The Smallest Minority

The whole quote, from Rand’s Atlas Shrugged goes:

There is no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. When there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking the law. Create a nation of lawbreakers and then you can cash in on the guilt. Now that’s the system!

Well, here’s another example, and a reference to Carnivore – the program that sifts through e-mail for incriminating evidence:

Spring man raided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services

Three days before Halloween, George Norris, 24407 Pine Canyon Drive, Spring, got a visit from a U.S. agency that proved scarier than any spook or goblin.
He is still recovering from the encounter.
Norris, 65, and his wife, Kathy, own Spring Orchid Specialties.
“I import orchids from all around the world and have been doing it more than 25 years,” he said.
A small greenhouse is located in the back of their home.
The income supplements his Social Security check.
He suffers from diabetes, arthritis and heart problems and is unable to work, he said.
At 10 a.m. Oct. 28, he said, three pick-up trucks pulled into his driveway and six people, five men and one woman, got out.
All of the men were wearing body armor and carrying sidearms.
Four of them came to the front door and two went to the back.
When he answered the front door, one of the men identified himself as a special agent with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), a branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“They serve me with a search warrant, they sit me in a chair in my kitchen, tell me not to move out of the chair. They read me my Miranda Rights, then tell me I’m not under arrest, but I can’t leave that chair,” Norris said.
“They wouldn’t even permit me to get my glasses to read documents they were showing me. They had to send somebody to get my glasses for me.”
The agents had a search warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy in Houston, empowering them to search for a certain type of orchid imported from Peru without required United States import permits.
According to FWS, Norris represented the plants as lawfully imported and sold them via electronic mail. The importation and selling of the orchids is a violation of the Lacey Act and is a felony.

Selling a flower is a felony?

The agents proceeded to rummage the entire house and greenhouse for nearly four hours, he said.
“They went through our dresser drawers, they went through my wife’s underwear drawer; they went through my sock drawer; they went through our closets; they went through all the rooms in the house.
“They tore up everything, particularly my office. They took 20-something boxes of documents; they took my computer; they took my customer list; they took invoices; they took everything. They even took floppy disks that had fishing pictures on them.”
Norris said he tried in vain to explain to the agents he was in compliance with U.S. and international laws allowing the sale of the type of orchid for which they were searching, phragmipedium, which grows in Peru.

Of course it was in vain. This is the U.S. GOVERNMENT you’re talking to. They know everything!

Two types of classifications, Appendix One and Appendix Two, exist for some orchids, Norris said.
Appendix One orchids are endangered and Appendix Two are threatened. Appendix One applies to a limited quantity of plants considered seriously endangered in the wild.
All the rest of the plants are Appendix Two, which are considered threatened but legal for trade.
“I imported some Appendix One type plants from Peru in August, but they were artificially propagated. Any of the Appendix One plants that are artificially propagated, they don’t come from the wild. They are either grown from seeds or divisions of plants that have been in greenhouses for a long time or something other than wild collected. They’re no longer subject to Appendix One; they become automatically Appendix Two if the grower can certify that they are artificially propagated,” he said.
Though the FSW agents listened, he said, they didn’t seem to understand the explanation.
“They don’t understand the differences. These are people that mostly make raids on folks with illegal parents, people trading in rhinoceros horns, tiger products, things of mostly animal nature,” he said.
Norris said he believes his troubles may stem from FSW’s use of CARNIVORE, a government system that can tap into computer e-mails.
“They showed me page 3 of a 5-page e-mail from several years ago where I was being offered smuggled plants. They did not show me pages 4 and 5 which were my answer to this fellow telling him we would not buy any such plants that were undocumented. This was so old that I don’t even remember this e-mail,” he said.
“Well, they went down and convinced the judge to give them a search warrant because they had an old copy of my CITES document from Peru showing these plants on there which they generally regard as Appendix One plants.
“But I imported them on my permits which allow me to import artificially propagated Appendix One plants,” he said.
About four years ago, the FWS conducted a similar investigation of his premises and concluded he was in compliance with all laws, he said. “And this search was done without a search warrant by only asking me to cooperate, which I did.”
Terry Thiebeault, the FWS supervisor of the agency’s latest search of the Norris premises, declined to comment Monday on the case.
Norris has not been arrested or charged.

BUT HIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN CONFISCATED.

Norris said he will ask Judge Milloy to rescind the search warrant order and to instruct the FSW to return all the material they confiscated.
“For now, I am out of business and prevented from conducting my business,” he said. I am getting checks coming in for payments of bills, but I do not have any of those records to make the payments to.”

So, again we have the heavy hand of government coming down on someone over what appears to be a misunderstanding on the .gov’s part.

Now, was it really necessary for USF&WS officers to be armed over a flower raid?

I guess they haven’t taken kitten-stomping lessons from the BATF.

Yet.

Assigning Blame

In another of my semi-regular looks at the political cartoons, here’s a series on blame:

Jack Ohman of the Portland Oregonian blames fast food for making people fat:

So does Jeff Koterba of the Omaha World Herald:

Mike Smith of the Las Vegas Sun points a finger, too:

Then Henry Payne of the Detroit Press takes it to the next logical level:

David Horsey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also blames the wrong people, but on a different subject:

Don Wright of the Palm Beach Post blames the RIGHT people here, though:

And finally, blame is assigned where it’s due. Now the question becomes what punishment is appropriate? Chuck Asay of the Colorado Springs Gazette weighs in:

You can imagine what my choice would be.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIM!

Well, Looks Like New Jersey Will Be Disarmed Soon

According to Jointogether.org, New Jersey passed a “Personalized Handgun” law last year:

After a 90-minute debate, the New Jersey State Assembly passed the Childproof Handgun Bill, which calls for stricter controls on firearms, the Montclair Times reported Nov. 21. (2002)

—

The bill calls for all guns to be equipped with technology that only permits the weapon to be fired by the owner, once such technology becomes available.

In related news, Jointogether also reports:

Smart-Gun Deal Cut

An agreement between an Australian gunmaker and a U.S. university paves the way for the manufacturing of smart guns, the Associated Press reported Aug. 30.

The agreement between gunmaker Metal Storm Ltd. and the New Jersey Institute of Technology will combine Metal Storm’s electronic handgun with the institute’s “dynamic grip-recognition” technology to create a firearm that can only be fired by its owner.

“It is a very robust system that can work in all kinds of extreme conditions, left or right hand, whether you are wearing gloves or not, and even whether you are in muddy or wet conditions,” said Ian Gillespie, Metal Storm’s Australian general manager. “It can also be programmed for multiple users if required.”

Donald H. Sebastian, vice president for research and development at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said the gun would meet standards set under the New Jersey smart-gun laws passed last year.

Well, there you go! No more new handguns in New Jersey! Now, the question is does the law really call for “ALL guns” to be so equipped, or merely all new guns?

And are the police exempt from having to use this incredible technology that will keep them from being shot with their own weapons?

Gun Grabbers Controllers Never Let Mere Facts Interfere

In a bit of possibly poetic irony, a police organization is holding a raffle fundraiser for a law-enforcement memorial.

The prize? A Rock River Arms CAR UTE Elite, a .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle (article doesn’t say whether the stock is the Law-enforcement-only collapsible or the peon civilian fixed style.)

Needless to say, the GFW’s are frothing over it:

Tom Mannard, executive director of the Chicago-based Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, said guns like the CAR UTE Elite may not be on the banned list, but they basically are cloned replicas of assault rifles that are, like the Colt AR-15.

Mr. Mannard said the fact that it is being raffled off to help fund a memorial dedicated to officers killed in the line of duty is disturbing.

“To raffle off a gun used, more often than not, to kill innocent people, and particularly law-enforcement officers, is pretty misguided,” he said. “To raise money for a memorial is wonderful, but you’d hate to see an officer’s name go up on that memorial because they’re killed by an AR-15 or a similar weapon.”

“…used, more often than not…”??? Ah, hyperbole. But they keep stating it as fact!

The officers have a pretty effective response, though:

That’s highly unlikely, said Det. Karzin.

Only one officer in the last 44 years has been killed by a weapon of this sort in the state of Illinois,” he said.

But since when have actual facts bothered gun controllers? Tell a lie often enough and people believe it.

John Johnson, executive director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence, said he was surprised to learn of the raffle one day after visiting the Quad-Cities to lobby for tighter assault-weapon restrictions.

“It’s almost more than ironic that police officers would be auctioning off a weapon that is used in a disproportionate number of officer shootings,” he said. “One out of five officers killed by guns are killed by assault weapons, even though they make up less than 5 percent of all guns.”

Mr. Jones? I want a cite for that “fact.” Original source, not a “Brady Bunch” report.

Detective Karzin puts up a good defense, though:

“It’s not what they’re portraying it as,” he said. “It’s a legal weapon you can buy at any gun store in the Quad-Cities. It is not fully automatic. We couldn’t raffle off a banned weapon, or I’d have to put myself in jail.”

Give ’em a little more time, Detective. Just ask New Jersey farmer Dennis Pryslak.

TWO ROUNDS = “ASSAULT WEAPON”

Only in New Jersey (for now)…

New Jersey farmer Dennis Pryslak was convicted of possessing an “assault weapon” after an incident at his farm store in which Pryslak pulled his firearm when one of his employees was arguing with a customer. The article is quite lacking in detail, but it does say this:

State police investigating the incident discovered that the gun is considered a prohibited assault weapon in New Jersey, authorities said.

The semi-automatic gun comes with an ammunition magazine capable of holding 17 bullets. In New Jersey, guns with magazines that hold more than 15 bullets are considered assault weapons, authorities said.

Defense Attorney Jack Cornish argued that his client bought the gun from a friend and didn’t know it was an assault weapon.

Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Steven Siegel cited a 1997 state Appellate Division ruling that essentially puts the onus on gun owners to know whether or not a particular gun is banned in New Jersey.

Anyone want to bet what it was?

Now, explain to me please how a 15 round magazine in this pistol makes it not an “assault weapon,” but a 17 round magazine in it does.

Another One I Wish I’d Written

But I know I couldn’t have done this one justice. The Rev. Donald Sensing writes most eloquently about Why compassion cannot be a basis for public policy. Money quote:

Individuals exercise compassion, defined by the Oxford dictionary as “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings and misfortunes of others.” Governments and social arrangements exercise justice. Justice is only accidentally compassionate because justice, to be justice, must balance the valid, competing needs of persons and groups within society. Justice attempts to answer, “What is right, what is fair?” Justice is enforced against the will of at least one of the contending parties. Hence, justice is at its foundation coercive.

The Merriam-Webster definition of the verb coerce:

1 : to restrain or dominate by force

2 : to compel to an act or choice

3 : to bring about by force or threat

As George Washington supposedly said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force!” And Rev. Sensing makes a very cogent argument why government should not be used as a source of compassion. As always, RTWT.

I Think the AP Missed Something Here

While the Yahoo caption to this photo says:

US Army soldiers take rest during patrol in Baghdad suburb, Monday Nov. 17, 2003. U.S. forces have reacted to the increasing attacks in which dozens of Americans and their allies have died by mounting a massive show of force in central and northern Iraq

I think they missed the (*cough*) “editorial comment” of the soldier in the foreground:

Excellent work, soldier!

UPDATE: Unbeknownst to me, LGF covered this yesterday. I feel so behind the curve…

Damn, I Wish I’d Written That

Dave at Pervasive Light links to this piece by Jonathan David Morris concerning the link between the recent Lester Campbell and Stratford High School incidents. Money quotes:

Stories like those of Mr. Campbell and Stratford High don’t happen in a vacuum. There’s a very real pattern here. There are forces at work in this country trying to “protect” us from things. If it’s not guns, it’s drugs. If it’s not drugs, it’s bad choices. But whatever it is, it always ends up costing us a fortune.

Our better welfare is a billion-dollar industry. From concealed carry statutes straight on down to seatbelt and helmet laws, we’re consistently told our welfare depends on new rules, police powers, and legal settlements. We buy into this bait-and-switch every time. Which is great if you’re a congressman — since you can vote yourself a pay raise, collect a nice pension, and gerrymander your way to absolute power — but not if you’re anyone else.

When politicians try to protect us from ourselves, they often only protect themselves from us. That’s a problem.

Read the whole thing.

I wish I’d written it.