Outdoor Odyssey

While waiting for Brad to see his doctor, I was reading through the Feb/March, 2009, issue of “Military History” and came across a Letter To The Editor from Mr. Gerhardt B. Thamm, and two lines of his letter came blaring out at me, “…he (Hitler) converted, via a self created national emergency, his reign into a totalitarian dictatorship.”  The hair on the back of my neck stood up as these lines triggered a recent memory of someone quoting White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, saying “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste!”

Maybe I’m scared?  Maybe I’m cautious?   The reason I’m having these concerns is because of what’s happening in my country and the plans and actions of our rulers!  Listing out these plans and actions those hairs stood up again!

1.  The creation of a Civilian Security Force manned and funded equal to the U.S. military – sounds just like Hitler’s Brown Shirts!

2.  Controlling/managing private business – sounds just like the Fascists!

3.  Violation of our Second Amendment rights with gun control through quasi-regulation using the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009 that is quietly worming its way through Congress – sounds just like the Fascists!

4.  Expansion of government into our lives and our homes.  Obama said that government will watch over your children from the day they are born - sounds just like Hitler Youth and the Fascists to me!

5.  Silencing of dissent and violation of our right to Free Speech through informal implementation of The Fairness Doctrine.  Obama’s nominee for FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, believes that radio and TV station ownership should be more diverse and government should control that ownership!  Sounds like Hugo Chavez nominated this guy! 

Does history really repeat itself?

If regular folks like us get involved, we can make a difference!

This past Monday Brad and I had gone to meet with one of his Doctors at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio and finishing early, stopped and met Randy at Rogelio’s Mexican Restaurant for another fine lunch, Driving back home, Brad said, “Dad, why don’t we stop at Cabela’s.”  Enough said, even though we had stopped there 2 weeks ago!

Driving in, the parking lot was almost half full and this at 1:30 PM on a work day.  Once inside we headed for the gun department and most of the crowd, truly a testament to diversity, was there.  Signs were up to the effect that they couldn’t keep adequate supplies of reloading supplies.  I wonder why?  We even had to take a number.

We bought some .22 bullets and Brad stepped up and bought a single action, .22/.22 mag. pistol.  Since Brad has a “carry permit” this transaction went quickly. When you buy a gun there, you check out at a register in the gun department and, for the appearance of safety, the salesman walks you out of the store.  As we were walking out, our salesman leaned over to me and said, “We’ve been Obamanized for over a month.”  I smiled and walked on to Brad’s truck.

It looks like the folks in central Texas are stocking up for the long haul!

Yesterday, our “rulers” in Washington rammed the pork laden, stimulus package down our throats, even though polls showed that almost 70 percent of the American people were opposed to it.  These same “rulers” want our guns!

As shooters, hunters and gun owners, we are already being targeted by this new administration with subtle threats that all point toward the taking away or seriously limiting our access to our guns and even our ammunition!  Some of our adversaries are all to familiar; Eric Holder, Attorney General, Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff and Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State.  

These politicians, our “rulers” and their anti gun cronies, are all to eager to force us into gun registration, gun licensing, ammunition bans and the imposition of huge Federal taxes on our guns and ammo.  All of this with the intent to neuter our Second Amendment!

You ask, “But what can I do.”  You’d be surprised at what one person can do.  Make a lot of noise!  Join the National rifle Association who speaks loudly for our gun rights!  Upgrade your NRA, membership to a Life or Endowment member. Call and fax both your State and Federal Congressman, and Senators and don’t forget your Governor.  Let them all know that you oppose any efforts to weaken or dilute our Second Amendment.

If we sit on our thumbs, we’ll lose this right that so many Patriots have fought and died for.  Everyone must get involved and get active!

This past Monday, Brad and I visited his doctors in San Antonio and finishing up before noon called Randy, my youngest son, to meet us for lunch in San Marcos at Rogellio’s, a great Mexican restaurant.  Brad and I were also going to stop at Cabela’s in Buda and stock up on ammo and reloading supplies.  Soon, I’ll post a story about that stop too.   

We were loading up on hot sauce and chips, waiting for our lunch and Randy mentioned, “Dad, you should post the Texas Declaration Of Independence on your blog and write a story about it.  It rings very true today.”   We kicked the idea around and it rang true to me!

As a fifth generation Texan, I love this State and its history.  But history has a way of repeating itself and the problems faced by the early Texican colonists are eerily similar to what we face today.  Our second Amendment is endangered, government intervention has diluted our educational system and our religious freedoms are threatened!  How was this handled in 1836 Tejas?

To say the least, Tejas in 1836 was a mess.  Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas,  was fresh out of prison in Mexico for the ‘crime’ of delivering a proposed constitution for the Mexican State of Tejas.  Tejas was part of the Mexican State of Coahuila, Coahuila y Tejas, and its capital was Saltillo, a very long way off from the Texican colonies.

The Mexican Constitution of 1824, had been abrogated by Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Santa Anna) and replaced by a military dictatorship.  The Mexican government had invited settlers to the wild, Tejas frontier and promised them a republican government and constitutional liberties.  Certain political rights such as trial by jury and the right to keep and bear arms were denied by the Mexican authorities.  No system of public education was established and freedom of religion was denied.  One point here, the original settlers did agree to become Catholics, but as more folks streamed into Tejas, this became impossible to manage or enforce.

This all came to a head in late 1835 and early 1836.  Texicans had invaded and captured San Antonio and fortified the Alamo.  A strong Texican force had seized the Mission at Goliad and Sam Houston had been named commander of the army.  An armed uprising was well under way!

In early 1836, Santa Anna and his army had crossed the Rio Grande into Tejas to put an end to this ‘rebellion’.  As he was besieging the Alamo, representatives from the various Texican groups met at Washington-on-the-Brazos to decide the issue and draft a declaration of independence.

Five men, including George Childress, who probably brought a draft declaration with him to the convention, were chosen to author this important document.  In record time it was completed and somewhat parallels that of the United States.  The Texican document has statements on the function and responsibility of a government, a list of Texican grievances and finally declares Texas a free, independent republic.

It was accepted by the convention and on March 2, 1836, 59 Texicans signed it, ended the meeting and headed home.  These men risked everything, their life, their family’s and their property, because Santa Anna was ‘no quarter’ personified.  However, when he was captured after the Battle of San Jacinto, he did beg Gen. Houston for his life!

The Texas Declaration Of Independence follows:

The following is an excerpt from an announcement on the NRAILA website and, folks, we, the gun owners, hunters and shooters of this country, won one!

“The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.”

OSHA was “flooded” with negative comments from gun owners and shooting groups and claims their aim was never to inhibit gun ownership or use, but to make the workplace safer. I personally think that is BS! They were trying to “sneak one” past us.

Think about it. A big regulation change, a short time to offer comments and, what do you know, OSHA has severely limited the public’s ability to “Keep and Bear Arms”!

We stopped them this time, but all of us, as shooters, hunters and gun owners, have to be on our toes and make sure our government doesn’t “sneak one” past us again!

Taking a break and coming in from the 100 degree afternoon and checking my e-mail, I was very pleased to see that I had received a reply from Senator John Cornyn to my July 6, e-mail about OSHA's Proposed Regulation 2007-0032 regarding the control of ammunition, powder and primers.

Folks, we have a friend in Senator Cornyn. He also was one of the leaders in defeating the Amnesty (Immigration) Bill. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of our senators would take the approach of thinking what is best for our Country and its citizens!

His e-mail reply follows:


“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bryan:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposal for new regulations for workplace handling and storage of explosives. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.

As you may know, OSHA’s mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths by issuing and enforcing standards for workplace safety and health. In accordance with federal regulatory procedure, OSHA posted its proposed explosives regulation (Docket # OSHA-2007-0032) in the Federal Register and will accept public comments until September 10, 2007. Before moving forward OSHA will review all comments and decide whether changes are necessary based on the feedback received.

As vice-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus and an avid hunter, I am always concerned by federal attempts to further regulate hunters, firearms, and related businesses. Many hunters, hand loaders, and small business owners are rightly concerned how new regulations may affect them and, in this case, precisely how OSHA plans to define explosives. The federal government heavily regulates the explosives industry, but in many cases provides explicit exemptions for small arms ammunition, powder, primers, and percussion caps. It is worth noting that OSHA specifically requested public comments regarding inclusion of similar exemptions, and I will continue monitoring the development of OSHA regulations to ensure that the government recognizes our right to keep and bear arms, both in policy and in practice.

I invite you to monitor and comment on this and other regulatory proposals by visiting http://www.regulations.gov. You can be certain I will continue upholding the Second Amendment rights of hunters and other sportsmen in Texas. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator”

"Desert Rat Blog", http://www.arizonahuntingtoday.com/desertrat/ , has a great post, “Et Tu OSHA”, about proposed new regulations that affect each hunter, shooter and law abiding citizen.  At lunch today I also heard Rush Limbaugh mention the regulation.  He mentioned that the NRA is hot after these regulations.

OSHA is proposing a “sneaky” way of achieving a form of gun control. Control the ammunition. They propose to classify powder and primers as explosives. The proposal includes:

1. Prohibit possession of firearms in commercial “facilities containing explosives”—an obvious problem for your local gun store.
2. Prohibit delivery drivers from leaving explosives unattended—which would make it impossible for delivery services such as UPS to deliver ammunition or gun powder.
3. Require evacuation of all “facilities containing explosives”—even your local Wal-Mart—during any electrical storm.
4. Prohibit smoking within 50 feet of “facilities containing explosive”.

The public comment period ends July 12. To file your own comment, or to learn more about the OSHA proposal, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket Number OSHA-2007-0032. You can read OSHA’s proposal and learn how to submit comments electronically, or by fax or mail.

I went through all of this and left the following comment.

I am against the classification of powder and primers as explosives
and the rules applied to them in this proposed regulation.  This smacks
as a sneaky form of gun control.

Ammunition for personal firearms should be exempted.

Why doesn’t OSHA just ban smoking anywhere?

I’m also e-mailing our President and my senators to squash this very liberal move!