The greatest threat to people in the 20th century was their own governments. E.J.Rummel, in "Death By Government" notes that Democide accounted for nearly 180 million deaths. Criminals aren't the only ones who prefer unarmed victims.
Have a nice weekend Lando.
Bookmarked for later read. Thanks.
It was revealed that to arrive at this number they included FOOD vendors, clothing and accessory vendors, collectible vendors, and others who were NOT selling firearms. None of these vendors, because of the product they were selling needed a firearms license. Yet the Brady Campaign included them to arrive at their X% of vendors at guns shows are unlicensed.
''Million Armed Mom March in Washington, D.C.''
I like that idea!
Man, you knocked this one out of the park!!! Excellent article!
Ping.
good article. I also read a while ago either in First Freedom or American Rifleman about a guy in England who actually spent more time in jail than the thugs who robbed him because he brandished a firearm to protect himself. He also had the one robber sue for mental damage and the courts gave in...
Nice job Lando!! More ammo in my arguments with gun-grabbers. Thanks!
Gun control as a means of lowering crime is as sensible an approach as strip-searching old ladies waiting to board a plane to lower terrorism attacks.
I guess I've always been a dreamer.
The numbers do not add up and do not state anything about crime rates. Furthermore the numbers have no connection with firearms, they might involve knives etc.
The numbers do not add up and do not state anything about crime rates. Furthermore the numbers have no connection with firearms, they might involve knives etc.
Thanks Lando!
Bookmark / BTTT
bookmarked with a bullet.
Ping!
That would not matter a bit to me. "Shall not be infringed" is pretty absolute. If it resulted in decreased "public safety", whatever that might be, that would be a price we pay for freedom. However, as the author points out, the fact is that infringing on the RKBA of peaceable citizens reduces public safety and increases criminal activity.
BATF harrasses "Unintended Consequences" author - His Lawyer's response
Crime/Corruption Breaking News News Keywords: 2ND AMENDMENT, RKBA, BATF,
CORRUPTION
Source: KeepAndBearArms
JAMES H. JEFFRIES, III
ATTORNEY AT LAW
3019 LAKE FOREST DRIVE
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA 27408
TELEPHONE: (336) 282-6024
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles, Director
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
United States Department of the Treasury
650 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20226
Re: Mr. John Ross
St. Louis, Missouri
Dear Mr. Buckles:
I represent Mr. John Ross of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Ross is an investment
broker and financial adviser with a respected investment firm in St. Louis. He
has degrees in English and Economics from Amherst College. Mr. Ross is very
active in community and public affairs. He is the grandson of President Harry
Truman's press secretary, Charles Ross, and was himself the Democratic Party
candidate for the United States House of Representatives from the Second
District
of Missouri in 1998. In short, Mr. Ross is an upstanding and productive
member of his community.
Mr. Ross has had a lifelong interest in firearms and is both a Federal
Firearms Licensee and a Special Occupational Taxpayer under the National
Firearms
Act. Of central importance to the purpose of this letter is the fact that Mr.
Ross is also the author of Unintended Consequences, a highly popular novel about
the trials and tribulations of legal gun owners and dealers in the United
States. Although the book is manifestly a work of fiction, it accurately depicts
documented historical events in the long and sordid history of misconduct by
personnel of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The book is in its
fifth hardcover printing with some 50,000 copies in circulation and has become
enormously popular among the gun owners of the United States. Because the book
is highly critical of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, it appears
that some in your agency have undertaken to suppress it and to intimidate its
author.
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page two
For example, in 1997 the book's publisher became aware that individuals
purporting to be BATF agents had threatened vendors of the book in at least
three
different states with "problems" if they did not cease their sales of the book.
A full-page ad in Shotgun News offering a $10,000 reward for the identity of
these individuals put a stop to that particular business.
Now we have learned that in late May of this year agents from your St. Louis
field office have engaged in an official effort to enlist Mrs. Ross, who is
amicably separated from her husband as an informant against her husband. On or
about May 24 2000, at about 7:30 a.m. two agents approached Mrs. Ross on the
street while she was walking her dog, identified themselves by displaying their
BATF credentials, and proceeded to inquire what she thought about her
husband's book. When she was noncommittal the agents terminated the conversation
and
departed. This contact had been preceded in previous weeks by pretext telephone
calls to Mrs. Ross, by what were undoubtedly your agents, in an attempt to
draw her out about her husband's book. An agent, using the pseudonym of Peter
Nettleson, and pretending to be a great fan of Unintended Consequences, sought
Mrs. Ross's agreement that the book was, in fact, "a manual for the murder of
federal agents." [1]
I note in passing that best-selling author Tom Clancy in recent books has
murdered a Director of the FBI, the President of the United States, the entire
Congress, the Supreme Court, the entire cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a
few lesser functionaries. I presume he has not thereby become subject to
investigation by your literary critics.
1. As an experienced federal prosecutor I am fully aware of what is going on
here. Disgruntled former spouses are a prime source of intelligence for law
enforcement, having as they frequently do both a strong bias against the subject
of the investigation and the proximity and intimacy to know many things not
available to others. A structured approach such as this required, according to
your manuals, formal agency approval. It required the investment of time and
effort in setting up the approach: determining Mrs. Ross's new address,
learning her new telephone number, physical surveillance to determine her
routine so
that she could be approached in a way that she could not simply shut the door
and where there would be less risk of confirming witnesses, the use of a
female agent to lessen any apprehension at being approached publicly by
strangers,
etc.
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page three
What kind of people are you? Is there no honor within the ranks of your
agency? It has long been clear, from repeated court decisions and congressional
committee reports, that your agents have no familiarity with the Second, Fourth,
Fifth and Sixth
Amendments to the United States Constitution. Now it appears that they have
not even been introduced to the very first Article of the Bill of Rights.
I am writing to express our outrage about this conduct and to formally demand
that your agency cease and desist from this
unconstitutional abuse of power. I am contemporaneously making formal Freedom
of Information Act and Privacy Act demands upon BATF for the records and
files pertaining to Mr. Ross, his book, and these events.
By copies of this letter I am requesting the Inspector General of the
Treasury Department to formally investigate this unlawful
conduct and the Attorney General to investigate to determine whether Mr.
Ross's civil rights are being violated by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
James H. Jeffries, III
cc: Attorney General of the United States
Inspector General, Department of the Treasury
Mr. Jeffries is a retired U.S. Dept. of Justice lawyer, retired colonel in
the Marine Corps Reserve, and currently practices firearms law in Greensboro,
NC. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law, former Note
Editor for its Journal, and a Life Member of the North Carolina Rifle And
Pistol Association.