Labor Day Reprise

As I so often do on Labor Day, I celebrate by working. This year was spent on Camp Stranded as we finished the roof on the shed.

I understand this begs the question of, "What the hell have you been wasting your time on?" And, "You should have been finished with that by now, you lazy bum."

Both valid comments and with spending the last several weeks catching up on work, fighting with getting the right materials from a "local" big box store (since the closure of our home-town lumber yard) and saving my wife's dog from the vet, I've been interrupted a few times.

Oh, and then the adventure that started out with replacing a wax ring on the toilet that turned into replumbing my upstairs bathroom. Next is a new floor...

But now I have a roof over the newly acquired Farmall H:

Camp Stranded Shelter #1 (built without union labor)

Since my mower deal fell through as I was looking for a tractor (kind of a cart-before-the-horse kind of thing, which to get first), I sat on upon my new metal roof and looked upon an impressive field of horse weeds, burdock and foxtails and questioned my purchase of 20 acres of work.

But I also contemplated upon a family with each member contributing effort during our first construction of an amateur shelter. Yeah, it took longer than I wanted, but the next one will be better and built with experienced team effort. And I watched my wife take her first tour of the treeline without me but with her faithful dog at her side. The same dog we nearly put down because the vet gave up on him a few weeks ago.

As we were screwing the roof down, the turkey buzzards glided just 80-100 feet overhead and later hummingbirds came to visit as we took a break. The hummingbirds were a welcomed surprise and we will definitely encourage their return. Blue herons stopped at the pond for a brief rest before flying southeast of us as they spread their wings just above the mature trees in the corner. All this reminds me of the variety of nature in Iowa as we paused to watch the menagerie.

As the last screw on the last metal sheet was turned only half-way, my battery died on the drill. Perhaps a metaphor of the life of a short balding fellow from Iowa (he just never quite gets the job done). But a ratchet wrench works in a pitch, as I was taught to be prepared, bring a backup and always cover your ass.

And there were others at work yesterday as David Codrea reported of another ATF gunrunning fiasco, this time in Indiana. It makes me wonder why we even have the NICS check at all. If it wasn't for David and Mike Vanderboegh I wonder if we would have heard about the gunwalking into Mexico by the ATF.

To little Jimmy Hoffa Junior and to Joe Biden who opened their mouths yesterday, there are more of us than there are of you... This country was built by hard-working Americans, free and unionized, and not by loud-mouthed freeloaders who grabbed power for their own benefit. I'd bet that neither of these two bums ever worked a day in their lives. Calluses are for regular folk.

So Jimmy and Joe, shut the $%@#$% up. This SOB has to get back to work.

Long gun reporting starts in the SW

And will soon come to a neighborhood gun dealer near you.

David Codrea: DoJ proceeds with long gun reporting requirement

Dave Workman: BREAKING: DoJ announces gun reporting requirements; Issa, Grassley respond

Our Senator Grassley had this to say:

“We’ve learned from our investigation of Fast and Furious that reporting multiple long gun sales would do nothing to stop the flow of firearms to known straw purchasers because many Federal Firearms Dealers are already voluntarily reporting suspicious transactions. In fact, in just the documents we’ve obtained, we are aware of 150 multiple long guns sales associated with the ATF’s Fast and Furious case, and despite the fact that nearly all of these sales were reported in real time by cooperating gun dealers, the ATF watched the guns be transported from known straw purchasers to third parties and then let the guns walk away, often across the border. This makes it pretty clear that the problem isn’t lack of burdensome reporting requirements. The administration’s continued overreach with regulations continues, and is a distraction from its reckless policy to allow guns to walk into Mexico.”

Grassley has been using the term "walked" more often lately and I heard this from him in an interview on WHO radio last week. "Gunwalker" is the term David Codrea came up with to describe these weapons that the ATF allowed to go into Mexico and other countries in Central America.

Now we are hearing of reports that the Tampa and Houston ATF offices followed the lead of the Phoenix ATF office and allowed now up to 5000 guns out of the country.

The right to protect you

Cedar Falls is planning a lock box system where keys to all commercial property would be kept. This would allow access to businesses and large rental buildings to governmental agencies.

Some clown on the city council said he believed the city had the right to protect you.



What could possibly go wrong?

Via David Codrea at War on Guns

It passed the final reading yesterday.

David Corea adding more to the ATF gunrunning fiasco

Informant in raw video gives Fox News explosive details about Gunwalker

Explosive stuff. No wonder the rest of the shamelessly agenda-driven establishment media continues to ignore it, and even CBS News management decisions appear to be relegating their ground-breaking reporter to a back burner over the past few weeks. If pursued relentlessly and thoroughly, this is the kind of scandal that could bring down the administration.

Video interview is here: America's Third War: An Informant's Story, Uncut

The watchman needs a watchman

An Iowa City Police Citizen’s Review Board member and community liaison has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly hosting a party that turned into a fight, though she still retains her position on the board.A fight involving up to 40 people, brandishing firearms. Still on the review board and probably will end up staying.

H/T to David Codrea

The latest on the guns to Mexico scandal

CBS has taken the lead among the major news outlets to cover the story of the ATF allegedly aiding the illegal flow of guns into Mexico.

David Codrea (one of the leads who broke the story) has two links: Grassley asks for independent investigation of ATF

And: CBS: ‘Documents point to ATF gun running since 2008’

Our Senator Grassley really sunk his teeth on this one. (And to think I didn't think he deserved to stay in office - still doesn't mean I voted for Roxanne)

Two more senators join Grassley questioning ATF

Lugar, Lieberman looking into ‘Project Gunwalker’ charges

Sen Grassley is persistently asking Justice Dept for answers

David Codrea: BREAKING NEWS: Grassley to Holder: Terry family deserves answers

David has copies of the letters to AG Holder demanding answers regarding the ATF's acquiescence (at the very least) of straw purchasing and guns to Mexico.

Gun ban proposals - not only in Iowa

David Codrea has the scoop:

It is, of course, the Brady Campaign wish list (the one for this year), one that's being sold to us by oath-breaking politicians, media cheerleaders, anti-defense special interests and their useful idiot followers as “common sense” and “a good first step.”

Read more at:
Congressional ‘gun control’ report telegraphs anti-gunners’ ‘wish list’

Sen Grassley, ATF and the Mexico guns

The efforts of David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh to proclaim what they call "Project Gunwalker" has resulted in our Senator Chuck Grassley firing off letters asking for explanations from the ATF. (You can read the letters at Sipsey Street.)

In what appears to be straw purchases that were directly approved by the ATF, firearms were transported to Mexico. Some of the weapons were then used by criminal thugs in a shootout with Border Patrol agents leaving one killed.

David and Mike's (and others') effort to get the Judicial committee members interested in the ATF actions as a rogue agency has resulted in Sen Grassley taking a hard look at what's going on.

A sanitized version:

PHOENIX -- A U.S. senator is examining a claim that two guns sold in purchases sanctioned by federal firearms agents were later used in a December shootout that left a Border Patrol agent dead near the Arizona-Mexico border.

Senator examines gun claim in border shootout

Mike also has a few other scandals for the committee to look into:

I also heard early this evening from an experienced lobbyist well connected to the new Congress. That there will be ATF oversight hearings -- dealing with not only the death of Brian Terry and the Project Gunwalker scandal but with the whole panoply of ATF scandals mentioned in these pages over the past two years -- is said to be a bet-the-farm certainty.

Dependence Day

Dependence Day, On the erosion of personal liberty.

In our time, to be born a citizen of the United States is to win first prize in the lottery of life, and, as Britons did, too many Americans assume it will always be so. Do you think the laws of God will be suspended in favor of America because you were born in it? Great convulsions lie ahead, and at the end of it we may be in a post-Anglosphere world. - Mark Steyn

Via David Codrea

Is ‘Project Gunwalker’ about to bust wide open?

Passing the word on for some help.

Is ‘Project Gunwalker’ about to bust wide open?

We’ve recently discussed what I call “Project Gunwalker.” That title is a parody of the “Project Gunrunner” name the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has assigned to its southwest border initiative on U.S. guns going to the Mexican drug criminals, and refers to sourced information that the bureau has intentionally—and importantly, criminally, and with management cognizance—allowed guns to be transported across the border while keeping Mexican authorities in the dark.

Our Senator Grassley is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Contact him:

Office number in DC is 202-224-3744 and office number in Des Moines is 515-288-4415. Grassley's Second Amendment "go-to" guy is Nick Podsiadly and his Judiciary Committee guy, replacing Sessions' Stephen Miller, is Brian Downing.

via Sipsey Street Irregulars

It would seem that the ATF may have been complicit in allowing guns to Mexico from the US.

Open carry caution

Something to think about come January 1st here in Iowa, David Codrea has an introduction to his Gun Rights column:

Despite the practice being “lawful” in many states (not to mention being a fundamental right), gun owners who openly carry firearms often place themselves in legal and physical jeopardy from police reactions.

The reactions of law enforcement officers and the public in general should be a consideration for those wishing to openly carry here in the state.

Iowa is treading into new territory and there are plenty of hoplophobes here that see a firearm and would call the authorities. Once police are involved, and an overzealous officer ("they’ll be face down in a snow bank in Iowa") or a nervous citizen, it then becomes an interesting day.

The SPLC's war against the "right"

Being off on my misadventures this past week, I need to spend some time to catch up.

David Codrea gives us a three part series:

What this video does is intentionally widens the “us vs. them” divide between citizens and police, heightens the paranoia, and makes the most innocuous of encounters much more dangerous. Now, thanks to SPLC, something as simple as having a political bumper sticker on your car, supposedly protected speech, takes a heightened alert situation and urges police to view non-leftist political sentiment as a potentially lethal personal threat. Because with all the conflation, what message will be enough to trigger a protective reaction?

Did SPLC just make it dangerous to have a ‘conservative’ bumper sticker?

Click here for Part Two: "Is ATF's Cavanaugh a credible SPLC spokesman?"

Click here for Part Three: "Violent leftists agree with SPLC and 'Waco Jim' on threat from the armed right"

David Codrea interviews Larry Pratt

A question and answer from War on Guns' David Codrea: Interview with GOA's Larry Pratt

The poor need not apply

Kurt Hofmann provides the history for the BATFE decision for banning re-importation of M1 Garand and Carbines from South Korea:

Because it would drive the price down.

David Codrea has more details regarding the ban as a "public threat."

Knowing the relative history that could be a part of a historical firearm always affects me.

But not with girly-mamby-boy fear.

Rifles of of the kind once carried by one in defense of his country has always caused me to pause to remember the solder, sailor or marine that might fired said weapon at his enemy.

If for that one moment to honor them in remembrance, it is the least I could do.

I suspect that there are some among us who collect historical arms who are rejoicing at this ruling. It would seem that the value of their collections just went up.

But if these arms are such a threat to public safety that we can't have them imported into the country for the rest of us, how long before the ATF agents come knocking on their doors?

Because that collection is a "threat to public safety."

The endorsements are here, the endorsements are here

For me, as a voter, I don't give a hind's end about endorsements, but others might.

NRA endorsements for Iowa (and I see that Kent Sorenson in District 37 gets the endorsement over Staci (vote on one gun bill) Appel.

Gun Owners of America has a slightly different take on Iowa

Thanks to David Codrea of pointing these resources out.
Gun Owners of America releases 2010 candidate grades
And
NRA ratings

David Codrea on Freedom

Hell of a thing, freedom. It's not perfect. Its benefits come with costs. Without responsibility, problems can arise.

It sure beats the hell out of the alternative though, doesn't it?

From David's War on Guns post: A Walk in the Park

Why are some gun owners afraid of permitless concealed carry?

David Codrea nails it again from his Examiner article, Why are some gun owners afraid of permitless concealed carry?

All rights come with responsibilities. Exercising them knowledgeably and appropriately is the responsibility of free adults--not government bureaucrats who charge a fee to dictate whether or not they approve, and under what circumstances and where a supplicant will be permitted to exercise them.

Unpermitted "idiots" already brandish and shoot innocents. We call these people "criminals." It's the permitted carriers the antis are gunning for--as evidenced by Violence Policy Center's "Concealed Carry Killers" project. It's every time a gun owner with a CCW license commits a crime of violence that the gun grabbers have a "we told you so" field day.

David points out the false dependency that some gun owners have on the NRA

As for the gun grabbers having all they need, molon labe, baby...and that requires not letting the assertion "everything we have worked for in the NRA will be undone" go unaddressed. It's a variant of "If not for the NRA, we'd have lost our gun rights years ago."

Anyone who actually believes that has already prepared themselves to surrender theirs.

Many of us in Iowa fought hard for permit-less carry in the state during this past year, both with and without Iowa Gun Owners help. The NRA (after ignoring Iowa for years) came in and helped pass a permit-uniformity bill that gave us a few compromises to get passed.

I personally witnessed open hostility from gun owners to those of us who didn't want to compromise on a lesser bill. (And I know there is animosity towards promoters of the NRA bill.)

I reserve my contempt to the NRA.

I heard from Iowans that we couldn't get a Constitutional-carry bill passed just days before Arizona passed theirs.

What does that say about gun owners in this state?

2nd Amendment Rally, and a bonus

I could not attend, so I'll let others speak like Robert The March for the Second Amendment and Ben Second Amendment Rally In Des Moines. (I had a delightful time at work because we were short-staffed and then an emergency that took me away from everything)

I had a chance to speak with Dave Funk on Saturday and sent his campaign coordinator Meghan a copy of David Codrea's Gun Rights Questionnaire

The reply:

Below are Dave's answers to your questions. You might be interested to know that he spoke at the 2nd Amendment rally today at the capitol. In doing so, he read through your [this is David's list not mine and I gave him full credit when I sent it to her - ed] list of questions and answered them aloud the crowd gathered at the capitol steps.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thank you for your support and for your vote in the June 8th primary.


1. Do you believe that the Constitution is the "supreme law of the land" and that the Bill of Rights acknowledges our birthrights? Yes and yes.

2. If so, should these rights be proactively protected from infringement by all levels of government, including city, county and state? Yes, that is the primary role of government.


3. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider constitutional. I am still looking, the only one that might be close would be the ban on convicted felons from possessing firearms.

4. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider unconstitutional. Starting with the National Firearms Act of 1934, nearly all of them are.

5. Does the right to bear arms include the right for any peaceable citizen to carry them concealed without a permit, as in Vermont? Yes!

6. Do you believe that Americans have a right to own, use and carry weapons of military pattern, and will you use the prestige of elected office to publicly promote that right? Yes.

7. Do you support or oppose registration of weapons? Oppose. Why? First step to confiscation.

8. Do you support or oppose licensing requirements to own or carry firearms? I oppose licensing requirements.


Why? It's a God given inalienable right codified in our constitution, we do not need a license to exercise our rights.

9. What specific gun laws will you work to get repealed? I would start with the Brady Bill and work from there.


10. If elected, will you back your words of support for firearms rights up with consistent actions? How?

From my web site issues page:
Second Amendment

The framers of our Constitution knew that the government should never have a monopoly on force, that’s why they articulated our God given right to self defense and ensured the right to keep and bear arms was written in our Bill of Rights. Let’s not forget, George Washington didn't use his right to free speech to defeat the British, he shot them.

Further information can be found here: http://www.funkforcongress.com/category/2nd-amendment

The editorial board of Between Two Rivers isn't in an endorsing mood, but with answers like these, we are going to consider Mr Funk. These questions have been given to other candidates (Boswell excluded - yet) and this is my first response.

Thanks to David Codrea at The War on Guns and Gun Rights Examiner for producing these questions so we can hold politician's feet to the fire. I hope he doesn't mind me posting here before I sent the answers to him but he's been a little busy.