U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Based on an allegation of ‘militia threats’ Senate President Peter Courtney canceled today’s floor session.” Oregon Firearms Federation informed members in a Saturday alert. “But the good news is that while they are not on the floor they are not allowed to be hunting the Republicans who walked out.”
“Hunting Republicans…?” That was explained in a Friday alert:
“Senate Republicans have walked out to protest the outrageous behavior of the majority party. The Governor has called on the State Police to track down those who left and force them back to the floor… [Governor] Kate Brown is working with law enforcement in other states to try to get them to assist in the arrest of the absent Republicans and all the Republicans are facing fines of $500.00 for every day they are absent.”
Simply put, while Democrats enjoy a supermajority (in both legislative chambers), Republicans are needed to form a required quorum. That means 20 out of the 30 Senate seats (29 as of late May, with one vacancy) are needed to conduct business.
It’s illustrative of her hypocrisy that “progressive” Gov. Brown is demanding other states where Republicans may have sought refuge to cooperate with her on forced detention. After all, this is the chief executive who “issued an executive order that forbids all state agencies and employees from helping federal immigration officials locate or apprehend undocumented immigrants.” Turnabout being fair play, “Second Amendment Sanctuary Sheriffs” could and should tell her to go pound sand.
This walkout is not over the right to keep and bear arms, but rather a tangentially-related freedom issue. The Senate Republican protest is over a radical “cap and trade” bill Democrats couch as being a counter to “climate change,” but is really about wealth redistribution and imposing job-killing requirements on their constituents that competitors, including from communist China, won’t comply with.
So what does this have to do with the calculated excuse being used as justification to shut down the government? Per Oregon Live:
A spokeswoman for the Senate President confirmed late Friday that the “Oregon State Police has recommended that the Capitol be closed tomorrow due to a possible militia threat.”
Some citizens, including “Oregon Three Percenters,” were planning a protest. True to form, gun owners who will not comply with disarmament edicts are being portrayed as “anti-government extremists.” That’s despite the fact that they are the ones calling for rights abusers and infringers to obey the Constitution and observe the entire Bill of Rights.
To seal the smear, many news outlets are pointing out how some in the groups supported the Malheur Refuge protest. Left unsaid in the conflation is that the violence there was committed against one of the protest leaders with the ambush killing of LaVoy Finicum, replete with crime scene evidence tampering and lying by authorities.
As for the “possible threat,” it’s fair to ask what the hell that even means – it either is or it isn’t. What Oregon “progressive” are feigning the vapors over is actually a “quotable” statement made to the media by State Senator Brian Boquist about a response to armed force, not the initiation of it.
“Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”
Compare that to, say the state mottos of New Hampshire (“Live free or die”) or Virginia (“Sic semper tyrannis”).
Supporting statements made by Oregon III% said they would act as bodyguards to dissuade the initiation of force:
“[W]e have vowed to provide security, transportation and refuge for those Senators in need…We will stand together with unwavering resolve, doing whatever it takes to keep these Senators safe.”
That has nothing to do with the planned demonstration. It is a statement that a line in the sand has been drawn on the initiation of force by Brown’s enforcers under very specific circumstances. It is no different than any gun owner saying and meaning “Molon Labe.”
If you think about it, if gun owners were willing to surrender their rights without a fight, the Second Amendment would not be worth the parchment it is written on. If the gun-grabbers don’t want to hear that some will not disarm and go gentle into that good night, they should stop threatening unconstitutional gun bans and confiscation.
As an aside, it’s nice to see Sen. Boquist starting to grok the principle behind defending rights against usurpations. That’s because he was a principle Republican backer of SB 719A, a gun confiscation bill that would ostensibly reduce suicides at the expense of murdering due process.
As for those now feigning outrage over his statement, consider how they are universally silent at Joe Biden’s call to “action” at the Moral Action Congress of the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C.:
“There are certain things where it just takes a brass knuckle fight…Let’s start a real physical revolution if you’re talking about it.”
Does anyone see any Democrat politicians canceling sessions and making a big deal about “possible threats” when his supporters demonstrate?
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.