Lawson Report Moved to New Home

The Lawson Report has moved.

  As of the end of August 2013, I have Officially moved the Lawson Report to its new home. 

The main reason I moved it from here is that I wanted to be able to expand upon what I had started here,.  There you will find easier navigation, and photo galleries, and  my blogs divided into categories.

lawsonreport.info

The url;  lawsonreport.info   has been redirected to the new site.

  Please some time to look over the new site.

Thank You ,

Kenneth Lawson

I'm Not Gun Crazy, I'm Constitution Crazy

    I'm Not Gun Crazy,  I'm  Constitution  Crazy

My wife says I’m  gun crazy. But I’m not, I’m Constitution Crazy.  

While I’ve had a lifelong interest and fascination and respect for firearms, their many uses as a tool, mostly for good and sometimes for evil.  The history of this country is inextricably  linked to firearms, and their uses for both defense of of the country and for sporting, and hunting. In many respects we  would not be the country we are today without the firearms.  The defense  of the free world rested on the millions of brave soldiers from all over the world who took up guns and defended the rights of all free nations to exist in World War II. The vast majority of the guns used in that great defense were made here. Some of the most iconic firearms in the world were developed here. Many of the basic designs by John Browning are still in use today, many have been tweaked but still remain basically unchanged in form and function since  John Browning, and his contemporaries designed them over a century ago.

Fast forward, to today, Today there is an assault on the basic rights of every American in the country. What Hitler and his contemporaries couldn’t do from the outside,in the 1940’s and was never quite accomplished in the 1950’s with Joseph McCartney  and his witch hunt in the 1950’s if finally starting to be done today.

There has been a push to limit  the rights and ability of the public to exercise one of their basic constitutional rights , the right to keep and bear arms.

    

    There are 27 amendments to the constitution.   Here is a summary of  the first 10 of them;  The  first 10 are called the Bill Of Rights.  Here is the page where I got them; Bill of Rights

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 2

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment 3

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment 4

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment 7

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment 8

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment 9

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

There are several items worth noting in the above, One being that the first  amendment says what Congress  cannot do.    

 The Constitution is the ultimate  “Law of the Land”  That is to say, whatever other laws congress and the states may pass, they subject in the end to passing the test of the Constitution,; does it follow into the letter of the law, or in the very least spirit of the Constitution,  If a law does not fall in line with the above, then its illegal and should be thrown out.  However, being that many of the amendments are very broadly written, there is much room for personal interpretation by both officials, and supreme courts. Whenever an elected official takes office, among other things they swear to “Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States” To my mind that means not introducing laws or ordinances which limit the citizens rights to enjoy their Constitutional rights. To my mind to bring such laws up for vote and worst yet, passing them is essentially treason to the country and should be treated as such.

    Of course the main theme of this article, is “Gun Control”  but the bigger picture is that by limiting the public's right to exercise their rights as given to them by the Constitution  they open the door to  abusing more and more of everyone's rights.

Limiting the public's right to exercise one amendment is opening the door to limiting other right in the long run.  There are already cases where, both state and federal governments have used questionable methods  to get information and   limit the public's rights. If possible to do an end-run around the law, to accomplish their  goals of tightening up  regulations to get or own a firearm, or especially concealed carry.

 A number of questions have occurred to me lately;  One of the main ones is How does a rich mayor of a city become as influential and powerful as Michael Bloomberg , of New York City? While I lived on the other end of the state for many years, there were many issues in our poor rural agriculture  county, Gun Rights, was not one of them. Everyone had a gun, If not specifically for self-defense, but as a pest control and hunting weapon.

While on the surface of it, no one want dangerous people to get guns, be the career criminal, or  mentally ill.  There solution to theses issues, it called enforcing the laws we have in place, and the health system taking responsibility for the patients they have in their charge and doing what is needed for both the patients and publics safety.

The Constitution is the basis of all  of the laws on which we govern ourselves. Any person or agency that through  action, or inaction causes the undermining of the constitution and it provisions is guilty of treason. By bringing up laws that restrict the public's rights to exercise their rights, either through out  denial, or making it so arduous and expensive or otherwise impossible for them to reasonably exercise their rights is guilty of the above mentioned treason.

There are seven main battleground states for the fight to keep and bear arms;

New York, New Jersey, Massessatues Colorado, Illinois  Connecticut, and California.

Theses are the main states which have been trying to enact laws which limit the legal law abiding citizens rights to buy guns, and the places and methods to transporting them, and , in California's case even going to the extent of trying ban lead ammunition , thus effectively banning hunting in the state. Chicago, which has one of the highest crime rates in the country , also has the tightest restriction on getting and gun, and a carry permit in the country. It seems to me, the lesson here, is the tighter the laws, the worst the crime rate is.  In states where its earlier to own a gun, and get a permit, the crime rate is considerably lower; doses that tell you something?

To sum it up, its not just about the guns themselves, while their important, the bigger issue is the attack on the Constitution, and the bill of Rights, once one is weaken, if not toppled, it won’t take much for the rest to fall.

Something to think about.

Kenneth Lawson

“God made man, But Samuel Colt made them equal" 

 

This a quote probably from Colt manufacturing  In a world where the bad guys are generally well armed, or at least in a state where reasoning with them isn't going to happen, something else's needs to brought to the table; ie; personal self defense.

Personal Self Defense begins with being aware of your surrounding, and potential and possible dangers, and scenario, that could end very badly for you. If at all possible avoiding them is always the best option, however, sometimes there is no other option but to go into a situation that is less than safe in some way. With that in mind, always be looking and thinking ahead. I’m not a personal defense expert, however, I have been watching and listening to a number of self defense shows and taken many of the lessons to heart.

In a perfect world, the only things that ever got shot were targets, and animals for hunting for food. However, this is  a far less than perfect world. Sometimes, two legged animals need to be dealt with. Also in a perfect world, police would be close at hand to bail you out, the second you called 911.  We all know the police are spread far too thin and understaffed and overburdened to do what they would like to, even in metropolitan areas. Much less in rural areas,where they many times only have 3 cars to cover a whole county. Response time can run from as little as 15-20 minutes, to well over half an hour, in some cases a hour, thats with them risking their lives to get there in the dark on a windy country roads. That 15-20 minutes can seem like an eternity, and a lot can happen in that time, Probably a lot has already happened, none of it good.

Defending your life, and the lives of your family and loved one can come down to the choices you make now. The right to defend yourself and family has never been question, at least not in principle. However, what is quickly being questioned is what weapons you can use to do that defending.

In the light of the recent mass shooting over this last year, there has been a outcry, to do something ,anything.  What this has become is a knee-jerk reaction to a very real problem.  Make new laws,,, most of them dumb, and don’t solve the problem.  The problem in a nutshell, is health system, particularly the mental health side, The NRA has been trying for over 20 years to get a mental health database tied to gun buying background check, to make it harder for people with mental issues to get guns. The other side of the coin is, the mental health system,itself, which passes the patients off among itself, and no one takes responsibility for seeing to it the patient get what it needs, either treatment, or locked up for both their and the publics safety. No one is willing to make those hard choices, and stand behind them.

The other legs to this is enforcement.  That is enforcement of the laws on the books. And communication between the prosecutor, and the DA and other parties involved, be it the defense, and parole department, to make sure everyone knows if the subject has a record, and what kind of record it is.

The problems occur when one leg breaks down; in the case of the recent mass shootings, its usually  the mental health system which didn’t deal with theses individuals  in a way that was appropriate for them,  either serious treatment, and monitoring, or in extreme cases locked up for their own good. and ours.

I can understand the cry to do something, however, before we pass more bills that eliminate my right to use the gun I feel I need to protect myself and family, go back and look at the guns in question themselves, and look at the way they actually work, all semi-automatic gun work the same, you have magazine which hold your rounds, you pull the trigger once, one round goes out the barrel.

The includes everything from my little Ruger 10/22, to a AR-15 and a semi-auto pistol. regardless of the platform, the principle is the same. The only difference is the “scary level of a  AR-15, is considerably more than that of a traditional gun like a Ruger 10/22, or other semi auto rifle.  If a Ruger 10/22 had been used in these types of shooting, it would be the “Scary Gun”

My advice is got get the people who have used these guns,in real life self defense situation, be it in the army, or ar a peace officer to testify as to why they came home that night, most would probably say that AR-15 and the high capacity magazine saved their lives and that of their fellow officers or soldiers.
When is facing a unknown number of assailants and the first 2-3 shots didn't discourage them,  a federally mandated ban on large capacity magazines is not going to help you when they come breaking in and all you have is 7 rounds maximum .
Many times the presence of the gun pointed at the attacker  is enough to make them think twice about what they want to do. Of course in some cases shots need to be fired, however, as long as there is clear evidence that the shooter was justified in using deadly force, there's usually not a problem.

  As for concealed carry, the, more the better. If There's a very good chance that a bad guy going to run into a gun on the other side of the door, or inside a bank or store, or wherever, he was thinking of doing something bad, then maybe he’ll think twice. Here in Virginia we have open carry law, which allows one to openly carry a handgun on their person, without a permit. In the 3 years I’ve been here, I’ve seen 2 people carrying open. No problems. If its obvious that there are weapons around, the criminals will not be in a hurry to start something.
A gun free zone is stupid, I can definitely see where limiting or regulating the people who can carry a gun in a zone is needed, however, a completely “Gun Free Zone” is essentially a killing field waiting to happen. If it is necessary to make it  a” Gun Free Zone”, then other steps need to be taken to provide for security in that area.
In a interview I saw recently , Ted Nugent said “ an armed society is a polite society “
Meaning if criminals know the  chances of winding up on the wrong end of a gun a very good if you start something, then Maybe they won’t.
Us  armed  law-abiding citizens  have nothing to fear from other armed law abiding citizens.

Kenneth Lawson

Technolgical Blaze of Glory

    The time has come, again to rant about the past year.  However, there are a variety of subjects  to choose from. One could go on about the current state of  the telecommunications industry, and the future on online viewing   habits and venues, to the recent  advances in television technology.
   However, there are bigger issues that need addressing. Such as Gun Control, Mental Health, and fiscal responsibility of our government, and  the like.  Its all fine and dandy to sit here in our techie towers and ponder the future of telecommunications, which is important, but in the final analysis, if the country has lost its moral compass and its roots all the technology in the world won’t get it back on the right track. It will just go down the wrong way in a technological blaze of glory, which will keep people from seeing what the real problems are.
The shooting last year , prompted me to write about my views on gun control, particularly concealed carry. I don’t belive new rules governing guns are going to solve the problem. The majority of shooting are done by people who have mental issues who were not treated properly or at all. In many cases they were dumped from one organization back and forth to another and no one took responsibility for making sure they got what they needed, either treatment that worked or locked up for both their and societal safety.  The point is everyone who has any responsibility in any level of government is too busy playing the blame game, pointing their fingers at everyone elses when the Sh**t hit the Fan, No one has gumption enough to stand up and say, he was my patient, or our department was handling him, and frankly, we screwed up, and we’re looking to see where we screwed up. No one has said anything remotely like that, nor will they, because, the would be taking responsibility for ones  own actions, or in some cases inaction.  

    This country was founded on a principle that all men are created equal, and should be given the benefit of the doubt, and along with certain other rights, such as to vote, and pursue that which give us pleasure, so long as it do no harm, to society .  When the government has become so big and complicated that many times one department doesn't know what the others are doing, there is a fundamental issue with the power structure, and  delegation of authority, and who answers to who. While it is clearly laid out in the constitution, and on the state levels, Sometimes  many things are lost in translation, and the people who are responsible, tend to forget to whom they’re ultimately responsible to, to the people who elected them to their offices. They were elected and they can be unelected just as easy. President Obama made history when was the first black president to be elected., again he made history by being reelected, what his final role in history will be remains to be seen, and will not be fully understood for decades. Just as all of our past presidents have been judged through the eyes of time and history to be kinder than  they were at the time.  One can hope history and time will be as kind to President Obama.

Looking forward to the new year, which has already started. Once again find many things to talk about. The advances in media in the last ten years or so have far outstripped sixty plus years of media that came before it. From the time in the 1950’s when color TV came on the scene and  the movie industry felt threatened, to the next generation of TV, being cable and satellite,  there really hasn’t been a fundamental change in the content itself, it was essentially still the same as it was in the 1950’s plus or minus a few little tweaks, depending on your point of view. Then the VCR came along, and that was the beginning of the changes which are still happening.   The movie industry soon embraced TV, as a way to reuse a huge backlog of movie content that had stored and monetize it and get it to still make them money, which they’re still doing, only today on a grander scale. The VCR became the DVR, Digital Video Recorder,, in which we still say we’re  “taping” a show or a movie, and there is no actual tape involved, it all ones and bytes. Of course with the surge of good relatively cheap fast broadband internet across the nation,  sites, like Hulu came along, which allowed us to stream content directly to our computers. while it wasn’t a perfect world, the content still had ads, but it was a small price to pay to be able to see free content, we wouldn’t be able to see in places we wouldn't normally see it.
After that, came Netflix, one price a month, and all the streaming you could watch. Best part no commercials. It was the right product at the right time. They were aggressive with the marketing, and making content deals to get more content as they went along, as they were doing that, they also perused the hardware side, making deals to get their software in as many  types of consumer products as possible, making it easier for the consumer to watch the content they paid for and as many platforms as possible. Since then many other players have jumped into the video streaming pool. It has become somewhat crowded. Amazon has their own streaming service, Amazon Prime, for a flat rate you get to stream a large catalog of material, however, having used it, I have to give it mixed reviews.
    To aid in the distribution of all of this video content online a number of set top boxes have come out. The best of theses is the Roku, its cheap their  cheapest box is about 50. dollars, and their most expensive is 100.00.  Theres no fee for using it. Only if you are using Netflix or other pay service, which you're paying for anyways. The best part is all of the free channels they have available .
At present they have several hundred channels which you can add, 99% of them are free,  The ones that require a fee are relatively cheap. As for subject manor, that ranges from many niche subjects such as specialized cooking to various forms of tech , to a wide range of music channels to stream almost any taste in music to you tv, and sound system, If one is is looking for a good way to supplant their cable or in a few cases eliminate it completely the Roku Box is a good candidate.

    The discussions in Washington, about both technology, and gun control, and health care, are important and far reaching. The right of a citizen to defend themselves is paramount  in the minds of many people. While I am deeply saddened by the shooting that happened last year, particularly the school shooting. I refuse to give up my right to defend myself and my family and anyone else who is in danger at a given time.  As for limiting rounds in magazines that is just a first step to working to take our guns away completely, If we give in to that, we’re saying ok, fine you have my constitutional right, even if it only a round in my magazine at a time,  I’ll remind you of it when I need it and I’m a round short to stop the situation  and people get dead because I couldn’t have the capacity magazine I needed to stop the bad guy and he killed more people.