He Trains My Hands For Battle is the book Rick Cook and I have written about the Scripture and armed self-defense. I will send it to you by email upon request. The email address is at our website at www.firearmslawyer.net. Publishing it herein creates too much spam. The introduction follows.
Is there any god like God?
Are we not at bedrock?
Is not this the God who armed me well,
then aimed me in the right direction?
Now I run like a deer;
I’m king of the mountain.
He shows me how to fight;
I can bend a bronze bow!
You protect me with salvation-armor;
you touch me and I feel ten feet tall.
You cleared the ground under me
so my footing was firm.
When I chased my enemies I caught them;
I didn’t let go till they were dead men.
I nailed them; they were down for good;
then I walked all over them.
You armed me well for this fight;
you smashed the upstarts.
You made my enemies turn tail,
and I wiped out the haters.
They cried “uncle”
but Uncle didn’t come;
They yelled for God
and got no for an answer.
I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind.
I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter.
You rescued me from a squabbling people;
you made me a leader of nations.
People I’d never heard of served me;
the moment they got wind of me they submitted.
They gave up; they came trembling from their hideouts.
2 Samuel 22:32-46
Introduction: A Case for Armed Civilians
A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.
Proverbs 21:22
Throughout recorded history, civilians have faced the brutal choice of defending loved ones or seeing them terrorized, tortured and brutalized by strangers or, at times, by their own government. Civilians, usually assisting soldiers and law enforcement, can defend themselves, their homes, and their families most effectively with firearms. Thus, each of us in a free society is faced with the same decision as Americans on the old frontiers; i.e., will we prepare to defend ourselves and others?
The job of protecting ourselves from violence is primarily in our own hands as individuals. Scripture has a great deal to teach about personal self-defense, provisions for local and national security and how to prevent violent crime. Thus, we present Biblical authority along with practical approaches to training in armed defense. In the event that armed civilians need to band together to oppose a common foe, the Biblical underpinnings in which our U.S. Constitution and common law are grounded may be all that separates modern Americans from lawless anarchy.
It is the responsibility of good citizens to recognize that taking up arms is not something to be done lightly or without thought. The moral and scriptural justification for protecting ourselves is that defense of self and others is fundamental to life and liberty. Of course, complying with federal, state, and local laws is not optional; you would not be reading a legal manual that is filled with Scriptural references but for the high regard you have for good citizenship.
We do not advocate vigilantism. We oppose those who misunderstand the information herein or attempt in any way to rationalize taking the law into one’s own hands. You should always seek legal advice by consulting in confidence with an attorney. Every situation is different when analyzed from a legal perspective, and it is your responsibility to know and follow the laws in your area to the best of your ability.
About the Authors
Mark Knapp is a practicing criminal defense and firearms attorney. He received Christ in 1972 and took up the study of law because of a conviction that the Bible deals with everything that pertains to life and God including government and administration of justice. Mr. Knapp has a passion for both military history and Constitutional law that grows out of a love of Bible history.
Rick Cook is a former U.S. Marine, whose father and son are also Marines. He has been a committed Christian since his first Sunday in USMC Boot Camp in 1977, and he has owned various firearms for most of his life, training his wife and three children in their safe use along the way. He is currently self-employed as an Independent Consultant, implementing enterprise-level Business Service Management software at clients throughout North America. He shares Mark’s love of military history.
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I am reading the FOUNDERS’ BIBLE. I have already read many of the articles and received fresh motivation to read the Bible because of the articles about the founding of the United States. David Barton- who has an organization called WallBuilders- is a unique historian and he has helped provided article for the Founders’ Bible that put the spot light on the unique way in which the Founders of our nation were very aware of the direct correlation between Scriptural truth and the roots of our American order. Barton believes that history should be told through the lives of great individuals and that men and women catch truth by relating to great historical figures.
The Founders of our nation demonstrate some of the same courage and integrity that we see in Biblical leaders like Samuel and King David. The United States Constitution was inspired by the covenants made with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants; i.e., the Constitution is a covenant between the people of the several states and the federal government. From the time of the earliest colonies in the New World, believers entered into such covenants in order to govern themselves. They took their inspiration from the numerous examples of written covenants in the Old and New Testaments.
In fact the concept of a “testament” itself, as understood by the established usage in the early colonies, was synonymous with the term “Covenant”. Thus, the Calvinistic believers came to the New World in order to establish what they called a New Jerusalem modeled after the Old Covenant Commonwealth of Israel and the early Christian Church in the New Covenant Book of Acts!
The Armed Defense Training Association gave me the beautifully bound and illustrated Founders’ Bible as a gift. Along with the articles from David Barton, the personal messages conveyed with the gift have motivated me to dig deeper into our heritage as a nation based on morality, law and reverence for Scripture.
ADTA President Chad Hiatt’s message in particular was as beautiful as the leather bound gift itself:
“The concept of a “SHOOTING ARTS CENTER” in our home town was outrageous, and it was perfect. You took what you saw as the staus quo and insisted on looking at it from a new angle. That shift, that shared opportunity, formed the core of what we all together built into the Armed Defense Training Association, an organization to which we are now all contributing, and from which we will find creative and community fulfillment.”
I could not be more pleased if the ADTA had given me a 1911 pistol with pearl handles and eagles engraved in gold!
But I want to be careful not to attribute positions to the ADTA that are not consistent with its mission. The ADTA does not have a religious purpose, nor are we political. Nevertheless, neighbors encouraging each other to develop confidence in the use of arms is a tradition of volunteerism reinforcing traditions that go back to Israel. The historical trail leads through the history of England and other European nations, including Rome and Greece.
Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Montesquieu and other noteworthy philosophers have all written on the subject of arms and self-defense. Montesquieu in THE SPIRIT OF THE LAWS (1748) asks, “Who does not see that self-defense is a duty superior to every precept (of personal freedom).” He severely criticized Venice because the Venetian rulers deemed bearing arms a capital offense; such restrictions on self-defense were, in Montesquieu’s opinion, against the nature of things. Incidentally, Montesquieu was one of the thinkers that articulated the concept of keeping the government out of matters that concern religion.
David Barton is a historian that has been reminding folks of the link between the founding of our nation and the heritage of Scripture, ancient Israel and Christian teaching. Barton is very pro-Second Amendment and it comes across in the Founders’ Bible in articles like the one entitled “HE TRAINS MY HANDS FOR WAR”. I heard him talking once on television about how anti-slavery folks were brutally attacked by pro-slavery people in the South and sometimes had to defend themselves with firearms. And his writings and teachings contain many such examples in U.S. history of armed force deployed by volunteers to defend righteousness and suppress evildoers. The Old Testament is also full of such examples and the New Testament authors held such warriors in high regard. See Hebrews 11.
The articles cover subjects like what the Bible says about church-state relations, slavery, the First Great Awakening and quotes from various public leaders, including many presidents up through recent times that have endorsed the Bible.
After the Revolution, one of the first things the new Congress did was to endorse publication of an English language Bible in America. The Founders agreed that democracy can only work in a nation guided by Judeo-Christian precepts of morality, justice and commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord.
Barton’s critics, which are legion, complain that he has misstated the facts concerning the publication of the Aitken translation of the Bible but the WallBuilders website provides a quantity of detail concerning what Congress did and did not do related to the publication of the Bible which was done at Aitken’s expense. See also To Your Tents, O Israel.
David Kopel, a law professor at the University of Colorado, is a well known Second Amendment advocate who has also written some good articles on the subject of how our American forefathers looked to the ancient Commonwealth of Israel for Biblical inspiration before, during and after the Revolutionary War.
Stephen P. Halbrook, also a firearms lawyer, has similarly documented the history of the Second Amendment and how intricately the basic human right of self-defense is bound to the roots of our American order. One of his books entitled The Founders’ Second Amendment (may, 2008) deals with the origins of the Second Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court quoted Dr. Halbrook’s work on the legislative history of the Fourteenth Amendment in regards to Black Freedmen’s civil rights and the Second Amendment after the Civil War in the DC V Heller majority opinion. See District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2809–10 (2008) (citing generally STEPHEN P. HALBROOK, FREEDMEN, THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT, & THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, 1866–1876 (Greenwood Publishing Group 1998); reprinted as STEPHEN P. HALBROOK, SECURING CIVIL RIGHTS: FREEDMEN, THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT, AND THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS (Independent Institute 2010).
I was particularly moved by David Barton’s article entitled Where the Journey Began. Barton’s account of how he became the signature historian of the Founders’ Bible relates the story of young King Josiah and how he responded when the workmen discovered the Books of the Law while remodeling the Temple. At that time, most of the priests and teachers had fallen away from Scriptural truth and the Commonwealth of Israel was given over to the worship of idols. The amazing things was that Josiah read the Scriptures on his own and immediately repented and started leading the nation of Israel back to truth.
Many of us are troubled by what we see happening in the land today. The Bible does not just speak to issues about God but to every kind of relationship, personal and economic. Most Bible teachers avoid the subject of what the Scripture says about government, warfare and economics because folks are worn out by cultural warfare. Preachers and Bible teachers don’t want to tear down false idols because that gets into political issues! Nevertheless, ubiquitous mass-shootings, especially in our public schools, are evidence that the Progressive cultural crusade is winning the war.
One of the first things King Josiah did was tear down the altars of the false gods. I am convinced that we will see a bold new generation of Americans when young Americans experience what King Josiah experienced. Young people long for an adventure that calls for real challenges, sacrifice and courage. The Bible is a call to perform bold exploits.
David Barton, Shiloh Road Publishers and the other historians that contributed to the Founders’ Bible have declared God’s mighty works for generations to come and have made the call relevant to modern Americans.
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The City of Federal Way recently experienced a shooting in which a young man used a shotgun to kill his live-in girlfriend and then also gunned down three other people. The police believe that he killed the additional three people in order to prevent them from testifying against him. This terrible event made national news and has caused series of repercussions in the local community.
A perennial candidate who had already indicated he would not be running for mayor- announced that he will now run because public safety is suddenly a concern. This despite the fact that law enforcement officers arrived quickly and neutralized the shooter by shooting him dead. There is nothing to indicate that having any more officers would have resulted in a different outcome or that anything that the police could have done would have stopped the carnage.
One victim, a 62 year old man, ran into his nearby apartment unit and bolted the door to call 911. The killer blew the bolt off the apartment door and then blasted away at his neighbor while he was calling 911!
Rudi Alcott, the publisher of the Federal Way Mirror criticized Mayor Skip Priest, implying that he handled the aftermath of “the horrific events on April 21 irresponsibly” and that our city leaders were remiss in the way they handled an initial press conference:
“At this point, things started to break down. Where was Mayor Skip Priest during this initial press conference? Not only did he not speak, he wasn’t even present. While I will grant the fact that this was predominately a police-centered press conference, the mayor should have opened the meeting assuring the general public that all of us were safe, that this was an isolated event, and that there would be a follow-up meeting — and then turn it over to the police chief for the details.”
Alcott compared how our city’s leaders reacted to the violence in Federal Way to how the mayor of Boston responded to the Boston Marathon bombings. Apparently members of the press were invited to a public meeting at City Hall.
The fact that the media was not permitted to remain in the room throughout the entire meeting caused a certain amount of indignation on Mr. Alcott’s part:
“For the first time, I wondered whether the mayor’s office or the police department was running this city. Imagine the outrage in Boston had the city issued a statement that said “Only the people of the blocks that were cordoned off to capture the fugitives could attend the meeting. All the rest of you need to go away.”
The publisher was “appalled by this action” and personally apologized to all of the citizens of Federal Way for the city’s “ineptitude’ in the way the meetings were handled. Rudi, your apologies are appalling!
Alcott inveighed, “Accept the fact that you mishandled this and begin to move the city in a direction that will heal the community. Your entire community deserves this, in likely the greatest time of need that this community will ever face.”
Does the publisher of the Mirror really believe that Federal Way has faced the worst it will ever face?
I wrote a column in the Mirror that regularly warned about how the times are becoming more violent and that we are all at risk. The Firearms Lawyer column appeared in print for four years because it was controversial and controversy sells newspapers. Although newspaper publishers often print editorial material that does not express the views of the publisher, Mr. Alcott certainly must have recognized that the reason so many people were purchasing guns was not because things are expected to improve for the better.
In fact, the Mirror suddenly terminated the Firearms Lawyer column after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, because management at the paper had determined that there should be “no more articles calling for more guns.”
I have been accused by some of blaming victims of violence for not being armed. I must say, however, that the 62 year old man who tried to call 911 might still be alive if he had picked up a gun instead of a telephone after he bolted the door to his apartment. He was known as a guy that watched over the premises. He and two other men laid down their lives just by being present on that terrible day.
Bob Roegner also climbed on, stating, “All that changed with the Pinewood Village Apartment murders. Suddenly there were several issues to raise: domestic violence, gun availability, neighborhood safety, and police department staffing.” Roegner also offered up additional pratings about domestic violence and twaddled about the city’s failure to take away the perpetrator’s guns (the murderer had no legal prohibitions and the weapons were legally owned). Other less preeminent sources of political wisdom also pontificated that Federal Way is going down the tubes (a recurringly racist theme often appears that our city has become a ghetto).
Jon McIntosh, a local pastor, got it right:
“As a local church pastor and a police chaplain, I had the privilege of participating in this meeting. I could not be more proud of our leaders than I was that night. It is moments like these that demonstrate the levels of integrity and care that assure us of a strong future. If you are unhappy with how the meeting was conducted, you have that right. But please remember, that evening you weren’t the most important thing.”
The same edition of the Mirror contained a highly informative story about gangs in Federal Way and surrounding areas. What the story failed to emphasize is that many of the gangs are affiliated with the Mexican cartels and every major cartel conducts operations in the Seattle area, including South King County and Tacoma.
The fact that the cartels routinely kill law enforcement officers, journalists, prosecutors and judges in Mexico, makes it appear highly likely that carnage will spread North from the border. The cartels have only held back because they know their operations will suffer if the bloodshed occurring in Mexico is duplicated North of the border.
It is easy to criticize Mayor Priest. He might become peevish or just not give you an interview. And I have to agree with those like Jim Ferrell (who announced he will be running for mayor of Federal Way after all) when they complain that money spent on the anticipated Performing Arts Center should instead go for essential services like police salaries.
But, as far as I know, politicians in the United States don’t cut off people’s heads like the cartels and jihadists. Criticizing Skip Priest for how he conducts grieving in Federal Way is misplaced and a bit arrogant.
The big question is who are you going to trust when things get ugly? For example, someone in high places abandoned Ambassador Stevens and three U.S. security personnel in Benghazi. The hearings last week put the spot light on the ambassador’s desperate phone calls for help while Al-Qaeda targeted him to be tortured, sodomized with a bayonet and killed.
Everyone knew that September 11, 2012 was a day when the risk of terrorism was high and the warnings about Benghazi were clearly written for all to see. J. Christopher Stevens was one of their own but the ambitions of those in the political class dictated that his death and the lies that were told during the aftermath are not a real story in the eyes of many except to the extent that the controversy imperils the Obama administration.
Rather than publishing editorials advocating for gay marriage and carping about phony issues like the press not being enabled to distract folks that need to grieve and heal, the Mirror publisher should be asking how Federal Way residents can better prepare for any future horrifying events.
Getting prepared was the dialogue we fosterd in the community with the Firearms Lawyer column. The dialogue continues in these blog pages. The key is not more guns but good communication between leaders in government, law enforcement, churches and those that live and work in Federal Way.
Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to have firearms training and carry a gun along with you- just in case. The hand writing is on the wall and we are entering a new time in which the whole world is a danger zone. Yes, I am still encouraging our neighbors to get trained with firearms. We cannot say for sure what tomorrow holds.
There are definitely times when a gun is better than a telephone. The four dead residents of Federal Way might agree. Ambassador Stevens and his security team were outgunned but the amabassador could have gone down shooting instead of being taken alive. But there I go, blaming the victim again!
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Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah ("Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day"), is being celebrated by Jews all over the world as Yom HaShoah. In the U.S. we call it Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day.
Israel is commemorating the millions of Jewish people who perished in the Holocaust carried out by statist ideologues who worshipped the German state and Adolph Hitler in place of God. Inaugurated by David Ben-Gurion and Israel’s President in 1953, Yom HaShoah was to be celebrated on the 14th of Nisan, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising (April 19, 1943).
An armed Jewish rebellion started in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943. It was the largest single revolt by the Jews during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Jews died of starvation and sickness and many Warsaw ghetto residents went to the Treblinka death camp.
The insurgents had little ammunition; more weapons were supplied throughout the uprising, and some were captured from the Germans. Some weapons were handmade by the resistance; sometimes such weapons worked, other times they jammed repeatedly.
The Polish Resistance and the communist People’s Guard attacked the German’s and smuggled weapons, ammunition, supplies, and instructions into the Ghetto. The Polish resistance could not provide many weapons. Nevertheless, the Jewish Military Union (Żydowski Związek Wojskowy, ŻZW) received arms, including several automatic weapons, from the mainstream Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK).
The Polish Resistance encouraged and assisted the Jews in the ghetto but the armed Jewish resistance was an awakening that fulfilled God’s mandate in the Book of Judges that the generations of Israel coming after Joshua should know warfare!
These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
Judges 3
Today, in the United States, the technology and the ideological underpinnings of Hitler’s statism are on the move again. The racist doctrines of the National Socialist Worker’s Party- foolish religious claims of Aryan-Teutonic racial supremacy- are what we think of first in connection with Germany’s government during the time of the Holocaust. Although we do not see those racial teachings in today’s U.S. government, the seed is present here, in Europe and across the globe. For example, many in our government declare that unborn children do not have rights; i.e., that they are not human beings!
The belief that only certain people should be permitted the means of armed self-defense is another doctrine that is being propagated at the highest levels of government. The underlying premise of such a belief was historically based on a belief on the part of Southern Democrats that Blacks were inherently inferior and violent; such an ideology persists even up through modern times. More importantly, perhaps, there is a more supposedly modern perception that only professionals with specialized training can safeguard life and liberty.
Our nation’s Founders, on the other hand, saw that all the people, as a militia at large, are the best safeguard against statist tyranny in all of its many disguises. Christian thinkers like John Calvin and Francis Schaeffer wrote about the subject of civil disobedience practiced by Christians. In A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer reviewed the orthodox Christian view regarding civil disobedience. He stated that Christians must obey God rather than human governments when forced to choose between fundamental Christian principles and the dictates of the state:
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
See Acts 4:19.
God’s laws are ultimately supreme over manmade constitutional or statutory laws. Allegiance to God’s law requires that we refuse to bow down when human governmental authorities demand that we commit acts that are against God’s Word; i.e., “there is not only the right, but the duty, to disobey the state.” Note well that the U.S. Constitution recognizes that certain unalienable rights (like self-defense) are not conferred by society but are divinely endowed by virtue of the fact that all human beings are made in the image of our Creator. Y-W-H God is a supreme being who loves justice and also loves each of us at a personal level!
He also breathed some of his sovereignty into you and I when He made us in His image. Thus, tyrants hate the Bible and need to reinterpret the Constitution. Every one of us that adheres to the truth is an enemy of the secular Utopian state envisioned by progressives that seek to improve society by eliminating unwanted members of society. The unborn child is an easy target with which to begin the process of elimination. This is because unborn children are the most helpless human beings; very few interest groups will speak out on behalf of the unborn.
Government must never be substituted for the living God. Most Christians in Germany failed to perform acts of civil disobedience. But Schaeffer also pointed out that none of us has the right to decide on our own when a government is so unjust that armed resistance is justified. We should not philosophize about which conditions would need to exist in order to justify armed rebellion against government. This is because discussing such matters creates a certain political environment that exacerbates and leads to violence. Christians are commanded to obey government and live at peace with every man!
The Bible teaches us to pray for leaders in government and does not suggest that Christians should resist tyranny by revolting against authority. Thus Shaeffer did not advocate for abolishing government to form some ideal government envisioned by the nation’s Founders. Knowledge of Scripture and history teaches a thinking person that we cannot seek some abstract ideal while we live in a fallen world. Schaeffer recognized that if each man and woman does what is right in our eyes, chaos will ensue.
However, the severity our forefathers endured in order to enact the Declaration of Independence requires that force might be necessary to protect our families and neighbors against the intensity of violence that occured in societies like Germany under Hitler. The story of Esther is instructive because she stood for her people when an evil conspiracy took hold in Persia to destroy the people of Israel.
Those who hated the Jews were prepared to attack because of a decree that Ahaseurus had enacted when an advisor deceived him. The decree could not be revoked because of the ancient traditions of the Medes. Thus, in order to neutralize the effect of an illegal decreee issued under color of law, the emperor decreed a temporary edict that was like the Second Amendment. The new decree permitted Israelites and their neighbors to deploy armed force in order to defend against Israel’s enemies.
But any Scriptural analysis must focus first on the love of God which encompasses defense of others and Christians should contemplate armed force against government only under the most extreme circumstances!
Schaeffer, along with other traditional theologians going back to the earliest history of the Church, stated that Christians need to always seek a duly constituted magistrate and align ourselves with legitimate authority. This points us to those officials who are under proper authority; i.e., elected and appointed officials that are faithful to their oaths to uphold the United States Constitution and the constitutions of their respective states.
The first thing that genocidal tyrants of the right and left propose is restricting gun rights. Sheriffs in 15 states have recently vowed to defy new state and federal gun control laws. There are 380 (or more) sheriffs that have publicly committed to nullify un-Constitutional gun laws. Several state legislatures have also taken legislative steps toward making it a crime to assist federal agents to enforce illegal laws; i.e.,un-Constitutional statutes and executive orders.
The fact that the laws of our land remove local law enforcement and other local government agencies from centralized control is one of the strongest safeguards against the kind of tyranny that Germany and other modern nations experienced during the Twentieth Century, a century of collectivism and intense genocide over large areas of the planet.
There is now countering legislation proposed to remove any sheriff that does not further enforcement of the proposed new federal gun restrictions. The first effort emerged in Texas. Dallas Democratic Rep. Yvonne Davis proposed a law that would remove any sheriff or law enforcement officer who refuses to enforce state or federal laws. The law would remove any elected or appointed law enforcement officer for simply signing any document stating that they will not obey federal orders.
We need to support the growing number of sheriffs across the United States who have vowed to protect the right of citizens to keep and bear weapons for lawful defense of self and others.
Such civil disobedience is Scriptural and legal because the 10th Amendment states unequivocally that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Objections were advanced by some of the Founders that listing certain rights might result in a perception that rights not included in the Bill of Rights might be denied to the people. Thus, the Ninth Amendment retains all rights to the people as individuals:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Resolutions have been introduced in the legislatures of 27 states that would nullify federal authority over manufacture, commerce and possession of firearms within the state, provided that there is not interstate commerce involved. The legislation passed in Montana and Tennessee in 2009 and in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming the following year. in 2010, the South Carolina legislature was considering a new law that would ignore all gun registration laws within the state. Texas and West Virginia filed similar legislation for the 2011 legislative session.
Idaho, Wyoming and several other states are now also considering laws that constrain their officials to uphold their oath to the Constitution regarding the Second Amendment. The Biblical reference to magistrates is a legal term that refers to public officials, including elected and appointed officials. Many of the appointed officials in our land owe their appointments to the elite political-media complex.
The fact is that even the biggest urban counties, where the power of the elite is the most concentrated, encompass large numbers of voters that live in rural areas. These voters, like the elected Sheriffs, understand that everyone’s freedom is at stake if lawmakers enact proposed restrictions on our ability to defend our families.
Elected Sheriffs therefore have emerged as the strongest advocates for the Constitutional because they do not owe fealty to the financial and political interests that are selling our great nation to the highest bidders.
We should pray for all our officials and remember that there are certain interests attempting to divide the people from our law enforcement officials. The Book of Romans states that the magistrate bears the sword in order to suppress evildoers.
There will be difficult conflicts and controversies ahead for law enforcement and other public officials; every American needs to stand with these men and women. A shadow war- conducted under color of law- against decent public order is underway. No American should be deceived into taking matters into our own hands.
There were others, not just Jews, that died in the Holocaust. The Founders kept our government local and recognized that a well armed population is safer than the alternatives. Each of us is called to stand like Esther for our people in such a time as this.
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Shameless manipulation of statistics in Rahm Emanuel’s blood-soaked Windy City?
Chicago Mayor Emanuel is bragging because the first three months of 2013 saw the Chicago murder rate go down to 70. Michelle Malkin points out that in 2012, Chicago racked up the nation’s deadliest death toll, with 506 of its residents murdered. The murder rate has simply returned to business as usual in 2013. Here’s the first-quarter death toll breakdown for 2009-2013:
2013: 70
2012: 120
2011: 75
2010: 75
2009: 70
I heard the story on NPR about the NYC cop sent to a psych ward for blowing the whistle on the police administration in New York City. He had called attention to the City’s manipulation of crime data. This story is very well documented regarding NYC law enforcement’s policy of under-reporting serious crimes!
What do folks that live around Chicago think about the high rate of violent crime, including but not limited to gun violence, that still exists there? It seems like Chicagoans have just become numb but most the rest of the nation is saying, “This is why we are not going along with Chicago-style gun control!” There was an article in the WSJ yesterday showing that at least 17 new laws enacted since Sandy Hook, demonstrating that most states are still becoming less restrictive regarding firearms.
Some people claim they don’t even like to think about or see violence but prefer to read books like “THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO”.
Nevertheless, only a few states are going in the direction of more restrictions. The WSJ ran the story yesterday and Obama’s Democrats (like Sen. Feinstein) are lamely blaming the NRA for the fact that most of the President’s proposals for new federal gun laws are DOA; i.e., banning so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines. Such measures are DOA- dead on arrival- for those that are not in the habit of reading about violent crime. Breaking through layers of institutionalized denial is what it will take to get the vast Sheepatopia to bleat “enough is enuf!”
Does anyone really believe that if honest Americans outside the “Bloody City” disarm Chicago will be safer? A good title for a movie would be, “THE CITY WITH THE BLOODY TATTOO”. According to the Wall Street Journal on April 4, 2013:
Arkansas eliminated prohibitions on carrying firearms in churches and on college campuses. South Dakota authorized school boards to arm teachers. Tennessee passed a law allowing workers to bring guns to work and store them in their vehicles, even if their employer objects. Kentucky shortened the process for obtaining licenses to carry a concealed gun.
Those laws, along with the long odds for major federal gun-control legislation, show how the march toward expanded gun rights in recent years has hardly slowed since Mr. Obama pledged to use the “full force” of his office to tighten limits after 20 children and six adult staffers were killed at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
This year, five states have passed seven laws that strengthen gun restrictions, while 10 states have passed 17 laws that weaken them, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which tracks and promotes gun-control laws.
On Tuesday, April 2, an Indiana House committee passed a bill that would require an armed staffer in every school. A North Dakota law awaiting the governor’s signature eliminates prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons in churches. A Montana bill allowing Big Sky residents to carry a concealed weapon without a permit awaits Democrat Governor Steve Bullock’s signature. His spokeswoman stated that the Governor is reviewing the bill.
On the other hand, here in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Washington, a bill that would have required universal background checks failed last month despite Democrats’ 55-to-43 advantage in the House and residents’ 79% approval for the bill, according to a state poll. NRA members know that the reason our organization remains so aggressive is because that is what we, the rank and file members, want- no compromise!
Woe to him that builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! -Habakkuk 2:12
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Jerry Galland was running against James Fossos for South King Fire and Rescue Commissioner in 2011. Mr. Galland filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission against Fossos for not making his campaign accounts available for public inspection.
Galland asked Mr. Fossos to inspect his account books during the week before the election and Fossos was required to make the books available. Rather than meet Galland at the Fossos residence which was the address listed with the PDC per the Fossos campaign’s C-1 report, Mr. Fossos began calling and emailing the PDC to express concerns about the safety of himself and his wife.
On Nov. 1, 2011, Fossos emailed the PDC staff, stating, “…due to security concerns I have changed my meeting place for candidate financial view of my books… to the Des Moines Library.”Fossos apparently claimed that his opponent was making an issue about bringing his gun to the records inspection meeting, according to a PDC memo to the Commissioners dated March 21, 2013.
Actually, it was Fossos that made an issue out of guns at the meeting place. He stated that he had asked the Complainant not to bring his gun to the library for the inspection of his campaign records and Galland would not agree to his request.
According to my discussions with Jerry, the only reason for Mr. Fossos to perceive that Mr. Galland might carry a weapon was because of a widely reported episode in 2011 when SKFR Commissioners, which included Fossos, were forced to withdraw an illegal ban on firearms at SKFR Commissioner’s Meetings.
Jerry states:
“I neither agreed nor disagreed (to the emailed demand that Galland not be armed at the library). Fossos is practiced at jumping to conclusions, and is usually wrong when he does. In addition to saying Fossos had no right to make the demand, I simply asked if it was against the law to carry in the library.”
Jerry had previously prevailed after SKFR Commissioners tried to ban videotaping of their public meetings and then he also prevailed after a group of open carry folks came to a meeting with their side arms in plain view. The picture below appeared in the Federal Way Mirror after the SKFR Commisioners tried to have the FWPD eject Jim Beal (left) and other open carry advocates from a meeting. James Fossos (right) is wearing the black hat and other black apparel in the picture.
It looks almost like Paladin meeting Yancy Derringer or Wyatt Earp!
Jerry had previously pointed out to the Commission that its ban on firearms was just as illegal as the previous ban on videotaping their meetings. Jerry did not even own a sidearm in 2011. He did, however, bring a video camera to film SKFR meetings in order to back up what he wrote about on his blog. This apprently indicated to Fossos that Galland must also be intent on bringing a gun to meeting places.
Jerry no doubt was concerned that, without a video to record the meeting at the library, Mr. Fossos might allege that Galland became belligerent or worse- exactly what Mr. Fossos actually alleged against Galland as his defense against the PDC Complaint. Many of the PDC charges have been proven to be true and acknowledged by Fossos.
It seems unlikely that the Commission ever saw the videotape and observed for themselves whether Fossos was justified in walking away from the meeting at the library!
Fossos explained:
“…and when I got there he and his assistant began videotaping our meeting. I asked him to turn off the camera before I would meet with him and show him my books and he refused… I informed him as long as he would not turn the camera off I would not meet with them. After which he became confrontational and belligerent… “
Fossos already had made up a nonexistent threat related to Jerry carrying a weapon. Of course, carrying a gun is something that would have been entirely lawful for Jerry to do. The fact that Fossos even assumed that Jerry would be carrying was based on a false assumption.
Fossos must have reasoned to himself, “Why would anyone fight to uphold the state firearms preemption law unless he wants to bring a gun into a meeting and intimidate others with it?”
Fossos, however, seemed to suspect even more nefarious reasons for Galland to wear a gun upon his person. Fossos felt that Galland might pose a threat of harm! And the most surprising aspect of this whole sordid affair is that the PDC investigator stated that Mr. Fossos made a good faith effort to accommodate the complainant’s request to inspect his campaign books of account during the 2011 general election!
“Under the circumstances, Mr. Fossos substantially complied with the inspection opportunity requirements, and the allegations that he violated RCW 42.17.080 should be dismissed.”
In conclusion, it now seems increasingly likely that people reaching for excuses for bad conduct will raise false allegations concerning intimidation when dealing with someone that is preceived to carry a gun. Mr. Fossos succeeded in getting one of the charges against him dismissed by pretending that he was in fear of violence when he really just did not have his records in order.
There are still other serious allegations on which the Commission will no doubt rule against Fossos because he agreed that they were true. JIm should use racism as his justification the next time he gets caught not reporting campaign contributions. That is the tried and true formula for big spending politicos.
Ironically, Galland has contended all along that some SKFR officials are too free and easy in their spending on things like travel and entertainment. Incidentally, the word is that Fossos gets the bulk of his contributions from public employee unions.
Read more here.
Fossos has been a Commissioner off and on since 1993. The free and easy way that the Fossos campaign failed to timely report expenditures and in-kind contributions for advertising and related campaign expenses raises issues about whether the rest of the old boy network in South King County is too free and easy with taxpayer funds. The PDC found that Fossos also failed to timely disclose monetary contributions.
Despite Mr. Galland’s objections, the false, inflammatory and highly prejudicial allegation that Jerry “raised issues” about a gun at his meeting with Mr. Fossos at the library was included in the report on which the PDC relied. That report is now presumably included with the official record.
Jerry Galland submitted a request to the PDC under the Public Disclosure Act because he wanted to discover why a uniformed Trooper was present at the hearing. The response to his request is unfolding some interesting information and more documents from the Washington State Patrol are expected within the next two weeks.
We now know why the WSP had a trooper at the PDC meeting and paid two hours overtime, plus travel, for a uniformed officer to be present. They requested a “plain clothed officer” on the grounds that a state trooper should be at the March 28 Commission meeting “due to a potentially disruptive participant who has been known to carry an unconcealed gun”
I know Jerry well and he only started carrying concealed recently and does not open carry. Thus, Jerry has never carried anywhere that any person at the PDC meeting or anyone else would have known he was carrying. The fact that he raised the issue of an illegal policy promulgated for SKFR regarding fire commissioner meetings somehow cast him as a dangerous individual in the eyes of Suemary Trobaugh, an Administrative Officer for the PDC.
The emails we have reviewed indicate that the PDC executive director was very concerned about the individual and requested arrangements be made for WSP to cover the PDC meeting.
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Detailed information regarding use and ownership of machine guns, suppressors and other items restricted under the National Firearms Act of 1934.
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WHAT IS AN NFA GUN TRUST?
NFA Firearms are guns and other items regulated by the National Firearms Act (the “NFA”). Many people mistakenly refer to them as “Class 3” firearms or weapons.
In Washington, suppressors (or silencers) are now legal to own and shoot. The NFA still regulates these items and individuals, business entities, and trusts are permitted to purchase suppressors and some other items by obtaining permission from the ATF. Transferring or making these items requires completion of a Form1 or Form 4 along with payment of $200 for a tax stamp.
While a traditional trust can be used to purchase NFA firearms, there are many problems with using a traditional trust and therefore only an NFA Gun Trust should be used.
We help individuals and their families educate and protect themselves from unintentional violations of the NFA. The process of creating an NFA Gun Trust involves talking with the Law Office of Mark Knapp PLLC and The Apple Law Firm PLLC to determine what and how the client’s family makeup will influence the structure of the trust.
We will also assist you to limit future legislative and transfer tax risks associated with NFA firearms ownership. Once the NFA Gun Trust is designed an attorney who is licensed in the proper state reviews the trust and forwards the trust to the client. The client reviews the instructions and FAQs and has a phone consultation to discuss any questions or comments on federal and state laws.
If necessary, modifications are made, then all grantors and trustees sign the trust. Once the trust is properly executed, NFA items can be purchased. The entire process takes less than a week and often only 1 – 2 days.
The ATF requires that all individuals obtain approval from their Chief Law Enforcement Officer (the “CLEO”) as part of the application process to obtain a Title II firearm from another individual or Class 3 dealer. Many CLEOs around the country are refusing to sign or even acknowledge the ATF Forms.
No CLEO Signature Required
There is no legal remedy in most states to force the review of these forms. In Washington a NFA Gun Trusts do not require the CLEO’s signature to obtain approval on a Form 4.
No Fingerprints or Photographs are Required
When using an NFA Gun Trust to acquire Title ii firearms, no fingerprints or photographs are required. This is a cost savings and can also significantly decrease the time required to take possession of the items. Often fingerprints have to be retaken because they are not acceptable for the FBi’s criminal database.
Privacy
Individuals who submit their ATF forms to their CLEO are often concerned about who will have knowledge of their firearms. They also express concerns that they will come under additional scrutiny because the police will have knowledge that they are in possession of these more restricted firearms. In most states when using an NFA Gun Trust, neither the CLEO nor the police are given notice that you will be in possession of or own the NFA firearms.
Incapacity
If you become incapacitated, your family or friends are often the ones to help you. in doing so, they may come in contact with the restricted items and put themselves at risk of violating the NFA without knowledge. An NFA Gun Trust helps protect these individuals from violating the NFA by providing them clear instructions on what they are and are not permitted to do. Many normal trusts actually instruct people to break the law.
When you die your individually owned firearms will be part of your “probate estate.” With an NFA Gun Trust, your firearms are not subject to probate or made part of a public record. Your beneficiaries will be protected because they will receive guidance on how and under what circumstances the items can be legally transferred. if you have children, a NFA Gun Trust has specific provisions to protect them and make sure they do not receive the firearms if they live in a location where it is illegal to possess NFA firearms, and most importantly an NFA Gun Trust can help ensure that your children are mature and responsible enough that you would want them to have the firearms.
Call the Firearms Lawyer or (904) 685-1200.
See www.GunTrustLawyer.com
Co-owners and Authorized Users
When an individual purchases Title ii firearms, he or she is the only one permitted to use or have access to them. Many people incorrectly believe that it is permissible to let others use their NFA firearms when in their presence. However, the NFA would consider this a transfer and be a violation of the law. When your spouse or someone else knows the combination to your firearms safe, you may be violating the law through constructive possession.
Improper possession through constructive possession is a form of an unapproved transfer and a violation of the NFA. If you use an NFA Gun Trust to purchase Title ii firearms, you can designate additional owners and authorized users. if you want to add or change users or owners a NFA Trust can be adapted to reflect your current desires. The risk of constructive possession can be dealt with by adding that person to the NFA Gun Trust so that they can be in legal possession of the Firearms. This can help protect you and your family from the penalties of violating the NFA.
Reducing Risk of Legal Changes
Many groups are attempting to limit the ability to transfer firearms to family members or friends. With an NFA Gun Trust an adult child, family member, or friend can be made a co-owner of the trust. While the ownership of the NFA Gun Trust can be changed, the NFA Gun Trust is still the registered owner of the firearms and no transfer has taken place under the NFA. Penalties for violating the National Firearms Act can be severe.
Each violation of the National Firearms Act subjects the owner to forfeiture of all weapons, 10 years in prison, and fines of up to $250,000. Thus, our NFA Trust provides guidance to family members that rely on the trust after you are gone.
Benefits of a NFA Gun Trust Over a Corporation or LLC
Corporations and LLCs have annual fees associated with them. Business entities are not private and much information about the individuals associated with them is contained in public records. Corporations and LLCs have annual state fees and other costs associated with the maintenance of the entity.
To make a change to an NFA Gun Trust, one simply amends the trust to change who can use, purchase, or possess the firearms without risk of criminal liability for violating the NFA.
The Copyrighted NFA Gun Trust
Our NFA Gun Trust is protected by US Copyright Laws and designed from the ground up to protect the firearms and those who are using or may be in possession of them from the penalties proscribed by state laws and the NFA. The NFA Gun Trust has been rewritten with these principals in mind. This trust instructs the grantors, trustees, successor trustees, and beneficiaries on their rights, duties, and qualifications and guides them through the proper way to purchase, use, and transfer the items under state and federal regulations.
Each NFA Gun Trust comes with a comprehensive instructional memorandum that covers how to purchase, transfer, use, share, transport, store the firearms as well as how to use the trust based on questions and feedback from thousands of clients.
How to Begin the Process of Creating Your NFA Gun Trust
The first step in creating your NFA Gun Trust is to call Mark Knapp at (253) 202-2081.
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Arming Teachers and College Students for Protection in a Washington State Classroom
Dear Washington State Senator Steve Litzow,
I do not know who else to turn to regarding the emergent need, I believe, that exists for teachers in Washington State to be armed with handguns in their classrooms. After the wave of school shootings in the United States in the past sixteen-years, with no end in sight to armed intruders taking advantage of what has been deemed ‘a gun-free zone’, I see no alternative to protecting students and staff in a school building.
Evidence exists that school shooters have overcome office staff, added security guards, alarms, locked doors, video surveillance systems, and office staff with ease. They simply shot their way into the building before police could respond in force.
This has left teachers and their students as vulnerable targets to be slain execution-style in their classrooms. Had adults in this country had the guts to pass laws allowing teachers to be deputized as law enforcement or to open-carry handguns in classrooms or anywhere else in an educational campus, many of these shootings might have been prevented or reduced.
As a Washington-State certified elementary school teacher (and currently teaching college), I see my first duty as a teacher as protecting the students in my charge. The second duty I fulfill is educating them.
Other than training students to carry a can of Campbell’s soup to class each day…as an object to be thrown en masse at intruders with weapons, I see no other way to stop such potential insanity.
I know many teachers who do carry handguns to schools and quietly conceal them. This comes with the great risk of losing his/her job should administration find out…or some insurance company deem them as a dangerous lawsuit risk. How would they then be bonded and the schools protected in lawsuits?
How about a teacher’s inalienable right to protect himself/herself from injury or death on the job? Should he or she survive such a massacre, no dollars will bring closure to the mental anguish that teacher will suffer for the rest of his/her life due to the guilty feelings of not being able to protect his/her students.
I beg you to have the courage to introduce a bill in the Washington State Legislature allowing teachers to carry handguns with them into classrooms openly. Otherwise, I beg you to introduce a bill to deputize teachers as law enforcement in educational settings.
Sincerely,
Sean Thomas Taeschner, M.Ed.
Reprinted With Permission of Author
© 2013 Sean T. Taeschner, M.Ed.
We sometimes get questions as to whether a machine gun qualifies for Curio/Relic status under federal regulations. Any such items must comply with the National Firearms Act of 1934 and also local state law.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives will not allow transfer of ANY automatic weapon into Washington state since July 1, 1994 (except departmental purchases). Thus, there are no exceptions for antiques under Washington state law per RCW 9.41.190 and the definitions under RCW 9.41.010. Nevertheless, it is theoretically possible per Washington law to own an automatic weapon if you are in the armed forces, provided that BATFE will provide the $200.00 tax stamp.
RCW 9.41.190 states the following:
It is unlawful for any person to manufacture, own, buy, sell, loan, furnish, transport, or have in possession or under control, any machine gun or any part thereof capable of use or assembling or repairing any machine gun: Provided, however, That such limitation shall not apply to any peace officer in the discharge of official duty, or to any officer or member of the armed forces of the United States or the state of Washington: Provided,further, That this section does not apply to a person, including an employee of such person, who or which is exempt form or licensed under the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. section 5801 et seq.), and engaged in the production, manufacture or testing of weapons or equipment to be used or purchased by the armed forces of the United States, and having a United States government industrial security clearance.
See Washington State Attorney General Opinion.
If you are retired from the military, you may have to go to court and obtain a WRIT OF MANDAMUS (or a declaratory judgment- alegal determination of a court as to the legal position of litigants in cases where there is doubt as to their position in law)in order to get the stamp. A Writ of Mandamus orders officials to perform as required by law and is an extraordinary writ; i.e., a long shot where the BATFE’s decision on your application is to deny the application. We wilI will be glad to draft an opinion letter as to the legal issues, litigation strategy and possible legal outcomes of any proposed litigation; e.g., a WRIT OF MANDAMUS.
Opinion letters normally are limited to a well defined purview (which will be stated in the letter) subject to certain disclaimers. The BATFE is notorious for changing its policies without notice especially when it comes to defining what makes certain weapons and parts for firearms legal. The definitions are published but subject to interpretation.
We have previously researched short-barreled shot guns and there are some like the Serbu Shorty, for example, that may be legal in Washington subject to getting a $5.00 stamp from the BATFE. Thus, there are many grey areas which are subject to interpretation but obtaining a legal opinion shows that you at least conducted your due diligence if you end up in court.
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