Oh, the Irony of it all!!!!!

While hiz-honor, Mayor Daley is fighting to preseve his warped views of gun control in the US Supreme Court, we learn that an elderly 80 year old couple saved their lives in Chicago by shooting and killing an armed intruder breaking into their home.

They are okay because they had a gun to defend themselves. But now, are they going to jail or court? Because having that gun in Chicago is against the law thanks to Mayor Daley. Read it all here.

You see, the Mayor never travels without his well-armed body guards. But, armed defense is not okay for the "little people" of his city.

Hopefully the Supremes will kill the Daley bill.

Mayor Daley Threatens Report with Rifle

In his never ending quest to trash the Second Amendment to the Constitutuion, Mayor Daley over the years has said some remarkable things. But the other day he threatened a reporter with a rifle, a reporter who was asking about the efficacy of the Mayor's gun-ban programs. Read it all here.

Chicago has among the strictest gun ban laws in the country. Not a coincidence, it also has one of the worst crime records in the country. Vermont is a state with the fewest gun laws on the books: it and Alaska and Montanna and similar states have very low crime rates. How is that? Simple: criminals may be stupid but they are seldom suidical. If they believe people are armed for protection, they are very careful of the crimes they committ.

Palin at NRA Convention: Obama wants to ban guns!!

As reported here, Sarah Palin spoke to the NRA Convention in Charlotte, NC yesterday.

"Don't doubt for a minute that, if they thought they could get away with it, they would ban guns and ban ammunition and gut the Second Amendment," said Palin, a lifelong NRA member who once had a baby shower at a local gun range in Alaska. "It's the job of all of us at the NRA and its allies to stop them in their tracks."

All NRA members realize the truth in this. If the Democrats cannot achieve this through direct legislation they will try to pack the Supreme Court with liberals to limit our rights. And if that is not successful they will try to tie us down by "norming" us to UN Treaties which will have the effect of law to take away Americans rights to bear arms. All Constitution loving Americans should join the NRA to protect all of our freedoms. Cost: $35/yr.

Starbucks: safest place to be!

Next time you need some caffeine, take your urge to Starbucks and thank them for thinking of your safety. In states which allow the open carry of firearms by legal owners, Starbucks have signaled their intent to follow state and local laws and allow their patrons to carry firearms in the store.

While some retailers are taking the gun-control bait, Starbucks is open carry friendly. Strap up, stop in.

Police State in North Carolina......Literally

Paula May, Police Chief in King, N.C. has created a firestorm of protest after a State of Emergency was declared by the city council due to the bad winter storm weather of the last few days. What created the uproar was that the SOE also included a ban on the sale of alcohol and the lawful carrying of firearms in cars.

According to May, "Under North Carolina law, when a state of emergency is put into place that includes a ban on driving, the sale of alcohol and carrying of firearms in vehicles is also banned".

Didn't we deal with this issue after Hurricane Katrina when various local Louisiana authorities took it upon themselves to confiscate firearms being lawfully carried by Louisiana residents? Wasn't a Federal law passed that prevented authorities from doing this?

One protester sent an email to the city that said "This has to be the most ridiculous event of the century!!!!! This is the ultimate denial of liberties for the most asinine reason...bad weather!!!”

It sounds like the NRA needs to get involved and demand an investigation.

Should I get a gun? Part 4: How do I learn to shoot my gun?

In Part 3 of this series, we told you where you could purchase a gun.

Now, let's assume you have gone through the whole process outlined in the first three parts of the series and you now have a handgun for personal protection. Great! Now how do you learn to correctly and safely shoot it?

Certainly a knowledgable friend can help you tremendously with this issue. But even knowledgable friends are not trained instructors. Its not just enough to have the knowledge, you also need to know how to deliver it.

I would strongly urge each new shooter to take a National Rifle Association,NRA approved Basic Pistol Shooting Course. A course description can be found here. You can look in your local phone book or search the NRA site to find a shooting range which offers this course. For example, in Slidell, LA the FITS indoor shooting range offers such classes. Please note that in some states you have to take such a class in order to obtain a Concealed Weapons Permit (also called the Concealed Carry Weapons permit or CCW). This course will teach you about the gun, ammunition, about safety, about sighting a target and how to correctly shoot. It also includes time on the range so you can put classroom learning to practical use in a supervised environment.

After you have your gun and training there are two more things you should do: First, join the NRA! It costs $35/yr and will return you a wealth of information as well as helping to support your Second Ammendment Right to keep and bear arms for self-protection. Second, find a local range (indoor or outdoor as appropriate) and join that range. Shooting your gun is like playing golf; you'll remember the basics but practice keeps you sharp and helps you improve your skills. These skills should be automatic should the day ever come that you need to use your gun for self defense. Plus you will meet a lot of like-minded people.

Good luck and happy shooting!

Should I buy a Gun? Part 2: What Kind?

The first part of this 4 part series discussed what the purpose of a gun would be?

If you have decided to purchase one, the next question is what type? Guns are sorta like fishing rods, they have different purposes and you have to consider that as part of the purchase process. You would not take a fly rod offshore to fish for tuna for example.

A local, reputable gun store can be a treasure trove of information in the selection process. So, this post will give you some basic information that you can use when you go to visit a store.

In this part, we will talk about shotguns, rifles, handguns. A shotgun uses a shell full of shot, little metal balls if you will. A rifle uses a shell with a bullet and fires through a long barrel. A handgun (revolver or pistol) is shot from the hand grip. So here we go.

Personal protection: This is typically an application for a handgun. Given the laws of your state and locality, this is probably what is called concealed carry. You will need a license for concealed carry. Check you local police on how to obtain a concealed carry license.

There are two basic handgun types: the revolver which uses a rotating cylinder to bring a fresh round to the barrle and the pistol. Common pistols are of the semi-automatic type that hold rounds in a magazine and then feed a fresh round to the barrel everytime you pull the trigger.

There are hundreds of types of handguns. For personal protection, three favorites are: .38 Special snub-nosed revolver (easy to conceal, useful at short distance, typically 5-6 rounds). The 9mmLugar Semi-automatic pistol, short barrel (fairly easy to conceal, often 10-12 rounds). The larger .45ACP Semi-automatic, less easy to conceal, but lots of stopping power and holds anywhere from 12-15 rounds. The two semi-automatic pistols will give good accuracy at longer range (20-50ft) than the snub-nosed revolver.

Home Protection: The handguns above can be used for home protection. Their one common shortfall is the need for rather accurate aim. A great home protection alternative is the tactical shotgun. This is a shotgun of either pump action or semi-automatic action with a short (at least 18") barrel. This gun does not need to be aimed: you just point in the general direction and keep firing until the bad guy is no longer a threat. Also, the pellets will not penetrate walls and endanger other occupants like a bullet. Shotguns in your house do not need any type of concealed weapon permit.

Target Shooting: This can encompass the handguns above but also gets you into rifles. This is a huge subject area: for fun, cheap but very challanging target shooting, consider a .22cal semi-automatic rifle (Remington, Ruger, Savage). These have a practical range of about 100 yards, little recoil and can teach you a lot about target shooting. For longer range consider .223 rifles (AR-15 types), .308 winchester types. But this begins to get into more $$ and more expensive ammunition.

This is a huge topic area; your local gunstore can help you in your selection process both for gun and related gear (holsters, gun bags, loaders, ammunition, etc). If you want to send me a question, please include your email address for a private reply. At the end of this series, we will show some pictures of typical guns mentioned above for the different applications.

Should I get a gun?

Off and on, I have people ask me "should I get a gun"? Assuming they don't want to be "dirty Harry", the question comes from folks who are concerned about personal protection.

This is a very complex question: so I am going to offer a four-part series of articles that I hope will help folks to answer that question for themselves and their particular situations. If you have any specific questions you would like to pose in private, leave a comment with your email address in it and I will send you a private response. I hope everyone will find this series to be helpful, whether you decide to purchase one or not.

The Right to Bear Arms

In a campaign comment last year, candidate Barack Obama, lamented his limited ability to win over working class voters claiming they are inwardly bitter about declining circumstances and cling to their guns and bibles. It was one of many disparaging comments aimed at white American citizens.

In Obama's utopian worldview of America, certainly the guns would not exist and it seems most if not all of the Bibles would disappear also.

Fortunately for Americans, the First Ammendment to the Constitution still protects our rights to worship despite ruinous Supreme Court decisions to water down that Ammendment.

And the Second Ammendment protects our rights to bear arms to defend ourselves, again, despite the efforts of anti-constitutionalists to remove that right.

But remember: rights not exercised and defended are rights lost.

Second Ammendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Here is what the 2nd Ammendment to the Constitution of the United States says; "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Now much has been written and debated about whether this ammendment means that each US citizen has a right to keep and bear firearms. I am not going to review any of this here but for those interested in this subject, I highly recommend the short book by Wayne LaPierre called The Essential Second Ammendement Guide.

As you try to grapple about the importance of the 2nd Ammendment in your life and the life of this country, here are two things to consider:

1. Personal Protection: I will go so far as to say that most people believe that if they threatened by another person (robber, car jacker, etc), they can call the police and the police will protect them. And certainly, those who seek to ban guns and take away our 2nd Ammendmendment rights try to promote this way of thinking.

But here is what they don't tell you: the police do not have any legal obligation or burden to protect any one individual. That is correct, the courts have ruled that the police cannot be held accountable if someone hurts you, robs you, or kills you. Their duty is to uphold the law and promote general well being. To see how this works, please look up Warren v Washing DC.

What this means, is that you need to be your own First Responder. It may mean you need to learn first aid, CPR, or arm yourself for personal protection.

So, beware those who try to take your 2nd Ammendment Rights. On the one hand, they are trying to disarm you as the courts declare the police have no obligation to protect you. This in effect strips you of your right to defend and protect yourself, your family, and your property.

2. The first step in totalitarian overthrow of a country is to disarm the citizenery. In 1938 one of the first acts of the up and coming Nazi party was to forbid Jews from possessing any weapons. The rest is history. In Russia and other portions of Eastern Europe, disarming citizenery was the first step toward the making of a totalitarian regime. In the history of the United States, it was everyday common folk who had learned to shoot through hunting that formed the first army of the United States and repelled the British and won our independence. In fact, the National Rifle Association was formed in the 19th century to train people in the use of firearms so that there would be a ready pool of competent marksmen ready for military service!

Efforts to strip us of our 2nd Ammendment rights are not only underway in this country. The United Nations has been working for over 15 years to promulgate international treaties and governing bodies to suppress gun ownership world wide. Anti-gun proponents in this country would love nothing more than to see the United States ratify and then surrender our 2nd Ammendment rights in the name of "getting along" with the norms of the rest of the world.

Be vigilent, be prepared! A Right not exercised is a right quickly lost.