Special Events

#10. You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.
#9. You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you're on the road.
#8. If you admire a friend's gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times.
#7. Your primary gun doesn't mind if you keep another gun for a backup.
#6. Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.
#5. A gun doesn't take up a lot of closet space.
#4. Guns function normally every day of the month.
#3. A gun doesn't ask, "Do these new grips make me look fat?"
#2. A gun doesn't mind if you go to sleep after you use it.

And the number one reason a gun is favored over a woman....

#1. You can buy a silencer for a gun.

PS: Whatever you do, don't tell my wife about this stupid joke or the 11th reason I'd prefer guns over women would be because guns don't shove themselves up your butt, women shove them up your butt.

Webmaster's Note: Because much of what liberals believe is based on feelings or emotion rather than fact or logic, often they must embellish or obfuscate the data in order to back up their arguments. Such is the case with the now discredited book "Arming America" that liberals were waving in the faces of legitimate historians, the general public and gun owners alike. What is unusual here is that he did not get away with it. If only the rest of their bologna were so carefully scrutinized, we would have a better country all around!

Historian Bellesiles Resigns
After Panel Judges His Work

From:
American Rifleman
Volume 151, No. 1
January 2003

Professor Michael Bellesiles resigned from Emory University after a committee appointed by Dean Robert Paul to investigate charges of scholarly misconduct against him released a 40-page indictment of his "thesis-driven research." The committee included Hanna H. Gray, former president of the University of Chicago; Stanley N. Katz, professor of public affairs at Princeton; and Harvard historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

Bellesiles's thesis in his now-notorious Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, was that the country was essentially a gun-free zone before 1840. Largely through examination of probate records, he claimed the notion of an early American gun culture was a myth. And if guns were not in wide use when the U.S. Constitution was drafted, the claim that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to arms was a fraud.

His efforts naturally drew immediate praise from anti-gun media and gunban lobbyists alike. "Professor Bellesiles has produced a work of unquestionable historical and societal merit, "gushed Miahael Barnes, president of the Brady gun-ban group.

But, in seeking to live up to his book jacket's puffery that he had become, "NRA's worst nightmare," Bellesiles let nothing, including the facts, get in his way. Emory's investigative committee concluded that: "The best that can be said about his work with the probate and militia records is that he is guilty of unprofessional and misleading work. Every aspect of his work in the probate records is deeply flawed." Even worse, the committee noted it found "evidence of falsification" in the vital table titled "Percentage of Probate Inventories Listing Firearms."

Bellesiles issued a seven-page response to the Emory inquiry, but this time not even the Brady bunch was buying. The gun-ban group quietly removed its earlier homage to his research from its website.

Firearms Refresher Course

a. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
b. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
c. Glock: The original point and click interface.
d. Gun control is not about guns, it's about control.
e. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
f. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
g. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
h. If you don't know your rights you don't have any.
i. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
j. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights reserved.
k. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?
l. The Second Amendment is in place in case they ignore the others.
m. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
n. Guns only have two enemies: rust and liberals.
o. Know guns, know peace and safety. No guns, no peace or safety.
p. You don't shoot to kill, you shoot to stay alive.
q. 911 - government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
r. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
s. Criminals love gun control -- it makes their jobs safer.
t. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
u. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
v. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
w. Enforce the "gun control laws" we have, don't make more.
x. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
y. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
z. "...government of the people, by the people, for the people..."

SCENE & HEARD

Bummer for Sarah Brady
It's been a great year for gun rights.

BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

Thursday, November 15, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST
Gun-control groups are now embarking on their latest offensive. Shamelessly seizing on the events of Sept. 11, the guns-kill-people crowd are demanding that a crackdown on terrorism include stricter gun laws. In support of this demand, representatives from Americans for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence cite instances in which terrorists had either possessed firearms (shocking!) or expressed a desire to obtain them. All this, they claim, pointed to the need to close (what else?) gun-show "loopholes." "This could signal a historic shift in the gun debate," said one.

If all this seems like a bit of a stretch, that's because it is. But then again, it isn't surprising. Gun-control groups wouldn't like to admit it, but things have been pretty rough going for them recently. In fact, 2001 is shaping up to be a seminal year in terms of gun rights. From federal court decisions in favor of individual ownership, to the news that Attorney General John Ashcroft plans to protect the Second Amendment, the little victories for gun-rights forces continue to pile up.

Perhaps the news with the biggest political impact is that gun manufacturers are stopping the lawsuit train in its tracks. Back in the 1990s, egged on by the Clinton administration, some 30 cities and counties set out to give gun manufacturers the old tobacco treatment. With visions of windfalls dancing in their heads, lawyers began arguing that gun companies sold unreasonably dangerous products and should be held liable for urban violence. The first of these, and one of the more egregious, was launched by Mayor Marc Morial of New Orleans. It argued that guns were "defective" because they didn't have mechanisms to prevent "unauthorized users" from firing them, and because they didn't have all sorts of gizmos to alert users there was a round in the chamber.

In reality, the suit was a thinly veiled attempt to make gun companies redesign their products in a way that would make them either unusable or too expensive to afford. Thankfully, elected officials (remembering the tobacco fallout) saw what was coming. The Louisiana Legislature became one of several dozen to pass state laws shielding manufacturers from government lawsuits. A series of nasty court battles ensued, until the Louisiana Supreme Court in April broke up Mr. Morial's party, ruling that "the lawsuit constitutes an indirect attempt to regulate the lawful design, manufacture, marketing and sale of firearms." The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear New Orleans's appeal. Meanwhile, lawsuits filed by Chicago, Miami-Dade County, Philadelphia and the state of New York were also among those unceremoniously tossed out of court. Stay tuned for more.

There are lessons here. The first is that meddlesome attorneys and courts can be kept in place. What it takes is a legislature to step up and exercise its end of the checks-and-balances system. Another lesson goes to the industry: Those gun companies that went into the battle aggressively came out victorious. One company that took the worst beating, Smith & Wesson, had tucked its tail and agreed to a government deal to redesign guns in return for protection from lawsuits. It found itself hoodwinked by its government "partners" and abandoned by its customers.

Another 2001 rainbow for the gun world is the Bush administration. Back in May, Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly signaled the Justice Department's belief that the Second Amendment protects individual gun rights (as opposed to a "collective" right) and announced that this interpretation would become official U.S. policy. That move signaled an abrupt end to what had become a deluge of knee-jerk gun-control policies from the Clinton administration. Better yet, it opened the door for gun groups to challenge many of the more restrictive laws passed in the past decade.

The best news was last month's decision in U.S. v. Emerson. The closely watched case, argued before the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals, focused on a Texas man who said federal domestic-violence statutes restricting gun ownership deprived him of his Second Amendment rights. The verdict was a doozy. Although the Fifth Circuit upheld the statute in question, it became the first federal appeals court to rule that the US Constitution guarantees individuals the right to own guns. Such a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment, bolstered in recent years by scholarly work supporting the individual-rights view, could set the stage for far more concrete legal victories for gun owners.

There's good statistical news out too. According to the National Safety Council's Injury Facts report, the number of accidental firearms fatalities fell to an all-time low in 2000. The total of 600 deaths in 2000 was 25% lower than in 1999 and a 58% lower than in 1990. (For comparison, accidental drowning deaths in 2000 were 3,900.) A lot of the credit goes to groups like the Boys Scouts, hunter-safety organizations and the National Rifle Association, which have devoted increasing amounts of time to gun-safety awareness. Numbers also continue to support the case that states with right-to carry laws tend to have less crime than states that don't. What makes all this more interesting, and relevant, is that Americans simply can't seem to buy enough guns in the wake of Sept. 11. Gun sales in many states have surged by 25% to 30%, and applications for concealed-weapons permits are pouring in. Gun dealers say that a significant number of those stepping up to the counter are women, first-time buyers and people who previously cringed at the thought of a firearm.

That's what makes the latest assault by the gun-control lobby so ridiculous. All those gun buyers have realized the obvious: Guns--or box cutters or anthrax--don't do bad things. Bad people do. Getting rid of one object they can use for violence will only send them hunting for another. Even leftist filmmaker Michael Moore seems to have figured this out. He wrote of his most recent project: "This started out as a documentary on gun violence in America, but the largest mass murder in our history was just committed--without the use of a single gun! Not a bullet fired! . . . I can't stop thinking about this. A thousand gun control laws would never have prevented this massacre. What am I doing?"He's right of course. No gun law is ever going to prevent a terrorist, or for that matter a domestic murderer, from getting a gun. The only thing such laws will ever do is take away the rights of honest citizens. Our courts and politicians are beginning to understand that.

Ms. Strassel is an assistant features editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.

In light of so many people now starting to display the American flag in their homes and businesses, I thought it would be helpful to provide some information on flag etiquette. For a nicer and more permanant presentation with lots of helpful little graphics you will want to bookmark the official government site for Flag rules and laws.

How to Display the Flag

When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right [that means the viewer's left --Webmaster], and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.
The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. By "half-staff" is meant lowering the flag to one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff. Crepe streamers may be affixed to spear heads or flagstaffs in a parade only by order of the President of the United States.
When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the right of the flag of the United States.
When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.
When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.
When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
When the flag is displayed in a manner other than by being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way, that is with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. When festoons, rosettes or drapings are desired, bunting of blue, white and red should be used, but never the flag.
That the flag, when carried in a procession with another flag, or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.
The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.
When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.

Flag Laws and Regulations

By Executive Order, the flag flies 24 hours a day at the following locations:

The Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The White House, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.
Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.
Iwo Jima Memorial to U.S. Marines, Arlington, Virginia
Battleground in Lexington, MA (site of first shots in the Revolutionary War)
Winter encampment cabins, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland (a flag flying over Fort McHenry after a battle during the War of 1812 provided the inspiration for The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, Baltimore, Maryland (site where the famed flag over Fort McHenry was sewn)
Jenny Wade House in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (Jenny Wade was the only civilian killed at the battle of Gettysburg)
U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
All custom points and points of entry into the United States

The following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America be, and it is hereby, established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations promulgated by one or more executive departments of the Government of the United States. The flag of the United States for the purpose of this chapter shall be defined according to title 4, United States Code, Chapter 1, Section 1 and Section 2 and Executive Order 10834 issued pursuant thereto.

Sec. 2.

It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on
- New Year's Day, January 1
- Inauguration Day, January 20
- Lincoln's Birthday, February 12
- Washington's Birthday, third Monday in February
- Easter Sunday (variable)
- Mother's Day, second Sunday in May
- Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May
- Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in May
- Flag Day, June 14
- Independence Day, July 4
- Labor Day, first Monday in September
- Constitution Day, September 17
- Columbus Day, second Monday in October
- Navy Day, October 27
- Veterans Day, November 11
- Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November
- Christmas Day, December 25
- and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States
- the birthdays of States (date of admission)
- and on State holidays.
The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every public institution.
The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.
The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.

Sec. 3.
That the flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.

The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff, or as provided in subsection (i).
The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy.
The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.
The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag's right.
When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.
When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.
When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.
When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.
The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be used as the covering for the statue or monument.
The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff thirty days from the death of the President or a former President; ten days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress. As used in this subsection (1) the term "half-staff" means the position of the flag when it is one half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff; (2) the term "executive or military department" means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; and (3) the term "Member of Congress" means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the union to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the east when entrances are to the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two directions, the union should be to the east.

Sec. 4.
That no disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America -- the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.
The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

Sec. 5.
During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present except those in uniform should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand over the heart. Those present in uniform should render the military salute. When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Aliens should stand at attention. The salute to the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.

Sec. 6.
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.

Sec. 7.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.

Sec. 8.
Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a proclamation.

No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof; Provided, That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.

Gary's NRA page is not affiliated with the National Rifle Association
The NRA Logo is copywrite NRA

Armed with pride.

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