VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: 'Books don't kill people -- guns do'

Imagine with me that you opened your newspaper today and found the following story:

"NORCO, Calif. (AP) -- More than 1 million sheets of paper, a cache of unregistered books and a tunnel were found at a man's home after a fire that forced a neighborhood evacuation, authorities said Friday.

"Crews worked to fortify the tunnel to ensure it was safe. It appeared to be at least 10 feet deep and led into a back yard, authorities said.

"The man tried to run back into the house after firefighters arrived and had to be restrained by sheriff's deputies, Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Juan Zamora said.

"After the blaze was extinguished, crews discovered shelves of manuscripts, pamphlets, magazines, and both fiction and nonfiction books, many without government registration cards or tax stamps.

"On Friday, sheriff's deputies and agents from the federal Bureau of Books, Documents, and Religious Paraphernalia combed the house for evidence.

"The man had no permits for most of the thousands of books that were recovered, Zamora said. Many were illegal subversive or religious tracts.

"Authorities found a machine in the garage that was used to bind printed pages together with strings and glue. The practice, known as 'bookbinding,' is not itself illegal, BDRP spokeswoman Susan Raichel said.

"The man, whose identity was not released, was taken to a hospital where he will receive a psychological evaluation."

That story never appeared, actually. But the right of individual Americans to keep and bear any arm of military usefulness -- free from any government tax, registration, or regulation (all of which are clearly "infringements," as any English-speaker who is not a lawyer or a liberal can easily tell you) -- was deemed so important to the survival of all our other freedoms that the Founders allocated to the preservation of this God-given right one entire article of the Bill of Rights, while the freedoms of press, religion, speech, assembly and petition (hardly minor stuff) were crowded together, allocated only one-fifth of an amendment each.

The ire of most modern civil libertarians would surely be raised if they read the story above, with its tacit endorsement as "normal" of the government licensing, taxation, and regulation of reading matter. Yet hardly a peep was heard when slightly varying versions of the following, very real, story, appeared in this newspaper (and others) in the early days of March:

"NORCO, Calif. (AP) -- More than 1 million rounds of ammunition, a cache of weapons and a tunnel were found at a man's home after an explosive fire that forced a neighborhood evacuation, authorities said Friday.

"Crews worked to fortify the tunnel ... to ensure it was safe. It appeared to be at least 10 feet deep and led into a back yard, authorities said. ...

"The man tried to run back into the house after firefighters arrived and had to be restrained by sheriff's deputies, Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Juan Zamora said.

"After the blaze was extinguished, crews discovered metal and wooden boxes of ammunition for shotguns, small handguns and assault rifles.

"On Friday, sheriff's deputies and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives combed the house for evidence. ...

"Authorities found a machine in the garage that was used to load gunpowder into empty brass cartridges. The practice, known as 'reloading,' is common and not illegal, BATFE spokeswoman Susan Raichel said. ...

(Anyone care to take my bet that there was not a single assault rifle, with a selector switch allowing easy full-automatic fire, such an M-16 or an AK-47, found in that house -- that every one of those supposedly "illegal assault rifles" fires only one round per trigger pull?)

"The man had no permit for 75 pounds of black gunpowder that was also recovered, Zamora said.

"No arrests had been made. The man, whose identity was not released, was taken to a hospital where he will receive a psychological evaluation."

If you believe our government agents are required by oath, law, and all that is right to defend the Constitution with its full Bill of Rights, I submit there should be no difference in the level of outrage you should experience after reading the two stories above -- the actual, original story about the "illegal" guns, by a reporter apparently amazed to learn that cartridge reloading is still legal -- and my version, changed only to show another constitutional right (owning, reading and printing books) being treated in precisely the same way.

"Carrying a concealed weapons permit is a privilege. It's not a right," said Frank Adams of the Nevada Sheriffs' and Chiefs' Association, testifying before the Assembly Judiciary Committee in Carson City last week, in favor of a bill to hike the fee for a Nevada CCW from $60 to $125.

Added to the cost of required range testing, that could bump overall cost for the "privilege" to the $300 range, every five years. That wouldn't have the effect of restricting this "privilege" to mostly wealthy white people -- a de facto version of the kind of "black code" that led to enactment of the 14th Amendment -- do you think?

"It's a privilege the Legislature has given to the citizens of the state," Mr. Adams said. "You have a right to carry a gun, but the CCW is a privilege."

This is a pernicious falsehood. Try to walk through the crowds of tourists along the Strip with a gun exposed in a hip holster, these days. Do you really think the nice Metro officers will tell anyone who complains "He's only exercising his right to maintain the security of a free state, ma'am, and we're damned proud of him. Welcome to freedom-loving Nevada"?

They say we have a right to carry openly when this often invites tense confrontations with the men in beige. Then they make up out of thin air the assertion that slipping a constitutionally protected gun in your pocket suddenly requires some bureaucrat's expensive written "permission slip."

Imagine being told you have a "right" to own a Bible, but you have to spend $300 every five years for a special permit if you want to exercise the "privilege" of carrying it around with you "concealed" -- even to church.

Some will object that burning ammunition is more dangerous than burning books. Not by much. It's all about something called "chamber pressure." Airplanes also do not undergo explosive depressurization if you shoot a hole in the hull. The movies are not a real good source of physics lessons.

Yes, black powder can be dangerous. But unconstitutional, Draconian regulations only make people less likely to seek sound advice on how to store such stuff -- prohibition always has that effect.

"But books don't kill people. Guns do," some will now snarl, stomping their feet in frustration.

In the first place, a right is a right. It doesn't matter whether you (or some would-be tyrant) think exercising it is "safe" or not. Let them grab this one, and they'll soon be back for the rest.

But meantime, shall we really start to total the body count for "Mein Kampf," "The Communist Manifesto," the "Malleus Maleficarum," virtually everything Pol Pot and his pals read while they were in college in France? The Quran? Even -- in the hands of the proper self-aggrandizing zealots, crusaders and conquistadores -- the Holy Bible?

Very nice.

I could not agree more and you have done an excellent job.

Take a breath and let’s go one step further...

"NORCO, Calif. (AP) -- More than 10 commercial quality sound amplification units and a cache of unregistered recordings were found at a former citizens's home after intermittent loud noises forced a neighborhood watchdog group to call authorities to investigate, rules enforcement officers said Friday.

"The man tried to run back into the house after investigators arrived with common speech detection devices and had to be restrained by authorities, Riverside County Rules Enforcement Deputy Juan Zamora said.

Neighbors had reported hearing intermittent excerpts of verbal declarations from inside the house. One neighbor reported “We all have seen the “Registered Speech Offender” sign posted at this person’s house. We know he is barred for life from ever engaging in public speech or having recorded speech in his possession. That is why we were so alarmed when we heard actual declarations and speech excerpts coming from the house.”

Upon arrival Rules Enforcement officers quickly contacted the Instant Background Check Database to verify the individual in the house had a previous Bureau of Speech Devices record of conviction. The Instant Background check revealed a previous felony conviction in 1984 for entering false information on a loan application at a Federal Depositor Insured Collective bank. Upon confirming the “Registered Speech Offender” status of the perpetrator in the house, BSD SQUAT Team members performed a dynamic entry into the house and secured the individual for the safety of himself and the community.

Rules Enforcement Officer Zamora was quoted as saying “we are just so glad we got this former felonious information offender in custody and the speech amplification devices off the streets.”

"The man had no permits for the speech amplification devices that were recovered, Zamora said and could not possibly ever legally posses a speech amplification device for the rest of his life due to a felony Information Crime in 1984.” Many of the recordings found in the garage were illegal subversive or religious tracts.

"Authorities also found a machine in the garage that was used to actually create speeches. The practice, known as 'recording,' is not itself illegal, BSD spokeswoman Susan Raichel said. She went on to add “This is so typical of individuals that have a previous felony Information Crime conviction. They believe that just because a law abiding citizen with no prior felonies or qualifying misdemeanors can obtained a recorded speech permit and with the proper licenses and tax fees carry recorded speech with them in public, that such activities are their “right.”

"The man, whose identity was not released, was taken to a hospital where he will receive a psychological evaluation prior to trial."

WOW!

Pretty bizarre what we simply accept as “normal.” Our founding fathers would not see our “modern” firearms laws as anything but an act of war against American Citizens and would open fire on anyone attempting to enforce such blatantly unconstitutional and treasonous rules without a seconds hesitation. Here is the proof...

George Washington said: (regarding the Bill of Rights) “They are the building blocks of the Constitution, and the Second Amendment is the mortar that holds them together.”

Thomas Jefferson said: "The constitutions of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property and freedom of the press."

Thomas Jefferson said: "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

James Madison said: "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust people with arms."

Patrick Henry said: "The great object is that every man be armed."

Every time I hear some b.s. about how so and so is a “felon” and therefor is bared for life from their Second Amendment Right I just want to VOMIT.

Yet the vast majority of otherwise indignant American Citizens gaze with blank stairs as criminally unconstitutional “laws” that impose a lifetime ban on an individuals Second Amendment Right are dished out on a daily basis. Which of course only emboldens that very same government to expand intrusion into every other aspect of American Citizens private lives and Constitutional Rights. The founding fathers knew uninfringed possession of arms was the ONLY thing that will keep government from engaging in tyranny.

Amazing.

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