Monday, August 04, 2008

A Self-Identified Man

The writer identifies himself as "a longtime constitutional militia man and Internet advocate for Second Amendment rights."

Nice way to deflect from the content of the letter, and mask your utter lack of journalistic ethics by failing to issue a retraction, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

That's what you get for traumatizing the melanin deficient, Vanderboegh. I'd accuse you of making me look bad, but when I think about all the potentials for that, all I can say is take a number.

That and good letter, Mike!

How to Lose Your Guns Without Due Process in Freeport

I promised an update to the case of Gabriel Razzano. Here’s his recounting of how he lost his guns, taken from notes of our telephone conversation on July 24. Note the events described here took place in the first part of 2007. They are still unresolved over a year later.

Mr. Razzano is a community activist and, as a member of the Minutemen, has an interest in stopping illegal immigration. As such, he works within the system, including making his views known to his congressional representative. Over the course of several years, he developed a working relationship with Carolyn McCarthy’s former Chief of Staff—to the point where this individual had even visited Razzano at his home. When he learned the chief of staff had been replaced, Razzano asked to speak with the new one, but never had his call returned.

On a subsequent trip to her office, Razzano was informed he was not one of McCarthy’s constituents due to redistricting, and his representative was Peter King. He then went to the Board of Elections and obtained a certified copy stating he was in her district.

When he went back to McCarthy’s office with his “proof of constituency,” a detective approached him, told him to leave and to stop “annoying” Rep. McCarthy because he was not a constituent. The detective escorted Razzano down the elevator—at the bottom, when the doors opened, Rep. McCarthy was there. She ignored Razanno when he tried to speak to her and the detective escorted him out the building.

The very next day, Razanno got a call from his mother who lives a few doors down—the police were at her house demanding his guns or they would arrest him. He was told there was a 911 call about him, and he needed to surrender his firearms for a 90-day “cooling off period.” In other words, they would take the guns or they would take him. It was portrayed to him by the confiscating officer as “not a big deal.”

The police took all of his legally registered guns—nine rifles and 15 handguns, and they also seized his fiancée’s handgun. This despite no statutory authority to do this-- It’s important here to note that this was not a domestic or any other kind of violence incident. Razzano didn’t even get a receipt for the seized property until a week later—after he requested one.

A little over a month after the seizures, he received notice from Chief Anthony Rocco that his pistol license had been revoked. This has been done with no adjudication under “authority” of the chief, who indicated he believed Razzano to be “obsessed with the day laborer situation” and offered his unqualified opinion that Razzano’s actions had raised “concerns” over his “suitability” to have a license.

The letter made no mention of the 911 call, and in fact, a judge had to order McCarthy’s office to identify the employee who had called 911—after McCarthy had denied any involvement.

To sum it up, for exercising his First Amendment right to petition his representative, Razzano had the cops called on him by Congressman McCarthy’s office, which denied doing so until ordered by a magistrate to produce the name of the staffer who did this. Using the call as their reason to intervene, police made a decision to “temporarily” confiscate Mr. Razzano’s firearms. They subsequently revoked his pistol license, effectively barring return of his property. They have also retained custody of his long arms, and there is no provision to return them. And at no time has Mr. Razzano been charged with any crime, nor has he been adjudicated unsuitable or examined by any professional who has rendered that determination.

Razzano has filed a lawsuit in United States District Court, Eastern District of New York to recover his property and seek compensatory damages. That’s where the case stands as of today.

I have seen other documents, including the Razzano’s complaint, his certificate of registration from the Elections Board, the license revocation letter from Chief Rocco, and other legal particulars related to the case. While I would like to post them, as I said when I first brought this story onto WarOnGuns, I don’t want to do anything that his lawyer thinks inadvisable or that will hurt Mr. Razzano’s case. If I can get an OK to do that I will—otherwise, all information will be cleared before I discuss it here. Further information will be forthcoming as they happen with those conditions in mind.

Gabriel Razzano adds:
The only point I think might be added was the week before the incident I was in her office and they told me I "was in the wrong district" and they were "going to straighten it out." I left the phone numbers I could be reached at. They never called, and one week later I went back. Just thought the fact that Mc Carthy's office knew there was an election fraud happening, yet did nothing, till they called the police, to report me, not the election fraud!
Further Reading:
Another Look at Freeport Gun Seizure
Don't Mess With the Tyrant

And to Think All We Needed Was a Billboard

GIANT posters of the jailed gang who flooded Manchester with guns have been put up in Moss Side to deter others from following in their footsteps.
Posters. Now why didn't we think of that? That ought to totally offset the "£1,500 for a gun and £7 a bullet" financial incentive created by prohibition, don't you think?

I can see how combining this effort along with an anonymous snitch program (which would never be used to eliminate the competition, would it?) and all the high quality color charts and graphs in their Policing Strategy ought to turn Gunche...uh...Manchester into a Sarah Brady Paradise in no time.

Funny How it Works Out

One man was shot and another beaten Saturday when an altercation broke out between suspected gang members on a Metro Orange Line bus, sheriffs deputies said.
It's revealing how the same socialists who want us disarmed also want us out of our cars and into public transportation...

The Power of One

The first day of Hobbema's gun amnesty ended with a single firearm being turned in to authorities.
Keep hoping for snowballs there, Cpl. Larsen. I expect that gang violence will plummet any day now...or not.

A New Type of Flower Power

Lily pollen is notoriously difficult to remove once it has stuck to a surfaces.

"It is a new type of flower power," Paul Sermon, the leader of the research, said. "The tags primarily consist of naturally occurring pollen, a substance that evolution has provided with extraordinary adhesive properties.

"Each cartridge would have between 1,000 and one million tags on it, and if you touch one you will end up with a large number of those on your hands, gloves or clothes. They are almost impossible to get off and they don't degrade over time."
Yeah, I want to gum up the works with that!

Tell you what, guys--get the military and police to use it as standard issue and then get back to me.

What a ridiculous idea, on so many levels.

A Direct Connection

The percentage of young people who use a gun to kill themselves is higher in Switzerland than any other European country, according to an international survey.

This is directly connected to liberal Swiss gun laws and the easy availability of weapons, said researchers from the European Alliance Against Depression, whose study is published in the current edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Well yeah...haven't we established that guns cause suicide...? Oh, wait...

I love the way assumptions are selectively engineered to highlight the intended outcome and omit everything else. That's not the way science works, but it is a common tactic used by scam artists. I'll be curious to see what someone like John Lott can tell us about the methodologies and conclusions. But in the mean time, the sound bite has been created to send the hysterics off and running.

Globalist headshrinkers. Is there anything they don't know?

Thumb Saver

The Device is a replacement for the GI op rod catch and it stops automatic bolt release when loading a clip. It also prevents auto clip ejection when the last round is fired.

With it installed, the Garand operates much like the M-14/M1A. When a full clip is inserted into the receiver it will latch, however you must pull and release the bolt handle to charge the top round. It will operate in the normal manner until the last round is fired and the bolt will lock open but the clip will not eject. To eject the clip you must push the eject button on the receiver...

With an empty clip latched in the receiver, single rounds can be loaded into the clip, 1 through 8. when you have as many as you wish, just pull and release and away you go.......

The rifle is not modified and can be converted back to GI by replacing the Device with the original catch.
Anybody know anything about this?

[Via Vlad S]

So The Germans Could March in the Shade*

Tonyaa-aa-aaa-aaa Wearthersebee recruits Mayors Against Guns and the Violence Policy Center to convince us we should be more like the French. Fortunately:

In any case, that night in Paris didn't turn me against those of us who cherish the right to own a gun.
Well thank goodness--with all that misinformation you regurgitated to conclude we "have to cower" because of them, I was starting to wonder.

[Via John G]

* Why did the French plant trees along the Champs-Élysées?

What is to Be Done

It's unpleasant in the extreme to face, but the pro-freedom, pro-individual, pro-principles segment of the American populace is a decided (and frankly, despised) minority.

Plans predicated on any other demographic assumption will almost certainly come to ruin.
Western Rifle Shooters Association reports on the situation.

This Day in History: August 4

WHEREAS, I have spoken injuriously of the distressed people of the Town of Boston, and disrespectfully of the measures prosecuting for the redress of American grievances: I do hereby declare that I am heartily sorry for what I have done, voluntarily renouncing my former principles, and promise, for the future, to render my conduct unexceptionably to my countrymen, by strictly adhering to the measures of the Congress.