When Both Men Are Armed, Persuasion Is the Only Way to Changes Men's Minds

 Allen J. Feifer reminds us that Whether in Iran, Minneapolis, or NYC, collectivists like gun-free zones at the American Thinker today. The Second Amendment to our Constitution is unique among the world's governments. But that is because of the unique circumstances of our founding. Having just fought a war for independence from what at the time was the finest army in the world, we determined to remain free and independent. The only way to do that was if everyone was armed and trained.

Just as people who want power manage to convince a subset of our people that socialism and communism isn't really so bad, so they constantly work to convince us to disarm ourselves. So far, it hasn't worked. There are too many reminders of things like the protests in Iran, or the massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia to remind us that perhaps we need more guns, more ammunition...just in case.

Have you been watching TV lately? If you have, you’ve seen an ever-spiraling series of events that threaten to overwhelm the most steadfast among us. You hear it everywhere: domestic and foreign events are as kinetic and dynamic as they’ve been since the end of WWII. From internal unrest to war in Europe and one of America’s major adversaries in open revolt against the Mullahs, what should we take away?

It turns out events in NYC, Minneapolis, and Iran have something in common—gun control:

Iran: Contrary to what many thought, the government still has cards to play. Its strength is that, while Iranians can own guns, they can do so only under very strict, state-controlled conditions, leading to few people actually owning a firearm and virtually no ordinary citizens.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who touts “the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” opposes the Second Amendment, as do those in his government. They have warned that they have designs on citizens’ private property and wealth, and citizens have no Second Amendment bulwark against this.

In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, showing incredible chutzpah, are simultaneously (allegedly) responsible for one of the largest frauds in American history, even as they scream loudly how caring they are for their “Neighbors,” which is code for illegal aliens whom Walz and Frey consider above the law. It’s not a coincidence that Minneapolis is an anti-gun city and Walz dreams of an anti-gun state.

Of course, there are other places like New York and Minneapolis right here in the United States. Virginia just elected a hard left governor, Abagail Spanberger, who took the oath of office on a Quran. Now, I know she is not a Muslim, and I suspect she is not a Christian either, but swearing on a Quran is making Lucifer the guarantor of your oath. What could go wrong?  But it is appropriate because the Democrat Commonwealth's General Assembly has sworn to bring gun-grabbing back to Virginia.

Which brings me to this point: that Virginia was a freedom loving state, and most of it still is. There are lots of guns in Virginia. One of the things one learns living in Virginia is that when both people are armed, the only way to change someone's mind is through persuasion. But collectivism depends on force.

Collectivist projects are always coercive because large-scale redistribution and centralized coordination conflict with private interests and individual autonomy. Sooner or later, the government must use force to implement and sustain collectivist policies.

While Tehran’s force is religious and military, New York City and Minneapolis use regulations, law enforcement, and judicial enforcement to exercise control over people. Most importantly, people’s ability to fight the government is limited by the government’s near monopoly on firearms ownership, which effectively empowers it and ultimately encourages it to violate our God-given and constitutional rights.

As long as we have the Second Amendment, and it is viewed as a first-class right, the same as the right our First Amendment rights, we are citizens. One we lose it, we become like serfs or slaves, mere subjects.

When the day comes that Americans can no longer resist their government and self-styled demi-gods like Mamdani, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and yes, people like Jacob Frey and Tim Walz, we will have lost our ability to protect ourselves. We will no longer be free men, but serfs in service to the collective.

What’s happening on Iran’s streets is a cautionary tale about tyrants disarming their people. Firearms ownership has long been understood as more than a matter of personal defense. It serves as a structural check on how far a government can intrude into its citizens' private lives.

Foreign Actors Finding Out

 J.R. Dunn claims in a post at the American Thinker that the Delta Force that arrested Maduro used a "sonic weapon". You can find Dunn's piece here.

Here’s a wild one: rumors asserting that Delta Force troops used a “sonic weapon” against Maduro’s bodyguard troops while picking him up last week have been confirmed by Karoline Leavitt.

While sonic weapons such as the LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) and sound cannons have been used for years against targets such as Somalian pirates (what a pleasure it is to write that) and rioters, this weapon appears to operate on an entirely new level of effectiveness. Eyewitness reports of the raid on Caracas describe troops falling to their knees with their noses and mouths spurting blood, a level of impact unheard of in previous such weapons. While the LRAD and sound cannons can cause disorientation and moderately severe pain, physical effects of this sort are new in this kind of weapon.

Early on, some wit coined the term FAFO. It describes a situation where someone who insists on doing bad things finds out what the word "consequences" means. Right now, some foreign actors are discovering the meaning of FAFO. Just as clearly, the Trump Doctrine is coming into focus, with a renewed emphasis on the Monroe Doctrine and an emphasis on American greatness.

Be Wise and Prudent

 Today, I want to highlight a piece from Ammoland by John Farnum entitled Gun Confiscation Promises, Criminal Release Policies, and the Myth of 'Random' Violence. Farnum makes the point that most violence isn't random at all in the strictest sense of the word. Violence happens because of things like gun restrictions and the so-called 'compassionate' release of violent criminals on our nations streets to commit more violence.

Violent, mentally-ill, drug-addicted vagrants (including many illegal immigrants), have been, by these same Democrats, dubiously re-christened “The Homeless,” and subsequently released (and perpetually re-released, despite multiple felony arrests) to ‘colonize’ our formerly beautiful public places, which used to be enjoyed by the rest of us, but are now filthy, crime-invested, disease-ridden open-sewers.

“Homeless” is a dishonest title, deliberately designed to make these dangerous outlaws appear “benign.”

...snip...

Like wolves that casually enter fenced-in pastures to kill sheep, VCAs and EDPs go into “nice areas” and murder citizens. Apex predators (human and animal) have scant regard for fences, nor for arbitrary political boundaries, nor for property lines, nor for other symbolic barriers.

In December of last year, a “transient man” entered a tanning salon in Loveland, CO, and precipitously attacked several people there with a claw hammer. Two of his victims were very seriously injured.

This “homeless man” was well-known to local police and had been arrested previously, multiple times. Local police and the media then assured us that this vicious attack was “random.”

“Random” is another less-than-honest term, frequently used by less-than-honest politicians, to convince the rest of us that we have nothing to worry about!

It is sad, but true, that ruthless, power-hungry people will alsways try to deny us our God given right to defend ourselves. We must be ever vigilant. Of course, your first line of defense is situational awareness, avoiding placing yourself in dangerous places if you can help it. But you should always be prepared to defend your life and lives of those around you. That is just the world we live in.

Be advised, the wise and prudent are never loved by the shallow, ignorant, and stupid.

“The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise, they will win and decent people will loose” ~ James Earl Jones.

The Term Marxist Billionaire an Oxymoron?

 What is it with these Marxist billionaires? Isn't that an oxymoron?  How does someone who actually believes the garbage Marx spewed accumulate $1,000,000,000? Shouldn't he have distributed it to the poor and the needy? Or given it to the government to distribute as it saw fit?

Now, except for Soros, I am not accusing any of them of gaining wealth by shady or illegal means. But if they came by it through capitalist means, why then use it destroy capitalism and the republic? Perhaps hoping to be eaten last? If so, a reading of history doesn't show that to be the case. In any event, I hope Rep. Luna grills him good, and the DOJ prosecutes him to the full extent of the law and makes an example of him. He is just as guilty as the protesters and leftist activists he funds.

Why We Have the Second Amendment

 Monica Showalter, at the American Thinker today points out that Venezuela's top thug unwittingly writes an NRA ad for the Second Amendment. I had not seen this, but it is both incredibly sad, and hilarious at the same time. I alternate between laughing to myself, and feeling deeply sorry for Venezuelans, who at one time had access to guns, though no Second Amendment. After a long campaign by the government, similar to the one waged by gun-grabbers here I might add, the government enacted gun control in 2012.

We will never know if Venezuela's citizens might have prevented a Communist take over or not, but we do know that the Communist dictators maintained power because they have a monopoly of force, as Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello points out:

BREAKING NEWS | Diosdado Cabello: "The country is calm because the monopoly on arms in Venezuela is held by the State". "Holding the position of arms has allowed us the control so that no group or anyone can claim acts of violence"

A monopoly of violence was NOT what the Founders wanted. They had just fought a war for independence from a tyranny that attempted a monopoly of violence.  Being Christian, they also knew that man is a fallen creature and inevitably can be tempted to tyranny. So, to avoid tyranny, and to avoid having a large professional army (which they couldn't afford in any case) they came up with the Second Amendment together with the militia. It is probably why our republic has lasted as long as it has.

The Devil's Music

 It seems music is in the news lately.  While the world at large is concentrated on the recent death of a woman during a confrontation in which any rational person would calculate that taking stupid risks means possible injury or death, let us ponder the effects of bad "music."  I put "music" here in scare quotes because rap and hip hop is not technically music.  Oh, it has elements of music, and elements of poetry, but it is neither music nor poetry.  What it is rather is vulgar and not terribly literate language set to a drum beat.  It is the supposed voice of the ghetto.  And we are supposed to sympathize with this voice of the downtrodden.

But too many people like Dr. Ben Carson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Economist and philosopher Thomas Sowell and others tells me that being poor does not mark you for life like Cain.  Each of us makes choices every day that determine the course of our lives.

At the American Thinker yesterday, John Deitrick had a piece entitled Mark the Music in which he notes that we are teaching our children savagery by letting this trash come into our homes.

Recently, country music singer John Rich commented on a remark made by rap singer Sean Combs. Combs boasted, “I own your kids. I own their souls. I determine what they wear. I determine what they listen to.” Rich asked, “Is anybody going to rebut this devil and what he just said about our kids?” He answered his own question: “Nobody did. Nobody said boo about it.” Unfortunately, Rich is correct. Few recognize the damage resulting from large numbers of children being “owned” by degenerates.

One can understand the popularity of rap and hip hop by looking at it carefully. One can easily learn to produce the background beat. It doesn't require years of study and music theory. And one can learn within a few weeks to months to put together words to fit the beat- and made-up words are seemingly celebrated in this genre. So, it is not like one needs a vast vocabulary to make the lyrics rhyme. Further, the lyrics also sound cool to the young because they express rage and hint at the forbidden. So, one can see why the young might be tempted by it.

Now, I am not saying that to play and appreciate music, one must study classical piano for seven years, practice at the instrument for two or more hours a day, and attend a conservatory like Julliard. There is a time for everything, and music can fit into a balanced life. But a constant diet of rage is not healthy, and listening to it all the time promotes ill emotions.

Of course, you cannot protect your children from hearing this garbage. They will be exposed to it when out with friends, in some restaurants, in some shops. I remember my father trying to keep me from listening to the Beatles. The more he railed against them, the better I liked them. I realize now that most of the stuff I like then was utter crap. But with age has come an appreciation of classical pieces.

Probably the best thing you can do is to expose your children to good music. I recommend J.S. Bach and Mozart. Pachelbel's Canon is a approachable piece as well as Bach's Air on the G String, Beethoven's Fur Elise. Good tunes make for good music.  For older children, Handel's Messiah is wonderful. Exposing them to the richness of such music will also expose the hollowness of Rap.  In addition, they might like finding out exactly what a "canon" is.

Finally, I want to note that Rap and Hip Hop are in large part from the Devil.  Deitrich hints at it but doesn't say it.  It isn't fashionable to admit the Devil exists.  Too many believe this is true.  You can, of course, believe what you want.  I believe that Rap invites the Devil into the listener's heart just as porn and Ouija boards open a doorway for him to come in.  None of this is harmless.  Just say'n.  

Raising kids...it ain't easy.

The Mighty Organ Simulates the Voice of God

 Eric Utter at the American Thinker today has a post entitled Music, drink, dance, pork, and dogs - five outrages of Islamists. Now, I like dogs, having three of them myself. The others, except for one are things of the earth and this life. Alcohol is toxic in any amount, though small amounts may actually be good for you. Dance requires a partner. Pork is tasty, though unlike Mr. Utter, I don't think it is healthier than red meat. But, why Muslims hate pork is anybody's guess.

Music though is essential. I don't know, but from what I have read of the experiences of people who have had near death experiences, heaven has the most beautiful music ever composed playing for all eternity. And why not? Music is part of the evidence for the existence of God, and of His creation of the universe. Church services use a liturgy saturated in music and chants. The Psalms are intended to be chanted. And there is ample evidence in the Bible that Temple worship involved singers and a variety of instruments.

Certain instruments being meant for intimate settings and small gatherings are not typically used in churches. Instead, what is used is a mighty organ which can be loud but not ear-splitting, or quiet but rattles your bones. The organ simulates the voice of God.

Why would Muslims hate music? Because music fills God's heavenly kingdom, and the devil wants nothing to do with that kingdom. It is why hell is so far from God.