The first shot.

I'm not (usually) one to give a lot of inordinate attention to talk about "the second American revolution."

 Quite frankly, I don't think we have the balls.

Someone at the VFW, however, pointed out that during the first American revolution, it was only something like five or six percent of those able to who actually took up arms and kicked the redcoats' collective backsides.

And since the latest statistics today show that less than ONE PERCENT of all living Americans have any military service. . . .

I make no illusions about being young and fit enough to go running and jumping through the woods and urban forests and skulking with face paint and exotic black guns in each hand. As the more experienced (read: aged/"been there, done that") of us relate over cold adult beverages, that is a young person's role.

Us older folks will still be there, however. If the government and left-wing loonies only knew just how organized many of the former military types actually are, and how quickly we can actually organize, arm ourselves and deploy, there would be an explosion in the sale of Depends undergarments.

Several years ago, I was at an event in Oklahoma where the overwhelming majority of us present were veterans. We had all five branches of the service represented and "war experience" ranging as far back as the Korean War. Somehow or another, talk about "what could we do?" began, and within an hour, we had "organized" ourselves into a rather formidable force.

The younger infantry and Marine guys bore the weight-bearing roles, a couple of former Army SF guys (Ranger, Green Beret) who were of the Vietnam era did offensive and recon mission planning, some of us "non-infantry" types organized into supply and logistics and transportation and intelligence roles, one of the Navy guys was a retired machinist and opened his shop to fabricate and repair anything we might need. Etc etc.

This was less than four-dozen veterans of all ages and we organized far quicker, more efficiently and with better immediate resources than the majority of SWAT teams within a two-hundred mile radius.

Bear in mind, there are millions of us scattered throughout America.

What makes us a formidable force is the fact that we have all served and because of that, we instantly understand discipline and chain-of-command and the need to either lead or be led. No arguing, no egos, no whining--just doing it.

It's something, as any vet will tell you, that you never forget. It becomes part of your DNA in boot camp and it never leaves you.

The other thing that bonds us together is the fact that we desperately do not want a war on our soil ever again, especially a civil war. But to protect peace, one must constantly foster strength.

But if a civil war is going to happen, a situation such as what is happening with a family-owned business in Colorado will be the catalyst.

 In a nutshell, the Newland family started and built a small business in the HVAC industry and over the years, built it into a thriving success story that now employs around 250 workers. The problem is Obamacare and the Newland's religion--they're Catholic. Obamacare is requiring that the Newlands provide abortion services, sterilization, birth control, etc to their employees even though such actions are in direct conflict with their religious doctrine.

The Newlands, standing on their religious freedoms, declined and Eric Holder's DOJ filed suit, in essence telling the Newlands "you can keep your religion or you can keep your business. Choose one."


An injunction was granted, but the government's argument against such was the following:

According to the Obama Administration, however, the free exercise of religion is something done only one day a week in a house of worship. It argued that the “Plaintiffs’ free exercise claim fails at the outset because for-profit, secular employers generally do not engage in any exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.”

This is unbelievable. It's also frightening.

It's also a perfect combination for "the first shot" to occur.

I'll go on record as stating that I will not stand idly by and watch an American's religious freedoms being trampled by a thug administration that routinely defecates on the Constitution for no other purpose than to further empower itself.

A word to the government: None of you ever wore a uniform or badge. You're sole "authority of enforcement" comes from those who do or who have. We swore an oath to the Constitution--not you. We'll defend the Constitution against any and all enemies.

Don't forget that.

Of course Obama talks "more gun control."

Face it, our president is as clueless as the lapdogs in the media that are constantly jock-sniffing his backside like the dogs in heat they are.

In the wake of a mass-shooting, the clueless politicians and cowards--aka, liberals--clamor for more gun control, with Obama now spouting off on the issue himself. Tighter background checks. AK-47s in the hands of soldiers, not civilians. Blah blah blah.

What a bunch of stupid SOBs.

Two words on how well government-mandated gun control works:

Eric Holder.

That's right, the nation's top law enforcement hack is also the nation's top perpetrator of gun crimes, ala Fast and Furious. What's more, the chief Idiot (Obama) apparently had full knowledge, thus his enacting "executive privilege" to keep the records and papers from Congress, ala the American People.

The International Association of Police Chiefs has always been a testicle-challenged organization in which there has never been any need for functional urinals at their convention halls since these chiefs all squat to urinate. So no surprise on their stance.

However, as we move closer to a police state in Amerika, consider that it is the police (their chiefs) who clamor for increasing gun control for everyone BUT the police.

That should scare the hell out of everyone reading this.

The first chapter of my novel, Above Reproach, illustrated what happens when a deranged individual/s intent on causing as much harm can do when their targets are unarmed and basically helpless. But later in the book, when they are confronted by armed and prepared citizens, the outcomes are drastically different.

By the way, that's not fiction. The National Rifle Association published The Armed Citizen every month in their flagship publications--and all those events are lifted from various newspapers across the country.

Being armed can save your life. Being  unarmed can cost you your life.

Just whose damned side are the politicians and police chiefs on anyhow?

Once again we see that criminals ignore signs and laws.

(re-posted from jdkinman.com)

Typical.

Didn't we see this in the Omaha (Nebraska) mall shooting a few years ago? Another "safe, gun-free zone" in which some criminal totally disregarded the law (isn't that what criminals do, by definition?) and started thinning the herd of sheep.

This almost mirrors the opening chapter in my book (Above Reproach) in which armed terrorists targeted "gun-free" zones and cities in which guns had been outlawed for law-abiding citizens. Wholesale slaughter resulted.

Much like Aurora, Colorado.

Where were the police? Where were the military?

Since liberal sheep insist that only police and military need or should have guns, then where the hell were the police or the military in Aurora? Never mind the fact that the military, by law, is prohibited from "enforcement" actions in domestic matters.

So where were the police--even off-duty police?

Contrast this with a scene a few months ago in a grocery store in Salt Lake City where another deranged animal started slashing a fixed-blade knife at patrons, cutting several of them until a law-abiding citizen with a concealed handgun license stopped the attack.

Contrast this with a scene in Ocala, Florida where a couple of scumbag punks walked into an internet café armed with a gun and a baseball bat and attempted to rob everyone until a 71-year-old pulled his legally concealed handgun and fired on the thugs.

I know a lot of folks in Colorado and even in the Denver area who are CHL holders, who are cool under pressure, many of whom are veterans, some of whom are past law enforcement and some of whom are regular sport shooters.

I also know that NOT ONE OF THEM would ever set foot in that theater because it advertised itself as "gun-free" and prohibited firearms.

Looks like that policy was an epic fail.

I REFUSE to patronize any place, business or organization that does not trust me to responsibly exercise my Second Amendment rights. Those same places, businesses and organizations somehow trusted me to carry a firearm when I was wearing our nation's uniform, but they no longer trust me now that I'm back home and a civilian.

So I will not, repeat, not patronize them. It's their right to refuse me service. It's my right to insist on having a fighting chance when some scumbag thug robber or nutjob decides that "today is the day" and wants to go on a killing spree.

Armed citizens could have, and would have prevented the melee that occurred in Aurora, Colorado.

But instead, liberals--which I classify as COWARDS--insist on blaming guns, NRA, Rush Limbaugh. . . anyone but themselves for their cowardly policies denying the masses their rights in order to feel "safe."

The opening quote in my book says it all:

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Benjamin Franklin)

And while the cowards (liberals) are crying about the dangers of guns and all the guns we have in this country, when is the last time a massacre of this note occurred at the NRA convention, or the SHOT show, or a gun-show, or at a Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's or any other outdoor/firearms/sporting goods store?

Liberals are to blame for the massacre in Aurora. Not conservatives. Not gun-owners. Not Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin or the NRA.

Think about that for every shopping and purchasing decision you make.

Is there a showdown coming between law enforcement and the public?

*Sigh* I just read another one of "those" stories, and I'm waiting on my blood pressure to decline.

Deputies from a Florida sheriff's department do the usual o-dark-thirty raid on a house--the wrong house--and kill the occupant who comes to the door with a gun in his hand.

I worked in law enforcement a long time ago. Not once--repeat, NOT ONCE--did we ever knock or bang on a door without announcing that we were the police.

Not once.

Yeah, we went looking for people at o-dark-thirty because even scumbags sleep. But at o-dark-thirty, most scumbags are out at scumbag locales doing scumbag things.

At o-dark-thirty, most law-abiding, righteous citizens are sleeping so that they can work another day and pay another day's worth of taxes to help keep dumbshit sheriff's departments up and kicking in doors in the middle of the night without announcing who's kicking in the door.

What really grates the living hell out of me in this story is the sheer arrogance of the ass who is defending the murder of this citizen. I quote:

"When we knocked on the door, the door opened and the occupant of that apartment was pointing a gun at deputies, and that's when we opened fire and killed him," Lt. John Herrell said. "Even though this subject is not the one we were looking for when he opened the door. He was pointing the gun at the deputy and if you put yourselves in the deputy's shoes. They were there to pick up someone who was wanted for an attempted homicide."

Not sure about you, but if/when my doorbell gets rung or my door gets knocked on at 1:30 a.m., I answer the door with a gun in hand. I'm not a criminal--I'm an American citizen for who the Constitution guarantees me the right to answer the door at 1:30 in the morning with a gun in my hand.

Especially when whoever is doing the knocking does not announce who the hell they are.

Another example of police arrogance and stupidity resulting in the death of an innocent citizen.

And, another example of some asshole police "commander" trying to blame it on the innocent citizen exercising their rights to defend themselves against whatever scum may come pounding on their door at 1:30 in the morning.

This final "justification" quote from the jackbooted deputy pretty much sums up why law enforcement across America is falling into the same favor as trial lawyers and politicians:

"It's just a bizarre set of circumstances. The bottom line is, you point a gun at a deputy sheriff or police office, you're going to get shot," Herrell said.

OK, Mr. Herrell, think about this. The bottom line is if you go pointing a gun at innocent citizens, badge or no badge, you're liable to get shot. And having shot in many matches with cops, I know who the better shots are.

And the police ain't them.

Police: Get your act together and start putting a muzzle on idiots like this Herrell and you damned well better start identifying yourselves when you pound on people's door.

Otherwise, we're going to start shooting back.

Bullying. You know the solution.

It dismays me to no end that there is a growing legion of people in this country that rely on the government to do everything for them.

Everything.

I keep reading and hearing of this "bullying" problem, and quite frankly, I don't see where the problem is.

Actually, I do and it is with the person or people being bullied.

It's called cowardice. But here is a nice video showing the reality of 99% of all bullying situations.
Bully gets his ass kicked.

That's the way I was taught to handle bullies when I was growing up five decades ago. It worked then, it works now.

It's not necessarily "laying hands on someone" that is the point--it's standing up to the bully and giving it right back to them with the implied PROMISE that you will kick their ass by and with whatever means necessary to end the harassment or threats or bullying they are laying on you.

I was a pretty small guy growing up and the bigger, older neighborhood kids kicked my ass now and then just for the hell of it. My grandad, a WWII vet, encouraged judo lessons. From there, I added karate and in a couple of years, I found myself going after a couple of guys who'd shoved down a kid on crutches.

It infuriated me, and I went after the two guys without thinking. About fifteen seconds into the brawl, it dawned on me that this judo and karate stuff really DOES work. When you focus your discipline and power into your punches and kicks and use your opponent's momentum (and ignorance) against him, you can deliver a fearsome ass-kicking.

But today, we as parents run to the principal's office crying and sobbing and demanding that THEY do something about the bully who is bothering our precious Percy or Priscilla. As adults, we go crying to human resources or EEOC demanding THEY do something about a bullying co-worker or supervisor.

Bullies do what they do because they do not respect the person they are picking on. Fear generates a healthy dose of respect. If you don't believe me, ask any veteran who went through boot camp. We feared our drill instructors and knew, without a doubt, that they could kick our ass seven ways sideways to Sunday.

But because THEY also knew it, the need to "bully" wasn't there. By the end of our eight or twelve weeks of basic military training, mutual respect had been achieved.

You can achieve the same thing in the civilian world in eight to twelve seconds if you simply stand up to the SOB who is bullying you and promise what we called "violence of action" and have every intention of following through.

It's a mindset you have to acquire, which is why we're such a spineless nation ruled by bullies. It's much easier to run whining to the government to make more laws against bullying than it is to stand up to them and/or teach our kids how to stand up to them.

Spare me the talk about lawyers and courts and police. Simply STANDING UP to a damned bully will win three-fourths of the battles. Tell them to kiss your ass and howl at the moon.

If you live in fear, it is because you choose to live in fear. Bullies are nothing new, nor is standing up to them.

But again, we choose to be spineless.

And to prove it, our U.S. Government is the biggest bunch of bullies there are, and we don't even have the guts to vote their asses out of office.

Step right up and join TSA!

Step right up, folks!

Bullied as a young person growing up in your middle-class neighborhood?

Ridiculed in the gym locker room because of underdeveloped/non-developed reproductive organs?

Failed your ACT or SAT tests?

Unfit for military duty?

Is your IQ the average of that of a wilting houseplant?

Do you have strong leanings towards sexual predation?

Unable to pass a bonafide background check?

Are you otherwise unemployable in this age of Obama?

Have zero concept of Constitutional freedoms, in particular the Fourth Amendment?

NO WORRIES!

Join TSA, where our motto is: "The worse you are, the better we become!"

You can thank our absolutely gutless elected officials, going back to George W Bush and his stupid-assed Patriot Act and creation of the Department of Homeland Security, for this travesty.

They did, after all, have the option of bombing the terrorist back into the Stone Age, allowing passengers to fly armed, profiling terrorists instead of toddlers and 87-year-old grandmothers in wheelchairs.

Like I said, GUTLESS elected officials.

But I'm convinced the majority of America doesn't care.

Who's on American Idol tonight?

I found America this past weekend.

Some folks in Natchitoches, Louisiana invited me to an EAA (Experimental Aviation Association) fly-in, dinner and shooting get-together at the local range--and they asked me to bring some books to sell and sign.

Let's think about this for a minute. Airplanes (I'm an EAA and AOPA member), guns, Louisiana cooking and the opportunity to make new friends.

I'm in.

I loaded up the Cessna after lunch on Friday, waited until the heat of the day was peaking, made sure headwinds would be at their strongest and departed. (Pilots understand how conditions rarely favor you on outbound legs of trips.)

ATC had me on a departure route west of Fort Worth. I'm always amazed--and dismayed--at how big Cowtown has become.

To the immediate west of my heading was the Fort Worth Joint Naval Air Station. Us local pilots have learned to keep a wary eye out for the Navy jocks. They have a difficult time reading "2,500" on their altimeters--which is the minimum altitude they are required to fly on inbound approach from the north.

Remember: They have parachutes and we don't.

It's always a relief to be clear of ANY class bravo airspace, and even though DFW is home and I know it like I know all the weeds in my backyard, it's always good to have it behind you.

It was 102F when I cranked up and took off. This was to be a VFR trip, so I'd filed for 7500'. Naturally, there was a cloud layer at 7500' and just as naturally, there was one at 5500' so I had a choice: fly at 3500' msl and sweat and get bounced around, or climb above it all.

Took me no time at all to decide, and I snapped this picture as I was clearing 9000' msl. At altitude, the outside air temperature (OAT) was actually in the low 40's. Nice calm and cool skies from that point on eastward.

Looking down at Tyler, Texas--one of my favorite east Texas towns.

It was hot, humid and hazy down below, but that is Toledo Bend Reservoir--the largest enclosed body of water in Texas and it sits on the border between us and Louisiana. Long, big lake.

They have a fantastic airport at Natchitoches (KIER) with first-class people operating it. Here, I've got the bird unloaded and tucked in for the weekend.

Saturday morning, my host, Ben Rushing, asks me if I want to see Louisiana as seen from one of the coolest bi-planes in the universe--a Hiperbipe. He even foolishly let me fly it. Said he needed to get his heart rate up a bit for the day.

View from the front office of the Hiperbipe.

Cheated Death once again and brought a heavier-than-air flying machine safely to the ground.

Here is a beautiful Taylorcraft that showed up for the fly-in. Flying doesn't get much more fun than in these fabric airplanes.

Then there was the Stearman. When you combine the old low and slow fabric birds with bi-planes, you get the classic Stearman. Of course, that big radial engine up front stays constantly thirsty.

After the birds had all come in Saturday morning, there was fellowship and hangar flying and food. A huge swamp cooler had been set up in the hangar along with a lot of long tables.

Some of my Louisiana gun buddies and readers had driven over for the festivities and we had some great conversations. Other attendees sitting at our big long table chimed in. Between us all, we solved the issue of Obamacare--just get rid of Obama and every son of a bitch that voted for it.

We fixed all gun control problems--toss out every son of a bitch that doesn't understand the Second Amendment or who doesn't like it.

Illegal immigration was solved rather easily--pistols began appearing and we admired each other's hardware. I saw some really NICE purse pistols from the ladies. Of course, this also solved the petty crime problems.

Imagine that, a bunch of good southerners gathered together and in less than half an hour, we'd solved 90% of our nation's ills just like that.

How long does it take those dumb asses in Washington, and then they still don't get it right? In fact, they make it worse.

Maybe they need to start attending more fly-ins and book-signings and shooting range events.

At the shooting range in Natchitoches, any remaining problems that we faced in America were dispatched in fine fashion and with a variety of calibers and firearms. We had some poker targets, but we were all too old to see the cards printed on them and had to keep moving closer just to tell the Ace of Spades from the Ten of Clubs.

At least, that was my excuse. Must've left my reading glasses back at the airport. . .

As with all good things, after all the books had been sold and signed and addresses and e-mails and phone numbers exchanged, it was time to head back to the airport to load up the plane and return back home.

On most trips, I look forward to getting back home. On this trip, I wanted to stay.

I'd rediscovered America.

America is in our small towns. The fruits of freedom are often found in large scale in the big cities like Dallas and New York and Los Angeles, but the engine that drives America, the backbone that keeps us free and safe, the morals and values that MAKE us America. . . they're found in ample abundance in Small Town, USA.

Maybe we should reverse how we elect representatives and give more weight (ie more seats in the House) to the rural areas, and less for the urban areas.

More country folks up in Washington, and we'd have these problems licked.

It was something to think about as I flew into the sunset.

Flying, signing, eating and shooting, Louisiana style.

Packing up the airplane and heading east this afternoon to Natchitoches, Louisiana.

One of my book readers has put together a shindig and it includes a fly-in, Louisiana food, a book-signing and a get-together at the shooting range on Saturday, June 30th.

As he explains it, "anytime in the South when a few good folks get together, you just know there are going to be some great times to be had along with some serious truth-stretching come story-telling time."

Pass the cornbread.

Here is the Saturday itinerary for anyone in the neighborhood:

• Fly-in is at the Natchitoches airport (KIER) and folks will be flying in beginning around 0900 through mid-morning.

• Lunch and a book-signing will be around 11:30 (ish--everything in Texas and the South is on "ish" time. That's how we do things.)

• Shooting and more book-signing at the local range begins at 2:00 p.m.

• Probably some more truth-stretching throughout the afternoon until around 5:00 or 6:00.

More information can be found here.

I was at the hangar today topping off the bird with fuel and doing a thorough pre-flight. In this heat, I want to be in the air as fast as I can. That means load up the plane, roll her out of the hangar, get strapped in, check everything over one more time from inside the cockpit before spinning the prop, do my pre-start checklist and pre-takeoff checklist together, flip the master switch, turn the key and crank 'er up.

As soon as I see oil-pressure indication, slip the brakes and taxi to the run up area. My pre-takeoff physical checklist will be done on the roll--controls, instruments, gas, trim, flaps. Runup will be the last thing, then takeoff. I'll set my radios and frequencies and GPS units while in the air.

As Murphy's Law pointed out a day or two ago, with an air-cooled engine, the ground is NOT where you want to be on a hot day. I want to be in the air with some nice 100kt breezes flowing into the engine cowlings and keeping my cylinders nice and comfortable as well as keeping my oil temp out of the red.

It's going to be hot and bumpy until I get to altitude. It's a relatively short trip (230nm) and weather forecast is for hot and clear so I'll go VFR and climb to 7500 and see how comfortable that is.

Taking my camera, a few guns, lots of books and the joy and knowledge that a weekend spent with folks who love guns and airplanes always promises to be a fantastic time.

If you're in the neighborhood Saturday, drop on by.

Die, you SOBs. . . DIE!!!

Not a good day yesterday in the land of An Ordinary American.

For starters, it topped 100 degrees again, no breeze, too much humidity.

Felt like I was in Houston. Had to check my GPS to make sure I wasn't.

I'm outside doing some yard work in the heat of the day, and in the midst of taking the brushwhacker to my shrubs at the front of the house, I get attacked by a swarm of (expletive deleted) yellow jackets.

Luckily, I'm not allergic to being bit or stung by these SOBs. The primary adverse reaction I have is swearing at the top of my lungs when bitten by one of these flying menaces.

Given the size of the swarm today, I set new records for volume, duration and creative use of unbefore-heard-of swear words. I think I dropped more f-bombs in just a few seconds than Jimmy Doolittle did during his entire mission over Tokyo.

Then I got mad. Killing mad.

When dealing with yellow jackets and wasps and other useless menaces, Tom Hite is my hero. I didn't do it exactly how he does it in this video, but I ain't through battling these SOBs either.

I managed to get a bunch of ice packs on the affected areas (read: where the little crappers bit and stung me) to keep the initial swelling down, then put some numbing agent on the areas, and finished up with some prescription-strength hydrocortisone.

Finished the yard work, washed the Doberman, changed the oil and filter on my wife's car, went inside and took a refreshing shower and when I sat down in my easy chair . . . the damn electricity went out.

4:30 p.m. northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas on a triple-digit day and the freaking power goes out. Stayed out over four hours.

I heard later in the evening, when the power came back on and I was watching the news, that some utility worker got stung by a yellow-jacket. When he drew his Model 29 with #14 shot (specially cast for wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and horseflies here in Texas), he ended up shooting the transmitter.

Damn yellow jackets.

P.S. I hope the Georgia Bulldogs pound the living snot out of Georgia Tech this year and every year going forward.

The Second Amendment and my international friends.

I've been catching up on e-mails today, of which I'm not just behind but for the book account e-mail, I'm weeks behind.

For a novel about the inherently American Second Amendment, I'm floored over where this book has been sold and read. From the e-mails, Above Reproach has been purchased and read in the following countries since the end of April of this year:


United States
Canada
Mexico
Great Britain
Ireland
Scotland
German
Holland
Norway
Finland
Poland
Czech Republic
Italy
Switzerland
France
Belgium
Spain
Russia
Pakistan
India
Egypt
South Africa
Israel
New Zealand
Australia
Columbia
Panama
Honduras
Venezuela
Peru
Argentina
Chile

While being floored, I'm also humbled, hugely so.

The book began life as an idea a few days after September 11, 2001. I'm a well-known procrastinator, so it surprised nobody that it finally published in April of 2012. In fact, some of our friends have remarked, rather dryly, that I must've been in quite the rush to get it written and published.

But some of the countries in which it's not only sold, but from where I've received e-mails is fascinating. . . and extremely heartening.

I'll begin with Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Here in Texas, we've always felt an affinity for Australians. We were both kicked out of our previous countries, banished to some gawd-forsaken land where royalty/Washington was certain we'd wither and die.

Canada and New Zealand. . . two outstanding nations filled with more geographical beauty and awesomeness than most can behold. Western Canada is almost diametrically opposed to eastern Canada in both politics and attitude. Of course, eastern Canada has a huge French influence and is closer, geographically, to Washington D.C. so that explains that.

It is my FERVENT hope that at least in my lifetime, Canada and Australia and New Zealand would enact their own version of the Second Amendment.

Moving on to Europe, I never knew Finland was as gun-friendly as it appears to be. Several Fins have written me about that, and while I don't have time or room here in this post to go in depth, let me simply say that if I had to be on the run across the Atlantic, Finland is the first country I'd stop in. We know about Switzerland.

The Czech Republic kind of surprised me, but then I got to thinking--both of the dogs in the novel (Dak the German Shepherd and Dutch the Doberman Pinscher) are both imports from the Czech Republic. But the Czechs, lest anyone forget, have made some pretty nice firearms, too. The best cylinders for air-cooled general aviation airplanes I have EVER found have been made in Poland.

Having married a Pole and having many Slavic friends, I can tell you that you'll never make a finer friend.

Europe is a bit of a puzzle, but unsurprisingly they are in the same boat as us. The French readers all confirm that most of their problems originate from Paris. No surprise. Been there. Rudest city in the universe and not sure where their snob appeal comes from.

Some of my German friends were whizzed that I imported dogs from their arch-competitors, the Czechs. I e-mailed them back and told them to just wait: In an upcoming novel, the new dogs will be imported from Holland.

One of the readers from Israel pointed out that at the Pocatello (Idaho) incident, it is unlikely that as soon as the terrorist pulled out their Mac machine pistols that the surrounding populace would've been so kind as to have simply ordered them to the floor.

Perhaps the most frightening e-mail was from a police official who works in South Africa. He wrote about how horrific crime has become there, especially crimes against women and how politicized their courts and (so-called) ministry of justice is. Apparently South Africa has their own versions of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson over their stealing oxygen.

The best e-mail came from a young lady in Great Britain, who shoots trap and bird hunts with her father and older brothers. She finished her delightful e-mail with the following question:

"If every civilized nation had your version of a Second Amendment, do you think we would ever have had a world war--or any major wars?"

Think about that.

Evil can only flourish when good men and women do nothing. But it helps to have the proper tools and hardware to combat evil and its minions.

So is it any wonder that Evil, in the form of so many power-hungry government people, constantly strives to limit--or eliminate--our ability to defend ourselves?

Think about that one even harder.

Screw the U.N. We gun-owners of the world don't need you.

The impotence of the police.

Chicago continues to prove why they have become the California and NYC of the Midwest.

A man walking his dog has his throat slashed.

The police's response is to urge citizens to walk in well-lit areas, have a cell phone and not hesitate to call 9-1-1.

In Texas, and elsewhere, our response is to carry a firearm and if some wacked-out cracked-out creep comes up to slash our throat while we're out walking our dog, then there will be blood flowing, but in all likelihood, from a round hole in the creep's body rather than a jagged line from our throats.

To be a victim or not be a victim. The choice is ours--just not in Chicago.

One thing is for certain, however. The police are impotent to do anything about it. On the other hand, traffic tickets don't seem to be a problem. One type of enforcement costs money, the other type makes money.

Seems to be a national trend, doesn't it?

Contempt doesn't even begin to do it.

I remember back when the messiah was walking on the political waters of 2008 and declaring, verily, that his administration would be totally transparent and held accountable at all levels.

He preached from the mainstream mountain about how hearings and meetings on healthcare and other concerns would be broadcast on C-Span and that the American sheep would have full access.

What a bunch of B.S.

Today, Obama's chief legal racist and murderer, Eric Holder, hid like a quivering sissy behind the president's protective cloak of "executive privilege" in refusing to release records and documents requested by the House committee investigating Fast and Furious.

So Rep. Issa (R-Calif) who leads the committee is going to push--and get--a vote for contempt.

What he needs to be pushing for is an indictment for obstruction and an indictment for conspiracy to commit murder because that is what Fast and Furious was all about.

It was about putting illegal guns in the hands of Mexican cartel animals with the full knowledge, and expectations, that those guns would be used in murders and thus able to be tracked back to the U.S. which would give the Obama regime fodder for going along with the United Nations effort to disarm American citizens.

This is wrong on so many levels, but above all, it makes Obama, Holder and Napolitano traitors to the Constitution and to America. Summarily, they should be indicted, tried, convicted and imprisoned.

Problem is, we do not have the guts in Congress or the Senate to do this. With few exceptions, every single elected leader we have in Washington is little more than a self-serving oxygen thief who exists for the primary reason to enrich their own coffers and increase their power base.

I, for one, am sick of it. Sick and damned tired of it. I'm also to the point that I no longer care if what I write ends up inflaming the government goon squads. I have no illusions that if I "stand and fight" that I'll be erased with no more effort than swatting a fly out of the air. I'm ex-military and ex-LE. I know what the government has at its disposal.

I could run, I suppose, off to another country, but that too isn't really an option. I fought for THIS country, damnit, and swore an oath to it.

So about all I really have left is the hope that our elected officials will grope around in their over-priced trousers and try to find their testicles so that they can summon up the courage to do what's right.

Contempt resolutions aren't going to cut it. This administration had a direct role in the domestic murder of a U.S. citizen and law enforcement agent, and AG Eric Holder must be held both responsible and accountable.

The travesties of injustice perpetrated by the goon squads assembled and led by Janet Napolitano are closing in on the images and memories of the German secret police. Napolitano must be held responsible and accountable.

Both Holder and Napolitano were appointed by the chief perpetrator, Barack Hussein Obama. Obama must be held responsible and accountable.

Congress--we're watching you.

Racism, Guns and Escape from Chicago.

Yet another story of how safe the residents of Chicago are from the roving gangs of black thugs.

A man had his face beaten in over a dropped iPhone.

If you click on the picture, you'll there is not a white face in there. Likewise, if you read the story, you'll learn that not one of the attackers were white.

But the victims were.

A girl dropped her iPhone on the CTA Red Line train. A black thug picked it up and announced "it was his." The girl's companion asked for the phone back and was beaten. Badly. And he still didn't get the phone back.

Where is Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson? I'm still wondering if this asshat of a president we have would think that any one of the six gangsters would look like his son if he and the great moocher had boys.

No word. Silence. Nothing from the deadfish mayor, either. In fact, violence against whites has seemed to escalate since Rahm stole the mayor's office.

One reason is that guns are verbotten in Chicago. Even in spite of the Heller decision, the Chicago political machine that panders to the roving black criminal element and their sympathizers have outright defied the Supreme Court decision.

That is to say, the mayor, the aldermen, the police commissioners and their lap-dogs, the district attorneys and everyone in a position of authority defy the law of the land.

Fine. I propose we give Chicago the law of the jungle. The law of Darwin. In other words, fight back.

I'm sending a letter to my elected rats demanding that ALL federal funds be cut off from Chicago immediately until which time Chicago adheres to the Heller decision and allows its inmates, er, residents, to legally own a firearm inside the prison, er city walls and to obtain a CHL with requirements similar to those in any other state.

Secondly, I'm demanding that the elected rats send in the FBI and find these CTA thugs and arrest them for a hate crime. I'm sick and tired of a hate crime now being defined as "white on black" and no other way.

But what is really tough about this is if you go back to the story I linked to up top and read the comments. Racism is roaring to a white-hot inferno in Chicago and it is doing so because there is no leadership in the black community.

Anytime a Bill Cosby or other respected black individual puts out the call for accountability and to stand on your own two feet, the entitlement crowd within the black community calls that person an Uncle Tom.

And we, the non-black community put up with it because, for some reason, we're TERRIFIED of being labeled as a racist.

Not me. I grew up in as "diverse" of a neighborhood as possible in the early 60's and I learned at an early age that niggers and black people were two totally separate races. Black people taught me that. Likewise, my hispanic friends taught me the difference between "mexicans" and greasers. My friends taught the blacks and the mexicans (we didn't have the term latino or hispanic back then--our friends who were from south of the Rio Grande were often referred to as mexicans and absolutely zero offense was ever inferred or taken by it) the difference between white people and white trash assholes.

Every ethnicity has its gutter trash percentage that by their actions, cause racial stereotypes to not only exist, but to flourish.

I am not going to tell you that "some of my best friends are black" because quite frankly, I have to stop and remind myself that they are black. I don't look at them that way. I look at them as my friends. Asian, hispanic, black. . . doesn't matter.

Likewise, some of the sorriest individuals to ever steal oxygen from this planet have been as white as me. But I simply saw--and see--them as white trash.

Forget all this hate crime nonsense. A crime is a crime. Find these CTA thugs and arrest them, try them, imprison them.

Trayvon Martin? Forget the race crap. Trayvon was a thug and would've been a thug if he'd been polka-dotted.

Instead, let's start looking at our society as producers versus non-producers. Achievers versus non-achievers. Providers versus takers. Honest versus dishonest. Criminal versus non-criminal.

And let's arm the good people of Chicago to protect themselves against the non-producing, non-achieving, criminal element regardless of what color they may be.

In doing so, we'll lower the crime rate and begin to eliminate racism at the same time.

Only white people should have concealed handgun licenses.

That seems to be the message sent by a squad of uniformed goons in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Fellow Texan, pilot, patriot, gun-owner and blogger Sean Caranna publishes All Nine Yards, a blog about guns and airplanes and conservative things. He's a kindred spirit, to be sure.

He published this story on June 4th and my blood still has not stopped boiling.

There are two brief videos embedded in this blog post. The first shows a black man, Dale Norman, walking down the sidewalk, minding his own business when he gets slam-dunked to the concrete by five Fort Pierce cops.

His crime?

Allowing his holstered, concealed weapon to show--his tank-top had ridden up, exposing the bottom half of the firearm from what is seen in the video.

The goon squad sweeps in, guns drawn. Fine. You have a "man with a gun" call, in an apparently "economically challenged" area of town. But the nano-second the stormtroopers show up and jump out of their cars yelling, Norman complies one-hundred percent.

He makes NO THREATENING OR HOSTILE MOVES WHATSOEVER. For this, he gets ramrodded into the pavement, the proverbial knee in the spine while being handcuffed, yanked up, patted down, arrested and stuffed in the patrol car.

The catch? Dale Norman has a legal, lawful CHL. In fact, it had been issued only five days prior--so, as Sean points out, figure three of those days it was in the mail.

I understand that concealed means concealed. I also understand that here in the South, it gets hellishly hot and humid and proper "concealment" clothing isn't always as concealing as we'd like. Perhaps this CHL holder's instructor wasn't exactly top-shelf and didn't explain in great detail the necessity of staying concealed or the penalty for a "flash" which apparently is getting slammed to the concrete by five uniformed badge-toting apes.

You can't hear a lot of audio on the video but you CAN hear the radio exchange from dispatch to the units. What is not heard is any "panic" about a subject with a gun. What is also not heard is any information from the cops stating that the subject/suspect claims to have a CHL. The vast majority of permit-holders are pretty damned quick to let trigger-happy cops know that they have a PERMIT for the firearm they are carrying.

The cops did the right thing by detaining and restraining Mr. Norman, but they had zero reason to slam-dunk him and then treat him the way they did.

Story doesn't end there. Norman went to jail, spent the night in jail and the prosecutor has stated he intends to file and press full charges against this CHL holder.

Where the hell is the NAACP and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and the rest of the race-baiting alpha-hotels? I'll go out on a limb and ascertain that had this been a WHITE GUY strolling down a tree-lined street with $300K homes, he would not have been slam-dunked, would not have been arrested and taken to jail, would not have spent a night in jail and would not be the focus of an overzealous prosecutor.

But since it's a black man exercising his CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, the liberal (read: hypocritical and cowardly) faction of the black community is nowhere to be seen defending this young man.

My blood is continuing to boil.

A few days ago, I wrote about law enforcement seemingly doing everything they can to start a war with the populace they are paid to serve. Incidents like this bring that war one step closer.

But what do we care, right? After all, it's just another black hoodlum who was stupid enough to think he could actually FOLLOW THE LAW and get his CHL but when it shows, well, let's just say he got what he deserved, eh?

The cops' actions were pathetic. Period. The prosecutor's actions are pathetic. Period. The lack of support from the (so-called) black community is pathetic. Period.

Give Mr. Norman a ticket for "flashing," require a couple of hours of supplemental education on proper carry and concealment, then drop the thing. The man took the time--and money--to attend a class, purchase a holster, submit to the background check, blah blah blah. And yet the police continue to treat him like the enemy.

No, make that treat US like the enemy--because I don't give a damn what color the guy's skin is.

It might be one of us in Fort Pierce on a hot day getting slam-dunked to the concrete.

Florida law enforcement is looking more and more like Chicago politics every day.

Attention law enforcement--veterans are quickly getting fed up with you.

I guess the day has come.

When I was growing up, I could almost always count on a man (or woman, rare as they were) in a police officer's uniform to be one of good guys. As long as I wasn't doing anything wrong, I had nothing to fear from them.

That is simply not the case today, although I have zero fear of cops.

I used to be one. I know how utterly unprepared they are for actual, real, explosive violence. I also know that one-on-one, or two/three-on-one against a prepared, trained individual, they are hopelessly ill-trained and ill-prepared.


And yes, even with their guns and tasers.

What brings up this threatening, ominous post today?

Maybe the fact that I'm fed up with incidents like this one that took place in Wisconsin.

Here is a Marine veteran being arrested for exercising his First Amendment RIGHT at a political rally. What's more, the fat police officer tells the Marine he's going to "get his ass kicked."

The Marine states to the officer that he took an OATH to protect, defend and preserve the Constitution. The First Amendment is a huge part of that Constitution. The cops who arrested this Marine took the same oath.

The difference is that one of the people involved in this incident defended the Constitution and did so in a far away land where people tried to kill him. The other person crapped on the Constitution right here at home and in an expression of one of our MOST precious freedoms--the right to protest.

Unfortunately, stories of modern-day law enforcement's gross abuse of power and authority are becoming far too common. It used to be almost scandalous if a story broke about a dirty cop or one who ran ramshod over someone's rights or got overly brutal.

Hell, now we have cops murdering citizens and the great majority of Americans don't even blink.

Typical of the sheep.

However, I know from the talk amongst my vet friends that a lot of former soldiers, sailors and airmen are getting fed up. More than fed up, we're getting mad.

Fighting mad. Fighting BACK mad.

I know what cops are taught at the academy. I know how cops are taught to shoot and how to fight in unarmed or hand-to-hand situations. I also know how U.S. servicemen are taught to shoot and taught hand-to-hand. There is a huge difference. We're not trained to restrain--we're trained to disable, to cripple, to kill. It was taught to us that if it ever came down to using our unarmed combat tactics, we were already dead and our mission was then to take whoever and however as many as we could with us.

Soldiers and sailors and airmen have a natural loathing of firing on the flag. Translation to civilians, that it is to say, we loathe the idea of having to wage war against our own citizens--and law enforcement is considered civilian citizens.

There is a difference between being a drunk sailor at a frog-hog bar in Little Creek or at a beach hangout in Coronado and having the local cops roust you for drunk and disorderly, opposed to having a group of sheriff's deputies bust in your door at 0300 on a no-knock warrant and then shoot you over a dozen times and kill you for being "non-compliant" as was the case in southern Arizona some time back.

Homeless vets getting rousted and roughed up is nothing new. David Morrell wrote a famous novel about it that turned into a movie you might recall, known as First Blood.

The big problem is that there are some righteous cops out there. There are even cops out there who are vets themselves and who saw hostilities in lands far away. However, I'm not reading any stories or reports about them desecrating the Oath they took or flagrantly crapping on people's rights.

But I'm also not reading or hearing about them raising hell with their alpha-hotel comrades who ARE.

That's where it has to start. Righteous cops who revere the Oath they swore speaking out against the bad element that is growing like an out-of-control cancer in their profession.

You can push the sheep of this nation around. They'll take it. But a whole bunch of veterans are starting to get really tired of it.

In Wisconsin, the cops arrested that Marine because he did not want to fire on the flag. Those two slobs with badges, had the Marine exercised his training and experience, would've stood exactly zero chance.

And if law enforcement decides to make war on America's veterans, then God help law enforcement.

You started it, not us.

From virtual to reality.

Several years ago when I first began jotting down an outline and thoughts for my first fiction novel, e-books were pretty rare. Kindle was new and the naysayers were saying e-books would never fly.

Having spent many a year in the world of Madison Avenue, I knew all about naysayers. These are the folks who predicted the downfall of the stock market--in 1930. Same folks who predicted Pearl Harbor--on December 8th.

The original title of the book was to be "The Castle Doctrine" as the premise was, and still is, the right of ordinary American citizens to use whatever force necessary to defend themselves against threat of imminent, bodily harm and to not have to face prosecution, civil or criminal, for having done so.

My wife hated the title. As good husbands do, I ignored her for the majority of the book. But then I line I'd written in a later chapter where a showdown occurred in the Dirksen Senate conference room over a national reciprocity bill, the title "Above Reproach" came out all on it's own.

From the book:

   “We have rules, Mr. Cole,” Senator Maguire said quietly. “And I’ve already warned you about your language.”
   “Yes ma’am, you do and you have,” Dillon replied. “But so do we. And our rules, from the people that elect you and pay you, are that you treat us with the same respect and dignity that you demand from us. All across the country these past few days, we’ve watched and listened to reports about armed citizens defending themselves, their families, their neighborhoods and businesses against these sleeper cell terrorists that have recently woken up and are going on murderous rampages. The people fighting back against these terrorists are ordinary citizens, just like you and me who—”
   “They’re not ordinary, Mr. Cole,” the senator from New York yelled, again rising to his feet. “They’re barely one step above the animals whose rights they violated and then murdered, and as such, should not be—”
   “Wrong, Senator!” Dillon thundered, slamming his open palm down on the table with enough force to make everyone in the chamber jump. “These are good people. They are decent, law-abiding people. They are patriotic citizens looking out for themselves and their families. When such people as these defend themselves or their families or friends or neighbors using whatever force necessary, they are acting morally, ethically and lawfully and as such, Senator, they are above reproach from you or anyone else in this screwed up town as well as the media!”

As cool as it was to see the book come to fruition in e-book form, it is now available in print edition.

Seeing, feeling and holding your labor of love and joy in your hands for the first time is pretty cool, I have to tell you.

For once, the timing worked out how I wanted it also. The print edition debuted on Memorial Day weekend at Amazon.com. It will be another month or so from the date of this writing until it becomes available at Barnes & Noble and other online retailers.

But for now, virtual has become reality. And for me, that's pretty cool.

Civil rights, citizenship and ID.

Yesterday, we finally got to vote in Texas so far as the primaries are concerned.

At issue was the usual whining of the liberals who got their left-leaning butts kicked in the past two statewide elections here, and with the increasing population here, saw new districts created and voter-district boundaries changed.

I'm old enough to remember when Texas was a solid Democrat state. Even then, a Texas Democrat was more conservative than a Maine Republican. Seems to still be the case.

Good riddance, Olympia Snowe(job).

Anyhow, we finally got to vote and at the polls yesterday, which we had a helluva time finding out WHERE we were supposed to vote (another story), my wife and I both showed our IDs along with our voter registration card.

The poll worker told us that wasn't necessary. I insisted it was. "Want to make sure you know we're not dead and we are who we say our voter ID registration card indicates we are," I explained, with no smile on my face.

Thinking about that, I pretty much fumed the entire time I was voting against candidates. I'm used to voting against candidates rather than voting for candidates, because quite frankly, let's face it, today's politicians just flat suck.

On one hand, that could also be another story, but then again, they suck because voter fraud has become so rampant across the United States that it is putting these corrupt piece of crap politicians in office.

I remember Hillary Clinton making the push for convicted felons to be given their voting rights back. Sorry, Shrillary, but when you screw over your own society and the rules state when you do that, you forever forfeit certain civil rights, then that's that. But Shrillary had no particular compassion for the "reformed" rapists and drug-dealers she wanted to hand voter registration forms to--she just wanted more poll numbers on her side.

Conversely, hypocrites like Clinton (redundant) oppose having to show positive ID to prove identity and thus eligibility to vote in elections that shape (or mishape) this nation.

Why?

I've heard and read all about how it's not fair to minorities. How?

I've also heard and read how it's not fair to the "poor." Bullshit.

Who voter ID laws are not fair to are the dead and the corrupt. Unfortunately, this compromises a seemingly ever-growing segment of the Democrats' voter base.

They scream and squawk about "civil rights" and that no ID should ever be needed to exercise a civil right.

Fine. Then eliminate this form of ID that is required to exercise another civil right, and I'll shut up about voter ID laws.

Drug-crazed, Nude Man Breaks Into Marine's Home--Met With Three Bullets.

From the "Not just good news, but damn good news" stacks. . .

We need more of this.

Don't mess with a man who's been trained to improvise, adapt, overcome.

I wonder if someone is going to challenge "stand your ground" on this. . .

Autopsy reveals Trayvon Martin had drugs in his blood and urine. What an incredible surprise.

ABC just released the story.

Shock me.

When this whole mess first broke, Zimmerman was portrayed as a 300-pound hulking mass of black-hating right-of-the-Ku Klux Klowns wannabe Nazi.

Trayvon was portrayed as having sprung straight from Mother Theresa's own holy-lined uterine womb.

NBC was one of the first perpetrators in turning this into publicity chum for race-baiting asshats like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Selective editing of the 9-1-1 call between Zimmerman and the Sanford police dispatcher proves that beyond reproach.

I hope Zimmerman sues NBC out of existence. I wish advertisers had the balls to walk away from NBC for the duration of this entire trial fiasco.

Yeah, I know. I also wish the tooth fairy was real.

Of course, back to the media, it was ABC who rushed to broadcast some crappy footage in which they claimed they didn't see any blood or dangling appendages from George Zimmerman as the police were taking him inside the station. Now ABC breaks the story about Martin being doped up. Go figure.

I read on John Lott's blog where the medical report listed off Zimmerman's injuries and they were one-hundred percent consistent with his story of self-defense.

Now the autopsy on Saint Trayvon indicates the gunshot wound to ALSO be consistent with Zimmerman's story.

In other words, everything that is coming out that can be PROVEN as factual is supporting Zimmerman. The assertions offered by Saint Martin's race-baiting ambulance-chasing "show me the TV cameras and cash, baby!" crowd is systematically being proven to be nothing more than the typical bullshit Sharpton is famous, er INfamous for.

What a surprise.

How many years has it been since Tawana Brawley?

Open Carry and idiotic sheriffs.

I'm a proponent of OC--that would be Open Carry. As in carrying my firearm, in particular, my handgun, openly so that I don't have to keep it concealed at all times.

There are arguments for and against OC, but my argument for it is simple:

Freedom.

I live in Texas. It gets hot in Texas. Not just hot, but damned hot. I'd love to be able to slip out of my sports coat at a restaurant when being seated without having patrons begin shrieking at the sight of a holstered handgun on my side.

When getting out of my pickup truck to fill up with gas, I'd like to not have to mess with a jacket or unbuttoned shirt to keep my crazed handgun concealed and calm.

Etc etc.

I know folks--lots of them--who say they'd never carry openly. Hallelujah and pass the cornbread, it's a free country and that's your choice. But try not to make YOUR choice more important than MY choice.

Oklahoma is on the verge of having an OC law and I salute my Okie brethren to the north of the Red River. They seem to be a helluva lot smarter and free than we are in Texas (except for taxes and crappy roads). *I've just edited this to add that the governor, God Bless her, has signed the bill.

But in reading the article I linked to, I see where some numbnuts sheriffs have "issues" based upon their opinions about Open Carry. According to the article:

We called every single sheriff in Oklahoma to see how they feel about open carry. Ten out of 77 sheriffs support open carry whole-heartedly. Thirteen sheriffs say they support the open carry concept, but have serious issues with the ambiguity of the actual law. Twelve say they can't make up their mind one way or the other. But most sheriffs we talked to say they are against open carry altogether. The rest wouldn't comment or didn't get back to us.

Many of the sheriffs opposed to the open carry law offered these arguments:

- They won't be able to tell the bad guys from the good guys.

- It will be dangerous for the person openly carrying the gun.

- There will be more officer-involved shootings.

- There will be more guns stolen because citizens don't have weapon retention training.

With the exception of the twenty-three real lawmen who are presently sheriffs in Oklahoma, most sheriffs contacted for the article are typical--let me repeat, TYPICAL--law enforcement dumbass administrative types.

"Twelve say they can't make up their mind." *snort* Typical again--friggin politicians sticking their weenie up to see which way the dust is blowing.

But let's look at the other "reasons" the idiots give for opposing it:

• They won't be able to tell the bad guys from the good guys.

Turn in your badges, clean out your offices and get the hell out of law enforcement. All that time spent running your jails and you claim you won't be able to tell a good guy from a bad guy? Dumbasses. Oh yeah, during my time in LE I saw a buttload of criminals openly-carrying in Bianchi or Safariland holsters. . . Yep, saw a lot of criminals carrying nice S&W L-frames in shoulder holsters, or Sigs and Glocks in tactical holsters.

Besides, sheriffs, we don't give a damn if you can tell good guys from bad guys. It's WE THE CITIZENS who need to be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys, which brings us to the next point:

• It will be dangerous for the person openly carrying the gun.

How?

Do these sheriffs mean to tell me that less that 1/64" of fabric that would be between my holstered gun and the glory of the outside world is all the makes me safe when I'm carrying?

Well, hell. All I need to do then is continue wearing long-sleeve shirts and sports jackets and just ACT like I'm packing. . .

Or could they be talking about weapon retention? Let's point the finger back at LE on that issue and ask how many cops lose THEIR weapons? I lost count when I was in that line of work. Gun came out while running. Gun came out while entering patrol car. Gun fell out of ankle holster in restroom stall, slid into next stall where patron finished his business and grabbed the gun and hauled ass. Worked with an FBI agent one time that had no idea where EITHER of his issue guns were--and hadn't known where they were for over ten years. He BORROWED other cops' guns for qualifications and simply filled in his SNs. You can get away with that kind of crap in the small remote offices.

• There will be more officer-involved shootings.

Wasn't the same tired old argument used for plain-old concealed carry and didn't we see, unequivocally, that it was patently and blatantly false?

Then there is always the old standby line about how "carrying guns in the open makes other people nervous or it scares them."

Carrying a gun is a Second Amendment right no different than having a bumper sticker on your car is a First Amendment right--and when I see an Obama For 2012 bumper sticker, *I* get nervous and it scares the hell out of me that anyone could be so stupid.

Message to Law Enforcement: When you insist on not trusting us with a gun, why should we, the citizens and your employer, trust you with a badge?

Think about that.