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Knimrod
03-07-2006, 10:19 PM
State of Emergency . . .
March 07, 2006
John Longenecker

A lot of non-gun owner households may not have noticed, but there is a lot of activity in state legislatures about barring authorities from confiscating personal weapons during an emergency.

Non-gun owner homes have the same rights as the rest of us. They also have the same problems as the rest of us. How they anticipate them is the kind of freedom we defend. People have a right not to own a weapon. They have a right to be secure in their homes. This is about just that.

When routine circumstances change – any circumstances, such as a broken tooth, a traffic accident or unemployment setbacks – you’re glad to have a plan in place. How you administer it is yours to call. Having a plan in place can be everything, and as we often say, it’s better to have a plan and never need it than to need one and not have it.

A local or statewide emergency is one such change in circumstances many Americans – too many Americans – do not have a plan for. Too many do not have enough stored food, medical supplies, including 60-days of medicine, ready tools, water and back-up plans. There is altogether too much reliance on local authorities. And it’s those authorities who urge citizens to be prepared, by the way. Visit your community’s website for details.

As I said, New Orleans is a case study, in more ways than one.

The thugs begin to come out of the woodwork for lack of opposition, namely due to an immediately overburdened law enforcement. Guns were confiscated. The NRA, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, and the Second Amendment Foundation obtained a restraining order to compel New Orleans Mayor Nagin and the Chief Of Police to stop the confiscation and to return the weapons to their rightful owners.

What’s with this taking from honest people?

At the time of this writing, a second complaint had been filed because Hizzoner failed to comply with that Order, still confiscating weapons.

Flash: it’s already illegal to take people’s weapons without cause as they have, and a state of emergency is not cause to disarm people, it’s a time to arm them, because armed police are overwhelmed.

Now they ignore a court order!

Elsewhere in Louisiana in February, 2006, a Mr. Marchiafava was arrested for open carry of his personal weapon. It’s legal to open-carry there, but he was arrested anyway. District Attorney Tony Falterman sides with Marchiafava and notifies him in writing that he won’t prosecute him. It’s a non-crime. Well done, Mr. Falterman. But the Chief Of Police Bill Landy is reported as saying, "We have a policy of arresting anyone carrying a gun without a permit. We don't care what Mr. Falterman says or does."

But arresting them on what charge? How would it stick if it's against the law to arrest someone for open-carry?

Let’s look at this from another side. Personal safety experts instruct their students to have a plan. Specifically, this means to be alert, to refuse to be a victim, and to be prepared on how to carry these out under various conditions on the understanding that help is not available. In many ways, it's a metaphor for life. Details of these are what make up the courses they teach. I think very highly of them, and I recommend them to everyone.

The individual is the asset of the community, and communities make up the nation. The sovereign individual is the authority of the country.

These mean that the person is at once the beneficiary of the nation and it’s authority in one. Officials tend to forget this, and freeze people out of their neighborhood’s disaster recovery. Confiscation of weapons in time of emergency is one such example. Illegal or not, it works against the interests of the community. It stomps on the rights of the people. It delays recovery, and for what?

When disaster strikes, so do abductions and other crimes of opportunity. The combination of shock, stress and thinned out assets boost the opportunity for scavengers, robbers, rapists and other criminals to move about unchecked.

But if that oppositional force is kept in place – don’t forget that you already have that authority – the safety of the community can be kept in place, too. That force is an armed citizenry. [It’s important to understand that the Founding Fathers did not write the first ten amendments to the Constitution for duck hunting, but for time of emergency, whether personal or community or national. The armed citizenry is equally as just as we are at the polls, in paying taxes and observing all other laws, and an armed citizenry is the first line of defense, not the last.]

One of the things you’ll need in your preparedness kit is a weapon and ammunition. Whether it’s an outdoor barbecue or a first-aid kit or a weapon; a local disaster is not the time to learn how to operate the thing. Know your equipment and practice. Get as comfortable with it as you are with your grill and tongs.

When we say you’re on your own, we mean you’re on your own, and probably for longer than you might think. Metaphor for life.

Disarming the public in time of emergency is to show precisely how profoundly officials disrespect their constituents. And how much they want to keep the crisis alive.

Understand also, that they didn’t get any guns from criminals. How do we know this? Because they didn’t go there to get them. They went to where they knew it was safe to go: the homes of honest and law-abiding who cooperate with law enforcement. They released prisoners for their safety, remember?

This is not good. In fact, it was a volatile combination, releasing violent criminals then disarming locals.

The idea of making it illegal for so-called authorities (don’t forget that we give them that authority without surrendering any of our own) is a huge step in recognizing the sovereignty of the electorate. This is terribly important to disaster recovery as much as it is for the survival of the nation.

It’s also a powerful reminder that law enforcement’s authority comes from the people. It can be limited by the people.

Urge your representatives to follow-through with such a Bill in your state because it is an integral part of your plan for disaster recovery, to re-empower the people in that recovery plan.

It’s good for your community to have citizens participating in their own disaster management.

It’s good to have a plan in a state of emergency, one that includes food, water, first-aid, people pulling together and a weapon.

It’s also very good for the people to exercise their authority.

It’s good for the country.

Link to essay (http://mensnewsdaily.com/blog/longenecker/)

glockgirl
03-09-2006, 07:45 AM
Can anyone say "They can have my gun when they pry it from my cold dead fingers?"

As a woman, this interests me even more....:crazy: :headinj: Will they take away my kitchen knives and frying pans next? Maybe clip my fingernails too?

karcent
03-09-2006, 07:55 AM
New Orleans was an interesting experiment in gun confiscation.
For all the huff and bluster of "cold dead hands" nobody put up any serious resistance.

glockgirl
03-09-2006, 08:01 PM
New Orleans was an interesting experiment in gun confiscation.
For all the huff and bluster of "cold dead hands" nobody put up any serious resistance.

You've never seen what a spoiled brat I am with my gun then....:gaga:

karcent
03-09-2006, 09:25 PM
I was not refering to you. I was refering to the good people of NO.