The Swiss protect their nation with a citizen army. The number one sport in the country is rifle marksmanship. In order to avoid the fate of Norway - where the Nazis simply seized the armories - the Swiss reservists keep their weapons at home. This, along with the terrain, makes Switzerland a very tough nut to crack - tough enough that they were left alone in both World Wars while all nations around them were involved. In addition, citizens soldiers retaining their weapons prevents tyrants from seizing power. As a result Switzerland is the oldest democracy on earth.
Today the Swiss people - who are number three in the world in private firearms ownership - overwhelmingly rejected a referendum to require reservists to keep their issue assault rifles in government armories. The Swiss crime rate is very low, but they have a high suicide rate. The Swiss people rejected the argument that removing a method of kill one's self would reduce the number of suicides. Experience with removing other methods - such was highly poisonous domestic gas formally used in East Germany - has proven them right.
It's nice to know that there are other nations where people are citizens and not subjects.
See news story here.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Federal Gun Cops Sent Guns To Mexico
More evidence has surfaced indicating that charges that the BATFE - the agency responsible for enforcing Federal gun laws - intentionally sent guns to Mexican drug cartels in order to gain budget increases for the agency. One of these guns was later used to shoot a US Board Patrol agent.
The story started on an insider message board for dissatisfied BATFE employees. It was then picked up by the gun rights movement. After the employees contacted Sen. Chuck Grassly (R - Iowa), several things happened. First, more sources came forward including gun shop owners who were directed to proceed with sales of both handguns and semi-automatic rifles even though they normally would not have done so due to suspicion that the buyers were gun traffickers. Second, at least one of the whistle blowers was threatened with termination by his BATFE boss, in violation of federal law. Third, Senator Grassly has called for public hearings on this incident. Fourth and last: A BATFE executive has done - guess what? - called for, "increased funding to prevent a repeat of this incident".
In addition, as reflected in the linked articles below, the mainstream press has picked up on this story. Articles have not only appeared on Fox News and gun media sites - the story has now been covered by USA Today, the Washington Post and the L.A. Times - not exactly gun friendly newspapers.
The BATFE has been a troubled agency for a very long time - indeed all the way back to prohibition. In more recent years they were responsible for initiating both the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. Sadly, it appears that things have gotten much worse in the years since.
Please check out the links below. Thanks!
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/mainstream-press-reports-shed-additional-light-on-project-gunwalker
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/101213-gun-dealer-atf-approved-sales-to-mexican-gun-runners
http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2011/02/01/20110201phoenix-gun-store-atf-sting-border-shootout.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/02/senator-calls-atf-allegations-agency-allowing-guns-mexico/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-02-borderpatrolupdate02_ST_N.htm
The story started on an insider message board for dissatisfied BATFE employees. It was then picked up by the gun rights movement. After the employees contacted Sen. Chuck Grassly (R - Iowa), several things happened. First, more sources came forward including gun shop owners who were directed to proceed with sales of both handguns and semi-automatic rifles even though they normally would not have done so due to suspicion that the buyers were gun traffickers. Second, at least one of the whistle blowers was threatened with termination by his BATFE boss, in violation of federal law. Third, Senator Grassly has called for public hearings on this incident. Fourth and last: A BATFE executive has done - guess what? - called for, "increased funding to prevent a repeat of this incident".
In addition, as reflected in the linked articles below, the mainstream press has picked up on this story. Articles have not only appeared on Fox News and gun media sites - the story has now been covered by USA Today, the Washington Post and the L.A. Times - not exactly gun friendly newspapers.
The BATFE has been a troubled agency for a very long time - indeed all the way back to prohibition. In more recent years they were responsible for initiating both the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. Sadly, it appears that things have gotten much worse in the years since.
Please check out the links below. Thanks!
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/mainstream-press-reports-shed-additional-light-on-project-gunwalker
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/101213-gun-dealer-atf-approved-sales-to-mexican-gun-runners
http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2011/02/01/20110201phoenix-gun-store-atf-sting-border-shootout.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/02/senator-calls-atf-allegations-agency-allowing-guns-mexico/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-02-borderpatrolupdate02_ST_N.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)