Respect or fear

We've already seen one reality challenged right winger express his desire to go back to the time of the Walton's.  Too bad walking around with a gun back then probably would have ended up with a trip to the Hoosegow.

Take the word of Sheriff Taylor:

Georgia Sovereign Citizen Killed By Deputy while Trying to Take Over the Court House

Dennis Marx

Raw Story

Authorities shot and killed a sovereign citizen Friday morning outside a Georgia courthouse after he brought weapons and explosives in an attempt to take over the building.

Investigators said Dennis Marx arrived at the Forsyth County Administration Building with an assault rifle, bulletproof vest, smoke grenades, and a gas mask.

Marx also brought water and other supplies, ammunition, zip-tie restraints, and buckets of homemade explosives to the courthouse, said Sheriff Duane Piper.

“He came here with the purpose of occupying the courthouse,” Piper said.

He deployed stop sticks at the courthouse entrance to prevent other vehicles from driving closer and opened fire from his vehicle.

Marx was met outside the courthouse by a deputy – who distracted and then fatally shot him through the windshield of the man’s SUV.

The deputy, a 30-year veteran, was shot in the knee during the confrontation but was expected to recover.

Proper Gun Control

Proper Gun Control Laws (not exhaustive, a work in progress)

1. Licensing of all gun owners which would include a penal background check, a mental health background check, an eye exam, a written and practical test and approval by the local authorities (may-issue licensing).

2. Registration of all newly bought firearms which would need to be renewed after three months and yearly thereafter by presenting the paperwork and the weapon to the police.

3. Background checks on all purchases including private ones. This can be done at the local FFL dealer for a nominal fee.

4. Three day waiting period for all first purchases. (to be removed as unnecessary after rule 1)

5. "May Issue" policy for concealed carry permits managed federally - same rules in every state.

6. Assault Weapons Ban using the California model which would include restrictions on extended magazines.

7. Safe Storage of Firearms when not in use - guns must be kept in a gun safe.

8. All negligent discharges should be considered criminal.

Good guys with guns or.....

You make the call.

Molon Lame

Thermopylae comes up a lot for two reasons: 1) Xerxes asked the Spartans to give up their weapons, and 2) Zack Snyder's 300 gives members of the "patriot" movement hard-ons that could burst a carbon-fiber condom.

Guess what, the attributed utterance of "molon labe" may not have even happened at all!  According to Stephen Hodkinson, BA, PhD, FSA, Professor of Ancient History and Director of the Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies at the University of Nottingham: the phrase didn't appear in extant writings from close to the time of the Battle of Thermopylae.  We only know the phrase from the writings of Plutarch, which come from about 580 years after the battle:

Finally, some comments on the “molon labe” phrase ascribed to Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. It does not appear in Herodotus’ account, written in the later 5^th century, which records the witty sayings of another member of the 300, Dienekes. Neither does it appear in accounts of the battle deriving from Ephorus, who wrote in the 4^th century and who himself drew upon a contemporary poem about the battle by Simonides. To my knowledge, the only appearance of the phrase in all the ancient evidence about Thermopylae is in a work by Plutarch, writing in the early 2^nd century AD: the Apophthegmata Lakonika (Sayings of Spartans), which is part of Plutarch’s Moralia. It is no. 11 out of fifteen sayings ascribed to Leonidas.

Professor Hopkinson later clarified in an email:  

As far as we can currently tell, many of [the Spartan sayings] were probably invented in the late 4^th or early 3^rdcenturies BC, at a time when Sparta had ceased to be a major international power and became instead an attractive source of moral examples for the new and rising Hellenistic schools of philosophy. However, the late 4^th or early 3^rd centuries BC is still 150-200 years after Thermopylae, a long time after the event.

In sum, the historical authenticity of the phrase “molon labe” is uncertain.

Of course, you can have all the facts on your side, but no one will care if it isn't an interesting story. The ignorant will chose an interesting story to the facts any day.

See also:

• Did Sparta Exercise Arms Control In Its Society?
• “Molon Labe” Was Uttered By An Arms-Controlling Tyrant
• 6 Things Gun Lovers and Haters Can Agree On--especially item number 2

Stop Me Before I Buy a Gun Again

Yahoo News

John Hokanson Jr. is bipolar. The 33-year-old has been involuntarily committed several times, in California and in Arizona, and he has been in court-ordered outpatient treatment. Yet no red flags were raised when he purchased a surplus Army rifle from a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Phoenix.

In fact, the only reason we know this particular mentally ill man purchased firearm is because he’s deciding to tell his story, frustrated by what he sees as a “false dichotomy” with mass shootings framed as either a mental-health issue only or a gun issue only.

Everyone agrees that guns should be kept out of the hands of the mentally ill, even the National Rifle Association. But taking the steps to make that happen is where agreement ends. The Isla Vista shooter’s fragile mental state was known by his parents and the professionals who had treated him since childhood, but police doing a “wellness check” on him at the request of his mother failed to even ask about the guns in his possession.

Hokanson thought he needed a gun because he was living in what he describes as a bad neighborhood. This was in 2005-2006, so he was in his mid-twenties. During a depressive episode when he wasn’t caring for himself or cleaning his apartment, and was in the hospital awaiting evaluation, his sister took it upon herself to break into his apartment and remove the rifle. She took it to a gun turn-in program. Initially furious with his sister, Hokanson came to see the wisdom in what she did.

Vermont Gun Store Blames Layoff on Obama

Yahoo News

A gun importer in Vermont that blames President Barack Obama for the recent layoff of 41 employees, actually makes a decent argument for why the White House is responsible for the cutbacks. It also shows how short the government has fallen when it comes to delivering on the gun control reforms promised after the tragic Sandy Hook shooting. 

According to the Associated Press, Fairfax's Century International Arms was unable to import close to $30 million worth of vintage rifles from South Korea because of a an executive action signed by the president last summer. The Huffington Post explained at the time: 

One new policy will bar military-grade weapons that the U.S. sells or donates to allies from being imported back into the U.S. by private entities. In the last eight years, the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to come back to the U.S., the White House said, arguing that some end up on the streets. From now on, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms.

Fox News further explained that the ban, which was announced in August (in addition to one that would prevent people from avoiding a background check by registering guns to a corporation), came "after Congress declined to pass any gun control legislation earlier this year despite an aggressive White House push for action in the wake of the Newton, Conn., shooting massacre." The bans were seen as an effort to keep gun control on the agenda after a failure to significantly shift the status quo following the Sandy Hook tragedy, and in the midst of increased panic about how to handle the crisis in Syria. 

At the time, onlookers said antique dealers would be sure to take issue with the ban. And, indeed, yesterday Century posted a statement online blaming the government for thwarting its import plans, and forcing it to significantly cut its staff: 

Unfortunately and unexpectedly, The White House intervened at the last minute and blocked this importation. This importation was denied despite our explaining that the denial would harm the company and pointing out that there is no rational, gun-control reason to block the importation of these historic, 70-year-old firearms. 

What the cry babies in Vermont are forgetting is that the Executive Order didn't only affect their deal with South Korea - it banned the importation of all military grade weapons.  That's a good thing. Plus, let's not overlook that little trick about registering guns to a corporation as a way of avoiding the background check. That won't fly any longer.