My thoughts on Pike’s recently passed referendum….

 

A great victory for the People of Pike and the People of Illinois as they take a poke in the eye of the thieves of Liberty.

Over the last several years verbally and in writing I have said repeatedly that in my opinion we have the fundamental God given right to carry an arm in defense of ourselves, family, friends and property. This right was not granted by the Constitution but rather preceded this document which secures the right. I have since had some confidence restored in the system by the recent Heller case and McDonald case and some others. With a complete ban on the public carry of an arm and the further requirement to ask permission via the FOID card application to exercise a fundamental right, Illinois has become excessive and overbearing in its theft of the People’s Liberty.

Now with the passage of the Pike County Constitutional Carry of Arms a blessing has been created. We now know with hard copy vote that the People of Pike County, and likely Illinois in general, at least outside Chicago, agree that the State is usurping a fundamental right. Now that we have a county referendum which acknowledges the right on our own books, how are we going to resolve the conflict now created between a county referendum reflecting the will of the People, and Illinois State law, which in my opinion is unconstitutional? The critical issue is how do we resolve this without some well meaning non-criminal People being charged with a crime?

My opinion remains that we have the fundamental right to keep and bear an arm before this referendum; however, I would say the State legal process, which makes our country different from many others around the world, needs a little more time to work. There are some cases already in the pipeline that have the potential to resolve the conflicts with regard to Illinois’ present draconian laws. Therefore I would recommend that the People bear with the State a little longer and avoid carrying unless they feel like their life is in danger; at that point you have to weigh the legal risks for yourself. If my life or that of my family is in imminent danger, I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Till then we will have to continue to catch the ear of the Chicago Machine.

Many will recall that during hurricane Katrina the People of the various communities banded together to protect their lives and properties from armed thugs, including police officers who were stealing and vandalizing properties of people who evacuated. In Illinois, if the New Madrid earthquake
would strike, or some other major catastrophe would occur, anybody who banded together on the public way, off their own private property, is subject to felony conviction. Keep that in mind as you go to the poles this fall.

I would further like to add that the way current Illinois law is written is not the fault of any local politicians currently serving in our County.  It is, however, time to take an ACTIVE role in the screening process of the candidates who will be running for offices in this county and in the state. That includes those running for the board. If you don’t show up and ask the hard questions, then you are part of the problem and I don’t want to hear any whining about how deprived we are in Illinois. I am not saying be rowdy or disrespectful. I am saying ask nice easy questions, such as, where do you stand with regard to preserving fundamental rights as secured by the constitution over and above clearly unconstitutional law. 

One other tool that needs to be addressed is learning the rights of jurors to decide both the law and the facts of a case. Just because someone is charged with breaking an unconstitutional law doesn’t mean that you have to convict if you are on the jury. (See www.fija.org) That is a subject for another day.

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Benevolence or Malevolence

Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

As I write this piece I know not the outcome of the election or whether the People of Pike have decided in favor of including a small part of the Bill of Rights in our County legal code. It is my firm prayer the People decided in favor of individual Liberty, Freedom, and Self-reliance as opposed to dependency on government. It is also my sincere prayer that those in authority will recognize, regardless of passage of Constitutional Carry at the local level, that the Right exists, not because we passed it or didn’t pass it, but because we are endowed by our Creator at birth with certain unalienable rights, and among these is the right to keep and bear arms, no matter what the Chicago Machine and their henchmen say.

We need to teach our children the true number one function of government, which is, “to secure these rights.”-- the rights to Life, Liberty, and Property among so many others. It is so easy for a well meaning government to get into the “necessity” of protecting us from every supposed “evil” or “danger” that comes along that it loses track of its true function, which is, to secure our rights. That includes the right to make wrong choices - choices of eating the Politically Incorrect foods, using too much salt, gambling, ingesting politically incorrect things after achieving adulthood.

Choices are, in my opinion, the very essence of Liberty. How many choices did the Massa give a slave? The very essence of slavery is the requirement to ask permission in the exercise of any fundamental right. Did any slave you ever heard of have a right, at least according the Massa, to travel, to speak, to READ, to publish, petition for redress of grievances, to free assembly, to keep and bear armament in defense of himself or his family?

I may get some of my fellow Christians mad at me, but the truth is that our Lord and Savior allows his children to make wrong choices. He also allows the consequences of those choices to be visited on the ones who made the wrong choices at times. Unfortunately, their families and friends may suffer along with them as well. There is no way that government can make all things equal! Life just ‘ain’t’ fair that way. If you pass so many rules to try to even it all out then you are back to a tyrannical government and that just ‘ain’t’ fair either. Remember, it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

Dear Government, I thank you for thinking of my safety etc. but for now, treat me with benign neglect. I promise not to intentionally harm my neighbor; in fact I might even try to do something good for him once in a while, if he doesn’t mind. Regards, Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

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People Ask, “Why Would You Carry a Gun?”

 

Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

I recently had very relevant concern expressed by someone who I think is a very responsible thinker. He was concerned about the Constitutional Carry of Arms ordinance referendum.  Here is what he expressed, “Do we really need people packing heat to restaurants, bars, basketball games, Church, and everywhere else? This seems completely unnecessary.”

I like to say that it is a little like carrying insurance. We “carry” insurance around the clock because we just never know. Occasionally people will be concerned because they wonder if we could have “wild west” incidents occurring. However 49 states have found that it just doesn’t happen. Now they have substantially decreased crime, simply because the “bad guys” are not sure who might be carrying “insurance.”

I ran across this little tidbit below by an unknown author, which I think explains the thought process of most People who carry.

“My old grandpa said to me, "Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps, and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an old fashioned whoopin'."

He went on to state, “I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.”

“I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.”

“I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.”

“I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.”

“I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.”

“I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.”

“I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.”

“I don't carry a gun because I am a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.”

“I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.”

“I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.”

“I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.”

“Police are not always able to protect you from crime. Sometimes you just have take care of it yourself.”

“Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take a whoopin.'”

And I would like to ad, women carry because this little tool of self defense makes them equal.

Contact me to comment at: dan@pike912.com pike912.blogspot.com.

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Pike County, Illinois residents up in arms over concealed carry

Pike County, Illinois residents up in arms over concealed carry: Pike County, Illinois residents will vote on a concealed carry issue on March 20. The issue includes an ordinance to the Constitution Carry of Arms, which references guns and other weapons. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Springfield, Illinois are looking to pass similar gun legislation.  Click more for the rest of the article: MORE

MY NOTE:  The above title should read "Constitutional Carry," but it is still a good article and the little gal who wrote it, Brook Hasch did a great job overall of getting things straight.  I think she has a great future in the industry.