D.C. Court Upholds "Individual Right" in Second Amendment

In what appears to be a complete oversight in their assertion of control over us, a higher court in Washington, D.C. accidentally affirms the "individual right" to keep and bear arms. Woops! I'm sure someone will quickly fix this and reaffirm the government's right to keep us from bearing arms...

The following is from N.W. Clayton, a well-known gun rights activist, regarding the decision.

I just finished a cursory reading the text of the court's decision. Very interesting, but don't break out the champagne just yet.

Thanks to Dr. John Lott for providing the above link and for being, as far as I can tell, the first blogger to report this decision.

A more careful reading of key portions of the document leads me to believe that today's decision actually does overturn the following aspects of the Washington, D.C. gun ban:

1 - D.C.'s refusal to register handguns since 1976. The city will still be able to require that all handguns in be registered, but the D.C. Police Department must now accept new registrations.

2 - D.C.'s ban on keeping a fully-assembled firearm in one's home. They'll no longer be able to require that you keep your guns disassembled. However, D.C. will still have authority to require trigger locks on guns kept in the home.

3 - D.C.'s ban on moving a legally-possessed handgun from one room in your house to another room in your house without first getting a carry permit from the Chief of Police. D.C. will still be able to require a carry permit for carrying outside your home, however.

Other aspects of D.C.'s gun laws appear to be outside the scope of this court case, so they will still stand.

Also, contrary to what I said before, D.C. apparently has consistently been granting registration of handguns to retired policemen, even in recent years. One of the plaintiffs, Dick Heller (whom I mistakenly said was retired), is actually an active-duty D.C. cop who applied to register a handgun to keep in his home while off-
duty, and was turned down. The appeals court has ordered the lower court to grant summary judgement in favor of Heller, but not the other five plaintiffs. This is because the other plaintiffs had not actually tried to register a handgun yet, but Heller had (back in 1983). This is apparently a technical distinction, and the summary judgement should have the effect of enabling everyone in D.C. who is
legally eligible to own a handgun to register one, including the other plaintiffs.

The case has been handed back to the lower court, but with the order that the lower court grant summary judgement to Heller. In other words, there will be no trial. There will merely be the formality of the lower court granting summary judgement in favor of Heller, which should have the effect of forcing D.C. to make the three changes to its gun laws listed above.

However, the anti-gun people can (and almost certainly will) request to have the case heard by the entire D.C. Court of Appeals. Today's opinion was merely the ruling of a three-judge panel of that court. Whichever way the full appeals court decides, the loser in that decision could (and probably will) appeal it to the Supreme Court.

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Know The Truth Artwork

Here's some great artwork. Know the truth!! Well worth a look.

http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/dees1.htm

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Big Government and Facing His Enemies

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Immigration

This was sent to me via email and can be found in numerous places via a Google search. Most of you should know my stance on immigation (come one, come all, I don't give a shit). However, the CULTURAL aspects of immigration (outlined here) are a different matter...

We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans".

Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

Third, "We could make the United States a 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together."

Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common Language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic Games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. P luribus Unum" -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said,. "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia." His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America -take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ign orance is strength."

Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy are deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path especially The American Dream.

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