Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
– Helen Keller
[The only ‘security’ I’m sure of is proclaimed in scripture]
September 6, 2026
The Supreme Court will hear a pair of challenges to the constitutionality of bans on AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles on Dec. 2. The oral arguments in Viramontes v. Cook County, which has been consolidated with Grant v. Higgins, headline the December argument calendar, which was released on Friday afternoon. Other highlights of the December argument session include cases involving the rights of parents to bring a lawsuit challenging a state law on care for runaway teens and Arizona election laws.
The justices will hear seven separate arguments during the six days of the December argument session, which runs from Monday, Nov. 30, until Wednesday, Dec. 2, and then again from Monday, Dec. 7, until Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Cutberto Viramontes filed the challenge to the ban on semiautomatic rifles in Cook County, Illinois, while gun owners and gun-rights groups challenged a similar law that Connecticut passed in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. In both cases, the lower courts upheld the bans against arguments that they violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms, prompting the challengers to come to the Supreme Court in 2025. After repeatedly considering the cases at their private conferences, the justices finally agreed on June 30 to weigh in.
I fail to see the words “In Common Use” anywhere in the 2nd amendment, but as the Supreme Court was allowed to get away with it in the 1930s Miller case, as they say, “Yet Here We Are™”
40 Million ARs in Private Hands: The Epitome of ‘in Common Use’
I don’t like the idea of a weapon needing to be “in common use” before a government is barred from trying to ban something. This means that a particularly quick legislature might ban some new weapon before it can gain sufficient popularity to be commonly owned, which is troubling on so many levels. While we might not see it in our day and age, the future holds many mysteries, including what weapons technology will look like.
But for now, “in common use” is the standard.
And a new report is bound to dash the hopes of anti-gunners who think they can sell the Supreme Court on the weapons not being that common.
A new survey of nearly 17,000 gun owners has found AR-15 ownership now reaches the 40 million mark, and that women and people of color make up an ever-larger share of buyers.
The 2026 National Firearms Survey, published on Saturday, examined firearm ownership and use across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It determined 25 percent of gun owners report they currently have an AR-15, and an additional 12.9 percent said they own a similar semi-automatic rifle–putting the combined number of owners somewhere around 26.4 million. It also found that more people of color and women are choosing to own guns, a trend that picked up speed during the COVID-19 pandemic and persisted in the years since. Gun ownership among nearly every minority group increased from the last National Firearms Survey fielded in 2021.
“In sum, firearms ownership has continued to grow, and firearms owners are more diverse than ever,” Georgetown Professor William English, who conducted the survey, wrote.
The survey is among the broadest and most comprehensive scientific looks at firearms ownership and use patterns available to date. Its findings on those fronts may help shape the legal and political conversation around firearms. The continued diversification of gun ownership the survey identified may influence how politicians approach gun regulation, and the widespread popularity of AR-15s and other guns commonly targeted by “assault weapons” bans it found could impact how the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of those bans in an upcoming case–especially since the Court’s standard for deciding whether a gun restriction violates the Second Amendment is grounded in whether the gun is in “common use.”
English, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, conducted the first wave of the survey five years ago. He argued his approach, which involves using a polling company to field a large pool of online respondents in order to achieve a representative sample in every state, provided more substantive insight than previous survey-based research on American gun owners.
We’ve talked about another aspect of English’s work recently, namely his findings on defensive gun uses.
And 17,000 is not a small sample size by any stretch of the imagination. However, keep something in mind here.
BREAKING: TATE ADAMIAK PARDONED
President Trump pardoned Patrick “Tate” Adamiak and several others Friday.
Former U.S. Navy sailor Patrick “Tate” Adamiak has been pardoned by President Donald J. Trump—effective immediately. He was one of several people pardoned by President Trump Friday.
Adamiak, who still had 16 years left to serve of his 20-year federal prison sentence, will soon be a free man.
Adamiak said he was “numb headed” after he was released. He was dreaming of eating a burrito.
“I am ecstatic. I can’t believe it. It’s been four years in the making. It feels great. I am grateful that so many people stood behind me and made it happen,” Adamiak said. “I am grateful to President Trump. He gave me a full pardon. It’s all a lot to take in. I might even be able to get back into the military if I choose to.”
He has said he plans to continue his legal fight against the government since he never committed a single crime, and with his felony convictions completely overturned he can now fight as a free man.
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project published more than 60 stories debunking Adamiak’s arrest, conviction and lengthy prison sentence.
“We are thrilled that he is free. He did nothing wrong and broke no law,” said SAF founder and executive vice president Alan M. Gottlieb. “It took a humanitarian like President Trump to rectify a government wrong.”
Adamiak’s defense attorney Calum Welch was thrilled Friday.
“I am very excited for Tate and couldn’t be prouder to have played a small role in his getting home where he deserves to be,” Welch said.
Flawed investigation
Adamiak never sold a single real firearm—not one—even though he sold thousands of dollars per month of military gear and gun parts legally on his former website.
He was one of Gun Broker’s top 500 dealers, until the ATF decided to target him personally and lie under oath about the facts of his case.
Adamiak enlisted in the Navy when he was 17 and eventually became an E-6 Master-at-Arms. He has a bachelor’s degree and was working on a master’s until his arrest. He was on track for an officer’s commission within Naval Special Warfare.
The confidential informant, or CI, that brought Adamiak’s freedom to an end was cooperating with the ATF to work off charges of his own.
While dropping off gear at Adamiak’s home, the CI saw a replica grenade launcher and belt-fed machinegun replicas. He asked Adamiak if he had an SOT (Class 3 FFL). Adamiak told the CI the items were replicas—toys incapable of firing live rounds.
From this point forward, Adamiak said he became the target of a “fishing expedition by the ATF.”
Adamiak did agree to broker the purchase of a PPSh-41-barrel shroud for a client, which does not qualify as a firearm.
“It was literally purchased in open commerce, with a business check, from a confirmed FFL as an unregulated part directly off of Gun Broker,” Adamiak said last year. “Evidently, the ATF must have realized this was the closest thing they could get from me to a firearm, but what they really wanted was to get in my house to see the Mark 19 and the M240 replicas that their CI was boasting about. When applying for their search warrant the ATF told the judge in a criminal complaint that at issue was the PPSh-41-barrel shroud that they said was a machinegun, but that was not even close, legally.”
Show trial
More than 40 federal agents and police officers raided Adamiak’s home and a rental property he owned. Agents came from the ATF, FBI, HIS, NCIS, SWAT, Bomb Squad and local police.
“They turned my house upside-down but did not find a single functional machinegun or destructive device,” Adamiak said last year.
The agents seized about 35 replica firearms and parts from Adamiak’s personal collection and labeled them “suspected machineguns and destructive devices.”
Most worrisome, the agents seized money and silver Adamiak collected as “proceeds of illegal activity,” including his antique currency collection, which was worth thousands of dollars. Eventually, hiring an attorney was difficult for Adamiak because law enforcement took all of his savings.
“It’s my opinion and that of my family’s that the ATF realized they had messed up after they didn’t find a single illegal weapon,” Adamiak said from prison last year. “So, they completely reinterpreted the statutes and implemented a new rule to spin the jury and get me convicted. They manufactured crime to convict me.”
The ATF’s first indictment charged Adamiak with possessing 33 machineguns. There were no destructive devices mentioned. To counter, Adamiak and his attorneys hired former ATF senior official Dan O’Kelly as a defense witness.
O’Kelly joined the ATF as a Special Agent in 1988 after serving 10 years as a sworn police officer. He became a legend within the agency, including a stint as the lead instructor of Firearm Technology on staff at the ATF National Academy. O’Kelly has taught internationally and co-wrote the program establishing the Certified Firearm Specialist for the ATF, while he was at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
The prosecutors knew that O’Kelly would make mincemeat of their charges, so they reindicted Adamiak, charging him with possession of one machinegun and four destructive devices.
“They knew we’d make them look like fools at trial with Dan’s testimony, so the AUSA filed motions to block his expert testimony saying, ‘Any testimony about the definition of a frame or receiver of a machinegun would be both irrelevant and confusing to the jury.’” Adamiak explained last year.
His trial became “literally theatrical.”
“The AUSA absolutely twisted every fact, cherry-picked messages to completely change the whole narrative, and blatantly lied about everything to make me look bad,” Adamiak has said.
- 1. She claimed the down payment for Adamiak’s house were profits of illegal gun trafficking. Adamiak bought his house a year before he started his hobby business using his Navy pay.
- 2. She claimed Gun broker was the dark web.
- 3. She used his military training against him.
- 4. She claimed he stole parts from the military, despite the fact that he had detailed records for every single part.
- 5. She claimed his honest business strategy of buying low and selling for profit was “greed.”
- 6. She attempted to make Adamiak look like a neo-Nazi because he had his grandfather’s WWII war trophies stored in his safe, some of which had German markings on them.
Throughout the trial, the ATF’s attorneys showed jurors pictures of Adamiak’s extensive personal collection, including random parts, barrel shrouds and MAC-10 flats.
“They told the jury these were all machineguns,” Adamiak said in a previous interview. “The worst was the M240. They displayed a photo of the ATF case agent holding the belt-fed M240 replica and testified that it was a machinegun, and also made filings saying the same thing, despite the fact that the ATF’s own report says it’s a replica and not a firearm at all.”
Rather than winning the trial as his attorneys had claimed they would do, Adamiak was found guilty and sentenced to 20-years imprisonment.
A Lieutenant, lost on land navigation?
Geez, I had one once get lost on a night vehicle march
(That’s a ‘Convoy’ for the folks out there who weren’t in the service).
Knowing danger can occur anywhere, at any time, puts you ahead of most people. This doesn’t mean you’re paranoid. It simply means you’re aware — and take precautions. – Tiger McKee.
Just to reiterate:
You don’t get to pick the day you need your gun. Someone else will pick that day, and they will only tell you at the last minute. -Tom Givens
And to put a sharp point to it:
Matt Graham Combat Killhouse rules:
1. NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU.
2. EVERYTHING IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
3. SAVE WHO NEEDS TO BE SAVED.
4. KILL WHO NEEDS TO BE KILLED.
5. ALWAYS BE WORKING.
September 5, 2026
New amicus brief filed by Second Amendment Law Center, written by Stephen Halbrook.
“The AR-15 falls within the historical tradition of the right to effective arms for defense of self and state and other lawful purposes. The English freeman had a right and duty to be armed.
From colonial times to the Revolution and beyond, effective arms were critical to the Americans. In reaction to arms confiscation by the British, the colonists asserted their right to keep and use their militia arms in defense of liberty.
The Second Amendment was understood to guarantee a robust concept of the “Arms” that the people have a right to keep and bear.”
No charges in self-defense shooting
Home intruder died after confrontation with resident
VENICE — No charges will be filed against the victim of a home invasion who shot an intruder who died a short time later.
A Venice man who forced his way into a unit at the Maren Apartments & Townhomes community on July 1 was shot and killed by the resident. The State Attorney’s Office determined the use of force was justified and isn’t bringing charges.
Aaron Bean’s use of deadly force was justified under Florida law, the State Attorney’s Office determined, according to a news release from the city of Venice.
Murphy got access to the complex by scaling a perimeter wall, police said at the time, and there had been prior conflicts between the men.
Once in the apartment, Murphy repeatedly shoved and struck Bean while holding one hand behind his back as if he were armed, the release states.
The confrontation continued into a bedroom, where Bean retrieved a firearm and fired three times.
After being shot, Murphy fled the apartment, went down two floors in the building and entered an apartment that had been inadvertently left unlocked, where he collapsed, officials said at the time.
Both Bean and the occupant of the second apartment called 911.
“Bean immediately reported the shooting, cooperated fully with investigators and voluntarily provided footage from a security camera inside his apartment,” the release stated. “Investigators reviewed digital evidence that corroborated testimony provided by Bean.”
Bean had no duty to retreat within his own home and reasonably believed that force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, so the State Attorney determined not to prosecute the case, it states.
“Our detectives carried out their duty to conduct a thorough, impartial investigation, allowing the State Attorney’s Office to reach a determination based on the complete evidence and applicable law,” Venice Police Capt. Eric Hill said in the release. “While this decision closes the criminal investigation, we recognize the gravity of the incident and the loss of life involved.”
“Of course, I deprecate war, but if it is brought to my door, the bringer will find me home”
– James A. Garfield.
September 4, 2026
Police: “were familiar with who this individual was.” ?
Maybe because:
Neighbors Warned Police That Minnesota Mass Shooter Repeatedly Threatened Violence.
Two Dead, Plus Gunman, Multiple People Injured in Minneapolis Shooting
I won’t call this a mass shooting, even if the media is, but it’s still a horrific enough scene in Minneapolis this morning. Two people are dead, and six others were injured, including three police officers, in an incident that had the police showing up to something that was probably a combination of a TV cop show scene and something out of their professional nightmares.
It also appears that, thankfully, the gunman was also killed.
Officers confronted a barrage of gunfire, their vision clouded by a haze, as they responded to a shooting at a Minneapolis apartment building Wednesday that left at least two people dead and injured multiple others, officials said.
Police exchanged gunfire with the shooter as they rushed to rescue victims and bring them to safety, Minneapolis Police Interim Chief Bill Peterson said. Three officers were injured, two of them by gunshots.
The shooter, who officials have not yet named, was also confirmed dead, officials said. Peterson said police “were familiar with who this individual was.”
The mass shooting forced residents to flee the halls and hide in apartments as the chaotic scene unfolded.
What appears to be dozens of officers poured into the apartment building in response to the shooting, video obtained by CNN affiliate WCCO shows. Officers armed with long guns can later be seen keeping watch outside as several people are wheeled out from the building on stretchers. The area was surrounded by police cruisers, armored vehicles and ambulances.
“But for their heroic work, the death toll would have been far higher,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference Wednesday night.
One person died at the scene and another died at a hospital, Minneapolis city officials said. Another three civilians were shot and are being treated at a hospital.
Third Circuit Upholds Machine Gun Ban, Creates Bruen Loophole for Gun Registration
The Third Circuit ruled that machine guns are protected “Arms,” then upheld the federal ban anyway. Its treatment of suppressor registration may be even more dangerous for gun owners.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed the federal government two victories Monday, upholding Joseph Paul Berger’s convictions for possessing machine guns and unregistered suppressors.
The machine gun ruling in United States v. Berger is bad enough. The court acknowledged that machine guns fall within the Second Amendment’s plain text, only to uphold the federal ban by declaring them unsuitable for lawful civilian use.
The court’s suppressor analysis could reach much further. A two-judge majority held that registration requirements judges consider “minimal” do not infringe the Second Amendment at all. Under that reasoning, the government can escape the historical test required by N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen merely by convincing a court that its registration scheme is not burdensome enough to count.
