Our new President said that he wouldn’t come after our guns. He never said anything about using taxes to inhibit ammunition sales. I wonder why ‘the media’ never probed for this? I did find out what Texans are doing about it!

Living in a small town, like Goldthwaite, far away from the traffic and congestion of a big city, has many benefits, but there are some things missing – some things like Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain. Keeping a running list of items needed from Cabela’s, I got to stop by there this past Monday and was I surprised.

Brad and I had traveled down to San Antonio to meet with his doctors and after lunch with my youngest son, Randy, in San Marcos, we stopped by Cabela’s, in Buda, to pick up .22, .22 Mag and .17 HMR ammo and stock up on reloading supplies. Buda, for the uninformed, is 16 miles south of Austin on I-35.

It was mid Monday afternoon, but where everyone should have been out working, they were in the gun/ammo department. It looked like a Saturday! We found and picked out the items we needed, loaded them into our shopping cart and then went over to the gun cases to get some small pistol primers and Unique gun powder.

The salesman did a perfunctory look under the counter, but we could see that the powder stocks were woefully low and that they were out of Unique. He added that there were shotgun primers, but no small pistol ones and that their stocks had been pummeled since Christmas.

Looks like everyone is trying to beat the big tax increase on ammo and reloading supplies! For sure, it’s coming and we won’t have anything to say about it, so stock up all the ‘stuff’ now and let’s hope we can roll it back in 2 years!

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:

Rereading my Great Uncle, Lee Wallace’s book, “Waif Of The Times”, I came across some of his ‘thoughts’ about income taxes and wealth redistribution. Lee’s writings spanned a time period of 1900 to 1930 and definitely covered 1913, the year the 16th amendment to our Constitution was passed, eventually giving us the IRS.

Lee was a staunch Democrat and elected official – County Attorney, District Judge and received an appointment by Pres. Roosevelt to become a Federal Judge, but turned it down because of his health. It turns out he had successful surgery and lived 22 more years. He should have taken up FDR on his offer!

After the Civil War ended, and for the next 100 years, Texas and the entire South was almost 100% Democrat. As the liberals and elitists encroached on our society and government, the South and Texas became more conservative and Republican. Lee’s thoughts, written almost 100 years ago, echo true to this day.

“If you take away from me the things I have earned without my consent you are a robber. If you give it or part to another, you make a robber out of him.”

“I hate you for taking my earnings without my consent; I hate the one you give it to for accepting it, and you both hate me for hating you because you know that I know you robbed me.”

“A thief always hates a sheriff, not that the sheriff has done the thief any wrong but because the sheriff is in the business of competing with the thief.”

Feelings were obviously high against the recently passed income tax. I believe we, that pay the taxes, still feel that way in 2008!