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| Sheriff Richard Mack |
Austin - Like most Texans or their ancestors, Rep. Steve Toth got here as quickly as he could.
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| Rep. Steve Toth, R-Woodlands |
Leaving
Mansfield, and one wonders if that's in Ohio, he and his family had
their choice of either California - “Duh” - or Massachusetts -
“Duh.”
“Texas
is where it's at.” Cheers erupted from the 300 or so gun rights
supporters who gathered on the north steps of the Capitol at high
noon Saturday for Guns Across America's rally in support of Mr.
Toth's Firearms Protection Act.
Said
Mr. Toth, who is a man of the cloth, “Ask any minister, and he will
tell you the...worst thing you can ever have to do is a funeral for a
couple whose child has died. Your children aren't supposed to go
before you do.” The prevailing mood among these people is angry, defensive, and fearful, no doubt. You can feel it, radiating out at you, as if from a hot stove - or a cold block of ice.
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| Rep. "Doc" Anderson, R-Waco |
Guns
Across America appears to be an astroturf offshoot of the Tea Party,
since the rally's organizing structure is top heavy with Waco Tea
Party functionaries, including McLennan County Republican Chairman
Ralph Patterson. State Representative “Doc” Anderson stood by in
stoic observation, listening and watching very carefully.
The
proposed law would make it a felony crime for anyone – including
federal officials – to attempt to enforce gun control laws, such as
the maximum number of rounds allowed in a rifle's magazine.
Wyoming
has a similar bill in the hopper, both of them clones of the Tenth
Amendment Center's model legislation that would nullify gun control
laws under the terms of the Tenth Amendment.
So
far, eight southern states have seen bills proposing secession from
the United States filed in their current legislative sessions. They
are, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee,
Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana.
In
symmetrical fashion, the south steps of the building were reserved
for gun control proponents who support President Obama's 23 executive
orders and proposed federal legislation that would criminalize
possession and sales of carbines with high capacity magazines,
telescoping stocks, pistol grips, laser sights, and the rest of the
high-tech folderol of modern infantry weapons.
“We've
got to keep the two separated,” said a matronly State Trooper with
a wry smile dressed in Spandex. Wearing a bike helmet, a black
baclava against the cold, and bullet proof armor, she sat astride a
mountain bike with a radio repeater on the luggage rack.
The
Legendary obtained her permission to pass between enemy lines as a
sort of war correspondent, camera in hand.
The
anti-gun rights, pro gun control league had about half the number of
the pro-gun advocates.
On
the south side, the first sight we beheld was a grandfatherly
silver-haired daddy'o in a black cavalry Stetson, a black shirt and
crisply laundered tan jeans, an M-4 carbine slung across his back,
carrying a “Come and Take It” Gonzales flag, as he confronted
Sgt. Tommy Lyons of the DPS.
“I
just don't want to have to face a bunch of baby killers with the
jawbone of an ass,” the old timer told the Sergeant.
With
the exaggerated patience and pursed lips of a long-suffering adult
confronting an obstinate child, Tommy Lyons politely told him he
would have to stay out of the building with his weapon, and
admonished him to keep himself on the side of the building where the
pro-gun advocates were rallying.
“I
think I ought to be able to go where I want to go,” the man said.
Presented with a copy of The Legendary business card, he said, “I
object to your line of questioning,” when asked his name – in a
perfectly friendly way.
A
group of Hispanic school kids stood by, waiting in line to tour the
building. They were looking pretty scared.
Complimented
on his aplomb in handling the man with the assault rifle, Sgt. Lyons
said, “I can't remember his name, but he's here just about any time
we have something up here concerning gun rights.” He is an 8-year
veteran of duty at the Capitol; his female counterpart in Spandex and
body armor has been walking – and riding – the beat there for 12.
“Then,
we've got the Confederate war heroes today, too,” she said.
Sure
enough, in perfectly symmetrical fashion, the Descendants of
Confederate Veterans were holding a ceremony with many flags unfurled
at the building's east gate to honor the 206th birthday of
General Robert E. Lee. When they fired a volley from their cap and
ball black powder rifles, fire and smoke belched from the antique
muzzles two fathoms in the crystal-clear winter sky, and the echoes
from the buildings downtown were deafening. People all over the area
jumped out of their skins.
Dressed
in period garb and gaudy uniforms, they peered out of the past like a
long-lost family portrait in living color.
Said
Mr. Patterson, to the cheering crowd, “I'm the only elected
official here who doesn't have to represent liberals (cheers),
Democrats (even louder cheers) and...” his voice trailed off as he
choked back tears.
The
paramount sentiment, both spoken and unspoken, of the pro-gun rights
people's remarks was their grief for the brutal murders of the kids
at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
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| Ralph Patterson, McLennan Republican Chairman |
He
is one of the few people in the world to take on federal gun control
laws and win. Ordered by the passage of the Brady Bill to register
cowboys' six guns in his rural ranching community, he and other
County Sheriffs took their case to the Supreme Court with the help of
the NRA and obtained a victory under the terms of the 10th
amendment.
Why?
Because a majority of the Court could not find constitutional
justification for the requirement. Sheriff Mack has since relocated
to Fredericksburg, where he mounted an ill-fated campaign to unseat
U.S. Representative Lamar Smith in the Republican Primary.
While
waiting for the show to start, The Legendary chatted up a little old
gray-haired man of about the same age who has recently relocated to
El Paso from his Connecticut home. A tool and die maker, he invented
a device that applies a stainless steel jacket to a .308 bullet and
makes its muzzle velocity even faster than a copper-jacketed round
the same caliber.
The
objective? To make the ammunition lighter and less of a strain for
infantrymen to carry into battle.
Like
the copper jacket on a .223 round fired by M-16, AR-15, and M-4
carbines, the jacket rips off and shreds tissue as the bullet tumbles
end-for-end and the lead projectile explodes.
He,
too, chose Texas when he left the state that saw the development of
the Peace Maker six-gun, the Walker Colt Dragoon pistol, and the Navy
Revolver, and all the legendary Smith & Wesson revolvers favored
by steely-eyed defenders of the mythology of the gun such as Dirty
Harry and Marshal Dillon.
“We've
already spent our kids' inheritance,” he chuckled. “We might as
well retire here so they can take care of us.”
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