Articles by Herschel Smith

If you recall we covered this event in some detail concerning what they should have done with a member of their party suffering from Rhabdomyolysis.  This is a Malum Prohibitum crime with no victims.  This was a victimless crime.  Moreover, forcing the rest of the party to move very well could have placed their very lives at risk.

Is it possible for the NPS to look any stupider?  Then there’s this comment.

I am a retired law enforcement officer and in nearly all things, you have officer discretion. Unfortunately, many new or younger law enforcement officers don’t understand that concept and treat everyone regardless of the incident as if they were a mass murderer. They don’t comprehend the impact their actions have and understand basic humanity and compassion. The National Parks Service and the Rangers are why I avoid National Parks with a vengeance. I had a similar run-in in a National Park where I was the subject of a traffic stop for 18mph in a 15mph speed zone. Family and friends in the vehicle (while still an active law enforcement officer), young guy who starts yelling at me for going by him 3mph over the speed limit. Asks if there are any weapons in the vehicle and then draws his firearm when I say yes. I remained calm and explained my status and showed him my credentials. Then demanded to speak with their supervisor for the behavior and pointing a firearm at someone without justification. Supervisor basically blew it off and said, “If you don’t like it, don’t visit a National Park.” Public lands that are definitively not “for the people” and absolutely out of control behavior of those expected to set the example and uphold the law. The National Parks service, Rangers and Law Enforcement have a difficult job, but their behavior is making it far worse and turning them into an enemy of the people. Almost as if they are forcing people with their rules, permits, timed entry and such to stay out of the National Parks. You derive your authority from the consent of the governed. Many have lost sight of that fact.

Firearms in National Parks has been legal since 2010, and lives have been saved because of access to firearms.  The very first shooting of an attacking bear occurred in Denali National Park soon after the rule change.  In this instance, the LEO apparently muzzle flagged someone because of legal carry.

Idiot.  Dangerous idiot.

But in this case there were three parties to blame for this stupidity: the LEOs, the prosecutors and the judge.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I wish you and your family all the best of God’s good graces.

Here is an article on the ruling.

Reason.

A jury in Texas on Tuesday convicted a man of murdering a local police officer in a case that pitted no-knock raids against the right to self-defense.

Marvin Guy, who waited in jail for over nine years before his trial, was found guilty of murdering Detective Charles Dinwiddie, whom Guy said he mistook for an intruder after a SWAT team in 2014 smashed his bedroom window and tried to break into his home with a battering ram during a 5:45 a.m. drug raid. The panel declined, however, to convict him of capital murder and instead opted for murder, meaning they did not agree—at least not unanimously—that Guy knew he was shooting at law enforcement.

The raid was the product of a no-knock warrant, which police pursued in response to a tip that Guy had been dealing cocaine, and which allowed them to break into Guy’s apartment without first identifying themselves.

On May 9, 2014, before the sun rose, about two dozen officers arrived at Guy’s residence. The team struggled to fully penetrate the door with their battering ram; something was blocking it from behind. One officer accidentally detonated his stun grenade, inflaming what was already a raid rapidly going awry.

Guy, who lived in a high-crime area, said he was woken up and assumed the police were criminals trying to break into his home. He had allegedly been on edge about such a situation: One of his neighbors had reportedly been victimized similarly a week before when an intruder choked her after forcing entry by way of her first-floor window. Guy allegedly hit four officers, killing Dinwiddie and prompting police to fire over 40 rounds in return.

The prosecution, however, theorized that Guy had somehow come to know the police were coming and that he’d set a trap to “ambush” them.

I hear it again and again and again and again, and it’s just as silly every time I hear it.  Due process.  Let a judge issue a warrant.  I’d rather be judged by a jury of peers than carried by pall bearers.  Americans have the right of due process.  Gun confiscation laws are okay as long as the government has followed due process requirements.

This example is why I don’t believe you can trust due process or any aspect of the American judicial system.  It doesn’t matter whether he was dealing cocaine.  It doesn’t matter if they wanted to play soldier boy that early morning.  If they had wanted to grab evidence, they could have waited until daylight and monitored him for movement from the home and then gone in and grabbed whatever they wanted.

As it stands, a cop is dead and he will be in prison for much of the rest of his life.

And here’s the thing.  A prosecutor and jury did all of this by intent.  The prosecutor wanted him in prison because we can’t have men defending their homes, not even in Texas.  The jury followed all instructions given to them by a corrupt judge.

There’s your due process.  How do you like it?  If someone slams their way into your home, lay down and submit.  You cannot defend your family because you may go to prison.

Again, how do you like this?

I’m glad that Mark got a chance to speak before so many appeals court judges, and several supreme court judges, and several supreme court justices too!

Source.

Los Angeles homeowner Vince Ricci says he was coming home from the gym when two intruders ran up behind him after jumping the fence in his backyard.

“Out of nowhere I felt someone run up behind me, put something to my back, put a pistol to my back and somebody running up,” the man told ABC 7.

“I guess they decided to try to come at me and come in the house but I have a 5-month-old baby and a wife and a nanny in the house and that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.

“There was nothing in my house that was worth dying for. But I was willing to die for my family,” the dad added.

The state of California didn’t exactly see it that way. They’ve suspended Ricci’s concealed carry permit.

Feel Good Friday

Vince Ricci was forced to defend himself & his family in his LA home.

To thank him for his valiant effort, @LAPDHQ presented him with the key to the city…

Sike, they actually took away his gun permit because he yelled at the dumb ass officer. pic.twitter.com/FElHeUHCeG

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) November 17, 2023

Shameful.  But then, California.  Who’s surprised?  And if you’re in California, why?

Source.

Ahead of the event, Anime NYC advertised the Marines making an appearance (Booth #373) as “a military partner,” linking to an enlistment form for applicants to connect with a Marines recruiter. (The recruitment application on the official Marines website included the UTM code, “FY23ANIMECON,” in order to track the social media campaign’s performance across platforms.)

According to the exhibitor list, the Army (Booth #367) touted a 360-degree photobooth, oft-used at high school dances and wedding venues; a personalized dogtag-making station; and military “swag” to take home. “Join like-minded Army personnel who share a passion for anime and discover what the Army can offer you. With over 170 career paths, robust education benefits, and exciting job opportunities, the Army is a wide-open frontier to helping you Be All You Can Be!” reads the Anime NYC description.

I would expect that of the Army and the FBI (who was recruiting there too).  That the Marines were there is embarrassing for them.

How shameful.  Even now they cannot understand why good men no longer want to fight and potentially perish for the country.  It is no longer their country.

Let me explain what’s happening here before you watch this.

When hiking in the Teton’s in May of this year (on a professional trip to Idaho Falls, ID) with still a very heavy snow pack, I fell into a tree well.  When I began the hiking the Jenny Lake trail, the snow was inches deep.  During the trip it turned into feet deep, and I had no snow shoes and no trekking poles.  Anyway, it was extremely difficult to get out of the tree well and it took quite some time.

I was “post holing” in snow, and it had never occurred to me what happens when you go waist deep into snow.  You don’t remove your leg.  You have to dig your leg out.  The snow is like cement.  Here the snowboarder is head-down into a tree well and well within the snow.  He probably cannot expand his lungs very much in order to breath.  He certainly cannot extricate himself from the problem.

The skier is in a mad rush literally to save the man’s life.  Despite what he says, he cannot breath – not while encased in the snow pack.

As to applicability, whether you snow board or ski or not, the lesson [re]learned is just this: don’t ever leave your colleagues.  Ever.  If you’re with someone, they are acting very stupidly and irresponsibly to leave you, regardless of the fact that they may want to forge ahead and make time or whatever the reason.  He needs to find new friends.

This incident is followed up here and here.

F&S.

In 1955, Smith & Wesson and Remington teamed up to introduce the .44 Remington Magnum, and gun writer Elmer Keith was a great inspiration in the cartridge’s development. The .44 Magnum’s starring role in Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movie gave it immediate credibility and fame. It is, however, a handful to shoot, which is why it’s common to find used .44 Magnum revolvers being sold that come with a half box of ammo. Many shooters find they’re just not quite the man Inspector Harry Callahan was. Fortunately, .44 Magnum revolvers can also safely chamber and fire .44 Special ammunition, which has much less offensive recoil. In factory ammunition, there are more than 50 .44 Magnum loads to choose from, and about half as many .44 Special loads.

The 44 Magnum does not use a 0.44-caliber bullet. The bullet diameter is actually 0.429-inch in diameter, but, 429 or 430 Magnum just does not have the same ring to it. The cartridge is loaded to a maximum average pressure of 36,000 psi, which is about twice that of the .44 Special. As powerful as that seems, the .357 SIG is actually loaded to a higher pressure. The .44 Magnum has been used to successfully take every game animal on earth, and it’s a personal protection favorite with those who like to tromp around in big bear country. Marlin and several other manufacturers currently offer lever guns chambered for the .44 Magnum.

[ … ]

The .454 Casull was not approved by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI) until 1997, and their standard specifies a maximum average pressure of 65,000 psi. This is absurdly more than the .44 Magnum, and it’s where the .454 Casull finds all its power. The cartridge can push a 200-grain bullet to more than 2000 fps. By comparison, the .45 Colt is only loaded to a maximum average pressure of 14,000 psi. In a 50-ounce revolver, .454 Casull is intimidating to shoot with full-power loads, recoiling with around 36 foot-pounds of hand-numbing and wrist-twisting force. Rossi and Big Horn Armory both offer lever-action rifles chambered for the .454 Casull.

If power is your main consideration, there’s no comparison; the .454 Casull is the clear winner. With its most powerful loads, the .454 Casull can generate nearly 2,000 foot-pounds of kinetic energy at the muzzle. This puts it in the same class as some popular rifle cartridges, but with bullets weighing twice as much. However, with high performance +P+ ammunition, the .44 Magnum is not that far behind the .454. Take note, however, there is not a SAAMI standard for +P or +P+ .44 Magnum ammo. Dirty Harry’s cartridge will not shoot quite as fast or hit as hard as the .454 Casull, but like the .454 Casull, the .44 magnum is capable of handling any critter you want to tackle.

I find shooting a .44 magnum wheel gun quite enough, and after a couple of wheels of ammunition I’m ready to put it away.  I shoot it enough to know what to expect.  The power is great for the bush, but I don’t think I want to sport a .454 Casull handgun.

However, I would surely have a lever action rifle in 454 Casull, except that Big Horn Armory charges an arm and a leg for their rifles.  I know Rossi makes a rifle, but it surely doesn’t have the looks of a quality gun.  Henry doesn’t make one in that caliber either.

Ruger has several revolvers in 454 Casull but their choice is certainly limited.  That the selections in 454 Casull are so limited seems to me to limit the use and popularity of the cartridge.

Source.

In a ruling that seems fated to find its way before the U.S. Supreme Court, a judge in Illinois has recently found that the gun rights of a felon convicted of multiple armed robberies are protected by the Second Amendment.

[ … ]

The finding from U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman was issued on Nov. 2 and stems from a case involving Illinois resident Glen Price. Price, 37, allegedly brandished a gun and robbed someone on a train in September 2021. Police said he stole a cellphone and a train fare card too. When police arrested him, they found a 9 mm gun in his possession, cocaine, ammunition and a stolen credit card.

Price was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm since he already had a criminal record featuring no less than three felony convictions for armed robbery and one conviction for aggravated battery of a police officer.

“Although there are strong policy reasons for doing everything possible to keep guns off our streets and out of our communities, this court can find no such historical analogue,” Gettleman wrote.

Bruen, the judge reasoned, required courts to deem whether a statute dispossessing someone of their right to own a gun posed a “comparable burden” on the right to bear arms itself.

The judge wrote:

“Although the historical record … demonstrates this nation’s tradition of ‘comparably justified’ categorical dispossession statutes, the government has failed to meet its burden of providing evidence of a dispossession statute with a ‘comparable burden’ to § 922(g)(1). Specifically, this court is not persuaded that the government has met its burden to show a ‘distinctly similar or even a relevantly similar’ historical analogue to 922(g)(1)’s permanent prohibition on firearm possession by felons which can only be lifted by expungement, federal pardon or other method of restoring civil rights that lifts the underlying offense from a conviction …”

By failing to provide felons with any means to repair their lost gun rights, there is a “far greater burden on the right to keep and bear arms,” Gettleman found, “than the historical categorical exclusions from the people’s Second Amendment rights.”

“The government has not demonstrated why the modern ubiquity of gun violence, and the heightened lethality of today’s firearm technology compared to the Founding, justify a different result. This nation’s gun violence problem is devastating, but does not change this result under Bruen which this court finds rests on the severity of § 922(g)(1) rather than its categorical prohibition,” he wrote.

I suspect that this is a disingenuous ruling.  That same judge would likely find ownership of semiautomatic rifles unconstitutional.

You see what’s happening, don’t you?  They’re trying to force the SCOTUS to review their Bruen test of historical analogues.  I suspect it won’t work.  I suspect that the supreme court will do is allow confiscation of firearms in cases of violent crimes and disallow confiscation of firearms for non-violent felons, and say that it all comports with Heller and Bruen.

Anyway, if you apply Biblical law, I see no problem whatsoever.  As I’ve said so many times before, I don’t believe in the rehabilitative power or authority of the state.  The Scriptures give no such authority to the state, only to the family and church.  Further, since the Scriptures give no such authority to the state, that implies that the state has no power or tools to effect rehabilitation.

With the Holy Writ, I believe in retribution and restitution.  Retribution for violent crimes against others (the death penalty for murder, rape and kidnapping), and imprisonment to the offended party to repay debts two or three-fold.  If you advocate incarceration of criminals who owe debts to offended parties while they work off their debts for repayment to the offended parties, I’m okay with that.

But no one owes a debt to society or the government writ large.  Debts are always to individuals.

Alas, we don’t follow the Scriptures in America.