Front Sight, Press

If they were serious about doing this stuff, I’d bust them too:

WASHINGTON – Nine suspects tied to a Christian militia in the Midwest are charged with conspiring to kill police officers, then attack a funeral in the hopes of killing more law enforcement personnel, federal prosecutors said Monday.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said agents moved on the group because the Hutaree members were planning a violent reconaissance mission sometime in April — just a few days away.

Members of the group called Hutaree are charged in the case, including their leader, David Brian Stone, also known as "Captain Hutaree."

Once other officers gathered for a slain officer’s funeral, the group planned to detonate homemade bombs at the funeral, killing more, according to newly unsealed court papers.

According to the indictment, the idea of attacking a police funeral was one of numerous scenarios discussed as ways to go after law enforcement officers. Other scenarios included a fake 911 call to lure an officer to his or her death, or an attack on the family of a police officer.

After such attacks, the group allegedly planned to retreat to "rally points" protected by trip-wired improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, for what they expected would become a violent standoff with law enforcement personnel.

"It is believed by the Hutaree that this engagement would then serve as a catalyst for a more wide-sread uprising against the government," the indictment charges…

Source: Yahoo News

These are the charges, which is one side of the argument, but I’m assuming that the Feds can back them up given the specific nature of the complaint. Assuming that the federal complaint is reasonably accurate, this is crazy stuff. This is Charles Manson type of planning: commit a horrendous crime in the hope that somehow the government response will trigger some kind of widespread uprising. There is a lot of discomfort and opposition to the government, but I don’t sense the kind of widespread discontent that could fuel some kind of violent insurrection.

People have been coming up with this kind of insanity since the 1960’s at least. It never has worked or even come close to working because it isn’t based in any kind of political reality. The overwhelming majority of the American people do not want to plunge our nation into a maelstrom of violence, destruction and death. Only small, isolated cells of people who are talking only to themselves could seriously believe otherwise.

This kind of action only plays into the hands of the other side, just like Timothy McVeigh’s crime did. It’s a public relations disaster and it makes it easy to paint the whole patriot movement as bunch of dangerous psychopaths. What kind of right thinking human being would want to be a party to the murder of innocent local police officers or their families? We might expect this kind of thing from the Taliban, but not from patriotic Americans who love Christ.

ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) — The FBI said Sunday that agents conducted weekend raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and arrested at least three people, and a militia leader in Michigan said the target of at least one raid was a Christian militia group.

Federal warrants were sealed, but a federal law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said some of those arrested face gun charges and officials are pursuing other suspects. Some of the suspects were expected in court Monday.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold confirmed the FBI had been working in two southeast Michigan counties near the Ohio state line. FBI spokesman Scott Wilson in Cleveland said agents arrested two people Saturday after raids in two Ohio towns.

A third arrest made in northeast Illinois on Sunday stemmed from a raid Saturday just over the border in northwest Indiana, both part of an ongoing investigation led by the FBI in Michigan, according to a statement from agents in Illinois.

It wasn’t clear what prompted the raids, but Michael Lackomar, a spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, said one of his team leaders got a frantic phone call Saturday evening from members of Hutaree, a Christian militia group. They said their property in southwest Michigan was being raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Lackomar.

"They said they were under attack by the ATF and wanted a place to hide," Lackomar said. "My team leader said, ‘no thanks."’

The team leader was cooperating with the FBI, Lackomar said. He said SMVM wasn’t affiliated with Hutaree, but a handful of Hutaree members twice attended monthly training sessions with his group that focus on survival training and shooting practice.

On its Web site, Hutaree quotes several Bible passages and states: "We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. … Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."…

…Law enforcement swarmed a rural, wooded property Saturday evening near Adrian, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit, neighbors said. Two ramshackle trailers sat side-by-side on the property, the door to one slightly ajar late Sunday as if it had been forced open.

Phyllis Brugger, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said some people who lived there were known as having ties to militia. They would shoot guns and often wore camouflage, according to Brugger and her daughter, Heidi Wood.

"Everybody knew they were militia," Brugger said. "You don’t mess with them."

About a month ago, 50 vehicles showed up on the property, and the women said neighbors assumed something bad was going on.

George Ponce, 18, who works at a pizzeria next door to a home raided in Hammond, Ind., said he and a few co-workers stepped outside for a break Saturday night and saw a swarm of law enforcement.

"I heard a yell, ‘Get back inside!’ and saw a squad member pointing a rifle at us," Ponce said. "They told us the bomb squad was going in, sweeping the house looking for bombs."

He said another agent was in the bushes near the house, and law enforcement vehicles were "all over." He estimated that agents took more than two dozen guns from the house….

…In Ohio, one of the raids occurred at Bayshore Estates, a well-kept trailer park in Sandusky, a small city on Lake Erie between Toledo and Cleveland. Neighbors said the man taken into custody lived in a trailer on a cul-de-sac with his wife and two young children…

Source: WHAS News

Whenever one of these things goes down, I always want to know what exactly the people did to draw such attention from federal law enforcement. Were they making machine guns or building bombs? If they were, they’re going to jail for a long time. Whatever they thought they were doing with their cause will be lost in the avalanche of legal fees and lengthy incarcerations. I will continue to watch to see what is in their indictments. There had better be some serious machine gun building or bomb making in those indictments. Otherwise, we have a serious problem here.

I had never heard of the Hutaree before this story broke, but thanks to Google, I found their site. In their “About Us” page, it says this:

The Hutaree will one day see its enemy and meet him on the battlefield if so God wills it. We will reach out to those who are yet blind in the last days of the kingdoms of men and bring them to life in Christ. Daniel 11:32-35, “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33, “And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34, “Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join them by intrigue. 35 “And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.”

Like our founding fathers who penned the Constitution, I get really nervous when religious fanaticism gets mixed with politics. It usually results in a lot of pain, and when it’s all done, nothing is gained, and a lot of innocent people get hurt.

I have devoted my life to the study of Bible. I have qualified in both Hebrew and Greek so I could do my own translations. There is a lot of “Anti-Christ” talk going around these days, and given the lousy shape the world is in, it’s understandable. But, and this is important, Barak Obama is not the Anti-Christ. If he were, he would be getting a lot more done than arresting three militia members in Michigan. Those who are getting swept up in the Anti-Christ talk, should take a breath and open their Bibles. Barak Obama is just a guy who gives a good speech and got elected president. He’ll serve out his one or two terms, and get old and die just like all the rest of us. Watch out for the super-heated rhetoric. It’s just a first-class ticket to a federal lock-up.

With that said, those warrants better be solid.

You know I’m fond of shotguns, but what in the hell does the Department of Education need with sawed-off shotguns?

Solicitation Number:

EDOOIG-10-000004

Notice Type:

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation

Synopsis:

Added: Mar 08, 2010 10:39 am

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14" - PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT - XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID - 14" LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
The required date of delivery is March 22, 2010.
Interested sources must submit detailed technical capabilities and any other information that demonstrates their ability to meet the requirements above, no later than March 12, 2010 at 12 PM, E.S.T. Any quotes must be submitted electronically to the attention of Holly.Le@ed.gov, Contract Specialist (Contract Operations Group), with a concurrent copy to Sherese.Lewis@ed.gov, Contracting Officer (Contract Operations Group).
The following clauses are applicable to this requirement:

Source: FedBizOps

Show them this:

Resident, Man Exchange Fire During Attempted Break-In

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Metro police said a man forced his way into an apartment, and then fired at least seven shots before leaving the scene.

It happened Saturday night just before midnight at the Blue Diamond Apartments, off Blue Lick Road.

Police said shots were fired between the unknown man and the resident, but no one suffered fatal injuries.

Police said an unknown man knocked on an apartment door claiming to be a relative.

"The girlfriend answered the door and she said, ‘Who is it?’ and the person at the door — it ended up being the victim’s brother’s name that they said. She didn’t recognize the voice and she knew the victim’s brother, so she knew it wasn’t him so she didn’t answer," said Louisville Metro Police Detective Mark Hord.

At that point, police said the man kicked open the door.

"The door flew open partially and the victim and his girlfriend said all they saw was a hand come into the door with a gun," Hord said.

Police said the suspect never fully entered the apartment, but still fired at least five shots.

The bullets missed everyone inside, but the resident fired back with his own shotgun he had under his couch, police said.

"He grabbed the shotgun, shot back one shot through the door that was partially opened. We could see several holes in the door coming from the shotgun," Hord said.

Police said it’s unclear whether or not the bullet hit the unknown man. When the man took off, he fired at least two more shots inside the apartment through a sliding glass door.

"There were several bullet holes in the blinds that hang over the sliding glass door, so the sliding glass door was just shattered. It’s weird that when you’re there, it’s a weird eerie sound because it’s still cracking and pieces are still falling," Hord said…

Source: WLKY News

Without that shotgun, this would have been a “Dial 911 and Die” kind of situation. Now, I’m glad this didn’t happen next door, but again, the value of the shotgun shines through. The pellets didn’t shoot through and injure the innocent. The 12 gauge shotgun is hard to beat for urban home defense.

HOLLISTER, Calif. – The man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon had a history of mental illness and had become so erratic that his parents reached out to local authorities weeks ago with a warning that he was unstable and might have a gun, authorities said Friday.

It’s still unclear why John Patrick Bedell opened fire Thursday at the Pentagon entrance, wounding two police officers before he was fatally shot. The two officers were hospitalized briefly with minor injuries.

Bedell was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic depressive, and had been in and out of treatment programs for years. His psychiatrist, J. Michael Nelson, said Bedell tried to self-medicate with marijuana, inadvertently making his symptoms more pronounced.

"Without the stabilizing medication, the symptoms of his disinhibition, agitation and fearfullness complicated the lack of treatment," Nelson said.

So how’d he get the guns and ammo? I thought these kinds of folks were “prohibited persons.”

His parents reported him missing Jan. 4, a day after a Texas Highway Patrol officer stopped him for speeding in Texarkana. Bedell told the highway patrolman he was heading to the East Coast, and began acting strangely — sitting on his knees by the side of the highway and turning off his cell phone when it would ring.

Bedell said it was his mother calling, prompting the patrolman to answer the phone and talk briefly with her. Family friend Reb Monaco said Kaye Bedell asked the officer to take him to a mental health facility, but that the son refused.

The patrolman let Bedell go after issuing a speeding ticket and a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia, including a pipe and a green plastic box with marijuana residue.

Are you kidding me?

The next day, Kaye told deputies in California that her son had no reason to travel to the East Coast because he had no friends or family there and she and her husband were worried about his mental state, San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill said.

Hill also said Bedell’s parents found an e-mail from their son that indicated he had made a $600 purchase from a shooting range in the Sacramento area that could have been a gun or ammunition.

And what gave you the first clue, Holmes?

The 36-year-old Bedell returned to his parent’s home Jan. 18, telling them "not to ask any questions" about where he had been. But he left after that, and his parents didn’t know where he went.

I’ll ask questions in my own house of my own kids whenever I damned well please; thank you very much.

Little is known about his trip east, but authorities know he spent time in Reno, where Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said he was arrested on Feb. 1 with two ounces of marijuana in his car but no weapons.

The Bedell family put out a statement Friday saying they were "devastated as a family by the news."

"We may never know why he made this terrible decision," the statement said. "One thing is clear though — his actions were caused by an illness and not a defective character."

Well, duh. So who sold him the guns and why wasn’t his extensive history of mental illness in the NICS?

Bedell, the officials say, opened fire with a 9 mm handgun just five feet from the nearest officer, Marvin Carraway. Fellow officer Jeffery Amos ran out of a nearby guard booth to confront Bedell, as did a third, unidentified officer. All three officers gave chase and fired at Bedell, who was struck in the head and left arm.

Witness Dan Namisi said he had just emerged from the Metro station, headed for a bus home, when he heard a "pop." The Uganda native hit the ground, and the next thing he knew, officers swarmed over him and put handcuffs on him.

Yeah, great. Grab the black guy…

The assault at the very threshold of the Pentagon — the U.S. capital’s ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001 — came four months after a deadly attack on the Army’s Fort Hood, Texas, post allegedly by a U.S. Army psychiatrist with radical Islamic leanings.

Hatred of the government motivated a man in Texas last month to fly a small plane into a building housing Internal Revenue Service offices, killing an IRS employee and himself.

The shooting resembled one in January in which a gunman walked up to the security entrance of a Las Vegas courthouse and opened fire with a shotgun, killing one officer and wounding another before being gunned down in return fire.

Source: Yahoo News

So, what’s your point? Is there some kind of connection here beyond garden variety insanity?

In my more paranoid moments, I almost suspect that the powers that be want this kind of stuff to happen so they can further restrict gun ownership. With all of these warnings signs, why wasn’t this guy picked up? Why wasn’t his info in the NICS? Just like Cho at Virginia Tech, the signs were clear for anyone to see.

OK, I’ll say it: despite my near-fanatical devotion to the Second Amendment, there are some folks out there who have no business being in possession of any kind of firearm, and this guy is one of them. Democracy and equal rights under the law presupposes rational behavior. Those who are incapable of rational behavior give up some of their rights. There is nothing wrong with that. Epileptics are not allowed to pilot jet airliners because they could have a seizure at a critical moment and kill a lot of people. The same goes with guns. A person who has demonstrated acute mental instability forfeits their right to unrestricted firearms ownership. Life is not always fair. Get used to it.

And as for poor John Patrick Bedell, had the people around him – his parents and local law enforcement – acted like adults and done the hard work of reeling him in, he might be alive today and two Capitol City police officers wouldn’t be in the hospital. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An armed man was arrested inside the Wal-Mart on Hurstbourne Parkway around noon Friday.

Louisville police said 38-year-old Cecil Hume had a loaded handgun.

Police said Hume was spotted inside the women’s bathroom with the gun.

Officers arrested Hume and charged him with disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed deadly weapon.

source: WLKY

…and what exactly were you doing with your gun in the ladies restroom?

Across the U.S., most public universities ban students and faculty from carrying concealed handguns on campus. Colorado State University has, up until now, been one of the few exceptions to this rule. But now, campus leadership wants to change the policy, and that’s not sitting well with students and local gun rights advocates.

The university’s board of directors voted to pass a ban on carrying concealed weapons last year. At a news conference on the Fort Collins campus earlier this month, Terry Tyan, of the advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, says the ban — which has yet to be finalized — would violate Colorado’s concealed-carry law. She says that if the university continues to try to ban firearms, the school would be answered with a lawsuit.

The region’s county sheriff, Jim Alderden, says if the CSU policy is put into place, he will not jail anyone found guilty of violating it.

"What CSU is trying to pass is a policy," Alderden says. "And their position is that the university policy trumps state law and the U.S. Constitution."

Alderden says school policy should not trump state law. But under Colorado law, campuses do have the authority to implement weapons control policies. And the university’s spokesman, Brad Bohlander, says that most other campuses in the state already have these policies.

But Bohlander says the ban won’t go into place until a specific university policy is approved. So far, CSU officials have been pouring through public comment on a draft of the plan…

Source: NPR.org

Joe Stack flew his very nice Piper Cherokee into an office complex in Austin, Texas which housed some offices for the Infernal Revenue Service. He had recently gotten a tax bill on unpaid income for $13,000. Have you priced a Piper Cherokee lately? (hint: it’s a lot more than $13K). Before he did that, he set on fire his lovely home, which he shared with his wife and step daughter. (Houses in north Austin are a bit more than $13K, too. I’ve been there.) And, he obviously planned this out really well because he had his whole IRS kamikaze manifesto posted on the web so that all of the news services could find it quickly and they did. Tragically, he also killed Vern Hunter, a Nam vet and IRS worker, injured several others and demolished a very nice airplane.

OK, let’s review. You have your own business, moderately successful with some ups and downs. You live in a lovely house with your wife and step-daughter in one of the most interesting cities in the country. You play base in a rock band with your friends just for fun, and privately own your own aircraft. You get a bill from the revenuers for $13K and the best you can think to do with yourself is to burn down your house and fly this great plane into a cheap black glass office complex and kill yourself and some other people. Great. Way to go, Joe.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you Joseph Stack III, stone cold bug nuts crazy.

Joe, you probably can’t hear me very well right now since you’re dead and probably scattered around in a bunch of little pieces, but I’m superstitious enough not to take anything for granted, so I’ll say it anyway. Joe, there are people in Haiti right now with their arms and legs torn off drinking from sewers because they have no fresh water, and they still cling to life because something in their souls tells them that this life is worth living and what they do with it counts. There are soldiers walking the dusty streets of Afghanistan knowing any minute they can be hideously maimed, but they do it anyway because they believe that what they’re doing matters and the world will be a better place if they do their job well. There are old ladies sitting in dark and cold apartments trying to decide if they should buy food or the heart medication to keep them alive, and they buy the meds because they believe that their lives matter.

And you, Joe? You’re just insane. That’s all. You’re not a hero or a martyr. All you really managed to do was to raise questions about the security of civil aviation. Nothing changed, except for Vern and his wife, and your friends and your wife. They are all really hurt because you let them down in a big way. Everyone trusted you and you proved yourself completely unworthy. The news media is all a-twitter about if you are a “domestic terrorist” or not. But, we know the truth, don’t we? You’re not a terrorist; you’re just plain old crazy.

Before we sweep the scattered little bits of you into history’s garbage compacter, I want to be clear on this. Were we supposed to be inspired, to rush into the streets and lynch all the IRS agents? Were we supposed to speak in hushed tones of your “heroic sacrifice”? Were we supposed to memorize your narcissistic tome as if it were some kind of gospel? Sorry. I didn’t get the memo. What you did manage to do, however, was to accomplish the impossible: you caused me to feel sympathy for an IRS agent. Ain’t that a bite in the ass?

New Rule On Guns In National Parks Takes Effect February 22

On February 22, a new law on guns in national parks takes effect.  The law repeals a National Park Service rule that has long prohibited Americans from lawfully possessing firearms in national parks for self-defense.

The new law, passed last spring by an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate, will allow people to possess, carry and transport firearms in national parks, in accordance with state law.

However, many details remain to be worked out.  Reports indicate that National Park Service officials are debating issues such as the definition of "federal facilities," where firearms will remain prohibited under a different federal law.

Source: NRA-ILA

It just gets crazier and crazier in La-La Land:

Gun rights advocates have a California police detective in their crosshairs after he apparently posted comments on Facebook advocating that "open carry" supporters should be shot.

East Palo Alto Police Det. Rod Tuason apparently posted the remarks on his Facebook page in response to a friend’s status update, which suggested that gun advocates who carry unloaded weapons openly — which is legal in California — should do so in places like "Oakland, Richmond and East Palo Alto" and not just in "hoity toity" cities.

"Haha we had one guy last week try to do it!" Tuason replied. "He got proned out [laid face-down on the ground] and reminded where he was at and that turds will jack him for his gun in a heartbeat!"

Several comments later, the detective suggested shooting the gun rights advocates, some of whom have carried firearms openly in recent weeks in California’s Bay Area, particularly at Starbucks locations.

"Sounds like you had someone practicing their 2nd amendment rights last night!" Tuason wrote. "Should’ve pulled the AR out and prone them all out! And if one of them makes a furtive movement … 2 weeks off!!!" — referring to the modified duty, commonly known as desk duty, that typically follows any instance in which an officer is investigated for firing his weapon.

Those comments caught the attention of a California attorney and blogger, as well as a Virginia man who started a Facebook group calling for Tuason’s termination.

John Taylor, whose Facebook group had 54 members as of midday Friday, said the Facebook thread confirmed gun owners’ worst fears.

"Any sworn officer who suggests shooting law-abiding citizens for exercising their most basic constitutional rights deserves the full wrath of America’s gun owners," Taylor told FoxNews.com. "It’s an affront."

California’s Penal Code makes it illegal to carry concealed weapons without a county-issued license. But it is legal to carry an unloaded weapon in plain view in a holster. In most cases, it is illegal for an unconcealed weapon to be loaded…

Source: Fox News

I still believe in the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech, and I don’t think people should lose their jobs for posting an off-duty rant on their Facebook page, but when the person posting the rant has the capability to back up their misguided opinions with deadly force and malicious prosecution, well, we have a problem.

I will confess to having some mixed feelings about the open carry movement. While it may be within the scope of those rights protected by the Second Amendment, open carry does pose practical and political difficulties. Given the level of violence, terrorism and insanity out there, police officers do face a difficult problem when they see someone carrying a gun. The police officer has to determine the intentions of the gun carrier without trampling on the carrier’s rights. The carrier may be an upstanding citizen and he may be the next mass murderer. Also, in many regions of the country, people just aren’t accustomed to seeing citizens packing guns around, and I do have some concern that this practice could trigger a backlash which could result in more restrictive gun laws.

In the story quoted above, it is clear that this officer is talking about open carry advocates with unloaded guns whose intentions are known. The officer wants to “prone out” these open carry advocates to teach them a lesson, and threaten them or even shoot them with an AR-15, a felony in itself. This is a severe abuse of police power. Because of this, I find these remarks completely reprehensible and I do believe the officer should be disciplined. I wonder how many of his colleagues harbor the same opinions?