“Tell everyone that there is still a place in the Kingdom of Romania which has not bowed to Communism. As long as our heads are on our shoulders, this corner of the country will be free. Tell the people not to lose faith, for the day will come when the whole of Romania will be free. Pray God for it, so help us God.” --Ioan Gavrila Ogoranu, Romanian anti-communist fighter 1923-2006
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on the 2nd Amendment which reinforces every American's right to bear arms, this show is a fly on the wall at "The Shootist" gun store in Englewood, Colorado, where salesman Josh Ryan is always in full-on pitch mode -- and the steady stream of customers never stops. And for every gun sold by this expert gunslinger at this family-owned store, there's a fascinating story and a fascinating buyer to tell it to him: the new parent who wants to protect his family; the teenager who's an expert hunter; the 30-something woman who feels a little more at ease with a revolver in her purse and the avid collector who simply has a fascination with guns of all kinds. There's even a shooting range in the basement to try out the merchandise before completing the sale. The show will debut in 2009.
The First Amendment protects core political speech - and, as should be obvious, that protection extends to speech regarding the Second Amendment. This means that students at public universities and private universities that promise the right to free expression on campus must be free to engage in unfettered discussion of the merits of federal, state and local gun policy in the same way that they are free to discuss, say, agricultural subsidies, diplomatic relations with Cuba, or last night's Daily Show.
But an unfortunate consequence of the tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University is that students are increasingly facing punishment or investigation for engaging in any kind of gun-related speech. While FIRE of course understands the paramount importance of protecting students on campus, we have too often seen abuses of speech rights justified by weak allusions to these tragedies, as if advocating for or against gun rights on campus was an inherently dangerous act worthy of official reprimand. This is an absurd and untenable outcome.
FIRE has explored just how deeply regrettable this gun-speech hysteria is in previous writings. For example, Greg wrote an article for The Huffington Post entitled "What Can The Virginia Tech Tragedy Do For Me?", in which he concluded that "the simple fact is that some administrators have been using the campus shootings of the past two years as an excuse to justify cracking down on speech they don't like." Similarly, here on The Torch, Adam discussed how a recent court order in student Hayden Barnes' ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit against Valdosta State University should remind colleges that "simply invoking Virginia Tech or other incidents of severe violence on college campuses does not mean that a school can get away with declaring the most minor (or in this case nonexistent) references to violence some kind of actionable threat to campus security." Torch readers will remember that VSU cited the tragedy at Virginia Tech to justify expelling Barnes for a "threatening" collage he posted on Facebook.com.
But in light of Robert's scheduled appearance tonight on CNN, it's useful to review just how many incidents of overreaction to gun-related speech we've seen on the part of school administrators in the past several years. It's a long and shameful list:
At Central Connecticut State University, a student gave a presentation for his speech class about the safety value of concealed weapons on campus. His professor called the police, who subsequently interrogated him about where he was storing the guns that were registered under his name. This incident has already garnered national media attention—it was featured on the front page of FoxNews.com last week—and will be the focus of Robert's appearance on Lou Dobbs Tonight.
At Tarrant County College in Texas, a student chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus was prohibited from wearing empty gun holsters to protest policies that forbid concealed carry on campus. In addition, the group was only allowed to protest (still without holsters) in the school's tiny and restrictive free speech zone. An administrator said that the empty holsters were too threatening for other students to see.
At Colorado College, two male students were found responsible for sexually-related "violence" after they put up posters making fun of a feminist newsletter. Because the posters, which also parodied "guy stuff," made references to chainsaws and the range of a sniper rifle, administrators claimed that feminists on campus became afraid for their lives. The administrator who punished the students wrote, "I recognize that your intent in posting your publication was not to threaten but to parody. However, in the climate in which we find ourselves today, violence—or implied violence—of any kind cannot be tolerated on a college campus." Because of this miscarriage of justice, Colorado College is now on FIRE's Red Alert list, reserved for the worst-of-the-worst when it comes to liberty on campus.
At Lone Star College near Houston, the Young Conservatives of Texas distributed a humorous flyer listing "Top Ten Gun Safety Tips" at the school's "club rush." They were threatened with probation and derecognition, and the flyer was censored. The school's general counsel invoked the specter of the Virginia Tech shootings, suggesting that even a "mention of firearms and weapons" is inherently a "material interference" with the school's operations.
Yale attempted a similar maneuver after the Virginia Tech shootings, banning the use of any realistic-looking weapons in theatrical productions at the school. Under public pressure, Yale backed away somewhat from its original overreaction but still required audiences to be "notified in advance of the use of fake guns, swords and knives."
According to USA Today, a professor at Emmanuel College in Boston was fired "after leading a classroom discussion about the Virginia Tech shootings in which he pointed a marker at some students and said 'pow.'" According to the professor, the five-minute demonstration included a discussion of gun control, whether to respond to violence with violence, and the public's "celebration of victimhood."
As always, FIRE will continue to monitor this unfortunate trend and to defend the rights of students and faculty to engage in fully protected speech on campus—even if that speech involves fake guns, empty holsters, or advocating for the right to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Not sure if it's good news or bad. If you shoot the relatively cheap Wolf or Barnaul ammo this could be bad. If you don't trust Russians (and I don't), this could be good. Anyway, one thing is for sure: if the Russkies want to jump start their dying firearms and ammunition industry, the best thing they can do is to elect Obama as President next time around.
One third of Russian armament manufacturers are almost bankrupt and the industry is trying to obtain financial credit from Western banks as the loans from Russian banks are too expensive.
"Only 36% of the firearms and military equipment can be considered as being financially stable while 30% are close to go belly up" says Russian Technologies CEO Serghei Cemezov. He added: "almost half of the manufacturers of ammunition and explosives are bankrupt. Unfortunately the situation has worsened during the last four months"
Cermezov has become one of the most influential businessman during the mandate of the ex-Russian President Vladimir Putin by building a state owned industrial empire encompassing the world's biggest titanium producer, the biggest Russian automotive manufacturer and one of the world's largest military technology and armament exporters.
However, the Russian industrial output is in steep decline for the first time since 1998. The Russian Federation had defaulted its domestic financial credits and allowed its currency to depreciate vs. the US Dollar. The crisis highlights Russia's excessive dependency on oil and raw material exports.
Translated from Ziare.com by Transsylvania Phoenix
This is what the "holier that thou" conservative and libertarian gun owners deserve for staying at home election day to "teach Bush and those Republican politicians a lesson"
This is what gullible swing-vote gun owners are getting for being stupid enough to believe Obama and Biden's campaign promises that they won't touch their guns.
This is what everyone who bought into the "Democrats learned their lesson not to mess with the gun rights" mantra espoused time and again by the backstabbing liberal trolls on various gun forums is getting - for being criminally naive.
Firearms industry may top Obama’s list Jim Shepherd January 27, 2009
Beginning this week, the firearms industry will find itself squarely in the gunsight of a new administration dedicated to the regulation of virtually everything related to guns, from so-called assault weapons to the elements used in ammunition. Regulation, incidentally, will be defined as “the regulation of everything, and the potential removal of anything we say you don’t need.”
The leaders of that assault, unfortunately, won’t give a tinker’s damn about the Second Amendment. Their long-term plans will address that piece of “outdated thinking.” But a new political expediency will move firearms — more specifically their nebulous assault weapons — front and center.
Democratic insiders are telling us the firearms industry will be used as an object lesson to both sides of the aisle.
To the left, it’s the always-popular smackdown of a group of right-wing loonies (that’s you and me, by the way) who want gunfights on the streets of our hometowns.
To the right, it will represent a little payback for the rhetoric that was taken very personally by the incoming administration. In other words, a little taste of the whip should keep both sides nicely in line.
To put it another way, last year’s unquestioned gun salesman of the year — Barack Obama — will turn his attention toward a group that has been unrelenting in opposing him throughout his political career. When that happens, a billion-dollar industry will take another body blow.
Despite the new administration’s insistence that jobs and the economy will be the top priority beginning Jan. 20, insiders say payback to the National Rifle Association and other pro-Second Amendment groups is high on the agenda. Democratic advisors say the Republican party is “disorganized, disheartened, and dissolving” and it’s a good time for the incoming administration to take them on in a core issue — the assault weapons ban (AWB) is one of three topics they’re evaluating.
If the AWB is chosen, everyone expects a pitched battle with no quarter given.
If the attempt to pass this drastically expanded AWB succeeds, the administration will have proven itself virtually unbeatable in matters of policy. They will also further fracture the Republican Party and simultaneously serve notice on any pro-gun Democrats that they’d better get with the new program, too.
If this new administration goes after firearms, a billion-dollar industry that has never asked for a dime of bailouts and annually contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to conservation and environmental work via taxes will be hammered. That will most certainly result in lost jobs and tax revenues. Entire communities will be negatively impacted.
The Obama administration has said its number one priority will be the economy. I hope they keep that promise — and genuinely hope they are wildly successful at creating a renewed vibrancy. I believe the firearms industry should be prepared on a moment’s notice to clearly demonstrate to local and regional media that banning guns is tantamount to eliminating jobs in their areas.
I also believe Obama’s administration will almost immediately seek to begin to dismantle or disregard any laws with which they disagree and embark on the total disenfranchisement of anyone who disagrees with their political positions. That would include firearms owners and the firearms industry. I’d love to be wrong.
