FirearmsTalk Discussion About Guns

On July 24, 2014 I took part in this FirarmsTalk discussion with the 3 hosts of the podcast. We covered a number of subjects including libertarianism, gun control, some gun facts, & what really drives the murder rate up or down.

Countering Gun Rights Haters on the Street and in the Press

This video of me blasting universal background checks is what readers first see when they land on the Delaware County Daily Times article “Gun rights activists, gun control advocates face off over background checks” about the Saturday, June 28, 2014 competing rallies. Gun rights haters can't be happy about that.

Before the rallies the Delaware County Daily Times published “Demonstrations slated to address gun rights, control” which is fairly even in its coverage. Gun rights haters started with a walk from Chester, PA to their rallying point in Media, PA. We held an Open Carry Counter Rally For Gun Rights at an intersection near their rally.

The best shot the Delaware County Daily Times could take at gun rights was this editorial, “Statistics vary, but gun violence doesn't” that is so lame as to be laughable. Just repeating the same tired old clichés and appeals to emotion it was easily debunked in the comments section.

We also got coverage from the local NBC affiliate channel 10 in Philadelphia. That short report isn't online but did accurately state both sides views.

Also not online was my interview a few days before the rally with local, conservative radio talk show host Dom Giordano. While Dom is staunchly pro-gun rights he wasn't favorable to open carrying at the rally. Fortunately, most of the callers were. It was a nice, friendly, and supportive interview.

The only real media hit piece about our rally was from the Chester Spirit, a small,

left leaning, and very anti-gun rights publication based in Chester, PA. Chester is a poor, crime ridden town that has lost half of its population since its peak in 1950. The article “Gun fight: Delco residents face off over gun rights and access” tells a strange lie. “Both groups came face-to-face at the intersection of Route 252 and Baltimore Pike and the interaction remained peaceful, despite both sides being passionate about their stances.” No, we deliberately moved across the street from the marchers path before they were even in sight. We remained silent as they passed. There were no threats or insults from us and the police at no time intervened except to block traffic so the march could pass unimpeded through the intersection.

Enewsletters from the gun rights hating groups were rather amusing. One claimed that “...we were met first by a contingent of 75 or so pro-gun extremists, some openly carrying handguns or assault weapons, kept at bay by police.” [emphasis added]. A blatant lie about people who were complimented by the police with the words “good job” for getting out of the way without being asked to do so. What the gun rights haters don't get is that we support and protect everyone's right to express their views. Even people like them who want to trample gun rights and routinely insult us for trying to reach out to them. Here is video proof that we got out of their way and didn't insult them:

 
Of course, the organizers of the gun rights hating walk & rally had to lie and falsely claim credit for things remaining civil:

Our walkers displayed courage and strong spirit when passing by 75-100 armed counter-demonstrators gathered at Baltimore Pike and Rt. 252. Singing the civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome,” our contingent avoided confrontation with opponents and remained focused on the purpose of the walk.

Let's translate that into reality. The marchers are said to be showing “...courage and strong spirit ...” at the point in their march that they were safest. The open carriers would have protected the marchers had someone tried to attack them. “...our contingent avoided confrontation with opponents and remained focused on the purpose of the walk.” This really means their leadership once again succeeded in keeping their flock from talking to us and risking learning the truth about guns and gun rights. At their rally point at the Providence Friends Meeting House they guarded the entrances to keep us off the property.


 On another note, the same email as above stated:

Staff members from the offices of U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R) and U.S. Congressmen Robert Brady (D) and Patrick Meehan (R) read statements of support for legislation that would establish universal background checks on gun sales.

Republicans for gun control, go figure.

To wrap up, the counter rally was a great success for a number of reasons. Most importantly it got our message out in the media. What negative press we got was more than compensated for by the even and accurate coverage that was more prominent.

Another success was that we once again proved that guns don't cause crime. There were more guns than ever in Media the day of the rally and it still hasn't seen a murder since 2005. The gun rights haters were once again proved wrong.

Lastly, we did have a chance to talk to a few people from the other side. Hopefully, these conversations will be the beginning of them understanding the harm gun control causes and why we need guns in the peoples' hands.

Some of the signs carried by gun rights supporters:

 

 

 

 

 

Stop the Drones!

Hoping to stop the drone command center from opening about 50 people came out to protest on May 31, 2014. We stood outside of the Horsham Air Guard Station in Horsham, PA waving signs, listening to moving speeches, and doing a little singing. High wind prevented me from using my video camera (the audio was the problem, it just records noise in high wind). Below are pictures of the event:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The police keeping an eye on us

 

 

Bob Smith of the Brandywine Peace Community addresses the crowd

 

 

Rev. Robert Moore of the Coalition for Peace Action 

speaks to the crowd

Daniel Riehl leads the group from Lancaster County, PA singing protest songs

Open Carry Brunch

We had a successful and friendly open carry Sunday brunch at the Court Diner in Media, PA. The event was lead by Mark Fiorino whose arrest by Philadelphia Police sparked outrage. Below is my interview with him. We talked about open carry both here and in Texas where it has generated much controversy.

Below is a picture of all the open carriers who attended. Thanks for the great time but especially thanks for standing up for liberty!

An African Adventure

It all started when YouTube analytics showed that my video PA Gun Rights Haters Show Their Intolerance was embedded at GunSite South Africa. I promptly joined the forum. On May 5th I noticed a thread titled “To vote or not to vote.......” discussing participating in their upcoming May 7th elections. Nonvoting being one of my favorite topics I jumped in urging people to give up voting. After declaring that my post was “...some of the stupidest shit I have ever read” a moderator asked “Are you a 'sovereign citizen'?”. Later, after being accused of advocating inaction, some Lysander Spooner seemed appropriate. Here's what I posted:

...people rule you because you accept being ruled. Politicians have power because people like you think they should have it. Voting is part of the mechanism to get you to accept that rule. Stop being fooled by elections. Remember what the doctors say, first do no harm. Participating in elections does harm. It isn't taking action for good. It is doing what the power hungry govt wants you to do.

Modern democracy isn't about individuals it's about institutions. Politicians come & go, you get to vote for them. Institutions remain, you don't get to vote for them. Power is in the institutions not the individuals. They want you to think that power is with the individual holding office. That is the big fraud that you're falling for.

Nonvoting isn't a protest, it is a first step in rejecting an institution, namely the state. We need to mentally separate people from the govt. Only once they do that will they resist it in other ways. Real power is controlling money. As long as the govt can force us to pay for their operations they control us. Voting doesn't matter. Resisting taxation is the key to restoring liberty.

"That every man who puts money into the hands of a "government" (so called), puts into its hands a sword which will be used against himself, to extort more money from him, and also to keep him in subjection to its arbitrary will."

--Lysander Spooner, NO TREASON NO. VI. THE CONSTITUTION OF NO AUTHORITY

BTW, an experience that taught me a lot was living in Venezuela. I was there when they elected Hugo Chavez. Tell me again how well voting works.

http://www.gunsite.co.za/forums/showthread.php?47529-To-vote-or-not-to-vote&p=643933&viewfull=1#post643933

From that my nemesis the moderator somehow decided that I was indeed a sovereign citizen! “And surprise surprise he is a sovereign citizen.”, he posted. (For the record I've never had anything to do with the sovereign citizen movement.) In the next comment someone asks “Soooooo. We all need to become anarchists?”. At least that commenter seemed to get were I was coming though his subsequent comments showed that he was just conflating sovereign citizens and anarchists. There followed some of the usual nonsense about 

who would build roads and the like then a comment from a second moderator announcing my banning. (At least I did get one supportive comment.) Now when one clicks on my profile one sees this:

An 88? My first thought was that it was some kind of South African insult. A little research turned up that an 88 is a Nazi. (For the record I am not now nor have I ever been a Nazi.) Had all of this been true it would have been quite an accomplishment being a sovereign citizen, an anarchist, and a Nazi all at the same time! These South African guys have a lot to learn not only about political ideologies but also about free and open discussion. At least their ignorance made for an interesting cyber-safari.