Articles by Herschel Smith

ZeroHedge is late to the game, discussing the fact that since gun control has stalled nationally, the new fight will be state and local.  Readers of TCJ have seen me discuss this as far back as perhaps two years ago (or maybe more).  Anyway, I’ve always said that the real fight was state and local, while stipulating that the harm that could be done by FedGov has always been directed towards bans of categories of weapons and shutdown of manufacturing sectors.

But what a difference a new governor makes.  Thus far I’m quite impressed by the new governor of Virginia, whether liberty for students from the Covid mandates, to right to life, and virtually everything else I’ve seen from him.  I doubt that the House and Senate would be going to the trouble they are if in fact they knew this new governor would veto these bills.

Bad laws can always be undone.

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear a number of pro-Second Amendment bills previously passed by the House. These bills are an ongoing effort to roll back infringements upon Second Amendment rights passed during the last two years.

House Bill 204 repeals the five business day delay for firearm transfers and restores the three day delay that was previously in place. The three day delay for state police to complete a background check was already considered appropriate for the technology level of the time when Virginia created its computerized background system decades ago. It is also what federal law considers appropriate in other states that use the federal NICS background check system.

House Bill 325 repeals the law that victimizes gun owners who suffer loss or theft of their property, with a fine if they do not report lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours of discovering them missing.

House Bill 509 restores due process protections in Virginia by repealing the so-called “red flag” scheme that allows the seizure of an individual’s firearms on baseless accusations, without a hearing or other opportunity for the person to be heard in court.

A person subject to the suspension of a Constitutional right should be entitled to high evidentiary standards, an opportunity to be heard, and the right to face his or her accusers. Civil liberties advocates from across the political spectrum have expressed concerns about these schemes and how the procedure may lead to abuses, due to insufficient due process protections.

House Bill 827 prevents localities from passing their own restrictions on lawful carry. Ever since the General Assembly allowed them to do so, anti-gun jurisdictions have created a confusing patchwork of carry restrictions that are difficult to know and obey and result in arbitrary boundaries that disarm law-abiding citizens without doing anything to keep armed criminals out.

It also prohibits localities from filing lawsuits against the firearm industry for lawful activities. It does not prohibit lawsuits for breach of contract or negligence from firearms or ammunition purchased by localities.

Some of this could be much stronger, but it’s a good start.  I have always focused on local, local, local, and I will continue to do so.  Your fight is immediately around you.  Look no further than your city hall, your local Sheriff, your local police chief, your board of county commissioners, and your state government.

I consider it to be virtually impossible to get real news or even good analysis of the situation in Ukraine from the legacy media.  The propaganda and disinformation is far too thick – from all sides, including our own.  You can safely ignore most of it.

But this may be the most tangled analysis I’ve ever seen, and it’s symbolic of the sort of thing you’d read at the Small Wars Journal.  I’ll only give you the summary paragraph.

Despite the political influence of Ukraine’s veteran constituency, popular support for Ukraine’s far-right paramilitary forces is negligible. Biletsky and other members of far-right parties lost their seat in Ukraine’s Parliament—the Verkhovna Rada—in 2019. However, fascist paramilitary organizations could expand significantly in the wake of a Russian invasion. Ongoing civilian resistance training grant these organizations the opportunity to create widespread recruitment pools in the general populace. Further to that, a defeated democratic Ukraine would face a legitimacy crisis that extremist organizations like Azov and Right Sector could exploit to establish themselves politically, not unlike the Yugoslav Partisans in the Second World War. In this event, while NATO should refuse to recognize any Kremlin-appointed regime, it should likewise refuse to recognize any rebel Nazi government. Even if a strong opposition government led by Nazis may be enticing for the purpose of undermining a puppet regime, it would be a catastrophic mistake that would further destabilize the region and provide legitimacy to other far-right movements globally, particularly in the US.

The word Nazi is used about a 100,000 times in the commentary (I exaggerate only a little), and yet when trying to understand what a Nazi really is, there is only one URL which in effect subtly denies the very claim that the author is making.  The very best one can conclude is that a Nazi is an “ultra-nationalist.”

Um … okay.  I guess he means not a globalist.

Anyway, this author has a bit of twisted thinking in the summary, recommending that the U.S. take certain actions and recognize certain groups based on what he sees as a budding ultra-nationalist movement in the U.S.  Literally.  He recommends certain foreign policy actions based on what it might portend for groups he’s afraid of in the U.S.

You can’t make this sort of thing up.  This passes for “analysis” at SWJ.

I think he should give his college degrees back and sue them for breach of contract.  I’ve seen bad stuff before at SWJ, but never anything quite like this.  It sounds like a college freshman at Georgetown wrote it.

It’s an emergency!  March out the jackboot thugs to beat people up!  Wait, I was wrong, that was yesterday, today everything is cool.

The truckers won.

Trudeau blinked.

Trudeau is an international disgrace. https://t.co/CVy7jgobbs

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 23, 2022

The only real emergency is the horrible pols who allowed the boy king to do this to begin with, and who continue to allow him to impose capricious things on the people for the purpose of subjecting and enslaving them.

May God call down his most holy judgment on the person of Trudeau and his family.  May God terrorize his nights, and make his days hollow and empty.  May God cause his life to be misery upon misery, ending in either his repentance or his being swallowed up in death in a Christless eternity.  May God overthrow the kingdoms of this world and shine His holy light upon the sins of wicked men who deny and defy Him with high handed sins.  May He bring His government upon the world and show men who truly rules.

The imprecatory Psalms are part of the holy writ.  They are not used nearly often enough.

Unfortunately, because of the lack of training by the church, poor theology, laziness in ensuring that the pols are held accountable, bad parenting and the Marxist universities, far too many Canadians do want to live in a society like this.

Is this the Canada you want to live in? pic.twitter.com/0QaiGRyC7T

— Justmeet Singhdeau (Chuckles) (@EdGeinSalad) February 20, 2022

But the tide may be changing.  Patriot Canadians are awake now to just what the police are like and whose side they’re on.  They will always do whatever is necessary to ensuring the continuing viability of the existing state and governmental authority, no matter how evil it is.

News from Indiana.

Despite opposition from State Police, the Indiana House on Monday voted to eliminate the license to carry a handgun in Indiana.

House Bill 1369 passed the House by a 65-31 vote and now heads to the Senate, where its already picked up key endorsements. Under the legislation, sometimes called “constitutional carry,” certain offenders still could be prohibited from carrying handguns.

The bill would eliminate the license in March 2022. The licenses raise $5.3 million per year to train law enforcement officers, a tab that taxpayers would at least partially have to pick up.

Opponents worry the bill would make police officers and the general public less safe, but advocates say law abiding citizens should not have to pay for a right guaranteed to them by the Constitution.

It’s a trend in free states!

So now it’s teed up for the Senate.  Don’t the let state down!

Hey Alabama Senate – the Indiana House approved it just like the Alabama House.  It’s clearly supported by the people.  Who will be first, the Indiana senate or the Alabama senate?

Hey South Carolina – aren’t you ashamed now that all you could muster in the last session was open carry (which never should have taken this long to undo)?  Why not constitutional carry?

News from across the world.

No insignia were visible and Ukrainian officials said it was not possible to tell if the troops belonged to the regular Russian army or were from Russian-controlled separatist units, The Guardian reported.

Hmm … high speed gear, cutout helmets, comms, every one of them with pistols and carbines, matching cammy pattern, self-confident, good trigger discipline, hip holsters (not the stupid drop holsters).

My best guess?  Spetsnaz.  They would eat the girls in the 82nd Airborne alive.

I continue my call for full scale war.

On the Southern border of the U.S.  Shoot them when you see them.

We have absolutely no business in Ukraine doing anything at all.  It isn’t our business.  It isn’t our “near abroad.”

I guess it’s not over yet.  Canadians aren’t just going home and shutting up.

Oh, and by the way, Google doesn’t control Bitchute. I’d rather use them.

News from Alabama.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Alabama House passed a proposal Tuesday to allow people to carry concealed handguns without a state permit.

House Republicans have named the handgun bill as a priority for the year.

The bill would do away with the requirement to get a concealed carry permit to carry a handgun concealed under clothes or in a purse or bag when they go in public.

Good.  That means they didn’t listen to the controller LEOs who are opposed to this, as they will be in every state.

Boss Hogg won’t like this one little bit.  It may be time to kick him to the curb, you think?

Now, Alabama Senate.  You’re up to bat.  Don’t strike out.

And a change in load means that that the 20 gauge (and even 410) is now being used much more for turkey hunting.

American Rifleman.

Washington opened the display box, and, to his delight, found an exquisite pair of matched English pistols …

Sir,
Altho’ [Although] I am not much accustomed to accept presents, I cannot refuse one offered in such polite terms as accompanied the pistols & furniture you were so obliging as to send me by Capt. Fauntleroy. They are very elegant & deserve my best thanks, which are offered with much sincerity. The favorable sentiments you are pleased to entertain of me, & the obliging and flattering manner in which they are expressed add to the obligation & I am Sir, Yr [your] Most Obedt [obedient] & Most H: [humble] Serv [servant]

GW

The Washington pistols at West Point are a pair of identical, flintlock, silver-mounted, English pommel pistols (to be carried in holsters over a saddle’s pommel,) 14″ long in total length. The 8″-long, octagon-to-round brass barrels show clear British proofmarks and are stamped with the initials “RW,” which has been determined to be the touchmark for the London gunmaker Richard Wilson. The sideplates display motifs of lions and unicorns. Both of the grips have engraved silver bands with the name: “Gen.l G. Washington.” Hawkins, the name of a gunmaker, also from London, is engraved upon the lockplates. One interesting feature about the locks is that they are equipped with a sliding-tab safety, located underneath and behind the cocking mechanisms. This allows the guns to be safely carried cocked, loaded and primed. Both pistols, ergonomically, felt right at home in the hand and are in good enough condition that I believe they could be safely loaded and fired.

We’ve discussed this before.  Every man loves nice weapons with exquisite furniture.

There’s a place for composite guns, but there will always be a market for Walnut furniture and noticeably fine craftsmanship.

Gun makers, take notice.