Firearms Friday: NRA Decals

And we all have the pin to match our car!

One of the interesting things for me when my wife and I lived in Bala Cynwyd was the looks on faces when people would see the NRA sticker prominently displayed in my window. While they may have been appalled and had their liberal sensibilities offended, I remained entertained by their hoplophobia and had to keep myself from chuckling at their wide eyed stares. Having moved out to the country, that is no longer an issue but there is another entertaining aspect to the proud displays around me.

These days, rarely will I come across a car without an NRA decal or some other means of supporting the second amendment. This lack of decoration is usually accompanied by a New York or New Jersey license plate. Actually, looking around the difference is much more drastic than those previous experiences. Now, there is a variety of NRA stickers on display and there is clearly a pecking order to the cars in the parking lot of the local Turkey Hill.

Seldom will I come across a car with a single, basic, sticker. It seems as though the basic rule of thumb is that one should put a sticker in their window for each year that they are a member of the NRA. I guess you could say that this is the hillbilly equivalent of a beach tag collection. Some have about half a dozen while others clearly don’t care about seeing out through the side windows of their car. That is your basic membership level.

From there you have a number of other options. I probably see more Life Member stickers than any other kind on a daily basis. This is usually the people that put a lot of miles on their car and need the visibility. At some point, we all look at the annual cost of membership and realize that it make more sense to wait for one of the discounts offered on life memberships.

The next level up is the Endowment Member. It is pretty much guaranteed that if you see a car with an endowment member sticker, the person getting out will be wearing some piece of NRA clothing. This is also where you find the Golden Eagle members. Basically, this is the double down category of NRA members where multiple levels of membership apply. The same basic trend applies to members at the Benefactor and Patron levels the primary difference being the base price of the car to which it is affixed. And, yes, I am one of these Endowment Members.  

In the end, what is important is that we all have our membership and support for the second amendment in common. We also all have the same look on our faces when that New York plate pulls into the lot for a cup of coffee. And, of course, we all have the same smile when that person gets out of the car with their wide eyes and their panties in a bunch. You’re not in New York anymore and I’m not on the Main Line anymore!

Mortgage Monday: New Noises

THAT. WOULD. SUUUUCK!

Each place you live has its own set of noises that you have to get used to over time. When my wife and I were in Metuchen it was the sound of our neighbor’s alarm clock that he never turned off in the morning before heading out. In Bala Cynwyd, it was the sound of cars driving through the parking lot on the other side of our ground floor window. In Chester Springs, it was the constant flow of traffic, the heavy feet of the neighbors to the right of us, and the DIY obsessions of the neighbor on the other side.

Now, in our new home, the sounds are much simpler. We are not on a busy street and even when the occasional car or buggy drives by we can’t hear it through the windows are we sit back from and above the road. The neighbors are on the other side of the trees and while we can see the houses between the barren branches, we rarely see our neighbors and have yet to hear any noises. The sounds that we hear late at night are the small things like the boiler turning on or the heat makings its way through the pipes.

When we step outside there is a bit of white noise in the distance from the highways but that was something that only took a couple of days before we didn’t notice it. Now all we hear is the wind rustling the last of the stubborn leaves on the trees, the occasional deer walking through the woods, and recently, the misting rain as it collects on the roof and drips into the gutters. These are the most common sounds that we hear which are relaxing rather than annoying.

However, there are occasions when we hear other noises. While we can’t hear it from inside, there is a rooster a few doors down that really enjoys upholding the cliché associated with mornings. And, being where we are in relation to more densely populated areas, there have been a couple of weekends when we knew that someone had just bought a fresh batch of ammunition the day before. But, again, while bothersome to some, these sounds, especially given their rarity, don’t bother me.

The noises that we dealt with in the past were annoying then and they still bother me now. These new sounds are sometimes relaxing and other times we don’t even notice them. They are a part of our life in our new home and I guess that simple fact, that we either like or are indifferent to them, reinforces the fact that we made the right decision and truly found our home among the houses.

Yay (Or Nay) For UN Day!

In all honesty, I have mixed feelings every year when UN Day comes around. There have been so many great things that this institution has accomplished in its history and yet so many things that it continues to get horribly wrong in its current incarnation. If only they could look at what they have done in the past and applied those same virtues to the present the situation would be completely different and many questions regarding its modern viability would be alleviated. My personal opinion (i.e. detest for the current body of politicians) is one that is formed from the current positions that the United Nations has taken but it is also curbed by the things that, historically, this international body has allowed to happen.  

I can’t help but maintain my focus, above all other work being done, on two current issues in which I hold a personal stake in the outcome. The first is the ongoing push for the UN Arms Trade Treaty and the impact it could have on my rights. In an article published on April 14, 2013 in The Wall Street Journal, former United States UN Ambassador John Bolton summed up the push for this distasteful policy when he wrote the following:  

While much of the treaty governs the international sale of conventional weapons, its regulation of small arms would provide American gun-control advocates with a new tool for restricting rights. 

…

Like many international schemes, this treaty has seemingly benign motives. It seeks to "eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms and to prevent their diversion to the illicit market," where they are used in civil wars and human-rights disasters. The treaty calls for rigorous export controls on heavy conventional weapons, such as tanks, missiles, artillery, helicopters and warships.

…

But the new treaty also demands domestic regulation of "small arms and light weapons." The treaty's Article 5 requires nations to "establish and maintain a national control system," including a "national control list." Article 10 requires signatories "to regulate brokering" of conventional arms. The treaty offers no guarantee for individual rights, but instead only declares it is "mindful" of the "legitimate trade and lawful ownership" of arms for "recreational, cultural, historical, and sporting activities." Not a word about the right to possess guns for a broader individual right of self-defense.

Gun-control advocates will use these provisions to argue that the U.S. must enact measures such as a national gun registry, licenses for guns and ammunition sales, universal background checks, and even a ban of certain weapons. The treaty thus provides the Obama administration with an end-run around Congress to reach these gun-control holy grails. As the Supreme Court's Heller and McDonald cases recently declared, the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right "to keep and bear Arms" such as handguns and rifles. Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce remains broad, but the court's decisions in other cases—even last year's challenge to the Affordable Care Act—remind us that those powers are limited.

The other reason for my disdain is rather simple… the United Nations ongoing efforts to vilify Israel and attempts to prevent the Jewish State from defending its boarders and living in peace. In addition to the outright deplorable statements made related to Israel’s acts of self-defense, the UN’s unwillingness to recognize the terrorist states that surround the country and levy harsh penalties for their actions is borderline anti-Semitic. It is amazing how much this international body has devolved from one that supported the country’s right to exist to now defending those who seek to destroy it.

It is because of these reasons that I cannot support the United Nations nor will I celebrate this day. It is a shameful institution full of people who cannot see past their utopian ideals and view the world through the prism of reality. If justice is blind then the United Nations is Helen Keller.

Some Speakers Are Better Than Others

With a full schedule, I awoke early this morning looking forward to joining the Commonwealth Club for breakfast at The Radnor Hotel. While I did run a little late, I was there in plenty of time as I was able to get myself a modest breakfast and easily find a seat about five minutes before the meeting began and the speaker was introduced. I even had enough time to introduce myself to the distinguished guest and hand him a bag from his niece that I was asked to give to him. It is interesting how you seems to have, if you look hard enough, an existing connection to everyone you meet (I even figured out the loose connection to Kevin Bacon).

The meeting began like all the others that I have written about in the past with a few words from the Party Chairman and the introduction of the presenter for the morning. However, only a few minutes into the former Governor, Senator, and Attorney General’s talk (yes, he held all of those positions in his career) you could tell that this candid conversation was much different from those for which we had previously been present. Maybe it was the fact that he is no longer active in politics (at least he no longer holds an official office) but it seemed to be much more than that.

With all that continues to swirl around Washington and the divide that seems to widen by the day among the voting public, having someone speak to the unity that is needed, unity in the pursuit of liberty and opportunity and the diversity of this country as a blessing rang a unique tone. Not because it is a goal and a message absent from the party but because it is coming from a man who has been the target of so many attacks from the opposition but remains true to the hope of a country which embraces freedom rather than the overburdened policies and legislation designed to limit opportunity and growth within each free individual.

Hearing those sentiments from John Ashcroft really made me wonder about how this party, my party, is viewed from the opposition and how wrong that pervasive opinion really is. I have seen the people and the actions of this party with my own eyes and know the inclusiveness that is woven into the ideals ad opportunities that we promote. However, I have seen the actions of individuals who do not embody these ideals, tarnish our work and our party. But we do not let that stop us, we continue to support individual liberty and responsibility as a means to unify all of us and open the doors of opportunity to improve the lives of everyone as well as our country as a whole because, in the end, this country does not belong to one party or another, it belongs to us all.

Instead of looking for answers, look for opportunity. Don’t rely solely on the words of others, seek the truth of the matter through your own efforts. And, like Attorney General Ashcroft, focus on what is right (or the letter of the law as the case may be) rather than what is popular. After all, the truths are self-evident if we just open our eyes and embrace the rights of freedom and liberty. The rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness should not be negotiated or compromised or regulated by government. We, as a people, must be united in this continued devotion to ourselves, one another, and our country. And finally, remember that the opportunity to embrace our rights should not be ignored or else we begin chipping away at liberty.