Alphecca: A Rant On Gun Control...

January 03, 2005

A Rant On Gun Control...

Maintain control...must maintain control...serenity now...

Folks, I'm going to try to not launch into a curse-filled rant but it seems hopeless. And this isn't even a story about something here in America. Well, not at first...

One of the more positive stories recently -- here in the US -- is that many states that once allowed local cops to make the decision as to whether to issue a gun permit or license to an individual now have "shall issue" laws. That is, if the person passes the background check (and any course requirements if they exist) must be given a license to buy and own a firearm. (Or carry in some localities.)

In the bad old days, a police chief or sheriff could deny you that permit if he didn't like you, or you were black or gay or whatever, you campaigned for his opponent, etc. In other states you had to provide a "reason" why you needed a license. And "personal defense" was not an accepted reason. It also didn't matter that you might just WANT one to practice your Second Amendment right. Sadly, this is still the case in some backward (meaning liberal) states.

But this post is about the recent situation in the country of South Africa. Last August, a new law took effect requiring that gun license applicants show sufficient "need". And apparently, the piece-of-shit cops in that country don't think that anyone, even those living in high-crime areas, have a need. From the New York Times:

GEORGE, South Africa - Rossouw Botha, beefy and billiard-ball bald, leafed through his list of customers at Redneck Tactical Supplies, dismay in his eyes, contempt in his voice, even though he was mostly repeating two words, over and over.

"Turned down," he spat out, and leafed another page or two. "Turned down." Four more pages, and once again, "Turned down."

Many of Mr. Botha's clients have been turned down. The rest are waiting to be approved, but many of them could be turned down, too. South Africa has a new gun-ownership law, and since it took effect last summer, Redneck Tactical Supplies, one of two firearms shops in this rather proper white-picket-fence type of beach town, has applied to the government for ownership certificates for about 250 prospective buyers.

"So far, we have yet to receive one certificate," Mr. Botha said.

The new gun law has weapons dealers and users upset. Firearms sales, once 15,000 a month, have fallen to near zero, because of the law's imposing regulatory hurdles and the glacial government bureaucracy that oversees them.

"Not a single license has been issued for a firearm that the association is aware of," said Andrew Soutar, the chairman of the South African Arms and Ammunition Dealers Association.

"Dealers who were selling 400 firearms a month have now dropped to 2 or 3," he said. "A lot of people see it as nothing more than a deliberate disarmament process, and at great expense to the nation."

On the other hand, advocates of gun control are delighted. "Obviously, we're making an impact," said Judy Bassingthwaite, the national director of the leading lobby for curbs on gun ownership, Gun Free South Africa. "That's very good news."

I make it a point not to wish bad things on people so I won't wish that Bassingthwaite is raped, tortured, and then murdered because she didn't have the means to protect herself. I don't wish that. Really! Yet those are the horrors she is inviting on the average citizen in order to further her agenda. A piece of garbage-crap like her should spend a little less time drinking cocktails with her fucking liberal elite friends and more time with the average citizen bunkered-down in their home worrying that some fucking mutant is going to murder their family.

Here are the requirements of the new law:

The law, approved in 2000 but taking effect only last year, limits most citizens to one weapon for self-defense and a maximum of four others for other uses, like hunting or skeet shooting.

But getting any gun at all, critics say, is the big task. Guns are to be automatically denied to drug or alcohol abusers, spouse abusers, people inclined to violence or "deviant behavior" and anyone who has been imprisoned for violent or sex-related crimes.

The police interview three acquaintances of each applicant before deciding whether he or she is competent to own a gun. Prospective gun owners must pass a firearms course. They also must install a safe or strongbox that meets police standards for gun storage.

More important, an applicant also must prove to the police that he or she needs a gun - a requirement, called motivation, which gun advocates complain is vague and hard to satisfy.

Vague, maybe; hard, undoubtedly. In Thembalethu, a sprawling, poor black settlement on the southern coast about seven miles southeast of George, Vuyani Dingiswayo, 25, says he applied six months ago for permission to own a gun. The reason: he manages his family's tavern, a local landmark that sells a great deal of beer, and must carry thousands of dollars in receipts to a bank in George each week.

Mr. Dingiswayo said he had slept in the tavern each night to ward off burglars. After armed robbers raided a nearby business, he said, he concluded that he needed some way to protect himself in the tavern and on trips to the bank.
[...]
In October, Mr. Dingiswayo's application was rejected. "Insufficient something," he said. "They said I don't have a good reason."

Well, if you are living in terror that your business will be robbed, or you have to carry large amounts of cash to the bank, and these aren't reason enough to be granted a license, then what the fuck is?

And you know who is being hurt the most?

Mr. Soutar, of the Arms and Ammunition Dealers Association, calls that obstructionism. Mr. Botha, of Redneck Tactical Supplies, goes a step further and accuses the government of hurting the very people it liberated from apartheid in 1994.

"Ninety-nine-point-five percent of my firearms customers are black," he said. "They live in traditional areas where crime is out of control. How come we're denying them the right to protect themselves?

"I sell 200, 300 cans of pepper spray a week," he said. "In George." He added caustically, "Maybe people are scared."

The chairman of the year-old Black Gun Owners Association, Abios Khoele, contends that the law is so strict that it is having the opposite of its intended effect. "Most of the people, they've already started to buy illegal firearms," he said. "Most of them are for self-defense, because they're living in some areas where the police are unable to protect them."

The people who are being hurt the most are the ones who need that firearms permit the most. Much like here in the US where most minorities live in crime-infested slums or other minority neighborhoods in the cities dominated and ruled by fucking liberals who live in nice homes in gated areas.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that half of all murders could be prevented if the victims were bearing arms themselves. I'll further state that any cop or other official in South Africa who turns down a request for that firearm "ownership certificate" is responsible if that person is later murdered. And they should pay the ultimate price for deciding that the victim didn't have sufficient "need".

And by the way, folks, this bastard practice is still in effect in New York City. And piece-of-shits like former Mayor Giuliani and former NYC Police Commissioners Bratton and Kerik all supported that policy. Fuck all of them. There is blood on their hands.

And you know what, folks, I'm tired of trying to be diplomatic and nice and walk the fine line. I gave a lot of reasons for voting for Bush but of course the main one was that he wasn't the perpetually anti-Second Amendment Kerry. We have to start making our voices heard and voting above all else, above war, healthcare, economy, and everything else, we MUST vote Second Amendment for every candidate. All other rights exist because of and are defended by the right to bear arms.

England and Australia took away everyone's guns. Canada is trying to. South Africa is trying to. In every single case, their crime has skyrocketed. You (rare, occasional liberal reader) say it can't happen here? It happend in Washington DC and Chicago. You say that there is no "slippery slope"? Look at what the leftist shit of San Francisco is trying to do.

It CAN happen here and it IS happening here. Liberals will stand on their head defending the First Amendment (unless it's something they disagree with!) but when it comes to the Second Amendment, they want to turn all of us into victims because that's their voter base. They might downplay their anti-gun stance to try to fool us but make no mistake, the Democratic left (and some of the leftist Republicans) have the ultimate goal of disarming all of us.

You want to take my guns from me? Pry them from my cold dead hands. Those of you that are still standing.

And you know what else? I said this was a rant. I don't care if this post offends a bunch of you. And for those of you who want to de-link me like 16 other bloggers have in the past few months, well fuck you too. No fucking surrender.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at January 3, 2005 12:42 PM

Comments

Communists disarm the people to prevent the next revolution, and we all know where Nelson Mandela and his supporters political leanings lie. I'm surprised that I didn't see the phrase "It's for the children" somewhere in the article.

Posted by: Cerberus at January 3, 2005 01:31 PM

er, I think in your blind rage you missed something early in your post. "Shall Issue" has nothing to do with aquisition and ownership, but with concealed carry. Most states have no registration or licensing requirements for simply purchasing and owning non-class_III firearms.

Posted by: ben at January 3, 2005 02:01 PM

oh yeah, and otherwise, excellent rant!

Posted by: ben at January 3, 2005 02:04 PM

Presently, in NYC, and it was the case in NJ, you had to have a "need" and show cause why you wanted to own a handgun, even just for in your home. It is true that "shall issue" was mostly for carry purposes so I've added a parenthetical remark to that effect.

Posted by: Jeff Soyer at January 3, 2005 02:58 PM

Go over to Kim DuToit and look at the old Smith and Wesson ad's from the 1920's. They really make you realize how much we have lost since that time. The United States really is the last bastion of gun rights in the world. As far as I'm concerned it is more than past time to dig our heels in and start pushing back.

Posted by: Yosemite Sam at January 3, 2005 03:39 PM

De-linked YOU?!?!?!?!

Hell, Jeff, I've lobbied for you to be added to the blogroll over at NGD!

Posted by: Jay G at January 3, 2005 03:43 PM

No delinking here! You're completely right, after all, and like many of us, at your best when particularly vehement.

Posted by: Jay at January 3, 2005 06:17 PM

I have to take exception with you on one minor point. You sort of made up for it with your following sentence, but being the nitpicky anal engineer/scientist that I am I going to 'ding' you for it. The phrase "Pry them from my cold dead hands" causes people to just roll their eyes and think, "So what? No big loss." I much prefer the phrase, "You can have them when you reanimate your cold dead fingers." Or ask 'them' if they are willing to die for their beliefs. If they say no then tell them they don't have the strength of convection to accomplish the task because our side is willing to pay that price. If they say yes, then tell them there is a certain amount of symmetry in the situation then--we are willing to kill for our beliefs.

Molon Labe

Posted by: Joe Huffman at January 3, 2005 07:17 PM

Jeff, not only shall I *not* de-link you, I'll work on thinking of some way to mega-link you, sir!

You've spoken my heart with that rant, and all I can say is Amen and Amen.

And Yosemite Sam has it right. It IS time to start pushing back.

Ten-ring post, Jeff. Keep up the great work.

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at January 4, 2005 12:24 AM

Rock on, bro.

Posted by: billy-jay at January 4, 2005 07:32 AM

I could have sworn I was just reading an article about Massachusetts' "common sense" gun control laws.

Posted by: Bruce at January 4, 2005 09:38 AM

Mega-link? I did it. Sort of.

Posted by: Ken Summers at January 4, 2005 11:07 AM

Go, Jeff. You GO! Awesome post.

Posted by: Emily at January 4, 2005 11:07 AM

ben, i think you're mistaken on the 'shall issue', er... issue. in nj, where i just recently got a rifle/shotgun permit, 'shall issue' is exactly as jeff states it; one needs to show a reason for a handgun purchase, but not a shotgun/rifle.

as an aside, iirc south africa already has one of the highest rape rates in the world; i pity those people now even more.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at January 4, 2005 11:17 AM

If I can figure out how to do a blogroll, you're on it, my man. Your commentary was spot-on.

Kyle
cerebralmisfire.blogspot.com

Posted by: Kyle at January 4, 2005 12:41 PM

Spoken as a true patriot.

Posted by: Robert at January 4, 2005 07:18 PM

What Jim said. And I think I might be feeding Ken's 'sort of metalink' with our three readers.

Posted by: Kathy K at January 4, 2005 07:22 PM

I'll link in! Came over here from On the Third Hand to see what the fuss was, and now I've got *another* Second Amendment blog to read! Woohoo!

Excellent rant! And no, we have to be many many many years away from this idiocy in the US - because I need time to build up my "stash."

(Let me see, 5 pistols, mini shot gun, rifle, 2 .22 rifles.....)

;-)

Posted by: Romeocat at January 4, 2005 09:04 PM

I was going to rant about this, but there's no point, anymore.

You should lose your temper more often.

Posted by: Kim du Toit at January 4, 2005 09:13 PM

Heh. What Kim said.

Posted by: Ken Summers at January 4, 2005 10:43 PM

hey, post something original, summers!

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at January 4, 2005 10:55 PM

just to clarify: in MOST states, "shall issue" refers to CCW permits. MOST states require no permit of any kind to purchase or posess a handgun. I know in the shitholes of NJ and MA (NY?) you need a permit even to purchase, but that sucks so badly that I can barely even think of it.

That's all.

Posted by: ben at January 4, 2005 11:51 PM

People have been delinking you? (oO) For what? Using the "G-word"? ;]

The rant's pretty spot on, I'd say. And like Kim, I think you should lose your temper more often.

Posted by: Ironbear at January 5, 2005 05:08 AM

See, where you slip up is in assuming that where the Second Amendment says "the people" it means the people. Full stop. I bet if you had the magic spectacles Nicolas Cage used in National Treasure and looked at the original, you'd see the entire phrase, i.e., "the people whom Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer deem appropriate, which is none of you peons anyway, so fuck off."

I mean, criminy (excuse my French), it says "the people" and you automatically think they're writing about you personally. Who died and made you Pope, man?

Posted by: Steve Skubinna at January 5, 2005 06:35 AM

Very well said! The effect of outlawing the ownership of handguns in the UK has been to quadruple the criminal ownership of handguns and the crimes associated with them. In UK law we no longer have the right of self-defence, Mrs Blair and her coterie of friends have made very sure of that - it might hurt some of Tone's electorate to get them shot for attacking some middle-aged, middle-class tax-paying law-abiding citizen.

Posted by: The Gray Monk at January 5, 2005 08:38 AM

Jeff I hope your links increase. It's unfortunate that this message isn't being beat into the heads of all of the GFW lefties, and restated to those of the conservative persuasion who might have forgotten.

Posted by: Len - KC at January 5, 2005 09:40 AM

Right on!

Posted by: Grey Eagle at January 5, 2005 10:54 AM

Right on!

Posted by: Grey Eagle at January 5, 2005 10:55 AM

Jeff-great rant, and I'll plagerize Kim and ask you to lose your temper more often.

As to NJ, you DO need a permit (signed by your local nanny, uh, err, police chief, to buy a handgun. One permit (and fee) per. You can state any reason, such as target shooting, and most places will approve it - but that begs the point, which is that NO ONE should have to pay for permission to defend their own life (and face the possibility that despite the payment, you may be declined). Oh, and if you're a minority, or anyone in an inner city, you've got better than a 90% chance of being turned down. Even if approved - anywhere in the state - if you're waiting for the state criminal background check to go through then you should have patience: the state regularly violates it own law be exceeding the statutory time period for approval. Of course I should know better - laws are only written for us fucking peons, not the high and mightly enlightened crowd (hawk, spit) that wants to rule us.

As to long guns, in NJ you need a Firearms Owner ID card which (again for a fee), permits you to buy any number of (the permitted) rifles and shotguns that you want, together with ammo of any (permitted) type.

Regarding carry in NJ - basically, fugeddaboudit!! My dad was a relatively new doctor in the late 1960's, and he regularly dispensed narcotics as part of his practice. At that time there was a huge increase in people requesting these drugs, and many calls late at night by people in "severe pain" for which they wanted a prescription (and they could even tell you the color(s) and shape of the pills they wanted. He never just called in prescriptions unless he knew and trusted the patient, so he insisted on seeing people. Well, with all of the racial tensions and increasing drug violence, he and Mom became rather concerned that he might not come back from a late night office visit - so he went to the local cops and asked what it would take to get a carry license. The guy was nice, so he didn't laugh in my father's face, but he explained that the "need" provision in the law basically meant that unless he carried huge sums of cash regularly as part of his business, he could forget about it. He was invited to call the cops to come to the office with him on these calls, but that's it. Dad decided to eliminate the late night office visits, instead directing people to either meet him at the hospital ER right away, or see him in the morning. Bottom line - this cost everyone money in increased health care costs, and reduced the overall level of health care in our town for legitimate people.

NJ sucks. I'm glad I'm out of there (4 years and counting in the great state of Texas, Free America), and I won't go back.

Oh, and Jeff, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments regarding anyone taking my guns from me. Those left alive will have to be careful not to slip on the piles of brass surrounding me, and they'll have to pry a weapon that is considerably hotter than me from my dead and cooling hands. I say this as a Jew, as an American and as a human being.

Posted by: Paul W at January 5, 2005 03:48 PM

Author should copy/paste this whole thing into www.DemocraticUnderground.com so we can watch their poor heads explode..

Posted by: Mark Cartwright at January 5, 2005 04:34 PM

My favorite part:

Almost every application for a license to buy a gun under the new law has been denied for "insufficient reason" to own a gun.

When asked what constitutes sufficient reason to own a gun, the authorities won't say -- because if people knew what constitutes sufficient reason to own a gun, people would actually claim that reason.

Life imitates art -- and isn't it Kafka here?

Posted by: Jay F at January 6, 2005 08:31 AM

How much you wanna bet that Judy Brassingthwaite could apply and be found to have "sufficent reason"? Remember the lesson of Feinstein and O'Donnell: Gun control is only for the proles, not the elite; the "right people" may have access to firearms or armed guards at will.

Posted by: DaveP. at January 8, 2005 02:13 AM

Note: Comments close down on posts after seven days and then
the comment input form disappears.

Your comments are welcome. You don't need to enter a URL and you don't need a "valid" email address, either. Note though that MT Blacklist is installed to flag suspiciously spam-like strings. Unfortunately, because of the bastard spammers, the strings "google.com" and "yahoo.com" (even in your email address) are currently banned as well. So are strings such as "cialis" (a common spam) which rules out words such as "socialism". Try putting a hyphan in a word like that.

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Into science fiction? Check out my group blog novel, Colony: Alchibah.
See the reader's guide there for first-timer tips.

Alphecca

Check it out: My group sci-fi blog novel: Colony: Alchibah

January 03, 2005

A Rant On Gun Control...

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah