Beretta Tactical

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/754.html

Cut and paste link. Truly a great perspective on gun ownership and freedom.

“Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end. “

Obama Finds Legal Way Around The 2nd Amendment and Uses It.

If This Passes, There Will Be War

The Full Article Here
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE59E0Q920091015

Obama Takes First Step in Banning All Firearms On Wednesday Obama Took
the First Major Step in a Plan to Ban All Firearms in the United States

On Wednesday the Obama administration took its first major step in a
plan to ban all firearms in the United States . The Obama administration
intends to force gun control and a complete ban on all weapons for US
citizens through the signing of international treaties with foreign
nations. By signing international treaties on gun control, the Obama
administration can use the US State Department to bypass the normal
legislative process in Congress. Once the US Government signs these
international treaties, all US citizens will be subject to those gun
laws created by foreign governments These are laws that have been
developed and promoted by organizations such as the United Nations and
individuals such as George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. The laws are
designed and intended to lead to the complete ban and confiscation of
all firearms.

The Obama administration is attempting to use tactics and methods of gun
control that will inflict major damage to our 2nd Amendment before US
citizens even understand what has happened. Obama can appear before the
public and tell them that he does not intend to pursue any legislation
(in the United States ) that will lead to new gun control laws, while
cloaked in secrecy, his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is
committing the US to international treaties and foreign gun control
laws. Does that mean Obama is telling the truth? What it means is that
there will be no publicized gun control debates in the media or votes in
Congress. We will wake up one morning and find that the United States
has signed a treaty that prohibits firearm and ammunition manufacturers
from selling to the public. We will wake up another morning and find
that the US has signed a treaty that prohibits any transfer of firearm
ownership. And then, we will wake up yet another morning and find that
the US has signed a treaty that requires US citizens to deliver any
firearm they own to the local government collection and destruction
center or face imprisonment.

This is not a joke nor a false warning. As sure as government health
care will be forced on us by the Obama administration through whatever
means necessary, so will gun control.

Read the Article

U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States reversed policy on Wednesday
and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms
sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said
gave every nation a veto.

The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State
Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s
administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that
national controls were better.

The Full Article
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE59E0Q920091015

Have you noticed the lies of the left have started to come unraveled? I am so excited by the news coming from the actual scientific community refuting nearly all of the climate change propaganda. I was worried for a while thinking the anti-gun Nazis were going to use global warming to ban gu, well not guns, ammunition for their “emmissions.” And belive me they will try any excuse to ban the evil firearms. Ya’ll join me in spreading the word on how corrupt and evil the libs really are. Lock ‘N Load bothers, we’re on deck.

Let me begin by saying that ya’ll know I’m crazy, but not that crazy! I would never run for the Senate. Senators are too pompous, arrogant and all they know to do is form a committee to study something, they never actually DO anything of any real substance. But assuming for a moment I had a complete lapse of higher mental functions and did decide to run for congress I would start out at a definite disadvantage. I know I would do a lousy job of fund raising, I would have to be independently wealthy. I couldn’t go around with my hand open asking for money and end up owing favors for it, that’s what drives our political system, money and favors, and it’s wrong.

Like most who run for office, I would make promises. My first promise would to be a true leader not a follower. Our Representatives are all followers. They sit in their offices and look out the window, when a parade goes by they jump from their chairs and yell. “Those are my people, I need to go lead them!” And they run outside to lead a movement that started without them. Before a single one of those lazy “leaders” proposes or backs a bill or policy they call Rasumsen or Zogby, run a poll in their district, then take the stance that best resembles the results of the polls. Well not me! I have studied the Constitution, the principles of our Founding Fathers, the Federalist papers just to mention a few and I promise I would never violate their intentions, direction or tenets or to diminish the freedoms they fought so hard to give us.

Every speech I ever gave would contain the following; “If I don’t get censured, an order to apologize to another member or simply completely removed from the chamber every 6 months, I am NOT DOING MY JOB FOR YOU!” They need an angry old New York Italian heritage cowboy to drag them off their high horses once in a while and throw them a good beating. They are only Congressmen, not the Pope or anything and maybe the Pope could do with an occasional slap now and then too.

Now as long as we are enjoying this fantasy the other thing I would do, much to everyone’s chagrin is, I would have an aide follow me around Washington and the Capitol building with a sign that clearly says, “IT’S NOT OUR MONEY!” Furthermore I would carry that sign into the well for every single speech or debate on the floor of that rat infested chamber.

So you can see, I could never get elected, I just ain’t crooked enough. Never mind the skeletons in my double deluxe walk in closet that needs bracing to keep the doors closed for fear the slightest vibration would cause them to burst open and burry the poor soul walking by. So would you vote for me?

Don’t you find it kind of odd that Romney-Care in Massachusetts is out of money, medical care is being rationed, the state is nearly bankrupt because of it and the Democrats aren’t screaming about the Republican failure? Worse yet not one single newspaper or network has run even a tag line on the “crisis” either. Kind of funny if you take a moment to think about it. Mitt himself was so proud of his program he couldn’t stop talking about it during the campaign. Now the all merciful one want to implement something similar nationally is wasting an opportunity to dump on a Republican? I’ll tell you why, because Democrat or Republican, they all suck. Some don’t suck as much as others but we don’t want to vote for someone who doesn’t suck as much as the other guy we want to vote for someone who is good for America. Right now the entire lot of them are nothing but a bunch of lying, thieving, self centered, arrogant megalomaniacs, and the all suck, in case you didn’t get my drift.

The founders revolted against massive, arrogant Government and gave us a country that was just slightly left from no government at all based in freedom and self reliance. Today we have the Democrats who yearn for oligarchy, total control of the people, and Republicans who beg for just enough freedom to satisfy some of us old timers. This whole concept of centrist government is not what those brave folks risked their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor for back in 1776.

This whole rampage of left wing versus right wing is a bunch of crap. It is more like left wing versus the not quite so left wing and that’s not what Franklin, Adams, Washington et-al. fought the most powerful nation in the world for. If some of these “Prancing” with the Stars fans would please read a little history the original plan was quite different. Follow me here, if the far right is anarchy and the far left is oligarchy the design of this great nation was to be only a few steps away from the far right limit. Far enough away to maintain law and order but close enough to keep burdensome regulations and counter creative policies off the individual to foster risk taking, innovation and commerce.

Since I’m on a roll here let’s talk about myth of entitlements and separation of church and state. Welfare is not mentioned in the Constitution anywhere except in the preamble. It says specifically, “promote the general welfare,” nothing else. Ya’ll get that, promote part? It doesn’t say, “Pay people to stay home and have babies”, nor does it say, “Give them mortgages even if they have no job so as to make the payments.” As far as “separation of church and state,” it is not in there, anywhere! Try reading the First Amendment which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Do you see anything about taking down the Ten Commandments from courthouses, or removing a nativity scene from a City Hall lawn? Anybody who can stretch those words to remove God from the Pledge of Allegiance is a complete water head. While you have that web page open to the Bill of Rights to check my facts, try reading the Second Amendment, it guarantees the First, I hope you get that too.

America has become populated with a bunch of sissies who can’t bear being offended. Boo, Freekin’ Hoo! “Mommy that person said something nasty to me, waaa, waaa, waaa.” Give me a break! Try acting like men who used to strive for success, honor and advancement of family. Put women back on their pedestal out of the muck and mire of what used to be called a “man’s world” of business and war. If a woman works, pay her the same for the same work but keep her out of the trenches and battles. Act like a John Wayne or Chuck Heston American not a Brad Pitt or Joaquin Phoenix pretty picture sissy girl.

Arabs Can\'t Shoot

Guys this is freekin hysterical! He’s shooting an H&H 600 Nitro Express

It seems to me that over the past 40 years or so Government has not only become more distant from our founders tenets but more controlling of our freedoms. When Franklin, Adams and Madison wrote in the Constitution that the Federal branch should regulate trade they meant, “to make trade regular” not to create restrictions on trade. This brings me to the crux of my point, the most heinous iron fist of our Government, The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, more commonly referred to as the BATF. Firstly, firearms are covered by the Second Amendment, end of discussion. Alcohol has been a mute point since the repealing of prohibition which, when implemented, made gangsters rich and depleted federal coffers trying to catch them. Finally tobacco, what’s up with that? The evil invading Europeans who raped and ravaged this land and stole it from the peaceful, agrarian, eco-loving, cannibalistic, self warring and scalp hunting indigenous Americans introduced the world to tobacco. So how could it be bad? I thought it was cool to be like the Native Americans.

Stick with me here fellow conservative, Bible thumping, gun toting eco-terrorists, we will have some fun before this is over, I promise.

The recent downturn in the economy, coupled with the brilliant policies and regulations (restrictions) introduced by our all merciful leader the DahIiBama have essentially destroyed a business I have been trying to build for over 4 years. Now I am faced with searching for a new direction of income. I am too old for some company to hire me other than passing out carriages at Wal-Mart, and by the way if I ever go there just shoot me when you walk in. So I searched my soul and brain to find a new direction in the sunset of my life, and then suddenly I had an epiphany, nay I was struck by a bolt of lightening, a vision!

I am certain we all agree that the BATF is one of the most offensive and useless branches of our illustrious and oppressive government, so why shouldn’t I take advantage of their disgraceful presence? With that in mind I have decided to open a convenience store.

My new convenience store is called, quite simply, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. At one end of the store there is a gun shop, complete with reloading equipment, cast and copper bullets, powder, ammunition and even reloading presses and the best assortment of ugly black guns that are sure to make Barbara Boxer toss in her sleep all night long. At the opposite end of the building is a specialty liquor store. It would be stocked with the finest single malt scotches, vintage Bordeaux Clarets and even a hearty supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon for early morning hunting. Separating the two anchors is a basic, simple convenience store. This buffer as it were would have all the basics, chips, Tasty Cakes, but more importantly, cigarettes, cigars and snuff. Can you imagine? You’re wife is on her way home from work on a Friday night, you ring her on her cell, “Honey, please stop at ATF and get me a pack of Phillies cigars, a quart of scotch, a box of 12 gage number sixes and two lottery tickets.” Now that’s ONE STOP SHOPPING! How could it fail? So once I get it open Ya’ll stop in for a drink, some ammo or a Tasty Cake, ya’ hear? By the way, if you ever want to find out who your best friend is lock you dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour. When you open it see who is glad to see you.

You are all aware of these anti-gun zealots who ask why you need a gun when we have a police force. We all answer that 911 is 3 minutes away but my gun is right here or something of that manner. Or the folks who come over your house and ask do you have a gun in the house? You answer “yes.” Then they say “Is it loaded?” Again you answer “Yes.” Then they ask, “I hope you’re not planning on shooting anyone?” Finally, quite disgusted you say, “I have a damned fire extinguisher but I’m not planning on burning my house down.” At which point you tell them to go home. You know those folks?

Well last week I was at a very formal dinner party and at the table was one of those guys and he was on the verge of harassing me on the gun control subject despite my very valid and verifiable argument (see Glenn Beck’s Arguing with Idiots) when I had an epiphany. I looked him square in the eye and said, “I’ll make you a deal, if you put a sign in front of your house for one year that says, ‘THE PEOPLE IN THIS HOUSE ARE UNARMEDAND CAN’T DEFEND THEMSELVES’ and if you do not get robbed or murdered I’ll take every gun I own and melt them down with a torch. I was shocked when he said, “NO!” Then I laughed. So you can see, you can argue with an idiot, AND WIN! You are all free to use the same argument when you run into one of those morons.

Im just gonna post this before I start spitting up blood……. PLEASE read this.
Its rare that I would “beg” your assistance, but good lord, were gonna have to start “teamin’ up” or lose our way of life. dw

Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC)

Article by Robin Taylor, courtesy of the US Practical Shooting Association. Taken from the May/June 2009 issue of Front Sight Magazine.

Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC)
It’s not about Trade, it’s about Control

By Robin Taylor, USPSA Staff

If you’re lucky, you have never heard of the “International Trade in Arms Regulation” treaty, or ITAR. Administered by the State Department through something called the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), this treaty is supposed to keep track of “defense” exports. Unfortunately, what you don’t know is about to hurt you.

Unintended Consequences

DDTC’s ITAR process hummed along out of the public view for years, focusing on the major international trade in firearms and military equipment until President Bush II moved to make the directorate 75 percent self-funding. In one fell stroke, he gave the agency the power to set its own budget, and levy its own taxes.

The results have been predictable. New rules published on Sept. 28, 2008 explosively increased fees. Furthermore, DDTC has expanded its tax base to include all “arms” trade in the United States. Civilian firms with no military or export connection whatever are getting ominous letters from their wholesalers (Brownells sent a letter to all its vendors) asking if they are “in compliance” with the mysterious ITAR.

Subsection I(a) of the ITAR includes all firearms, barrels, “military” scopes, and all “components, parts, accessories and attachments” for any listed item. Subsection III includes manufacturers of ammunition, bullets, and technical data for the production of the above. If you cast bullets at home and sell them to your neighbors, you need to file with the DDTC. However, your Dillon press is exempt.

Flipping through the pages of Front Sight, “cartridge cases. . .bullets,” “firearms,” and “accessories and attachments” to firearms takes in pretty much our entire advertising base. We checked, and the magazine extensions USPSA competitors use have been ruled a “defense article” and all manufacturers of same must register with DDTC. The C-More optical sight? Tubes for a 170mm magazine? Moon clips for a revolver? As best we can tell, every advertiser in this magazine other than Dillon and a few soft goods firms must register and be tracked as a “manufacturer” or “broker of defense articles” under DDTC’s purview.

If you don’t think that affects your ability to exercise your second amendment rights (albeit indirectly), or to enjoy shooting, take a minute and think about it. ITAR calls for government registration of all arms manufacturing. Not only will the government know exactly who makes how much of what, should the government decide NOT to issue a registration permit to any of those people, they’re out of business, immediately.

Basic registration has climbed from a few hundred dollars for a multi-year registration four years ago to $2,250 per year. Fail to pay this, and you risk federal prosecution. Should you actually export, the fees climb dramatically.

“For that money you get absolutely nothing,” says Jason Wong of the Firearms Law Group. (Wong advises clients including Sig Sauer, U.S. Ordnance, and Gemtech on compliance with federal firearms laws and export controls, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).) “I don’t mind paying my taxes, because that goes to pay for schools and roads and stuff, but this is something else.” While we know of a few accessory makers (of grips) that have been given a pass on registration, according to Wong, they’re the exception.

“It’s not just us,” said a representative from an accessory catalog. “I went to a Commerce Department training session and State Department reps came on one day. They said they’re targeting every company in every industry, so that they will know everyone involved before it’s all over.”

Airplane components, computer chips, optics for anything from night vision to missiles, thanks to the “accessories” clause, DDTC’s reach is astoundingly broad.

“Every industry group has this same complaint,” said our catalog representative. “The only way we can know if something is covered is to get a (State Department) ruling on it.”

Until recently, the whole ITAR process operated in a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” manner. If you built non-military parts and didn’t export, nobody at “State” really cared. Looking at it from a bureaucratic point of view, registering the little fish cost them time and money, and for what? Now that DDTC relies on registration to fund itself, that situation has changed.

“Now nobody says anything because they’re afraid. They know if they stand up, it’ll cost them $2,250 a year,” said an accessories maker that chose to remain anonymous. Some not-so-friendly competitors notified DDTC that his firm was making parts without a permit, and the hammer fell.

2008’s Year-End Surprise

Under its new rules, DDTC collects its registration fees at the end of the year, using a sliding scale depending on how many export licenses you requested. If you didn’t get the memo (”it was on the website. . .”), that means you pay for each of last year’s licenses when you renew your ITAR registration. Licenses that were almost free now cost $250 each.

I spoke with Dave Skinner at STI about their experience with the DDTC’s escalating fees. Almost half their business is with overseas clients.

“In three years (the changes) took us from $750 per year, to $1,750, to $18,500 per year in export costs.”

Pauletta Skinner handles most of STI’s export operation. She renewed STI’s registration early, fearing another doubling in fee prices akin to 2006-2007. Instead, the 2008 fee rose by one thousand percent – 10 times the previous year’s fee. “I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I called them back because I thought it was a typo.”

Apparently DDTC put the change on their website, but didn’t notify registrants directly. When the bill came, STI was caught short. With no way to back up and pass the costs on to the customer, STI faced an ugly choice: Write a check for an extra $16,000, or cease operations immediately.

“We’re still reeling at the increase in costs,” says Dave Skinner.

Now put yourself in the shoes of Brownells, parts resource for gunsmiths worldwide. Brownells has a staff of five to deal with permitting issues for their international shipments. Huge swaths of their 36,000-item catalog are controlled by ITAR.

“We would have been happy with only that kind of a jump,” said David Dean when I asked about STI’s $16,000 surprise. “We do hundreds and hundreds of licenses, but I can’t give any details about the proposed fee since this issue is still being negotiated.”

Each foreign order over $99 for controlled items requires an export license from DDTC. For a company whose international business is likely in the millions, that’s a lot of permits. Brownells is still running under what was a two-year registration. They paid the new base fee to keep their registration alive, but that huge per-permit fee hangs like an axe over their business model. As Dean explained, even under the new rules, there are several possible ways to calculate fees. There is a “3 percent of value” option, but according to Sandy Strayer at SV, even the top hands on the DDTC response team weren’t sure how to calculate it. Hence the protracted negotiations. If Brownells is lucky, they’ll “only” have to pay 3 percent of their export gross to the State Department.

While the registration end of this is problematic, that’s just the beginning.

Paper Cuts: The ITAR Recordkeeping Requirements

Once registered, all firms controlled by the DDTC must adopt recordkeeping requirements as detailed in ITAR subsection 122.5. This means maintaining durable change-controlled records of:

-anyone that might control technical information,
-the disposition of all “defense articles,”
-production figures,
-and a “compliance plan” so that “defense articles” are properly tracked so that they don’t fall into the hands of unauthorized persons

“It’s a huge document control burden,” says Jason Wong of the Firearms Law Group. “While it doesn’t seem bad to firearm makers that are already tracking their products, it’s a major problem for ammunition and parts manufacturers.”

Firms like S&W that might apply for permits with a value over $500,000 must keep durable records of political contributions, gifts, loans, offers of loans, etc. All these records, including the production figures, etc., must be made available to the DDTC or to persons authorized by the DDTC (including Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol) on request.

The lunacy of requiring accessory makers building parts for raceguns to treat their bits with the same level of control as components for the M1 Abrams tank need hardly be explained. Thankfully there is an exemption for the technical data for commonplace parts whose design information can be found “in the public domain.” That gets a little iffy in cases where the design was partially financed by the government (a la anti-tilt followers for the AR-15), but for the typical USPSA-oriented accessory maker, it offers *some* relief.

Unfortunately, according to Wong, “State” has the reputation for not being what you’d call “business-friendly.” Other attorneys that specialize in this area of law told us that “we’d always rather be dealing with Commerce than State.” Our experience with the State Department has been positive (SV and others recommend speaking to Roy Simkins on the DDTC response team). Also, Dean tells us that the officers he has worked with have all been helpful and well-informed, if occasionally hard to reach (he once sat on hold for an hour and 15 minutes). He tells us that his vendor base says largely the same thing, with a few exceptions.

Wong’s experience was different. “I’ll be up front and tell you – if you don’t like ATF, the State Department is infinitely worse. ATF will be reasonable when they need to be. State Department will have no compunction about putting you out of business.”

Wong related the story of one ammunition manufacturer that applied to export a modest amount of ammunition (less than 10,000 rifle cartridges). The permit was denied five times – despite being destined for an obviously friendly government agency. After each denial, rather than take up the original application, State insisted that Wong’s client re-file a new application with the words “maybe we’ll approve it this time.” He says no explanation of why the original permit was denied was ever offered.

We can only hope that Dean’s experience is more the norm.

Technical Data

Another nasty wrinkle of the ITAR regulations comes in the guise of “Technical Data.”

Pretend for a moment that you did business in sidewinder missiles. It’s not hard to understand why the State Department would be concerned about the disposition of the technology behind them. Now apply all the security controls you might reasonably apply to the technology behind a sidewinder missile, to the manufacture of an EoTech or similar sight.

Another of Wong’s domestic clients dealt with a firm that does metal injection molding overseas. “They e-mailed their tech specs to this company for bid, which then forwarded it to an offshore production facility and started making parts. They just exported the technical data, and they need a permit for that.” If you work as a consultant, as many of our members do, that’s often a “defense service,” governed by ITAR. While we didn’t discuss training specifically, training is another potential “defense services” nightmare for our top shooters.

Sound silly? One of the “enforcement actions” trumpeted by the DDTC on its website is the arrest of a man “after authorities found rifle scopes, stun guns and other prohibited items in luggage for his trip to Iran.”

So What Do We Do About It?

The small domestic manufacturers, the “little guys” that are now getting roped into ITAR, weren’t at the original negotiating table when the effects of this fee increase were discussed. Now that the word is out, we’re not likely to get ITAR repealed, but it is reasonable to expect State to create an appropriate licensing scheme for small manufacturers, particularly those that do not export. $2,250 annually and a slough of paperwork is more than enough to crush a fledgling business – especially the small custom shops that USPSA is famous for. By adopting a reasonable base fee, DDTC can expect greater compliance with less enforcement cost, netting more revenue in the long run.

Is it really too much to ask that DDTC registration have a basic fee in keeping with a basic business license?

As Dean told us, “We’ve had some guys say ‘I’m sorry, I can’t afford to do that, I’m not going to make it anymore, delete my product from your catalog.’” Do we need clearer evidence of a negative economic impact than that?

BATF – Backing Up Toward Reasonable Governance

I feel for the guys answering the phone for DDTC, and for the BATF. Top-tier political appointees hand down a ruling, and the poor guys in the middle have to make sense of it – whether it makes sense or not.

BATF staff faced a thorny regulatory situation post 9/11, when someone decreed that anyone bringing a firearm into the United States was “importing” the firearm.” (Visiting shooters no more “import” their guns than visiting drivers “import” their cars.) Hunters and USPSA competitors from Canada found themselves filling out the infamous Form 6, intended for people who really do import military hardware, which said things like “if you are importing ballistic missile technology, please use form No. ____.” While ATF’s posture on “importing” is still quite odd, the new Form 6a is much more appropriate, and borders on the reasonable.

Crushing small businesses with inappropriate licensing is hardly the “stimulus” that President Obama extols, neither is it a “change we can live with.”

The State Department’s budget is controlled by the Senate Foreign Relations committee (controlled by anti-gunners on both sides of the aisle) and by the Senate Budget Committe, which has a few friendly faces. I urge you to send a letter to these two:

Sen. Chuck Grassley, 135 Hart Building, Washington, DC 20510. casework@grassley.senate.gov.

Senator Jim Bunning, 316 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

If you’ve got time for a third, send that to President Obama, emphasizing the opportunity to make points with and for pro-gun Democrats like Max Baucus of Montana. It may be one of few opportunities for them to avoid an F rating from the NRA.

As they stand now, the DDTC’s new rules are not about “trade,” they’re about “control.”

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© 2009, Robin Taylor, USPSA

Robin Taylor is the assistant editor of Front Sight magazine, the official journal of the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA). www.uspsa.org or www.frontsightmagazine.org.