Notes from the Resistance
Police designating themselves the “Only Ones” to be trusted with arms and claiming exemptions to infringements the people are subjected to invites corruption, and seeing officials “hoist with their own petard” hardly invites sympathy…So, it’s not unfair to wonder what’s in it for gun owners to come to Wendt’s defense? [More]
The greater danger is ATF subjectively assigning itself powers and having the courts agree with it.
Don’t Forget About Candidates in Local and State Elections! [More]
My editor at the magazine, Vincent DeNiro, has some thoughts about the crucial importance of “lesser” candidates. Hopefully, everyone here has consulted with their state gun rights groups and done their own due diligence.
I learned something new: I did not realize Kathy Hochul once had an NRA A-rating.
Anyone who tells you 18-to-20-year-olds are not fully enfranchised citizens entitled to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment is a liar and an enabler of tyranny. [More]
Sending back what should have been a no-brainer makes me wonder which SCOTUS members we’ve been told are 2A-friendly are getting ready to disappoint…
This is not the first time Justice Barrett has departed from conservative views on the Second Amendment, values she represented herself as a staunch supporter of when she was nominated to the Supreme Court by then President Donald Trump. [More]
Except she didn’t, the gun groups did.
As with all SCOTUS confirmation hearings, they don’t ask the tough questions needed to elicit unequivocal answers.
As noted when cautioning against rubber stamping Gorsuch:
Typically in judicial confirmation hearings, nominees have been able to rely on an “out” giving them a pass on answering specific questions… Think of one job you’ve ever applied for where you’d have gotten it if you decided to play coy with the hiring managers. While it may be “inappropriate” for a judge to weigh in on a specific case before confirmation — for legitimate reasons, including not having studied and evaluated all the particulars, evidence and precedents against the “supreme Law of the Land,” — there’s no reason why general principles of understanding should be off-limits. Such hearings are supposed to be, among other things, high-level employment interviews, not pre-coronation ceremonies.
Gun owners may be paying the price for that… again.
JD Vance’s acceptance of prohibitionist terms, his failure to correct egregious errors and outright lies, and his avoidance of elaborating to voters on why the right to keep and bear arms is the keystone of freedom, show that when it comes to effective advocacy, Republican politicians all too often come up short. [More]
There were all kinds of missed opportunities, unnecessary concessions, and lies left unchallenged.
I spoke directly with Mayor Dowling Watford and Police Chief Donald Hagan. Both profusely apologized and explained that at no point was it their intention to strip the residents and business owners of their Second Amendment rights. [More]
I’d prefer officials do things my way because they share my convictions, but if they just do it out of fear I can live with it.
Two significant developments were revealed after this article was submitted… [More]
Scroll to the end for her threat to invade homes to enforce safe storage and her threat to shoot a home invader.
By focusing on the word “all,” propagandists can deflect from addressing the real issue: “shall not be infringed.” [More]
Prohibitonist gaslighting masks totalitarian intent.
“There can be no resolution to the issue of ‘gun violence’ or gun ownership in the twenty-first century if neither side incorporates the actual 2nd Amendment meaning, and its purpose, in their position,” [More]
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.” ― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Gun owners need to send a loud message to the RNC. [More]
I’ve talked about this shift in public priorities here, here, and tangentially here, and plan on digging into it over the weekend.
In the mean time, send that message.
The Self-Defense Brigade, organized “at the behest of Archbishop Dexter Burke of the Walk in the Light Church of God,” is reminiscent of an effort from the middle of the last century, one remembered and honored by Amendment advocates with long memories, but for the most part ignored by Democrats and self-designated “civil rights leaders,” none of whom, if they even know about him, are keeping the example set by Robert Hicks alive, to be reflected on today and passed on to the next generations. [More]
Go ahead, sic the cops on ’em, Democrats. I dare ya.
Three Rules enacted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were thwarted by court orders in recent weeks. [More]
Still to be determined: Will “laws” trump rights?
If we do somehow manage to help him gain a second term in the White House, we’re going to need to be able to influence what he says and does on guns. And we won’t be prepared to do that if we gloss over the seriousness of his failures. [More]
We need his ear so we can try to influence him before he starts to stray.
And the prohibitionists are aided in citizen disarmament when “gun rights leaders” not only accept – but argue for an invented “in common use at the time” qualifier that limits permitted firearms to what is commercially popular, as opposed to what soldiers and police carry… [More]
Hitler envisioned a Thousand Year Reich. The goal in the evil minds of fascist gun banners is a totalitarian monopoly of violence—forever.
“Well, the reservists are ready and willing, if Russkies are coming. They will be a big help for the regular army,” Saro declared. “If there will be new shooting ranges opened, the main reason is just to be ready and practice. It is pretty similar to our Civil Guard that was active before the wars. Then, besides reservist and military, there are hunters.” [More]
Yes, there’s plenty wrong with their “gun control” laws. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn from what they do right.
However, the recent investigation by the Second Amendment Foundation revealed that 97Percent supports bans on “assault weapons,” standard-capacity magazines, and bump stocks and has called for permits to carry, purchase, and even possess firearms. It supports mandatory background checks and mandatory storage laws and claims the Second Amendment is “overprotected.” [More]
Welcome to the party, pals.
“If courts continue to operate under the misimpression that the right to keep and bear arms protects only neutered firearms like break-barrel shotguns and bolt-action hunting rifles, the Second Amendment will offer little but a parchment barrier against tyranny,” the GOA petition correctly observes. [More]
It’s a necesary legal hurdle to clear if gun owners ever hope to challenge the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act.
But again, it’s the wrong question. What should be asked is “Why is a known illegal alien allowed to remain in the United States instead of being deported?” [More]
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.” (Thomas Pynchon/”Gravity’s Rainbow”)
Simply put, “gun control” doesn’t work, and it’s astounding that the head of the firearms manufacturer trade association is publicly insisting that it does. [More]
Industry CYA at the expense of our rights is unacceptable.
It would help if he didn’t automatically buy into prohibitionist propaganda, but by doing so he relieves us of the obligation to take him as an impartial and objective observer. [More]
Why is there such a difference in the numbers and rates of violent crimes betweeen two armed cultures? Hint: It ain’t because of “gun control” laws.
Firearms News March 2024 is on the newsstands! Pick up a copy at your local magazine stand, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or major book retailer. [More]
My “UNLV Shootings Highlight Futility of Life-Endangering College ‘Gun Control'”is on pg. 12.
This pretty much defined the day. Those expecting a Second Amendment defense decrying Chevron deference overreach instead heard the justices trying to grasp competing definitions of “function of a trigger” along with scenarios unlikely to persuade judges who equate “common use” with widespread commercial popularity. [More]
You were expecting a slam dunk…?
The issue as far as Raskin and Markey’s latest affront to liberty goes, is that nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government delegated authority to ban paramilitary activities. They are usurping power – or trying to. And though Raskin cites authority including the Supreme Court’s admission in Heller “that the Second Amendment ‘does not prevent the prohibition of private paramilitary organizations,’” it would be interesting to see how that would hold up against the more recent Bruen standard of the understanding at the time of the Founding. Especially noting historical examples like Allen, or more to the point, Capt. John Parker at Lexington Green… [More]
“I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for few public officials,” George Mason asked and answered. Curious, how public officials are bent on destroying that…
Those Forgotten and Ignored 13 Words: Why We Need Our State Second Amendment Militias Back in Force and Effect [More]
Some of us have been saying that for a while, and wondering when the “gun rights groups” are going to give it some of the attention they devote exclusively to “self-defense.”
I have another Firearms News article coming out soon on efforts to ban “private paramilitary” activities.
[Via bondmen]
The former president and — legal challenges aside — presumed GOP contender for the office in November, knew just which buttons to push to stoke the boundless enthusiasm of the thousands of supporters. [More]
This is what we’ve got to work with. And work we must.
I left suddenly on Thursday because I’d just gotten my press credentials approved to hear Donald Trump speak at NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show and had to get to Harrisburg, PA.
I spent yesterday writing it up for Firearms News.
Yet the NRA under LaPierre was instrumental in urging its members to give power to politicians they knew would end up working against them, and then either acted surprised when it happened or just ignored it when it did. [More]
Ever notice how those who say “Politics is the art of the possible” are always counseling appeasement instead of pushing envelopes to see what’s really possible…?
Voters paying attention could have seen Cheney’s malleable self-serving loyalties coming by the company she keeps. In 2009 she partnered with Bill Kristol to found Keep America Safe, a nonprofit advocate for Bush–Cheney national security positions. Kristol is the Never Trumper who has called Democrats “foolish” and “cowardly” for not demanding more infringements, declaring “I don’t think [Americans] have a right to semi-automatic, quasi-machine guns that can shoot a hundred bullets at a time,” and asserting the “lazy” white working class should be replaced by “new Americans.” [More]
Yet another reason why gun owners trusting NRA grades without doing their own due diligence so often end up feeling swindled and used…
So, what else could the “terrified students and professors” do besides “cower”? [More]
“Run, Hide, Fight,” the armed SECOND responders advise. What if you can’t outrun a bullet, can’t keep the monster from finding you, and can’t get close enough to attack back with a fire extinguisher or chair?
What’s clear from both the Illinois and the California cases, is prohibitionist Democrats, thwarted by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, will leave no right unabridged in their totalitarian obsession with controlling everything. [More]
If freedom prohibitionists can take the guns, what’s to stop them from taking everything else?
