(Photo Source: citizensproject.org)

Where does morality come from and how does a person learn morality? More importantly, does the state have any morality? From where does morality or the ability to control one’s baser instincts?

Professor Paul has given this subject a tremendous amount of thought. During this episode we will cut to the heart of the problems we are witnessing nationwide. What is the difference between Malum In Se and Malum Prohibitum and can new laws create morality in men?

During out SOTG Homeroom from Crossbreed Holsters, we will consider the upcoming summer season. How can you continue to be an armed and prepared citizens when the mercury rises?

Brought to you by Silencer Shop!

Topics Covered During This Episode:

• Atheists and Agnostics need to listen too because this affects you as well.
• Malum In Se  and Malum Prohibitum   You must understand the difference.
• Maslows Hierarchy of needs: www.theblaze.com
• Malum In Se vs. Malum Prohibitum: youtu.be/GWQmq1q_S0s
• Creating Gun Criminals Where There Were None: www.theblaze.com/
• Origin of morality:  Family and Church
• The STATE has not morality, only rules and control.  Punishment does not stop crime, only morality stops crime.
• True Religion encourages man to control his baser instincts, a cult encourages him to embrace them.
• SOTG Homeroom brought to you by Crossbreed Holsters: Summertime bag carry Ohai option

Please visit www.SilencerShop.com and take a look at what they have in stock!

Get Your Student of the Gun Tattoo Here: www.lauerweaponry.com

From www.theblaze.com:

You don’t need a 42-inch flat screen, you want it. You don’t need the latest iPhone, you want it.

For those of you who never took Psyche 101 in college, or slept through the course, let me take a moment to introduce you to Abraham Maslow. A psychologist by trade, Maslow set out to understand what motivated humans to do what they do.

Maslow introduced his first “Hierarchy of Needs” in 1943. In this hierarchy he explained that, regardless of who they were or where they lived, all humans had certain physiological and psychological needs and that these needs built upon each other to allow the person to reach their ultimate potential. The Hierarchy of Needs is most often explained or displayed as a pyramid. The basic and most fundamental needs are at the base and more elusive psychological needs are at the top.

Understanding the Hierarchy of Needs

First are “Biological/Physiological” needs, second are “Safety” needs, third are “Social” needs, fourth are “Esteem” needs and last is the need for “Self-Actualization.”

It seems obvious that a man cannot become a master architect or artist if he spends all of his time foraging for food and seeking shelter from the weather.

Can a man or woman focus on taking their business to the next level if there is domestic discord in their home? How many times have you heard “leave your home life at home”? Divorce, financial troubles, and other domestic issues all distract from the mission or career. Understanding this, those in the military or government will often lose their Top Secret security clearances based on domestic troubles.

Needs in the Modern World

Sadly, few in today’s society understand the Hierarchy of Needs or how each level supports the others. When people get the “prepping bug” they either don’t know where to start or will stop at the base level.

Folks will go out and buy a six-month supply of freeze-dried food and call it good. Many will neglect the tools and skills needed to provide security for that food. Others will go out and purchase a handgun and ammunition but they don’t even have two days worth of food in their cupboards at home.

An even more sinister and dangerous situation occurs when adults in society look to someone else for their fundamental needs. With food, water, warmth and shelter provided by some faceless government bureaucracy, many people never learn to secure these things for themselves.

What is worse, if there is ever an interruption in these social programs, the results are disastrous and the recipients, rather than step up and provide for themselves, devolve into a forging animal state. I submit the Greater New Orleans area, post-Katrina, as Exhibit A.

Examining the Hierarchy pyramid, we see that the higher needs are built upon the base needs. Some social engineers would offer that by having government social programs provide the foundational needs of the pyramid the recipient is free to focus on the upper levels of love and affection, achievement and mastery, independence and dominance in their career field or field of endeavor.

What the social architects ignore, whether by being naïve or through deliberation and design, is the fact that each individual must build their own pyramid. Self-respect, achievement and sense of belonging cannot be handed out in a food line. All of the needs are products of individual struggle, effort and desire. Removing challenges and obstacles from an individual does not increase self-actualization and self-respect, it handicaps and stifles it.

Never having learned to build the foundation of the pyramid, the individual flounders without order or structure, meaning or purpose.

21st Century Prepping

When the individual rediscovers Maslow or understands the hierarchy of needs for the first time, they realize that they need a strong foundation to build their needs pyramid.

You cannot skip steps in the building process. Healthy family and romantic relationships are difficult to maintain if there is no stability in the food and shelter department. A person cannot reach self-fulfillment, seek personal growth and peak experiences if there is constant struggle at home.

Having taken the steps to store ample food and water as well as safety and security tools, the individual can focus their attention on financial security and solvency. When they are financially secure people can focus on excelling in their career fields and achieving higher and loftier goals.

A person who has a mastery of their career field can advance to newer and more focused achievements. That person can mentor and provide opportunities to others. They can focus on philanthropy and become a blessing to society, not a burden.

Parting Thoughts

Abraham Maslow’s parents immigrated to the United States from Russia and he was the first of seven children. He lived through the Great Depression, arguably the most difficult financial time in U.S. history up until the modern era. He learned hard lessons about personal preparation and thrift and he learned the perils of indebtedness.

The great irony of our time is that our grandparents and great-grandparents survived hardship and went without only to raise a successive generation that has little understanding of genuine need or want. As we gaze out at the American landscape we see a society with seemingly no understanding of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs or the importance of building that pyramid.

What you must ask yourself is this, how is your pyramid coming along? Is your foundation solid or built upon the fragile sand of some faceless social program? Is your pyramid built on endless credit card debt?

For the past three decades Paul Markel has had the privilege to study with some of the finest instructors the U.S. Military and Law Enforcement world have to offer. Visit Student of the Gun.

From www.theblaze.com:

“Because it’s the law, that’s why.”

How many times have you heard that excuse or justification for some regulation or statute that seems to be prima facie punitive or unjust? Notice how I dropped a bit of Latin legalese on you? Prima Facie means “on the face of it” or obvious, or at first glance.

Latin terminology is strewn throughout “the law.” Some argue that it holds with timeless tradition. Others contend that use of Latin words keeps the layman from understanding the law and keeps attorneys in business. Regardless of your take on the situation, there are a few Latin terms used in the legal system of which you would do well to acquaint yourself.

Malum in se is a Latin phrase used to describe an act that is wrong or evil in and of itself. This would be an action that by its very nature is sinful or wrong. Murder, rape, robbery, theft would all be acts classified as malum in se; we do not require an elaborate explanation to tell us why they are wrong.

Converse to malum in se is malum prohibitum, an act that is wrong because someone told you it was wrong. This is an act that has been prohibited by some authority. The statutory wrong of exceeding a 55mph speed limit is malum prohibitum as speed limits are not part of natural law and they also vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Hunting without a state-issued license or permit is malum prohibitum, as are age restrictions on purchasing alcohol or tobacco.

Burden of Proof

In the judicial system, in order to convict a person of a crime that is malum in se the prosecution needs to establish the elements of the crime. One element is the demonstrated intent to commit said act. Culpable mental states are broken down into the sub-categories of purposeful, knowledgeable, reckless and negligent. The Latin term for a “guilty mind” is mens rea.

To be convicted of the First Degree Murder or Capital Murder, the prosecution must not only establish the fact that A killed B. They must convince the jury that A purposefully killed B and that said killing was either premeditated or committed while A was engaged in other criminal activity. Culpable mental state is the determining factor between First Degree Murder and Justifiable Homicide. If you chat with an attorney they will tell you that most every felonious act or specifically the statutes prohibiting these acts require the establishment of culpable mental state.

Think about it like this, a FedEx driver arrives at your house with a medium-sized box that requires your signature. The package is signed for and you set it down on the table. As you are opening the box your front door is broken down and a police raid team enters. You are shoved to the floor and handcuffed. The detective on scene enters, looks in the box and determines that it contains a kilo of cocaine. You are arrested and charged with felony possession and intent to distribute a controlled narcotic substance.

Your defense is that you did not request, order or purchase the drugs. The prosecution claims that you signed for the package and it was in your home, ergo possession, when an anonymous tip led them to your house. Without the requirement to demonstrate culpable mental state all the prosecution would have to determine was that you were in possession, not how, when, and why. Minus the need to prove “purposeful” and “knowledgeable” mental states you could be convicted and sentenced.

Malum Prohibitum sans Mens Rea

Are there unlawful acts or statutes that do not require mens rea for conviction?

Yes, there are. When I went through the police academy we were taught that traffic violations and most “minor misdemeanors” did not include culpable mental state. We didn’t need to prove that you intended to drive 79mph in a 55mph zone, only that you did.

Why exclude mens rea from a statute? Minor misdemeanors do not have accompanying jail time, just a monetary fine. Is it much easier for the state to get a conviction when mens rea is not required? Most certainly it is.

What about felonies minus mens rea? Is possession of an object in and of itself sufficient evidence to convict a person of a felony charge and incarcerate them for a period greater than one year?

Consider the Connecticut prohibition against certain types of firearms and firearm accessories. Is mere possession, without demonstrated intent, sufficient to convict a person of a felony?

Is malum prohibitum law being used to create criminals where there previously were none? Is the possession of an inanimate object a greater crime that the malum in se crime of murder, robbery or rape?

Colorado’s recent malum prohibitum laws prohibit the ownership of certain type of firearms accessories. On June 30, 2013 you were a lawful citizen. On July 1, 2013 you are a potential criminal. We have nearly the same situation with New York State and their fraudulently named “Safe Act.”

Again, are the states using malum prohibitum to create crime where none existed?

Return to Tyranny

While most Americans can quote you the term “innocent until proven guilty,” few understand that such a concept is not universal. We accept that the “burden of proof” lies squarely with the prosecution and that the state must prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the crime occurred.

Considering the state of affairs here in the colonies, it appears that we are on a fast track back to the day when mere possession equates guilt. The rampant use of malum prohibitum statutes puts the citizen on the defensive and creates “gun criminals” that have no mens rea.

Do the current crop of “gun crime” laws violate the United States Constitution’s protection against ex post facto, or “retroactive” prosecution as laid out in Article 1, Section 9? Are we creating criminals where there were none?

For the past three decades Paul Markel has had the privilege to study with some of the finest instructors and teachers the U.S. Military and Law Enforcement world have to offer. He is a lifelong student of the gun.