Liberty For All

by Roderick T. Beaman 

My oldest brother, Thomas, was an engineer and was selected for Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. I had a brother who was three or four years younger but he died at the age of four of spinal meningitis. It was a fulminant case and took him in just 24 hours.

My next brother, Richard, also received an engineering degree, later went to law school and entered the bar. My next brother, John, fell out of a third story window, also around the age of four, fractured his skull and was nearly killed. He wound up brain damaged with a variable IQ that could fall into the retarded range and had poor motor co-ordination. I was the youngest of my family and became a physician. Our sister was about four years younger than John and eight older than I.

Growing up was painful for me, to a large degree due to him, we called him Jack; Thomas, Tom and Richard, Dick. Jack was eleven years older than I and I saw him struggling to play softball and the other games the neighborhood kids played in the heart of Manhattan. Children can be cruel, both intentionally and unintentionally. He was often ridiculed and called names, those were some of the intentional things but the unintentional may have hurt more. He was often told to get our sister to play because ’she plays better than you do.’ It was hard seeing that.

As I grew up, it wasn’t too long before I was outperforming him in every game; softball, stickball, football, basketball, etc., all the staples of city life but Jack never complained or displayed any resentment of it nor for my academic achievements that quickly outstripped his.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Larken Rose 

Let’s have a discussion about how far one has to sail out into the ocean before he falls off the edge of the earth. Is it 50 miles? Maybe 150? Or is it more? Wouldn’t that make for an informative, intellectually stimulating debate?

Well, no. It would be a stupid waste of time. Why? Because (brace yourself if you haven’t heard this yet) the earth is spherical (more or less); it doesn’t have an edge. So discussing how far away the edge is would be pointless. A discussion based entirely upon a false premise isn’t likely to enlighten anyone.

Notice that I describe this list as “anti-political.” If you’re expecting me to endorse a party, encourage voting in some particular way, or advocating some sort of legal reform, don’t hold your breath. Instead, on this list I will do something you will NEVER hear in any “normal” political debate: I will look at some of the underlying premises upon which ALL so-called “political” discussion is based.

Be warned: I will get around to goring the political ox of almost everyone on this list, and people don’t like that. (I know I didn’t, back when I had a political ox to be gored. Thankfully, my ox has since died the death it so richly deserved.) I will dissect things we’ve all taken as self-evident, and address topics that proper, obedient peasants don’t like to think about.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gunning Bedford, Sr., April 7, 1742 - September 30, 1797

Bedford was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as Governor of Delaware. He is often confused with his cousin, Gunning Bedford, Jr., who was a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Gunning Bedford, Sr. was born on a farm in New Castle Hundred, near the town of New Castle, son of William and Catherine Jacquett Bedford. William Bedford was the grandson of another William Bedford who came to Delaware from Virginia around 1680, and who himself was the grandson of an English immigrant to Jamestown, Virginia in 1621. Gunning Bedford was educated at the Academy of Pennsylvania and married Mary Read, the sister of George Read in 1769. They had no children. They lived at 6 The Strand in New Castle and were members of Immanuel Episcopal Church. He began his career as a merchant at New Castle, but later studied law, and was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1779.

In 1775, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Bedford was appointed as a major of the New Castle County militia. In the spring of 1776, he was appointed as a lieutenant colonel in the Delaware Regiment under colonel John Haslet. That summer of 1776 saw the Delaware Regiment engaged in many battles of the war. During the battle of White Plains, Bedford was injured. He returned home for a short stay to recuperate. After returning to duty in January of 1777, he was engaged in the Battle of Princeton where Colonel John Haslet was killed. He very well could have taken over command of the Delaware Regiment, but instead he chose to return home since his enlistment had already expired. Possibly his previous wound was still agitating him.

Read the rest of this entry »

by R. Lee Wrights 

Here’s a news story you’ll rarely read in your local newspaper:

YOUR HOMETOWN (Today) - A masked man armed with a rifle entered a local school today, but left quickly when one of the teachers produced a revolver and ordered him to leave.

No one was injured and no shots were fired in the incident. The gunman is still at large.

Most newspapers, radio and TV stations still operate on the hard-and-fast journalistic rule, “if it bleeds, it leads.” You really can’t blame the news media for this. Most people like stories about conflict and action. That’s why the sports pages are so well read, and we have cable channels dedicated to every competitive activity and sport conceivable — even golf.

But there are hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of incidents where a firearm was used by a private citizen to prevent a crime or defend against a crime which are never reported to the police and never covered by the news. In a white paper “Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens,” the Cato Institute looked at thousands of news reports over an eight year period. Their study found that the overwhelming number of self-defense cases involve situations where the gun is never fired.

These are some of the law-abiding gun owners who were able to save a life, or prevent a rape, burglary or other crime, and no shots were fired:

-  An 80-year-old pharmacist on duty in Missoula, Montana who confronted a masked man demanding painkillers. The pharmacist pulled out a pistol and told the criminal to leave. The masked man screamed and left the store.

Read the rest of this entry »

by David Kopel 

A common trope of many Second Amendment advocates is to urge more vigorous enforcement of existing federal gun control laws, as the alternative to enacting additional laws. Rhetorically, that’s very effective. But as a policy matter, it is not always a good idea. Consider legislation recently considered by the Senate:

The Manchin-Toomey amendment was supported by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), although the group later dropped its support for reasons unrelated to the issues raised in this post. Section 102(3) of Manchin-Toomey was the finding that “Congress believes the Department of Justice should prosecute violations of background check requirements to the maximum extent of the law.”

The alternative to Manchin-Toomey was the Grassley-Cruz substitute, which was supported by the National Rifle Association. Grassley-Cruz had a much more detailed program, with supporting funding, to increase federal prosecutions for violations of 18 U.S. Code 922 (the section which defines most of the prohibited acts by persons who are not licensed firearms dealers) and section 924 (the penalties section, with penalties for the various offenses by licensed dealers and by other persons, as well as definitions of some additional crimes). The beefed-up enforcement is in pages 15-26 of Grassley-Cruz.

Both Manchin-Toomey and Grassley-Cruz included a variety of other changes in federal gun laws, and some of them were very constructive. But as for the prosecution provisions, I think they were dubious.

Read the rest of this entry »

by J.J. Summerell

The tax reform plan announced by state Sen. Phil Berger is just another charade designed to make citizens think Republicans are actually reducing taxes. Calling it the Tax Fairness Act and claiming it’s the largest tax cut in state history is misleading at best.

In fact, it isn’t fair and it isn’t a tax cut. Senator Berger and the other Republican leaders at their press conference last week probably used the word “fair” hundreds of times.

No tax is fair. Taxes are inherently unfair. Every tax hurts someone. The only difference between taxes proposed by Republicans and Democrats is which special interest group is going to benefit and which is going to pay.

Granted, Senator Berger’s plan moves North Carolina from a system of taxation that taxes production to a taxation system that taxes consumption. This is a step in the right direction, but only a small, miniscule step rather than the major reform that is needed. The individual and corporate income taxes should be repealed immediately. One hundred percent repealed, not simply marginally reduced.

Read the rest of this entry »

by CCRKBA staff 

Thursday’s revelation that the Washington State court system has been hacked and the records of hundreds of thousands of citizens may have been accessed clearly demonstrates why gun owners are adamantly opposed to background check records keeping, and want the state’s pistol registry destroyed, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

Reuters reported Thursday afternoon that up to 160,000 Social Security numbers and a million driver’s license numbers “may have been accessed.”

“This is the kind of vulnerability and privacy invasion that law-abiding, responsible firearms owners fear,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “If hackers can break into the state court system, they can just as easily break into records kept on gun owners at the Department of Licensing, where the handgun registry is currently maintained. This could be a gold mine for gun thieves.

“This is why,” he continued, “we insisted that the state pistol registry be abolished and that no records be retained on background checks when we agreed to discuss background check legislation earlier this year. The other side wouldn’t budge. They want gun owner privacy to be at risk.”

Read the rest of this entry »

by Roderick T. Beaman 

The world stopped to commemorate the passing of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, on April 8. Many mourned and some celebrated. Numerous observers recollected an ostensible collaboration, arising out of a stochastic synchrony with Ronald Reagan that brought down the Soviet Union.

The Iron Lady, as she was called, was appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain in May 1979. Her Conservative Party was voted into power under similar circumstances to Ronald Reagan’s advent in The United States shortly later. Both countries were awash in an economic distress that was approaching chaos. Inflation and unemployment were skyrocketing in this country and England was little different.

The United States had just been thoroughly humiliated by communist forces in Viet-Nam and the international decline of Great Britain, who had been our ally for at least a while there, was near the end with little left of its once round-the-world empire. At the turn of the twentieth century, the saying was that the sun never set on British soil. Viet-Nam had been our longest and costliest war. (It’s an interesting aside, to wonder what phase we are at now in our demise. Britain’s is over now and ours is accelerating.)

The legend handed down has been that Reagan threw down a gauntlet of challenge that the central power of communism, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, could not match. It’s a nice tribute to a generally fondly remembered president that is far more myth than truth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Bassett, April 17, 1745 - August 15, 1815

Bassett was an American lawyer and political figure from the state of Delaware who, as a veteran of the Revolutionary War and delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A member of the Federalist Party, he served in the Delaware General Assembly, as Governor of Delaware, and as U.S. Senator from Delaware. He holds the Senate Rank of 1, as the most senior United States Senator during the First Congress of the United States.

Bassett was born at Bohemia Ferry in the Province of Maryland’s Cecil County. His mother, Judith Thompson, had married part-time tavern-owner and farmer Michael Bassett who deserted the family during Richard’s childhood. Since Judith Thompson was the great granddaughter and heiress of Augustine Herrman, the original owner of Cecil County’s massive estate of Bohemia Manor, her family raised young Richard. Eventually this heritage provided him with inherited wealth, including the Bohemia Manor plantation as well as much other property in Delaware’s New Castle County.

Bassett studied law under Judge Robert Goldsborough of Province of Maryland’s Dorchester County and, in 1770, was admitted to the Bar. He moved to Delaware and began a practice in Kent County’s court town of Dover, which, in 1777, became the newly-independent state’s capital city. By concentrating on agricultural pursuits as well as religious and charitable concerns, he quickly established himself amongst the local gentry and “developed a reputation for hospitality and philanthropy.” In 1774, at the age of 29, Richard married Ann Ennals and they had three children, Richard Ennals, Ann (known as Nancy) and Mary. After Ann Ennals’ death he married Betsy Garnett in 1796. They were active members of the Methodist Church, and gave the church much of their time and attention.

Read the rest of this entry »

by CCRKBA staff 

BELLEVUE, WA - Newly-released data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) proves that more guns in private hands do not lead to more murders, and a Pew Research study showing widespread ignorance of this fact suggests that the public has been misled, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“The BJS data covers 1993 to 2011 and suggests that for almost 20 years, the gun prohibition lobby has been consistently wrong about private gun ownership and its correlation to crime,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “The Pew report suggests that the public has been essentially hoodwinked into believing otherwise.”

An Associated Press report about the Pew Research revelation suggested that “intense publicity generated by recent mass shootings” may help to skew the public perception about gun-related violent crime.

“The release of these reports blows holes in the gun prohibition agenda,” Gottlieb stated. “If violent crime had gone upward, gun grabbers would exploit the fact as proof that more guns in private hands lead to more violent crime.

“However,” he added, “if the gun rights community argued that the BJS data proves increased gun ownership leads to lower violent crime rates, the dominant liberal media would savage the notion. Of course, this is the same anti-gun press that has sensationalized crimes while remaining silent about the actual crime data.

Read the rest of this entry »