- A M26A2 fragmentation grenade used against a [...]]]> If you ever watch video or look at pictures of the drug war in Mexico, you’ll notice some pretty heavy weapons. This is a war being waged with rockets and plastic explosives, not pea shooters and Saturday Night Specials. Consider these incidents:

- A M26A2 fragmentation grenade used against a U.S. Consulate in Mexico in 2008

- Explosive projectiles and 21 grenades found during a raid in Guadalupe

- An unexploded grenade and pull ring used to attack a TV station in Monterrey 

- Automatic weapons, including U.S.-made M16s, found at a cartel crime scene in May 2009

You can’t buy this stuff at a U.S. gun store. So where do the cartels get it?-[source]



His methods, described in new detail to The Associated Press by a counterterrorism official and a second person briefed [...]]]> Despite having no Internet access in his hideout, Osama bin Laden was a prolific email writer who built a painstaking system that kept him one step ahead of the U.S. government’s best eavesdroppers.

His methods, described in new detail to The Associated Press by a counterterrorism official and a second person briefed on the U.S. investigation, served him well for years and frustrated Western efforts to trace him through cyberspace. The arrangement allowed bin Laden to stay in touch worldwide without leaving any digital fingerprints behind.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence analysis.

Bin Laden’s system was built on discipline and trust. But it also left behind an extensive archive of email exchanges for the U.S. to scour. The trove of electronic records pulled out of his compound after he was killed last week is revealing thousands of messages and potentially hundreds of email addresses, the AP has learned.

Holed up in his walled compound in northeast Pakistan with no phone or Internet capabilities, bin Laden would type a message on his computer without an Internet connection, then save it using a thumb-sized flash drive. He then passed the flash drive to a trusted courier, who would head for a distant Internet café.

At that location, the courier would plug the memory drive into a computer, copy bin Laden’s message into an email and send it. Reversing the process, the courier would copy any incoming email to the flash drive and return to the compound, where bin Laden would read his messages offline.-[source]

The idea for a smartphone application to assist soldiers in combat came to Capt. Jonathan J. Springer in a dream last July, he said Monday. The 31-year-old, from [...]]]> An iPhone app that tracks down the Taliban has been developed by a U.S. soldier — who put $26,000 of his own money into the project.

The idea for a smartphone application to assist soldiers in combat came to Capt. Jonathan J. Springer in a dream last July, he said Monday. The 31-year-old, from Fort Wayne, Ind., has worked with programmers ever since to make the idea a reality.

Tactical Nav, which is expected to be available through Apple’s App Store next month, assists soldiers in mapping, plotting and photographing waypoints on a battleground and conveying coordinates to supporting units.

Springer used a variety of armored vehicles, remote observation posts and harsh combat conditions to test the accuracy of his invention, which can also be used to direct artillery fire on enemy positions or call in helicopter support.-[source]

In early May there was a hearing in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs that gave perennial gun-grabber [...]]]> The gun control fanatics in Congress are at it again, capitalizing on the public’s media- and government-induced fear of terrorism and contrived anecdotes to promote their watch list and gun control/gun-grabbing measures for all Americans.

In early May there was a hearing in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs that gave perennial gun-grabber Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Rep. Peter King (R- N.Y.) and a few cronies a platform for the subject “Terrorists and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms.” That subject is tied into Lautenberg’s S. 2820 PROTECT Act of 2009 (Preserving Records of Terrorist & Criminal Transactions Act) and S. 1317 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, and Rep. Peter King’s matching version in the House, H.R. 2159.

Billed as an “anti-terrorist” measure by the authors, the details of S. 1317 and its companion bill H.R. 2159 would allow the Attorney General of the United States to deny the purchase of a firearm to anyone on the “terrorist watch list.” The AG could accomplish this without due process of law and without the accused knowing any details of possible suspicion. The responsibility of determining a person’s guilt or innocence would be outside the judicial system and in the hands of the Attorney General (currently Eric Holder, not personally in favor of gun rights), and who would not have to produce one shred of evidence for his decision, a huge loss of civil rights for American citizens.

S. 2820 would establish a national gun registry. This bill would require record-keeping of gun transfers for ten years for anyone who is suspected of being a member of a terrorist organization, and 180 days for all other criminal background checks relating to firearms transfers. It also repeals “certain provisions that require the destruction within 24 hours of identifying information for individuals who legally purchase or possess firearms.”

With the growing labeling of “homegrown terrorists” extending to concerned citizens who seek a return to constitutional doctrine, the government would have free rein in determining individual gun ownership for those who indeed are not terrorists, all in direct contradiction to a protected God-given right.-[source]

Months before he loaded his SUV with propane tanks and fireworks and drove to Times Square, police say, Faisal Shahzad went to a firearms store and bought a rifle. It was found in his other car at JFK International Airport, where his name showed up on the no-fly list [...]]]> Mere suspicion doesn’t warrant violating rights

Months before he loaded his SUV with propane tanks and fireworks and drove to Times Square, police say, Faisal Shahzad went to a firearms store and bought a rifle. It was found in his other car at JFK International Airport, where his name showed up on the no-fly list in time to keep him from escaping.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., is one of many people bewildered that a suspected terrorist can be barred from flying but not from purchasing a gun. It “defies common sense,” he says, that “the rights of terrorists are placed above the safety of everyday Americans.”

Well, not exactly. Anyone convicted of terrorism has no right to buy a gun, since felons are barred under federal law. And Lautenberg neglects to mention that in denying constitutional rights to people merely suspected of dangerous connections, he would deny rights to lots of peaceable “everyday Americans.”

His bill, the subject of a recent Senate hearing, gives the attorney general the power to block gun sales to anyone the government suspects of being a terrorist. Never mind the obstacle known as the Second Amendment, which according to the U.S. Supreme Court protects an individual right to own guns for personal use.

Someone arrested, tried and found guilty of a crime loses that particular freedom. But Lautenberg’s bill would strip the right from many people without forcing the government to show they’ve done anything wrong.-[source]

“The recent attempted bombing in Times Square by a naturalized citizen has added a new, troubling [...]]]> Sen. David Vitter, R-La., whose support for gun rights has earned him support from the National Rifle Association, is considering whether to buck the organization and back a bill barring people on the U.S. terrorism watch list from buying guns.

“The recent attempted bombing in Times Square by a naturalized citizen has added a new, troubling element to how we approach fighting terrorism,” Vitter spokesman Joel DiGrado said this week.

“The senator plans on looking at this bill closely. Current laws on the books already prevent anyone who is a felon or is not a citizen from purchasing a firearm, but we also need to make sure we balanced our liberties and Second Amendment rights with preventing potential terrorists from using those liberties against us.”-[source]