Written by Mike McDaniel. Republished from statelymcdanielmanor.wordpress.com:
Friday, June 27th, 2014, 0-dark-thiry:
The politicians have made their decision. By a twist of fate–your file simply happened to be on the top of the stack for no particular reason–you’ll be the first example. A state police SWAT team pull to the curb in front of your home, leap from their van and rush to your front door. Two black-clad men pull back a ram and swing it toward your front door, aiming just above the knob, while the rest of the team waits anxiously, their automatic weapons charged and off safe. Two hope they’ll get the opportunity to shoot. At least one wants to manufacture the opportunity . . .
You’ve made two major mistakes; they will cost your life and destroy your family: you live in a blue state where the governor and legislature have no respect for the Constitution and the lives and liberty of citizens, and you were foolish enough to obey the law.
Starting awake from a sound sleep by the explosion of your door being smashed open and the heavy stomping of booted feet, you stumble down the stairs and into the hallway. As you turn toward the sounds, you’re blinded by multiple bright lights and hear many people screaming at you, but their words are unintelligible. You raise your hands to shield your eyes, but you have your cell phone in your right hand. As soon as it comes into view, you’re overwhelmed by a tidal wave of explosive sounds and feel the first bullets rip into your body. There are stars, so many stars, winking and suddenly, everything goes silent and black and your last conscious thought is a feeling of falling.
The SWAT team, surprised when you suddenly appeared only five feet from them, screamed conflicting commands at you. When you raised your hands and one of them saw something dark in your right hand, he jerked back the trigger of his MP5 submachine gun and didn’t let go until the weapon was empty. Seeing him fire, four more did the same. Of the 137 rounds five of the team initially fired, only 18 actually hit you, but it was enough. The rest shredded your home from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Six nearby homes were hit, as were four cars. As you lay dying, your heart beating ever more slowly and weakly, you were spared the horror of your wife’s death.
As she descended the stairs, she saw you hit, blood spurting everywhere, falling to the floor, she screamed loud and long and ran down the steps. When she suddenly leapt into the hallway from the staircase, the nearest officer, who had been staring in shock at your bleeding body, and most of all, at the cell phone near your right hand, was startled. One of only two who had not completely emptied his magazine, he emptied it into her. The rest tried, but with one other exception, their guns were empty, and they frantically and impotently jerked their triggers. The other exception managed to fire the remaining six rounds in his weapon. Of the final 13 rounds fired, eleven hit your wife, five in the chest, three in the head. She was dead before her body fell onto yours, the sickening thump of her head on the hardwood floor echoing in the sudden silence and roiling gun smoke.
That was when they heard screaming upstairs, and gathering their courage and slamming fresh magazines into their guns, rushed upstairs, breaking into your 7-year old daughter’s bedroom, to find her lying in a widening pool of blood on her tiny bed. One of the officers tripped over his own feet as he was charging into the house and triggered nearly a full magazine through the ceiling–into her bedroom and through her bed. One of his fellow officers caught three rounds on his bullet resistant vest, but that will be covered up for years. Your daughter will survive. She’ll be in a medically induced coma for two weeks, and when she awakens, she’ll be informed she’s an orphan, a paraplegic orphan with a single lung.
An investigation of the State Police SWAT team by the State Police done within a month of the murders will find the State Police blameless, and will proclaim them heroic paragons of SWAT virtue.
Your sister’s family gladly takes your daughter in, and after two years, years in which the State Attorney General, the Governor, many politicians and the news media depict you, your wife, and even your daughter as murderous domestic terrorists, a jury finally awards your daughter 30 million dollars. She’ll need every penny to support her the remainder of her shortened life. Unfortunately, a judge sympathetic to the state reduces the award to seven million dollars. The AG, Governor and his advisors, angry and vindictive, get authorization from a corrupt and cooperative judge to steal your daughter from your sister’s family and put her in a group foster home run by people who do it for the substantial money the state pays. The state also seizes the 7 million dollars for reimbursement for taking care of your daughter. The Speaker of the State House of Representatives pronounces it a just and fitting end for a family of domestic terrorists and swears to bring justice to all domestic terrorists.
Why were the police there?
You tried to obey the law and register an AR-15 you bought. Unfortunately, you missed the deadline by two days, so the state knew you had the rifle and four magazines. What they didn’t know was that you bought the gun as a birthday present for your adult son who lives in Montana. The gun and magazines were in Montana only a week after you bought it. The state police attacked your home because they thought you had an “assault weapon” and “high capacity magazines,” all of which had been in Montana for months. They were scared to death of anyone with an “assault weapon,” so they sent a SWAT team.
Documents eventually made public during the civil suit will reveal that the state police made no attempt to verify that you still owned the weapon. They will reveal that a corrupt and cooperative judge–guess who?–signed hundreds of blank search warrants. They will also reveal that only 31% of local police departments and sheriff’s offices cooperated with the State Police; 69% refused to violate the Constitution. Not that any of that means anything to you. You screwed up and you’re dead. Your daughter will come to wish she had died that night as well.
Far-out fiction?
The decision about which I spoke is being made in Connecticut as you read this article. Connecticut’s most recent gun restrictions signed into law by Governor Dan Malloy (D) include the requirement that anyone with magazines of greater than 10 round capacity must register them, and all “assault weapons,” with the state no later than January 1, 2014. Under many circumstances, violation of these laws is a felony.
As Bob Owens at Bearing Arms reports, most Connecticut residents disobeyed their legislative betters:
Only 50,000 firearms and 38,000 magazines were registered. Perhaps another 350,000 firearms belong to those who refused to register their arms. Nearly 2 million magazines are thought to remain unregistered.
These unregistered firearms and magazines are thought to belong to 80,000-100,000 gun owners who view the law as a blatantly unconstitutional infringement upon the very spirit of the Second Amendment, and a prelude to confiscation.
But what about people who did their best to obey the law? Suckers!
Those most obviously in danger of being arrested at this time are 106 rifle owners and 108 magazine ownerswho tried to register their arms, too late. The government knows exactly who they are through their botched registrations, and sent them letters giving them options on how to surrender their arms and magazines.
But the police wouldn’t do that! Yes they would, at least enough of them to fire a second shot heard around the world. Let’s briefly examine what the police are sworn to do and how they think.
All police officers swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and to enforce the laws of their jurisdiction. They are members of the executive branch of government, and like the President or the Governors of the several states, are responsible for seeing that the laws are faithfully enforced. There are always two potentially exclusive principals at play in law enforcement: officers are expected to fairly and uniformly enforce the law, yet may lawfully refuse illegal orders and may refuse to enforce unconstitutional laws.
Practically, this rarely becomes an imminent conflict. Officers are given a great deal of discretion, and usually don’t enforce ridiculous, unconstitutional laws. Almost always, no one says a word about it. This is so because thoughtful, professional officers know that they are the pointy end of the spear. They know that the only reason our system works–and they survive–is because most people respect the law and are willing to obey it most of the time. Were that not true, police officers wouldn’t last a day. The police need the respect and willing cooperation of the public, and smart cops understand this.
Legislators, on the other hand, often care about nothing but seizing and maintaining power. Too many come to see themselves not as public servants hired temporarily to do the people’s business, but as the intellectual and moral superiors of the people, divinely chosen–by themselves; they recognize no higher power–to tell the people what to think, what to say, what to own and how to behave. They do not react well to the people thinking for themselves or refusing to obey. They forget–if they ever knew–that no rational legislator passes a law they know will not be obeyed, because when they do, and when people ignore them, a difficult choice is forced upon them. Take it and back down from a law they should never have written in the first place, or attack and show those peasants who’s boss. Punish them for daring to challenge their betters.
And who are the enforcers for the elite legislative class. The police.
Police officers must always consider three factors in their law enforcement decisions:
(1) Maintaining the rule of law. They do this by upholding the Constitution, fairly enforcing the laws that actually have to do with public safety while honoring the rights of all.
(2) Upholding the social contract. Police officers are given their powers by the people to deal with truly dangerous and harmful people and situations. People are willing to respect and obey the police as long as they do not breach the social contract by becoming not even-handed enforcers of laws that actually protect the public and make civilized society possible, but partisan enforcers for a lawless government.
(3) Doing what is reasonably necessary to do their jobs honestly and honorably.
Smart police supervisors and executives also know they should never give an order that will not be obeyed. Even so, will the police violate the Constitution, break the social contract, act dishonestly and dishonorably in doing their jobs? Many will. Refusal might mean the loss of career and pension, discipline, even prosecution. Some buy into the idea that they are the masters of the people, not their servants. Others will go along to get along. Some will honestly, but wrongfully, believe their duty is to follow orders regardless. But enough will do it.
The decision facing Connecticut legislators, the Attorney General and the Governor is stark: do they back down, refuse to actively pursue gun owners made instant felons by their unconstitutional laws, or do they suppress the peasants, perhaps even kill a few to make the point? That would never happen? Consider the Jose Guerena case, and the case of Andrew Lee Scott. Consider this from The Examiner:
A journalist in Connecticut reports that the highly restrictive and punitive gun control laws the state passed last year carry an ominous threat for citizens.
Those who missed the deadline to register their ‘assault weapons’ and high-capacity magazines, which have been outlawed, will be treated as criminals although they may have attempted to obey the law but just missed the deadline.
Ed Jacovino of The Journal Inquirer further stated that Michael P, Lawler, a top aide to Gov. Dannel Malloy, contends that the state will punish those who missed the registration deadline whether they intended to or not.
According to Jacovino: ‘And while the state won’t immediately prosecute those who missed the deadline, it isn’t ignoring that information, either. The rifle and magazine declarations will be included in information given to police responding to a certain address. ‘This would be a factor in deciding how to respond to different situations,’ Lawlor says.’
Read that statement closely. Lawlor is saying that if a citizen calls the police to report a crime in progress, officers will be able to see whether or not the person reporting the crime has registered their assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and will approach the emergency call accordingly.
Honest officers trying to do their jobs honorably would carefully consider the three aforementioned factors.
They would realize that these laws are clearly unconstitutional and will, sooner rather than later, be ruled so. They would understand that pursuing honest citizens who refuse to obey an unconstitutional law is a gross and unforgivable violation of the social contract, and such violations will cause breaches that will never be healed. Trust lost is never regained. Particularly, arresting–even killing, and some will die–people who actually tried to obey even an unconstitutional law but missed a deadline by a day or two is particularly dishonorable, even evil. To do their jobs honestly and honorably, they would quietly refuse to enforce those laws. Their supervisors and administrators, usually understanding of the three factors, would say nothing and do nothing.
Because the mere possession of magazines and AR-15-like weapons is not a crime if they are registered, police officers have no probable cause to investigate people for mere possession of such things. How can any officer, by merely looking, tell if a magazine holds 10 or 11 rounds? How can they tell if a magazine or a rifle have been registered? To be forced to tear apart magazines and to examine and investigate every rifle they see exceeds an officer’s powers and reduces them to corrupt, thuggish operatives of a police state demanding to see anyone’s papers at whim. Were this lawful, were this truly a significant law enforcement priority, why not simply station State Troopers at every shooting range as a gatekeeper? Of course, actual criminals tend not to frequent shooting ranges, but one has to have priorities.
If in the course of their normal duties they find themselves in a situation where they have genuine–not manufactured–probable cause to investigate further, they might need to enforce those particular laws, particularly if they’re dealing with real criminals rather than honest citizens criminalized by a corrupt legislature, but other than that, professionals would leave it alone. There are far more pressing issues that the public will support and recognize as clearly upholding the social contract.
And this will work–it does every day–if the police are left to their own devices. But as the Examiner noted, that may not be the case. This is an issue about which the police are very much aware, and honest officers worried. Recently, a woman whose husband received a threatening letter called the State Police and spoke with Lt. J. Paul Vance, who is apparently the head of public information for the State Police. [Click here to hear her recording of their conversation.]
While the woman is somewhat naïve regarding these issues, she is asking valid questions, particularly, if ordered to go to the homes of honest citizens and seize their firearms and accessories, will the State Police do it? Will they put themselves and the citizens they serve in deadly danger to enforce unconstitutional laws? Will they put honest citizens in situations where officers will feel compelled to kill them?
As the call goes on, Lt. Vance becomes upset and defensive, very reluctant to admit that the police are even considering such things, saying, among other things:
“I don’t want to talk about the Constitution at all–at all.”
“It sounds like you’re anti-American and anti-law.”
“I’m the master.”
He repeatedly tells her to speak with her attorney and says he would never come to her home, because it’s not his job (of course not; he’s an administrator). She corrects him, noting that lower ranking officers would do it, but he wants to avoid admitting that, and pretends that the police are automatons with no control over which laws to enforce. He also pretends not to understand that police officers coming to the homes of the law-abiding to seize their weapons are in any unusual danger, nor will he admit that their actions would put citizens in danger. He knows better; any competent police officer knows better.
Anyone listening to Lt. Vance should come away with the understanding that the State Police certainly will send SWAT teams to the homes of citizens, and will, if they deem it necessary, kill them over the number of rounds their magazines are capable of holding and the appearance of their rifles. They will kill people to please blood-thirsty politicians.
Some local agencies–particularly sheriff’s departments, because sheriffs are elected–will refuse to participate, but many will. Police officers on the coasts are different than those in flyover country. They are generally more anti-gun. The State Police absolutely will, and few, if any, will have any qualms about it. In law enforcement circles, state police officers are known to be rigid and inflexible. Because they generally have no ties to a particular community, many quickly develop an “us-against-them” mentality. Their training and rank structure and daily relationships also tend to condition them to think themselves superior to local officers, and to be much more militaristic than other law enforcement agencies.
Have no doubt.
If Connecticut politicians decide to punish the peasants, the State Police SWAT teams will raid the homes of the innocent. People will die. The social contract will be irretrievably broken, and the police–and politicians–will be seen as, and treated as, the enemies of Americans. They will have earned it.
If Connecticut’s legislators have any common sense, any honor, any decency, they will, at the very least, leave this alone and let this ultimately be decided by the courts. If they’re actually smart, they’ll repeal these unconstitutional laws before lives are lost.
Any bets on which path they’ll take?
My bet…..they will double down on stupid.
Im hoping theres enough people that act like james yaeger talks to turn this into a giant headache
“Of course I’m dangerous, I’m police. I can do terrible things to people with impunity.” – Cohle, True Detective
Honestly, can we dial back the up armored barney fifes, i mean at least barney meant well and didnt shoot any dogs
CT is in a sad state — and there may be blood — but this is a bit over the top.
Agreed.
The letter was a draft. I’m from here. I follow the CCDL on FB. Everyone talks about the letter but no one received it. The letter didn’t even tell you how long you had to take action on one of the four crappy options. And even then it was only going out to 106 that sent the registration in late. I actually have no sympathy for them. They made themselves into low-hanging fruit.
Enforcement is futile. Especially with magazines. For guns they can compare forms from sales over the past few decades with the list of the 50k that registered. But that would be a major undertaking. “John Doe” bought an FNC and a AR-15 in 1993. Did he sell them? Is he even still living in the state?”
For magazines, how many of those sales are recorded? NONE. That and how many went out of state to a gun show, bought them legally and then brought them into the state legally? How many bought magazines over the internet?
Absolutely 100% unenforceable.
I doubt I will ever receive a letter. But if I do I guarantee you that the majority of the items in that letter are long gone. And the ones I bought recently? Well, you see officer. I gave them to my uncle in New Hampshire. Sorry. I don’t have them anymore.
To clarify, you can still get busted for a magazine that you didn’t declare. But no one is going to get a letter as to why you didn’t register your magazines.
Yep. It’s a game of who will blink first.
We all know which side has the most backbone. Money can’t buy courage and they certainly don’t have enough to enforce this grand of a scheme. The antis will fold, you just watch.
Wait until it tips off in NY,that will make CT look tame so to speak.Whats gonna happen when people flood to CT to help w/ the cause?……….Martial Law,then the festivities really kick off.
Yes, I’m wondering exactly how helpful stuff like this is. It appears to me that Conn. authorities are feeling, at very least, conflicted about the corner they have painted themselves into. I’m not sure the best way to take advantage of that possible opening for rationality to prevail is to distribute such tales as this, complete with follow-up injustice upon injustice (e.g. that sending the orphan to a state home biz; if that part is based on any actual case, it might be a different story, but failing that it seems like just gratuitious pot-stirring).
JE,
So youre OK with how much blood? How much murder by cop? It seems like once or twice a week we read of cops breaking in the wrong door and mowing down everyone in sight. Yet nothing happens to them. The scenario is possible but your OK with that. Its just some blood. You make a fine useful idiot for CT legislature.
I’m curious as to how many occur that we do NOT hear about. I think we’ve all realized for years that if a cop wants to toss your car for drugs, he just does it, no warrant, no worry. If he finds nothing, he lets you go on your way (if you have been appropriately subservient) and no one ever hears of it. If he does find (or plant) something, he manufactures a reason to have searched without warrant. Here, we’re looking at the same thing in our homes, let’s not be surprised that some of us visualize the same exact violations.
Read this the other day from a link on TheGunWire, so I know we are generally very critical of LEO here, and to be fair, I think were pretty critical about everything. But as Uncle Ben from Spiderman has taught us “with great power comes great responsibility” 🙂 and power corrupts etc But as an inevitability, LEOs will be the ones doing the actual physical act of confiscation, man that frog is boiling in CT right now.
I wonder if the petition even had signatures on it. It might be like their membership rosters and they were counting Facebook “likes”.
At least they are fashion conscious enough to have swapped last year’s FDE and Multicam (can you say FAUX PAS???) for this year’s trendy Urban Grey.
The Constitution State …. lol
The Constitution State …. LOLOLOLOL!
(fixed it for ya)
The Confiscation State…. There fixed it again.
To do my part for the gun owners in CT, I just designed a T-shirt on Teespring.com to help support Connecticut gun owners. I will be donating all of the proceeds to ctcarry.com to help fund the legal battles ahead.
Go to http://www.teespring.com/connecticut to order the shirts.
Twenty shirts must be sold for any to ship out, but you aren’t charged unless the minimum is met and the shirts get printed.
They say “I Support Connecticut Gun Owners” on the front, and “Don’t Let The Left Take Away Our Rights” on the back under an M4 silhouette.
The shirts are $20 each, with ladies shirts, long sleeve, V-neck, and hoodies for a little more (hoodies are the most expensive at $33).
All of the proceeds will be donated to ctcarry.com at the end of the sale. They will be available to buy for 21 days, and will ship 10-14 days later.
if you want to fund the legal battles, then donate to the CCDL.
While CTCARRY does its part, many time helping individuals with permits and other issues with the police, it is not fighting the bogus laws in court. That is being done via the CCDL.
Not saying some money should not go to CTCARRY, but it is not for the major court battle
Is the guy pictured Tex Grebner?
No tex grebner is; 1.not from Texas, 2. I think he is too busy doing uhhhhh…. stuff
You know — if enough of us felt that the government was lawless– not just with the gun laws but with things like illegal immigration where the government refuses to enforce the laws against an entire group of people, or marijuana/drug where state and federal laws conflict yet its the poor citizen who’ll go to jail obeying the state laws that conflict with the federal. Not the politicians who set up the contradiction—
we could join the lawlessness by refusing to convict anyone of anything when summoned for jury duty. If the politicians pass laws which the police enforce — but juries won’t convict, the laws don’t matter. I think it’s time all of us who sit on juries join the government in its lawlessness, assist them in promulgating the slide to anarchy.
For a lot of reasons, there is a significant portion of voters in the state that are pissed at the Malloy administration. It’s not just guns, it’s taxes, a failing economy, a woeful lack of job growth, and a failure to deal with the problems he promised to solve (e.g. shady accounting practices with reference to the budget, he pulled the same garbage his predecessors did). Trouble is, the Republicans are just as bad. CT, prior to Malloy, hadn’t had a Democratic governor since 1991, and they screwed up the state just as badly, a fact Malloy has been whining about just about every day since he took office. And of course the leading GOP candidate is Foley, who keeps putting his foot in his mouth by publicly accusing Malloy of misconduct without any evidence to back it up. It’s a ship of fools ….
I was going to laugh, then I realized it was all true.
If that were a comment, and not an article, would this article fall afoul of RF’s guidelines and be moderated away?
Just wondering.
People that buy Sigs are the same type of people who buy Porsches, Caddys, Lexus, etc. People who buy Glocks, Rugers and the other plastic junk are people who buy Chevys and say their car is better. Once you have a Sig you have it all.
I believe that in the draft letter that was posted included the option of removing the weapon from the state. So if you’re one of those who registered late, couldn’t you contact the authorities and inform them that the weapon is no longer in Connecticut? At the very least that would be a good face saving option for the state – swear the weapon isn’t in state anymore and we won’t investigate any further.
I read up to Social Contract and then stopped. There is no social contract.
I’ve had mine for about 8 months now and it has been rock solid. The only complaints I have are with the side mount and the front site/gas block assembly.
——The side mount is installed way too high to use with a red dot like a PK-01V which should co-witness with the iron sites. To work around this I ordered a RS Regulate AK-310 mount that is made specifically for the M10. If you don’t need it to co-witness then this shouldn’t be a problem.
——The front site sits so far back that installing a new brake like a Mantacore Arms NightBrake will not work. There isn’t a set pin to hold a brake in place with this type of setup. I haven’t found a good work around besides having the brake soldered or welded if I want to go with that style brake.
Overall I like the M10 762 and would recommend it if the above complaints are not an issue.
You’re almost better off with no gun at all, than having one that’s registered.
I’m thinking about doing this with an Obama mask on… Full on suit and everything, no one steal my idea before I can do it.
I cannot believe any law enforcement officer would want to go confiscate weapons and leave his own home and family unprotected in a state with 300,000 new felons. His neighbors all know who he is.
Just sayin….
Once again, let’s turn the law-abiding into criminals. Facing this kind of nonsense in NJ again (A2006), a bill that will make 11-15 round magazines and arms which hold over 10 rounds illegal with no grandfather clause I say ENOUGH. If it’s not “For the Children” it’s “For the safety of law enforcement”. It’s never for the self-defense rights of the individual.
I ran into people like Vance in the service; ……. every crease so perfectly ironed and not one smudge on his shoes or hat, yet underneath that seemingly disciplined persona is a total retard who thinks no one can see the sociopathic parasite hiding behind the uniform.
In the end, while you’re busy dodging bullets and helping a wounded buddy, these idiots are already looking to see where they can put another medal on themselves for the bravery YOU performed.
This is why I back away from anyone who says the words, “Watch this!”.
More germane is a paraphrase of Pasteur; chance favors only the prepared mind. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you should have some level of preparedness to handle an emergency, and in most cases that means that you know what the heck you’re doing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to step in to help someone medically (I am not medically trained btw) because everyone else around me is just standing there with a stupid look on their face. Of course the right tool for the job is always helpful, but more important is the understanding and preparedness to use the tools you have to greatest effect.
I was at a range when a guy had a kaboom from his handgun, it took off a piece of his thumbtip. I had a first aid kit in the car, (came with the car) fortunately, it had big gauze pads, and we used those and some gauze tape to wrap up the thumb, and he drove himself to the hospital, while his buddy packed up the guys gun pieces and gear.
Add some QuickClot packets to your range bag. It has saved a lot of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I use the quick clot infused sponge/bandage. The powder is a burn waiting to happen.
I don’t believe the powder even exists anymore, save from an individual’s personal stash. If that’s the case, throw it away and replace with the non burning gauze type.
Let me add one thing that I also have on my range: SPOT (Satellite Positioning Transmitter). The cost is about $100 and the service is another $100/year. The device has six buttons; Button #1 turns it on and off. It will work for about 7 to 14 days straight with good batteries. Button #2 sends a per-programmed message to anyone of your per-programmed choice. For my Button #2, I have a category for RSO that sends a message to the local EMS director that says the range is now open and firing will start soon. Attached to that message is my GPS location. Button #3 sends a message to the Local EMS director saying that the range is hot and shooters are on the line (also with the exact GPS location). Button #4 is not used as I see no need is using it for my range. It is designed to send an update every 10 minutes or so showing my location. Button #5 request emergency assistance at my GPS location. Generally, this button over-rides less important messages in the system and ensure a much quicker response. When I press this button the EMS Director will call me on the phone and ask, “What?”. Button #6 is the RED BUTTON. Pressing Button #6 will put Fire, Police, EMS at my GPS location in 5 minutes or less. This is a rapid over-ride of all secondary messages in the system that forces the dispatch to immediately send help.. and then call to see what is going on.
I used it one time when I was in a motorcycle wreck… Took about 30 seconds to activate the local rural EMS system and 6 minutes for them to arrive.
*imminent*
But agreed on the above poster regarding the quick clot. If you have nothing else, quick clot, a tourniquet and some z fold bandage covers a multitude of injuries ranging from the above to life threatening.
The tale of almost an entire family being offed by accident seems a bit hyperbolicious (a combination of hyperbole and delicious, as in “This hyperbole really satisfies my craving for emotional rhetoric outlining a worst-possible-case scenario!”). Honestly it reads like the hypothetical, fear-laced diatribes that we find in anti-gun op-eds. I could do without it…
That said, the rest of the article is spot on, and certainly the risk of death or injury to all parties involved in raids against homeowners is real. In the end, it will in fact come down to just what the author states: The willingness of the legislators to blink vs. the readiness of the State Police to protect and serve those legislators instead of the people.
God help us all.
Classic PJ! I’ve been reading his stuff for years, just keeps getting better. Little known fact, he (PJ) was one of the writers on what I think is the most underrated comedies of all time “Easy Money”. Dangerfield at his schlubby best….
I make “Decision Making Targets” out of 9″ paper plates. Take some spray paint and put a green dot on one, red dot on another, and so on…. then use spray glue (3M) and stick to a 25×45 poster board or particle board. Have someone call out a color and then see how close you come that that color. You can also use the spray paint to paint a number or shape. Then have someone call out a color, number, or shape, before you fire.
Add in a figure 8 drill and you have a really good decision making target setup.
And so we have another country proving that REGISTRATION ALWAYS RESULTS IN CONFISCATION, just in case anyone in the US wonders why Feckless Obama and his lackeys want “universal background checks” on all guns sold in the US.
I’ll never forget the time I took my daughter to WalMart to equip her emergency bag for her car. At one point I told my petite lass to grab a package of extra-large sanitary napkins, she replied, “But Daddy, I don’t wear that size!”. I then explained that they were for her first-aid kit to stop bleeding, not for personal use.
Please, please, please get proper first aid training. Items such as quick clot and tourniquets can do more damage, and even kill, if used improperly. There is no substitute for proper training (of the non-google variety)!
While I agree that quality training is a great thing, the only way you’re going to cause death or serious damage with a tourniquet is if you put it on someone’s neck.
If you don’t crank it down tight enough, then it won’t work, but it won’t make things worse. If you crank it down too tight, it might break, with the same result. You could still die, but that would be a result of the original wound.
OB tampons are good for plugging bullet holes (and nose bleeds). Sanitary napkins are very absorbent…much better than 4×4 gauze pads. I keep a supply of both in my first aid kit. I also have some Quick Clot, but that would only be as a last resort.
Greg,
not sure how I feel about inserting something INTO the bullet hole to stop bleeding. I’m thinking a seal that’s non-intrusive, not a plug the body’s going to coagulate around & so will re-open the wound when it has to be removed.
Suppose nothing’s perfect.
I don’t think they will resort to SWAT right out of the box. Rather they will ease into it. They know very well the people who they are going after are law abiding citizens and not a threat. They will first come with a not so friendly knock on the door and search warrant. The authorities are going see what the reaction is going to be. If more “gentle” tactics don’t work in flushing out the hold outs then they will up the ante.
Them thurr boolits r gunna scurr them yoots awf afore yew shewt em. Ah lahk em. Murricuh.
I’m the author of the story that inspired this post. I am also the author of a 6-month series in 2013 where I documented the entire process to get a firearm permit in Massachusetts, and am now the proud owner of a S&W J-frame .38. I also plan to buy an AR-15 when I can afford it.
You imply the story is an advocacy piece for a state or national registry. I don’t understand this. About reviewing it, I saw that some details were cut out by an editor, which I just had put into the online version. Specifically, the idea that MIRC functions as a registry.
Still, that didn’t make the piece one-sided. I had Chief DeMoura at its center, and he advocates that position, but I also had critics of gun registries.
“Besides, most guns used in crimes were stolen from lawful owners.” The ATF doesn’t agree with that statement. I tried to show how difficult it is for the government to understand where crime guns come from, and that makes it harder for them to try to stop criminals from getting guns. You could take that information and use it to argue why certain gun control measures are flawed, for example. If crime guns in Massachusetts tend to come out of state, then what is the point of introducing more gun control in Massachusetts?
You may not think that a registry is the answer, but that doesn’t mean the data gap isn’t a problem.
Let’s see, the police are going to have to go serve a warrant to search a domicile where a “known felon” (the key words here) resides, also known to probably be in possession of an AR15 and probably multiple 30-round magazines. Anyone here think they are going to politely knock on the door?
There was an incident a while back in St. Petersburg, Florida where police went to the domicile and politely knocked. Two officers died and the house was demolished to get to the shooter. Read what happened here:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/two-st-petersburg-officers-slain-by-wanted-fugitive/1147475
Strange how the city of St. Petersburg has still not paid Christine Lacy one red cent for destroying her home despite their promise to make her whole. On another strange note, the lawyer representing Ms. Lacy got me out of a DUI one time. I have his number saved in my phone.
You know, the cynical part of me is able to envision exactly this scenario. But here is how I believe it will actually happen:
You failed to register or registered late.
The .gov already knows you have guns.
You get pulled over for a routine traffic stop (remembere, you can’t drive a car nowadays without unintentionally breaking at leats one traffic law).
When they run your license, your name pops up on the “hot list” of gun owners in violation.
You’re arrested at gunpoint and taken to jail.
Now the can get a warrant at their leisure and raid your house, secure in the knowledge that you’re not there to resist. Especially if they wait for your significant other to arrive to post bail. Way easier.
Re: Razor Core:
“In fact, according to one reseller, the bullet is a 77-grain Sierra HPBT MatchKing”….
Doubtful. The 77gr Match king is very accurate but has a very thin jacket. It does not penetrate well. It probably is their new version, the TMK or “Tipped Match King” as seen here:
http://blackhillsammo.wordpress.com/2014/02/02/black-hills-ammunition-new-for-2014-5-56-77-gr-tmk/
Just wait until they figure out that if they use Fish and Game Wardens on the SWAT teams then they don’t have to get a search warranty in most states. Illegal hunting rifle.
To this situation let US hope it never comes to pass. But if it does then WE will truly be at hell’s gate. It seems that the overly enthusiastic to shoot someone reside on both sides of this fence and the unintentional deaths will happen if both sides proceed down this road. Use our voices and may cooler heads prevail.
You discredited yourself in the first paragraph, unless your rating is 10 stars for perfection. “The problem is that their first attempt sucked (relative to what they were capable of doing — I still gave it four stars)”.
My goodness! When the anti’s get ahold of this article you can bet it will be sliced and diced into all sorts of spurious, out-of-context bits and pieces and used to “prove” how paranoid, anti Law Enforcement and unbalanced “gun owners” are. His description of the LEO’s “assault” on the home reads like a Three Stooges script replete with a stumble-foot emptying his magazine into the ceiling below the child’s room and hitting another officer in the process.
If damage this turns-out to be, it is done.
If no one in CT has actually received “the letter” as yet, it seems ill-advised (charitable phrasing) to jump into the worst case, nightmare scenario “depicting” what the State of CT will do. “Wait and see” is an unsatisfactory tactic, but this is an unprecedented situation in CT.
Time to start calling it “Fascist Book”.
Since suckerberg is pushing Amnesty, are we surprised he also hates the Bill of Rights as well.
so very glad I was born in the early 70’s and don’t participate and Twitter or that stupid ass Facebook! There not going to set up some kind of checks and balances processed or just going to ban all guns related cells and topics on Facebook that’s a cover story so that they don’t sound like you’re out wright going to ban all guns transactions but trust me they’re going to ban all guns transactions!
So possibly some pages might be blocked from minors? No gun porn?
That got garbled. Facebook is saying that just to use it as a cover story. Facebook really is going to ban all guns transactions ads anything else relating to fire alarms on their website you just wait and see! facebook run by a buncha liberals lefty’s way way out my field!
Because Facebook is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA 94025 (Just south of San Franscisco).
Enough said!
Too many alphabet .gov agencies peeking anyway. Never used it. Not missing it one damn bit either.
Can’t stop the signal. Someone will find the work-around
All of the gun related pages that I followed on FB have been deleted. One was for re-loading, another was for trading guns. All gone. I thought that Zuckerberg had rejected the MOMS efforts yesterday. Guess that I was wrong.
The ones I am involved in are still up and active.
I don’t think anyone will mistake me for someone who cares. I wouldn’t open a facebook account on a bet.
P.J. is one funny guy.
Ha so basically they are giving lip service to the antigun groups. The age restriction is the only thing and most of my preteen cousins are listed as like 25 year olds lol they aren’t doing anything basically…. For now at least
What’s up i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anywhere,
when i read this paragraph i thought i could also make comment due to this
sensible paragraph.
Meanwhile, Facebook is looking into buying a drone manufacturer, to help the disadvantaged somehow.
Month long campaign that does nothing but basically have FB make a public statement about enforcing their current policy. My MAIG and MDA always have such crushing victories in their diligent fight.
To Curtis in IL:
Kyle is correct. Monika is a friend and is definitely not afraid of guns.
That’s good to know.
Good luck enforcing this, Facebook, since big words on paper (or a screen) do SO MUCH to prevent criminals from getting access to firearms already!
Wot da phruck!
Tried posting this a sec ago but got marked as spam. :-/ Whatever. I don’t like spam (badumpche!)
Here’s the point from an email I just got: “Connecticut halts plans to round up firearms after finding most cops in the state are on the list.” (do a search online for this and you’ll find the article)
Anybody know if there’s any truth to this claim?
Where the hell did the term “agitprop” come from? I’d never seen it before in my life. Now I see it a dozen times a day.
“As part of the campaign, Moms released a “closer look” video to riff on Facebook’s 10th anniversary “look back” videos to explain how Facebook’s previous policies made it easy for guns to be bought and sold online without criminal background checks”
That hasn’t changed at all.
“Previous research by Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that criminals are flocking to the internet to buy guns – on one site, one in 30 prospective gun buyers on online had committed crimes that prohibited them from possessing firearms.”
As with all “research” they do actual details could not be given because not enough time was taken to even make them up. When no details are given no fact-checking can be done.
Speaking of that, we do need some quick fact checking here, because private sales aren’t supplying criminals with guns to any statistically significant degree.
Well, it’s nice to know MDA can be so easily satisfied (no pun intended) and laughable they represent it a a major win. Personally, I would have preferred that FB treat MDA like STAPLES did, but I am guessing FB’s lawyers probably saw that MDA would accept this “gesture” and not be smart enough to realize it’s a boondoggle.
I see it another way! A man get’s up early to use the bathroom and hears dogs barking in the neighborhood. Curious, he looks at his security monitor and observes masked men with rifles sneaking around. The man in his sixties, has prostate cancer and isn’t in a good mood. He’s facing his final horizon and he knows it.
He picks up his black scary rifle and takes the safety off and takes up a position that he has rehearsed many time. The front door is smashed open without a warning and the man opens fire. A hail of gunfire erupts. In the end, three officers are killed and two others seriously wounded. The home owner is also dead.
Now the media gets hold and serious questions start being asked. Officers have died and everyone is mad, especially the police. Officers start taking a second look at their duties, because quite frankly, playing GI Joe and kicking doors is all fun, until they saw their lifeless fellow officers laying dead with his a neck blown to shreds, one with a head wound and one that bled out before help arrived.
This isn’t so fun anymore.
Really, the only solution to this is en masse cancellation of Facebook accounts in protest.
Has RF or any other staff commented on why this keeps being reposted?
And the winner of the Mealy-Mouthed Mush Award for 2014 is . . .
Any nation where cowardly words and behavior are fashionable is a country that cannot endure as a free republic.
For those of you who wish to cleanse your minds of this Facebook toady’s guff, read/view Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech. It was given 68 years ago today at Westminster College, MO.
I entered your stupid contest once already, now for the ever loving grace of God, Buddha, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster please stop shoving it down my throat. This is a low moment for TTAG.
“Groundhog Day”. That explains me running into the same insurance salesman everyday this Month.
Ask him how being disarmed in a restaurant helped Nikki Goeser’s husband. Or Suzannah Gratia Hupp’s parents. Or….the list goes on.
I’d also like to know how requiring all guns carry insurance (whatever that means) will reduce violence.
On No Fly List: Ted Kennedy was prohibited from flying 5 separate times because his name was SIMILAR to one on the list. How accurate was that?
Kennedy’s was a case of clerical error. He was supposed to be placed on the No Drive List.
Hilarious!
Love to read the feckless whining.
Am I the only one who feels debates are pointless? I’ve never met anyone who could be swayed from or too an opinion by listening to two people arguing with each other.
Granted I’m not the most outgoing social person but these “fence sitters” elude me. People either have an opinion or they just don’t care about the subject. Maybe the apathetic are the fence sitters?
No debate audience is actually there to be educated or to listen with an open mind. They’re there for the same reason Romans packed the Colosseum. To cheer for their man to kill the other guys man.
Where’s the rest of the state?
Not that logic will make a difference, but I’d highly recommend RF make the hospital analogy (I think I saw it on this site, actually….). Point out the number of people who die from infections that they get at hospitals every year, but that despite that, we as a society have accepted that that’s a necessary risk because hospitals do far more good than harm. Couple that concept with hard facts about gun deaths every year compared to (as much as this can be a hard fact, anyway) the number of lives (potentially) saved by the use of guns every year. It’s also worth noting that Mexico has such strict gun laws that guns are, for all intents and purposes, outlawed. And clearly it’s worked, because Mexico is such a peaceful utopia…. It’s worth noting that the large majority of the violence in this country occurs in small, heavily impoverished and gang ridden areas.
This video makes some excellent points in a far more concise way than I could. Also, the comments are surprisingly thoughtful, given that 99.9% of youtube videos are people screaming “FAG!” at each other and talking about what perverse sex acts they would perform on each other’s mothers.
Not that logic will make a difference, but I’d highly recommend RF make the hospital analogy (I think I saw it on this site, actually….). Point out the number of people who die from infections that they get at hospitals every year, but that despite that, we as a society have accepted that that’s a necessary risk because hospitals do far more good than harm. Couple that concept with hard facts about gun deaths every year compared to (as much as this can be a hard fact, anyway) the number of lives (potentially) saved by the use of guns every year. It’s also worth noting that Mexico has such strict gun laws that guns are, for all intents and purposes, outlawed. And clearly it’s worked, because Mexico is such a peaceful utopia…. It’s worth noting that the large majority of the violence in this country occurs in small, heavily impoverished and gang ridden areas.
This video makes some excellent points in a far more concise way than I could. Also, the comments are surprisingly thoughtful, given that 99.9% of youtube videos are people screaming “FAG!” at each other and talking about what perverse sex acts they would perform on each other’s mothers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooa98FHuaU0
If this doesnt cause your blood to boil, nothing will. All I can say is that I hope and pray it doesnt come to this. But I fear it will. And if so, then God bless us all and pass the ammo.
The elementary schools are so busy suspending boys for making small-caliber finger guns that they don’t have time to teach the same boys that breaking-and-entering, forcible rape, and aggravated assault are serious crimes justifying the victim’s shooting you dead. I guess it’s just an economics quiz: “What is worth teaching our boys?”
Great point about mag limits being a “quasi-religious” belief system, Robert. The cosmologists have there Big Bang Theory, which is religion disguised as science, and the Holy Magic Mag Limit Empire.
Cosmologists have run into one fact after another that casts doubt on the BBT, and they keep thinking of things like “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy” to prop that mess up. They are religiously attached to it, and won’t let facts suggest they need to start from scratch again….
Blank “fake” guns are rampant in FSU/post soviet countries. Although I don’t want to be in a situation to find out. I had a bad experience in Kyiv once where a guy pointed a “blank” gun at me. The strobe effect may be LED taillights that show up as blinking on video. If he was a cop, he must be beyond corrupt to afford a vehicle that cost over 200K in Russia.
We here could use Mr. Alan Gura’s services on this side of the Mississippi. PPPLLLLLEEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!
Because you can find negative reviews of ANY firearm, and you tend to read ANYTHING you can find after you buy the gun.
I Love my NPAP. It has eaten everything I feed it and asks for more. Only issue I have had was The buttstock had a bit of wobble, a little loose, so I researched and spent an hour at the Home Depot finding the right socket wrench and extenders for the “propriatary” Yugo buttstock bolt, only to find that it was a different round bolt and all I needed was a long flathead screwdriver.
I installed a recoil buffer, and it works great, really softens the kick. With the buffer installed you can’t pull the charging handle all the way back to the hold open notch, but I can live with that.
Great Review! I just got mine at Big5 for 200, impressive gun for the price. Definitely has a more solid feel then the 870, and on a budget, living on a questionable street, I couldn’t be happier with it…I think I’ll tac it out now.
No video. ???
If we fire the first shot in this phase of the culture war, we lose. If we surrender, we lose. The only way we can win is massive noncompliance, passive resistance and one court challenge after another, resulting in non-enforcement.
But as far as getting these laws repealed, I’m not all that hopeful. Hell, we can’t even get bridge tolls repealed.
My guess is that politicians being politicians, this whole law had far more to do with politics (doing ‘something for the children’) than the notion that they were accomplishing anything toward public safety. Politicians are far more concerned with looking like they’re doing something than actually getting things done. Now that potentially hundreds of thousands of gun owners have acted in civil disobedience they would probably love to find a face saving way of making this all go away. I could see this as a law that is never actively enforced. There are already tens of thousands of laws in this country that are not actively enforced. We already have a long list of weapons that are illegal, but no one is going door to door to search for them. The politicians will likely be happy enough with the fact that these rifles are no longer for sale in the state. A few individuals will screw up and be caught with their ‘illegal’ rifles and be prosecuted (provided the courts don’t strike the law down first), but I doubt the politicians have the stomach for the full repercussions of the law they passed.
The police on the other hand, are a little less predictable. They are insulated from the voters they ‘serve and protect’. Add to that all the shiny new hardware they carry around in the trunks of their squad cars while they hide behind billboards waiting to catch someone rolling through a stop sign, and you have the potential for some very bored officers with itchy trigger fingers. But I have a hard time seeing the order coming down from the politicians.
If you currently have one, great; should you not, then consider installing one, they can be an excellent
option for space for storing and furthermore,
as they’re flush resistant to the wall, it provides a clean appearance.
What with regards to old appliances, cabinets, furniture, lights etc.
This might need additional shoring up in the structural components at
added cost.