My Eulogy for Aaron Zelman

I never met Aaron Zelman so I only knew him through his writing, filmmaking and second hand accounts from others who did know him personally. I had enormous respect for his efforts with the JPFO. It wasn't just about guns with him; he was an uncompromising advocate for freedom in just about every aspect of human life. He didn't just know the words of the Bill of Rights but also understood the ideals behind it and, I think, he believed it was the best effort Mankind has made so far at achieving a free society.

The Christmas season hasn't been a good time of year for me for decades. I've learned to live with it and not impose my peculiar depression on family, friends or co-workers. But this really strained that resolve. This is about the crappiest way to end the year I can imagine. Gun rights are finally getting some respect and there is a glimmer that freedom may be on the ascendant again. It is terribly saddening to me that one of the men who made that possible did not live to see it happen. I haven't seen this kind of perverseness in the Universe since Willey Ley died less than a month before Armstrong walked on the Moon.

OK, I stopped expecting life to be fair shortly after I figured out the joke about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. However, there has always been the wish that, if it can't be fair, at least it doesn't have to be so damned obstinate about it.

On the other hand, if wishes were nickels I wouldn't have to work for a living.

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus
advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem.
Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum.
Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.*

-- Gaius Valerius Catullus

Hail and Farewall, Aaron Zelman. Rest in Peace.

*English translation

Aaron Zelman Died

Just saw the link on Claire Wolfe's Blog

His obituary is from here

Zelman, Aaron S. December 21, 2010, age 64 years, of Erin, WI. Beloved husband of Nancy Zelman (nee Soderlund). Dear father of Erik and Jeremy Zelman. Further survived by other relatives and friends. Funeral services 11:00 AM Friday, December 24, 2010 at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, 2909 W. Mequon Rd., Mequon. Memorials to JPFO, P.O. Box 270143, Hartford, WI 53027 or Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue are appreciated.

Excuse me. I need to be sad for a while.

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Other notes of his passing:
SipseyStreetIrregulars
David Codrea

Aaron Zelman Tells it Like it IS

The NAACP is Run by Hypocrites, Liars and Morons.

By Aaron Zelman, Founder and Director of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

Copyright 2010 JPFO

(This is my personal opinion and does not necessarily represent every member of JPFO. I personally will not bow to, or take the poison of, political correctness.)

The leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has recently claimed that the Tea Party harbors racist factions. http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/19/2332666/naacp-releases-report-accusing.html - (archived article on JPFO).

It’s called playing “the race card” and the “anti-Semite card”, and you can bet it will surface more and more as elections grow closer. JPFO cannot endorse any political candidate or political party, but when a group like the NAACP (or any other entrenched special interest) uses its media access, or political correctness grandstanding to endanger the FOUNDATIONAL American civil right, the G-d given right to self defense, JPFO can and will step up. The NAACP is filled with liars.

The leadership of the NAACP continues to display a disgusting and dangerous level of blatant hypocrisy and deceit. The NAACP claims it stands for equality, but has, for decades, been at the forefront of policy and legislation that continues to make African Americans, as well as all other Americans, second class citizens. The NAACP also brims with hypocrites.

JPFO challenges any and all black leaders to have the intellectual and moral honesty to view our film “No Guns for Negroes” (see it free online at www.jpfo.org). JPFO challenges all black Americans to make themselves aware of the truly dangerous racists in your midst: anybody who wants to keep you disarmed and keep you on the government welfare plantation. Many of your brothers and sisters have been duped. Some are even back stabbers who are selling you out for personal gain and prestige.

Disarmed citizens are effectively slaves. Only armed citizens have the means to protect and preserve their freedom and safety. Only a moron could fail to see the connections between “gun control” and servitude. The NAACP must also be swarming with morons.

Now is the time for the honest and courageous black leaders of America to stand tall and confront the insidious liberal doublespeak. Where are the courageous and honest black leaders who understand where the far more serious dangers lie? It’s time for the NAACP to be cleaned out and become a legitimate “civil rights” organization … or close its doors. Kick out the Uncle Tom puppets of the liberal victim disarmament pushers. Wake up to reality. Your very lives may depend upon it.

The continued trampling of the Bill of Rights by the Obama administration and the NAACP, especially the right of self defense, has set back race relations in America by decades.

I ask all who read this personal opinion piece to pass it along to eighty million gun owners.

ATF Admits They Have a National Gun Registry.

A press release from the New Jersey  Democratic State Committee (Also at JPFO) reveals what peaceable gun owners have suspected for a long time: The ATF is building a national registry of firearms and firearm owners.

E-trace is a nationwide database maintained by the ATF that lists a firearm's first purchaser, date of purchase and the retailer from which it was purchased. The information is compiled from police records of gun purchases provided by local departments, but until today was only accessible by the ATF and the police department that provided it.

This comes as no surprise but it's nice to see to confirmed.  Two immediate consequences I see are:

1. The Brady Bill supposedly made it illegal for any Federal agency to build such a database.  The ATF now admits ignoring the law, cementing the perception of it as a lawless agency.
2. Gun owners who hesitated to act politically because, "I don't want to get on a list" can stop worrying -- you're already on a list -- and start acting.