Meadville-area militia leader admits having illegal guns

[c_yeager]

Of those six people, exactly none of them represented my views. The professional politicians who do have political views reasonably close to my own, I can count on the fingers of one hand.

It sounds to me like you should run for office then. Should you win, then you would have a representative that perfectly resembled your views.

I do not care about "collective will," or any similar collective concepts. The only unit of society that matters is the individual, and the individual has no control whatsoever over the direction of his government.

Actually the individual can have ultimate controll. Check out the qualifications required for being the president. Odds are that you are perfectly qualified. You have every right in the world to run for that office. The trick is that you have to convince everyone else that you can do the job.

Individual liberty can indeed be scary.

Only when it comes at the expense of the liberty of everyone else, which is exactly what many are suggesting. If you feel that you arent being granted your freedom here, then maybe this country isnt for you. There are plenty of others out there, some of them coming for close to anarchy if that is what you are looking for.

 

[Brett Bellmore]

He's probably an idiot, yes, but plotting to overthrow the government? In most cases like this, if you look into it, you find somebody who was "plotting" to fight the government if it became tyrannical. Something I LIKE to think most of us would be willing to do.

Leaving out the "if", and painting them as somebody who plans to overthrow our government as it's presently constituted, is just a handy way of painting somebody as a dangerous loon, so that they'll come across as somebody their natural allies wouldn't want to defend.

Works, too.

 

[Joe Demko]

What a doofus. I don't know this clown personally, but there are loads more like him here in W.PA. You can meet them at gun stores, gun clubs,and gun shows. They are overwhelmingly aging, fat white guys who haven't done well as technology and the economy have changed. Train to overthrow the government? Feh. They can't even train to get better jobs.

 

[Michigander]

Is it really that important or vital that an armed rebellion have fully automatic firearms?

Is it so important or vital as to risk arrest by selling said firearms to others?

I, more than many, am not in favor of bans on machine guns, and I believe such bans are unconstitutional, but it sure seems like a lot to risk for relatively little gain. I mean, looky now: how well can he rebell from behind bars?

What kind of profit margin you think this guy was getting?

Could this guy be like some evangelicals who preach about the end times in order to fill their baskets? In this case, his preaching may have led to more gun sales. (Merely speculatin')

This man could be completely innocent for all I know. And/or he may have only been breaking "unconstitutional" laws or no laws at all. But from a "know when and where to pick your battles" stand point, he was gravely mistaken.

 

[richyoung]

"Is it really that important or vital that an armed rebellion have fully automatic firearms?"

Yep. And anti-tank weapons - even SAMS and land mines. Only way to make up for being out-numbered is firepower and picking your fights carefully.

"Is it so important or vital as to risk arrest by selling said firearms to others?"

Until the Sten Gun Fairy starts leaving them under pillows, yes.

"I, more than many, am not in favor of bans on machine guns, and I believe such bans are unconstitutional, but it sure seems like a lot to risk for relatively little gain. I mean, looky now: how well can he rebell from behind bars?"

SOMEBODY has to risk putting their beliefs in action, or nothing is ever going to change. Somebody has to be the first, and if need be, the second, third, fourth test cases. Anybody remember how many times the Supreme Court upheld slavery?

"What kind of profit margin you think this guy was getting?"

If he put any value on his own time, NONE. I strongly doubt profit was the motive - otherwise, he could make more selling used cars without the ATF hassle...

"Could this guy be like some evangelicals who preach about the end times in order to fill their baskets? In this case, his preaching may have led to more gun sales. (Merely speculatin')"

I doubt that he is going to retire in luxury selling burp guns at 300 a pop to undercover agents.

"This man could be completely innocent for all I know. And/or he may have only been breaking "unconstitutional" laws or no laws at all. But from a "know when and where to pick your battles" stand point, he was gravely mistaken."


Somebody has to be first - "Boston Massacre" ring a bell?

 

[Michigander]

I wouldn't say this guy was the first.

And he won't be the last.

And I do not see how various arrests and/or burnings and/or murders of people who attempt what this guy was doing or something similar (sometimes even "legal") does to bolster his cause (or anyone's cause, for that matter). It would seem to me that this bolsters those in "authority" by doing it again and again without any real resitance.

I still say he made a grave error in picking his battle.

 

[richyoung]

I agree, Michigander - but perhaps he read your signature line, and "did something:...

 

[Michigander]

I agree, Michigander - but perhaps he read your signature line, and "did something:...

He did not do something to reverse infringements of our RKBA; if anything, he helped bolster the anti's with their "gun-nut wacko" stereotypes.

 

[Diggler]

ANYTHING YOU DO outside of ANY of the currently written laws will help bolster the anti's with their "gun-nut wacko" stereotypes. A year ago, it could have been putting a flash hider on an AR that was made after 1994. A little chunk of metal could have brought on the same wrath and you can be sure that you'd be painted as a loony for defying the government.

Even the NRA says that 'the gun laws on the books need to be enforced instead of passing new ones.'

NO.

Most gun laws on the books need to be REPEALED and no more should be passed. That is the correct position.

 

[Too Many Choices!?]

Exactly why I am not a member of the NRA......

Where are they when the second really needs them? MIA! Not one of them is pro active enough.....Lets get some of the USELESS LAWS OFF the Books instead of only opposing new ones ! This guy does more to harm the case by selling illegal weapons than the NRA does by doing nothing......
I have started to believe that NRA stands for Not Really Awake.....

This guy atleast did something.......Something really, really, reeeeaaaally stupid but to each his own....He fights the law his way and the sane will fight it another....

Selling illegal weapons is not that way though ! ORGINIZATION IS but one with a plan of action/back bone. If the NRA got just ONE repressive anti 2nd law to be repealed I would become a life member! AWB of '94 does not count as it should never have been allowed on the books! Where were they again.....Oh yeah, fondling their shotguns and deer rifles

 

[c_yeager]

Where are they when the second really needs them? MIA!

I hope you arent talking about the AWB. The only reason we arent still chopping off bayonet lugs and welding on muzzle brakes is because of the sunset provision that they managed to push into the bill. There was too much support for the bill to get it outright thrown out. So its a damn good thing someone figured out how to at least make sure our kids didnt have to live with it.

Sometimes an "all or nothing" attitude gets you a big fat nothing.

 

[Diggler]

Even if it's not perfect, the NRA exerts pressure in the right direction. And they are the biggest, most recognized gun lobby in the world.

 

[Brett Bellmore]

"There was too much support for the bill to get it outright thrown out."

Maybe, maybe not. But I've got a pretty good recollection of the campaign season following that passage. We recall with pride the way we turned Congress upside down in that election, but tend to forget just how many anti-gunners held onto their seats by their bloody fingernails, because the NRA blunted the effects of our rage with fraudulent candidate ratings. Because THEY didn't expect that election to be anything special, and were still in their usual "suck up to incumbants" mode.

In fact, those lying ratings, the political survival of those anti-gunners who've foisted abortions such as the Lautenberg amendment and the "gun free schools " act on us, was the quid pro quo for that sunset provision.

And we'll never know... It barely passed even in that weakened form. Would a stronger bill actually have gotten MORE votes? With every member on notice that the NRA would be out to defeat them if they voted for it, no excuses? I feel free to doubt it. I think the NRA has, too many times, traded the chance of a big defeat for the certainty of a slightly smaller one. That's a tactical judgement, reasonable people can differ over.

But the NRA's policy of buying amendments from anti-gunners by offering to mislead US about who our enemies really are? No, THAT I think isn't a reasonable judgement call.