Law School Conservative

Fresh from defeat at the hands of Congress, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now grasping for straws.  While his new publicity stunt is being praised by the anti-gun media, they aren't telling you that Bloomberg's campaign ignores existing tough federal laws against criminals with illegal guns.  And unless you're famous or rich ... you're on Bloomberg's target list.

First, Bloomberg tried to get his hands on law enforcement records of firearm transactions.  If he'd been successful, no gun dealer in America would've been safe from harassing lawsuits aimed at driving firearm dealers out of business. 

Congress saw through this Bloomberg sham and reaffirmed legislation that keeps those records where they belong-in the hands of law enforcement officials.

Now, Bloomberg has launched a publicity campaign that rips off and weakens NRA crime-fighting policy more than a decade old.  NRA members know it as Project Exile. 

Project Exile began in Richmond, Virginia, a decade ago, when a tough federal prosecutor did what every prosecutor should do: He fully enforced existing laws that mandated a five-year prison sentence for every criminal caught in possession of a firearm. 

Project Exile cut the murder rate in Richmond by more than 60 percent in just one year-by targeting violent criminals directly.

NRA supported that effort, while the anti-gun lobby mocked it.  I personally stood with Richmond law enforcement, and NRA then worked with Congress to get that program implemented nationally. 

Where was Michael Bloomberg then?  Nowhere to be found.

But now New York City residents will soon see advertising posters telling them that an illegal gun could get them three years in jail, not five.  All thanks to Bloomberg.

Not only is Bloomberg grandstanding like this existing federal program is his bright new idea, he's advertising a reduction in prison time for violent criminals with guns!

And unless you're famous or rich, Bloomberg's ad campaign says you should go to jail.  Because in New York City, you can't own or possess a firearm without a permit.  That requires a $170 non-refundable application fee, plus another $99 fee to be fingerprinted.  And even if you can afford it, most average law-abiding citizens are flatly denied, and those fees are stashed in the city coffers.

But the media won't report that fact, because they're in love with their anti-gun crusader.

You've heard the saying, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." Well, one Texas politician seems to think freedom is okay for him ... but not for you and me.

Earlier this year, Borris Miles was one of just a few Texas state representatives who voted against the Castle Doctrine. This new law, which takes effect in September, strengthens your right to meet force with force to protect yourself ... in your home, on the street, or anywhere else you're allowed to be.

Just last week, that same Texas lawmaker just might have saved his own life through the Right to Carry and the right to meet force with force.

Miles was at his new Houston home, which is still under construction, when he saw some thieves stealing copper from one of the neighboring houses.

He yelled at the thieves, and when one of them threw a pocketknife at him, Miles drew his pistol and shot the thief in the leg.

Now, you might think this was a wake-up call for the politician, and that he might call a press conference to reverse his position. But don't hold your breath.

Because Borris Miles already had a permit to carry. And he was more than willing to use it. So as far as he's concerned, it's "Don't do what I do- do what I say."

How's that for hypocrisy?

It's too bad that Miles doesn't take a lesson from Ohio State Representative Michael DeBose.

DeBose originally voted against the Right to Carry in Ohio. But after some armed thugs tried to attack him in Cleveland one night, DeBose changed his tune.

"I've changed my mind," DeBose said. "I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one."

Now the ordained Baptist minister is somewhat of an evangelist for the Right to Carry.

Just last month, he, his wife, and 10 of his neighbors and parishioners went out and attended a firearms training course.

"There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited," DeBose said. "They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent."

I'll say. And if more politicians were willing to admit their mistakes-like him-we all might be a lot safer.

Michael Cook of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was honored by the Tulsa Police earlier this week for being a good guy with a gun. 

Cook defended his neighbor's life when the neighbor was attacked by a vicious dog.  Marvin Battle was walking his two pets when a pit bull attacked, killing Marvin's Pomeranian, injuring his Chow, and then turning his attention to Marvin. 

Michael Cook heard Battle's cries for help and ran outside.  Though he'd never shot at anything other than a target, he knew he had to help.  When the attacking pit bull raised its head for a moment, Michael shot and killed the dog.

Marvin Battle is walking with a cane these days as a result of the injuries he suffered in the dog attack.  But he's alive, and he says it's all because of his neighbor. 

This week the Tulsa Police Department gave Michael Cook its Citizen Appreciation Award, but that's just icing on the cake.  Armed citizens don't act because they want awards; they act because someone's in danger.  Michael Cook is living proof of that ... and so is Marvin Battle.

I told you about the Christian Science Monitor recently publishing an editorial that blamed Mexico's drug wars on American gun owners. 

They wrote, "Lax gun laws and lax enforcement in the United States have made it easy for Mexican gunrunners to buy and transport everything from AK-47s to Stinger anti-aircraft missiles." 

Well, I've got news for the Christian Science Monitor.  If Mexican drug gangs are getting anti-aircraft missiles and fully automatic firearms, they're not getting them from federally licensed firearms dealers or at southern California gun shows. 

The paper goes on to say that if we expect Mexico to help curb illegal immigration, then we must do our part to make sure guns don't get to Mexico.  From where I sit, it seems to me that means beefing up our own border security, not enacting more gun-control laws. 

After all, it looks like Mexico's gun laws aren't doing a darn thing to stop crime.  As of 2002, Mexico's murder rate was nearly three times that of the United States.  That tells me we're looking at a Mexican crime problem, not an American gun law problem.

Let me say up front:  I am not making this up.

There's a Boy Scout camp in Colorado where they've taught gun safety and target shooting for years.  Well, when some newcomer neighbors complained about it, the county sheriff there likened the place to a "Hamas training camp."

Elbert County Sheriff William Frangis, who's testified in favor of gun bans in Denver on multiple occasions, now has the Boy Scouts in his sights.

So, what were the Scouts doing that caused all the commotion?

Shooting sporting clays during a two-day fundraiser.

Yeah, I know: So what?

The Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch has had a shooting range for rifles and pistols for years. No one ever complained about it before.

But as the anti-gun granola crowd has moved out of the cities to find trees to hug and people to boss around, the Boy Scouts of Peaceful Valley have found themselves under attack.

Instead of doing the neighborly thing and going directly to the Scouts with their complaint, these new busybody neighbors complained to the cops. And, being that Sheriff Frangis seems to hate the Second Amendment, he was only too happy to help.

So when the Scout camp tried to get a permit from the county commissioners to continue shooting on the range, Sheriff Frangis-and those nay-saying neighbors-were there to shut them down.

Frangis warned of lead shot. He spoke ominously of seeing people smoking cigarettes near so-called "stockpiles of ammunition."

One activist said, "It was like World War III had started."

Who are these people?

A county sheriff ought to know that, as far as environmental hazards go, the lead on a shooting range isn't much of a threat.

A county sheriff ought to know that shotgun shells won't suddenly explode in a fireball just because somebody is smoking a cigarette nearby.

A county sheriff ought to know that the Boy Scouts are an important organization that does a lot of good for our country and our kids.

And he shouldn't liken them to terrorists just to grab headlines for his own anti-gun agenda.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the reason Mexico is so corrupt, violent and vicious is because of "weak gun laws in the U.S."

I kid you not.

In a recent editorial, the Monitor said, "Lax gun laws and lax enforcement in the United States have made it easy for Mexican gunrunners to buy and transport everything from AK-47s to Stinger anti-aircraft missiles ..."

Wait a minute!

If the Christian Science Monitor had done even the most rudimentary research, they'd know that Stinger anti-aircraft missiles have nothing to do with anti-gun laws in the U.S., that they're tightly controlled by the federal government, and that they're completely illegal for civilians to own.

But the truth doesn't matter to the Monitor.

They want you to think that Mexican narco-terrorists sneak across the border, come into the United States, buy trainloads of weapons and military material, and spirit it back to Mexico on the backs of smuggler "mules."

It's as silly and absurd as the idea of Al Qaeda terrorists arming themselves at U.S. gun shows- another phony fable they tried to foist on a fearful public.

So let's set the record straight. There are people who buy guns, rockets, high explosives and military equipment on the international black market by the boatload.

There are people who produce narcotics, commission private armies, deal with global criminal organizations, and import drugs to the U.S. by the metric ton.

They don't line up to fill out forms and submit to background checks at American gun shows or sporting goods stores.

By blaming American gun laws, the Christian Science Monitor simply draws attention away from the real problem- corruption, illegal criminal activity, and it's vicious criminal underworld.

The city of San Francisco's trying to pull a fast one on its residents, telling them that more gun control is needed because of an increase in accidental shootings.  The truth is, there's been no rise in accidents involving firearms.  It's just the same old story—gang violence that the city politicians don't have the guts to deal with.

At a recent hearing in San Francisco, SFPD Sgt. Mikail Ali told supervisors, "Across the nation, children get access to firearms and inadvertently injure or kill another child, or themselves ... Even in our own community, children simply having access to those firearms leads to violence and death."

Is it just a coincidence that city leaders are pushing for more gun-control laws, including storage laws for handguns that would make it virtually impossible for them to be used for self-defense in your home?  I don't think so.

After a city supervisor questioned Sgt. Ali's statement, he reversed course and told city leaders that they're seeing violent acts committed by people who are getting younger and younger.  That's not the fault of legal gun owners.  That's a failure by the city to get tough on crime.  We need to look at increasing sentencing for violent criminals, and we need to get anti-gang programs in our schools at an early age.  What we don't need are more meaningless laws that target the law-abiding.

America has no shortage of hideously bad judges — you know, the kinds that slap child molesters gently on the wrist while throwing pro-life grandmothers in prison, that replace the plain words of the Constitution with their own political agendas, and that self-evidently lack the character or the temperament to be judges in the first place.

Why don’t conservatives form an organization to monitor them?

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