re: "Worst Kept Secret"

Lex at Neptunus Lex ("The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy!") harbors his suspicions about "Fast and Furious."

Money quote(s):

"(A)nti-gun activism is a proven political loser. It turns off the constitutionalists who look at the 2nd amendment and say, well: That’s rather clear. It turns off the folks living in neighborhoods edgy and otherwise, who’d like the option to defend their lives and property when the bad man comes. Knowing, as they do, that when the bad man comes and seconds count, the police are only minutes away. It turns off the working class that the liberal left pretends to care for, in a paternalistic way. And of course it turns off gun owners and enthusiasts across the political spectrum, who believe – among other things – that the last defense against tyranny of whatever flavor is an armed populace."

Naturally, ideologies or political movements which act to promote an unarmed (or disarmed) populace should be viewed with extreme suspicion.

"Heretofore I was willing to apply Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Now I believe we have to consider both malice and stupidity." (Emphasis in original text. - CAA.)

UPDATE: As most within the milblogging community will already be aware, longtime and well-respected milblogger Lex passed away earlier this week, the sole casualty of an aircraft crash in California.

We only met the oncet, briefly, at a milblogging convention a few years ago when I was between overseas assignments. Nearly all our interaction was "virtual." So I have little in the way of adding to or polishing his legacy.

A glance at my sidebar tag list of "Labels" shows more than 30 incidences of Lex and Neptunus Lex. That essentially means I excerpted from and commented on at least that many of his thoughtful and well-expressed posts.

As an old "spook," let me assure readers that while my online reading is wide-ranging and somewhat eclectic, if I'm linking to you or mining your blog that many times then you just may be on to doing something right. When I "stole" from Lex, I was stealing from the best. His surviving wife and family have my sincere condolences.

Fair winds and smooth sailing, Captain Carroll LeFon, USN (Retired).

12/8

re: "Dept. of Skullduggery open for business?"

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive ("the paratrooper of love") examines a convenient leak.

Money quote(s):

"(T)his is yet another leak of classified info for political gains. But who did it and why?"

Cui bono? (As our Roman forebears might ask.)

"If we are covertly, well I guess more overtly now, helping the rebels then the whole bold-faced lie he told on television was a bold-faced lie. I mean you can call it misdirection or discretion and you would be correct. But you can dang sure call it a prime time prevarication and it makes it impossible to pretend we are just refueling some planes for our buddies the French."

This puts me in mind of a recent online discussion I had the good sense to quickly withdraw from, particularly since it was under my right name. Sometimes diplomats (not so often as politicians or journalists, but still) are called upon to utter the untrue. Not for fun, not for personal gain, but because sometimes the diplomatic thing to do is fudge (or even fabricate) the truth a bit (or a boatload).

"(L)et's enjoy this rare moment of transparency and just be happy that O is willing to allow the skulking about with satchels of cash and supressed weapons that really makes the best diplomacy."

Department of Skullduggery, Bureau of Lawyers, Guns and Money; how may I direct your call?

S&S - Military to adopt broad policy on privately-owned guns

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes


Military to adopt broad policy on privately-owned guns


By Anne Gearan, The Associated Press

Stars and Stripes online edition, Friday, April 16, 2010


WASHINGTON — The U.S. military will adopt a broad policy governing how privately owned guns can be carried or stored at military installations after the shooting deaths of 13 people last year at Fort Hood, Texas.

Read the whole article here.

JG - Munster Road fallout -British cop replaced at police armoury

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Munster Road fallout -British cop replaced at police armoury

Published: Sunday February 21, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

A senior crime fighter seems set to become the first casualty of the foul-up at the police armoury, which resulted in several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition being stolen.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Paul Robinson has been stripped of the responsibility for the armoury and replaced by fellow ACP Donald Pusey."

"That facility is the focal point of the probe into 18 guns and almost 11,000 rounds of ammunition seized on Munster Road in eastern St Andrew nearly two weeks ago.

It is believed that the 18 guns - plus one seized at another location - and the ammunition were all smuggled out of the armoury.

A police sergeant, Russell Robinson, two civilians attached to the armoury, and a businessman are now facing multiple charges relating to the guns and ammunition."

&

"ACP Robinson lost some of his lustre after his name was linked to a foul-up, which saw the police sending millions of dollars to purchase ammunition from a convicted arms dealer in the United States.

While the arms dealer, Lance Brooks, was awaiting sentencing, investigators in the US searched a package from the Jamaica Constabulary Force's Firearms Coastal Security Branch with ACP Robinson's name on it."

_____
gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com

JG - DSP questioned in gun probe

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

DSP questioned in gun probe


Published: Sunday February 7, 2010


A PROMINENT deputy superintendent (DSP) of police was interrogated yesterday for more than eight hours by senior detectives probing last Thursday's massive gun and ammunition find in the Munster Road community of eastern St Andrew.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"A senior a government official, as well as the police High Command, have confirmed that the DSP was taken into custody. Up to news time last night, he was still being questioned. There are allegations that he was picked up after his home was searched by his colleagues."

&

"Over 11,000 assorted rounds of ammunition and at least 19 guns, believed to have been stolen from the police armoury on Elletson Road, Kingston, were found at a home on Munster Road. A police sergeant who was assigned to the armoury was nabbed at the scene."

re: "Mindless"

Rand at Transterrestrial Musings ("Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!") puts the smackdown on a dolt from my alma mater.

Money quote(s):

"(W)hat’s wrong with “reactive” as a fall back when “preventative” doesn’t work (as it clearly didn’t in Blacksburg)? Particularly when “preventative” seems to consist of putting up “unarmed victims heregun-free zone” signs?

Whatever he learned, or how fast he learned it, he didn’t learn it from these students, who disarmed a gunman up the road from his school back in 2002."

&

"(T)hey have difficulty finding any actual examples of this to justify their bizarre paranoia. And they don’t seem to live in fear of the psychopaths among them who ignore the “gun-free zone” signs, who are the only ones with guns under their setup."

_____

Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.

JG - Detention!

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner


Detention!


published: Sunday June 22, 2008


Dr Orville Taylor, Contributor


This column might have been written earlier but I was detained by the police for much longer than expected. In fact, they held me for two days without charge and had me reporting to Harman Barracks and another location twice after being released.


Read the whole article here.


Snippet(s):


"(D)espite all the rumours one hears about members of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), they are more educated, competent and committed than is generally recognised.

Nevertheless, while in their company it became necessary to reflect on the freedom of movement that I enjoyed as a law-abiding citizen, but more so because I was a 'name brand' man, and how happy I was not to have been among the 107 'no name' persons carted off for three days last weekend.


The prime minister has been dragged over the coals for his alleged suggestion that the period that a suspect can be detained should be extended. Believe it or not, under Jamaican law, no person can be legally kept in captivity beyond 48 hours without charge. When that time passes, the individual may have his attorney serve a writ of habeas corpus to secure his release."

&


"What is needed is increased training, more technology to screen and capture details about suspects, and better cooperation with the public, who are also fed up and scared of the killers.

Greater commitment must come from the politicians who preside over garrisons.

By the way, a crime-free garrison does not simply mean the absence of shootings or murders.

No one can boast of low-crime communities if large numbers of 'parked' guns are present.

Remember, possession of firearms, especially rifles, is a major crime too."

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at UWI, Mona. Feedback may be sent to orville.taylor@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com.

JO -Law-abiding citizens want guns

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Law-abiding citizens want guns

Wignall's World

Mark Wignall

Sunday, July 20, 2008

In the mid-1970s when Jamaica was number 10 on the list of the most murderous countries in the world, it used to be said of persons who were shot dead by gunmen that they 'were at the wrong place at the wrong time'. Then the 'terrorist gunman' with his high-powered rifle was introduced by the politics of the times and just as 1980 was ushered in, it seemed that all hell had broken loose.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In the election campaign of that year there were certain areas like Olympic Gardens and most of the Kingston West Police Division (Arnett Gardens, Matthews Lane, Fletchers Land, Denham Town, Jones Town, Tivoli Gardens) that were off limits to all sensible people.

If you were in any political garrison that you did not belong to after 6:00 pm or were travelling across political boundaries, your chances of being shot dead were increased significantly.

If you lived in any of those areas, you would be fodder for the political marauders as they carried out their murderous raids in the hours before daybreak.

When they came, men, women, children and the dogs were all fair targets."

"While most who left in the times prior to the 1960s and on the cusp of Independence did so because Jamaica was seen as having nothing to offer them economically, many of those who travelled to foreign shores in the 1970s and after named security concerns as one of the main reasons for leaving their homeland.

In 2008 those personal and national security concerns are very much a part of our daily diet.

We live, sleep and eat the fear that if the high prices don't get us, the gunman will."

"At present only business persons who have applied for and met the stringent requirements are in possession of legally held firearms.

Elected politicians travel with security details while we who supported them and voted for them in the hope of us building a better and safer Jamaica are forced to face the criminal gunman empty-handed."

&

"The criminal gunman knows that no witnesses will come forward, so he has about a 90% chance of making it to the next killing.

In this scenario the state has failed to protect us, continues to fail us and when our elected officials speak, it is mainly to sell us another fairy tale about our safety.

I say to the state, give us guns to protect ourselves because the mechanisms which exist to do so are patently not working."

JO - Arm the nation

Jamaica Observer

Arm the nation

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Dear Editor,


I have read with interest the ongoing discussion regarding a number of pastors' call to allow people to own guns for their protection. Many well-intentioned people I am sure have set out to roast these pastors at the stake, condemning them for making such a faithless and unchristian declaration.

Read the whole letter here.

JO - UN tells Jamaica to 'control' the guns

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

UN tells Jamaica to 'control' the guns

Sunday, June 08, 2008

THE United Nations wants the Jamaican government to institute strict gun control regulations as a means of stemming the heavy inflow of guns and ammunition into the island.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"In a joint press release issued by UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)for the Global Week of Action against Gun Violence, the UN urged all stakeholders to increase their efforts to tackle the arms flow, and embark on a social intervention drive in order to curb the high rate of armed violence that has taken over the island."

&

"With the decline of Jamaica's importance as a trans-shipment port for cocaine destined for the United States, a flood of weapons have found their way into the island as unscrupulous people exploit the island's porous coastline and have established a booming guns for drugs trade between arms smugglers from Jamaica, Haiti, Honduras and other countries in the region."

JO - Make it easier for us to get guns

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Make it easier for us to get guns

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Dear Editor,

I would like to urge the relevant authorities and policymakers to make it easier for ordinary citizens to get guns. All the hurdles should be cut out and the firearm application process expedited for the thousands of Jamaicans who apply annually.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Applicants should not be discriminated against based on the area in which they live. Some people can afford to live in gated communities, with so-called "grills" on their homes, and afford the luxury of armed security response service and possibly even bodyguards. Most of us cannot.

Poor, unarmed people - the main targets of armed marauders - are the ones who especially need protection against the few hundred violent murderers.

When vicious men kick down our doors at night and enter our homes to rape the women and then kill everybody inside, including children and babies, don't we Jamaicans deserve to have in our possession a means to fight back?

We have tried begging them to spare our lives, and our murder rate tells us how much the begging has helped."

JO - Self-protection

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Self-protection

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Dear Editor,

Everyone has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This right is of no use when you can be murdered in the blink of an eye.

I was not an advocate of issuing guns to citizens because of fear this would lead to more killings. But after careful consideration, I realise that we have no choice. Things can't get any worse than they already are. With careful monitoring we should be able to issue guns to responsible members of society to protect themselves. This might well help to curb the crime rate.

Norman Edmonson
bigupja2@hotmail.com