Monday, May 4, 2020

Sit This One Out If You Want to Become a Slave

Tom Sheppard
5/4/2020

I don't usually make remarks on specific legislation, but sometimes a proposed law is so shocking it must be called out and a call to action issued.  I am calling all freedom loving citizens to take action against House Resolution 5717.

On January 30, 2020 a bill was introduced to the House of Representatives which will devastate your Constitutional Rights under the Second Amendment.  See my brief comments on each part of the bill in RED below!

It was introduced by Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [D-GA-4].

According to https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5717 the HR 5717, known as the Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act of 2020,  "makes various changes to the federal framework governing the sale, transfer, and possession of firearms and ammunition. Among other things, the bill does the following: "This is mild wording for the extreme changes this bill proposes.  
  1. "generally requires individuals to obtain a license to purchase, acquire, or possess a firearm or ammunition;"  You would need a license to buy a gun or ammunition.  This is way beyond a concealed carry permit.  It puts your 2nd amendment rights totally into the hands of un-elected bureaucrats and forces you to pay whatever application and licensing fees they want to charge just to keep the guns you already have.
  2. "raises the minimum age—from 18 years to 21 years—to purchase firearms and ammunition;"  You can vote. You can be drafted to serve in the military (if they reactivate the draft).  But, you cannot buy or own a gun.  While we are at it, why don’t we take away your voting rights and your right to buy booze as well.  If you cannot be trusted with a gun, you clearly aren’t capable of being trusted to vote or drink responsibly.
  3. "establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties;"  You can’t even give, or inherit a gun without a background check.  Big Brother wants to know every time you decide to get rid of something you own, or want to buy something from any person.  In the past, this only applied to commercial sales and federally licensed gun dealers.  Now, we would all have to be federally licensed gun dealers, or become felons.
  4. "requires law enforcement agencies to be notified following a firearms-related background check that results in a denial;"  Now, they will be able to put you on a watch list because you tried to buy a gun and were denied.
  5. "creates a statutory process for a family or household member to petition a court for an extreme risk protection order to remove firearms from an individual who poses a risk of committing violence;"  If someone near you thinks you might not be trustworthy with a gun, the police will come and forcibly take your guns away.  Your chances of getting them back ever are almost nil.
  6. "restricts the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices;" This makes sense because when the cops or soldiers show up to confiscate your guns, they want to be absolutely sure they can sustain a hire rate of fire and not have to reload as often as you.
  7. "restricts the manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, or receipt of ghost guns (i.e., guns without serial numbers);"  This means you cannot build your own gun from parts and you cannot possess one that you, or someone else, built years ago.  This way government ensures that only guns manufactured by corporations exist and they already know where those are going.
  8. "makes trafficking in firearms a stand-alone criminal offense;"  If you buy, sell, are given or give more than 1 gun in a 30-day period, you are trafficking in guns.
  9. "requires federally licensed gun dealers to submit and annually certify compliance with a security plan to detect and deter firearm theft;"  This would now apply to you as well.  You would need to unload all your guns and put them in a proper gun safe, or you become a felon.  This is great news for those who own stock in gun safe manufacturers.
  10. "removes limitations on the civil liability of gun manufacturers;"  This allows people to sue a gun company for any harm done with a gun just like you can now sue a car manufacturer for any harm done with a car they make or a booze maker for any harm that comes from drinking booze.  Oh, that’s right, you can’t sue the car maker for bad drivers nor can you sue booze makers for liver failure or drunken drivers.  Why not?  Because that is a stupid idea which would eventually be applied across the board and result in no manufacturers of any products anymore.
  11. "allows the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue safety standards for firearms and firearm components;"  This would put the same folks who judge whether or not we should be able to open a pill bottle in charge of how safely firearms perform.  This is ludicrous on its face.  Every rational human being knows that firearms are intended to be dangerous.  They are only safe when unloaded and locked up.  As a Marine I was taught how to kill my enemy with the butt of my rifle as well as with a well-aimed bullet.  Getting pistol whipped is a serious and potentially deadly assault, as it would be to hit anyone with a heavy piece of metal.  To make guns safe is to make them cease to exist.
  12. "establishes a community violence intervention grant program; and
  13. promotes research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention."  These last two points are nothing more or less than a way for the authors of the bill to divert hundreds of millions of your tax dollars into the hands and bank accounts of those who want to promote the abolition of private gun ownership.
This bill explicitly turns no fewer than 148 different firearms (long guns) which are currently legal into illegal, felonious possessions.  It also sweeps up many currently legal pistols into its net.  I have included the long gun list at the end of this post.

As bad as my post makes this bill seem, the reality is far worse.  If you read the bill you will see what I mean.  I can only imagine the impact it will have on you. I know that it has left me stunned that anyone thought any part of  this was a good idea.  I found it morally repugnant and shameful that any elected official would author such an attack on the Constitution of the United States.

It is clear to me that this proposed law has exactly one objective – to bring all firearms under the direct control and possession of the government.  This would result in the total disarmament of the public and totally remove our rights under the Second Amendment, which rights were expressly provided as a means to protect the citizens from unlawful and tyrannical or despotic actions by the government.  It would set us all up to become slaves to a ruling class.

Anyone who has ever taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America who does not oppose this bill is in breach of that oath.

This bill has absolutely no redeeming points whatsoever. It is a direct assault on our constitutional rights and should die and ignominious death.  Anyone who has taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America who does not oppose this bill is in breach of that oath.  Any citizen of the United States of America who does not oppose this bill does not deserve the blessings of liberty they now possess.

Below are some more tidbits taken directly from the congressional website where the entire text of this bill can be read (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5717/text#toc-HD892D9BDA3904E798F367C65758C5DDA)

According to the authors, this bill affects the following area and 33 legislative subjects, including religion:

Policy Area
One Policy Area term, which best describes an entire measure, is assigned to every public bill or resolution.

Legislative Subjects
  1. Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  2. Assault and harassment offenses
  3. Business records
  4. Citizenship and naturalization
  5. Civil actions and liability
  6. Community life and organization
  7. Congressional oversight
  8. Consumer Product Safety Commission
  9. Crime victims
  10. Crimes against property
  11. Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
  12. Criminal justice information and records
  13. Criminal procedure and sentencing
  14. Department of Justice
  15. Domestic violence and child abuse
  16. Due process and equal protection
  17. Elementary and secondary education
  18. Firearms and explosives
  19. Government information and archives
  20. Health facilities and institutions
  21. Health programs administration and funding
  22. Health promotion and preventive care
  23. Higher education
  24. Judicial procedure and administration
  25. Judicial review and appeals
  26. Law enforcement administration and funding
  27. Law enforcement officers
  28. Licensing and registrations
  29. Medical research
  30. Mental health
  31. Personnel records
  32. Product safety and quality
  33. Religion
Contact your federal lawmakers and let them know they should kill this bill in any form it takes.  If you don’t know how to contact them, or maybe don’t even know who they are, this website can help on both counts: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members

Contact members of your North Carolina federal legislative delegation and let them know to kill this bill in any form it takes.  Compromise on this bill is not a good thing.

North Carolina’s senators are:


Senior Senator
Richard Burr
Republican
Since Jan 4, 2005
Next Election in 2022

Junior Senator
Thom Tillis
Republican
Since Jan 6, 2015
Next Election in 2020

North Carolina’s 13 representatives are:


1st District
George “G.K.” Butterfield Jr.
Democrat
Since Jul 21, 2004
View District Map

2nd District
George Holding
Republican
Since Jan 3, 2017
View District Map

3rd District
Gregory Murphy
Republican
Since Sep 17, 2019
View District Map

4th District
David Price
Democrat
Since Jan 7, 1997
View District Map

5th District
Virginia Foxx
Republican
Since Jan 4, 2005
View District Map

6th District
Mark Walker
Republican
Since Jan 6, 2015
View District Map

7th District
David Rouzer
Republican
Since Jan 6, 2015
View District Map

8th District
Richard Hudson
Republican
Since Jan 3, 2013
View District Map

9th District
Dan Bishop
Republican
Since Sep 17, 2019
View District Map

10th District
Patrick McHenry
Republican
Since Jan 4, 2005
View District Map

The 11th district is currently vacant.
View District Map

12th District
Alma Adams
Democrat
Since Nov 12, 2014
View District Map

13th District
Ted Budd
Republican
Since Jan 3, 2017
View District Map

All representatives serve until the end of the current Congress on Jan 3, 2021.

Long guns outlawed by this bill:

1.       “(i) All AK types, including the following:
2.       “(I) AK, AK47, AK47S, AK–74, AKM, AKS, ARM, MAK90, MISR, NHM90, NHM91, Rock River Arms LAR–47, SA85, SA93, Vector Arms AK–47, VEPR, WASR–10, and WUM.
3.       “(II) IZHMASH Saiga AK.
4.       “(III) MAADI AK47 and ARM.
5.       “(IV) Norinco 56S, 56S2, 84S, and 86S.
6.       “(V) Poly Technologies AK47 and AKS.
7.       “(ii) All AR types, including the following:
8.       “(I) AR–10.
9.       “(II) AR–15.
10.    “(III) Alexander Arms Overmatch Plus 16.
11.    “(IV) Armalite M15 22LR Carbine.
12.    “(V) Armalite M15–T.
13.    “(VI) Barrett REC7.
14.    “(VII) Beretta AR–70.
15.    “(VIII) Black Rain Ordnance Recon Scout.
16.    “(IX) Bushmaster ACR.
17.    “(X) Bushmaster Carbon 15.
18.    “(XI) Bushmaster MOE series.
19.    “(XII) Bushmaster XM15.
20.    “(XIII) Chiappa Firearms MFour rifles.
21.    “(XIV) Colt Match Target rifles.
22.    “(XV) CORE Rifle Systems CORE15 rifles.
23.    “(XVI) Daniel Defense M4A1 rifles.
24.    “(XVII) Devil Dog Arms 15 Series rifles.
25.    “(XVIII) Diamondback DB15 rifles.
26.    “(XIX) DoubleStar AR rifles.
27.    “(XX) DPMS Tactical rifles.
28.    “(XXI) DSA Inc. ZM–4 Carbine.
29.    “(XXII) Heckler & Koch MR556.
30.    “(XXIII) High Standard HSA–15 rifles.
31.    “(XXIV) Jesse James Nomad AR–15 rifle.
32.    “(XXV) Knight’s Armament SR–15.
33.    “(XXVI) Lancer L15 rifles.
34.    “(XXVII) MGI Hydra Series rifles.
35.    “(XXVIII) Mossberg MMR Tactical rifles.
36.    “(XXIX) Noreen Firearms BN 36 rifle.
37.    “(XXX) Olympic Arms.
38.    “(XXXI) POF USA P415.
39.    “(XXXII) Precision Firearms AR rifles.
40.    “(XXXIII) Remington R–15 rifles.
41.    “(XXXIV) Rhino Arms AR rifles.
42.    “(XXXV) Rock River Arms LAR–15.
43.    “(XXXVI) Sig Sauer SIG516 rifles and MCX rifles.
44.    “(XXXVII) SKS with a detachable magazine.
45.    “(XXXVIII) Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifles.
46.    “(XXXIX) Stag Arms AR rifles.
47.    “(XL) Sturm, Ruger & Co. SR556 and AR–556 rifles.
48.    “(XLI) Uselton Arms Air-Lite M–4 rifles.
49.    “(XLII) Windham Weaponry AR rifles.
50.    “(XLIII) WMD Guns Big Beast.
51.    “(XLIV) Yankee Hill Machine Company, Inc. YHM–15 rifles.
52.    “(iii) Barrett M107A1.
53.    “(iv) Barrett M82A1.
54.    “(v) Beretta CX4 Storm.
55.    “(vi) Calico Liberty Series.
56.    “(vii) CETME Sporter.
57.    “(viii) Daewoo K–1, K–2, Max 1, Max 2, AR 100, and AR 110C.
58.    “(ix) Fabrique Nationale/FN Herstal FAL, LAR, 22 FNC, 308 Match, L1A1 Sporter, PS90, SCAR, and FS2000.
59.    “(x) Feather Industries AT–9.
60.    “(xi) Galil Model AR and Model ARM.
61.    “(xii) Hi-Point Carbine.
62.    “(xiii) HK–91, HK–93, HK–94, HK–PSG–1, and HK USC.
63.    “(xiv) IWI TAVOR, Galil ACE rifle.
64.    “(xv) Kel-Tec Sub-2000, SU–16, and RFB.
65.    “(xvi) SIG AMT, SIG PE–57, Sig Sauer SG 550, Sig Sauer SG 551, and SIG MCX.
66.    “(xvii) Springfield Armory SAR–48.
67.    “(xviii) Steyr AUG.
68.    “(xix) Sturm, Ruger & Co. Mini-14 Tactical Rifle M–14/20CF.
69.    “(xx) All Thompson rifles, including the following:
70.    “(I) Thompson M1SB.
71.    “(II) Thompson T1100D.
72.    “(III) Thompson T150D.
73.    “(IV) Thompson T1B.
74.    “(V) Thompson T1B100D.
75.    “(VI) Thompson T1B50D.
76.    “(VII) Thompson T1BSB.
77.    “(VIII) Thompson T1–C.
78.    “(IX) Thompson T1D.
79.    “(X) Thompson T1SB.
80.    “(XI) Thompson T5.
81.    “(XII) Thompson T5100D.
82.    “(XIII) Thompson TM1.
83.    “(XIV) Thompson TM1C.
84.    “(xxi) UMAREX UZI rifle.
85.    “(xxii) UZI Mini Carbine, UZI Model A Carbine, and UZI Model B Carbine.
86.    “(xxiii) Valmet M62S, M71S, and M78.
87.    “(xxiv) Vector Arms UZI Type.
88.    “(xxv) Weaver Arms Nighthawk.
89.    “(xxvi) Wilkinson Arms Linda Carbine.
90.    “(I) All of the following pistols, copies, duplicates, variants, or altered facsimiles with the capability of any such weapon thereof:
91.    “(i) All AK–47 types, including the following:
92.    “(I) Centurion 39 AK pistol.
93.    “(II) CZ Scorpion pistol.
94.    “(III) Draco AK–47 pistol.
95.    “(IV) HCR AK–47 pistol.
96.    “(V) IO Inc. Hellpup AK–47 pistol.
97.    “(VI) Krinkov pistol.
98.    “(VII) Mini Draco AK–47 pistol.
99.    “(VIII) PAP M92 pistol.
100. “(IX) Yugo Krebs Krink pistol.
101. “(ii) All AR–15 types, including the following:
102. “(I) American Spirit AR–15 pistol.
103. “(II) Bushmaster Carbon 15 pistol.
104. “(III) Chiappa Firearms M4 Pistol GEN II.
105. “(IV) CORE Rifle Systems CORE15 Roscoe pistol.
106. “(V) Daniel Defense MK18 pistol.
107. “(VI) DoubleStar Corporation AR pistol.
108. “(VII) DPMS AR–15 pistol.
109. “(VIII) Jesse James Nomad AR–15 pistol.
110. “(IX) Olympic Arms AR–15 pistol.
111. “(X) Osprey Armament MK–18 pistol.
112. “(XI) POF USA AR pistols.
113. “(XII) Rock River Arms LAR 15 pistol.
114. “(XIII) Uselton Arms Air-Lite M–4 pistol.
115. “(iii) Calico Liberty pistols.
116. “(iv) DSA SA58 PKP FAL pistol.
117. “(v) Encom MP–9 and MP–45.
118. “(vi) Heckler & Koch model SP–89 pistol.
119. “(vii) Intratec AB–10, TEC–22 Scorpion, TEC–9, and TEC–DC9.
120. “(viii) IWI Galil Ace pistol, UZI PRO pistol.
121. “(ix) Kel-Tec PLR 16 pistol.
122. “(x) The following MAC types:
123. “(I) MAC–10.
124. “(II) MAC–11.
125. “(III) Masterpiece Arms MPA A930 Mini Pistol, MPA460 Pistol, MPA Tactical Pistol, and MPA Mini Tactical Pistol.
126. “(IV) Military Armament Corp. Ingram M–11.
127. “(V) Velocity Arms VMAC.
128. “(xi) Sig Sauer P556 pistol.
129. “(xii) Sites Spectre.
130. “(xiii) All Thompson types, including the following:
131. “(I) Thompson TA510D.
132. “(II) Thompson TA5.
133. “(xiv) All UZI types, including Micro-UZI.
134. “(J) All of the following shotguns, copies, duplicates, variants, or altered facsimiles with the capability of any such weapon thereof:
135. “(i) DERYA Anakon MC–1980, Anakon SD12.
136. “(ii) Doruk Lethal shotguns.
137. “(iii) Franchi LAW–12 and SPAS 12.
138. “(iv) All IZHMASH Saiga 12 types, including the following:
139. “(I) IZHMASH Saiga 12.
140. “(II) IZHMASH Saiga 12S.
141. “(III) IZHMASH Saiga 12S EXP–01.
142. “(IV) IZHMASH Saiga 12K.
143. “(V) IZHMASH Saiga 12K–030.
144. “(VI) IZHMASH Saiga 12K–040 Taktika.
145. “(v) Streetsweeper.

146. “(vi) Striker 12.

See Tom's political views on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TomSheppardPoliticalViews/
Follow Tom on Twitter: @ThomasKSheppard

Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM).

The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein.

(c) Copyright 2020 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

If you believe Government is NOT the answer to all our problems, you will want to read
 Godvernment: Government as God

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Why Do Gunners Oppose Universal Background Checks?

Tom Sheppard
5/4/2020

Supporters of the Second Amendment, often referred to as “gunners” or pro-gun rights advocates, often come out in opposition to a common-sense gun reform called universal background checks.  

Why?

As a law-abiding gun owner the term “universal background check” seems to mean, you check the background of every gun owner to make sure they aren’t criminals or mental defectives.  After all, no one wants to be “that guy” who sold a gun to the whack-o who killed a bunch of children at some school.

So, why would anyone oppose universal background checks?

To understand the resistance, we need to pull back the covers on this particular bed and see the little bed bugs crawling around between the covers waiting to bite us.

Those supporting this common-sense gun reform are often referred to as anti-gun, anti-gunners, gun-banners, or just banners.  This various names reflect the belief that those supporting gun control laws have as their ultimate aim the banning of all gun ownership by private individuals.  

To be fair, not everyone lumped into the gun-ban group wants that.  Regardless of the benign motives some of some gun-control advocates, history definitively shows that preventing the general populace from having access to weapons is a generally effective method of ensuring that they cannot overthrow a government, no matter how corrupt, predatory, or despotic it may be.  

Ancient history shows that feudal lords maintained power over their subjects and their serfs, despite their despotism, because they could afford arms and armor. If they found a peasant with an unauthorized sword or armor they killed him or her.  One of the privileges of being knighted was the freedom to carry a sword anytime you wanted.

In more recent times, the American Revolution got kick started when British troops marched from Boston to Concord with the intent to confiscate guns and ammunition being stored there by the colonial militia. The British wanted to confiscate these weapons and ammunition in order to keep the colonists under the rule of King George.

Modern history has also shown that first controlling, and then confiscating private firearms has been effectively used by several despotic regimes to control their populace.  One of the best know examples is Nazi Germany.  However, this also is a hallmark of the Soviet Union, Castro in Cuba, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, and Chavez in Venezuela.

For many gunners, nearly any gun-control law is seen as part of the slippery slope that leads to gun confiscation.  Because of that, some gunners reflexively oppose universal background checks as part of that slippery slope.

I consider myself a reasonable person.  I try to see things from viewpoints other than my own and recognize that at times, I might be guilty of being short-sighted or reactionary.  When I first heard the term universal background check for gun purchases, I thought it sounded reasonable and was supportive of the notion.  As I continued to see strong opposition to it from some other gun owners, I decided to look a little closer to see why some seemed so adamantly opposed.

Universal background check laws are designed expand the existing requirements beyond commercial firearms sales to regulate 100% of private firearms exchanges.  By private, I mean between you and your cousin, you and your neighbor, and even your yard sale (or classified ad sale).

Today, there are both federal and state laws which heavily regulate the sale and transfer of firearms handled by licensed firearm dealers.  To buy a gun from a gun store or manufacturer, whether in their storefront or at a gun show, you have to pass a federal background check.  This sort of transaction is what most of us are thinking about when we hear the term universal background check.

Universal, in this case, really means universal. 

Universal background checks would make you a felon if you gave a gun to your brother or to your adult child.  It would make it a felony for an estate to allow heirs to inherit firearms from their parents.  In both cases, the transfer of the gun cannot occur without the execution of a federal or state (or both) background check.  This is true even if the firearm is an antique flintlock that no longer works but which has been handed down through your family since Revolutionary War days.
Not only is it incredibly intrusive to authorize the government to get in the middle of private, non-commercial, firearm transfers it also sets an incredibly horrible precedent for our economic freedoms in general.

If the government can make you a felon for giving away a gun, or selling it to someone you know, without first going through the government for clearance, they can make you a criminal for anything and everything you sell or give away.

The Yard-Sale Felony Caper

In most neighborhoods during the Spring and Fall in most parts of the US on any given weekend you can find dozens of yard sales, garage sales, and “tag” sales happening throughout your town.  Maybe you have hosted more than one yourself.  Probably, you have visited more than one.

In many cases the adage applies that the difference between a yard sale and garbage collection is how close the items are placed to the curb.  Regardless of this, often one person’s trash is another’s treasure.

Now, imagine that some agent of the Internal Revenue Service is tasked with showing up at each yard sale, monitoring the transactions and making sure that not only are sales taxes collected on each sale, but the transfers themselves are recorded and your yard sale earnings are properly recorded for reporting on your income tax.  And, if you aren’t doing all that at your yard sale, that government agent simply calls the police who come to your yard sale, arrest you and all your family who are helping in the sale, and then confiscating all the stuff you were trying to sell.

You and every member of your family are now economic criminals.  Because this involved federal taxes, you are now indicted felons.  When you get convicted – and you will be convicted because you were blatantly guilty – you are now convicted felons.  Even if you never serve a day in jail your life and that of each member of your family are now changed forever.

Note: If you can afford a good lawyer, you might manage to avoid getting convicted.  If you can't afford a good lawyer, then kiss your "law abiding citizen" moniker goodbye forever.  You are going to become just another felon.  Your public defender is unlikely to prevent this.

As a convicted felon you will never be able to hold a job anywhere in the financial sector, at all.  No bank, insurance company, or finance company can hire you because you cannot be bonded – insured against financial misconduct.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Just ask any convicted felon how hard it is to find a really good job, or any job, after they get out of jail.  One reason for criminal recidivism is that it is incredibly difficult for a convicted criminal to ever make an honest living.  Your yard sale did this to you, and to all your children as well.  That felony will follow them for the rest of their lives.

Universal tax collection, like universal background checks makes millions of ordinary citizens into criminals.  Even today economists refer to the “gray market” and the “black market” economic activities within the US and other countries.  The gray markets are un-taxed transfers of legal goods between private individuals in non-commercial quantities.  The black market is based on either commercial volumes of business of lawful goods, or when the products are illegal.

I know this yard-sale-felony scenario sounds crazy.  However, it is a logical next step after the government turns your Uncle into a felon for giving you your great grandfather’s pistol without first registering the transfer with the government and running a background check on you.


I believe that the common-sense gun reform of universal background checks is a nice sounding wrapper on a big candy-coated bar of dung.  Currently we have both federal and state laws which require licensing for firearms dealers, and which require them to run background checks on everyone who buys a gun from them.  Common sense says that is universal enough.  Extending the requirement for background checks to private, non-commercial gifting, inheriting, or sale of guns is not common-sense, and it will inevitably lead to much worse things.

FYI- According to the laws today you are supposed to report the money you earn from your yard sale along with your other income on your tax returns.  However, today there aren't any federal agents looking to lock you up for failing to report the $532.18 you recouped for selling your old junk, outgrown clothes, and that ready to did lawn mower you sold at your last yard sale.

See Tom's political views on Facebook at:  https://www.facebook.com/TomSheppardPoliticalViews/
Follow Tom on Twitter: @ThomasKSheppard

Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM).

The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein.

(c) Copyright 2020 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

If you believe Government is NOT the answer to all our problems, you will want to read
 Godvernment: Government as God

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Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Global Warming and the Scam Artists

Tom Sheppard
4/21/2020

Global warming is real. It created the English Channel about 15,000 years ago.

For years now we have been hearing lots about Global Warming.  We hear about it from politicians, scientists, and activists.  The main thrust of the rhetoric is that the world temperature is rising which will melt the glaciers and ice caps and raise sea levels dramatically.

We have known for many decades that the world temperature is increasing.  Way back in the 1970's when I was in Middle School my Earth Science class discussed the recent ending of a "Little Ice Age" (about 250 years from 1300 to 1850 AD) which came on the heels of the "Medieval Warm Period" (a 300 hundred year warm spell from 950 to 1250 AD). The chief symptom of the emergence from the Little Ice Age was the retreat of glaciers in the mountains of the world, such as those in Glacier National Park, not far from where I was born.

What is so different now than it was in the 1970's is that instead of being viewed as a wholly natural occurrence, the global temperature change is being attributed largely to man-made causes. Those who believe in human-caused global warming appear very willing and ready to silence anyone who suggests an alternate view.  This intolerant approach to science is wholly at odds with what is espoused in the scientific method and smacks more of politics or religious zealotry than science.

The geological evidence shows that the earth has a 100,000 year long-weather cycle that changes due to variations in the orbit of the Earth around the Sun.  These cyclical changes are referred to as Milankovitch Cycles, and were first identified back in the 1920's.

The orbit of the Earth around the Sun varies from a circular to mildly elliptical shape.  The elliptical orbit results in longer, colder winters, and shorter, cooler summers.  The net effect is a significant cooling of the temperature and the creation of massive ice sheets which cover large portions of both the land and sea.  An ice age.

In the waters East of the British Isles lies a raised area of seabed known as the Dogger Bank.  Fishermen have pulled up evidences that this area was once dry land.  Geologists say this was much more extensive than just a small land bridge connecting the British Isles to the mainland of Europe.  Instead, that whole area was dry land which was gradually submerged as sea levels rose as much as 300 feet due to the melting of ice at the end of the last ice age. They believe that the English Channel came into existence as little as 8,000 to as much as 15,000 years ago.  That is a pretty dramatic change in geography, driven by a dramatic, but gradual change in the climate which lifted sea levels by as much as 300 feet, up to current levels.

This short video (about 8 minutes) explains part of what happened:  
            https://youtu.be/mzLFZBb-n5U

This much longer video (one of three) about the formation of the British Isles gives even more information on these massive climate changes and how they have shaped the world we know today.  They point out that at one point, what is now Southern England was a tropical world and a savanna at different times.
             https://youtu.be/nvk6DUmTuvE

According to the 100,000 year climate cycle, the last full ice age ended about 11,700 years ago. Simple math suggests that we are nearly 40,000 years away from the next peak in global temperatures.  This means we can expect the polar caps and glaciers to keep melting and the oceans to keep rising until earth reaches its temperature peak in about 40,000 years.  After that time, temperatures will begin to drop for another 50,000 years until the next ice age peaks.

All this dramatic and massive climate change is driven by the orbit of the Earth, not by humanity,.

The next time someone says that "the science is settled" on climate change, you may want to pin them down on exactly what they mean. The science of long-term climate change, driven by nature is certainly very settled. In contrast, the "science" of man-made climate change is anything but settled. In fact, in light of geo-history, I suggest that the notion of man-made climate change is just spitting into the wind.

The belief that we can stop this environmental cycle which has been going on for millions of years, or that we can stop the current trend which has been going on for just over 10,000 years is silly. The global warming alarmists preach that by bankrupting the world and making the poor even poorer (and the rich richer) we can stop a trend that began long before Henry Ford made a car is nothing more or less than a con job designed to siphon off billions (or trillions) of dollars into the pockets of elitists posing as the environmentally conscious.

Many people like to believe that science and scientists are immune to the profit motive.  Such a view is naive and in complete denial of thousands of years of recorded human history showing the nature of humankind.  Scientists, just like anyone else, enjoy creature comforts, security, and prestige.  Their money comes from being able to snag research grants for their work and their universities or institutions.  By creating a panic around global warming, these climatologists stand to reap windfalls of staggering proportions for many decades to come.  In the end, it won't matter if they are wrong, the money will already be spent.

Government research grants are your and my tax dollars.  In short, they are taking money out of your pocket and mine to pay themselves.  The Green New Deal and other extreme political measures and tax plans are nothing more or less than scams designed to turn your and my money into their money.  Wealth transfer is the fancy name for this sort of legalized robbery.  The plans will consolidate power into the hands of a very few, very well compensated government officials and turn the rest of us into their subjects and servants.  Our lives will be lived solely for the good of the state and our own dreams and aspirations will be considered heretical or seditious thinking.

I have no doubt that some who read this article will label me a "climate change denier."  The truth is far less black and white.  I wholly believe in climate change.  I wholly disbelieve in man-made climate change.  Just because mankind can use machines and explosives to make a big pile of rock and dirt doesn't mean I believe they can build a new Mount Everest.  Likewise, although I know that mankind can pollute their environment and make it inhospitable for ourselves, I don't believe all our industrial might can make any measurable or appreciable change in weather cycles which have been at work since long before woolly mammoths ceased to roam the land.

If the global warming fanatics would pause in their attempts to burn all the heretics they might find that someone has a better model that can actually show how much, or how little, we can affect these trends.  My belief is that the changes we can make are only at the margins.  We would be far better off to figure out how we can adapt to a changing world where ocean levels are likely to rise for the next 40,000 years, instead of trying to stop something that is truly bordering on a cosmic event.

When I hear the global warming alarmists, I hear in their voices the same tones I find in the calls of carnival hucksters trying to get me to put my money on a rigged game.  It is the same tone you hear in the voice of the expert confidence artist who swindles you, or your aging parents, out of thousands all to either get rich quick, or to protect you from some non-existent danger.  Anyone who believes what these hucksters are selling about how we can stop it should feel embarrassed that they were ever taken in by such a patently absurd scam. It only goes to show that P.T. Barnum was right. "There's a sucker born every minute."

Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM).

The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein.

(c) Copyright 2020 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

If you believe Government is NOT the answer to all our problems, you will want to read
 Godvernment: Government as God

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Friday, April 10, 2020

What if God Stopped COVID-19 Today?


Photo cover detail from Godvernment by Tom Sheppard (C) Copryright Thomas K Sheppard

Tom Sheppard
4/10/2020

Today is Good Friday.  The day Christians celebrate as the time when Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled his mission by atoning for the sins of the world, was crucified, and on the following Sunday (Easter) rose from the dead to begin the resurrection of mankind preparatory to them being recalled into the presence of God for judgement.

Not coincidentally, this is also the weekend when Jews celebrate the Passover.  Remembering how God killed the first born of all Egypt to punish them for not letting the Israelites depart, while passing over every Israelite houshold that smeared the blood of the sacrificial lamb above their door.

Egypt was afflicted with several plagues before this final, terrible visitation brought death into nearly every household.  The death of the first-born hit the house of Pharoah as well as that of the slaves and everyone in between.

Today, we are all feeling a bit like the Egyptians.

As of this writing, COVID-19 has claimed 97,292 lives and infected more than 1,623,910 (confirmed) people world-wide.  It has shuttered the economies of nearly every country and inspired the US government to pass a stimulus bill that will have massive tax implications for everyone after this crisis is behind us.  It has also allowed state governments and the Federal government to implement curtailments of our constitutional rights which were unthinkable just a few short months ago.

Today, some localities (Rhode Island) have police and National Guard going door to door searching out potential violators of travel restrictions with orders to forcibly take violators into custody and impose quarantines.

A few months ago, if the Federal or any state government had ordered us to stay at home and taken travel restriction enforcement actions they would have been met with massive protests in the streets.  I mention this not because I think we should be fighting these current restrictions.  I mention this because I fear that now that we have crossed this boundary where our constitutional right to freedom of assembly has been breached and accepted, this will condition the citizens to be more accepting of similar actions in the future which may be motivated by power-grabs instead of genuine public safety.

Today, Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has asked that all who are able fast and pray for relief from this plague.  This is not just for the 16 million members of his church.  It includes an appeal to all people of faith.  He solicits our prayers for those infected, the medical professionals caring for them, the scientists trying to stop it, and for our economies.  He asks God to stop this plague, if it is His will.

I wonder what would happen if God decided to stop this plague in its tracks?  What if, in an instant, the virus simply shut down?  How would the world react?  Would they thank God, seeing it as a miracle?  Or, would they pin the abrupt cessation on some fluke of cosmic rays?

I suspect that many would credit divine intervention, if it ended so abruptly.  However, if God enlightens the minds of some scientists and guides them to create an effective vaccine, instead of intervening directly what would people say then?

I fear many would overlook the role God plays in revealing things to our minds and guiding us.  Instead, they would simply credit the scientists, claiming that humankind saved itself.

The plague of COVID-19 isn't the worst thing to happen to humanity in the last 100 years.  The worst thing happening to humanity is the failure of their faith in God.  There is no counter which shows how many people in the world are suffering from failing faith and how many have already died spiritually.

God, having engineered humanity and all creation from the ground up is uniquely knowledgeable to cure the Corona Virus.  Having all power he is uniquely able to make changes in the body of every living person and cause the virus to cease to be effective.  In spite of this knowledge and ability many people lack faith.  They don't believe that if God exists that he has any rational motive to do all the good things he can do.  They do not understand that his motives are the same as those of every good parent, because he is literally, not figuratively, our parent.  He is our creator just as our earthly parents are our creators.  He is the father of the spirit that resides in each of us and he is the father of our bodies by virtue of being the father of the bodies of Adam and Eve, our first parents.

If God is a loving parent with the ability to stop all this carnage and suffering, why doesn't he?

Some will wield that question like a sword, trying to disembowel any person of faith.  But, have they really considered the question?

Does good parenting consist of solving all the problems your children have for them, without any effort on their part?  When you see children where that has happened, you see children who are spoiled brats with an overweening attitude of entitlement.  Those children become monsters.

Good parents prepare their children to solve their own problems and leave them the freedom to fail and help them to learn from those failures.

A piercing examination of sacred scriptures from all cultures reveals just such a pattern.  God gives humankind tools, knowledge, and directions.  The scriptures provide anecdotes of people who failed and then learned and of those who failed to learn and perished.  Some scriptural stories are appropriately cautionary.  Others show what can happen when we succeed and subtlety clue us in that success may not be what we think it is.

The COVID-19 plague, like any other disaster I have witnessed, will result in two primary outcomes for those affected.  Some people will seek to take advantage of the chaos to enrich themselves at the expense of others.  The crisis will bring out the worst in them.  Other people will give selflessly, knowing that there is no adequate earthly reward for the service they render others.  The crisis will bring out the best in them.

Will this plague bring out the best in you, or the worst?  You cannot choose whether or not the crisis will affect you.  You can choose how you react to it.


Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM). 

 The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein. 

(c) Copyright 2020 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved. 

 Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

If you believe Government is NOT the answer to all our problems, you will want to read Godvernment: Government as God

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Saturday, February 8, 2020

Electing Parents

Photo (c) Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye / Depositphotos.com
Tom Sheppard
2/8/2020

Our political elites, both Democratic and Republican, seem to be under the mistaken impression that we voted them to be our elected parents.  Putting them in office because we lack the good sense and judgement to manage our money and other affairs wisely and in our own best interests.

Along those same lines, they seem to assume that being elected officials and political elites automatically makes them somehow smarter than all other citizens.

This sense of being above the rest of us, at least with Congress, is reinforced by their passing laws from which they are exempt.

For instance, the much debated minimum wage requirements don't apply to Congress.  The minimum wage and other mandated employee workplace rights are covered in The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Congress made themselves exempt from the FLSA.  So, they don't have to pay minimum wage or worry about whether or not an employee is exempt or not exempt from the FLSA, because they made all Congressional employees exempt from the act, regardless of how little they may be paid.

Why is Congress exempt from the FLSA?  Perhaps they felt that being who they are, they would always do the right things by their employees and so, such regulation was unnecessary for them, but just, fair, and right to impose on everyone else.

Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to the FLSA.  I am opposed to Congress making laws from which they exempt themselves.  If it is good for the rest of the country, then it is good for Congress.  If it is bad for Congress, then it is bad for the rest of the country.  There is no magical dome surrounding the Capitol which causes the laws to behave differently there than elsewhere - except the one erected by Congress.

Another of those regulations that are good for the country, but bad for Congress is the Occupational Safety and Hazards Act (OSHA).  OSHA has subjected countless businesses across the country to inspections and remediation costs, not based on any complaints or accidents, but solely because an OSHA inspector decided to walk into an establishment and assert his or her authority under this act.  But our Congress isn't subject to OSHA, so they will never suffer an unwarranted inspection, fines, and mandatory remediation of workplace safety hazards no matter how many people get hurt in the halls of the Capitol because OSHA might result in frivolous lawsuits against Congress.  Once again, those frivolous suits won't happen to business, only to Congress, so Congress must be exempt from OSHA.  Of course that it utter nonsense.  Laws that are bad for Congress is bad for the country, and laws that are good for the country is good for Congress.

Congress too is exempt from the Affordable Health Care Act (also known as ObamaCare).  Many on Capitol Hill continue to sing the praises of how wonderful this program is for America while they made themselves exempt from the provisions of the act that would have taxed their own "Cadillac Health Care Plan" which they enjoy.

To add insult to injury, Congress is exempt from Social Security.  They don't have to pay Social Security taxes.  And, their retirement plan is to die for.  If you get elected to just two terms as a Representative or just one term as a Senator, and then you retire, you get full pay for life.  With as little as four years or six years on the job our Congress gets to retire at full pay for the rest of their lives.  And they each get six-figure salaries.

Again, don't get me wrong here.  I am not opposed to our Congress getting paid six-figure salaries.  Getting the job requires that they maintain a household in their home state and one in the Washington, DC area.  That is not cheap.  What I object to is them having any retirement plan other than Social Security and an ordinary 401K, like the rest of us can get after working four to six years.

Most corporate retirement plans won't pay you anything if you only work for a company four to six years.

I believe one of the best ways to return our elected officials back into public servants is to deny them any retirement program outside of what is available to ordinary citizens, in other words, Social Security, a 401K, and an IRA.

Some might say, but what about those guys and gals who labor 20 years or more in DC for us?  I say, what about them?  They shouldn't be living off the public for that much time, and when they quit, they should be on their own.  There should be no other retirement plan for elected officials except Social Security and any private investments they make in their 401K or IRA accounts.  Once they leave office, they should no longer be fed at taxpayer expense.

All of these self-directed exemptions from the laws that govern ordinary citizens has the natural effect of making them believe they are an elite for whom the laws don't apply, because they have made that into a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Strip them of the ability to make themselves exempt from the laws they write and they will be in the same regulatory boat as the rest of us.  Strip them of their amazing health plan and make them buy one in the open market.  Strip them of a fat-cat retirement program and make them both pay into Social Security and have to live by what they get from that instead of giving them taxpayer money for life.

If we do that, perhaps we will come a little closer to helping them understand they are us.  They aren't better, smarter, or wiser than us.  We elected them to represent us, not to rule over us.

We elect representatives, not rulers, or parents.


Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM). 

 The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein. 

(c) Copyright 2020 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved. 

 Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

If you believe that Government is NOT the answer to all our problems, thenyou will want to read Godvernment: Government as God



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