate the other side, a faction of which has promised to “push them into the sea.”
With the renaming of the newest navy ship after Cesar Chavez (a courageous man and hero to many, but not a military man or government leader) and other moves, it’s apparent the Obama administration is doing everything they can to get the Hispanic vote. But with this statement on Israel, clearly they assume the Jewish vote and Jewish support is in the bag.
Better learn to play a little hard-to-get if you want any love from this administration, liberal friends.
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on May 3rd, 2011
In the hours following the taking of Usama (Osama?) Bin Laden we heard all kinds of great pro-American/non-partisan words. Everyone from President Obama to former President George W. Bush. Good Stuff, and it made me proud to hear Americans with such different views on current issues coming together on this one, the taking out of the greatest mass murderer in American history. But now I just sat through most of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, and the thin-lipped expressionless-one who replaced Olbermann turned his entire show into a partisan pro Democrat/Bush attacking hate fest. Seriously? Where they heck do they get these people?!
He started his show by staring into the camera and stating in his monotone:
President Bush had 2086 days to catch Usama Bin Laden. President Obama got that job done in 831 days.
Yes, he did. Using intelligence taken from operatives captured during Bush’s term and interrogated in the Gitmo prison created by President Bush — possibly with the methods that the Democrats claimed were useless and torture.
Now if one wanted to become partisan on this issue one could legitimately ask why it took until now to get Bin Laden if they’ve known where he was since August 2010. But I honestly don’t, as I give Mr. Obama the benefit of the doubt and assume he moved as expeditiously as possible. It was a tricky political issue to send assault helicopters 400 miles into sovereign territory and attack a private home less than 40 miles from that nation’s capital, and not something one does on a whim. Frankly, I’m as impressed as all hell that he took the risk of doing it AND was able to get together the required foreign assets to make it happen (I’m sure it will be a decade before we know all the details, but whatever else Mr. Obama does this will be a shining achievement of his administration).
At the moment I couldn’t be happier with the decisions Obama’s made in carrying out the war in Afghanistan, though history is still the final judge.
But as for O’Donnell … I’m not going to detail every petty little minute (and petty they were) but he continued with a string of visitors generally chosen to demean President Bush and build up Obama, calling it an issue of “leadership.” Even proclaiming one big change was trading out Rumsfeld for Gates as the Secretary of Defense, even though that change took place in November 2006, well over 2 years before President Obama took office. If Gates is a great Secretary of Defense that’s another good choice both presidents share.
Did President Bush proclaim Bin Laden was secondary to the overall war on terror and turn a great deal of attention elsewhere after the Taliban were chased out of power in Afghanistan? He did, and I think he was correct to do so. As he said … the war against terror is much greater than one man. Proven by the fact it’s not now over because that one man is dead — however happy it makes us all feel.
In hindsight I would say it was a mistake to go into Iraq, but we did prevail in that war and only history will ultimately judge if it was worth the cost. Did making Iraq a functioning, if shaky, democracy have anything to do with the current “Arab Spring,” for better or worse? Once again … history will answer.
And how did O’Donnell end this little hate fest that should offend EVERY American who thinks that while politics are important, there are some issues that transcend them? By attacking Rudy Giuliani, the hero of New Yorkers at the time of the 9-11 attack, for being too partisan (which besides being in really bad taste is rather like Josef Stalin criticizing anyone for being too tyrannical of a leader).
And Rudy Giuliani … should be saying, “Thank God, Barack Obama, is our President.” But of course he will not say that. Rudy Giuliani could never look into his soul and find the grace to say something like that about a political opponent. Giuliani is simply too partisan to say that. And much, much too simple minded.
President Obama did his job and took out an enemy of America. But would John McCain have done any less? Would ANY of the serious candidates for President (excepting Kucinich, though I don’t know if I’d call him a serious candidate) have done any less? Of course not. Republican or Democrat, once you’re President defending the U.S. is job one.
O’Donnell is just plain despicable. The sooner MSNBC dumps this idiot the better.
The sad thing is … I find myself missing Keith Olbermann. Olbermann was no better overall on his outlook, but he could at least vary his facial features and vocal tone/inflection enough to make his ridiculously pompous verbal strutting interesting.
Soon enough we’ll have to go back to talking about government debt, how to stimulate job growth, Healthcare, etc. … but couldn’t the MSNBC Democrat shills have given us at least a week to enjoy this as a united people?
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
By Stephen, on May 2nd, 2011
Between this burial and the Japanese Nuclear Power accident … it’s going to be a long time before I eat any seafood. I wonder which will have the most toxic effect on the ocean?
Off Road
The best book ever written!
By me, anyway.
Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.
More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or at Barnes and Noble in paperback or Nook (only .99 in Nook format). Or in any Ebook format, even .html or .pdf, for .99 from smashwords.com.
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Off Road
The best book ever written!
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