Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Happy Independence Day -- From a 21st Century Tory

My inbox is always bursting with spam —

From: Michelle Lujan Grisham via bounce.bluestatedigital.com
To: Mike Blessing
Date: Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 3:46 PM
Subject: Happy Independence Day!

What's amusing about this is that Michelle Lujan Grisham is the 21st century New Mexico equivalent of an 18th century British Tory.

A little histoy lesson here — the Tories were the British political party who were opposed to the American Revolution of 1776. They were whom the Declaration of Independence was a series of complaints against when it was signed at Independence Hall (then the Pennsylvania State House).

In short, they were the Big Government party of the United Kingdom of the 1760s and 1770s.

Doesn't the phrase "Big Government" neatly summarize the political career of Michelle Lujan Grisham? When has she EVER supported making government smaller, less intrusive, less expensive? Not much that we here in New Mexico have seen.

Grisham has little to no respect for the individual right to own and carry weapons, she's always in favor of expanding the welfare state, and she signs off on Democrat-sponsored corporate welfare while complaining about corporations being under-regulated. If you're a farmer or rancher, she doesn't seem to care if your land is seized out from under you by the BLM, Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife, EPA, or whoever else, just so long as it fits the current Democrat narrative.

What's also amusing is that today's British Tories (the Conservative Party, by their own name) are the "across-the-pond" equivalent of America's Republicans — they advertise themselves as moderate libertarians during the campaign season, then govern as moderate Democrats (Labour Party for the UK Conservatives).

If you want the real deal, then go with actual, brand-name Libertarians here in the States. For the UK, I would suggest either the Libertarian Party UK [LPUK] or UK Independence Party [UKIP]

Copyright © 2016 Libertarian Party of New Mexico, Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
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Monday, June 20, 2016

"No One Wants to Take Away Your Guns" [2]

Well, it's Hoplophobia Season again, as your friendly (in appearance only) politicians scramble to stand atop the fifty-some bodies of those killed at Pulse Orlando. As usual, their media friends will say "no one wants to take your guns," even as they say explicitly that they do want to disarm you. Here are some examples:

The first is an old one, from August of last year, from science fiction, fantasy and comic book writer Peter David, which is a shame, as David can be a good writer when he wants to be. Still, at least he's honest and up-front about his desire to disarm America's population, which is more than I can say for most hoplophobes and victim disarmers.

[Click on the picture to go the article]

Amitai Etzioni, a current proponent of what's called "communitarianism," wrote the next piece in The Huffington Post yesterday, and suggests that they probably will need to be sneaky about disarming the American population:

[Click on the picture to go the article]

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

NOTES

Approximate reading level – 15.9

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Quote of the Day for Saturday, 4 June 2016

"Governments can create the climate for economic growth . . . [but] only the private sector can produce a peace that will endure."

Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher,
(1 December 2004). Prosperity in the New Middle East: Building the Structures of Peace, remarks made at the 1994 MENA Economic Summit. Casablanca, Morocco.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

China's "Sesame Credit" -- Coming to America Soon!

After watching that video clip, who can truthfully say that the DNC and a good bit of the RNC wouldn't want something along the lines of China's proposed "Social Credit System" for deployment here in the States?

Why, they might even make your health a part of your "personal score," thanks to Obama's federalized copy-and-paste job from Massachusetts Romneycare. So much for the "privacy guarantees" that were allegedly instituted with HIPAA.

If the Imperial District wants to know if you've made any financial transactions that they disapprove of, they can always check with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and add those to your score.

I'm sure I left some things out, but the Imperials from the District of Criminals will think of things to fill in any blanks I left here.

H/T L. Neil Smith at The Libertarian Enterprise

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Quote of the Day for Thursday, 21 January 2016

If the Constitution of the United States were written based on current policies and attitudes of those who govern us, its preamble would probably be something like this:

WE THE AUTHORITIES, of the State of America, in order to form the basis for societal perfection, establish social justice, insure domestic obedience, provide for the global defense, promote the welfare of special interests, and secure the bondage of national debt from ourselves to our posterity, do mandate and impose these executive orders upon the people of the Nation, formerly known as the United States of America.

— Arthur Berman

H/T Frank Ney

Sunday, January 17, 2016

"Nobody wants to take your guns" v.1

Whenever I, or others, object to "registration" or bans on transfers, or other forms of "gun control" and firearms restrictions as steps toward an eventual complete prohibition and the confiscation that such would necessarily entail, we get told we're paranoid and "nobody wants to take your guns."

Well, perhaps we should consider these "nobodies":

"A gun-control movement worthy of the name would insist that President Clinton move beyond his proposals for controls . . . and immediately call on Congress to pass far-reaching industry regulation like the Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act . . . [which] would give the Treasury Department health and safety authority over the gun industry, and any rational regulator with that authority would ban handguns."
Josh Sugarmann (executive director of the Violence Policy Center)

"My view of guns is simple. I hate guns and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to own one. If I had my way, guns for sport would be registered, and all other guns would be banned."
Deborah Prothrow-Stith (Dean of Harvard School of Public Health)

"I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say 'Sorry.' it's 1999. We have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you should go to prison."
Rosie O'Donnell (At about the time she said this, Rosie engaged the services of a bodyguard who applied for a gun permit.)

“Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it.”
Andrew Cuomo

"I do not believe in people owning guns. Guns should be owned only by [the] police and military. I am going to do everything I can to disarm this state."
Michael Dukakis

"If someone is so fearful that they are going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, it makes me very nervous that these people have weapons at all."
U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman

"In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no significant effect either on the crime rate or on personal security. Nonetheless, it is a good idea . . . Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic – purely symbolic – move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation."
Charles Krauthammer, columnist, 4/5/96 Washington Post

"Ban the damn things. Ban them all. You want protection? Get a dog."
Molly Ivins, columnist, 7/19/94

"[To get a] permit to own a firearm, that person should undergo an exhaustive criminal background check. In addition, an applicant should give up his right to privacy and submit his medical records for review to see if the person has ever had a problem with alcohol, drugs or mental illness . . . The Constitution doesn't count!"
John Silber, former chancellor of Boston University and candidate for Governor of Massachusetts. Speech before the Quequechan Club of Fall River, MA. August 16, 1990

"I think you have to do it a step at a time and I think that is what the NRA is most concerned about. Is that it will happen one very small step at a time so that by the time, um, people have woken up, quote, to what's happened, it's gone farther than what they feel the consensus of American citizens would be. But it does have to go one step at a time and the banning of semiassault military weapons that are military weapons, not household weapons, is the first step."
Mayor Barbara Fass, Stockton, CA

"Handguns should be outlawed. Our organization will probably take this stand in time but we are not anxious to rouse the opposition before we get the other legislation passed."
Elliot Corbett, Secretary, National Council For A Responsible Firearms Policy (interview appeared in the Washington Evening Star on September 19, 1969)

"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe."
Senator Diane Feinstein, 1993

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them... 'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."
U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) CBS-TV's "60 Minutes," 2/5/95

"Banning guns is an idea whose time has come."
U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, 11/18/93, Associated Press interview

"Yes, I'm for an outright ban (on handguns)."
Pete Shields, Chairman emeritus, Handgun Control, Inc., during a 60 Minutes interview.

"We must be able to arrest people before they commit crimes. By registering guns and knowing who has them we can do that. If they have guns they are pretty likely to commit a crime."
Vermont State Senator Mary Ann Carlson

"I am one who believes that as a first step, the United States should move expeditiously to disarm the civilian population, other than police and security officers, of all handguns, pistols, and revolvers . . . No one should have the right to anonymous ownership or use of a gun."
Professor Dean Morris, Director of Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, stated to the U.S. Congress

"I feel very strongly about it [the Brady Bill]. I think – I also associate myself with the other remarks of the Attorney General. I think it's the beginning. It's not the end of the process by any means."
William J. Clinton, 8/11/93

"The Brady Bill is the minimum step Congress should take . . . we need much stricter gun control, and eventually should bar the ownership of handguns, except in a few cases."
U.S. Representative William Clay, quoted in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on May 6, 1991.

"I don't believe gun owners have rights."
Sarah Brady, Hearst Newspapers Special Report "Handguns in America", October 1997

"We must get rid of all the guns."
Sarah Brady, speaking on behalf of HCI with Sheriff Jay Printz & others on "The Phil Donahue Show" September 1994

"The House passage of our bill is a victory for this country! Common sense wins out. I'm just so thrilled and excited. The sale of guns must stop. Halfway measures are not enough."
Sarah Brady 7/1/88

"I don't care about crime, I just want to get the guns."
Senator Howard Metzenbaum, 1994

"We're here to tell the NRA their nightmare is true . . . "
U.S. Representative Charles Schumer, quoted on NBC, 11/30/93

"My bill . . . establishes a 6-month grace period for the turning in of all handguns."
U.S. Representative Major Owens, Congressional Record, 11/10/93

"We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily, given political realities, going to be very modest. Our ultimate goal, total control of handguns in the United States, is going to take time. The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered, and the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns, and all handgun ammunition illegal."
Nelson T. Shields of Hangun Control, Inc. as quoted in `New Yorker' magazine July 26, 1976. Page 53f

"Our goal is to not allow anybody to buy a handgun. In the meantime, we think there ought to be strict licensing and regulation. Ultimately, that may mean it would require court approval to buy a handgun."
President of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Michael K. Beard, Washington Times
12/6/93 p.A1

"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal."
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, December 1993

"The sale, manufacture, and possession of handguns ought to be banned . . . We do not believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual the right to keep them."
The Washington Post – "Legal Guns Kill Too" – November 5, 1999

"There is no reason for anyone in the country, for anyone except a police officer or a military person, to buy, to own, to have, to use, a handgun. The only way to control handgun use in this country is to prohibit the guns. And the only way to do that is to Change the Constitution."
USA Today – Michael Gartner – Former president of NBC News – "Glut of Guns: What Can We Do About Them?" – January 16, 1992

"I would personally just say to those who are listening, maybe you want to turn in your guns," Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, 2012

" 4. Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall have ninety days from such effective date to do any of the following without being subject to prosecution:
           (1) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state of Missouri;
           (2) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable; or
           (3) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to the appropriate law enforcement agency for destruction, subject to specific agency regulations."
Legislation introduced in Missouri. 2013

And you can repeat the exact same thing for Minnesota

"Since assault weapons are not a major contributor to US gun homicide and the existing stock of guns is large, an assault weapon ban is unlikely to have an impact on gun violence. If coupled with a gun buyback and no exemptions then it could be effective." NIJ Memo on a new "Assault Weapon" Ban. 2013

"The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection" (Warrantless searches by law enforcement?) Washington State Senate Bill 5737 (2013)

“the state of Iowa should take semi-automatic weapons away from Iowans who have legally purchased them prior to any ban that is enacted if they don’t give their weapons up in a buy-back program. Even if you have them, I think we need to start taking them,” Iowa state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer (D-Manilla) 2013

California Senate Bill 374 (Steinberg 2013) would expand the definition of “Assault Weapons” to include ALL semi-auto rifles (including rimfire calibers) that accept a detachable magazine. SB374 would ban on the sale and possession of ALL Semi-Auto rifles and require registration to retain legal possession in the future.

California Senate Bill 47 (Yee 2013) would expand the definition of “Assault Weapons” to include rifles that have been designed / sold and or equipped to use the “bullet button” or similar device. SB47 would ban on the sale and possession of ALL those Semi-Auto rifles and require registration to retain legal possession in the future.

California Assembly Bill 174 (Bonta 2013) would ban the possession of any firearms that were “grandfathered “ for possession if registered in previous “Assault Weapons” gun control schemes. Californians that trusted the State of California and registered their firearms will be required to surrender the firearms to the Government or face arrest. Passage of AB174 would make SB374/SB47 (above) into confiscation mandates.

California Senate Bill 396 (Hancock 2013) would ban the possession of any magazine with a capacity to accept more than 10 cartridges. ALL currently grandfathered “high-cap” magazines would become ILLEGAL to possess and the owners subject to arrest and the magazines confiscated. ("High-cap" means a capacity that has been standard, that the firearms were designed for, since the 40's--AK pattern rifles--or 60's--AR pattern rifles.)

“We want everything on the table. This is a moment of opportunity. There’s no question about it . . . We’re on a roll now, and I think we’ve got to take the–you know, we’re gonna push as hard as we can and as far as we can.”
Illinois Rep Jan Schakowsky says assault rifle ban just the beginning, ‘moment of opportunity’ and seeks to ban handguns (2013).

"People who own guns are essentially a sickness in our souls who must be cleansed." Colorado Senator (Majority Leader) John Morse. 2013 (Cleansed? "Final Solution" anyone?)
(Emphasis added in the above).

"We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.” Discussion among Senator Loretta Weinberg (D37), Senator Sandra Cunningham (D31), Senator Linda Greenstein (D14) of New Jersey's State Legislature, May 9, 2013

“No one in this country should have guns.” Superior Court Judge, Robert C. Brunetti, Bristol, CT. September, 2013

Proposed Missouri Bill to ban "assault weapons":

4. Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall have ninety days from such effective date to do any of the following without being subject to prosecution:

(1) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state of Missouri;

(2) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable; or

(3) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to the appropriate law enforcement agency for destruction, subject to specific agency regulations.

New York sends out Confiscation letters.

But nobody wants to take our guns?

NOTES

Approximate reading level – 10.9
Original article

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

More Hoplophobia and Victim Disarmament from Michelle Lujan Grisham

Lujan-Grisham's original text is in italics, my comments are in bold.

Say you believe that now is the time to act on reducing gun violence in America by adding your name to our petition today.

Show me a responsible gun owner who actually approves of "gun violence," OK?

Dear Mike,

During my time in Congress, I've participated in more moments of silence to honor the victims of gun violence than policy debates about how to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. It's unacceptable.

Never mind that the phrase "gun violence" is intended to provoke an anti-firearm emotional state. Notice how the hoplophobes never talk about "knife violence" or "baseball bat violence" or "beer bottle violence" ?

Just look at what our community in New Mexico is coping with right now: -- the tragic murder of an ADP police officer -- the fatal road rage shooting of a 4-year-old girl in Albuquerque -- and another incident just this week in Española where a brawl turned into something worse when a man pulled out a gun and shot an 8-year-old boy

With dangerous weapons killing an average of 36 people every day, it's only a matter of time until another community in New Mexico has to suffer.

These incidents bring to bare that many communities -- that every single community across the country -- are suffering from gun violence, and other public safety issues. In Washington, there is a growing sense that we are failing to act as policy makers, yet action continues to be stalled. And these recent shootings are a reminder of how unacceptable that has become.

Politicians are always the last people we should look to in order to solve any problem.

Duh.

Sign this petition to stand with me in tackling gun violence -- we can no longer afford to wait to act on gun violence. The time is now.

I'm already taking specific steps to address this crisis in Washington.

First, I'm co-sponsoring the bipartisan^[1] King-Thompson bill^[2], which expands existing background checks to cover all commercial firearm sales. On top of that, I'm aggressively supporting the Gun Violence Research Act^[3], which will repeal the ban on CDC gun violence research.

And how many 20-25 year-old criminals will be labeled as "teen-agers? How many instances of justifiable self-defense using firearms will be lumped in as "gun violence" ?

Neither of these Acts has a real chance of passing the Republican-led U.S. House, which has to at least pay lip service to respecting the right of private civilians to own and carry weapons, as gauranteed by the Second Amendment. Even most Democrats pay that lip service, in the same breath as they propose to rewrite the Second into oblivion.

I feel strongly that everyone has the right to safety in their community. It is fundamental to the American dream, and that's why it is imperative that we act on gun violence before it's too late. Will you stand with me today?

It's always "imperative," isn't it?

Add your name to our gun violence petition right here, right now

Best wishes,

Michelle Lujan Grisham

P.S. And just this past week, I was interviewed on KOB4 in Albuquerque to talk about the recent gun violence in New Mexico. You can watch it here.

http://kob.com/article/stories/S3950289.shtml

Never shy for the media, is she?

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Join Michelle Lujan Grisham in building a stronger community and country by making a contribution to our campaign here.

Of course she's all about enhancing the cash flow.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

The Republican sponsoring this bit of hoplophobic nonsense is none other than the cretinous Peter King from Long Island, New York.
HR 1217 – "Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2015"
HR 3926 – "Gun Violence Research Act"

NOTES

Approximate reading level – 12.2

Copyright © 2015 Libertarian Party of New Mexico, Libertarian Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises.
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