HAWKS-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
DECEMBER 2018
HAWKS CHRISTMAS PARTY
There are no minutes to read this month because we did not have a business meeting this month, we had our annual Christmas party instead. We ate at Richie’s. In my opinion, the food was excellent but the service was slow. There were several complaints about having to wait too long to be served. We will probably want to discuss this at the next business meeting.
How to Fight Corporate Gun Control submitted by Bill Rogers
When it comes to gun control, many people think of legislation, political campaigns, and even ballot issues. Lately, though, a new front is opening up in the battle for our Second Amendment rights – and it is primarily in corporate corner offices and boardrooms. Major corporations are now siding with those who attack our Second Amendment rights. Sounds harsh, but that is the objective reality behind the decisions of a number of companies who cut ties with the National Rifle Association in the wake of the shooting in Parkland. But it is going beyond that, as well.
Banks are already enacting policies to close accounts used by Federal Firearms License holders. This was started under Operation Choke Point, and even though the government version was shut down, the approach has been seized on by anti-Second Amendment activists funded by Michael Bloomberg, who have pressured Bank of America and Citibank to take action.
The fact is, Bloomberg and others who seek to make the Second Amendment a dead letter have doubled down on the social stigmatization of those who exercise their constitutional rights to keep and bear arms, as well as using their First Amendment rights to protect the Second Amendment. This is part of the reason Silicon Valley’s push against the Second Amendment is so dangerous, as well.
Some of this has been pushed by officials like New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo’s had a long history of hostility towards the Second Amendment, and his most recent efforts to use bank regulations to try to deny the National Rifle Association financial services shows just how far he will take that hostility. Cuomo justified it by declaring that the NRA is “causing carnage” (even though they stand for tougher sentences for the criminal misuse of firearms) and never mind that the real responsibility is with the perps and “bad guys”.
Cuomo, it seems, has decided that those who exercise their First Amendment rights to oppose gun control deserve to be silenced with the power of the government. Second Amendment supporters have used freedom of speech to explain why gun control laws are not good ideas. They have used the freedom of assembly to not only rally for the Second Amendment but to form organizations like the National Rifle Association, to magnify their voices in support of the Second Amendment. They also have exercised the right to petition for the redress of grievances, both through contacting elected officials and in having those pro-Second Amendment organizations do so. They have even used the freedom of the press to establish outlets like NRA TV and NRA News.
The goal of corporate gun control is to make the exercise of not just Second Amendment rights far more difficult (if not impossible), but to also make the exercise of one’s First Amendment rights in defense of the Second Amendment far more difficult and costly at best, if not making it impossible. With the former, it would be a simple matter of cutting FFLs off from financial services should they decide to keep selling (or manufacturing) AR-15-type rifles.
For the latter, it is simply a case of getting Second Amendment advocates to choose not to speak out. Already on social media, Silicon Valley has allowed hateful comments against Dana Loesch to stand for a long time. But that is the tip of the iceberg. It is about making Second Amendment defenders feel isolated and alone.
What is to be done about this? With the House in the hands of the Democrats, there isn’t much that can be done on the legislative front (albeit, it would not hurt to push legislation prohibiting financial services companies from not doing business with any business making legal products or organizations and people that exercise their constitutional rights). Right now, what can be done is a grassroots effort, including several of the efforts that can be used to combat social stigmatization.
The fight for our Second Amendment rights is entering a new phase. This time, though, the stakes are far higher. Corporate gun control is going to be difficult, but not impossible, to defeat. It just will take a long time.
The writer of the above article, Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
HAWK HONORED BY TEXAS CO-OP POWER
Efton Edwards appeared in the May issue of Texas Co-Op Power for his work with the Winnsboro Center for the Arts. The picture appears below.
CHRISTMAS GIFT SUGGESTIONS BY GEORGE BROWN
Well Christmas is rapidly approaching, and for those of you who may be looking for some gift ideas, the following is a list of books I have read recently. I thought they were all excellent books and I highly recommend them. All three books discuss the Russian collusion investigation that followed the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. All three books treat the investigation as a hoax, which, in my opinion is exactly what it is. Even if you are not an enthusiastic Trump supporter you probably do not like to see the laws of the United States perverted to serve a left wing political agenda, and all three books clearly demonstrate that is exactly what is taking place in America today.
- Killing the Deep State by Jerome R Corsi covers the campaign and first year of president Trump. The book is not very long, and easy to read. I was surprised by the amount information that may be considered controversial by some, but this information adds to the value of the book, in my opinion. Mr. Corsi obviously struck a nerve with this book, because he was recently threatened with prosecution by Robert Mueller.
- Resistance is Futile by Ann Coulter is the shortest of the three books. Ann Coulter is a master of sarcasm and irony, and she completely demolishes the left wing mindset that has such an irrational hatred of president Trump. Her book covers the Trump campaign and approximately the first year and a half of his presidency.
- The Russia Hoax by Greg Jarrett is the longest of the three books. The time period it covers is the campaign and the Trump presidency almost up to the present day. He gives us more detail of the events than the other two books, and this detail includes information about the actual laws that govern the appointment of a special prosecutor. It is not quite as easy to read as the other two books, but is still suitable for teen agers in my opinion.
If the person you are shopping for is not interested in books here is another idea; give then a gun. The following link is a collection of available guns ranging from traditional guns that you are all familiar with, to antique guns, to space age guns that look they belong in a Star Trek movie.
I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
All Texas born HAWKS have a special place in their hearts for the shrine that is the Alamo. If they have ever visited this special place they probably stood in awe looking at the spot where so many heroes of Texas stood off Santa Anna's vast outnumbering army, giving time for Sam Houston to get his army of Texas organized. Later, this army of Texas was able to meet and defeat Santa Anna to gain Texas' independence from Mexican domination.
This special Texas shrine is under another attack. There is a strong move afoot to turn the Alamo into a "Theme Park" similar to a Disney world site.
The Alamo heroes who died there and whose bodies were burned and buried at that place will be disinterred and moved to a different site and kiddie rides will be put on this spot. The Alamo itself will be re-built to meet some expectations to be announced. The shrine will no longer be what we have come to cherish.
The city council of San Antonio seems to be in favor of the changes. The Texas Land Commissioner, a son of Jeb Bush, of the Texas Bush clan, is now Land Commissioner of Texas and seems to be in back of this change. The leading company which has bid on the project is of Mexican (not of Texas or U.S.) origin.
Folks, I am totally against this project and hope that you will join me in calling your Texas representative and State Senator and express your opinion. If you don't speak up and speak up soon, this project may be a done deal before you know it. The next legislative session begins in January and if we don't get some kind squelch on the project it may be too late. Thanks
Bob Williams
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I am completely in agreement with Bob. They need to find somewhere else to build a theme park.
George Brown
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This is hard to believe, this has to stop.
Efton Edwards
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Let’s stand up & be heard.
James Morris
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HAWKS-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
November 2018
HAWKS BUSINESS MEETING NOVEMBER 1, 2018 by Ron Miranda Secretary 11/4/2018 First National Bank Community room
Attending; Wayne Scott, Pres., Paul Fletcher, V.P., Ron Miranda, Secy., James Morris, Trea., Rob Tubbs, Sgt. At Arms., Ron Smith, R.S.O., 25 members including BoD.
Rob Tubbs opened with the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. and Texas State flags.
Wayne opened the meeting with a detailed accounting of the “Hooves and Halos event at the Civic Center, addressed health concerns for Hardy Hamm and Dennis Morey, and finished by recognizing Roman Eble who volunteered to lead the invocation.
Wayne then introduced Odie Hitt, career law enforcement officer, firearm instructor for D.P.S. official with the Texas State Rifle Association and our evening speaker, who addressed gripping the pistol correctly and trigger control.
Item1. Treasurer’s Report: James reported that he suggested we pass the hat next Wednesday for the “Feed the Cops” program, any amount is acceptable. Ken Watts suggested collecting tonight as well as Wednesday, to capture more attendees. James did not have a problem with that suggestion.
Item2. Website Report: George reported the Website calendar had been updated through 2019.
Item3. Secretaries Report: Ron asked if the October minutes were acceptable as written, vote was affirmative. He, then, reminded the members of the Active Shooter’s seminar on November 19th. We are trying to line up Jacki Seabrook, retired Police Chief from Santa Monica, Ca. as a speaker for January. We are setting up three committees, Shooting Committee chaired by Ron Smith, Nominating Committee chaired by Ed Hoying and a Hospitality Committee charged with refreshments for the monthly meetings, setting up the Awards and Christmas dinners. (No volunteers) George is amending the 2019 calendar to accommodate the December BoD meeting which falls on Christmas Day. Ron said the club owns 18 white table cloths to fit 6 & 8 ft. tables for sale for half the purchase price of $75. We will take up a collection on December 5th for Ginney and the cook. Paul suggested a percentage split like 80%/ 20%. Ron finalized by reading a thank you card from Kay Watts to the HAWKS for their prayers and support through her vision correction. Ron asked if the members would like to rerun the “Who Are the HAWKS” handouts. Johnny said he would get me a price on rerunning the handouts.
Item4. Friends of HAWKS report: Roman reported the FoH met two weeks ago and discussed the minutes and amending the bylaws. Among the changes were clarification on board members, how they will be the only votes recognized, and term limits. They decided to vote for the incoming officers for 2019 & 2020. President will be Roman, V.P. will be Wendall, Sgt at Arms will be Ken Watts along with Chair of fund raising, Johnny Wetzel will serve as Vice Chair and an Adviser, Mike Briggs will be Treasurer and George Brown will act as Secretary. Donations remain at $1050 with pledges of $1200 and the proceeds due from the sale of the raffle guns. The donation goal has been set at $5,000 for 2019. Instead of ascending offices a vote, still, must be taken for offices for following years. Since Mike was not in attendance, Johnny proceeded with the silent auction. If you purchase one of the guns, they are at Village Gun and Pawn for transfer, with a $25 transfer fee. All purchases are tax deductible. Wendall bought the Taurus pistol, James bought the Remington shot gun and Wayne bought the Henry rifle. A total of $1500 was collected on the raffle.
Item5. Chamber of Commerce report: Johnny said very little had been done; the Christmas parade would take place and stop down town. He had an ominousness report on the future of the Chamber and as of now there will not be a gun show this spring.
Item6. VIPs report: Jimmy Chiles reported the involvement of the VIPs this past year. He thanked all the participating HAWKS and Non-HAWKS.
Item7. Shooting Committee report: Ron reported that for the coming year we have generated around $339 for 2019 with, between, 13 and 20 shooters and have spent $35 on breakfasts and had about $390 towards the coming year. He summarized by inviting all members to come out and participate.
Item8. New Business: Ron M. spoke to Ed Hoying’s inquiry as to his being able to serve as Chairman of Nominating Committee and volunteering to help Friends of HAWKS, Ron M. said he informed Ed it would not be a problem. Only Board members cannot serve both organizations. Ron S. quickly challenged the point, siting the minutes of the last BoD meeting. Many members offered opinions, and the point was left that since we were two months away from needing a decision we should study the subject and re-evaluate our stand.
Paul Fletcher said he spoke with Odie who offered to assist in shooting help and even considering having one our meetings at the WGC range. Wayne suggested we look into the possibility.
Item9. Roman asked for suggestions as to how to dispose of the gun rack Al Anderson made for the club. Al suggested selling the rack and donating the money to the club. Roman said he would bring it to the January meeting. James also mentioned we had a canopy which could be sold, as well. There were no additional comments on this item.
Wayne declared the meeting adjourned. Meeting time was approximately 1 ½ hour.
It might be noted that if members, committee members and Board members continue to report from the opposite side of the room from the Officer’s table it will become more and more difficult to record the minutes accurately due to not being able to hear and record over ambient noise. PLEASE CONSIDER COMING TO THE FRONT OF THE ROOM TO GIVE REPORTS.
DOES YOUR COMPUTER DAMAGE YOUR EYES? BY GEORGE BROWN
Recent research has shown that exposer to too much blue light can have a negative effect on your eyes. Unfortunately we are all exposed to blue light; it is part of the natural light generated by our sun during the daylight hours. The light bulbs we burn in our houses at night are also composed of the entire light spectrum, some of which is blue. Fluorescent bulbs have more blue light than incandescent bulbs, and LED bulbs contain more blue light than fluorescent bulbs. Too much blue light exposure in the evening, especially just before bedtime can interfere with your sleep. And if you have a night light in your bedroom it should not be blue. An even bigger problem that the research revealed is that blue light can be a factor in causing macular degeneration. Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss, affecting more than 10 million Americans and is considered an incurable eye disease.
If you are a frequent computer user like me, you are probably getting an extra-large dose of blue light. However, there is some good news for computer users now; you can adjust the amount of blue light that your computer generates. I can’t testify to the macular degeneration issue, because I do not have it, but I adjusted my computer screen a few weeks ago, and since then I have been sleeping better. If you want to see how to do this, please see Tips You Can Use below.
TIPS YOU CAN USE BY GEORGE BROWN
To adjust your computer screen that is running Windows 10 right click on the desktop then click on display settings. At the top of the window that pops up you will see a switch labeled night light. Make sure that this switch is not turned off. Under the switch is a link labeled night light settings. Click on that link. You will see a button that is labeled turn on now. Under that button is a slide bar that lets you adjust the amount of red in your display. Under the slide bar is a switch that will allow you to set a time for the night light to turn on and off. I just clicked the turn on now button and ignored the time setting. I adjusted the slide bar for more red and left it like that. It gives the screen a slightly pink appearance, but I can live with that if I end up with better eye health.
If you have a Mac with operating system Sierra 10.12.4 you can go to Apple Menu/ System Preferences/ Displays/ Night Shift. I am told that with a Mac you can adjust the start and stop time for the night shift and the amount of red in the display just like with Windows, however I do not use a Mac so I have not been able to test this. If any of you are Mac users and you want to adjust this setting, please let me know if this information is correct.
DOXING SUBMITTED BY BILL ROGERS
Defending Against Doxing, One More Weapon Being Deployed by Collectivists
October 18, 2018 by John Farnam
Opinion
“Doxing,” latest weapon in the arsenal of leftist, political terrorists and Collectivists in the current civil war.
A staffer for Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson named Lee Jackson Cosko was arrested on Oct. 3rd, 2018 and charged with illegally accessing the personal information of five U.S. senators, then posting that information on the senators' Wikipedia pages. He is also charged with threatening a witness who saw him in the act. The charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
Professing “liberals,” (Marxists) who piously assert that our faithful adherence to Constitutional values is “abhorrent,” “racist, ”and “obscene,” have defaulted to this new low in violent political tactics:
“Doxing”
- “Doxing” is the Internet-based practice of researching and then broadcasting private, identifiable information about an individual, including home address, photos, phone numbers, church attended, bank(s) used, description of vehicles, travel plans and locations, places of work, schools attended by children, and identifying codes, including bank-account numbers, Social Security number, DOB, car license numbers, credit-card numbers, etc.
- “Doxing” is “targeting!”
- “Doxing” is encouraging and arranging for surprise, physical attacks upon innocent, unknowing citizens.
- “Doxers” are vicious, dangerous, vandalous, violent criminals, not “political operatives.”
- “Doxers” feed information to ANTIFA, ISIS and other violent thugs, so that military families, LEOs and their families, conservative politicians, journalists, and officials (and their families) can be physically attacked, their property destroyed, and their Internet world vandalized.
- “Doxers” represent a direct, murderous threat to innocent victims and their families!
- “Doxers” include left-wing college professors, left-wing journalists, and Democrat “staffers” (one was arrested by Capitol Police just yesterday for doxing).
Officials at high levels of government, along with their families, live within sophisticated, multi-layered, “protective cordons,” formed by Capitol Police, FBI, Secret Service, US Marshals, State Department Protective Service, private security contractors, et al.
The other 99.9% of us (i.e.: peons), and our families, live within a single “protective cordon,” staffed exclusively by ourselves!
We need to think, equip, train, and plan accordingly.
First and foremost, as much as possible, limit what “doxers” can learn about you and your family:
- 1) Dump all individual, personal information that appears on your Web Page.
- 2) Dump photos and descriptions of yourself and family members
- 3) Dump physical addresses, descriptions of vehicles, travel plans, schools, banks, churches, places of business, etc.
- 4) Dump personnel biographies
- 5) Dump Facebook
- 6) Dump Instagram
- 7) Dump Twitter
- 8) Dump Reddit
- 9) Dump Skype
- 10) Unlist personal phone numbers, and don’t answer calls from unknown people. Let them leave a message.
- 11) Get a Ring System (or something similar) for entry doors. Never unlock, nor open, your door to people you don’t know. Talk with them remotely. Don’t tell them who you are, don’t invite them in, and don’t let them see you, nor the inside of your house.
- 12) Receive mail and packages at a remote location (commercial mail room). Don’t allow your home address to appear in any “directory.” Keep your home address a secret!
- 13) Be always (all times and everywhere) prepared to effectively repel violent, physical attacks by murderous ideologues, who consider themselves “soldiers.”
“Doxers” fully intend to supply “targeting information” about us and our families to ANTIFA, ISIS, et al who as we know, joyfully embrace assassination, hijacking, kidnaping, arson, vandalism, and other criminal political violence as their standard MO.
As midterm elections approach, amoral “doxers,” with the blessings of the DNC, the leftist media, Hollywood Communists (which is “Hollywood”), and many leftist university administrations, will be hard at work.
Let’s make their “work” as difficult, frustrating, and unsuccessful as we can by voting right this November.
FOLLOW UP BY GEORGE BROWN
In the September newsletter I wrote an article entitled “Do you know your left from your right” about how the entire media uses the terms left and right incorrectly when they are using it to describe a political or an economic position. Since this article had nothing to do with guns, many of you may wonder why I put it in the newsletter. It is my belief that this error is an intentional creation of individuals involved in the progressive movement. Its purpose is to blur the distinction between the left and right wings of the political spectrum. I have found a YouTube presentation by Dinesh D’Souza where he makes the same point. The video is a speech Mr. D’Souza made at Yale, and while it is rather long (57 minutes) I think it is well worth watching. A link to the video is included here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5slRBGv_88
In the October newsletter I wrote about the 3D printing of guns. For those of you who may be interested, I have found another internet video about the subject. In this one Ben Shapiro talks about the 3D printed gun scare hoax. If you don’t want to watch the whole video, the where he speaks about 3D printing starts at 35:20 and ends about 40:00. The link is next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lo0RRGEsuc
PICTURES
Roman Eble has supplied some pictures from the recent awards banquet.
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HAWKS-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
October 2018
Minutes for HAWKS Stated Business Meeting of Thursday, October 4, 2018 at FNB Community Room Second Floor. Attending; Wayne Scott Pres., Paul Fletcher VP., Ron Miranda Secy., James Morris Treas., Rob Tubbs Sgt. At Arms., Ron Smith RSO. by Ron Miranda
A total of 31 members including BOD attended.
Wayne opened the meeting at 6 pm. by asking Rob to lead the members in the pledge and then offered the invocation in the absence of Mike Briggs, our acting Chaplain.
Wayne, then introduced our two newest members, Rusdon Mills and Dale Rockett, and then asked for prayer requests for members and friends who are in ill health. He followed by introducing member Neal Duncan, who gave a presentation on wound and trauma care, in the field and what to do until First Responders arrive. A & Q followed and the speaker was thanked and excused.
Wayne presented a check for $50 to the HAWKS for proceeds from his table at the gun show.
Wayne then acknowledged Past President Bova, Past VP Hildebrandt and new VP Paul Fletcher and HAWK of the Year, George Brown.
He then asked James for the Treasurers report who asked if all had received the emailed statement and if there were any questions. Roman asked if a quarterly tax statement would be made available to the club. James said it would be made available on receipt from the CPA.
Wayne, then asked if George had a website report, and said he was planning an addition to the newsletter to handle any tips a member might have, on any subject.
Ron was asked for the Secretaries report. He began by asking for a motion to accept the last month’s minutes as submitted. Ron Smith moved to accept, and the vote carried. Ron explained the Christmas party choices and asked for a vote, which went in favor of moving our party to Richie’s Restaurant. Ron then requested a show of hands for volunteers for a Hospitality Committee and explained the duties would include establishing the two dinner parties and refreshments for the meetings along with a budget. No one responded. Finally, Ron announced the WGC would host a “get acquainted mixer and shoot” Saturday, October 27th from 10 am to 3 pm, everyone welcome, Bar BQ, drinks. No Alcohol Please.
Wayne asked for Jimmy Chiles to add to the VIPs calendar February 11th -15th to cover for Officer Jody Hettick for traffic control at the Winnsboro Elementary School. Wayne called on Johnny Wetzel for a FoH report, Johnny announced a silent auction for the three guns that were used for the raffle and that all bids should be sent to Roman Eble. The bid will run until the November meeting. There will a minimum bid for each gun. Any questions and bids should be directed to Roman Eble at
Roman interjected the FoH would have election of Officer’s for the next two year term and a revision of the By-Laws.
Jimmy Chiles was asked for a VIP’s report and he discussed the previous events and the upcoming commitments, including October 19th for the Trail Ride Parade, followed on October 20th by the Trail Ride. On October 27th there will be the Antique Car Parade down town, then on October 31st there will be a Halloween event downtown in connection with a local church. On November 1st the VIPs will be asked to help with Hooves and Halos at City Park. The Christmas Parade on December 8th will be an event where the VIPs will be needed.
Ron Smith took over the meeting and handed out prizes to the 19 members who qualified for the gifts by shooting on Wednesday 10 times or more.
Wayne asked for any new business to come before the club. Having no new business Wayne closed the meeting after 59 minutes. (Business portion only)
AVOID DETECTION-PRINT YOUR OWN GUNS by George Brown
The latest scam of the gun grabbers is to attack 3D printers because they can be used to print guns with no serial number, or any other record of their existence. A 3D printer is not am conventional printer that imprints symbols that represent language on a piece of paper. They will actually create a solid three dimensional object.
3D printers are composed of several different parts. One part is the powder or actual material that is used to form the desired object. Another is the hardware which is used to melt the powder and shape it into the desired object, and another is the program which is used to control the entire process.
A 3D printer (just the hardware) that is capable of making a gun can cost between $5,000 and $600,000. The plastic printing powder costs about $25 for two pounds. The program will cost more, depending on how complex it is. Many software companies will not sell their product outright, but will lease it to you. These costs can vary between $300 and $1,500 per year.
The typical 3D printer works by heating a plastic powder to its melting point then spraying the liquid in layers so that the desired object will be formed when the plastic hardens. The main problem with printed guns is that the end result is a gun made of plastic that cannot withstand the high chamber pressures that result when the gun is fired. If you are holding the gun in your hand when it is fired, you may be seriously injured, or even lose the use of your hand.
Because they need to withstand very high chamber pressures guns need to be made out of a strong material, such as stainless steel. Steel has a very high melting point, and the early 3D printers could not generate the high temperatures necessary to liquefy metal. There are now some 3D metal printers in existence, but as you probably already have guessed, a good 3D metal printer can cost over $100,000, and some cost over $1,000,000. However, 3D printing technology is in its infancy, so in years to come prices may go down.
I found some 3D plastic guns advertised on the internet, and the advertisers claim that they work properly, but I do not trust them. Below is a link to a video of the test firing of a 3D printed plastic gun. Notice the trajectory of the bullet as it leaves the gun. The interesting part of the video starts at 10:24 and runs to 14:57. Caution, if you start this video earlier than the 10:24 mark, you may encounter some rough language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQGtY8NofPA
So to summarize, if you are willing to spend a lot of money, you can make an ugly gun that can’t be detected by any metal detector, is not known to exist by any government, will fire only one time, can easily injure anyone who fires it, and can’t hit anything but the ground in front of the shooter. This doesn’t sound like a very good investment to me, and it surely doesn’t sound like something anyone should worry about.
TIPS YOU CAN USE by George Brown
A few days ago I was speaking with a very nice lady who happened to say that she was having a lot of trouble with spam. She was getting the same e-mail advertisement over and over. I told her how to block the emails, and I now want to share that information with all the Hawks. In the upper left hand corner of the home page of outlook, just to the right of the new items icon there is a row of three small icons arranged vertically. They are labeled ignore, clean up, and junk. To block an email sender, first, highlight the email you want to block. This is important, because the email that you highlight is the one that will be blocked. Then click on the junk icon. A drop down box will appear, and the first choice in the box is block sender. Click the block sender choice and the address that email was sent from will be blocked. Unfortunately most spammers have many addresses that they use to send out spam, so you may need to perform this operation several times before you finally get rid of the spam permently.
I would like to make this Tips feature a regular part of our newsletter, but I don’t know enough to have a good tip every month, so I am hoping that the newsletter readers will contribute tips occasionally. The tips can be about anything you think is important enough to share. It can be about guns, ammo, computers, cars, appliances, even recipes. Just anything you want to pass on to the readers. Just email them to me, and put TIPS in the subject line and I will get them in the newsletter.
Pictures photos by Bob Williams
At the October meeting prizes were given to the winners in the Wednesday shoot out. The event was presided over by our range safety officer Ron Smith. The particular prize each person won was drawn out of a bin by James Morris. The prize winners are pictured below:
Pictured above in the top row are: Al Anderson, Chuck Knox, Greg Bova, James Dugger, Jeff Paddock, and Ken Watts. In the second row are Neal Duncan, Paul Fletcher, Paul Lovier, Rob Tubbs, Ron Miranda, and Ron Smith. The bottom row shows prize winners Wayne Scott, and Jimmy Chiles. In the last picture, James Morris is drawing the names of the prize winners, and giving them to Ron Smith. Prize winners who could not be pictured because they could not attend the meeting are Mike Briggs, Ken Pescod, John Bordas, and Larry Murphy.
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HAWKS-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 2018
Minutes for HAWKS stated business meeting of September 6, 2018 at First National Bank, Hospitality Room, Winnsboro, Texas by Ron Miranda
Attending; Wendall Hildebrandt Vice President, James Morris Treasurer, Ron Miranda Secretary, Wayne Scott Information Officer, Rob Tubbs Sergeant at Arms, Ron Smith Range Safety Officer. Not attending, Greg Bova President
Wendall opened the meeting at 6:00 pm., by asking Sgt. at Arms Tubbs to lead the members in the pledge to the U.S. and Texas Flags, followed by Mike Briggs’ request for members and friends with health issues and a request for prayers. He then led the members in the invocation followed by a prayer from Dr. Peter Marshall, congressional Chaplin, to the U.S. Senate in 1949.
Wayne Scott, then, introduced our guest speaker, Mr. Tony Crow, a hunter and sportsman blinded in a hunting accident by his son with a shotgun. Mr. Crow speaks, nationally, to groups on hunting safety. Wayne, then, introduced Rusdon Mills, guest and executive with FNB as a prospective member.
Wendall asked for questions for James, our Treasurer, regarding this month’s figures. James said, all scholarships had been paid, shooting committee monies withdrawn and we still have a balance in the bank. Wendall asked George Brown for a Website update, which he announced the changes made on the site, that the site was still undergoing updates and changes. Wayne said he and Neal Duncan were revising the web page itself.
Ron Miranda was asked for a Secretaries report, beginning with an offer to get tickets for anyone who wanted tickets to Casino Night on September 29th, proceeds going to help the Winnsboro Animal Shelter with expenses they cannot cover. Ron asked for a motion to accept the minutes from August as written in the newsletter. Wayne so moved, seconded by Ron Smith, vote carried. He went on to explain the reason for asking the members to fill out a new Membership Form, being to update the club’s files, to insure all signed to acknowledge the “no refund policy”, a photo release and liability release. I need a head count for the Awards Dinner, as I will order for 60 unless we need more which has been authorized for purchase. Ron announced he had 7 year service pins for those who qualify along with 2 year and 5 year pins. Thanks to Dennis Morey for handling the purchasing of the pins. Finally, he showed a new shirt offered by J&M Printing, saying “Gun Control – Use both Hands” in T-Shirt configuration for $15, can place orders through me.
Ron Smith took the floor and announced we raised $2400 on the Wednesday Breakfast Shoots, which was spent on prizes and $400 went to cover winner breakfasts. The shoots for 2019 began last week with 18 shooters competing.
Wendall asked for a report from the Friends of HAWKS, which Johnny Wetzel had nothing to report. Wendall then asked for a Chamber of Commerce report, which Johnny also said the fees for the Auditorium had been increased and asked for continued help from the HAWKS, and that the Gun Show would go on as planned.
Wendall called for New Business, Doug Grantham announced the Friends of HAWKS were covering additional needed radios, and Rob Tubbs was donating needed Safety Vests.
Jimmy Chiles continued with upcoming events where VIPs would be needed, including Autumn Trails grand parade, Trail Ride parade and Antique Car Parade, all a part of Autumn Trails Event. He didn’t think any help would be needed for the Halloween Event but may be for the Christmas Parade.
James asked Johnny for dispensation on the existing guns to be given to the Friends of HAWKS for disposal.
Wendall then turned the meeting over to Ed Hoying, chairman of the Nominating Committee and introduced the candidates and proceeded with the election. Ed continued by announcing the results, Wayne received 16 votes, and Wendall received 14 votes, the other two candidates, Paul Fletcher, Vice President and Ron Smith, RSO were elected by acclamation.
Wendall closed the meeting which lasted 1 hour and 24 minutes.
PICTURES photos by Bob Williams
Tony Crow, who was blinded in a hunting accident, spoke to the Hawks at our September meeting on hunting safety.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR LEFT FROM YOUR RIGHT by GEORGE BROWN
Years ago I took a college level class in economics. In that class we learned that Communism was a product of the extreme left, and Fascism was a product of the extreme right. We were even provided with a graph that demonstrated this point. It was a simple straight line graph, showing Communism on the left edge, Fascism on the right edge. It placed Capitalism somewhere in the middle. According to this graph then, to achieve the ideal capitalist state we had to find the correct blend of Communism and Fascism. This is a monstrous lie. There is nothing about Fascism that is even remotely related to Capitalism. The only thing you will get when you blend Communism and Fascism is more Socialism, more pain and misery, more death and destruction.
At the time I asked my father, who had a BS in economics, what he thought about this concept, and by way of answer he gave me a book that detailed the rise of Hitler and the events leading up to World War II. The book showed that the communists and fascists were very similar, and neither was in any way related to capitalism. Had the graph I mentioned been drawn correctly, it would have placed Communism and Fascism cloce together on the extreme left and Capitalism would be on the right end, nowhere close to either one.
According to the book he gave to me, the misconception that Fascism was closely related to capitalism was a lie created prior to World War II, by Joseph Gobbles, who was Hitler’s minister of propaganda. His intention was to convince the Western world that Hitler was really their friend, and that he, Hitler and the Fascists, actually wanted to defend and preserve Capitalism. Of course all they really wanted was to exercise complete control over Germany and a large chunk of Europe.
After the war was over, this lie was picked up by the communists and their progressive allies in the media and thus became part of “common knowledge” in the US. This perversion of the truth has an extremely damaging effect on our country because the progressives in the main stream media, who are serial liars at best, use this phony concept in an ill-conceived attempt to label every right wing pundit as a Fascist. They have even used this falsehood to compare President Trump to Hitler. Even a conservative news channel like Fox News makes this same mistake over and over again. They all have mistakenly adopted the lie that Fascism is a right wing phenomenon.
I no longer have the book my father gave to me, after all that was almost 60 years ago, but there are two new books available on the same subject called “The Big Lie”, and “Death of a Nation”. They were both written by Dinesh D’Souza, who has also produced a documentary film on the same subject. The documentary is also called “Death of a Nation”. I just recently saw Death of a Nation, and think it is far and away one of the best movies I have ever seen.
I hope that these movies and books can help in removing this awful lie from the public domain and bringing the truth to the American people. If you have not seen this movie, I would like to recommend that you see it while it is still available, and if you are interested, the books are available on Amazon.
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HAWKS-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Minutes for Business Meeting August 2, 2018
HAWKS Gun Club of East Texas, Inc. by Ron Miranda
President Bova opened the meeting by addressing the folks on our prayer list for health issues. He then turned the meeting over to Sergeant-at-Arms Tubbs for the pledges to the U.S. and Texas flags. The meeting was turned over to acting Chaplain Mike Briggs for the invocation.
Public Information Officer Scott then introduced Pam Gambrel Principal of Winnsboro Elementary School for a report on student mentoring and assistance while watching out for their safety getting from parking lot to the building and once inside help to get them acclimated to their new surroundings.
James addressed the Financial Report and with no questions from the members stated the report sent to the members was accepted.
George was asked for a Web report, said there was nothing new to report. Greg asked if any additional banner ads were being added to the site, George said nothing had been added.
Ron M. was, then, asked for the Secretaries report. Ron announced that it was appreciated that all the new forms were being filled out and the information requested was necessary and was making the applications uniform and easier to work with. He then stated there was a question as to whether we were or were not on the calendar year as a club, and we are according to the by-laws our year starts January 1 and goes to December 31st. except for collecting dues and election of officers. Dues are due by August 31st. and the members were asked to remind anyone they sponsored to pay their dues by that date.
We have the 7 year service pins ordered and should take delivery by the 14th. of August with Dennis Morey handling that task.
There is a Veteran’s Day parade on September 10th in Sulphur Springs honoring the 243rd. Birthday of the Marine Corp., more to follow as we get closer. Jimmy Chiles announced that President Trump has asked for a national parade on that day in Washington D.C. honoring the same.
Ron M. has tickets for the Casino Night extravaganza on September 29th, and can be purchased for $50 single or $90 couples from him.
George Brown, Wendall Hildebrandt and Ron M have almost completed work on the new Mission Statement for the HAWKS and will present it soon to the members.
Wayne moved that the July minutes as written on the website be approved, seconded by James Dugger, motion carried.
RSO Ron Smith went over the rules governing the August 8th pistol tournament and target disbursement, along with a reminder NOT to fire a gun prior to 8:00 AM per range rules.
Greg turned the meeting over to Johnny Wetzel for a CC&C/3 report. Johnny said September 1st would be for the Cruise-In with a Chamber meeting this Thursday night August 9th at the Chamber office, everyone’s invited. The Gun Show is 14th, 15th and 16th and the Chamber will comp a table, same as last year. The clients will be scheduled to set up tables on the 14th with help from the HAWKS directing where they should be placed.
The Friends of the HAWKS has received $1400 in donations so far to the scholarship fund, 7 individuals have donated $200 apiece. They have a silent auction planned with the 3 guns donated by the HAWKS as a method of raising funds and they have businesses to call on for next year for pledges. The scholarship program will be scaled back for this year and will be more aggressive in the future. Any further pledges must be received by December 12th so the FOTH can get a receipt back to you before the end of the year. The FOTH website has been update to reflect the updated pledge tally. Ken Watts will be running the silent auction possibly at the Gun Show. The FOTH will have a slot on the monthly agenda and be asked to give a monthly report.
Sheriff Castloo was asked if he had anything to add, he responded that the Meth epidemic was still a problem but a County program could be expected soon to curb the use, in the meantime citizens are asked to be vigil, report suspicious activity and report license plates that are connected with that activity. Property crime, in the County, is very low; however, the jail population is very high indicating the right people are going to jail. Law enforcement is increasing its presence on the County lakes enforcing the no alcohol on the beach rules and seems to be working well. A question was asked about deputies patrolling gated communities, which Tom addressed as he did in the Town Hall meetings, that the Texas Constitution forbids the deputies from patrolling private property, however, the Department is encouraging Citizen Crime Watch Groups.
Greg asked the Board Members to remain for a short meeting.
Jimmy Chiles gave a VIPs report stating the group was two radios were needed and moved that the HAWKS purchase the radios for the VIPS. Wendall suggested the WPD should pay for the radios since the VIPs are donating their time to work the events. After further discussion, Mike Briggs seconded Jimmy’s motion. Discussion ensued with Wayne suggesting to see how many reported for duty and to pool the radios and reissue them for each event. Tom added that budgets for Cities and Counties will be coming up in October and a request should be entered at that time. However, Jimmy said the need was now, for Autumn Trails which is in October. Steve Chiles and Dennis Morey each offered to purchase the needed radios. Problem solved.
Meeting was adjourned after 56 minutes.
Post meeting was opened by President Bova.
Greg reported on the meeting with Brenda Morey, James Morris and himself on the status of the HAWKS, which was we are not and never have been a 501 c/7 due to the non-filing of proper IRS forms. Greg then suggested a special meeting be set per the by-laws for Monday morning for the Board of Directors to decide where to go from here. Many comments ensued by James Morris, Ron Smith and Wayne Scott as to the legality of a specially called meeting and its necessity. Wendall interjected that with all Board members present why not have it following the current meeting. Greg insisted that was not proper procedure. The Board settled at Richie’s at 8:30 Monday for a meeting to decide how to proceed on reinstating or applying to become a 501 c/7.
Greg announced that he would not run for President in the upcoming election. The Post meeting was cancelled.
PICTURES photos by Bob Williams
Left, Pam Gambrel Principal of Winnsboro Elementary School speaks to Hawks on student safety. Right, Roman Elbe reports on the progress of The Friends of the Hawks.
THE SAGA OF TOMMY ROBINSON by George Brown
The story of Tommy Robinson is another important news story that has been totally ignored by the mainstream news media. Tommy Robinson got in trouble with the British justice system for speaking out about atrocities committed by Muslim grooming gangs after a family member had been victimized by one of these gangs. His story appeared on Tucker Carlson recently, but until just a few days ago there had not been a word in the media.
A grooming gang is a group of thugs that kidnap and rape young girls, some as young as 9 years old. These gangs are usually about 85% Pakistani Muslim, and they never prey on Muslim girls, but their victims are exclusively white English girls, preferably blue eyed blonds. The victims are given drugs, raped, and forced into prostitution. When these crimes are reported to police, the police refuse to do anything about it, presumably because many British politicians do not want to offend the Muslims.
A small number of these criminals were arrested and put on trial. Tommy Robinson attempted to report on the trial, but was arrested for filming his report on government property. He was tried and given a suspended sentence and told to stay off government property. He continued his reporting, but this time stayed off government property. He was arrested anyway and immediately thrown in a jail with a very high Muslim population. The prison guards allowed the Muslim inmates to constantly harass him. He was there for a short while, but just a few days ago he was released. He will still have to stand trial for reporting the news, and may have to go back to prison. Great Brittan has no constitutional protection for freedom of speech or the press.
In case you are wondering what this story and the one I did last month have to do with us, I will show you an indirect connection. The citizens of Great Britain are not allowed to own guns, and the South African government severely restricts gun ownership. In the first case the political power structure imported criminals to harass the citizens, and in the second case they encourage home grown criminals to harass innocent citizens. This is the precise situation that Obama was attempting to set up in the United States by importing large numbers of criminals from countries like Somalia and at the same time restricting American gun ownership as much as possible. Fortunately for us he was not able to complete his grisly task, and we managed to avert a complete disaster by defeating Hillary. Americans must constantly be on guard against people who would steal our freedoms.
The two links which I have included are worth watching. The first is a British broadcast that describes the situation there, and the second is a recent Michelle Malkin investigates that looks at the same issue from a different point of view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsI0GD0WKZc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF71dZMdjyo&t=2112s
FOLLOW UP
This is a follow up to my article of last month on South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the African National Congress will move forward in amending their constitution to permit the seizure of white farmers' lands without compensation. The stolen land will be "redistributed" to poor blacks in the name of righting the inequities of apartheid some 25 years ago. This is a purely racist law and when it is applied, the whole country will probably erupt in violence.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
My grandson Cole received a Texas flag and certificate from State Representative Cole Hefner. The flag was flown over the Capital in Austin, July 4th, 2018 in honor of Cole achieving Eagle Scout. Am I proud of him? YOU BET
Dennis Morey
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HAWKS GUN CLUB OF EAST TEXAS
JULY 2018
Minutes for HAWKS business meeting of July 12, 2018
BY Ron Miranda
President Bova opened the meeting at 6 pm. by passing out a copy of this evening’s agenda and announcing that August would be dues month and the dues for 2018/19 has been reduced to $36.00 annually by order of the Board of Directors. There was a question as to whether the Board could raise or lower the dues without membership approval. Greg said the point was made that it was a Board decision and they proceeded on it. Ron M. interjected that the vote was 3 to 2 to approve the reduction with 2 abstentions. Ron S. moved to circumvent the indecision and moved for a dues reduction to $36.00 annually, seconded by Dennis Morey, discussion was called for. James Dugger asked why the decision to lower the dues was made, Ron M. responded by saying the purpose was to bring in more members to the HAWKS. Greg added that the decision was not only to bring back the one member that dropped out due to the increase, but to make it more attractive to join HAWKS, especially with all the other costs involved, i.e.; WGC dues, NRA dues, etc. and all the charities supported by the HAWKS. Ron S. added that the charities, including Scholarships, had been moved to the Friends of HAWKS and there are no more banquet costs, therefore eliminating the need for the additional monies. Ron M added that the NRA dues were being raised August 1, 2018 to reflect an additional $10. (However, it must be noted that after some research, Wayne Scott said the HAWKS were going to remain at $30 annually for NRA dues and the HAWKS’ rebates would remain.) Ron S. continued by quoting section 2.03 of the HAWKS’ by laws expressly giving the authority to the Board of Directors to raise or lower the dues as needed. Ron S withdrew his motion.
Greg asked the members for any health concerns, Ron M said Kacy Morris had undergone surgery on her jaw to remove a cist and Zerita Tubbs is still ailing with an ankle injury. Roman Eble asked for prayers for his mother hospitalized with heart problems and someone asked about Ken Pescod and James Dugger responded he was still in Houston undergoing tests. Paul Fletcher said his wife Victoria will be given a new knee on July 24th. Dennis Morey said after 5 months his neck and back are showing improvement while Ken Watts will have cataract surgery on August 9th and 16th.
Greg asked Rob Tubbs to lead us in the U.S. and Texas pledge, and then asked Roman to offer the Invocation.
Greg then introduced member, Al Andersen who spoke on some of his harrowing incidences while he was working, with the point being one should always be ready for any circumstances that could take your life. His experiences included his encounter with an individual who might have been a terrorists trying to solicit his help to get a plane in the air from a remote airfield to possibly carry out a 911 type attack on NASA. Al’s tips to the FBI possibly kept this from happening.
Greg said James Morris was not on hand but Ron M said he had sent the most recent financial report to the members. There were no questions concerning the report.
Dennis Morey asked about the scholarship program and where it was, Roman responded with what the Friends of HAWKS could do but the Bingo program was a dead issue. Ron S explained that the board has decided to turn the raffle guns over to the FOH to see how they will be dispatched at their pleasure. James Dugger questioned why the board was doing things without letting the membership know what was going on. Ron M stated the minutes to the Board of Directors were NOT open to the membership, and Ron S invited all who would like to attend, sit in on any of the BOD meetings as they are open to any member. He went on to explain the membership has intrusted the board to make decisions on their behalf and to continue with their business.
Discussion continued regarding the HAWKS’ responsibilities and the Friends of HAWKS’ responsibilities and how the entities differ and are one. Bova turned the conversation to the website and asked George if there were anything to add at this point? George said he had the website for the FOH up and running.
Secretary Ron asked for the members while paying their 18/19 dues that they pick up a new membership form and fill it out to standardize the log book with complete information.
A decision on the entree’ has not been decided on, for the Awards dinner, at this point, but is in the working stages and should be finalized in the next week or two. The members who plan to attend the dinner at Carden Hall on September 22nd are asked to bring a covered dish to compliment the entree’ as we do at the Christmas Party. Ron continued speaking for James Morris, regarding the Musical Evening with Elvis, Jerry Lee and the Hillbilly Band. It is in the planning stages for April and Ron suggested February. Wendall asked why we are raising money and for what purpose, which seems to be a point of confusion. Roman interjected, that by adding too much to the FOH might cause “burn out” on their part. Ron M., then announced the Nominating Committee had been dissolved, but if any member wished to enter the race for a Director position, the opportunity was still open, as we can accept nominations from the floor, the night of elections. There will be no reading of the minutes for the June meeting as there was no June meeting.
Greg reiterated that the BOD meetings were open to all members and they are encouraged to attend, he mentioned the Grants were still on the table along with the Pledges suggested by Wendall. Wendall said the pledge was purposed as seed money for the FOH and to eliminate fund raisers and passing the hat for specific projects. The advantage to the pledging system would be to create a tax break for the donors as opposed to just giving out of pocket with no tax assistance. Ron M. asked for an opportunity for the FOH to show how they will approach the issue of raising money for scholarships. Ron S. added the pledges could be in the form of a monthly assessment or donation, with the FOH keeping a tax record for the donor.
George was asked by the FOH to email the membership with regards to pledging, a certain amount and if they wanted a tax deduction receipt. Ken Watts took a different approach noting that only active HAWKS members will be willing to participate in the pledge program while disregarding the approach to businesses donating to our scholarship program could be a waste of resources. Roman added that if a member wanted to pledge this year and would like a tax certificate for this year, he must donate before the end of this year. He ended by saying the FOH has three approaches to fund raising, one, the auctioning of the gun inventory, individual donations as pledges and organizations that will donate $1,000 or more, having the current scholarship needs covered.
Paul Lovier introduced Leonard Newman as our new member. Leonard was the Range Master at NTCC until it was closed down and moved to Kilgore.
Ron Smith went over the tournament rules, date and times answering all questions and concerns, including our commitment to work with any casual shooters that may want to use the range at the same time as our event.
Doug Grantham announced that the character named Izzy who crossed our door step some time ago was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraud. He is the ner-do-well who took the HAWKS for $500 and forced us to start vetting charities before committing money to them. He continued, the VIPs program is at 16 members, of which 3 do not have vests, 3 do not have radios, then suggested we look at donating to the Friends of the NRA by sponsoring a table and collecting an $800 tax deduction. We continued to discuss events that might require VIPs participation and the need for additional equipment. Rob Tubbs offered to buy the three needed vests at $15 each for the VIPs as a donation.
The meeting was ended after 1 hour and 25 minutes.
PROHIBITION'S UGLY LEGACY SUBMITTED
BY BILL ROGERS
INTRODUCTION
A year after the 1933 repeal of Prohibition, Congress passed the National Firearms Act of 1934 and created a situation that was (and is) both unique and bizarre. The situation is unique because no other consumer good or manufactured product in the entire country is treated under the law in the same way that NFA firearms are treated. The situation is bizarre because under this law, two absolutely identical guns, consecutively produced within one minute of each other by the same manufacturer on the same assembly line, can fall into such drastically different legal categories that possession of one has the government's blessing, while possession of the other (even by the same person) merits a ten-year prison sentence. As if this were not unusual enough, a 1968 amendment to the National Firearms Act now prohibits the owner of the "bad" weapon (whichever of the two guns it may be) from placing himself in compliance with federal law.
The National Firearms Act introduced a huge distortion into the free market for all guns which fell under its scope. The result is a three- tier pricing schedule in the market for firearms regulated by this obscure section of the U.S. Code, as well as several legal questions which, to date, have not yet been resolved. This paper addresses a distortion in the free market caused by government intervention. It is not intended to be a political science treatise. However, in order to fully understand this distortion and "how we got here", some history is in order. This is an unfamiliar area to most people, and it is quite possible that without a thorough explanation of the history behind current law, the average person would refuse to believe our present situation.
HISTORY
The issue of owning militia-type arms to protect oneself and one's freedoms was not controversial in the early days of our country's history. It was taken for granted. All citizens of this country had his basic right. Prior to 1934, there were no federal laws regulating firearms ownership1, and prior to 1865, there were virtually no such state laws, either. All prohibitions (and attendant punishment) focused on violent criminal actions and not possession of inanimate objects.
Two events changed this situation on a state level: The Emancipation Proclamation, and large-scale immigration. Many lawmakers did not like the idea of foreigners and former slaves having the same rights as whites. They especially disliked the idea of these "undesirables" being able to protect themselves and control their own destinies.
Legislators didn't want blacks being able to defend their freedoms, either at the voting booth, or by having guns. Because the Second Amendment guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms, and the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed equal protection under the law, legislative creativity was required.
Poll taxes and literacy tests solved the problem of blacks voting. Blocking Constitutionally-protected black possession of inanimate objects required a slightly different strategy. One solution to the dilemma was to require permits to possess or to carry arms2. These permits could then be arbitrarily denied. Another answer was for a state to enact an outright prohibition on carrying weapons for self- protection3. These outright prohibitions were then selectively enforced. The South Carolina legislature, perhaps pleased with the success of their poll tax, passed a law in 1875 prohibiting ownership of all firearms other than those manufactured by Colt or Winchester4 Since these makes were much more expensive than all others, this law was a novel way to prevent poor people of all races from having guns.
Immigrants got similar treatment. In complete defiance of the U S. Constitution, California state law prohibited Chinese from testifying against whites in any court of law for a 20-year period in the late 1800s5. In New York, discussion urging the passage of the 1907 Sullivan Law made mention of how that law would make it illegal for "swarthy immigrants" to have guns6. Texas gun restrictions subjugated Americans of Mexican origin7.
All these laws, however, were passed on a state level. It was not until 1934 that any federal law was enacted which affected firearms possession. There is some disagreement about the impetus behind this law, as will soon be discussed.
THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT OF 1934
The first significant federal gun law was passed in June of 1934 with minimal fanfare. It attracted little attention because it only affected a small number of arms: Full-automatic weapons (machine guns), rifles and shotguns with barrels shorter than eighteen inches (amended to sixteen inches for rifles in 1958), and rifles and shotguns with overall lengths less than twenty-six inches. These arms now fell under federal regulation. In addition, any device designed or redesigned to muffle the report of a firearm (a "silencer") also fell under the scope of the National Firearms Act8, despite the fact that these devices were not and are not in any way, shape, or form, "firearms".
Because of the Second Amendment, Congress realized it did not have the authority to ban these arms. Instead, the bill was slipped in as a revenue-raising measure under the Interstate Commerce Clause. Under the
National Firearms Act, no person may transport, deliver, or sell in interstate commerce any firearm or silencer as described above without first having in his possession a stamp-affixed form for the firearm.
The tax stamp must first be bought so that it can be affixed to the federal form when it is approved. For the form to be approved, the applicant must be fingerprinted, signed off by the local police chief, and submit to an FBI records check. The "stamp" referred to in the law costs $200. The owner of an NFA-regulated weapon must have this approved form (with the $200 stamp affixed) in his possession before the arm (or silencer) in question may be transported in interstate commerce. This $200 tax must be paid each time the NFA-regulated item changes ownership.
Because of the size of the tax, the frequency with which it must be paid, and the method by which it is levied, the National Firearms Act bears a strong resemblance to the Stamp Act of 17659. Being fingerprinted and forced to submit to an FBI investigation is unusual, to say the least, for a revenue- raising measure. To put this "revenue raising" tax in perspective, in 1934, $200 was more than a month 's wages for a worker building Model "A"s on the Ford assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan10. In the '20s, silencers sold for $2 in hardware stores and Thompson submachine guns could be bought out of the Sears catalog for $125. The idea that levying a $200 tax on these manufactured goods would actually raise revenue is absurd. The demand for each of the items covered by the National Firearms Act was elastic enough that virtually no one was willing to pay the government an additional $200 for any of them According to Treasury Department records, there was not a single tax-paid registration in 193411, and there was one in 193512.
Another consequence of the Act was that new development of machine guns by individual inventors stopped overnight. Given that the vast majority of full-auto weapons now in use were designed by private individuals, this is a serious issue The U.S.'s foremost authority on machine guns, Col. George M. Chinn, has frequently described the Act a devastating blow to American security in that it has crippled all future military small arms development in this country and will continue to do so until it is repealed13. After passage of the Act, there were only three classes of people who continued to buy these goods: Large companies bought the weapons for strike control and other labor relations purposes14. Police departments, the military and special occupational taxpayers15 continued to buy, for they were exempt from the tax. Violent criminals continued to buy these weapons outside of legal channels, just as they had obtained liquor during Prohibition. This reality brings us to the next issue concerning this obscure federal law.
REASONS FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT
In almost every published description of the National Firearms Act of 1934 is a mention of the 1929 "St. Valentine's Day Massacre"16, and a statement to the effect that the Act was passed because machine guns were being used with horrible results by bootleggers and other organized crime figures. There are several things wrong with this claim.
First, it is laughable to hope that people for whom murder is a standard business practice will go present themselves to the local police chief to get fingerprinted, and pay $200 for the privilege. Similarly, it is ludicrous to think that putting legal restrictions on firearms will reduce their availability to those people whose entire livelihood involves finding, buying, transporting, selling, and delivering illegal goods.
Second, the highly publicized incidents of underworld gangs machine-gunning each other over liquor shipments stopped overnight with the repeal of Prohibition, which occurred a full year before passage of the National Firearms Act.
Third, the Act also affects weapons other than machine guns; rifles and shotguns with barrels or overall lengths below a certain minimum are regulated by the NFA. It is very difficult to conceive of a reason why the owner of a shotgun with a barrel 17 1/2" long should be charged with a felony if he refuses to be fingerprinted and pay $200, when owning a shotgun with a barrel a half-inch longer is no crime at all. To compound this utter absence of logic, under the National Firearms Act a person becomes a felon if he affixes a piece of wood to the butt of his pistol (doubling the weapon's physical size), for he is now in possession of a "short-barreled rifle", which is covered by the Act.
To make the final leap from the illogical to the ridiculous, the Act regulates noise mufflers, which are not firearms at all. Hollywood to the contrary, the FBI has been unable to document a single case of a firearm silencer being used in a crime in the last fifty years17. Given that citizens fire upwards of six billion rounds of ammunition per year18, the inclusion of silencers into the NFA is one of the greatest contributors to hearing loss in the United States and therefore must rank as one of the largest public health blunders of this century19. The real reason for the passage of the National Firearms Act can be summed up in four words: Expansion of federal powers.
In 1934, two major changes had recently occurred in the United States. The first was that Franklin Roosevelt had initiated an exponential increase in the size and power of the federal government. The second change was the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed Prohibition. Let us examine the latter incident first. In the thirteen years that prohibition had been in effect, there was a great proliferation of people involved in the illicit manufacture, importation, and distribution of alcohol. This in turn produced a tremendous expansion of the Treasury Department and the number of its agents20. With repeal, liquor distribution was done by legitimate businessmen, and thousands of Treasury agents were idled. Federal legislation levying $200 taxes on goods worth between $3 and $100 was guaranteed to promote non-compliance by the citizens, thereby giving former Prohibition agents something to enforce.
It is interesting to note that the original draft of the National Firearms Act included all handguns then in existence in the United States. Because of the handgun language, some of the strongest opposition to the original version of the National Firearms Act came from women, who were vulnerable to attack from stronger assailants and got the greatest benefit from being able to carry a small weapon for personal protection.
The number of pistols and revolvers in the U.S in 1934 has been variously estimated at between thirty and one hundred million21. Compare this figure with perhaps one million machine guns and short-barreled long guns that fell under the Treasury's jurisdiction in the National Firearms Act 's final form22. One can only guess at what would have happened if in 1934 the government had told every citizen to cough up $200 for each handgun he owned that he might someday want to take or ship across state lines.
The removal of handguns from the National Firearms Act may explain the odd inclusion of silencers in the legislation. In the first third of this century, silencers were commonly available in any store where firearms were sold. The term "silencer" is in fact a misnomer. It was a trade name coined by Hiram P. Maxim, an automotive engineer who applied the principles of muffler design to safety valves, compressors, blowers, and firearms23. A "silencer" does not make a firearm noiseless, any more than the muffler on a diesel truck exhaust conceals the fact that the truck is approaching24. With the 1934 Act making it a felony to transport common noise mufflers in interstate commerce without paying $200 (each!) to the government, millions of citizens were now in violation of federal law.
Although the National Firearms Act stipulated a grace period where owners could register these weapons and silencers free of charge, the Treasury reported that a grand total of 15, 791 registrations occurred in this period25. This indicates approximately 1% compliance. The 1934 Act was thus a huge success at turning millions of citizens into criminals.
The National Firearms Act fit in perfectly with the systematic creation of government programs and deficit spending that Franklin Roosevelt immediately began to institute the instant he took office. The NFA was a model vehicle for the continued expansion of government power: It was arbitrary (i.e. the 18-inch rule); it gave the government sweeping authority over something very common; it focused on inanimate objects rather than criminal behavior; it levied draconian taxes on these objects; and most importantly, it created millions of criminals with the stroke of a pen, just as Prohibition had. A clear example of the fact that the National Firearms Act had nothing to do with crime and everything to do with government power occurred immediately prior to its passage. Senator Hatton Sumners of Texas, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had been a virulent opponent of the proposed bill and had bottled it up because it "did violence to states' rights"26. On April 23, 1934, Roosevelt called Sumners into the White House for a chat. Sumners agreed to vote for passage27.
ENFORCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT PRIOR TO 1968
After the NFA was passed, sales of affected items came to an abrupt halt. Domestic firearms manufacturers stopped producing any long guns with barrels shorter than 18". They also quit making any pistols with lugs on the butt for shoulder stocks. Manufacturers of noise reducers (most notably the Maxim Silencer Co.) went out of business entirely.
After the short grace period, citizens who owned NFA-regulated items on which the tax had not been paid had several choices. The first was to pay $200 to the Treasury for each item. In 1934, no one did this. The second choice was to relinquish NFA-regulated items to the Treasury without any compensation. No one did this, either. The third option, theoretically at least, was to avoid selling or transporting anything covered under the Act outside the state. The fourth was to disassemble the machine gun, short-barreled long gun, or silencer so that it was inoperable, and keep the parts separate. In the case of short-barreled arms, the owner could also replace the barrel with one of 18" or longer, and have a legal, functional gun again without paying $200.
Short-barreled rifles and shotguns were produced in low numbers in the years prior to 193428 but the same could not be said for machine guns. The Colt-manufactured Thompson, BAR, and belt-fed Brownings had all been produced in large numbers and had been available on the civilian market for over a decade. Furthermore, two million American soldiers had been sent to Europe in WWI, and over half of these had served in combat units. These veterans brought home many "war trophies", as they are called, with complete legality29. Machine guns were a relatively new and interesting battlefield weapon in 191830, and captured examples were brought home by most soldiers. A conservative estimate of the fully automatic WWI weapons brought into the United States by the returning two million veterans is one million31. Other knowledgeable sources place the figure at over twice that32.
The Treasury Department decreed that owners of these weapons could either register them for $200, or remove critical parts (such as the bolt) from them, which would render them inoperable. In this latter case, the gun was no longer considered a weapon subject to registration and $200 tax, but rather a "DEWAT", which was the Treasury's acronym (sort of) for Deactivated War Trophy.
When agents encountered an otherwise law-abiding citizen with a non-taxed machine gun in his possession, standard procedure was to give him the choice of paying the $200 tax and registering it "live", or removing the bolt and/or other internal parts.
As years passed, the economy improved, wages and prices went up, and the U.S. fought in two more wars. A few million more veterans returned home from WWII and Korea with a few million more war trophies. By the '50s and '60s, some citizens actually were paying $200 and getting tax stamps from the Treasury Department on weapons brought back from WWI, WWII, and Korea and on newly-purchased machine guns from the many manufacturers around the world.
THE GUN CONTROL ACT OF 1968
In 1968, the National Firearms Act was amended by the Gun Control Act of 1968. This 1968 law enacted sweeping infringements on citizens' rights to purchase and own virtually all types of guns. In also introduced a "sporting use" test on importation of firearms and ammunition. If certain guns or ammunition were determined by the Director of the Treasury to be not suitable for "sporting use", importation of them was prohibited. The fact that the Bill of Rights concerns the preservation of freedom and not recreation is ignored in the 1968 Act. A 1939 Supreme Court decision ruling that military weapons are constitutionally protected whereas sporting arms are not33 was ignored also. GCA '68 also contained language which modified the treatment under the law of NFA-regulated weapons. Since these provisions did not immediately affect nearly as many people as the rest of the new legislation, their significance was not fully understood at the time.
Under the new provisions, all existing machine guns in the hands of U.S. citizens had to be registered with the NFA immediately, including DEWATS. A one-month Amnesty was instituted where the $200-per-gun NFA tax was waived. After this amnesty ended, however, registration of existing non-taxed machine guns was prohibited. Registration of machine guns manufactured in the U.S. after passage of these provisions posed serious problems for citizens and created legal questions that have not to this day been addressed.
First of all, among the millions of owners of live machine guns and DEWATS, not everyone even knew about the one-month amnesty before it was over. Second, of those who were aware of the one-month grace period, there was a tremendous fear that the entire amnesty was a trap and the guns presented for registration would be confiscated. For this reason, only a tiny fraction of machine guns and DEWATS were submitted for NFA registration during the Amnesty34.
The 1968 amendments to the National Firearms Act and the one-time Amnesty completely ignored the fact that the Act only applies to those weapons transported in interstate commerce. The 1934 Act does not apply to a machine gun owner who never takes his gun out of state. The 1968 amendments have placed such owners in the position where they cannot now comply with the law. An owner of a machine gun on which the tax has not been paid is prohibited by the 1968 amendments from paying the tax and putting the weapon on the NFA registry. This has created a situation not duplicated anywhere else in the entire U.S. Code.
As an example of how this law introduces a severe distortion into both the economy and the lives of U.S. citizens, let us look at an example: A coal company heir owns a consecutive numbered pair of Model 1921 Thompson guns, serial numbers 1410 and 1411, which have been in his family in the same location since the mid-1920s. In 1965 (but this could be any year between 1934 and 1968), thinking he might someday want to take one of the guns outside the state, he pays $200 and registers one of them (either one) under NFA 1934. Just to be safe, he removes the bolt from the other, rendering it inoperable. Prior to GCA 1968, he was in complete compliance with the law.
Today, the taxed gun is completely transferable to other citizens, and the gun can change hands an indefinite number of times, providing police and FBI checks are performed and $200 is paid to the Treasury for a tax stamp each time the weapon is transferred. Ownership of the non-taxed gun (the one without the bolt) is a felony35, and there is no provision in the law to allow the owner to place this weapon on the NFA registry. He can offer to pay two million dollars instead of two hundred, and he will still be denied registration. Under present interpretations of the 1968 amendments, the 1921 Thompson without the bolt is contraband and it must be surrendered to BATF without any compensation. A Model 1921 Thompson is worth between $15,000 and $20,000 at the time of this writing if it is transferable36.
There is another serious problem caused by the 1968 amendments to the 1934 Act. The "sporting test" section of the 1968 Act prohibits importation of non-sporting weapons and ammunition into the U.S. This includes importation of U.S. -made weapons produced before 1968 but which were outside the country at the time GCA 1968 was passed. The exemption for this import ban is for military and law enforcement-related sales. Thus, a 1921 Thompson gun currently in England (there are thousands there) may only be imported into the United States by an agency of the U.S. Government, a police department, or a special occupational taxpayer who may then sell it only to one of these two types of purchasers.
THREE-TIER LEGAL STATUS AND PRICING
The example listed above makes it clear that government regulation has created three-tier status for identical manufactured goods. Machine guns made in the United States can fall into three categories: a)Fully transferable to any law-abiding resident37 upon federal approval after FBI investigation and payment of $200 to the Treasury; b)Transferable (tax-exempt) to Special Occupational Taxpayers, police, or government agencies ; and c)contraband weapons which may not be made legal.
These three different legal categories result in three different prices for otherwise identical guns. To continue the Thompson example, a transferable, mint-condition 1921 Thompson now brings approximately $1800 on the U.S. collector market38. An identical gun recently imported from England and sitting in a customs bonded warehouse will bring at most $150, for it can only be sold to police and government agencies, and these entities are not willing to pay much for obsolete, fifty-year-old weapons. What the third gun is worth is anyone's guess, for the only buyers for it will be those willing to risk a felony conviction 39.
FUTURE OF THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT
The Gun Control Act of 1968, with its amendments to the National Firearms Act of 1934, is a recent continuation of the trend started during the Roosevelt Administration towards more government and less freedom. Recent and current administrations show no sign of reversing this trend. When freedom is at odds with government policy, one of two things eventually happens: Either freedom is crushed, or political leaders are forced out in disgrace and replaced with guardians of individual liberty.
CONCLUSION
The National Firearms Act of 1934 is a bad law. Colonel Chinn has said on many occasions that the 1934 Act is the single most devastating piece of legislation to this nation's defense ever enacted.
From an economic viewpoint, the NFA of 1934 is a bad law because its tax is so high that it stops enterprise cold and distorts the free market. NFA 1934 is a bad law because it raises virtually no revenue at; all, when a $5 tax and relaxed regulations might easily raise millions of dollars for the Treasury Department.
The 1968 amendments to the 1934 Act are bad law because these amendments actually prohibit those people who want to pay the tax on their guns from doing so. These 1968 amendments have made criminals out of people with no criminal intent, and give these citizens no option other than to surrender their property without compensation. These are the kinds of laws which led to the American Revolution. The National Firearms Art of 1934 should be repealed in its entirety.
Footnotes
- 1. There was a law enacted in 1920 which prohibited sending handguns through the mail except by law enforcement entities, and required that a common carrier be used instead.
- 2. Laws of this nature were passed in many states at one time or another. Notable exceptions were Vermont and New Hampshire.
- 3. Many states have such outright prohibitions. Such statutes rely on vague wording, such as Missouri's prohibition on carrying a weapon for protection into any "church, school, or any other assembly of persons met for any lawful purpose." This last item allows police to arrest blacks and ignore whites.
- 4. I have not found the actual text of this law, but there are many references to it in several publications.
- 5. Stanford Lyman, Chinese Americans (New York: Random House, 1974) P-71
- 6. This phrase became a buzzword with many politicians who wanted to expand their political power, and is found in numerous texts.
- 7. Many people have serious misconceptions of Texas law.
- 8. NFA of 1934, Section 11.
- 9. On March 22, 1765, Parliament levied a tax on the Colonists' newspapers and legal and commercial documents, all of which had to carry a special stamp. The Colonists formed the first intercolonial Congress which met in October of that year to declare American rights and grievances, specifically concerning the Stamp Act. Parliament rescinded the Stamp Act in March of 1766, but coupled this recession with passage of the Declaratory Act, claiming England's supremacy over America "in all cases whatsoever". The Colonists rights and their insistence on maintaining them became the basis for the American Revolution .
- 10. About $5 a day, according to a conversation with Arthur Wilkes, who was an assembly line worker during that period.
- 11. New York Times . Dec. 25, 1934.
- 12. New York Times . Nov. 6, 1936.
- 13. Given that the most reliable U.S. designs now in use (1919A4, 1911 Al, ANM2, MG52A, M2HB, BAR, M14, M1A1) were all developed by private citizens, and the guns with major flaws (M60) were designed by companies, Chinn 's comment cannot be disregarded.
- 14. "You could not run a coal company without machine guns" is a quote widely ascribed to industrialist Richard B. Mellon. Other large companies with union problems (auto manufacturers, for example) also purchased machine guns.
- 15. Special Occupational Taxpayers are those who pay an annual licensing fee to actively deal in NFA-regulated items
- 16. Al Capone, irritated at having fifteen of his men killed in three months by 'Bugs' Moran's North-Side gang, arranged a trap. On his orders, a truckload of stolen whiskey was offered to the North-Siders at an attractive price, with another truckload to follow if Moran was satisfied. He was, and the second truck was sent to a trucking warehouse owned by Moran. As this second delivery was being made, a car appearing to be a Chicago Police vehicle pulled up. The "officers" lined Moran ' s gang up against a wall, and the North-Siders assumed it was time to pay off the policemen. Instead, the men dressed as officers (but working for Capone) killed all seven of them, using two Thompson Submachine Guns. The date was February 14, 1929.
- 17. Pillows and blankets have been used, because they more completely eliminate the noise. Knives are also very commonly used as murder weapons .
- 18. Spokesmen for Olin-Mathieson and Remington-Peters state that these two companies produce over two billion rounds each for domestic consumption. With other companies and imports added in, the actual total is much higher.
- 19. Many European rifle ranges mandate the use of silencers for this reason.
- 20. The actual increase in the number of agents is unknown. The Treasury's budget for this type of work in 1932, however, was over ten times what it had been in 1918.
21 Domestic production of handguns in 1928 exceeded 5 million units Given that firearms almost never wear out, the 100 million figure may actually be low
- 22. This number takes known domestic sales and assumes that, on average, one out of every three soldiers returning from WWI brought back one machine gun. If the discussions I have had with WWI vets are typical, the 1 million figure is low.
23 Hiram Percy Maxim was the son of Hiram Stevens Maxim, who invented the first practical machine gun in 1884. No evidence has been found to indicate that the National Firearms Act was intended to single out the inventions of the Maxim family.
- 24. Noise reducers for firearms are less effective than those for engines for two reasons: first, gas pressure in a gun barrel is much higher than exhaust pressure in a tailpipe. Second, a design for a gun must include a straight, open path from the gun ' s muzzle to the exit end of the silencer to permit passage of the bullet. A muffler for an engine may employ all manner of reversing baffles, diffusing screens, and serpentine pathways to redirect exhaust gases that don't contain chunks of lead traveling at supersonic speeds.
25 New York Times, December 25, 1934.
- 26. William J. Helmer, The Gun That Made the Twenties Roar (London: MacMillan & Co., 1969) p. 125
- 27. New York Times . April 24, 1934
- 28. Ithaca Gun Company produced the "Auto and Burglar" gun and Harrington & Richardson made the "Handi-gun" in modest numbers. Both are now collector’s items.
- 29. Bringing home U.S. ordnance is technically theft of government property, but at the end of a war it is typical for a U.S. soldier to keep the weapon he carried in combat without comment from the authorities . Arms captured from the enemy have always (prior to 1968) been acceptable for U.S. soldiers to bring home.
- 30. WWI was the first major war fought with them.
- 31. Thomas J. Fleming, in a phone conversation 8/27/70
- 32. lit. Colonel George M. Chinn, author of the now-declassified 2000 page work The Machine Gun for the Department of the Navy, in a phone conversation 8/30/70
- 33. U.S. vs. Miller, United States Supreme Court, May 15, 1939
- 34. Many of the people I have spoken to who had a significant number (20 or more) of non-taxed NFA weapons and DEWATs decided to Amnesty register two or three guns, hedging their bets in case of confiscation.
- 35. As the law is now being interpreted. The case mentioned before where the gun has never crossed state lines has not yet been tested in court.
- 36. From current price lists from six Special Occupational Taxpayers licensed to deal in these type of weapons.
- 37. Individual state laws may prohibit ownership.
- 38. Average of several advertised in dealer publications. Examples with a documented history (i.e. a weapon owned and used by "Pretty Boy" Floyd) command a premium.
- 39. Police and dealers I questioned were uneasy about estimating the "street value" of a non-taxed Thompson submachine gun. The only dealer who was willing to say anything at all suggested "Couple hundred bucks, tops" as an estimate.
WHITE GENOCIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA by George Brown
While doing internet research for my article on school shootings, I discovered several important news stories that have been totally ignored by the mainstream news media. Apparently these are stories that do not fit the progressive agenda. This month I will tell you about Lauren Sothern’s trip to South Africa.
Lauren Southern is a young 26 year old Canadian woman who works for Rebel News; a conservative news company that is based on the internet, and covers events around the world. She had heard stories about racial violence in South Africa for a while before she left so she decided to go there to check it out.
On her trip she found that white farmers are being systematically slaughtered by black tribesmen, while the government officials refuse to do anything to stop it. Indeed, in many cases they approve and encourage it. To make matters worse, the South African government has made gun ownership very difficult so they have trouble defending themselves. Now the South African government is making arrangements to confiscate all the land owned by white farmers without compensation. The date for this land grab has been set and when it arrives the country may erupt in civil war.
Lauren has created a DVD describing the situation, and rather than try to give you all the details, I will let her tell the story herself. To that end I have placed a link to a DVD she created below. The DVD is called Homelands, and while it is rather long, I think it is well worth watching. As always, I will be glad to publish any comments anyone wants to make about the events depicted here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_bDc7FfItk&t=7s
____________________________________________________________________
HAWKS GUN CLUB OF EAST TEXAS
JUNE 2018
JUNE BUSINESS MEETING CANCELED
The business meeting for June was canceled because the Hawks were sponsoring a presentation by Texas Law Shield at the Winnsboro High School auditorium that night. The event, which lasted for two hours, was very well attended. Tiffany Powell of Texas Law Shield covered topics such as Texas laws which govern gun use for self-defense, and the best ways to protect yourself if a shooting does occur. During the time there were numerous questions which were answered by Tiffany, and the presentation was a great success. Photo by Bob Williams
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS (Part IV) by George Brown
Since the last newsletter there has been even more news to come to light about the shootings in Parkland Florida. First CNN has publicized statements by some of the students who were present in the school at that time. Two of these students, David Hogg and Emma Gonzales went on a public tirade against the NRA blaming them for the shootings. These two brats claim to represent the 17 victims and their families, but neither one was in close proximity to the shootings, or were close friends with anyone who got shot, nor have either one of them made any effort to contact the families of the victims. After the CNN broadcast, Ian Petty, the brother of Parkland victim Elena Petty appeared on a YouTube channel and stated that these young punks speak for none of the families. CNN has never bothered to interview students with a close connection to the victims, but instead sought out people who had a preconceived animus towards the NRA. The families of the victims started a school safety charity called “Walk Up” that works to create real solutions to the school shooting problem. The following URL, given next, shows an interview with Ian Petty. The interview begins at 1:52:08, and contains no strong language, although if you enter the link at an earlier point you probably will hear some strong language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GCh-hBvrS4&t=0s&index=4&list=PLHnu1u-Oz56er684PGFaz6hOleA7WPUqY
Since Nikolas Cruz was obviously crazy, this brings me to the issue of mental health. While it should be obvious to all that no person who is certifiably insane should be allowed to have guns, we still need to ask the question “Who can we trust to do the certification?” Before the former Soviet Empire was put out of business by Ronald Regan, Russian citizens who criticized the empire were considered insane and were incarcerated in mental institutions as punishment. More recently in this country prominent progressive politicians have stated that anyone who wants to own a gun is crazy. The problem here is we cannot trust most prople to put aside their personnel beliefs and just look at facts objectively. At one time the progressives suggested that anyone on the “no fly” list should be disarmed; but when they found that some of their more prominent members were on the “no fly” list they quickly dropped that idea.
A second thing we need to consider is that some mental instability may be caused by drug use. It has long been known that amphetamines taken with alcohol or barbiturates can induce a severe aggressive reaction or psychotic behavior in the user. Phencyclidine (PCP) can cause a similar reaction. However, it is not common knowledge that there is creditable evidence that some of the prescription medicine used to combat mental disorders may actually cause psychotic behavior. There is not a lot of information about this subject available, but the next link presents a table of some of the reported behavioral issues associated with certain drugs. https://secure.medicalletter.org/w1301c
We must constantly monitor our government not only to make sure that the laws it passes are reasonable, but those who have been appointed to enforce those laws are doing their job without favoring one political group over another. No matter how well intentioned a law is it can always be abused by people with dishonorable intentions.
For the past several months I have been writing about school shootings, in particular the one in Parkland, Florida. This article has gone on longer than I intended, because the situation was fluid and the available information kept changing from month to month. What I have written is summarized in the following points:
- The officers who were assigned to guard the Parkland school did not do their job. Several investigative agencies, both federal and local dropped the ball.
- Creating more gun free zones will not work. 98% of all mass shootings in the U.S. occur in gun free zones.
- Making more laws will not help. Murder is already against the law.
- Armed guards would help at the schools, but their identity must be concealed from any potential shooter. These armed guards should be backed up by armed teachers and students. These people will need to have periodic training to maintain their skills.
- The mainstream media (especially CNN) is either unable or unwilling to present the true facts to the American people.
- The NRA is not the cause of this problem, but stands ready to help solve it.
- It would probably be a mistake to try to disarm anyone who was declared insane by some government agency, because such a law is sure to be abused.
This concludes my article about the Parkland shootings, but it is possible that I may return to it at some point in the future if more information is revealed. In doing the research for this article, I came across several interesting stories that are receiving little or no coverage in the media. They all involve guns to some degree. In the next few months I plan to report on some of these stories. As always I will be glad to publish any differing opinions on any of the articles that I write. After all it is only with an honest and open dialogue that we can arrive at the truth.
COMMENTS ON MASS SHOOTINGS by RON MIRANDA
While mental illness has much to do with the attitude of the shooter or shooters and must be addressed before any changes in society will be noticed, I believe the (Fake) News networks, CNN, HLN, CBS, NBC, and ABC among others are directly responsible for many of the shootings. The last tragedy in Santa Fe, Texas, the weak minded moron responsible, admitted he copied much of the Columbine shootings. As long as the (Fake) news networks glorify and publicize the acts and pictures of these animals these heinous attacks will continue. And, I believe, much to the encouragement of the (Fake) news networks as, I feel, the idea is to enrage the public to the point of demanding complete gun control, thus rendering our country completely vulnerable.
In a recent movie the line was uttered “what will happen to the people if they attack the armed troops without weapons?” The response by the other actor was “what usually happens to people without guns by those with guns”? But, that was a movie, with people who have no grasp on reality. While we’re on the subject, doesn’t it seem funny that all the Holliwierdo’s that make their living with a gun, Liam Neeson, Robert DeNiro, Robert Redford and many others preach for gun control while using the very instrument they are dead set against, while they bask in their walled surroundings protected by their armed body guards.
FBI Acknowledges Life-Saving Potential of Armed Citizens Submitted by Bill Rogers
Fairfax, VA –“Armed and unarmed citizens engaged the shooter in 10 incidents. They safely and successfully ended the shootings in eight of those incidents. Their selfless actions likely saved many lives. The enhanced threat posed by active shooters and the swiftness with which active shooter incidents unfold support the importance of preparation by law enforcement officers and citizens alike.”
Those are the final lines in the conclusion of the FBI’s Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017.
The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Gang and drug-related shootings are excluded. “The active aspect of the definition inherently implies that both law enforcement personnel and citizens have the potential to affect the outcome of the event based upon their responses to the situation.”
Ten active shooters were confronted by citizens. In four incidents, the responding citizens were unarmed; these heroes include school staff, the shooter’s girlfriend, and a man who intentionally struck the shooter with his car. Six shooters were confronted by armed citizens. Four shooters were stopped by lawfully armed citizens. One citizen was wounded as he confronted the shooter. “In one incident, a citizen possessing a valid firearms permit exchanged gunfire with the shooter, causing the shooter to flee to another scene and continue shooting.” Unsurprisingly, it seems that these criminal cowards preferred targets incapable of defending themselves.
“Armed and unarmed citizens engaged the shooter in 10 incidents. They safely and successfully ended the shootings in eight of those incidents. Their selfless actions likely saved many lives. The enhanced threat posed by active shooters and the swiftness with which active shooter incidents unfold support the importance of preparation by law enforcement officers and citizens alike.”
Anti-gun politicians, celebrities, and organizations deride the idea that citizens can successfully defend themselves, their families, or those around them. They prefer that law-abiding gun owners be disarmed – a position they advocate from behind the safety of armed security. We’re fortunate to have real leaders who understand that Americans should be trusted to take responsibility for themselves, their families, and their communities, and that the quickest way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
SHOOTING COMMITTEE posts rules for 2018
Submitted by Ron Smith
This draft has been approved by the shooting committee and unless notified, will be the guide line we will use for our tournament in the fall.
May 30th will mark the beginning of the final chance for you to shoot for the prizes that our $3 donation has paid for since the beginning of the season. The proficiency tournament will be for certificates ONLY. The gifts will be drawn for at probably the September or October business meeting, depending on time permitting.
Please keep in mind there is NO BUY IN as was last year, therefore, you can't shoot on two Wednesdays and pony up $24 and expect to get into the drawings. This is a reward for being a part of the shooting club.
Come and take part, now.
any caliber, any sight at two different distances.
If you cannot shoot
on one or both those days your make up day will be Saturday, August 25th beginning at 8:00 am.
You may NOT shoot on the designated day and again on the make up day.
TARGETS
For all events the target will be the standard 10 ring.
SCORER
A scorer will be designated by the Shooting Committee.
SHOOTING SEQUENCE
One (1) target for
rim fire pistol, 10 rounds per target.
One (1) target for
center fire pistol, 10 rounds per target.
Two (2) targets for
100 yd. Rifle, with Five (5) rounds per target.
Two (2) targets for
30 yd. Rifle, with Five (5) rounds per target.
If you compete in
all events you will turn in a total of Six (6) targets.
You must compete in ALL events to be considered for Over All recognition.
YARDAGE AND
REQUIREMENTS
All pistol events,
both rim fire and center fire pistol will be at Ten (10) yds.
using open sights (iron sights).
Rifle event will
be One Hundred (100) yds. any sights permitted, free standing,
tri-pods or bench rest permitted using a rest not to exceed 6” in
length. The rest must be placed in front of the receiver, the butt
or stock must be supported by your shoulder or
other body part.
Rifle event will
be Thirty (30) yds. free standing only, no brace or assist other than
a sling may be used. ANY sight including scopes will be permitted.
AWARDS
Certificates, suitable for framing, for positions First, Second and Third to be awarded in all categories.
Over all recognition will be awarded for First, Second and Third, as well, by accumulating scores from the other four shoots, six (6) targets and will be totaled to determine Over All first, second and third.
This will be determined by the scorer and his or her decision will be final. This event is open to any eligible gun club
member or approved guest.
Participants must shoot in all categories in order to qualify for Best Overall Shooter!
ALL WINNSBORO GUN CLUB RULES AND RANGE RULES WILL BE ENFORCED
VIGNETTES FROM TEXAS HISTORY SUBMITTED by BILL ROGERS
12 March 1864 The Red River Campaign begins
On this day in 1864, one of the biggest military fiascos of the Civil War begins as a combined Union force of infantry and riverboats starts moving up the Red River in Louisiana for the purpose of invading Texas. The month-long campaign was poorly managed and achieved none of the objectives set forth by Union commanders.
The campaign had several strategic goals. The Union hoped to capture everything along the Red River in Louisiana and continue into Texas. Additionally, President Abraham Lincoln hoped to send a symbolic warning to France, which had set up a puppet government in Mexico and seemed to have designs on territorial expansion. Finally, Union officials wanted to capture cotton-producing regions, as cotton was in short supply in the North.
The plan called for Admiral David Dixon Porter to take a flotilla of 20 gunboats up the Red River while General Nathaniel Banks led 27,000 men along the western shore of the river. Porter’s squadron entered the river on March 12. Two days later, Fort Derussy fell to the Yankees and the ships moved upriver and captured Alexandria. The expedition was going well, but Banks was moving too slowly. He arrived two weeks after Porter took Alexandria, and continued to plod towards Shreveport. Banks traveled nearly 20 miles from the Red River, too far for the gunboats to offer any protection. On April 8, Banks’ command was attacked and routed by Confederate General Richard Taylor, son of former U.S. president Zachary Taylor. The two sides fought again the next day, but this time the Yankees held off the Rebel pursuit.
The intimidated Banks elected to retreat back down the river before reaching Shreveport. Porter’s ships followed, but the Red River was unusually low and the ships were stuck above some rapids near Alexandria. It appeared that the ships would have to be destroyed to keep them from falling into Confederate hands, but Lt. Colonel Joseph Bailey of Wisconsin, an engineer with a logging background, supervised several thousand soldiers in constructing a series of wing dams that raised the water level enough for the ships to pass. The campaign was deemed a failure–it drew Union strength away from other parts of the South and the expedition never reached Texas. A resident of the Pine Hill community participated in repelling the Yankee invasion and was wounded. He was place in a straw filled wagon pulled by one horse, and miraculously survived the trip back to Winnsboro and his wounds. He lived for many years, after the War of Northern Aggression, in the Winnsboro area and is buried in the Pine Hill cemetery maintained by the Pine Hill Presbyterian church. This patriot's grave is faithfully decorated with a flag each 4th of July by Binny Couser.
_________
May 3, 2018 First National Bank, Winnsboro
Minutes for May, 2018 Business Meeting by Ron Miranda
President Greg Bova opened the meeting at 5:50 pm asking Sgt. at Arms Robb Tubbs to lead us in the Pledge of the U.S. and Texas.
Information Officer Wayne Scott followed with a report on all of our ailing members including; Rick Henson, Ken Pregeant, Dennis Morey, T.R. Mills, Tony Vo, Steve Chiles (who was in attendance), Suzy Hamm (wife of Hardy), Dale Koslucher, Linda Grossl (partner of Ed Hoying), Kay Watts (wife of Ken), Zerta Tubbs (wife of Rob) and Denise Miranda (wife of Ron). After the Invocation, Wayne presented our guest speaker, Craig Lindholm, Winnsboro City Administrator.
Mr. Lindholm provided a printed accounting of where Winnsboro has been and where it is going under his and the City Council’s leadership since 2016. He covered Public Safety, Code Enforcement, our Air Port, City Maintenance and Water Treatment, the Library and Parks, the Farmer’s Market and Animal Shelter and finished with how the city is financed. He summarized with future plans and programs that will help advance the city and surrounding area, including new businesses considering coming to our area.
The Scholarship Committee reported; two candidates were approved for assistance, one to become a surveyor the other high-power electrical lineman. Both are from the Winnsboro area (WHS) both intend to stay in the area and neither had received much in the way of financial assistance from any other source. Motion was made by Wayne Scott to bring the scholarship fund up to $2,000, second by Roman Eble, motion carried.
Paul finished by offering WGC caps to the members for $15.00 that can be worn while working on projects sponsored by WGC.
Wayne Scott presented information regarding our June meeting which will be at the WHS auditorium in conjunction with Texas Law Shield presenting a seminar concerning The Legality of Using Deadly Force to be re-titled to be more politically correct for the school.
Ron Smith was next with a Shooting Committee report on the May 5th “Kid Shoot” asking for coaches for the event. We are spread thin due to the NRA convention in Dallas and the VIPs needed downtown. Our tournament is scheduled for August 8th is for pistols, August 14th for rifles and August 25th will be reserved for any make-up. Rules for the event will be forth coming next week with all the information included.
James stated the Treasury Report had been sent to the members, and there were no questions.
Roman Eble announced the Friends of HAWKS have been approved as a 501 c/3 with four current donors with another one committed. Roman asked for the FoH to have its first official meeting to recruit board members, set up a bank account and arrange for fundraising. The meeting will set and an email sent to the members advising on time, date, and place.
Ron Miranda followed with the Secretaries report beginning by asking if the minutes for April should be read, members voted to accept as written in the newsletter. Three short sleeve shirts were offered to the members for $12.00, in XL only with the correct name to be applied. Ron asked for members to try Phillips gunsmithing whom he, Ron M. recommends. He mentioned there were only 12 Wednesdays left to qualify for the gift type prizes in the Wednesday after breakfast shoot. If anyone would like to join us playing poker, you will be welcome at Ron Miranda’s house on May 24th beginning about 6 pm, a collection to cover food will be appreciated.
Jimmy Chiles requested VIPs help for Saturday May 5th by contacting Mel Mellenberger, and need help from VIPs for May 26th to help with the 5k and 10k runs, continuing to acquire vests and radios for the VIP members.
National Police week May 13th to May 19th with May 15th was dedicated by John F. Kennedy as Police Memorial Day. James Morris suggested we pass the hat on Wednesday to buy lunch for police officers at Tino V’s thus making a similar motion previously made by Wayne Scott void. The motion made by Wayne was rescinded.
James Dugger announced a seminar planned for the WHS auditorium for May 12th at 6 pm featuring Hank Parker, TV fishing personality and champion bass fisherman. This seminar will be free to the public with complimentary refreshments served.
The meeting was adjourned after 1 hour and 59 minutes.
Craig Lindholm, Winnsboro City Administrator speaks to HAWKS AT MAY MEETING (Photo by Bob Williams)
Winnsboro city manager updates the HAWKS on current and future plans for improvements in the city of Winnsboro.
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS (Part III) by George Brown
To start this section I am going to return briefly to a point I was discussing in parts I and II, and that is why did the Broward County deputies not enter the building and confront the shooter. Although the Broward County sheriff’s deputies were trained to confront any shooter, it is a common practice among progressives in government to tell their employees to ignore training and behave in more “politically correct” manner. This is just a sneaky way of making sure that when something bad happens, only the people at the lower end of the hierarchy will be blamed for any incident that occurs, and the people who implemented the insane policy are not blamed. In this particular case, I suspect that either the local political officials or the Broward County sheriff or both implemented this policy. I am going to include a link to a YouTube channel which I discovered while doing research for this article. The events depicted in this clip show a small part of the riots in Berkley California in the spring of 2017, so there is no direct connection to the events in Florida. However, it does show how sometimes inactivity on the part of the police can let things get out of hand. Although they were reluctant to discuss the issue, I interpret the words of the two officers involved to mean that they were ordered not to act. The part showing the riots begins at 14:55, and the interview with the police begins at 16:25. The three moderators discuss the riots until 27:00. I include these times so you won’t have to watch the whole presentation, however, if you have time I think it well worth watching the whole hour. One word of caution; You may want to be sure there are no young children present when you view this link because it contains graphic violence and rough language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-17goUq5q8&index=52&list=PLHnu1u-Oz56er684PGFaz6hOleA7WPUqY
This is not the only case of government agencies failing to protect the people. Both the Boston marathon bombers and the Pulse nightclub shooter were reported to the FBI ahead of time, but in both cases the FBI failed to stop their crimes, and now we find that the father of the Pulse nightclub shooter was a paid FBI informant.
Rather than interviewing knowledgeable responsible people who might be able to provide some insight to this situation most major news outlets spent hours of air time talking to a porn star about an alleged affair with Donald Trump, or to young children who were culled for their anti-gun positions in advance. The NRA was presented as being the main problem. Not only is this untrue, the opposite is true. The NRA has a school shield program which will inspect schools at no charge and recommend any changes that need to be made to harden the target and make it more difficult for the school to be penetrated by any potential shooter. The NRA also has a grant program that can help schools finance necessary changes. If governments let children and porn stars dictate policy they may miss out on wonderful programs like this one.
Another issue of grave concern is the mental health of the shooter, but the discussion of that issue is rather lengthy, so I will save it for next month. As always, I welcome any comments from my readers, whether or they agree with me or not.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SNUBBYS
Chris Christian asked in the latest issue of Shooting Illustrated, “Compact revolvers are popular concealed-carry choices, however, are your practice habits priming you for failure?”
Here is some advice for you to consider, to make you a more realistic shooter, if the need arises. We have all manifested bad habits from time to time and the more in-grained they are the harder they are to correct. I have noticed, while helping on the range with LTC prospects, how nervous a new shooter is when trying to load their brand new Smith or Taurus. As the exercise progresses the more at ease they become. Qualifying for an LTC license is not where you want to go into a training mode, but make mental notes as to what you are doing wrong.
Six points to help you become a better gun handler and possibly even saving your life begins with practice using realistic targets. The standard bullseye is what you need to sight in a gun but you rarely see “bad guys” walking around with one pinned to his jacket. If at all possible simulate a torso as a target like the B-27s or the ones used by the IDPA or even the ones that Law Enforcement uses which will condition the subconscious to shoot for the center mass.
What is meant by closing the gap? Seven yards has become the standard “close-range-self-defense” practice distance. Some people prefer ten yards. According to FBI statistics most deadly encounters occur at about 3 yds. If you are accustom to practicing at ten yards or even as close as seven your subconscious mind will have difficulty adjusting to three yards in a split second. There is a natural reluctance to fire a gun at a target at arm’s length. This has to be overcome, especially if the attacker is four feet from your throat with a knife in his hand and closing fast. Being able to shoot at seven yards won’t be of much use to you.
Effective snubby practice should include targets as close as three yards. At this distance you will find the importance of looking over the sights instead of through them, a bright, easily found, front sight is all that is needed for accurate hits at close range.
A lot of inexperienced shooters consider a double-action revolver to be a single-action gun that can be fired double-action, if needed. Shoot Double Action, for speed delivering two or three effective hits in the same time it takes to cock, aim and fire one shot, single action. Should you find yourself barricaded behind cover and need to deliver accurately beyond fifteen yards the SA option may be viable, but when things are close and quick forget single-action.
Practice Weak and Strong Hand instead of the recommended firm two handed grip, again it’s not always possible or feasible to shoot using the two handed grip. One hand may be injured or you may be directing a loved one out of the line of fire. You may need to hold a flash light or dial a cell phone; any number of tasks could dictate a one handed firing solution.
Make Reloading a Habit. FBI statistics indicates the “average” self-defense shooting results in fewer than three rounds being fired. If this is the average, your five shot snubby, or if you carry on an empty chamber, you are down to a few rounds in reserve. This means you must turn your empty snubby into a loaded and ready snubby as fast as you can. Whether you use a speed loader, speed strip or just carry loose rounds in your pocket you must practice to get your gun back in the action.
The drawback to a fast reload with a snubby is that the short ejector-rod stroke may not readily clear empty cases from the gun, and that’s half the reloading process. The best method to handle this is to activate the cylinder release button with the strong hand clamping two fingers, of your weak hand, around the cylinder keeping it out of the gun. Using your strong hand, firmly push down or slap down on the ejector rod, then with the strong hand insert the fresh ammo using whatever means you use. Practice the method which is the friendliest to you, over and over until it’s second nature.
Use Your Carry Gear in Practice. In a live situation it is no time to play “Where’s Waldo”, your gun, your ammo and reloads should be where you always carry them. Try to wear the same clothing you wear in normal conditions, even if it is dress clothing, because what you do in practice, you will likely do when it counts. And if you’re licensed--CARRY!!!
Submitted by Ron Miranda
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In 1962 President John F. Kennedy signed a Proclamation and designated May 15th as Peace Officer's Memorial Day and the week in which that falls as National Police Week. Currently tens of thousands of Law Enforcement Officers from around the world converge on Washington D.C. to participate in a number of planned events which honors those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice.
National Police Week begins this year on May 13th. National Police Week has events scheduled at State Capitals and local communities across the United States. National Police Week ends on May 19th, 2018.
With the continued upward trend of assaults and murder of Law Enforcement Officers, this is a time to honor the courage and the sacrifices of all the men and women that serve in Wood, Franklin, and Hopkins counties.
Submitted by Jimmy Chiles
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This chart was submitted by two HAWKS, William Rogers and also by Dennis Moray. It compares the gun homicide rate to the number of guns in private hands since 1994.
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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WEB REPORT by George Brown
The Friends of Hawks received its 501c/3 charter last week, so we will start working on a new web page for that organization next Tuesday.
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HAWKS GUN CLUB OF EAST TEXAS
APRIL 2018
Minutes for HAWKS’ business meeting, April 5, 2018
By Ron Miranda
President Bova opened the meeting at 6 pm., Sergeant at Arms Tubbs led the group in the U.S. and Texas pledges and Mike Briggs offered concerns for our members and spouses who are under the weather and offered the invocation.
Greg explained that our scheduled speaker, Winnsboro City Manager, Craig Lindholm, was called out of town, then explained that the schedule had been shifted because the speakers were members and may need additional time for presentation.
Paul Fletcher was called on first, to bring the members up to date on the scholarship program and moved that the fund for this year be $1300 to $1500 and apply to one scholarship, motion was seconded by Ed Hoying, motion carried.
George Brown, our Webmaster reported he had updated the calendar to the current status of the club and no additional corrections were made to the web pages as Neal was currently unavailable.
Nominating report was given by Vice Chair Miranda who said we had five candidates and Chair Hoying suggested we hold any announcement until we were sure the field was filled. Wayne invited the prospective candidates to attend the Board of Directors’ meetings to see if anything needed correcting. Ron explained that the vote for officers was moved to September instead of August was to prevent any non-members from voting, as the club enrollment date for members is August.
The 501 c/3 spokesman, Roman Eble, explained what the progress was on the c/3 application and said approval was expected any time now after he and James Morris had conversations with the IRS regarding this. In addition the rules were explained to the members how the c/3 was to work including no co-mingling of funds and no Directors from HAWKS can serve as Directors of the 501 c/3.
James Morris gave the Financial Report and asked if it had been received by the members, who affirmed it had. In addition he explained a $3.90 error that had been carried over for some months, but was found as a typo of several months past.
The Secretary, Ron Miranda was asked for his report which began with a request to read the previous month’s minutes, there were none and the minutes were accepted as written. Miranda confirmed the dates of September 22nd and December 6th for the awards dinner and Christmas Party, respectively. Ron proceeded to cover the questions asked of the members in an email regarding direction they would like to see the club go and out of four responses, two to email and two verbal the outcome was;
Would you like skeet or other shotgun sports?
NO
Would you like more tactical exercises?
YES
Is shooting important to you?
YES
Would you like more parties and social activities?
NO
Would you like the HAWKS to be more involved in charities?
NO
Would you like the HAWKS to get more involved in community activities? As is, continued involvement
Would you like Wednesday breakfast later or keep it the same?
NO CHANGE
Wendall, the VP, introduced Sheriff Paul Fletcher, who gave an accounting of an incident he handled as a Dallas Police officer in 1980. (The attending members were riveted in their seats while Paul was relating this incident. If you missed it you missed something you will not forget any time soon.)
Wendall critiqued Paul’s presentation as being outstanding and encouraged each of us to carry a gun.
He then put up a white board and addressed the accomplishments of the HAWKS individually and discussed each;
The VIPs, would you like them continued?
YES
Eyes and ears for city events including the Gun Show to continue?
YES
Scholarship program to continue?
YES
Animal Shelter events?
NO (Our roll in this event has been taken over by the city.)
Continue with gun safety events for kids?
YES
Continue the weekly shooting program for members.
YES
Meals for Cops at Holiday Times
YES
Toys for Tots
YES
Possibly a resurgence of the old F.A.S.T. program.
YES
Wendall suggested eating out on occasions including our wives and perhaps, an outing at Peter’s restaurant for horseshoes. Other ideas were bandied about including setting up chapters in other cities but nothing was decided.
Wendall asked if the club wanted to continue with the type of presenter as we have in the past several months, that being, asking the LEOs to relate some of their experiences.
Ken Watts added he felt we would not be able to tell people about our scholarship program if we depended, solely, on the Friends of Hawks to support the scholarship program, that we should consider continuing a raffle of some sort so we would still be in the face of the public.
Wendall offered an increase in dues to substantiate the scholarship program which met with very little enthusiasm.
Finally James Morris suggested looking into the “gun a week” give-away; the Mt. Vernon VFD was running, along with several others in our area.
Wendall invited all who would like to shoot skeet to contact him and they could form a group of shooters similar to the Wednesday breakfast shoot. In addition he encouraged us to become active in the established Tactical Shoot the WGC sponsored every 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month.
The meeting adjourned at 8 pm.
Ron Miranda 4/8/2018, Secretary for HAWKS
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS (Part II) by George Brown
This is part two of my report on the school shooting in Florida. In part one I reported that the policeman who was stationed at the school and the police who arrived on the scene later were instructed to not enter the building. A few days after I published the newsletter it was revealed that the initial training received by all police recruits instructs them to engage the shooter. However, according to one report, after they received this training they were told not to ever enter the building armed. Broward County Sheriff’ Scott Israel denied that any police officers were told not to engage the shooter. However, Sheriff Israel, (in a public address to the media that some described as a political campaign), blamed the whole incident on the NRA and American gun owners, and this tirade against guns makes me less inclined to believe his story. Irrespective of which story is true, it is obvious that the government failed to do its job and protect the school. I have been searching the internet for the last two weeks looking for more details of this story and while I have found several variations I could not be sure the source was reliable, so I have nothing more to say about it at this time.
The main point we should take from this tragedy is that the government which was supposed to protect these children did not do its job, and in my opinion cannot ever be relied on to protect anyone in the future. The average shooter is finished with its evil deed in about two to five minutes. In fact, in the Broward County incident, it was three minutes. The average police response is over five minutes. The average police response is just too slow currently to effectively stop a shooter from taking lives.
A trained professional at the scene before the shooting starts is better than having to call for help, but there are still problems with this solution. Having one police officer assigned to a school is good, but if a determined shooter locates the one officer and takes him out, he then has free reign to slaughter the inhabitants of the building at will. Stationing many police officers around the building would solve this problem but that would be very expensive, and any shooter, or group of shooters would always be able to identify their first target by who is in uniform. Again, once the guards are eliminated the bad guys will have free reign.
Thus while it is essential to have armed guards at the schools, it is even more essential that any potential shooter not know who they are. President Trump suggested that we arm any teachers who are willing to undergo training and allow them to carry their firearms in their classes. This suggestion was greeted with outrage by the progressive fake news media; but provided the teachers wish to participate, and are willing to undergo the extensive training required, I support that position. Furthermore I would go one step further, and allow any student who has demonstrated the necessary maturity and is willing to undergo the necessary training participate in the program. If these two steps are implemented, there would be at least one visible armed guard stationed in each school and a platoon of assistants ready to lend a hand in case of an attack. These steps should not only serve to quickly neutralize any attack after it occurred; but the knowledge that the students and teachers in a school stand ready to defend themselves would serve as a deterrent to anyone planning an attack.
In America today, 98% of mass shootings take place in gun free zones. There is a good reason for this. People who shoot up schools or slaughter defenseless people in other ways are cowards. If they perceive that their intended victim has any ability to defend himself, they will look elsewhere. Although I know that there would be some objections from the progressives (progressives are always opposed to any plan that has a chance of working) the several states should begin to implement these measures immediately.
I will have more to say on this subject in next month’s newsletter. I realize that these ideas may appear controversial to some, and I will be happy to publish any opposing ideas from any Hawk who would like to email them to me.
BEST BULLETS TO USE submitted by Ron Miranda
If you are a gun magazine fanatic like I am, you have probably noticed all the jargon on the new ARX and NovX bullets. In addition, there has been as much notice of snubbies of late, as well. The ARX bullet comes in .380, 9mm., 40 cal. and 45 cal. and soon 38 spl., while according to Shooting Illustrated the NovX is only available in 9mm. However, the NovX is available in two configurations; the finned bullet like the ARX and a smooth like any other bullet except it is coated with a polymer combined with copper and is in 65 grains. The NovX leaves the muzzle at 1,550 fps in the RNP (smooth) configurations and 1575 fps in the ARX (veined) configuration.
So, how are these bullets better than the ones now sleeping in your Kimber, Ruger or Baby Rock? One of the biggest problems with a standard bullet is it’s ability and likelihood of going through the bad guy and hitting the friendly behind him. The ARX similar to the hollow point is not expected to exit the intended target. Unlike the hollow point the ARX does not expand on impact but burrows into the meat and the flutes push the tissue away from the wound channel and create more damage than an expanding bullet.
In addition the ARX and NovX is much lighter in weight and lessens the weight burden on the gun. You will find yourself checking your gun to see if the magazine is in it or did you leave it home? The NovX shell is constructed of aluminum and stainless steel combined which provides corrosion resistance and self-lubricating properties for better feeding.
Other benefits are a lighter weight projectile will certainly reduce reduce recoil and reduce the likelihood of projectiles penetrating walls reducing collateral damage.
I found price points similar to Hornaday’s hollow points at $18.95 for a box of 25 for ARX by Ruger, while the NovX come 51 to a box, but I don’t have pricing on them. No matter what the pricing, I load ARX in all my carry guns...Why? Because it kills, an dats da name of dat tune.
Source of information is Shooting Illustrated and Gun Digest magazines
VIGNETTES FROM TEXAS HISTORY submitted by Bill Rogers
13 March1836 Houston retreats from Santa Anna’s army
Less than a week after the disastrous defeat of Texas rebels at the Alamo, the newly commissioned Texan General Sam Houston begins a series of strategic retreats to buy time to train his ill-prepared army. Revolutionary Texans had only formally announced their independence from Mexico 11 days earlier. On March 6, 1836, the separatists chose Sam Houston to be the commander-in-chief of the revolutionary army. Houston immediately departed for Gonzales, Texas, where the main force of the revolutionary army was stationed. When he arrived, he found that the Texan army consisted of 374 poorly dressed and ill-equipped men. Most had no guns or military experience, and they had only two days of rations.
Houston had little time to dwell on the situation, because he learned that the Mexican general Santa Anna was staging a siege of the Alamo in San Antonio. Before Houston could prepare his troops to rush to aid the defenders, however, word arrived that Santa Anna had wiped them out on March 6. Scouts reported that Santa Anna’s troops were heading east toward Gonzales. Unprepared to confront the Mexican army with his poorly trained force, Houston began a series of strategic retreats designed to give him enough time to whip his army into fighting shape.
Houston’s decision to retreat won him little but foolish scorn from the Texas rebels. His troops and officers were eager to engage the Mexicans, and they chafed at Houston’s insistence on learning proper field maneuvers. Houston wisely continued to organize, root out the disloyal, train, and equip his troops so they would be prepared to meet Santa Anna’s army. Finally, after nearly a month of falling back, Houston ordered his men to turn around and head south to meet Santa Anna’s forces.
21 April 1835 Sam Houston does an about face.
After nearly a month of falling back, Houston ordered his men to turn around and head south to meet Santa Anna’s forces. On April 21, Houston led his 783 troops in an attack on Santa Anna’s force of nearly twice that number near the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River. With the famous cry, “Remember the Alamo,” the Texans stormed the surprised Mexican forces. After a brief attempt at defense, the Mexican soldiers broke into a disorganized retreat, allowing the Texans to isolate and slaughter them. In a stunning victory, Houston’s army succeeded in killing or capturing nearly the entire Mexican force, including General Santa Anna, who was taken prisoner. Only two Texans were killed and 30 wounded.
Fearful of execution, Santa Anna signed an order granting independence and ordering for the immediate withdrawal of all Mexican troops from Texas soil. The Mexicans never again seriously threatened the independence of the Lone Star Republic.
WEB REPORT by George Brown
I met with Neal Tuesday & we worked on the web page all afternoon and we did manage to get a lot done. We made some changes to the scholarship application, which make it more readable & user friendly. While we were doing that Neal trained me on how to make changes on the administrator page of the scholarship application, so in the future I will be able to make changes as necessary. If the scholarship committee feels that we need to rework the application, I can attend the committee meeting and make the required changes immediately.
We then worked on the problem of not receiving all of the attachments when an application was submitted, and we fixed that. It turned out to be a software timing problem.
We discussed recovering data from a floppy disk & Neal found a link to some inexpensive USB floppy readers which I can order on line. I ordered the reader yesterday, and should receive it next week. Some of our archive is stored on floppy and since I upgraded to Windows 10 I have not been able to access it. Using this USB device will enable us to access old newsletters if we need to.
Lastly we discussed a website for the friends of the Hawks which we intend to start on soon after the Friends receive their 501c/3 approval.
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HAWKS-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER MARCH 2018
Minutes for March meeting March 1, 2018 by Ron Miranda
Greg opened the meeting at 6 pm. with the pledge to the U.S. and Texas flags followed by prayer concerns for Suzy Hamm, Steve Chiles, Ken Watts and Rick Henson who are on the mend, and Dennis Morey who is scheduled for spine surgery on the 19th of this month. Mike Briggs was asked to deliver our Invocation asking for guidance for all those who are mending.
Johnny Wetzel was asked for a report for the upcoming gun show. He affirmed the requests for the HAWKS to do what we have done in the past, except for late night duty. We will be asked to strap any incoming guns at the door and as before, any HAWKS wearing a logo shirt or cap will be admitted free for their service to the show. As a reminder, loaded firearms are permitted outside the building but not inside during show hours. The Chamber has donated a table to the HAWKS, as in the past, and Wayne has purchased a table for any guns for sale by members or the public for a five dollar fee which will be donated to our scholarship fund once the table cost is recovered. Johnny continued with the 501 c/3 project, stating that if he had not received notification by the end of day on March 1st, he would be calling the IRS on Friday morning and report to the members no later than Wednesday, March 7th.
New member Jeff Paddock was introduced and gave a brief rundown of his experiences and how he found East Texas and the HAWKS.
Wendall was given the floor and proceeded with a demonstration on disarming an assailant with a gun or knife, using Wayne Scott as a prop, subject or guinea pig. He challenged each of us to come up with a training plan to prevent or correct a bad situation each month.
Wayne took the floor and asked for any volunteers to help with the “Kid Shoot” on Saturday which is a safety, familiarization, training and FUN event for kids. (The event was held Saturday March 3rd and hosted 11 young shooters. In addition, we had 14 coaches or assist personnel which went off without a hitch.) He also offered tickets to the Friends of NRA banquet for fun and games. He continued with his presentation on why or why not to call 911. There are times when it’s best to call local police or sheriff’s office, and what information what to give 911 without offering too much information.
Wayne segwayed into an introduction of Rob Mounce, who is a representative for Texas Law Shield. He gave a brief rundown of its coverage, programs, costs and comparisons for the top four competing attorney programs. The question of civil suits after a shooting was explored in a little more detail with comments by several of the members.
Mike Briggs announced that Peggy York offered to do a class for prospective RSOs, minimum of five people, by contacting Mike Briggs, who will arrange the class.
James Morris was called on for Treasurer’s report, telling all members that copies of the current financial statement had been sent to each member by email.
Ron Miranda asked for a motion to read the minutes from February, when no motition was made the minutes were approved as written in the newsletter of February. He then announced there would be a Nominating Committee meeting called by Chairman Ed Hoying for March 6th at 9 am at Richie’s Restaurant. Casino Night is this coming Saturday night to raise money for the Animal Shelter of Winnsboro and a good time is predicted for one and all. If anyone has any questions regarding this event, contact me. In addition, Ron asked if anyone had any ideas for a fund raiser for the HAWKS until the 501 c/3 is approved.
Beth Garner is having a difficult time and needs help navigating the problems with gaining benefits from Gary’s military career.
George Brown was asked for a report on the web site and the electronic application for scholarships. He said the form has two attachments that are required to be filled out and the program is only accepting one. Neal is continuing to work on this problem and hopes to have a solution very soon. To date we have only received three applications. The application might have to be revised eliminating one of the attachments.
Before closing, Scott Carroll was introduced as a guest. Scott works in West Texas and is only home every other week.
The meeting was declared closed after one hour and 37 minutes.
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS (Part I) by George Brown
I am sure that everyone reading this is aware of the school shooting in Florida; every TV news channel has been talking about it nonstop for the last two weeks. Everyone who turns on his or her favorite news program has been subjected to an endless barrage of opinions about how to solve this problem. In this and a few following newsletters, I would like to present some of these proposed solutions and offer comments on their validity. I will begin with a recap of some proposed solutions that have no chance of working, then I will discuss some halfway measures, and then move on to some solutions that can work, and finally I will summarize the whole article. I am sure many Hawks will disagree with some of my opinions, and I encourage all who wish to do so to email their ideas to me and I will publish them in the letters section of this newsletter. Keeping that in mind, I will begin.
Some people say that the solution is to outlaw all guns, as if it were really possible to remove all the firearms from our country. Every thinking person knows that this attempt would result in the criminals being the only ones who were armed, and all the decent people would be helpless. Others want to outlaw bump stocks and other semi-automatic weapons, or weapons with a sinister appearance, but this is a case of misdirection. Guns are not the issue; the issue is the bad behavior of some people. Passing more laws is not the answer. It is already against the law to walk into a school and start killing children. Keeping weapons away from the general population is not the answer. CNN reports that in Kennesaw, Georgia, local law states that “every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm.” The town of almost 34,000 people has experienced only one murder is the past six years. It’s deemed one of the safest cities in Georgia, with a violent crime rate of below 2%. In Switzerland, during WWII, every citizen was required to own a fully automatic weapon, and to train with the militia periodically, in order to be prepared for a Nazi invasion. Since Switzerland was one of the few countries in Europe that Hitler never invaded, it appears that this was an effective policy. The way the progressive politicians insist on importing criminal types to this country we may all need automatic weapons to turn back an assault from people who have already been let into this country. Not only are restrictions on ownership a stupid idea, these restrictions are also unconstitutional.
It has also been proposed that there should be age restrictions on owning firearms. The current suggestion is that no one under the age of 21 should be allowed to own a firearm. This proposal makes no sense at all, since a person age 18 is eligible for the draft. What are we going to do; draft them and then refuse to arm them? On a personal note I owned a 22 rifle before I was old enough to drive a car. I never misused the gun either accidently or purposely. Once a child has demonstrated that he or she can behave responsibly, he or she should be trained in how to handle a firearm safely and upon completion of that training, allowed to own firearms. Requiring that all gun owners be trained in firearms use is perfectly within the framework of the constitution since it clearly states that the militia should be well regulated. At the time the constitution was written, the militia consisted of every able bodied man in the nation over the age of thirteen; but today we have extended our armed forces to women, so that females should be considered part of the militia as well. As a final note on this subject, we should be careful not to try to push gun ownership and/or training onto people who are not comfortable with the idea of using guns.
A possible solution might be to have uniformed police in the schools, but there are major problems with this solution as well. During the recent school shooting in Florida, the policeman on duty waited outside the building for four minutes even though he could hear the gunshots coming from inside the building. Then other police arrived from his office, and they too remained outside. It turns out that these police were instructed not to enter the building, so while they were waiting outside the killer finished his dirty work and escaped. It was only the efforts of an alert police officer from another city that succeeded in apprehending the killer. Also, there were surveillance cameras in the building recording the shootings and transmitted the data to the local police station, but they were on a 20 minute delay, so the police had no real time update on the situation in the school. Why were the police instructed not to enter the building? It seems that the school and police officials involved did not like the image of uniformed officers in the building. The officials who made this decision all seem to be progressive politicians, who are quick to blame the NRA for a situation that they themselves are responsible for. Progressives tend to move in or out of the bureaucracy (both national and local) with the latest whim of the population. This should make it clear to all that we really cannot trust the government to protect us. Next month I will continue this subject by proposing some solution that at least have a chance of working
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
GUNFIGHTS
I recently read an article entitled “5 ways to lose your life in a gun fight.” While their 5 ways applied more to a more seasoned gun fighter, which you don’t find running around the streets of a small rural East Texas town. This got me to thinking what if I wrote a 5 ways that would be more appealing to our area. So here goes…
First and most important, Never leave the house with an unloaded gun. Why? If you could pull a gun and scare off the bad guy, why not? Well… what if he or they call your bluff, pull out some Saturday night specials and aim them at your face? You’re probably dead.
If you’ve gone to the trouble and expense of obtaining your License To Carry permit, for crying out loud, CARRY! But… don’t carry a gun that you do not have confidence in. Many people, especially women, have difficulty operating or “running” a semi-automatic, opt for a revolver. What’s wrong with a revolver? ...Nothing, absolutely, nothing.
Next, never shoot to wound! Your assailant is trying to kill you, kill him back, and first. There is only one reason to pull your trigger and that is to keep on living or to help someone you love, keep on living. Remember, it’s not when can I shoot, but when must I shoot. If you don’t kill your attacker he will sue you naked, or try.
It is very unwise to load your Kimber, Sig or Colt with reloads as your carry ammo. Too many things can happen when you shoot reloads and none of them are good. If you’re going to malfunction have it malfunction on the range, not in a gun fight. There is ammo out there that fires each time, every time, and will not let you down or get you killed.
One of the dumbest things you can do, is run towards a fight just because you’re armed. Cops run towards the fight, soldiers run towards the fight, spies run towards the fight, the armed citizen is best advised to do whatever they can to avoid the experience, entirely. Use your gun to stay alive or keep a loved one alive.
Massad Ayoob, Gun writer and firearms expert has his five myths of concealed carry. Briefly, today a good shoot is NOT a good shoot. Legitimate self-defense or justifiable shooting has become “vigilantism” thanks to mainstream media, TV networks and an assortment of a liberal grove of academe. In short, cover your ass and be sure to order the bad guy to “drop his gun”.
Aim for Center Mass which may be in the abdominal area and won’t, instantly, stop the threat. The way to stop a criminal from shooting at you is to deliver your bullet to the part of the body that he needs to keep shooting at you. Have you ever heard of “second button down”.
He who shoots first, wins, well, not always. Ayoob chronicles many good guys have been shot and remained conscious and alert enough to return fire enough to kill the opponent with accurate shots. Keep in mind this can reverse; keep shooting until the threat is stopped. He, who shoots best, wins.
If you can’t do it with six (or five) you may not be able to do it, at all. Many time we hear of druggies, all hopped up, taking multiple shots and continue to attack. That extra magazine or speed loader may be needed. You may put your six in the bad guy to stop him and all of a sudden two of his buddies show up.
Choice of Equipment Doesn’t Matter, we all agree a hit with a .22 beats a miss with a .44 mag. You will be better served with a firearm you can shoot well at high speed and with ammunition that hits hard on the receiving end. Hollow points remain the better choice and safer choice for stopping the bad guy and keeping bystanders safe. There will always be arguments with regards to .380 ACP vs. 9mm. vs .40 S&W vs .45 ACP vs .357 mag. and we all have reasons for what calibers we have confidence in. Carry and shoot the one you have confidence in and feel the most comfortable with.
We should ask ourselves, why do so many from other countries try to enter ours? Is it for a better life or possibly just life, itself. The countries that produce these stowaways are almost, assuredly, countries that prohibit their people from arming themselves, else how could they control them so easily?
In a 2007 movie entitled "V" for vengeance, one of the police investigators was asked what would happen if the people rebelled against existing authority. The cop replied "what usually happens when people without guns go against those with guns..." I rest my case.
Ron Miranda Secretary for HAWKS
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HOLLOW POINTS VS. SOLID POINTS (I received these answers in response to an inquiry I emailed out asking about the best ammo to avoid collateral damage.)
Use a hollow point defensive round. Hit the sternum 2nd button down, aim small, the round will stay in target, don't miss, missing causes collateral damage.
Wayne Scott
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I too am concerned with collateral damage; therefore, I choose to go with the ARX Interceptor ammo by Polycase. It carries lighter in weight and will not exit the back of the target and is about the same price as hollow points. (Box of 25 is about $19.00, for 9 mm.) These slugs are being made in .45, 9 mm., .380 cal and possibly 38 spl., my 9s are about 80 gr. with a muzzle velocity of about 1400 fps. You have to get used to them as you think your gun is empty.
Ron Miranda
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The classes and seminars I've been taking lately stated a hollow point is much better to control collateral damage...ie...going through the bad guy and hitting an innocent.
Mel Mellenberger
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The Gun Is Civilization”
By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.
The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat – it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed.
People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings that result in only a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.
The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation… And that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
Submitted by Bill Rogers
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HAWKS GUN CLUB OF EAST TEXAS
FEBRUARY 2018
February Business Meeting Minutes by Ron Miranda 2/1/2018
The meeting was called to order at 6 pm., by President Bova followed by the pledge to the U.S. and Texas flags. Wayne Scott followed with a report on our members and friends under the weather, including Steve Chiles, vehicle accident, Dale Koslucher, pneumonia, Ken Goodson, respiratory, and Dennis Morey, spinal issues. Wayne then gave us our Invocation.
Jody Hettich was our featured speaker and described his duties as Police Chief of the Winnsboro ISD. He described a new anti-drug program to be introduced to WISD and the HAWKS pledged our help in any way we can to get this plan instituted.
Ray Hollingsworth was given time to present the purpose and upcoming events for the Friends of the NRA and the upcoming banquet and auction, March 24th at the Winnsboro Civic Center, beginning at 6 pm. Tickets for the banquet must be purchased by February 28th, to be eligible for a drawing for a firearm.
James Morris was not in attendance so there was no Treasurer’s report.
George Brown was asked for a web update and offered that he had received the first electronically filed application for the scholarship program. The application was incomplete due to a malfunction in the program, which has been referred to Neal Duncan for repair.
Ron Miranda was called on for the Secretary’s report and he began with a request for a motion to read last month’s minutes. There was none so the minutes were accepted as written in the newsletter. He then announced the Casino Night on March 3rd. at the Winnboro Civic Center and presented a request for the HAWKS to sponsor a table, as they did last year, to demonstrate our involvement with functions to benefit the City. Ron moved, Gordon Glass seconded, that the club sponsor a table at the Casino Night, vote was approved. The drawing followed with Miranda, Glass, Hildebrandt and Branton the ticket winners.
Next order of business was the Nominating Committee, to announce the members of that committee; Scott, Miranda, Knox, Pescod, Dugger, Morris and Hoying, with a meeting planned for next week to select candidates and formulate ideas to select candidates for the three offices to be voted on.
John Bowling’s widow Collette needs help clearing fallen trees off her fence which fell during recent storms. Please contact Collette or Efton Edwards if you can lend a hand with this project.
Ron Miranda promoted the vote for the NRA Board of Directors in their upcoming elections, I, especially, like Dean Cain for a director as he is a movie actor and we need all the conservative actors we can get influencing Hollywierd.
Recommended the club not get into the CMP as the WGC is already a member and we have access to it through the gun club. Ray Hollingsworth and Wayne explained the program and how to make it work.
If you need shirts or caps see me. We asked James Dugger to look into the Brazilian restaurant in Tyler for a road trip for the club.
Texas Law Shield book exchange program will not be honored. According to Rob Mount, the current representative, there will not be a new printing and that we were given bad information from the previous district sales manager. Since there were little or no changes in the “use of deadly force” laws so all the lawyer opinions should still be in force, the administrative portion regarding license to carry and a few minor adjustments have changed but not affecting the laws, that much.
The club will be asked to vote on an amendment to our by-laws, to allow the board an emergency usage of up to $200.00 for necessary onetime expenses without going to the full membership for approval, which we have had in the past, but would like it added to the by-laws.
Since any member is invited to sit in on the Board of Directors meeting, as an observer, and encouraged if you are considering running for a Director’s position, the minutes from the Director’s meetings will be sent out as an email or published in the newsletter on our website as are the minutes from the business meetings.
There will be a scholarship committee meeting following the business meeting.
Johnny reported on the 501 c/3 progress, that he was in phone contact with the IRS and was told the approval or rejection would be forth coming by March 1st, due to normal progressions and allowance for federal holidays. He was advised NOT to do any business as a 501 c/3 until he received confirmation of application. Roman added that until the c/3 was approved the HAWKS should continue to operate the scholarship program as in the past. No bank account can be opened or business can be conducted as a 501 c/3 until approval is received. He added that no board of directors on the HAWKS can serve on the Friends of HAWKS board! Further discussion ensued regarding fund raising, this year’s scholarship commitment, and who can and who cannot be on the members of Friends of HAWKS, and how selection for scholarships can be accomplished.
Johnny then brought up the Chamber of Commerce’s involvement in the gun show, in March. The event will be called the Winnsboro Outdoor Extravaganza for March 16th, 17th, and 18th. The HAWKS will continue to be needed in the same capacities as in the past; however, Johnny planned to make a sizable donation to the HAWKS for it assistance.
Wayne moved we spend $150.00 for an accent table at the Friends of NRA banquet to underwrite items on that table, no second and the motion died.
Wayne thanked all of the volunteers for his LTC classes from coaches to announcer, and instructions to beginners.
Wayne asked for the sharing of the flier for the First Aid seminar to be held at the Winnsboro High School Auditorium, February 17th, promoting the “Good Samaritan Law”, how to treat a gunshot wound, general CPR and more. Champion EMS and Christus Mother Francis will have representatives as presenters for this seminar.
He continued with the “Kid Shoot,” supported by the WGC for March, April and May, to help young shooters become more proficient and practice safe handling of firearms.
Under New Business, James Dugger is promoting the Wild Game night at the Pine St. Baptist Church, a no charge event featuring all types of wild meat, stews and side dishes for anyone who wishes to attend. It will begin at 6 pm.
President Bova adjourned the meeting.
Note: The selection of committees and chairmen has not been done correctly according to our by-laws (Article 6.01 & 6.04), therefore, making it necessary to reappoint committees. This procedure will begin at the next Board of Directors’ meeting.
BoD Meeting for February January 30, 2018 by Ron Miranda
Nominating Committee, first meeting was cancelled due to illness, roster was presented to Greg. Wayne suggested a meeting and as prospective candidates to sit in on BoD meetings for experience, make sure membership understands BoD meetings are open meetings. Ron M. will call for meetings. Ron S. suggested that BoD minutes be sent to members. Wayne moved that minutes be made public Greg seconded, vote passed.
Greg suggested we form a new Scholarship Committee, Wendell suggested that Paul Fletcher chair the new committee. Question was raised should the new scholarship committee fall under the Friends of HAWKS or remain under HAWKS. This subject was tabled as no representative of the 501 c/3 (should it ever be approved) was present. It was decided the current or new scholarship committee would be responsible for raising money and awarding scholarship monies for 2018 or until such time as the 501 c/3 group can take over with their committee and funds. Current funds would come from dues and any fund generation, no matter how, from the HAWKS. Wendell said we need to activate the current year, now and decide on a $500 scholarship or move money from the general fund to increase the amount. It was left that the next scholarship committee would make that decision.
Friends of NRA LEO table. Table cost is $800 for which returns 8 meal tickets and a gun for that table. One table was purchased by the WGC for the LEOs in the area. Wayne suggested that one table for the LEOs was enough as they were having trouble filling that table and other than being recognized for their service the bidding on several guns would not be that meaningful for them. The board felt it was better to continue or start again at a different time, the take a cop to lunch program we have done in the past. Ray will be present at our meeting promoting the event, but the BoD suggested if several members wanted to buy a table on their own, that would be fine.
Invite a Kid to Shoot, this is a WGC program
Feed a Cop Program. This may still have money in it and available but we will wait until James returns from his trip to get into it.
First Aid Seminar. This is open to the public at no charge and will be held at the Winnsboro High School Auditorium on February 17th beginning at 9 am. This has been posted on Face Book and has been posted by the Winnsboro News and Winnsboro On Line. It is for information only not for certification. It was suggested that a Certificate be presented to attendees as they leave. Wendall moved and Greg seconded a motion to present certificates for attending.
HAWKS’ Awards Night. Is pretty well set for September 22nd at Carden Hall, similar to the Christmas Party with certificates being presented to shooters.
Casino Night. The HAWKS are invited to sponsor a table, as they did last year, not to donate to the FWAS or the shelter, but to show the attendees of our involvement and commitment to the City and it’s functions. The table cost is $300 to sponsor and the return will be four (4) entry tickets and (4,000) gaming pieces. These can be distributed by a drawing for those interested in attending. If you wish to participate in the drawing if the club votes to sponsor the table, the member must be present to be included in the drawing. Greg moved Wendall seconded the Club be offered the opportunity to vote on whether to donate $300 to sponsor a table at the Casino Night, motion carried.
501 c/3. Was not discussed as there was no representative present.
The CMP Program. Winnsboro Gun Club is a member and the CMP is available to the WGC, which many of us are members and can go on line to request an email listing the military pistols and rifles which will become available. BoD agreed not to spend the $30 to join the CMP Program, but to use the WGC registration number.
Rob told us about a motorcycle rider that passed recently and a large contingent of riders will assemble at Beatty’s Funeral Home for a ride in his honor. He will get more information on this and have it ready if anyone is interested.
Ron asked for money to buy get well cards if Johnny was not able to furnish them. Ron Smith then raised the question about the BoD having an amount to spend without going to the membership every time. There is nothing in our by-laws that allow this. Ron Smith moved Ron Miranda seconded that we ask the club to approve a $200 maximum for emergency expenditures without membership approval. This must be added to the by-law by amendment and must be approved by the members after a 30 day notification, motion passed.
Gun Show. Will there be a Gun Show? And what will the parameters be?
Meeting was called to an end.
EVENTS IN TEXAS HISTORY by William Rogers
13 October 1845 Texans ratify a state constitution and approve annexation
In 1845, a majority of the citizens of the independent Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that when accepted by the Congress, will make Texas the 28th American state.
Despite having fought a war to win their independence from their old colonial master, Mexico, the people of Texas had long been eager to become part of the United States. Under the leadership of the Republic’s first president, Sam Houston, Texas had proclaimed its independence from Mexico in 1836, while simultaneously indicating a desire to be annexed to the United States. But while many Americans were willing to see the massive Texan Republic join their nation, Congress refused at the urging of influential northern abolitionists who claimed that Texas was controlled by a “slaveocracy conspiracy” of southerners.
The political climate shifted in the favor of Texas with the presidential election of 1844, when the victory of James K. Polk was widely seen as a mandate from the people to bring Texas into the American fold. But before Polk could take office, President John Tyler beat him to the punch by securing a congressional resolution calling for annexation. With the strong approval of most Texans, Polk signed the legislation making Texas an American state on December 29, 1845. Ominously, the Mexican minister had meanwhile warned the U.S. that his nation would consider annexation an act of war and demanded his passport in preparation for departure. Mexico and the United States would be at war within a year.
2 February 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the area that would become the states of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, as well as parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Controversy during and after the war pitted President James K. Polk in a political war against two future presidents: Zachary Taylor and Abraham Lincoln.
Polk, a Democrat, ignited the Mexican-American War when he sent his Commanding General of the Army Zachary Taylor and his troops to claim territory along the Rio Grande River between the U.S. and Mexico. Polk insisted Mexico had invaded the U.S. when an earlier skirmish between American and Mexican troops erupted over the ill-defined territorial boundaries of Texas. Polk’s action was immediately denounced by Abraham Lincoln, then a leading Whig member of Congress, who described the resulting war as unconstitutional, unnecessary and expensive. While Taylor performed his military duty in Texas, Polk wrestled with Congressional opposition led by Lincoln in Washington.
Polk was a firm believer in America’s “Manifest Destiny” of increased U.S. territorial expansion in order to bring democracy and Protestant Christianity to a “backward” region.
1 February 1861 Texas Secedes From the union
In 1861, Texas becomes the seventh state to secede from the Union when a state convention votes 166 to 8 in favor of the measure. The Texans who voted to leave the Union did so over the objections of their governor, Sam Houston.
Houston’s election in 1859 as governor seemed to indicate that Texas did not share the rising secessionist sentiments of the other Southern states. However, events swayed many Texans to the secessionist cause. John Brown’s raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in October 1859 had raised the specter of a major slave insurrection, and the ascendant Republican Party made many Texans uneasy about continuing in the Union. After Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency in November 1860, pressure mounted on Houston to call a convention so that Texas could consider secession. He did so reluctantly in January 1861, and sat in silence on February 1 as the convention voted overwhelmingly in favor of secession. Houston grumbled that Texans were “stilling the voice of reason,” and he predicted an “ignoble defeat” for the South. Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and was replaced in March 1861 by his lieutenant governor.
Texas’ move completed the first round of secession. Seven states–South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas–left the Union before Lincoln took office. Four more states–Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas– waited until the formal start of the Civil War, with the April 1861 firing on Fort Sumter at Charleston, South Carolina, before deciding to leave the Union. The remaining slave states–Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri–never mustered the necessary majority for secession.
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HAWKS GUN CLUB OF EAST TEXAS
JANUARY 2018
MINUTES of JANUARY MEETING BY RON MIRANDA
01/04/2017
Meeting opened at 6 pm. with the pledge to the U.S. flag and the Texas flag, followed by the invocation by Mike Briggs.
President Bova recognized one shut-in, Gordon Glass, who underwent radiation treatment for pre-skin cancers.
Wayne Scott then introduced guest, Mark Huston and his wife Donna Huston, District Court coordinator and candidate for Wood County District Court Clerk, who then introduced Judge Jeff Fletcher who explained the “Good Samaritan Law”.
Greg asked for questions for the Treasurer regarding the report sent out, there were none.
The Webmaster was asked for an update on the website. The only thing new is the yearly calendar is up and running and up-to-date. If anyone has a date that needs to be brought to the attention of the club George will insert it into the calendar.
Secretary Miranda was next up with his report. No minutes from the previous meeting was available as there was no meeting. Ron reported that the internal raffle has stalled and the e-mailer suggested the raffle be terminated and $350 gift certificates be purchased from Burns and Village Gun and Pawn and the balance be put in the scholarship fund and a drawing be administered to determine a winner for the two certificates. After much discussion, including returning the money to all donors or reducing the squares or grid by 50%. Motion was defeated. Wendall moved that the members be refunded their initial investment, seconded by Paul Fletcher and a new raffle be implemented. Passed 13 to 11 against or abstained. (Many opted to donate their investment to the scholarship fund and did so by marking an “X” through their name on the contest board). Paul Fletcher is charged with bring the contest board to the next Wednesday coffee for those who did not attend the meeting to decide on what to do with their investment.
Ron asked for George to compile a list of wives’ e-mail addresses, on a voluntary basis ONLY.
It was suggested that the Christmas Party/Awards Banquet format be combined and given to Carden Hall with dates for each event. Awards get-together would be the third Saturday in September and the Christmas Party the first Thursday in December, each year. Meats would be purchased from Alexander’s Meat Market and the wives would be asked to bring side dishes.
Ron announced the Casino Night would be held on March 3rd. and tickets would be $50 single and $90 for couples and only 200 tickets would be available, additional information would be coming from the FWAS as it becomes available.
Poker night is scheduled for January 18th at the Miranda Man Cave starting about 5:30 pm, it’s a low stakes game, nickels, dimes, quarters with a $2 to $3 donation to cover food. Anyone can play, not just reserved for HAWKS; you can bring friends and relations.
Under new business the Scholarship fund was discussed and what to do with the fund and in relationship to the 501 c/3. The club is still waiting on approval from the IRS on the designation. Greg said the Scholarship committee would remain under the HAWKS’ BOD and would continue to struggle along using existing funds and any raffle money that can be generated. During the BOD meeting Ron Smith asked that the club approve the movement of $1500 from the General Fund be put in the Scholarship fund for one scholarship for 2018. Clarification on the status of the 501 c/3 was requested and information was furnished by Johnny Wetzel chairman of the 501 c/3 committee. Dennis asked if we could “fast track” the application. Ron Smith’s motion was not seconded and motion was declared dead.
Dennis announced the re-dedication of the animal shelter that the Boy Scout Troup 180 refurbished using all their own labor and materials donated or purchased by private funds. Representative Hefner, Sheriff Castloo, and the Sea Cadets’ Commandant among others are expected to attend.
James asked if the club wanted to eliminate the gun raffle and sell the guns to the club members or just stand easy until the 501 c/3 is or is not going to fly. Wendall moved the club do nothing with the guns for 4 months to see if we can come up with another way to fund the scholarship program, Ron Miranda seconded the motion and the vote carried.
Jimmy Chiles announced the VIPs are pushing on the ID cards and we are waiting on Capt. Chris Hill to get back to the club with the approval.
Wayne announced the “First Aid Saves Lives” program was being worked on and that he was in the process of confirming the presenters before adding it to our face book page. The program will cover everything from Basic First Aid to treating Gun Shot Victims and will be held at WHS Auditorium on February 17th from 9 am to 12:30 pm, admission is FREE and the public is invited.
Meeting was closed after 1 hour and 34 minutes, by President Bova.
Letters to the Editor
I would like to commend Dennis Morey on the splendid job he did in organizing the re-dedication of the Winnsboro Animal Shelter, he and Boy Scout Troop 180 put on the presentation and did a professional job, was responsible for all the guest speakers and organized the refreshments.
I would, also, like to thank all those who attended the HAWKS’ Christmas Party and those who pitched in, on site, and helped make that a splendid event. Alexanders donated the ham and brisket, while the wives contributed the side dishes and desserts. Thank you and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
Ron Miranda Secretary for HAWKS
CONCEALED CARRY
"If you're going to carry a handgun, carry it concealed. There are only a few social settings where open carry is proper, like cookouts, campfires, and hangings (and we don't have many hangings these days.) Never open carry in nylon, plastic or kydex; it's like wearing tennis shoes to a funeral. And never, ever, open carry a Glock unless you're a cop; no one wants to see that ugly thing.
( This observation should also cover Springfield SDs and XDs.)
Ron Miranda
JUDGE FLECHER SPEAKS AT JANUARY MEETING By GEORGE BROWN. (PHOTO BY BOB WILLIAMS)
Jeff Fletcher, district judge of Wood County district 402, in Quitman spoke at the Hawks January business meeting. He gave us an update on law enforcement in Wood County, which has much improved during his time in office. He also discussed several other subjects, including the town hall meeting held recently at the Quitman courthouse. I made arrangements to be notified of any plans to hold additional meetings in the future. When I receive such notification, I will broadcast the news to all the hawks. I would urge all the Hawks to attend any future meetings because it is a chance to have an input into the workings of our government. We have excellent leadership here in Wood County and it is important that we give them our support.