It isn’t so much geographic location that keeps me from attending so much as the fact that it isn’t close enough for me to schedule and afford it. But I should stop with the excuses. Maybe if it’s still legal next time, I’ll be there.

Thanks for the links!

III

Explosive Experiments (check out the links on the left).
Long Range Precision Rifle Training.
Modern Ballistics (download and read the manual).

Fringes? People attend from as far away as northern Alaska, Florida, California, and England.

By any chance might you make the knowledge you have shared with all of those people available online, to the best of your abilities? Sharing knowledge is the one case of “spreading the wealth around” that works, after all, and it could help all of us stuck on the fringes of the country (like me) learn critically important skills.

I’d go so far as to suggest there’s money to be made in teaching the liberty-oriented the skills necessary for their self-determination.

III

Our country started with a bunch of gun-grabber (redcoats) demanding that subjects turn in their arms. You know what happened next:

We gave them our arms- ammo first.

There’s your “political activism”

I’m with Sebastian–just continue doing what I do. Providing training opportunities and teaching people how to make and use explosives.

No need to do anything illegal.

And when those activities become illegal?

No need to do anything illegal.

Yanking the FFLs is a backdoor way to total registration by the feds seizing their 4473s. What I will be urging (and doing) at that point is 4473 parties. Finding and seizing the old paperwork before the feds can get their hands on it and making bonfires of them. Many gunstores are limited on space and store their old 4473s in storage lockers or sheds on their property. Start there. I cover this in a chapter of Absolved. Can I count on you buying a copy, Sebastian? ;-)

And what, then, are you prepared to do? Will you back up or will you stand?

III

III

My good Conservative friends are thankful for President Bush keeping us safe with the Patriot Act. And now this country has given that power to President-Elect Obama. And gun owners and others interested in Liberty can be branded Terrorist and denied due process.

Valley Forge?

The appointment of Eric Holder as AG is an important clue in which way they’re going to jump. If this is a “govern-from-the-middle, bipartisan” administration they have represented themselves to be that is operating under the old verities, they will stay away from another AWB or even a “loophole” bill out of fear of a repeat of ‘94.

What they will do under this scenario is use every little rule-making deal they can to tighten the screws. Dicking with importation Form 6’s, heightened dealer harrassment, flooding gunshows with agents and attacking gunshow promoters like the Lamplugh’s back in the ’90s (they got a stomped-to-death kitten out of that one, courtesy of a female ATF agent. “Ms. Keeku, you have a call on line 3.”)

However, if they decide to go for the big enchilada, you will see a couple of things first (or perhaps simultaneously, but I rather think since the rest hinge upon it, they’ll wait until they know they’ve got it in the bag). Amnesty for illegals. With the “reuniting of loved ones” from Mexico, this will give them 60 million new American “citizens” and between 15 and 20 million new loyal voters. They won’t have to worry about losing another presidential election ever again. Another possibility, the addition of Puerto Rico and DC as “states,” adding four more Senators.

If you see this first, then the rest will follow. It means they’ve decided to seize power and hold it.

The AWB then will be a lot more invasive and you can kiss fifty cals goodbye, if you choose to obey it.

We won’t. In fact, even if they pass a bill that includes only the registration of all private sales, we will be holding no-fed gunshows with our own security and give them the choice of starting a war to enforce their diktat.

No more concessions. No more backing up.

Mike Vanderboegh
III

Upon this Nineteenth Day of April, Two-thousand and Eight Years A.D.,

We The People, Do Hereby Declare and Proclaim Ourselves;
To Be in Agreement with the Spirit, Meaning and Intent of the Constitution which Established the Republic Acknowledged as that of These United States, and In General with the Spirit, Meaning and Intent of Constitutions Having Established Our Respective States within the Union.
We the People, Do Hereby Declare and Proclaim Ourselves;
To Be Peaceful and Law-abiding American Citizens and Hold every Honest Intent to Assent, Abide and Bind Ourselves to;
All Constitutionally-Permissible, Just and Rightfully-Enacted Laws.

In Honor of and Having Respect for, Those Patriots who Responded to the Crisis which Occurred on the 19th day of April in 1775;
In Honor of and Having Respect For, Those Righteous Persons who Sacrificed All Which They Had to Cause Tyranny and Despotism to Be Abolished;
In Honor of and Having Respect for, Those who Courageously and Brilliantly Brought Forth from the Articles of Confederation a System of Government by Consent of The People;
A System which Separated the Powers Within and Limited those Powers Afforded to the New General Government;
In Honor of and Having Respect for, Those Who Sacrificed and Died, those now Passed Away, Those who Served and those Now In Service Defending Our Nation from Our Enemies

We The People, as Self-Governing, Self-Regulating and Responsible American Citizens, Do Hereby Issue to All Federal, State and Local Governments;
All Branches, Agencies, Agents, Authorities, Officials and Representatives of The People Thereof and Therein,
An Order To;
Cease and Desist from Any and All Further Attempts to Infringe Upon the GOD-Given and Common-law Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms.

As Any and All Governments within these United States Derive their Just Powers Only From The People; and
Continue to Govern Only In Accordance With the Will, By the Grace and With the Consent of The People;
We the Independent, Peaceful and Intentionally Law-Abiding American Citizens Residing as Members of the Whole Body of The People;
Do Declare and Proclaim by All which We Hold to Be Morally Right, Just and Consistent with Individual Rights Endowed Upon Each Person by Their CREATOR;
Not In Any Way Granted or Afforded by Any Lesser Authority;
In Accordance with our Moral Obligations and Duty to Ourselves, Other Citizens, State and Nation;
WE THE PEOPLE WILL NOT EVER RELINQUISH OUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.
As Testament To and In Accordance With Our Will;
We The People Do Hereby Declare and Issue This PROCLAMATION.
As It Has Been Said, So It Shall Be.

Anonymous

Some promoters don’t police displays well. In most cases, it’s people not understanding what they are seeing. They don’t know about militaria, or the people who collect it.

Let’s be honest; while the portrayal of all gun owners this way is false, the suggestion there are a large number of Nazi white-power types at many gun shows isn’t just a media creation. I think we make a mistake by being far too tolerant of stuff like that.

The struggle is for our >rights<, not for our convenience or our “hobby”.

(not picking on ya Chris, just reminding us all ;-) )

I think the election of Obama proves to anyone willing to see that we are indeed past the point of common sense.

I too fear for this country. I’m not giving up, but I’m not at all optimistic.

the other half realizes that all of my good deals come from private swap meets and the like…

I mentioned this to an lawyer interning at a Federal Prosecutor’s office and she she was almost giddy about the changes because the new law would “invalidate tons of legal precedent”. As a future Federal prosecutor she had just been given a whole bunch of new tools and she was eager to use them. I dropped the subject.

Don’t expect guns to be any different.

First they came for the machine gun owners and no one spoke up. Then the explosives owners and no one spoke up. When they came for the shotgun owners…