What about the Oath?

Ever wonder how people can get charged with Illinois' "Aggravated Unlawful use of a weapon", a class 1 Felony for transporting arms outside of the statutes of the state if the officers took the state oath of office pledging to

"support the constitution of the United States" 

while the 2nd Amendment reads:

...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

Check out the conservative examiner's article today for his take on it all.

Only in Illinois...

Only in Illinois can a Sheriff be found guilty of 15 counts of drug dealing and witness tampering... and up to the bitter end still b eon the payroll:

In both his opening and closing statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Cutchin of Carmi told the jury the entire case against Martin would be about "greed, arrogance and abuse of power." The jury rejected defense attorney John O'Gara's argument that Martin was the victim of a series of unreliable witnesses — many of them convicted felons and alleged drug dealers themselves.

Jurors also were shown a series of aerial surveillance videos taken by Illinois State Police detectives that showed Martin handing over bags of marijuana to Potts. The video also showed Martin made those transactions while in uniform and while driving his county-issued vehicle.

"The minute he was found guilty, he was stripped of being sheriff," said acting Sheriff Shannon Bradley.
"His pay stops immediately, and there will be a special county board meeting soon to elevate me to the position of sheriff."

Wow.. if the Illinois State Police had to watch a Sheriff to find out what he's doing... who's watching the Illinois State Police?

Light side: scared to start reloading? don't be!

You can get started cheaper than I listed in my supplies list, however, my list will make the job easy, fun and fast.  The advantage of a turret press are quite nice.   If you had monotonous grinding, it allows you to do smaller sections at a time, thus changing up what you're doing every couple minutes, without having to reseat all your dies.   An RCBS hand primer seems trivial, until you realize you can prime prepped cases while watching TV, or relaxing.   I can normally re-use .45acp cases 4 times before they get too dented or cracked which is why the price reflects that.  So here is the price breakdown on .45 ACP, the analysis at the end is comparing to store bought rounds (from browsing cheaperthandirt.com):
 

.45 ACP
Product	qty	cost	cost per bullet
Alliant Unique	4	$59.99	$0.01
Starline 45 brass	100	$17.49	$0.04
CCI large pistol primers	1000	$30.99	$0.03
Ranier Copper plated 45 bullets	1000	$107.99	$0.11
		Total	$0.20
Analysis
.45 bullets (cheap)	50	$18.19	$0.36
.45 bullets (expensive)	25	$22.19	$0.89
		Average	$0.63
		Expected savings per round	$0.43

Additionally, here is a breakdown on .308 Win
 

.308 Win
Product	qty	cost	cost per bullet
IMR 4064	8	$153.99	$0.12
Winchester Brass	50	$16.99	$0.07
Winchester Bullets	500	$103.99	$0.21
CCI Large Rifle Primers	1000	$30.99	$0.03
		Total	$0.43
Analysis
.308 bullets (cheap brass)	20	$13.89	$0.69
.308 bullets (expensive)	20	$32.75	$1.64
		Average	$1.17
		Expected savings per round	$0.74

 And finally here is my list of starting gear for you, keep in mind you can go much cheaper, but this is an optimal list, designed for your comfort, plus, I want you to stick to this!  If you shoot an expensive round, like .308, or .45 Colt, you'll be happy you did this.

Necessary Reloading Supplies
Lyman T-mag Turret Press	1	$147.00
RCBS powder measure	1	$69.99
electronic Powder Scale	1	$39.99
Lyman universal with pilots	1	$89.99
RCBS hand primer	1	$47.99
Vernier Caliper	1	$29.99
Die set for each caliber	1	$34.99
lyman case sizing lube	1	$5.09
Total		$465.03

Reloading a .45 ACP, expect to reload 1000 rounds before the equipment pays for itself.  .308, expect it to take 750 rounds.   Once you get a handle on it, get ready to want to delve into more aspects of it.   I started casting my own bullets last year, and it has been a really nice hobby, good way to spend a few hours. 

2 shot cops got it wrong

In Chicago there are 2 cops who were shot in the line of duty running for public office.   Both cops agree on one thing only:

Both men said there are too few officers on the streets, and they would both push to get more cops working the beat.

But they got it wrong, it's not that there are too few cops, it's that there are too few armed law abiding citizens, this makes .1% of your population a police officer, 2% of your population dangerous criminals, and 97.9% of your population unarmed, defenseless victims waiting for violent crime to happen to them.


Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Jim-Mullen-Paralyzed-Chicago-Cop-running-for-alderman-shot-in-the-line-of-duty-41st-Ward-sgt-richard-gonzalez-103245284.html#ixzz10YFR5WVI

Anyone find this representative of today's law enforcement?

Cited From antioch police blotter

Aleksander Jozet Bozek, 18, of 26360 W. Bond Ave., Antioch, was charged with disorderly conduct Aug. 22 in the 400 block of Birchwood. He was also cited for obstructing a peace officer and resisting a peace officer. He was released on a personal recognizance bond pending a Sept. 13 court date

disorderly conduct in this state means:

    (720 ILCS 5/26‑1) (from Ch. 38, par. 26‑1)
    Sec. 26‑1. Elements of the Offense.
    (a) A person commits disorderly conduct when he knowingly:
        (1) Does any act in such unreasonable manner as to

alarm or disturb another and to provoke a breach of the peace

So essentially anything that can't be defined as an actual crime, gets you a Disorderly Conduct charge.  Once a police officer has decided you have committed disorderly conduct, they may arrest you, so resisting adds charges of obstruction, and resisting.   However, this is a law in which there can be no probable cause, and it is not a felony so no arrest should be necessary.   I believe it is a citizens' DUTY to resist being arrested for a non-crime.   I am awaiting the outcome of this, but chances are there will be no follow up news on this item.

Followup on chicago police complaint blog:

I read an article over at I'll take liberty that hit home, I haven't really done anything except sit behind my keyboard and post, so I decided to email the Chicago police officer Lt. John Andrews who posted a 3000 word diatribe about how the Chicago police are failing.   It was a modified re-write of a comment I responded to on a newspaper.

Dear Officer Andrews,
I sympathize with your frustrations, and am glad to see you using your
right to speak up about them!  I have some things to say that I don't
know if you'll like hearing, but I know the solution for Chicago:


If the police didn't force citizens to depend on the Police, people
would be able to defend themselves, having a naturally reducing effect
on violent crime, thus reducing the stress and danger for the Police.
The Police just don't trust normal citizens, and it shows. Why are
LEO's the "only ones" who are allowed to carry a weapon to defend
themselves in an admittedly dangerous area? Is it because they're
better than us? More trustworthy than us? If they're better trained to
use the simple point and click interface of a modern firearm, why is
that training not available to citizens? Why do the police insist that
citizens will only appreciate them once we've been victimized? I mean,
it's not like LEO's would be in close enough proximity to stop it. If
a citizen was attacked and had a small amount of marijuana on them,
what do you think an average cop would be more interested in...
investigating the attack, or ruining that citizen's life in some
self-righteous war on drugs? Doesn't that make citizens twice to three
times the victim?


You know, even if you haven't, others in your department have treated
citizens in an unconstitutionally sound way, even if it's backed up by
the supreme court, it can still be unconstitutional.   Next time you
search someone's car, think about what would happen to you if you
searched Thomas Jefferson's Carriage in the same manner.   Next time
you charge someone with with a felony level Aggravated Unlawful Use of
a Weapon for transporting a gun incorrectly, think about which part of
that person's right to keep and bear arms you are infringing, then
look up perjury to see what crime you just committed.   Next time you
think you're the only one trained enough to defend yourself with a
firearms... quit.   No one's forcing you to get paid to be a member of
a class of individuals to which laws don't really count (as evidenced
recently by John Killackey), you can quit, and be an engineer,
business owner, pilot, professional motorcycle driver, truck driver...
ANYTHING else.


The Citizens already know that when seconds count, the Police are just
minutes away, and the Police would rather a citizen be dead holding a
phone, than alive with a firearm... because they're the only one's
enough to handle protecting you.

I apologize if that sounded harsh, it is has honest as I can be.  You
can't help a city that won't trust the people that live there to do
the right thing with the rights granted to them with the US
constitution.  If you're like me and believe there's more good people
in the world than bad, you would be unafraid.  If you think there are
more bad people than good ones, then you really don't need to be in
Law enforcement.

Take care, and hang in there,
-Brent

To Which Officer Andrews responded with:

You assume much that you don't know. Your paradigm is skewed. LoL.


There is a difference between those who make laws and those that enforce them.


Think deeper!


Cheers!
John Andrews (Sent via BlackBerry)

To Which I responded with:

Thank you for your insight Officer Andrews,
As a fellow motorcycle rider, would you be willing to talk to me about
what I don't know, better yet, ride with me, and share your insight?
To respond to what you stated, there is a difference between those who
make laws, and those who enforce them.  I understand this, but the
lawmakers are not arresting people, they're simply passing laws that
enable it. Every police officer who takes the Illinois state oath
pledged to support the U.S. Constitution, and the state constitutions
and they should know where the line is, and which laws cross it.   Or
has that oath become more formality in which those who take it do not
fully grasp the meaning of what they are saying or doing?   Believe
me, I want more than anything to be on your side, as long as you and
others in your uniform want to be on mine.  I am not just a jerk
behind a keyboard, I will meet with you, and have friendly
conversation, hell, I'll even buy you lunch if for nothing else than
your bravery to speak out about the issues with your department... that
deserves a lunch on me!


Take care, and have a safe and good night,
-Brent

I wished to be respectful, yet persistent on the real root of their problems.  I am certain that if the Chicago Police allowed citizens to carry, violent crime would go down very quickly.   Petty theft I fear would still be on the rise with Chicago's unemployment rate estimated at 15%, but theft without human targets would be the shift after those human targets are allowed to fight back.  

So to answer Jennifer's question, "what are we going to do?"   My plan is to attempt to engage my oppressors in polite, meaningful conversations, showing them that I'm a person of integrity, and hopefully a few of them might actually get it!