Anti-gun group plagiarizes photos of top female shooters to gaslight the public
Victims never gave permission for use of their photos or personal information.

This is the busiest time of year for professional shooter, wife, mother and Army veteran, Julie Golob. She is hosting classes and training hard for the upcoming competition season, which begins later this month. She did not have much time to devote to a controversy that surfaced last week, when her image and personal information were misappropriated for a social media post by the anti-gun group, 97Percent, as part of its campaign to gaslight the public into falsely believing it is a moderate pro-gun group.

“I did not endorse their message. I gave no permission for the photo. It is unfair to use my image and likeness to give the perception that I support what they are all about. I certainly don’t,” Golob told the Second Amendment Foundation last week. “And the fact it was used for Women’s History Month is insulting.”

A special report published by the Second Amendment Foundation last week revealed how 97Percent uses slick marketing and an aggressive social media campaign to falsely portray itself as a pro-gun organization comprised of gun owners and non-gun owners, while in reality it is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill anti-gun group, not unlike Everytown, Giffords or Brady.

Last Wednesday, ostensibly as part of Women’s History Month, 97Percent posted tweets featuring images and personal information of nine female shooters and/or leaders within the Second Amendment community — six living and three deceased. They included Golob, Rhonda Ezell, Robin Sandoval, Lena Miculek, Kim Rhode and Carrie Lightfoot, as well as Lucille Ball, Mary Edwards Walker and Annie Oakley.

Last Thursday, after Golob responded to the post on Twitter/X and made it clear that she did not give permission to use her likeness or personal information, the group quickly deleted all of its Women’s History Month posts.

97Percent’s executive director, Olivia Troye, said during a recent appearance on ABC’s The View, that her group’s mission is “to bring gun owners into the conversation and to bring them to the table, in order to work on reducing gun deaths happening across the country, while including them in the solutions.”

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.”

Troye declined to be interviewed for the previous story, and she did not return emails seeking an explanation for her group’s misuse of the women’s photos and personal information.

Screenshot of now-deleted tweet, which featured Chicago-based Second Amendment advocate, Rhonda Ezell. (Screenshot used for this story with Ms. Ezell’s permission.)

Chicago Guns Matter founder Rhonda Ezell pointed out that 97Percent lifted her image right off of her website, without her knowledge or permission.

“When I first saw it, I was shocked,” she told the Second Amendment Foundation. “Why would an anti-gun group post a picture of me? They never asked to use the photo. This doesn’t make sense. At best, this is theft of intellectual property.”

Ezell has since contacted an attorney.

“I didn’t know of 97Percent. I never interacted with them. They are working against our cause,” she said. “I pick my battles, but I did feel it was rude. The picture they took is from a professional photo shoot.”

Both Ezell and Golob are frustrated by 97Percent’s plagiarism and use of false light.

“Lawful gun owners have to be wary of organizations that make certain claims,” Golob said. “We have to be vigilant and speak up, because when something is done wrong to you, the burden of proof and all of the effort is on you.”

Ruling: Millions of NRA Members Exempt From Pistol Brace Ban

The ATF can’t go after NRA members over guns with pistol braces on them.

That’s the outcome of a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge on Friday. US District Judge Sam A. Lindsay sided with the gun-rights group and enjoined the federal agency from enforcing its rule reclassifying pistol-brace-equipped guns as short barrel rifles (SBRs) under the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA). The decision keeps any NRA member who owns a braced gun from facing six-figure fines or imprisonment if they didn’t register their gun by last year’s deadline–something most owners didn’t do.

“[C]ompliance with the Final Rule is not discretionary, and the NRA’s members face severe penalties for their failure to comply with the Final Rule,” Judge Lindsay wrote in NRA v. ATF. “Accordingly, both of the final requirements for injunctive relief are satisfied because the threatened injury to the NRA’s members outweighs the threatened harm to the Defendants, and enforcement of the Final Rule under the circumstances will not disserve the public interest.”

The ruling is a concrete, if temporary, win for the NRA. While the group has lost millions of members due to an ongoing corruption scandal, and it’s unclear exactly how many remain, those who’ve stuck with the group will now enjoy protection from the long arm of the ATF. The decision puts NRA members under the same legal umbrella employed for members of the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Gun Owners of America through previous rulings.

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Israeli Air Strike Punches Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander’s Ticket

On Monday, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps was deleted from the rolls of the living by an Israeli air strike. The strike hit the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi along with (reportedly) several Iranian diplomats.

An Israeli airstrike launched at the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on Monday has killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, a Lebanese security source has told Reuters.

In 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Zahedi, describing him as playing a key role in Iran’s support of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Reuters is reporting that its journalists at the scene in the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from the rubble of a building that was flattened in the airstrike. Israel has not confirmed its involvement.

“We do not comment on reports in the foreign media,” an Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters when asked about the matter.

One has to appreciate the wisdom of Israel not commenting on this at all; in taking out Zahedi, they determined to let a missile do their talking for them, and that would seem to be sufficient to make their point. Zahedi was not in Syria to play tiddlywinks; the Revolutionary Guard Corps commander was known to be a conduit to funnel Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and acted as a liaison between Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria. He was a guy who manifestly deserved to be removed from the game.

The U.S. Treasury said in 2010 that Zahedi “has also acted as a liaison to Hezbollah and Syrian intelligence services and is reportedly charged with guaranteeing weapons shipments to Hezbollah.”

 

This isn’t the first Iranian commander that Israel has un-alived in recent months.

Israel said in February that it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike carried out in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces had announced at the time that an overnight airstrike targeting a “Hezbollah military structure” in Nabatieh killed Ali Muhammad Aldbas, a senior commander of the Radwan forces. His deputy commander, Ibrahim Issa, and an additional terrorist were killed in the attack, according to the IDF.

It’s important to note that then the U.S. Treasury Department “sanctioned” Zahedi all the way back in 2010, it clearly seems to have had little to no effect on his actions. Israel’s sanction, delivered at several times the speed of sound, would appear to have been much more effective. The Israeli military has time and again proven their skill at making bad terrorists into good terrorists, and since the Oct 7th atrocities, they have picked up the pace.

New gun laws could increase concealed carry permits

Firearms rights advocates said they are expecting an increase of New Mexicans applying for concealed carry permits in response to new gun laws in the state that go into effect May 15.

One of the bills, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law this year, creates a seven-day waiting period for most new gun purchases, with an exception for customers with concealed carry permits. Another bill signed into law prohibits guns a certain distance from polling places when voting is taking place, but there is also an exemption for concealed carry permit holders.

Until the new laws take effect, officials with the New Mexico Firearms Industry said, many customers — despite the loud drumbeat of stories on the legal and political battle over guns during the 2024 Legislature — have no idea what happened and what has changed.

Tom Kaye, of the New Mexico Firearms Industry Association, sees a traffic jam ahead at local gun stores.

“Most people are unaware of this new law,” Kaye wrote in an email. “When they are told that if they had an NM concealed carry license they could take the firearm home the same day, it will generate much more demand for concealed carry classes.”

And that’s already beginning to happen, Kaye said. Although it’s not a tsunami, the increase is noticeable, he said.

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Hawaii Man Victorious in Case involving Suitable Persons’ and Carry Permits

So-called “suitable persons” provisions in permitting laws are verboten per several Supreme Court opinions. When an issuing authority makes a subjective decision through their own thought process rather than through objective and definable criterion, it’s unconstitutional. Back in December I wrote about a guy that was denied a carry permit in Hawaii for allegedly being “not of ‘good moral character’ and/or ‘suitable.’” They other day Mr. Blake Day’s case received a stipulation to dismiss his case with prejudice, since he was eventually issued a Hawaii license to carry.

Mr. Day was denied a license to carry in the County of Hawaii for being “not of ‘good moral character’ and/or ‘suitable.’”

Drawing details from the complaint that was filed on the 6th of December, 2023, Mr. Day’s alleged lack of “good moral character” and suitability arises from what the Hawaii County Chief of Police stated was “due to ‘recent violent conduct.’” The so-called “violent conduct” is in reference to an incident where Mr. Day was forced to defend himself – with non-lethal force – while executing his duties as a contractor for a bank. The conflict resulted in no criminal charges.

The non-lethal force Mr. Day used was “a pepper spray air gun, firing it several times in self-defense,” because he was aggressively approached by a resident of a property that was supposed to be vacant. The resident was “yelling obscenities and ‘what are you doing at my house?’” at Mr. Day. Day stated that the resident “appeared to have something in his right hand and [he] believed it was a weapon.”

The stipulation was filed on March 28, 2024 and is as follows:

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April 1, 2024

April

Middle English April “April,” from early French avrill and Latin APRILIS

The name was given to the month by the ancient Romans. No one knows for certain why the Romans named it as they did. Some Roman authors, and my high school Latin teacher thought that Aprilis was related to the Latin verb aperire meaning “to open” because April “opened” the buds of leaves and flowers, and where we get the medical word ‘aperient’ which means a laxative.

Another theory is that the name was based on Apru, an Etruscan form of the name of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

Police Say Man Was Shot By Homeowner At Wenatchee Residence

Wenatchee Police are investigating a shooting just after midnight Friday morning in the 300 block of South Wenatchee Avenue.

Officers say a 50-year-old man was shot by a homeowner who said the man tried to enter the residence.

Police Sergeant Nathan Hahn says they haven’t determined yet whether a crime was committed.

“Obviously a homeowner has the ability to protect themselves if they feel like they’re in danger or threatened,” said Hahn. “But in this case, we just don’t have enough information to be able to definitively say what exactly happened.”

The man was taken to Confluence Health Hospital Central Campus with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

Police said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

They say it does not appear the homeowner knew the man who is a Wenatchee resident.

No charges have been filed at this time.

The shooting took place at 12:05 am Friday. All four local law enforcement agencies were called to the scene initially – Wenatchee Police, East Wenatchee Police, Chelan County deputies, and Douglas County deputies.