Concealed Carry and the Knee-Jerk Pro-Criminal Reflex

November 1, 2011 is a pretty special day here in Wisconsin.  Today is the first day that for the first time a resident of Wisconsin can apply for a concealed carry permit and upon receiving it, legally carry a weapon for self-defense.  It's pretty amazing, because up until the Republicans almost miraculously took over the Wisconsin state government in the last election, there were two states left that would never have concealed carry:  Illinois and Wisconsin.  With Wisconsin being the 49th state to return to sanity, that leaves just law-abiding Illinois citizens twisting in the leftist, defenseless breeze.  Sorry Illinoisans, if your life is threatened, you're just going to have to call 911 on your iPhone and hang tight till the police arrive.  Ask the bad guy nicely, I'm sure he'll wait.

So, awesome, now we have the right to carry in Wisconsin, we can feel much safer that finally the bad guys have to really give some thought to who or where they attack, right.  WRONG!  But wait, you say, if people are carrying concealed, how do the bad guys know who is and who isn't?  Well, it's easy.  Just walk up to any number of businesses and today you'll see signs in the windows or by the front doors saying something like:

NO Guns, Knives, or other Weapons allowed on premises

Hmm.  If I'm a bad guy, this is like Christmas early!  Wisconsin business owners you just promised the bad guy that he can enter your business relatively assured that he's the only one who is carrying (because the law-abiding among us will either not enter, or if we happen to work there and have no choice, will have to leave our gun in our car as the law instructs), and if you have anything of value, you just put a target on your business.  If I'm a crook, you know what I'm looking for?  That sign.  Because to me it says, "Welcome, come on in, do whatever you want, no one here is capable of stopping you until you're out of ammo."

I know, you're afraid of the legal ramifications of what could happen if someone did attack in your business and someone else defended.  Have you read the law?  You're protected.  You the business owner have no liability when a licensed concealed-carry weapon owner has to draw or use the gun.  It's in the bill, please read it.  Or maybe you just think guns are icky and only the police and the military should have them.  Hey, in a perfect world I'd be almost willing to go along with that.  But we left perfect in the rear-view mirror a long, long time ago.  Take away the guns of the law-abiding citizen, and only three groups have guns:  the police, the military, and criminals.  The police can't protect you, and it's foolish to think they can.  The military are busy with other things.  And the criminals, well, you know.

It's dangerously naive to think that criminals are going to abide by gun laws or restrictions.  Frankly, I've yet to have someone explain that expectation to me in a way that makes a lick of sense.  You see, we call them "criminals" because they don't abide by the law.  So what makes you think that your little sign is going to change that?

I am frankly very nervous about this whole thing.  I am going to be rather anxious about being in a place that has this kind of sign posted, much in the same way I'd be nervous about being in a neighborhood where I thought the people around me might be carrying illegally when I had no gun.  By posting these signs, you have not made us safer, you have actually potentially put us (and yourself) in more danger.  You haven't taken the time to understand concealed carry, to learn the facts and understand that it's not the gun but the person carrying it that makes it dangerous.  It's not the law-abiding concealed carry permit holder you should be worrying about.  If no life and death situation ever happens in your business, you'd never even know who we are anyway.

You can't put the genie back in the bottle; as much as you might like there to be no guns, the bad guys have them.  And if you make it so only the bad guys have them, then guess what?  They're going to be even more bold because they know they have nothing to worry about for the 20 minutes it takes the police to arrive.

I don't have a choice.  When I got to work this morning, I saw that sign.  I have to go there.  (Let me be clear:  I am extremely grateful for my job and I will comply because, like I said, I am a law-abiding citizen.)  But I will not be taking my family to any place of business that posts this kind of sign because I am not going to put them in danger just to assuage some business-owner's conscience about something where they're apparently not going to let the facts and evidence get in the way of a good opinion.

Sol Bloom on the Constitution

Q. What is meant by the term “constitution”? 
A. A constitution embodies the fundamental principles of a government. Our constitution, adopted by the sovereign power, is amendable by that power only. To the constitution all laws, executive actions, and judicial decisions must conform, as it is the creator of the powers exercised by the departments of government. 
Q. Why has our Constitution been classed as “rigid”? 
A. The term “rigid” is used in opposition to “flexible” because the provisions are in a written document which cannot be legally changed with the same ease and in the same manner as ordinary laws. The British constitution, which is unwritten, can, on the other hand be changed overnight by an act of Parliament.
Q. Where, in the Constitution, is there mention of education? 
A. There is none; education is a matter reserved for the States. ... 
Q. Does the Constitution give us our rights and liberties? 
A. No, it does not, it only guarantees them. The people had all their rights and liberties before they made the Constitution. The Constitution was formed, among other purposes, to make the people’s liberties secure -- secure not only as against foreign attack but against oppression by their own government. They set specific limits upon their national government and upon the States, and reserved to themselves all powers that they did not grant. The Ninth Amendment declares: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
-- Sol Bloom
Director General of the United States Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission
Source: The Story Of The Constitution 1787 - We The People - 1937, copyrighted to The United States Constitutional Sesquicentennial Commission, July 28, 1937, Pg. 168, 169, 177.

Herman Cain, Captain Mumblebug and the Stand-up Chameleon

Ok, now, before I start, I am well aware that by this time next month it's more than likely that things will be completely different. But for right now, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing Herman Cain take the FL CPAC straw poll and the latest Zogby poll. Mostly for no other reason that it seems to be confounding the pundits who want us to accept their choice of candidates. Well sorry, but Romney is our John Kerry; everything he's "for" now he was against when it was necessary to be so to get elected governor of Massachusetts. In case you've never been there, no governor of Massachusetts could ever truly be a conservative, so forget it. No matter what you say, or what he says, Romney is a conservative like the Dalai Lama is a break dancer.   You'll convince me Obama loves America before you convince me Romney is a conservative.  And Rick Perry, who I really wanted to like... what was THAT?!?  He has no one on his staff who thought to tell him that a GOP debate isn't something you "wing"?  For crying out loud, Merriam-Webster is thinking of putting his picture next to "Deer-In-The-Headlights" and "Oops" in their next edition. 

I love Gingrich's snappy retorts.  I think I speak for a lot of conservatives when I say it's about bloody time someone on our side sprouted a spine and started calling BS when they hear it.  The problem for Gingrich is his little eco-issue.  It troubles me that such a brilliant guy was sucked in so badly on that, and it makes me wonder where else his discernment needs a little shoring up.  If Newt Gingrich would really work hard to convince me that he's truly and fully conservative, no more Mr. Nice Guy and it's time to get down to real solutions vs. the compromises that make up every single Republican final position ever, maybe we can talk.  But this is the last chance, Newt; burn me here and I don't care if you channel Ronald Reagan and Charleton Heston at the same time, we're done.

I really wanted to like Michelle Bachmann.  But she blew it so badly with the Gardisil thing.  I technically agreed with her position, but to learn that the program was opt out and that other parts of the story were kind of squishy, well, making points only works when you get to keep the points.  Those didn't last long.  Either your message and your positions get you to the top or they don't.  Stretching the truth to nail someone, even if what they did wrong, will always backfire.  Well, at least unless you're a Democrat.  Ah, but I digress...

Gary Johnson makes me scratch my head.  For the life of me I can't figure out what he's doing there.  At least with Ron Paul you can understand that he knows he's not going to be president, but that he has a real opportunity to shape the discussion.  Unfortunately, when it comes to foreign policy, the shape he makes of the discussion is something of a pink fluffy bunny in a soundproof Lucite box ignoring everything going on around it.  But on money he's making the right noises.

Why is Herman Cain leading right now?  Because he calls it like he sees it.  When you've been where he's been and you have nothing to lose, you can talk like it, and I think people really appreciate it.  I for one would much rather have the truth even if it's a hard truth than the mosaic of lies, demagoguery and agenda that we've dealt with the past three years.  I want someone with a real plan to fix real problems even if maybe it is a little simplistic sounding than someone who beats the country into the ground jamming false solutions to secondary problems down our throats while Rome burns.  I want someone who actually cares about America more than about what he can turn it into.  And I don't think I'm alone.  Herman Cain resonates with conservatives if only because he has the nerve to look at the camera and tell you the president is lying.  It's about time. 

So you there at Fox News, quit trying to sell me Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.  Captain Mumblebug ain't doin' it for me, and neither is the standup chameleon, I mean comedian, from the second left coast.  Them buses already left the station...