August 4, 2005

"...     A great Japanese warrior named Nobunaga decided

    to attack the enemy although he had only one-tenth the

    number of men the opposition commanded. He knew

    that he would win, but his soldiers were in doubt.

 

         On the way he stopped at a Shinto shrine and told

    his men: ' After I visit the shrine I will toss a coin. If heads

    comes, we will win; if tails, we will lose. Destiny holds us

    in her hand.'

 

        Nobunaga entered the shrine and offered a silent

    prayer. He came forth and tossed a coin. Heads appeared.

    His soldiers were so eager to fight that they won their

    battle easily.

 

       ' No one can change the hand of destiny,' his attendant

    told him after the battle.

 

       ' Indeed not, ' said Nobunaga, showing a coin which had

    been doubled, with heads facing either way..."

 

                - A parable entitled "In the Hands of Destiny", from

                 the book "Zen Bones, Zen Flesh", by Paul Reps

 

 

 

".....(z) Secure Gun Storage or Safety Device.--

 

            (1) In General.-- Except as provided under paragraph (2),

            it shall be unlawful for any licensed importer, licensed

            manufacturer, or licensed dealer to sell, deliver, or

            transfer any handgun to any person other than any

            person licensed under this chapter, unless the transferee

            is provided with a secure gun storage or safety device

            (as defined in section 921 (a) (34) for that handgun....

 

            (3) Liability For Use.--

                (A) In General.-- Notwithstanding any other provision

                of law, a person who has lawful possession and control

                of a handgun, and who uses a secure gun storage

                or safety device with the handgun, shall be entitled to

                immunity from a qualified civil liability action.

 

                (B) Prospective Actions.-- A qualified civil liability

                action may not be brought in any Federal or State

                Court.

 

                (C) Defined Term.-- As used in this paragraph, the

                term ' qualified civil liability action'--

 

                    ' (i) means a civil action brought by any person

                      against a person described in subparagraph (A)

                      for damages resulting  from the criminal or

                      unlawful misuse of the handgun by a third party,

                      if--

 

                        '(I) The handgun was accessed by another person

                         who did not have the permission or authorization

                         of the person having lawful possession and

                         control of the handgun to have access to it; and

'                        (II) at the time access was gained by the person

                         not so authorized, the handgun had been made

                         made inoperable by use of a secure gun storage

                         or safety device;  and

 

                      (ii) shall not include an action brought against the

                      person having lawful possession and control of the

                      handgun for negligent entrustment or negligence

                      per se...."

 

                  -Excerpts from S 1626, the "Kohl Amendment", to

                   S 397, which passed on a vote of 70 ayes to 30 noes.

 

 

To All,

     Of course, it is always easier to make one's own luck work when one out-hustles and outnumbers the other side two to one:

 

Shake, Rattle, and Roll:

     What with the action of these past few days, we have seen the Liberal Establishment rocked to it's very core.

 

     One by one, a number of key principles held by the Way Left Wing in national politics has been rejected by the People's Representatives.

 

     On energy policy they decided for the encouragement of ethanol-production-as-an-alternative through subsidization (It should be made certain to Chuck Schumer that the taxpayers of Texas and California are not at all appreciative of having to pay Federal taxes so as to help cover the costs of snow clearance in New York, just as he seems opposed to paying for Midwest agricultural-based oxygenates that help make the air cleaner).

 

     On foreign policy through trade, the Central American Free Trade Act can help pull Nicaragua and other neighbor states out of the communist influence of President Chavez of Venezuela, through the use of incentives first noted by Adam Smith.

 

     On diplomatic relations the recess appointment of John Bolton has the Bozos of Geneva quaking in their boots over possibly having their "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" outed for the purposes of taxpayer review.

 

     And, of course, the passage of a firearms manufacturer liability reform bill hits right at the center of gravity of a certain political class that seems bound and determined to prevent the people maintaining the means of self-determination by any means necessary.

 

     It is this last that deserves additional consideration, in that liability relief for firearms manufacturers throttles the tort bar's current attempt to create a new form of liability out of thin air. The oft-quoted claims by liability reform opponents, that the gun industry is the only industry to be granted such freedom from lawsuit, begs the question as to what other industry is subject to lawsuit over the criminal misuse of a product? Surely the car manufacturers, propane bottle distributors, and the purveyors of such adult beverages as Budweiser and Bushmill's had more than a passing interest in wondering whether the Huns of the Torts Community were going set-up the firearms manufacturing industry as the precedent for a whole new type of wealth transfer.

 

     As such, the fight against a newly-created firearms manufacturer liability over the criminal actions of others put firearms activists in the vanguard of helping hold the line for manufacturing employment in the Continental United States (No insult to Alaska or Hawaii is intended- this writer just prefers to think of Alaska in terms of it's outstanding hunting opportunities and Hawaii as a great place to go fishing.). Such are the unintended consequences of the Left's political agenda these days.

 

    Of course, unto whose lap does the responsibility of such a fight as this fall into? The NRA's of course. And it is a "durned sight" luckier for GM, Ford, and Annheiser-Busch (from whom this last has shown a dogged support for the Second Amendment) that the NRA is the yokozuna of citizen-based lobbying interests in the nation's capitol. Who else could have fought the fight from the ground up, through hundreds of elections to the "semi-final" match on the Senate floor, so that the champions of the anti-gun movement were tossed ignominiously out of ring? Surely no one else could have slipped a Federal Pre-emption "mickey" negating liability over safe storage and made it stick? And who else could have left Teddy "Chappaquiddick" Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Harry Reed (D-Rhode Island) sputtering from the Senate well (In Kennedy's case, the phrase "thar he blows" is more apropos) in frustration?

 

     In fact, the victory in the Senate was so complete that nearly two thirds of that body (65 ayes to 31 noes) voted for liability reform despite the prognostications of a hostile press and the ranting of an increasingly ineffectual lobbying team from the Animal Farm side of the political spectrum.

 

     In truth, the waza (technique) was so good as to produce certain moments of hilarity. The best was Senator Clinton's first voting against, then upon "clarification" for, the death penalty amendment for cop killers who use stolen government ammunition in the commission of a homicide of a law enforcement officer (Hillary ultimately opposed the entire package that included the Second Craig Amendment, which calls for the death penalty to apply to cop killers that use "armor-piercing" handgun ammunition. It's going to take more than the temporary donning of duck cammies to get her past gun owners-cum-registered voters in 2006 and 2008, after this little bit of history is brought up.).

 

     As such, every NRA member who has had a hand in each and every race since the Liberal's Naqba of 1994 owes himself or herself a chilled adult beverage (Not to nag about a shameless plug, but a cold Bud is always nice) in recognition of the fruits of harvest. The combination of citizen activists, highly professional floor lobbyists, and enlightened Senate managers resulted in a key moment in the ongoing fight to defend the individual right to keep and bear arms. And though one anticipates a certain amount of resistance when the House takes up it's version of S 397 after the recess, it is not unexpected that the results will ultimately be like those found in the Senate. But it is certain that, as long firearms owners remain united and under such effective leadership, they will continue to be successful in preserving the Second Amendment as originally intended by the Founding Fathers.

 

Links can be found at:

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3
dnFlZUVFeXk0MDAmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY3Mzg0NDgmeXJp
cnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNA==

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nra2aug02,
1,2319377.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

 

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm
?congress=109&session=1&vote=00219

 

Respectfully,