In March, Iraqi war vet and current LEO Aaron Weiss from Poughkeepsie, New York spoke at the Dutchess County Legislature on a motion to repeal NY’s SAFE Act. After taking the governor and legislators to task for how the act was passed, he got down to business: “Another issue is the insistence of certain people who stand on the graves of dead children and challenge those that disagree to say it to the parent’s faces. Well, I, for one, will pick up that gauntlet… I’ll say to anyone’s face my right is more important than your dead, because I fought for it first hand… I did more things than people can imagine. So, yeah, my right trumps your dead.” He challenged those in the legislature who voted for the bill to join him and other LEOs on the front lines as they tried to enforce the laws. “…if a clause was in this bill that required you, the elected leadership, our elected leaders to go in the door first, I bet you would not be so steadfast.” Bravo sir, bravo. And elsewhere . . .
Governor Dan Malloy is trying to make sure there are fewer carry permits issued in Connecticut. Peter Kuck, the longest-serving member of the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners, is extremely pro-gun and votes to overturn permit denials more than any other board member. Gov Dan doesn’t like that one little bit. So he sent a letter to the board asking them to provide the names of people to replace Kuck. Past governors have had no success trying to replace him and Kuck is sure he’ll weather this one too.
The Huntsville (Alabama) Stars minor league baseball team was planning to host a “Second Amendment Night” promotion on Wednesday. They were raffling off certificates to be exchanged for a Ruger American Rifle with a scope, a Ruger 22-45 MKII, or a Ruger 10/22 Takedown, redeemable at a local gun store that was co-sponsoring the give-away. As hoped, the promotion received widespread national publicity. Note that these sentences are in the past tense. Yesterday the team announced, after they “heard from both the Southern League and Minor League Baseball headquarters regarding the promotion,” that they’ve canceled it. I wonder if they also changed the name of the promotion to “Roll Over and Surrender Night.”
Colorado pawn shops have found themselves caught in the middle of the state’s magazine ban. Apparently magazines were hot items to pawn – most likely along with rifles – and some shops are holding 50 – 100 of them. Since as of yesterday it’s now illegal to buy, sell or transfer “high capacity” magazines, the lenders are now stuck with them. Even if the former owners come in with cash in hand, the pawn shops can’t return the magazines without breaking the new law. They’re caught between violating the contract they have with their customers by refusing to return their merchandise, or breaking the state law by transferring the magazines back to them. Anyone want to place any bets on how many more “unintended consequences” like this are going to rear their ugly heads in the coming days?
The Fourth of July parade in Belton, Texas this year will be gun-less. The honor guard and Civil War re-creators that normally march in the parade won’t be carrying their rifles this year. And – surprise – this time it’s not because of asinine state laws. It’s because the Chamber of Commerce’s insurance company refuses to provide “any coverage for firearm-related accidents” this year. Because, you know, all those evil guns are likely to start firing on the crowd on their own, even if they’re not loaded. Or operable.
I guess I need to get myself an iPhone so I can take advantage of all the neat gadgets designed for them. Last week it was the “Grip & Shoot,” a pistol grip handle for using the phone as a camera. Now, fresh off the boat from China, we have the “Handgun Style Plating Skinning Plastic Shell for iPhone 5” that adds a real pistol grip to the phone. And if you’re a knife person, you can get the “Knife Handle Style Plating Skinning Plastic Shell for iPhone 5.” Either way you have to wonder how long before someone calls the cops when they see a kid playing with a weapon while their parents ignore it.
If you’re really into multitasking with your iPhone, you need the Yellow Jacket. It’s a case that not only protects your iPhone from impacts, but also provides a long-life battery and a built-in 650,000 volt stun gun. The video on the site talks about how nifty it is, but never shows how it operates when set to stun. The line for the “my kid zapped himself while he was playing Angry Birds/this thing shorted my grandfather’s pacemaker” lawsuits forms to the right.
Inspired by a display of bulletproof plexiglass in a store, Deborah Bay asked the Public Safety Institute of Houston to pump a few rounds of various sizes into some plexiglass for her. Then she used various lighting techniques to illuminate them and photographed them against a black background. The results are found at the smithsonian.com. Of course, she can’t just let it go at that and has to interject an anti-gun message: “Only a small amount of imagination is needed to realize the impact any of these bullets would have on muscle and bone. I just want people to think about what these bullets can do.” She must mean doing things like protecting us from the bad guys. Right?
The Huntsville Stars are still having a 2nd Amendment Appreciation Night. Just minus the raffle.
NRA Members still get in free and there is supposed to be some sort of gun safety education focus. Whatever that means.
Itll be a Pro-2A shirt and an empty holster for me.
Honor gaurds and civil war re enactors disarmed. Seems like just about once a week you hear about massacres being committed by these 2 groups. They ought to furl and cover the stars and stripes in protest of this stupidity.
I hope they refuse to march, and that the people there care enough to be furious.
My old reenacting unit would have refused. What the hell is the point of going otherwise, a big part of the fun was wearing all the accouterments and discussing the history with people after the parade was done. And one of the most popular questions? You guessed it, the rifle-musket.
What next? Re-enacting “The Battle of Gettysburg” with pointed sticks?
Nah, they’ll go with bananas.
Walkie talkies is my bet.
Going on right now, 150 anniversary
Yeah, I read they have a large number of re-enactors there over this week and are doing a day-by-day, hour-by-hour re-enactment July 1-3 on a grand scale. Would be a great spectacle to behold.
Well, I *have* heard about idiots firing ramrods, I know a guy who got hit by a felt wad, I know a guy who’s had to chase away a kid trying to slip a stone into his cannon’s barrel…
That said, I would refuse to march if the alternative was reenacting an unarmed soldier.
I would march as civil war prisoners. They were disarmed.
Not that it compares, but our high school staged a gunless production of Les Miz this spring. The peasants threw foam rocks instead. Quelle domage.
Wow. That was great.
Aaron, thank you
This brave and eloquent LEO and Iraq vet literally took my breath away, and tears came to my eyes.
I thank him sincerely for taking on these collaborators and craven cowards.
We need a lot more citizens like him to stand up and be counted. Counted by the millions, by the tens of millions.
Well done!
Love the daily digests, keep em coming
Well done, Mr. Weiss. It’s good to know that patriots still walk amongst us. Your poignant arguments absolutely smoked the anti-gun opposition. Man no mistake: they don’t want a conversation. They want to peach at you whilst trampling upon your rights.
I just watched the video. Sometimes I used to wonder if this generation is lacking in spirit compared to those who came before. Now I know I was wrong.
The artist near the end FOAD. So guns are good enough for use in making your art, but not mine? I think lead splattered on a 6 inch spinner plate is a beautiful thing! Big pat on the back for a Leo standing up against the safe crap.
Has Deborah Bay ever done a photo essay of aborted fetuses? Just sayin’…
I admire his forthrightness and courage. Unfortunately, “my right trumps your dead” is a very bad way to argue. It frames the debate as a rivalry between the RKBA and victims of gun violence, as if more RKBA means more dead children. Or as if the victims (and the gun-grabbers) did not also stand to lose the right to bear arms. It’s not “my right” versus your safety. It’s our rights and our safety, versus oppression and dependency.
Yeah, what you said.
I agree, but it would be interesting to hear the left’s response considering how they sanctify war veterans who support their views and tell us that we can’t question them. Show of hands: anybody think they’d hold Mr. Weiss to the same standard?
I don’t question his credentials, but I’m a strict Constitutionalist when it comes to foreign entanglements, but I don’t want to open that can of worms. At least not here.
I wasn’t asking what you thought about any wars. I don’t give a damn about anyone’s opinion on that. I was asking whether Mr. Weiss would be given the same “How dare you question him!” protection the left gives to veterans who agree with them.
I don’t agree. There are many arguments to use, and they all should be used. I think his is especially powerful. It is visceral and takes the wind out of the “it’s for the children” emotional argument. He is challenging voters to use their emotions in a more adult way, and I think Americans are adult enough to respond positively. If we always concede the childish argument then we can’t win.
Skyler, I agree with you completely. Yeah, Mr. Weiss’ argument is visceral and tough-minded, but he is speaking a truth we ALL need to acknowledge and properly revere.
I think his argument is spot on. What the hell did all of our veterans sacrifice for if we roll over on giving up our rights in order to “save just one life”? The idea is absurd on it’s face. Should we start censoring the public too since they might inflame jihadi terrorism? Give me a break.
I wonder how many brown babies he murdered in iraq, and how many brown kids he continues to systematically harass at home?
He is exactly the sort of fascist who should be disarmed (literally). And exactly the sort of pig the RKBA exists to protect us from.
Please no one feed the troll. We have all heard his same remarks a million times.
Didn’t even realize he still crept around here. Haven’t seen a post from him in a while. Must be crawling out to feed. Somebody find me some dirty apple cores and half a bottle of soda.
I’ve got an old gum wrapper and half a can of cat food. Good enough?
That’ll do just fine.
One of my cats just barfed up a furball and part of his breakfast, so keep your stuff guys and I’ll send that along…
rt, I think the real problem is the liberal murdering of countless babies right here at home. Are you a Veteran? I am not, and I will never discount anything they do, but I am thankful that they protect my rights each and every day.
Our resident real Fascist once again projects. Arabs are white so you should have no problem with their deaths. I bet he is all for killing Jews.
I’m sure you think every German soldier in World War Two was a card carrying Nazi party member who murdered 50 Jews before breakfast every day too, right?
::clapclapclapclap:::
Thank you so very much sir for your service and thank you for saying what needs to be said.
I wonder if the yellow jacket would make it through a tsa checkpoint?
Is it just me, or does anyone else get the feeling that somewhere along the line we took the the lowest wrung on the intelligence scale and tasked them with running the country?
I’ll second that motion. My good dream is The People vote out the Progressive Socialist Democrats in 2014. My nightmare is the Republicans lose the House in 2014.
Or worse, the Republicans take over and add a few more layers of incompetent government themselves like they did last time. When the good party’s main selling point is “we’re not quite as bad as the other guys” we’re in trouble.
That’s why I deliberately stated “…vote out the Progressive Socialist Democrats in 2014.”. I absolutely agree with you. Having the Republican controlled House as the only working defense against President Obama and his lackeys is the best we’ve got at the moment, but hardly satisfactory for the long run.
So vote None of the Above. If we can exhort enough people to vote Libertarian or Constitutionalist, we can fire them ALL!
I’ve been a Libertarian for decades.
I’m curious – what is it that scares people about the word “libertarian?”
Besides simple misunderstanding, of course.
Yes. We must advocate for alternative Political Parties in 2014.
The biggest hurdle is that people fear that alternative parties do not have a realistic chance of winning and will give either the Democrats or Republicans control of both The White House and Congress. Last time that happened we got Obama Care.
So, I think that same mindset is what makes people resistant to Libertarianism. If the Democrats get control of the House of Representatives in 2014, you can be certain we will get severe Gun Prohibitions and who knows what else….
Well, that could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. A few states have already found some of Our Glorious Beloved Infallible Commissar’s imperial edicts unconstitutional, and so null and void.
I heard a great quote in some video: “An unconstitutional law isn’t a law.”
Agreed.
Possibly a second comment will appear later. Did not post first time around.
The American political system is the Peter Principle on steriods.
Peter Principle
I had to look that one up. Glad I did, that is the best description of our government I have ever heard.
This is an awesome video. It’s been out for awhile. I’ve seen it over at nyfirearms.com which is a great resource for those of us deep behind enemy lines in New Yorkistan. I’m from Poughkeepsie too so extra props to Aaron.
Very compelling speech. It is good to see that there still is fire in some folks. I used to think Mr. Ang’s speech was one of the best, but this is equal in it’s own way
Regarding the Aaron Weiss video:
A-freakin’-men!!!!
Belton texas not belton Illinois.
Did you even read the article? It’s about the open carry protesters wanting to carry in the parade.
Come on man, at least read what you post!
Sincerely, central texas native.
Location fixed.
awesome thanks!
RE Yello Jacket Stun gun.
When at a function and the Master of Ceremonies would tell us to turn off our cell phones or switch them silent mode, I would jokingly remind those around me to put their “phasers on stun” but I never meant it literally.
i hope this sends the deepest of chills up those spineless “elected officials”
“… the Chamber of Commerce’s insurance company refuses to provide “any coverage for firearm-related accidents” this year.”
I would love to see the actuarial statistics that form the company’s basis for that. I’d also like to know which company that was. so I could take my business elsewhere. My informed guess is that there’s a greater chance that a falling aircraft would hit the parade…
The Belton chamber of commerce should switch back to the insurance carrier they used in 1850…. Whats that? They didn’t have pantywaisted crap like parade insurance in 1850? How interesting.
Re: Mr. Weiss; Hear, hear.
Re: Iphone accessories; I had a great idea (I think) the other day. Anyone who uses cordless drill/drivers or impact drivers, or does drywall, knows the term “screw gun”. I wish I had a real screw gun. I’m picturing a 1911 pattern, where the magazine is a battery, the barrel is a 1/4″ chuck, and the quick release for the chuck is actuated by pulling back the slide (or the slide release lever). The safety could be the cw/ccw selector. Thoughts?
Aaron Weiss said the truth. The exercise of my right to bear arms is not remotely the cause of some sadist or psychopath deciding to engage in mass murder. More to the point though, the denial of the right is the nearest cause for the sadist or psychopath to be able to pull it off, as in gun free school zones.
So the people who prevented the victims from defending themselves have far more guilt than law-abiding gun owners 2000 miles away, or even 2 miles away.
Outstanding Officer Aaron Weiss!!! Carry on Sir…
My man!!!!!!
There will be 30 questions of verbal reasoning to be finished in 30 minutes.
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is taken by students interested
in pursuing MBA program in the US. There are scores of intellectuals who long to
study in foreign universities and colleges.
There is certainly a great deal to learn about this subject.
I like all the points you have made.