the rule of causation video

the rule of causation video

Utah Sheriffs & Gun Control

Utah Sheriffs & Gun Control

 

The relentless fury over gun control has dominated every source of media out there and is out of control. There are speculations of presidential executive orders restricting or confiscating our guns that are guaranteed within the contents of our United States Constitution. Many questions have been posed by elected and non-elected officials how these proposals will play out at the end and if anything can be done to curb the violent trend in America related to mass shootings inside our shopping malls, college campuses and schools.

One group of Utah sheriffs have taken the proactive approach by writing a letter to the President of the United States that states in part "Make no mistake, as the duly-elected sheriffs [of] our respective counties, we will enforce the rights guaranteed to our citizens by the Constitution. No federal official will be permitted to descend upon our constituents and take from them what the Bill of Rights--in particular Amendment II--has given them.

It goes and adds that “The citizenry must continue its ability to keep and bear arms, including arms that adequately protect them from all types of illegality," and basically warns the federal government that if the ban for guns is acquired through an executive order without debate or legislative action, they will refuse to confiscate such weapons from their constituency.

Police officers are strange fellows to say the least. There are good cops and bad cops but when it comes to enforcing such a gun control ban, the majority of them are speaking out against such a plan to confiscate guns from their respective law enforcement areas.  Although it is possible that no such action would ever take place there are those who are adamant about this possibility and have stated quite frankly their position on this matter is uncompromised.

Many really seriously doubt the ATF, FBI or Department of Justice will go door to door confiscating assault weapons from anyone. First, it's not in the federal laws or state laws to confiscate weapons from individuals unless pursuant to an arrest of the suspect and when a search warrant has been issued by a judge. Second there never would be enough federal agents to accomplish any such confiscation nationwide even if it were legal to do so. Hereby their goals are clear that they would never violate their oath to the United States Constitution to do or perform actions contrary to the Second Amendment.

However, if  Congress were to reinstate the assault weapons ban, as a police officer they are wondering whether it will be their responsibility to confiscate them separating federal law from state law. As I look around I have learned that strict controls over existing arms failed in many places within the United States as well as other countries thus despite needs-based licensing, storage laws and transportation restrictions the efforts to enforce such a gun control law is very difficult and impractical from many different viewpoints. One must also wonder if some items are being “grandfathered in” as there are mass supplies of proposed accessories and weapons already sold.

Perhaps the answer to this entire this are two solutions that have been proposed in some states already. Either everybody that has no felony record and not restricted by law from owning a gun carries a gun all the time or we do away with guns all together and mandates all of them [police included] carry a stick.

After all, the police in United Kingdom carry nothing but stick so perhaps that is the solution for taking control of our guns in this country. Of course this stick carrying mandate would apply to the police as well and then the only ones that have guns are the criminals or those that refuse to obey the laws and use them in the commission of a crime against person’s property or state.

The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales (which make up Great Britain) and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, all police officers carry firearms. In the rest of the United Kingdom, police officers do not carry firearms, except in special circumstances. One can imagine why police officers carry guns in Northern Ireland and the need is expressed around violence and resistance against government forces. The United States of America falls into this same category as we fear domestic terrorism as well as foreign attacks.

This originates from the formation of the Metropolitan Police Service in the 19th century, when police were not armed, partly to counter public fears and objections over armed enforcers as this had been previously seen due to the British Army maintaining order when needed. The arming of police in Great Britain is a perennial topic of debate.

So the question is do Americans want the right to carry guns as well as their police force or do they want to be subjected to the rules of military laws when their guns are taken away and martial law exists if the police are not empowered to carry guns either on duty or off duty. This sounds a lot like the makings of another revolution alike the one of 1776 against England as America was a mere colony and oppressed and dictated to by a foreign power.

However, I pray these options will never be and should never be on the negotiations table for gun control. The answer is in individual responsibilities of owning a gun or the person’s right to refuse to possess a weapon inside their home or property.  Gun control is not working as they are established today.

As a retired law enforcement officer, I would never participate in the confiscation of privately owned guns or weapons. I would rather face the jail time than step up against our Second Amendment as it stands today. I am confident that many other LEO’s feel the same way as I do.

The government and the President must acknowledge that when Congress or the office of the POTUS pass laws or directives contradictory to our Constitution, their bans or restrictions will be very similar to those of prohibition days and the 1994 ban of assault weapons as the public will continue to find ways to buy such weapons, articles of accessories or high capacity magazines and for most certain a fact that criminals will never give up their guns as it is the leverage against those that fall victim to the predatory and violent ways to commit crimes against persons or state.  

Other incidents come to mind where there were acts of discriminatory and biased judgment orders given during WWII against our Japanese American citizens and placed them in detainment control units so they could not plot against our government’s efforts to fight the war in the Pacific.

Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of about 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," The internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally throughout the United States. All who lived on the West Coast of the United States were interned, while in Hawaii, where the 150,000-plus Japanese Americans composed over one-third of the population, an estimated 1,200 to 1,800 were interned.

Of those interned, 62% were American citizens. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066, issued February 19, 1942, This illustrates that government is not always aware of our constitutional rights and threatens the existence of our Bill or Rights.

There is also the right to privacy/expectation of privacy as established by the US Supreme Court. Our homes are considered private, and unless a citizen(s) are a person of interest, then it is no one's business if there are guns in the house. The only exception to that would be if LE is doing a house to house search for a fugitive, and ask if there are guns for the safety of the officers not for confiscation purposes.

The meddling of our Bill of Rights will lead to further intrusion of our right to speech, press, lawful search and seizure, to vote and to remain silent if the words can cause self-incrimination for the individual. There is more than gun control at stake here. Once allowed to be enforced and altering the Constitution, the United States of America will no longer be a free society founded on the very principles that were written and adopted to prevent tyranny and government control over people’s lives.

Last but not least was the major impact of President Obama signing in his executive order related to gun control. Within a week of his announced ban, there were record breaking sales of the very items proposed to be banned and not sold to the public via private gun dealers to private gun owners.

 However, the fact remains that there are no current executive orders specifically banning guns or confiscation of weapons in any shape or form.  Reading the 23 executive orders it shows no impact on the guns people currently own-or would like to purchase- and that all proposals related to banning assault weapon and accessories will be proposed for Congressional action.

 
Source:

 http://washingtonexaminer.com/utah-sheriffs-warn-obama-of-deadly-war-over-guns/article/2519176#%2EUP3SnB3y-MG

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_United_Kingdom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment

Political Suicide for 2013

Political Suicide for 2013

By Carl R. ToersBijns

People are tired of the status quo inside our state and country. We, the American people are being overwhelmed by political rhetoric on gun control and many other topics that have invaded our living rooms and brought us nothing but propaganda or fear mongering but no real action by government to solve the problems today.

It’s time to rebel against the way government is doing business today. It is time to tell politicians to follow a different beat of the drum as it is time to address those things that have been set aside because of political distractions by those elected to public service and not following their oath of office.

Every state will have to address their own priorities in the manner they believe them to be appropriate. For Arizona people, they need to begin a grassroots effort to address education and mental health laws that are being stalled out due to political forces opposing change and following the whims of their lobbyist or corporate sponsors rather than the will of the people.

Governor Janice Brewer and the legislature need to take the lead. She needs to make sure that her state of the state address fulfills her goals as many were good and sound government ideas as well as proposals. We need to encourage legislative reforms in gun control, mental health reforms and education for our kids. Although I discourage too much regulation and keep government small, there is a dire need to address these issues promptly and effectively. To do nothing is just not acceptable any longer.

State leaders should take the lead and address health costs and the coverage as well as premiums that have impacted the middle class with higher medical premiums and less take-home wages in their paychecks starting this year.

The governor should insist on job creation bills to improve our economy as we reduce the funding for prisons and their tremendous growth over the past five years. She should know that her priorities with prisons has drastically reduced funding for schools and to remain on that course would be harmful and dangerous for Arizona as well as her and those that follow such an agenda.

I hope our state leaders avoid political suicide in 2013 as they take this opportunity to redefine Arizona priorities and agree to re-allocate funding and take a new approach towards the manner guns are sold at gun shows and valid background checks are conducted to avoid them falling into the hands of criminals and not law-abiding citizens that are responsible gun owners and citizens in this state.

January 20, 2013