I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective for the abuse of constitutional power.
–Thomas Jefferson, letter to W.C. Jarvis, 1820.

Tennessee lawmakers pass bill allowing use of deadly force to protect property

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill allowing the use of deadly force to protect property in certain situations.

The House voted to approve the measure on April 23, after the Senate passed SB1847 on April 21.

If signed into law by Governor Bill Lee, property owners will be allowed to use deadly force to prevent someone from attempted or actual trespass, arson, damage to property, including damage to livestock, burglary, theft, robbery, or aggravated cruelty to animals.

“At its core, it asks a simple question: ‘Do we trust law-abiding citizens or do we side with the criminals that prey upon them?’” Because right now, under current law, if someone is breaking into your property, if they’re stealing from you, if they’re destroying what you’ve worked your entire life to build, you’re expected to wait. You’re expected to hesitate. You’re expected to second-guess and take a calculated look at defending what’s yours. HB 1802 simply says, ‘If someone is destroying your property, that you can use lethal force to protect it,’” said Rep. Kip Capley (R-Summertown), who sponsored the bill.

Opponents of the bill argue that it opens a dangerous door.

“The reason we were taught you don’t kill people over property is because they’re not putting at risk an innocent human life. What this legislation seems to be doing is lowering that threshold significantly and substantially, and the department is going to have to re-teach in future classes of people who go get their permit, or their lifetime permits, like my wife and I have done, is that you can now kill people over property. And I don’t think that is right,” said Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis).

The measure does not allow the use of deadly force against someone who is facing away from the property owner.

The law goes into effect July 1, 2026, if the governor signs off on it.

Suspicion confirmed……..

Your Morning Coffee Is Reshaping Your Gut. Here’s What Scientists Found.
So fix yourself a cup of brew in the morning and chug it down, knowing it’s changing you for the better.

It’s been a while since scientists began to reach a consensus that whatever’s going on in your gut microbiome is vital, as it plays a major role in both physical and mental well-being. Those billions of microbes are sensitive, constantly shifting in response to diet and lifestyle. Now, a team of researchers says that one of the most common daily habits among billions of people worldwide can radically reshape your gut microbiome: drinking coffee.

A study published in Nature Communications tracked 62 adults through phases of normal coffee use, a forced two-week break, and a controlled reintroduction of either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. The goal was to understand how coffee interacts with the gut-brain axis, the communication network linking digestive microbes and the brain.

They found that habitual drinkers had distinct gut microbiomes compared to nondrinkers, with certain bacterial strains more abundant than others. When the study participants stopped drinking coffee, the patterns began to ebb and flow like ocean tides, with strains that were abundant before now retreating as others that were scarcely found reemerged.

This happened whether the coffee was caffeinated or not. That is a more important detail than it seems on the surface, since many of the changes were tied to the plant compounds in coffee called phenolic acids, which can influence how gut bacteria function and what chemicals they produce. A lot of those chemicals contain compounds that influence or affect the range of bodily functions, from brain signaling and gut health to body inflammation.

Coffee Causes Huge Changes In Your Gut Microbiome

Coffee’s effects show up in the billions of microscopic microbes in your gut, and in your behavior, too. Coffee drinkers were noted to be more impulsive and emotional. Yet after a two-week break, both of those measures dropped. When the coffee was reintroduced, the outcomes started to split.

People drinking caffeinated coffee had reduced anxiety and lower stress hormone levels, which sounds counter to what I would expect. Decaffeinated coffee drinkers also saw some benefit after the break, having shown stronger associations with improved sleep, memory performance, and fewer errors on learning tasks.

Coffee drinkers had a lower baseline of inflammatory markers, which is great. But those levels increased in the absence of coffee, then improved again once the coffee returned, regardless of whether it was caffeinated. If you want to reduce body inflammation, drink coffee in any form.

The point is, coffee doesn’t just wake your sleepy butt up in the morning. It is actively changing the complex biological ecosystem within your body, thus influencing how you think, how you feel, how you react to external stimuli, and, overall, how you function day to day.

So fix yourself a cup of brew in the morning and chug it down, knowing it’s changing you for the better.

Final Rule Drives a Stake Through Anti-Gun Left’s De-Banking Strategy.

The decades long discriminatory tension between the financial sector and the firearm industry underwent a positive shift with a final rule published on April 10 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This landmark effort in a long fought battle, which NRA-ILA has reported on extensively, codifies the removal of “reputation risk” as a basis of adverse action under oversight programs that apply to FDIC-supervised financial institutions.

Ultimately, this final rule eliminates reputation risk as a means of injecting politics into banking regulation by prohibiting examiners from using this subjective assessment to pressure or penalize banks. It also prohibits regulators from pushing banks to close accounts or deny services based on their ill-conceived aversion to the lawful firearms and ammunition industries, which are vital to supporting our constitutional rights.

This rule helps to mitigate unjustified biases against these business sectors left over from the Obama-Biden Administration and importantly helps to prevent future efforts in the same vein. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice, in coordination with regulators such as the FDIC, began pressuring banks to cut ties and services to industries they considered to be “high risk,” which under the anti-gun Obama-Biden administration unsurprisingly included firearm and ammunition-related business.re

The program, billed Operation Choke Point, encouraged broad financial “de-risking” and led to banks freezing or terminating services to lawful businesses based on “reputation risk,” instead of any proven misconduct or illegality. Guidance documents provided to banks at the time specifically listed firearm and ammunition sales as high-risk activity, although they are some of the most highly regulated industries in the country.

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Hunt’s Hardware & Guns celebrates 30 years

Hunt’s Hardware & Guns, in Miller marked their 30th anniversary on Saturday, April 18, celebrating the achievement with a customer appreciation event.

The business, run by David and Carrie Hunt, has served the citizens of Miller and beyond since 1996.

Located at 102 E. Main St., the store was originally established in the early 1980s, but after changing hands for the first time in 1994, the Hunts took the opportunity to purchase the establishment in 1996. The business was struggling at the time, and the Hunts decided that they could make it work.

Evolution with family

Over time, the store evolved, incorporating family into the business. Carrie Hunt’s father, Dennis Cooper, was brought into the fold, bringing with him his gun store that he had built into his home. What was once a modest selection of firearms has grown to cover more than half of the store. Cooper came to work full-time in the store in 1998; he has since retired.

The Hunts brought their children into the fold as well, saying that their three kids grew up in the hardware store.

In 2026, the business is still going strong with people coming from all over the state to shop for firearms, and locals coming to purchase a variety of hardware needs.

To celebrate these customers who have kept them in business for 30 years, the Hunts hosted a customer appreciation event where hot dogs were served and contestants entered to win a variety of prizes.

“It flew. It’s gone by so fast,” said Carrie Hunt. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been 30 years. You do it every day, and before you know it, you wake up one day and it’s been 30 years.”

Dylan Sprouse ‘Tackles’ Trespasser and ‘Holds Him at Gunpoint’ After Wife Barbara Palvin Spotted ‘Creepy Guy’ at $2 Million Property

Actor Dylan Sprouse reportedly tackled an intruder and held him at gunpoint after the man allegedly broke into the $2 million Hollywood Hills property the “Suite Life” star shares with wife Barbara Palvin.

Law enforcement officials received a call from “Victoria’s Secret” model Palvin, 32, at around 12:30 a.m. on April 17, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reports that the fashion star told authorities she had seen a “creepy guy” outside of their Los Angeles home.

Palvin is understood to have reported the incident as a potential robbery.

Although the police have released little information about the circumstances of the arrest, unnamed sources told TMZ that Sprouse, 33, had tackled the trespasser and then held him at gunpoint until the police arrived and took him into custody.

The unnamed suspect is not thought to have entered the couple’s home.

Police told the outlet that the suspect was taken into custody and there were no injuries.

Neither Sprouse nor Palvin has publicly commented on the invasion, which, according to TMZ, is not the first time someone has tried to gain access to the couple’s home.

Law enforcement sources told the outlet that “the situation was more like trespassing than a full-blown attempted burglary.” However, no further details about any potential charges have been shared.

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NSSF Commends Indiana Gov. Mike Braun for Protecting Firearm Retailers, Ranges from Zoning Discrimination

NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, commends Indiana Gov. Mike Braun for signing a law prohibiting local governments from weaponizing zoning regulations to prevent firearm retailers and ranges from operating in areas already approved for commercial use. The NSSF-priority bill, Indiana’s Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 176, was signed by Gov. Braun earlier this year and a ceremonial signing is scheduled for late April. The bill was led by State Sen. Jim Tomes and State Rep. Ben Smaltz.

“The passage of Senate Enrolled Act 176 into law is a vital step to ensuring that law-abiding gun owners have access to safe and state-of-the-art shooting ranges and firearm retail locations,” explained Chris Lee, NSSF’s Director of Government Relations – State Affairs. “This law will safeguard ranges and retailers from antigun agenda-driven weaponization of local zoning authorities. These establishments, which are necessary to the exercise of Second Amendment rights, are too often relegated to back corners of industrial parks and country roads that are inconvenient to access for most consumers, including hunters and law enforcement. NSSF is grateful to the Indiana legislature and Governor Braun for ensuring these ranges and retailers are protected so Hoosiers can safely and lawfully exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

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