Memorial Day and the Defense of Freedom

As we mark the unofficial beginning of summer, we should take a moment to reflect on and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedoms. While many of us gather with family and friends to enjoy the holiday with food, fellowship, and celebration, we do so with gratitude and remembrance for the true meaning of Memorial Day.

The courage and selflessness of our fallen heroes played a vital role in securing the liberties we cherish today. As we pause to honor their memory, may we also reaffirm our commitment to upholding the values they fought to protect and remain vigilant in preserving the freedoms they so bravely defended.

It is a sobering reality that those freedoms are increasingly challenged by people who view our nation and its founding principles as flawed or oppressive. Here in our own Commonwealth, debates over constitutional rights and individual liberties continue to intensify, with career politicians at the highest levels of government pursuing policies that openly and knowingly infringe upon long-established protections guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Whatever our political views, Memorial Day should remind us that the freedoms we debate so passionately were secured at a tremendous cost. Honoring the fallen means not only remembering their sacrifice, but also treating the principles for which they served with the seriousness and respect they deserve.

“The purpose of all war is ultimately peace.”

--Saint Augustine

Open Carry is Constitutional

So says the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, finding that Hawaii overstepped its authority to regulate firearms possession outside the home.

The ruling by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, makes the San Francisco-based court the sixth U.S. circuit court to interpret the Second Amendment that way and could set the issue on a path toward the U.S. Supreme Court, which has not taken up a major gun rights case since 2010.

The fact that this comes from one of the most liberal and anti-rights Appeals Court in the nation must have the leftists breaking out in hives.

Wouldn't it be funny if this ruling was upheld by SCOTUS and the snowflakes started demanding we carry concealed because seeing a gun scared them so much?  Sweet, sweet, schadenfreude.

See "U.S. appeals court upholds right to carry gun in public."

"Gun Violence" License Plates

Virginia probably offers more vanity license plate options than any other state, with well over 300 options available for purchase. Starting July 1, naive or willfully ignorant residents can order a Stop "Gun Violence" plate for their vehicle. The plates a offer drivers the ability to display their cluelessness to the world, much like those Hillary presidential bumper stickers are doing.

I've never seen a gun become "violent." A person applying sentient behavior to an inanimate object would seem to be lacking a connection with reality. It's fitting that the bill authorizing the special plates provides for $15 of the fee for the plate to go be used to provide treatment "to individuals receiving public mental" treatment. The special funding would go into effect in 2020.

Of course, the phrase "gun violence" actually has no meaning. It's simply a catch phrase made up by leftists to influence the naive into supporting their disarmament agenda. Frankly, if I ever see a firearm committing violence on its own, I'll be inclined to call to an exorcist.

There is a requirement that 1,000 of the plates be purchased by the end of the year in order for it to be a permanent offering. Sadly, if the number of faded Obama bumpers stickers I still see is any indication, they might just make that number.

Media Weapons Experts

It amazes me that there are people clueless enough to sit in front of their televisions listening to these idiots and nod their heads in agreement.

.@PeteWilliamsNBC on the weapon used in the newsroom shooting: a shotgun is like a backwards funnel, you don’t have to have direct aim to hurt a lot of people. It was purchased legally. #AMR

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) June 29, 2018

Yes, you do.

We must not forget the chainsaw bayonet and the 12 Gauge AR-15 to gauge the full idiocy of the media talking heads.

The Left: Unhinged

If someone says they want to do you harm, it's reasonable to believe them.

I see it as a failure of our education system that so many people actually think a civil war would be a good thing. They are ignorant of the destruction wrought in such a conflict. However, these are truly irrational and dangerous people so we should expect only the worse. Prepare well.

The Derp Runs Deep With This One

This might possibly be the most inane thing I've read online all week, if not all year. In a Letter to the Editor in our local bird cage liner, entitled "Police need more clearly defined rules of engagement"...

All police departments should have very clearly defined rules of engagement, with an emphasis on the use of non-lethal devices, i.e., Tasers and rubber bullets, before guns are discharged. And they should all have their body cameras turned on.

Perhaps you remember a time when the police always fired a shot in the air and shouted “Stop! Police!” before they shot at someone. What has happened to this idea? I haven’t heard it mentioned for years, nor have I seen it used in any of the videos showing police shootings.

Is “protect and serve” still in effect as police forces become more militarized?

It's distressing that people who are incapable of telling the difference between TV and real life walk free in the streets. Such a disconnect with realty can be a dangerous thing. Sadly, this is just the sort of failed logic we see from those most vocal about "gun control." Gun control and anti-police sentiments walk hand in hand these days. These people have absolutely no idea about guns or self-defense yet seek to place restrictions on the rights of others. In their distorted reality they think that defending yourself denies "due process" to criminals. As is typical of the left, they have greater concern for thugs than for innocent people. This letter writer seems to care little about innocent bystanders who may be injured or killed by the falling bullets from those "shots in the air."

This is why it's generally better to ignore arguments from the left, you can't argue using logic when the concept is lost on them.

Parents Lobby To Keep Kids Unsafe

The Virginia Citizens Defense League alerting members on the efforts of the Virginia PTA.

The Virginia Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is distributing their 2018 Legislative Priorities and it looks like Michael Bloomberg wrote it.

What is the PTA doing lobbying against our civil rights?!  That is NOT what they are supposed to be doing and we need to let them know that.

Here is item #5 on their agenda:

5. Gun Violence Prevention

* Support legislation requiring and maintaining schools as gun-free zones
* Support increased penalties for possession, discharging or brandishing weapons within school buildings
* Support the right of Virginia's children to an education in an environment that is safe and non-violent
* Support universal background checks for the sale and possession of firearms and closing the gun show loophole

-

OK, let's look at those items, one-by-one:

* Support legislation requiring and maintaining schools as gun-free zones

Gun-free zones are the PROBLEM, not the solution.  Over 90% of mass public shootings are in gun-free zones.  This policy endangers the safety in schools by giving the armed attacker the advantage.  The attacker knows that if the resource office isn't there, the attacker has total control of the school and can begin killing people immediately.  (Resource officers are not assigned to some schools and are not always present when they are assigned, as they might be in court or perhaps checking on another school.)  If the resource officer is there, then the attacker knows he will have to kill the officer first with a sneak attack and then the school is his to with as he pleases.

* Support increased penalties for possession, discharging or brandishing weapons within school buildings

It is ALREADY a FELONY to have a firearm on school property that is not unloaded and stowed in a vehicle (except CHP holders can have a loaded, concealed handgun in the vehicle as long as the CHP holder stays in their vehicle).  You can't really increase the penalty beyond that unless you make it a capital crime.

* Support the right of Virginia's children to an education in an environment that is safe and non-violent

Who does't want this?  But violence, including deadly violence, involves much more than just firearms, but that's really all the PTA is concerned with.

* Support universal background checks for the sale and possession of firearms and closing the gun show loophole

Most of the school killers are children, who can't yet purchase a gun and, therefore, are not subject to background checks of any kind.  Of those killers who are 18 or older, virtually all of them either passed a background check or stole their gun.  So universal background checks would make NO difference in reducing attacks on schools.  A background check for POSSESSION of a firearm is what Illinois has - works great in Chicago, doesn't it?  The fact that the PTA supports BOTH universal background checks AND closing the non-existing gun-show loophole, tells me they really don't understand either one.

-

ACTION ITEMS

1)  If you are a member of the Virginia PTA, consider dropping your membership and be sure to tell them why you are not renewing.

2)  Contact both the president, Sarah Gross, and the Advocacy Chair, Kim Chandler, by email:

Email address: advocacy@vapta.org; president@vapta.org

Suggested Subject: The Virginia PTA should not be lobbying against our civil rights!

Suggested Message: (Updated June 14)

 I don't appreciate the Virginia PTA lobbying to restrict my civil right to own a gun and carry it for self-defense.  The Virginia PTA should be supporting our civil rights, not opposing them.  Schools being gun-free zones endanger students; it does not make them safer. Utah and New Hampshire schools are not gun-free zones and they haven't experienced the shootings that gun-free schools have in Virginia, Florida, Colorado, and other states.

Students who are too young to legally buy a gun commit most school shootings - they won’t have had a background check since the system only checks legal gun purchasers.  The older killers have either previously passed a background check or have stolen the gun. Either way, universal background checks will NOT reduce school violence.

The Virginia PTA needs to remove ALL gun-control advocacy from their legislative agenda and stay away from denying the civil rights of Virginia's gun owners.

Sincerely,


3)  You can also contact the PTA by phone: (804) 264-1234

******** 

Whenever the left trots out the "do it for the children" angle, you can be sure they are just dancing in the blood of the dead in order distract from their real agenda. Nothing the VA PTA  proposes makes children safer. These proposals ONLY affect law abiding citizens. The agenda of "gun control" is control, not safety.

Remember, school officials in Parkland, Florida chose to ignore expert advise that would actually have made students safer. In fact, the school essentially AIDED the shooter through their inaction.

I've often quipped that sending your child to public schools might be akin to child abuse. That seems to be moving ever-closer to the truth.

The 2nd Amendment as White Privilege

The lengths to which the social justice warriors snowflakes go to manufacture outrage never ceases to amaze me. To some, even the natural right to self defense is construed as white privilege.

A gun is a gun, no matter who holds it. NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch is fond of making this point, arguing that firearms act as the “great equalizer,” even among historically marginalized groups. But these statements are aspirational, not descriptive. Gun ownership is less common among African-Americans and Hispanics than whites, and more common among wealthier Americans than poorer ones. The financial and bureaucratic barriers to gun ownership, explained one California police officer, tend to disadvantage the same people who would supposedly be most empowered by the availability of tools of self-defense. “People don't live in dangerous neighborhoods by choice—they often can't afford to live anywhere else,” he said, noting that the task of obtaining a concealed carry permit, which most states require their proverbial Self-Reliant Good Guys with Guns to have, can be a cost-prohibitive one. "Citizens who want to do everything right can’t afford to legally protect themselves.” The cultural proliferation of guns has transformed the “right” of self-defense into a luxury available only to those who can afford it.

Not surprisingly, this tripe was published by GQ, the home of the American metrosexual. The author goes on to explain that the costs of firearms, ammo, training, licensing (!), and even cleaning supplies, make gun ownership unobtainable for non-whites in America.

Among all the facepalm-inducing "logic" in the article, the complaints about licensing fees is exceptionally ironic. Gun laws have their roots in racism, and licensing fees are put in place, with the sole purpose of creating hardship, by the same type of people who incessantly complain about inequality.

The author claims that the "luxury" of gun ownership is unobtainable by non-whites. The basic premise of his writing exhibits racial bias. Blinded by his anti-gun agenda, he fails to see his own racism. There is no logic in leftist thinking.

The author equates having the means to afford a gun to inequality, rather than the result of labor, effort, or choice. But that's how the left sees everything actually. If you don't like something, label it a "privilege" or even "racist." He concludes thusly,

I can’t fault anyone who wants to do all that they can to protect themselves and their loved ones. I respect the decisions of responsible, thoughtful people who use their resources to learn how to use a gun for that purpose. But I am troubled by the fact that doing so is a privilege—another way in which America's culture of guns is most dangerous for the most vulnerable people who live in it.

See "Owning a Gun in America Is a Luxury" for the rest of the diatribe. Try not to choke on your morning coffee.

Must Watch: PA Rep. Jeff Pyle

Listen to Representative Jeff Pyle speaking to the Pennsylvania's Judiciary Committee regarding new gun laws under consideration.

"Taking one person's rights, takes all of our rights."

Bill Whittle: Guns For Children

Bill Whittle dissects the childish naïveté of the anti-gun "progressives."

Must Watch: "I'm the majority."

Patriot Mark Robinson addresses the Greensboro, NC City council.

I want to shake this man's hand.

Must Watch: Gov. Matt Bevin

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin gives a perfect response to a thinly veiled allegation of hypocrisy from an "independent consultant."

Like Virginia Delegate Nick Freitas, Governor Bevin reminds us there are still a few politicians out there who value freedom and honesty, and who are not afraid to speak out.

My "March For Our Lives" Day

A bunch of useful idiots for the socialist movement in the U.S. were "marching" today to push for the restriction of Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Ironically, their own "leaders" were whining about having their own rights restricted. I decided to contribute to the cause.

1) I went for a long, brisk walk for my health.
2) I carried a gun for my safety.

So let's see...

Heath + Safety = Life

I think I nailed it.

It's Not "Gun" Control They Want

This list about the Maryland school shooting has been making the rounds of social media, and it gets right to the heart of the matter.

• What didn’t stop the Maryland school shooting

• Maryland’s assault weapon ban

• Maryland’s 10-round magazine limit

• Maryland’s universal background check requirement

• Maryland’s law requiring an extensive application process to obtain a permit to purchase a handgun

• Maryland’s law prohibiting purchase of more than one firearm a month

• Maryland’s law requiring handgun registration

• Maryland’s law requiring licensing of handgun owners

• Maryland’s extremely limited approval of conceal carry permits

• Maryland’s refusal to honor any concealed carry permit from another state

• Federal law prohibiting handgun possession for people under 21

• Laws against carrying without a permit

• Gun free school zones

• Laws against discharging a firearm in public

• Laws against attempted murder

• What did stop the Maryland school shooting

• An armed person at the scene who engaged the shooter in less than a minute

The "do something" laws and restrictions around gun ownership that the left has been crying for are already in place. Honest and intelligent people know these laws do nothing to stop evil people from committing acts of violence. Regulations and processes that could actually serve to keep people safe are routinely ignored by those charged with enforcing them. Our leftist antagonists have but one goal with their calls for "gun control." They are not interested in the safety of children, children are mere pawns to them, a means to an end. Their motive is a compliant, defenseless and submissive citizenry.

The despicable people pushing for "gun control" are in my opinion, no different than the tyrants throughout history who cruelly clamped down on the freedom and lives of others. Whether willful participants or useful idiots, they should be met with utter disdain and contempt. They've already proven how they feel about us.

The violence in Maryland will soon fade from the headlines. Unlike the Parkland, Florida mass killing, the outcome in this case doesn't fit the agenda. The leftist narrative must be maintained, facts be damned.

"Gun Free Zone" Hypocrisy

The irony runs deep.

The anti-gun "elite" hypocritically require men with guns to defend them, while the children are left to rely on men guns who refuse to help them.

H/T to The Miller for posting the meme.

Must Watch: Delegate Nick Freitas

Listen to this blast of truth from Virginia Delegate Nick Freitas regarding the lies and deceptions of the left.

Freitas's words triggered the snowflakes across the aisle and they ran from the room with hurt feelings. They demanded a recess, apparently to recover in their crying rooms.

Delegate Freitas is challenging our current leftist representative for the Virginia Senate seat.

Jefferson On Freedom

"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."

Roughly translated as "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery," the phrase was used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison, on January 30, 1787. I find it quite applicable today considering the current anti-gun, anti-freedom movement being fostered on our nation by the weak and ignorant, only some of which are actually children.

I'm sure the phrase is doubly triggering for today's snowflake generation, since they also find this Founding Father to be offensive to their sensitive natures.

VCDL ALERT: Well Funded Attack On Gun Rights Leaders

I'm posting this alert from VCDL in its entirety. Forewarned is forewarned. Ignorance, hysteria and outright lying is part and parcel of the leftist psyche, and the "gun control" actors have it down to a science.

February 20, 2018

Last weekend, while doing what seemed to be a regular interview, I discovered that a movie is being made with the intent to discredit gun-rights leaders across the country.

No, this is not a joke, it is real and we need to get the word out to other gun-rights organizations, gun-rights leaders, and prominent firearms trainers across the country and we need to do this FAST.

Back in 2014, alleged Hollywood sexual predator Harvey Weinstein said he was going to make a movie “that would make the NRA wish they weren’t alive.”  (All gun organizations are the NRA in his mind.)  And he was dead serious.  Michael Moore has been attempting to discredit gun owners and leaders for years by tricking people and using creative editing techniques to make them look foolish or idiotic.

Who’s behind this effort isn’t clear, but they are EXTREMELY WELL FUNDED PROFESSIONALS.  For example, to reel me in and to try to make me feel beholden to them, they laid out the red carpet, by providing luxury accommodations, limousine service, and providing a generous monetary allowance to cover meals and other expenses for two days.

They use psychological manipulation, as well as lies and tricks to put their victim into comedic situations that subject them to public shame, embarrassment, and ridicule.  I believe the intent is to destroy reputations and even lives.

I did some detective work in the days immediately following the “interview,” and I managed to find out they had targeted at least one nationally known firearms trainer and I know there are more.  They appear to be setting up near gun shows.  I also found out they covered their tracks carefully to avoid revealing their true identity.

It started when VCDL received an email last week from a company called “First Freedom Television” to do an interview with an “Israeli security expert” on the “shared security interests of like-minded countries, such as the U.S. and Israel.”  It went on, “Unlike the misguided position of American liberals, who aim to eradicate guns altogether, Israel has proven that universal gun training and widespread gun ownership actually leads to a safer society.”

I do interviews all the time, and this one didn’t seem to be all that much out of the ordinary.

On Sunday, February 11, 2018, I did the interview in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  About 5 minutes into the interview, my radar turned on big time when the interviewer was making claims about Israeli schools training selected children to use firearms from age 17 down to age 4 (!) as a last ditch effort in stopping a terrorist attack on a school if the teachers and security staff had been killed.  The children would have codes to unlock secured firearms in such a case.

When I balked at 4-year-olds being able to do that, he showed me an alleged newscast video on his iPad.  The text was in Hebrew, but with an English-speaking narration, talking about how a 4-year-old boy had indeed stopped a terrorist attack at his school.  The newscast said that he killed two terrorists using his dad’s gun, which he had brought to school in his backpack to show a friend, in violation of school rules.  Israeli Premier Netanyahu was touting him as a hero in the video.

While I’ve never been to Israel, I do know they have some serious terrorism concerns, especially at schools and other public gatherings.  The way they handle some of their security can be very different from what we have in the U.S.  But that news story just didn’t look right, and 4-year-olds can hold a gun and fire it with supervision, but not take on terrorists, and especially manage to shoot and kill two of them.

Because of this and various other odd things I noticed during the interview, I was now convinced that something wasn’t right.  This wasn’t real and probably some sort of a set up.

I could only think of Hollywood’s threat.  At a minimum, it could be a comedy which would play only in Israel, but it could be a more damaging attempt to make a “mocumentary,” by someone like Michael Moore, or, even worse, a Sacha Baron Cohen-esq “Borat”-type of shock comedy meant to be devastatingly embarrassing and humiliating to the victim in the crosshairs.

As the 15-minute interview terminated, the interviewer asked me if I, as an English-speaking firearms trainer, would help him make a “gun safety” training video for children of various ages.  This had to be the “kicker,” I thought.

For better or for worse, I decided that I would play along with the scheme so I could find out who was behind this and where this was going.   I figured if I was right about this being a set up, I could blow the whistle and get a warning out to the gun-rights community across the country to protect as many people as possible and maybe derail this attack.  If it turned out to be nothing, then no harm, no foul.

We recorded for almost 3 hours using Airsoft guns as props.  They even had a teleprompter!

I was right – it was a set up - and it was much worse than I could have imagined.  If you’ve seen the 70’s movie, “The Sting,” it was much like that.  It was a well-orchestrated, well-choreographed, psychological manipulation, with a production cast of at least 10 people, to slowly lead a person down the primrose path.

We went step-by-step with a ready, and seemingly logical, answer every time I balked at some crazy part of the training.  They seemed to have thought of every thing that a person might question.  All I can say is that these people were extremely good at deception and manipulation.  And no matter how stupid the things the interviewer and I were doing (we were side-by-side the whole time), no one else cracked a smile or laughed once, and I was watching.  The professional actors were keeping up the appearance that this was a serious project.

The end goal was to get the victim to make a “training film” teaching 3 and 4-year-olds how to shoot guns hidden in toy animals at  “bad” people, to sing little songs and make gun noises during the training to make it “fun for children,” and even teach little kids how to shoot a rocket-propelled-grenade or a squad automatic weapon at an approaching suicide bomber vehicle!  

It all sounds unbelievable.  But everything was elaborately and expensively staged; every contingency planned for, with explanations that make unbelievable things seem plausible (fake documents and videos about how Israel handles security in their schools, for example). The interview moved along at a pace, designed not to give the “mark” time to reflect on where things are going.  The craziness factor very gradually got more extreme, like cooking a frog by slowly heating up the water so he doesn’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.  It’s a con game, a sting, plain and simple.

I don’t know if they have other scenarios or they will use other company names to continue concealing their identity, but anyone doing an interview dealing with gun rights where they sense something odd should terminate that interview.  Or, better, bring a recorder and tell the other party you are going to make your own recording of the interview.  If they say “no,” then walk out.  I am going to make that my own policy going forward to protect against any future fake interviews.  BTW, they had me leave my cellphone in an office “because it might interfere with the recording devices,” but I think it was so I couldn’t take any photos of them or make any video or audio recordings on that phone.

In the end we played each other and I confirmed what I feared this was all about.  Sadly for me, I’m sure I’m going to be in whatever crazy film finally comes out, looking really stupid and, just as sadly, I’ll probably be in good company.  A few of us will no doubt get hammered, but if we can get the word out IMMEDIATELY, we might be able to save the reputations of many other good people. 

Finally, looking at the possibilities and what I saw while making the “training film,” I’m betting this is going to end up being a “Borat”-style film and it’s going to be vicious on the victims.

Please share this alert far and wide.

Philip Van Cleave
President
Virginia Citizens Defense League

Reports from other freedom advocates are starting to come in as well. If you have access to Facebook, read Rob Pincus' account here.

In Lieu of a Football Post

A musical message.

And another year of not watching the felons and ingrates toss a ball around...

12 Gauge AR-15

Remember when the leftist media warned us about the dangers of the chainsaw bayonet AR-15 accessory?  In another riveting piece on evil "assault rifles" we are shown the dangers to innocent fruit from the 12 gauge loaded rifle.

I can just imagine to smug satisfaction in the newsroom over that exposé.