[gun-fucious]

ALERT FROM JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP
America's Aggressive Civil Rights Organization

January 13, 2003

ALERT: LET'S PUT BELLESILES INTO THE BASEMENT

Since October, all the dominoes have fallen on Michael
Bellesiles. He's been forced to resign his tenured position
at Emory University ... stripped of his prestigious Bancroft
Prize ... and personally disgraced. Finally, last week his
publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, announced that it was ending
all sales of Bellesiles' fraudulent anti-gun "history"
book, _Arming America_.

But one more thing remains to be done to end Bellesiles'
fraud. And YOU can do it. Better yet, it's easy, it can be
fun, and it's a satisfying way of declaring victory over
those who've lied about the benefits of gun ownership.

Just print out the bottom section of this alert, take it
to your local library, and ask the librarians to move
_Arming America_ into their special collections.

Books in special collections are available to those who
request them. But they're not in general circulation. This
means nobody is "censoring" the book. But neither is anybody
leaving it where unknowing people can easily stumble across
it, repeat its distortions, and thus perpetuate its fraud
for years to come.

In special collections, _Arming America_ will be truly
_useful_ for the first time in its sordid history.

How could this piece of pseudo-scholarly trash be useful?
As time goes on, it will be useful exactly in the same way
that Hitler's (forged) diaries are useful. Exactly as old
anthropology texts about the (fraudulent) Piltdown Man are
useful. Exactly as the (fake and anti-Semitic) _Protocols
of the Elders of Zion_ can be useful. Scholars studying
fraud and propaganda can learn from _Arming America_ ,
_Protocols of the Elders of Zion_ and other works of
fakery. They can help teach us to recognize distortions
more readily in the future and protect ourselves from them.

In special collections, where scholars and devotees of
historical curiosities can access it, _Arming America_ --
an aggressively anti-freedom book -- may actually do service
to the cause of freedom. But it will no longer be lying like
an intellectual rattlesnake in the path of the careless and
unwary.

So let's put Bellesiles into the library basement where he
belongs.

Take just a few minutes to drop the following note on the
desk of your local head librarian.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Librarian:

You have in your collection a history book that has been shown
to be a fraud. Anyone who checks the book out believing it to
be genuine (as many students might do while researching history
papers) will be badly misled and may in turn perpetuate errors.
I ask that you move this book to your special collections, where
it will be available to those who wish to study fraudulent or
disproven works, but where it won't be in general circulation
to mislead people who stumble across it, unaware and unwary.

The book is:

ARMING AMERICA:
Origins of a National Gun Culture
By Michael Bellesiles
Alfred A. Knopf, 2000

Please feel free to check the facts for yourself, using the
following URLs.

1. In October 2002, Professor Bellesiles was forced to resign
from his tenured teaching position at Emory University after
an independent committee found evidence of "egregious
misrepresentation" and "unprofessional and misleading work"
in _Arming America_.

http://www.emorywheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/10/29/3dbded0fd9df0

2. In December 2002, Columbia University stripped Bellesiles
of the prestigious Bancroft Prize, which it had awarded for
_Arming America_.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/02/12/bancroft_prize.html

3. In January 2003, the publisher announced that it was ceasing
all sales of _Arming America_ and ending its contractual
relationship with Bellesiles.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030107/ap_on_en_ot/h
istory_book_canceled_1


4. If you wish to learn more about Bellesiles' errors and
misrepresentations (because those Emory's committee considered
were barely the tip of the iceberg), see the work of historian
Clayton Cramer and legal scholar James Lindgren, among others.
The following History News Network article contains an extensive
timeline and links to these and other sources.

http://hnn.us/articles/printfriendly/691.html

Thank you for your consideration.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Liberty Crew

[PATH]

I'll do it if they indeed have the book. I would be more termpted to burn the darn thing since they can't easily get another copy. Okay, I'll do it!;)

[cuchulainn]

A lot of libraries have public-available on-line catalog searches. You don't even need to schlepp down to the library -- You can do this from your computer in the next five minutes.

I love the internet.

[PATH]

My library system has two copies. I shall proceed as planned!:D

[4v50 Gary]

Have to use the library anyway. Can I get comp time since this is a public service?

[BlackArrow]

Check out all existing copies and soak them in water. In my case the library didn't charge me! :D I'm willing to pay if need be.:evil:

[Blackhawk]

BlackArrow, I like your style! :D

That's were Bellesiles belongs, in a flooded basement....

[Hawkman]

Our library has three copies. I used their e-mail to send the request. Be interesting to see what happens.

If no response, I will check them out and "lose" them.

[4v50 Gary]

Water can damage a book extensively especially if mold is allowed to grow. If you soak a book during the day, let it rest in a cool (not cold) damp environment and the longer the better. It may have to be trashed afterwards.

What libraries do after fires (and water suppression) is to freeze dry the book and then remove the moisture.

[John Galt]

Someone I know, a real juvenile, glued some of this post inside the cover and then dribbled glue throughout the rest of the book. What a butt head! :p

What is really funny is that a couple pages in, someone else had glued in a page from a magazine. Unfortunately, someone else had tried real hard to peal that page back off.

Now that they have been discontinued & the library copies all being vandelized, they are going to be a worthless collector item.

[Hawkman]

My battle so far:

Dear Mr. Wooten,

As you are the (apparently only) reasonably conservative columnist left at the AJC, I am forwarding you this correspondence I have had with the Gwinnett Public Library system. I thought you might be interested.

My original letter (available on request) documented the academic criticism of Arming America, by Michael Bellisles. I suggested that the book be moved from the non-fiction shelves to a place where it would be available to a researcher who would recognize it for its true value. I fear that if it is left in general circulation it will be read and taken as factual by an unwitting browser.

I personally am baffled that a librarian would want to leave material that has been proven false on the shelves.

Sincerely,

Grady L. Rockett


----- Original Message -----
From: Pete Rockett
To: Deborah C. George
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: Your recent email


Dear Ms. George,

Thank you for your prompt and thoughtful reply.

I understand the library not having the capability of classifying material in a particular way. Still, this is not a case where the scholarly critics of Bellisles merely disagreed with his conclusions. This committee found deliberate falsehoods and shoddy research in the book. It has cost Bellisles his position at Emory and the distinguised Bancroft Prize.

It seems a shame that our library would leave a supposedly serious scholarly work which has been proven to be deliberately misleading and false on the shelf for the unsuspecting student to use as a reference.

Please reconsider your decision to leave this book on your shelves anywhere but in the "fiction" section.

Sincerely,

Grady L. Rockett

cc:jwootten@ajc.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Deborah C. George
To: grock321@bellsouth.net
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 3:31 PM
Subject: Your recent email




Dear Mr. Rockett –



We are aware of the controversy surrounding Michael Bellesiles’ Arming America: Origins of a National Gun Culture. The library provides customers with materials related to current news and events. For those researching items in the news, the library provides access to information from a wide variety of sources.

On this topic, for example, customers will find authoritative rebuttals about the controversy in additional print and online resources.



Regarding your suggestion related to the placement of the book, the library does not classify materials in the way you have suggested.



Thank you for your interest in our library collection.



Sincerely,



Deborah George











Deborah George

Virtualville Branch Manager

Gwinnett County Public Library

1001 Lawrenceville Hwy.

Lawrenceville, GA 30045-4707



(770) 277-6002

dgeorge@gwinnettpl.org

[cracked butt]

FOr a long time, whenever I go to a bookstore, I look to see if the book is on their shelves. If it is, I pick it up and place on the fiction rack.

[Oatka]

Maybe JFPO reads THR. ;)

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2822

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I intend to ask the Clark County library system what their policy is on retaining a book that has all those caveats.

I have no problem in them retaining it as long as there's some kind of note attached to the book, notifying the reader that the Bancroft prize has been recalled and the book's printing suspended because of false info.

It might be something to ask your local library. That would be the crowning blow - even the libraries dump the copy.