Monday, September 15, 2014

Guns: Sale Records = Registration = Confiscation



What are some examples of where gun registration lead to gun confiscation?

Let's stick to fairly recent examples, say the last 25 years. Anywhere in the world. Are there any?

You mean aside from Cuba, China, Russia, and most other totalitarian states?

Let's see...New Zealand, 1921 the ownership of revolvers were allowed in the name of personal defense, 1970s this list was used to confiscate all revolvers.

Canada...registration list 1990s, old guns grandfathered in, but this list is used for the state to confiscate the guns upon the death of the holder with no compensation to the estate

1996 Australia used it's list of registered semiauto hunting rifles to confiscate all those weapons.

The UK government instituted handgun registration in 1921, and about every 10 years or so they further restrict what can be owned and use the registration rolls to collect what is illegal.

How about Chicago, put in registration of long guns, used that same registration to confiscate semiauto long guns in the early 1990s

What about California, couldn't make up it's mind if the SKS was covered or not (1989), decided AFTER the registration period was closed that they needed to be registered, declared a second 'grace period' for registration...then about 5 years ago they decided that those SKSs registered during the grace period were illegal because the grace period was illegal, and in certain cities and counties sent law enforcement to the listed addresses demanding surrender of the firearm. Because there is the legal option of removing the gun from the state of CA, and these officers had no warrants, smart gun owners turned them away with the claim 'I gave it to a relative in Oregon (or whatever)' but MANY were seized with no compensation. (Cities and counties later on offered compensation for anyone who had a receipt, but the police weren't giving out receipts, only a few people who demanded them had them and they were basically notes scribbled on whatever spare paper the officer had)

Side Note, the SKS was the MOST common weapon in the hands of Korean Shop Owners who used them to defend themselves and businesses when the LA riots happened.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Founders Of USA, Guns & Tyrants--Updated



A. "No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms"; "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"; "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants"; “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. LET THEM TAKE ARMS.” (President Thomas Jefferson)
B.  "The very atmosphere of firearms any where and every where restrains evil interference---they deserve a place of honor with all that is good.";  "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty teeth""Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a  fearful master"; "Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected";
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.";  And, as still true,  "The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves"  (President George Washington)
C. "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve  it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined"; "Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?"; "The liberties of a people never were, nor every will be secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them" ;  And, of course, "Give me liberty or death!" (Patrick Henry)
D.  "The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.      (President James Madison)
E.  Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”  They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” (Benjamin Franklin)

 F. "The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." (Samuel Adams)
G.  “I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials”. (George Mason)
H. “Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords and every other terrible instrument of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People.” (Emphasis added); “As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms (Tench Coxe; Member of The Continental Congress and, later, constitutional scholar and author). [Emphasis added]

Monday, September 01, 2014

Simple, Fair & Constitutional School Funding

There is an old maxim which declares: "Why simple when, with a little effort, it can be made so beautifully complicated?".  This appears to directly apply to Wisconsin's "school aid formula" and those of many states.  Some of our hard earned tax-moneys are spent for various local and state-level bureaucrats (eg In both the Department of Education and local school districts), lobbyists and other like critters who attempt to form that program towards the interests of certain communities, teachers' groups (And the elected officials they have bought/rented/leased)--And are, therefore, not spent towards the education of our children.  [It even might be that spending unequal parts of state funds, on a geographic basis, for that purpose violates both the constitutions of both the USA and some of "The Several States".]

Since I am loath to present a problem without offering a solution, the following should be Wisconsin's method of allocating state tax funds for the education of our children.
1. All state aid should be paid out in vouchers to the parents/guardians of pupils/students in an equal amount per child without verified "special needs".
2. The parents/guardians of those with medically established (Reviewed not less often than every two years) "special needs" would receive a higher sum consistent with the real additional costs of educating medically verified "special needs" students.
3. Those parents/guardians would be allowed to assign those vouchers to the public/private school of their choice, filtering those payments through those persons should remove any "separation of church and state" objections if religion-based schools are selected for such payment. (Unassigned vouchers would default to the public school district in which each such child lives.)
4. Although any such private schools must meet certain minimum standards, those must not be designed by the same bureaucrats noted above.
5. All public and private schools must be bound by well defined ("Reliable and valid") and measurable goals.
6. The administrators of private schools whose students do not meet those goals to be legally presumed to be guilty of "Fraud". ***
7. The administrators of public schools whose students likewise fail to meet goals to be legally presumed to be guilty of "Misconduct In Public Office". ***
8. Provision should be considered for reimbursing the parents/guardians of home schooled children for texts, on-line educational services and the like---If, and only if, those students are periodically tested for educational level and their progress is consistent with other schools.

I note that transportation costs, in rural areas, could be reduced by returning to two-to-four room primary schools (With visiting specialists) where such could be demonstrated as economically sound.   Consideration should also be given to appropriate use of supervised (In such schools/town halls/other public buildings) of on-line high school classes---Perhaps, reducing the need to transport high school students to two days each week for lab/shop/physical-education and like classes.

Of course, all of those critters listed above would rise-up and wage Jihad against such a threat to their incomes and power and against those opposed to lock-step (Or, is it "goose step"?) school systems.
                                              
*** District Attorneys would be prohibited, by law, from not prosecuting such cases where anyone files, on oath/affirmation, a complaint as to such violations. Any such failure to be "Misconduct In Public Office" and authority to prosecute given to the Attorney General.