John Franklin Ross (June 17, 1957 – April 29, 2022) was an American

gun rights The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, as well as ...

activist. He is author of the popular underground novel ''

Unintended Consequences In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...

'', and wrote a regular column on the Internet. He was a Democratic candidate for US Congress in 1998 in

Missouri's 2nd congressional district Missouri's second congressional district is in the eastern portion of the state, primarily consisting of the suburbs south and west of St. Louis, including Arnold, Town and Country, Wildwood, Chesterfield, and Oakville.McDermott, Kevin. "Mi ...

''Unintended Consequences''

'' is a controversial novel that mixes real events with fiction. These events portray a continuing oppression of the American gun culture that the author believes has occurred since the passage of the

National Firearms Act The National Firearms Act (NFA), 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, was enacted on June 26, 1934, and currently codified and amended as . The law is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes an excise tax on the manufact ...

of 1934, which made it a federal offense to possess a machine gun, short-barreled

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

, short-barreled

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

, or silencer without first paying a $200 fee to the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

. The cover of the book shows a woman dressed as

Lady Justice Lady Justice () is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are scales, a sword and sometimes a blindfold. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia. Lady Justice originates from the personificat ...

being menaced by a heavily armed agent of the

ATF The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention ...

; it contains several scenes of graphic sex and violence. The book has been repeatedly confiscated in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

by customs officials. The publisher no longer ships copies of the book to Canada as a result. Its thesis, as discussed in the ''Author's Note - A Warning and Disclaimer'', is that hostile bullying by a government will cause a revolt, and the revolt will be successful if the area involved is large enough, the area has a sufficiently distinct culture, and the rebels use low-tech leaderless resistance. It has sold briskly at gun shows but is generally not sold at traditional bookstores. (As of June 2009, the price for a new copy hovers around $120 and even used ones are priced at over $50 on auction sites because the publisher is almost sold out.) In 2000, Ross had his lawyer write a letter to the ATF claiming that their agents harassed him for writing his book, threatened vendors for selling his book and approached his "amicably separated" wife to elicit information against him.

Other activities and personal life

Ross supported a

Concealed Carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

law passed in Missouri in 2003. He was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in 1998 in Missouri's 2nd congressional district, billing himself as a "Pre- Roosevelt Democrat," which, as he defined it, was "a Democrat without the Socialism." He received 28.3% of the vote, losing to Republican incumbent James Talent. In 2000, Ross appeared under his own name in the independent film ''Defiance,'' where he played the part of a gun dealer in a small western town in 1876. In October 2000, he had a stroke and was incapacitated for a few weeks. He made a complete recovery and lived in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, where he wrote, did investment consulting, scheduled fee-based speaking engagements, and ran night classes for Concealed Weapons licensing. Ross wrote a semi-regular Internet column called "Ross In Range," where he discussed topics that interested him. A recurring theme is understanding and coping with women.

References

External links

Personal website

John Ross ending one of his Concealed Carry classes with a Machine Gun demonstration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, John 1957 births 2022 deaths Place of birth missing Amherst College alumni American male writers