Category: Business

Observation O’ The Day
After what we’ve seen of the government’s hidden hand in social media censorship, I’m not accepting that the banks are ‘taking the lead” rather than being used as fronts
–Sarah Hoyt

Banks Take the Lead in Establishing Personal Social Credit System, Critics Charge.

UK ministers step in to stop banks from canceling customers for their political views

Large money-center banks appear to be in the vanguard of a movement to build a system of personal social credit scores.
This week, British bank Barclays became the latest to be accused of shutting the accounts of its customers for political or religious reasons. This followed revelations in April that Coutts, a private bank owned by British Bank NatWest, was alleged to have closed the accounts and publicized personal information of conservative politician Nigel Farage, one of the foremost Brexit advocates and a supporter of the policies of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

And British banks are not alone. Many say that America’s largest banks are in lockstep with UK banks in establishing political and social criteria for their customers, and punishing those who don’t comply.

“Sadly, what we’re seeing now with NatWest and Barclays isn’t surprising,” Justin Haskins, director at the Heartland Institute, told The Epoch Times. “There is a mountain of evidence that shows many of America’s largest and most powerful banks are discriminating against customers because of their ideological, social, cultural, religious, or political views.”

“Through various environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and frameworks, banks regularly choose to screen out customers who are deemed ‘reputational risks’ or considered part of industries disfavored by elites and their powerful institutions,” Mr. Haskins said.

Continue reading “”

Justice Alito Grants Temporary Stay for ATF’s “Ghost Gun” Rule

U.S.A. — On July 27, 2023, the Attorney General of the Biden Administration, Merrick B. Garland, applied for a stay to Justice Alito at the Supreme Court in the case of VanDerStok v. Garland. The request for an emergency stay had been refused by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on July 24, 2023, as reported on AmmoLand.  One of the possibilities mentioned was the Biden administration would appeal directly to the Supreme Court. The possibility of a request for an en banc decision existed but was unlikely because the Fifth Circuit has been following the Supreme Court guidance in the Bruen decision for enforcing Second Amendment rights and because an en banc panel would not have been emplaced for a period of time.

The district court’s universal vacatur is irreparably harming the public and the government by reopening the floodgates to the tide of untraceable ghost guns flowing into our Nation’s communities.

You are correct if this sounds like the familiar song and dance put forward by dictators and authoritarians worldwide.

Update: Justice Alito grants administrative stay for a week. Responses are due on August 2, 2023.

Alito Grants Temporary Stay for ATF’s “Ghost Gun” Rule by AmmoLand Shooting Sports News on Scribd

Continue reading “”

Fifth Circuit Upholds District Court Decision Against ATF Partial Frame Rule

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court decision against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) “partially complete” pistol frame rule.

Breitbart News reported that the ATF used its pistol frame rule to redefine “partially complete pistol frames” as “firearms.” This allowed the ATF to require background checks for certain gun parts kits by claiming said parts could be used to build guns.

On July 2, 2023, Breitbart News reported that Judge Reed O’Connor in the United States District Court Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division decided against the ATF’s rule in a suit brought by Jennifer VanDerStok, the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and others.

O’Connor stressed that the redefinition of gun parts is actually up to Congress rather than a federal agency. Moreover, O’Connor noted, “Because Congress did not define ‘frame or receiver,’ the words receive their ordinary meaning.”

He also pointed out that “weapons parts are not weapons.” He then vacated the ATF final rule.

The federal government appealed the ruling, and on July 24, 2023, the Fifth Circuit upheld the decision to vacate. The appeal was heard by Ronald Reagan-appointee Jerry Edwin Smith, George W. Bush-appointee Leslie H. Southwick, and Donald Trump-appointee Cory T. Wilson.

According to the Fifth Circuit:

Because the ATF has not demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits, nor irreparable harm in the absence of a stay, we DENY the government’s request to stay the vacatur of the two challenged portions of the Rule. ‘[V]acatur …reestablish[es] the status quo ante’…which is the world before the Rule became effective. This effectively maintains, pending appeal, the status quo that existed for 54 years from 1968 to 2022.

The lawsuit is VanDerStok v. Garland, No. 23-10718, in the United State Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Mexico’s Gun Manufacturer Argument Probed by First Circuit

The First Circuit appeared open to Mexico’s argument Monday that gunmakers knowingly manufacture and sell weapons that can be easily modified south of the border by criminal cartels for automatic fire, but were skeptical manufacturers could be held liable.

Mexico alleges that firearm giants, including Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. and Glock Inc., unlawfully design their weapons to attract cartels, exacerbating gun violence in the country. Its novel lawsuit argues that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which protects gunmakers from an array of lawsuits, shouldn’t apply for claims rooted in foreign law.

If the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit sides with Mexico, it could open the door to more litigation from other countries against American gunmakers.

However, judges were skeptical that gunmakers should be held liable for weapons that were later modified abroad. Rather than focusing on Mexico’s broader argument about the legal shield, the judges bored in on the question of whether an exception for knowing violations of state or federal laws is applicable here.

That exception would give Mexico an avenue to pursue its claims even if the court finds federal immunity law applies.

“If you violate federal gun laws you do not get protected” by the liability shield, said Jonathan Lowy, president of Global Action on Gun Violence, who represents Mexico.

Judge William Kayatta asked Lowy, “what then is the cause of action that would involve the manufacturer knowingly violating” the law. Lowy responded that the cause of action is the manufacturers allegedly aiding and abetting unlicensed weapons, as well as allegedly designing semi-automatic weapons that can be easily modified to shoot automatically.

“If it was not originally designed as a machine gun, it’s not a machine gun,” said Noel Francisco, a partner at Jones Day representing the manufacturers. Francisco served as US Solicitor General in the Trump administration.

Embracing Mexico’s view of convertible semi-automatic weapons would make the federal government “derelict in its duty” to regulate machine guns in the US, Francisco said.

The manufacturers argue that Mexico hasn’t adequately alleged any violation of federal or state law, and that the “chain of causation” from the manufactures to the injury Mexico seeks relief for is too long to show proximate cause, since the guns are ultimately distributed by retailers that are not named defendants in the lawsuit.

Kayatta suggested that Mexico’s complaint did allege violations of US law.

Judge Gustavo Gelpí also asked both sides whether the lawsuit implicated the Second Amendment.

“You’re talking about a lawsuit that has potentially crippling effects on the ability of an individual firearms owner to obtain firearms,” Francisco answered, arguing that a win for Mexico could allow other countries to govern US firearm policy.

“I don’t think any court has held that there is some Second Amendment right to negligently or illegally hold and make guns,” Lowy said.

Bass Pro’s background check policy raises questions
The corporate giant is more stringent than the ATF.

Cecil Trimble, a 35-year-old restaurant manager, took a fishing reel to Bass Pro Shop’s Tampa store last week to be respooled with new line. As he was waiting, he wandered over to the gun department and immediately spotted the object of his recent desire.

Trimble had been searching for a Sig P365 X Macro for weeks. The problem was, so had everybody else. Bass Pro wanted around $800 for the 9mm. Trimble didn’t hesitate. He told the salesperson he wanted it, completed a Form 4473 and handed over his Florida Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, which exempts him from a waiting period. Trimble had purchased numerous firearms from Bass Pro Shop in the past, so he expected to walk out of the store with his new pistol in minutes.

“The clerk came over and told me, ‘The ATF has approved you, but we’re denying the purchase,’” Trimble told the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project earlier this week.

Astonished, Trimble demanded to know what was going on. The salesperson said Trimble’s brother-in-law had tried to buy a firearm at the store a month ago but self-denied on the 4473 most likely because he misread a question. Unfortunately, Trimble’s brother-in-law, who had lived with him several years ago, moved out but never changed the address on his driver’s license.

“I asked the clerk how this had anything to do with me, and he said it was Bass Pro’s policy not to sell any firearms to anyone living at the same address as someone who has been denied,” Trimble said. “He hasn’t lived there for three or four years. I get the straw purchase thing, but he tried to buy a $200 revolver and I was trying to buy an $800 9mm.”

“The firearms manager agreed with me but could not get the GM of compliance on the phone to talk this out,” Trimble said. “As it stands now, I or anyone living at my address are barred from buying firearms from Bass Pro ever again.”

Trimble pointed out his brother-in-law is retired military, a Florida CWFL holder and not a prohibited person. He must have misread a question on the Form 4473, Trimble said. The staff wouldn’t relent.

“My main gripe is this: what if I moved into an apartment and the previous tenant was denied. According to Bass Pro, I couldn’t disprove it’s not a straw purchase, and I can never buy a gun from them again,” Trimble said.

Bass Pro’s response

Neither Bass Pro Shop’s corporate communications staff nor Jarron Ritchie, general manager of the Tampa facility, responded to multiple calls or emails seeking their comments for this story.

Calls to Bass Pro’s firearm compliance directors were referred to their corporate communications staff, who did not respond.

Multiple calls to the Tampa store’s gun department finally produced a brief interview with “Joe,” who said he was one of the store’s managers. Joe did not provide his last name.

At first, he tried to blame the ATF, but he later admitted, “We do keep a data log on this.” However, he would not discuss or disclose their corporate background check policy.

“Again, sir, we are talking about things that I at the store level am not allowed to go into,” Joe said.

Takeaways

It’s important to keep in mind that a gun dealer can refuse to transfer a firearm to anyone for any reason. In fact, they don’t need a reason to refuse a sale.

Also, the Biden-Harris administration has declared war on gun dealers. Federal Firearm License revocations have increased more than 500% since Biden took office. If the ATF was able to revoke the FFL of a big-box gun store like Bass Pro, the results would be cataclysmic for the store and its customers. Therefore, it is easy to understand why the sporting goods chain would want to be very careful when transferring firearms.

Still, Bass Pro’s straw purchase fears do not make much sense in this case. Straw purchases usually happen within 72 hours of a denial — not a month later — and nearly all of them involve the same gun — not a $200 revolver and then an $800 9mm.

Trimble was able to find and purchase a P365 from a local gun store the next day. The whole ordeal reminded him of another corporate mishap.

“Remember when Dick’s became anti-gun? This could be a slippery slope like Dick’s went through,” Trimble said. “They’re not preventing straw purchases. I answered that question on a federal form, which should be good enough. Bass Pro told me I’d get a call back from them the next day. I’m still waiting for that call.”

Legally, Bass Pro can concoct whatever policies they want, but they also should be willing to explain them when asked by the public. Even at the height of their lunacy, Dick’s still managed to do that.

New Jersey’s new “smart gun” reliability standards are missing something vitally important

New Jersey is one very small step closer to implementing it’s latest “smart gun” law, which requires gun stores to carry at least one such firearm for sale once its been approved by the state’s Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission.

This week acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced a “major milestone” had been reached, with the commission finally releasing the performance standards and qualifying criteria that all potential “smart guns” must meet before being sold in the state; an incredible four years after the commission was formed with the intent of hurrying the law into effect.

The committee didn’t even start meeting until 2022, but after months of deliberation the panel has at long last made its decision, and it’s clear why it took so many months to come to their conclusion.

Under the new criteria, manufacturers seeking to be added to the state’s personalized handgun roster must demonstrate the handguns have reliable personalization technology, features to avoid accidental discharge or damage and comply with state and federal law, the AG’s office said.

I wish I were kidding, but this is what apparently took months and multiple meetings to come up with: a smart gun must be reliable, safe, and compliant with state and federal law before it can be sold in New Jersey. What makes this even more laughable is the exuberant press release issued by Platkin’s office celebrating this nothingburger.

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced today that the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission (PHAC) has taken a major step forward by defining the features of smart guns to be made available for sale in New Jersey.

PHAC’s members have now established that manufacturers seeking to be added to the State’s personalized handgun roster must demonstrate the handguns have reliable personalization technology, features to avoid accidental discharge or damage, and comply with state and federal law.

The establishment of these performance standards and qualifying criteria is a milestone in New Jersey’s first-in-the-nation efforts to improve public safety by encouraging the development and rollout of safer firearms that prevent unauthorized users from being able to discharge a firearm. PHAC will next design protocols for testing proposed personalized handguns, create a formal application process, and prepare to review applications.

“Too many times gun violence is the result of an individual gaining access to someone else’s gun. These can be criminals, or people in crisis, or young children who do not understand that they are not playing with a toy. We know the effects of these repeated tragedies far too painfully in New Jersey and they must end,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The actions that we announce today are the result of extensive conversations among the commissioners and are another important step in New Jersey’s comprehensive efforts to make New Jersey a leader in gun safety.

I applaud the work of the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission for developing and uniting behind a thoughtful set of standards that moves our important work forward and that will save lives.”

… “The Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission has established specific and clear standards and qualifying criteria that are worthy of its mandate,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Ershow, who serves as Chair of the PHAC as the Attorney General’s designee. “This was a team effort that benefited from the diverse expertise and input of the commission members and will allow us to take the next steps to implement the laws that have been passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor.”

A major milestone! Clear and specific standards like “it has to be reliable.” I wonder how many meetings it took before they figured that one out?

I can’t help but notice, however, that nowhere in his press release does Platkin actually detail the test that will be used to determine reliability, which seems like an awfully important thing to leave out. How many rounds will be fired in testing the reliability of any potential “smart gun” before it comes to market? What is an acceptable failure rate according to the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission? To that end, what are the specific features to avoid accidental discharges that must be a part of any “smart gun” offered for sale?

Amazingly, the PHAC has approved a set of standards that examine only the reliability of the firearm in not discharging a round, completely neglecting to test for the reliability of the gun going bang when you need it to fire in self-defense.

Here’s the pertinent text of the resolution approved by the PHAC at its June 23rd meeting.

The Commission has reviewed American National Standard “SAAMI Z299.5 – 2016 – Voluntary Industry Performance Standards Criteria for Evaluation of New Firearms Designs Under Conditions of Abusive Mishandling for the Use of Commercial Manufacturers,” and at this time has identified no other apparent “reliability standards generally used in the industry for other commercially available handguns;” and,

The Commission held public meetings on May 12, 2023 and June 9, 2023 in which it discussed and deliberated on the below performance standards and qualifying criteria, The Commission hereby establishes the following performance standards and qualifying criteria which a personalized handgun shall meet in order to be placed on the personalized handgun roster:

1. The handgun shall be reasonably resistant to being fired by anyone other than the handgun’s authorized user as defined in N.J.S. 2C:39-1.

2. The personalized technology shall be incorporated into the design of the personalized handgun and shall be a permanent, irremovable part of the handgun and any device or object necessary for the authorized user to fire the handgun.

3. The personalized handgun shall not be manufactured so as to permit the personalized characteristics of the handgun to be readily deactivated.

4. The handgun shall not discharge in response to abuse or mishandling of the handgun.

5. The handgun shall not physically deform or deteriorate as a result of firing rounds.

Most of those enumerated recommendations are simply quotes from the smart gun legislation itself, and the commission decided to simply adopt the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures Institute’s “voluntary industry performance criteria” as its own; literally cribbing from the very gun industry that Platkin and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy demonize on a regular basis. And none of the criteria listed in the SAAMI report have anything to do with the major concern when it comes to “smart guns”; a lack of pew pew when the trigger is pulled.

I guess I understand now why Platkin’s press release was so short on details. The more you dig in to what the commission came up, the more laughable it is. It’d be pretty embarrassing to tout the fact that the new reliability standards for smart guns won’t even test how reliable these smart gun features are when seconds count and lives are on the line. Much better, at least from Platkin’s perspective, to keep quiet on the details since they show that after more than a year of meetings the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission, of which Platkin is a member, has done nothing but beclown itself and the state’s “smart gun” law.

New Jersey takes steps to mandate sales of ‘smart’ guns

(The Center Square) — New Jersey is moving to implement a controversial two-decades-old law requiring the sale of so-called “smart” guns in the state.

On Thursday, the state Attorney General’s office announced that the Personalized Handgun Authorization Commission has approved “performance standards and qualifying criteria” for personalized handguns to be sold in the state, which officials described as a key step to implementing the long-delayed law.

Under the new criteria, manufacturers seeking to be added to the state’s personalized handgun roster must demonstrate the handguns have reliable personalization technology, features to avoid accidental discharge or damage and comply with state and federal law, the AG’s office said.

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin called the move a “major milestone” by defining the features of “smart” guns to be made available for sale in New Jersey.

“Too many times gun violence is the result of an individual gaining access to someone else’s gun,” he said in a statement. “These can be criminals, or people in crisis, or young children who do not understand that they are not playing with a toy. We know the effects of these repeated tragedies far too painfully in New Jersey and they must end.”

In 2002, New Jersey passed the so-called “smart gun” law, which required gun retailers to sell personalized weapons within 30 months of their emergence on the market.

But implementation of the law has been delayed for more than two decades amid wrangling over the regulations and a lack of guidelines for the state’s personalized handgun roster.

Meanwhile, the law has been criticized by gunmakers and Second Amendment advocates, who say it has stifled innovation and full-scale development of new technology.

“Gun control supporters advocate laws to prohibit the sale of firearms that do not possess “smart” technology, as a way to prohibit the manufacture of traditional handguns, raise the price of handguns that would be allowed to be sold and, presumably, to imbed into handguns a device that would allow guns to be disabled remotely,” the National Rifle Association said in a recent blog post.

Platkin said adopting the new criteria will allow the program to move to the next stage, which will involve designing protocols for testing proposed personalized handguns, creating a formal application process, and preparing to accept applications from gun makers.

New Jersey already has some of the nation’s toughest gun control laws, and Democrats who control the state Legislature have been pushing for even tighter restrictions.

A law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last year seeks to prevent licensed firearm owners from carrying guns in at least 25 “sensitive places” like government buildings, libraries, public transportation and daycare centers.

The measure was approved in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the N.Y. State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which struck down a New York law requiring applicants to show “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a firearm.

Gun owners’ groups filed a lawsuit to block the changes and convinced a U.S. District Court judge to block provisions of the law limiting firearms in sensitive public places.

But a federal appeals court restored most of New Jersey’s new gun control laws while the legal challenge plays out.

I’ll just call it pro-criminal goobermint corruption

Delaware DOJ targets victim of ammo theft, while cutting the perp a break

A 39-year-old felon in Delaware who admitted to stealing more than a half-million rounds of ammunition over the course of a year and selling the pilfered rounds to gang members in Philadelphia and Dover will likely avoid prison time thanks to a sweetheart deal offered by the state, but the retailer who was the victim of the shoplifter is now in the legal crosshairs of the Delaware Department of Justice.

Danielle M. Brookens entered a guilty plea in state court back in April to one count of possession of ammunition by a person prohibited, and in exchange was handed down an awfully light sentence: report to a drug diversion program. Under Delaware law, Brookens could have received as much as eight years in prison, and if her case had been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for federal prosecution she could have been looking at a decade behind bars.

Instead, Brookens will get to avoid prison altogether once a judge signs off on the plea deal, and the Delaware Department of Justice has turned its attention on Cabela’s, the store where Brookens received her five-fingered discount.

The state Department of Justice is demanding to see Cabela’s records, specifically its loss prevention policies. The DOJ also wants to see the records of other Cabela’s and its sister store, Bass Pro Shop, within 100 miles of the Christiana Mall location — this would include at least two in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey and another in Maryland.

The DOJ came out publicly last month saying it is investigating if Cabela’s violated state laws, including Delaware’s firearms industry public nuisance law, through its hands-off approach to the shoplifting of ammunition from its Christiana location.

“Businesses need to be responsible members of our community; that includes gun dealers taking reasonable steps to prevent gun violence,” Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said after announcing her department’s investigation. “Unfortunately, Cabela’s casual storage, and their stonewalling of this investigation, tell us that they still aren’t taking that responsibility seriously.”

Cabela’s has not responded to a request for comment, but in court filings its parent company, the Great American Outdoors Group, objected to the subpoena, calling it “overbroad” and saying the summons seeks documents containing trade secrets, confidential business or other proprietary information.

The group also objected to the DOJ’s refusal to postpone the subpoena’s already-passed March 17 return date pending a decision on the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s federal lawsuit against Jennings that challenges the constitutionality of a public nuisance law.

The Foundation’s lawsuit claims the public nuisance law “is breathtaking in its scope” as it imposes sweeping liability for any firearms marketing that could later be thought to “contribute to a public nuisance” in Delaware.

Basically, the Delaware DOJ is alleging that Cabela’s should have kept its ammunition under lock and key and inaccessible to customers, and created a public nuisance by failing to do so. Now the agency is going on a fishing expedition to comb through all kinds of documents in the hopes of shutting down the store, or at the very least subjecting them to punitive fines. As you can imagine, that’s not sitting well with some 2A advocates in the state.

We’ve been pretty vocal advocates for the enforcement of the laws on the books,” said Erin Chronister, cofounder and president of Women’s Defense Coalition of Delaware. “The criminals who just keep offending are getting plea deal after plea deal.”

This in turn leaves lawful citizens having to accept when lawmakers pass more gun control laws that make it harder for say, a woman fleeing violence, to purchase a weapon, Chronister said.

“I don’t understand why those who are committing the crimes are continuously getting deals and the lawful citizens who just want them for protection or hunting or sporting are just basically being told suck it up,” she said. “We’re being equated with vigilantes of the wild, wild west because we want tools for self-defense.”

In response to questions about Brookens receiving a light deal, a DOJ spokesperson said the defendant pleaded guilty to the highest-level offense she faced.

“She was cooperative and the state recognized her readiness to take responsibility, as well as other mitigating factors, in our sentencing recommendation,” said Mat Marshall, a DOJ spokesperson.

Cooperative or not, Brookens herself claims to have stolen a half-million rounds of ammunition over the course of a year and then selling the rounds to criminals in at least two different cities. This isn’t Brookens first run-in with the law either. Back in 2012 she was convicted of two felonies for stealing and selling prescription pills in Elkton, Maryland, and she’s also currently facing charges related to theft of ammunition from a Bass Pro Shops near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in March of last year, though according to the Delaware Journal she’s scheduled for another plea hearing in that case in August. Will Pennsylvania prosecutors go just as easy on Brookens as their Delaware counterparts? It wouldn’t surprise me a bit, but I guess we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to see what kind of deal is on the table.

Having ammo available for customers to pick up and purchase shouldn’t be a criminal or even a civil offense, while stealing ammunition is definitely a crime, but the Delaware Department of Justice has made it clear where its priorities are: cracking down on the retailer that was the victim of Brookens’ criminal actions, while excusing those actions away and offering her a slap on the wrist for what, by her own admission, are serious crimes that helped to fuel the violence in both Philadelphia and Dover.

Second Amendment group files lawsuit against ATF over ‘zero tolerance’ policy for closing gun stores

FIRST ON FOX: A Second Amendment advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) over the agency’s “zero tolerance” policy to shut down gun stores.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed a suit against the ATF on Tuesday over the agency’s rigid inspection guidelines for federal firearms licensees (FFLs) from January 2022 that makes it easier to revoke a gun store’s federal license.

“This zero tolerance policy towards lawful commerce guaranteed by the Second Amendment is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing federal agencies against their political enemies,” GOA senior vice president Erich Pratt told Fox News Digital.

Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) board member Sam Paredes told Fox News Digital it’s “ridiculous that good people trying to make an honest living are facing this assault on their livelihoods simply over inconsequential paperwork errors.”

“GOF is proud to be lending our support in defense of Bridge City Ordnance and all of those small businesses facing devastating consequences if this Administration’s hostility towards firearms is permitted to go unchecked,” Paredes said.

On Tuesday, the GOA filed the lawsuit Morehouse Enterprises v. ATF (II), following the first lawsuit filed by North Dakota gun store Morehouse Enterprises and backed by the Second Amendment advocacy group over the Biden administration’s frame and receiver rule, also known as the ghost gun rule.

Continue reading “”

Remember The Journal News’ online interactive map of gun owners? Everytown just pulled a similar stunt.

Journalism is supposed to inform, not inflame, the public. But that old standard has been functionally dead for a long, long time. And that’s especially true when it comes to reporting on guns and the Second Amendment.

It’s been more than a decade, but I still remember like it was yesterday: in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, a newspaper decided to take it upon itself to exact revenge on average lawful gun owners in New York, specifically in Westchester and Rockland counties, based on the theory that lawful New Yorkers with government-granted pistol permits were somehow responsible for what happened in Newtown, Connecticut.

The newspaper in question was The Journal News. They published an online, interactive map containing the names and home addresses of all pistol permit holders licensed in Westchester and Rockland counties. They were totally reckless in doing so and showed complete disregard for the privacy and safety of those citizens. The paper’s publisher openly admitted that she did so because of what happened in Newtown:

“One of our roles is to report publicly available information on timely issues, even when unpopular. We knew publication of the database (as well as the accompanying article providing context) would be controversial, but we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings,” she said.

New York pistol permits record the handguns owned by a permit holder, including the serial numbers of guns. The newspaper also tried to publish those but was rebuffed by the County Clerks because releasing that information would have been illegal.

“We were surprised when we weren’t able to obtain information on what kinds and how many weapons people in our market own,” the newspaper said in a statement.

The Journal News even published the names and home addresses of victims of domestic violence and rape survivors. Such was their pigheaded anger at their fellow citizens for daring to exercise their constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

The pistol permit database was public data. Is it prudent though to make an interactive map and broadcast it out to the whole world? The Federal Election Commission’s individual contributor data is also public. But is it ethical to create an interactive map using Trump donors’ home addresses as happened during the 2020 election cycle?

Ideological warriors don’t care about ethics, and that’s especially true of gun controllers. And if you think past public outrage would teach them to pause and introspect before acting, you would be wrong. Last week, Everytown pulled essentially the same stunt as The Journal News. In a typical hyperbolic and deceptive “report,” Everytown Research included an interactive map of all Federal Firearms Licensees in the country. How reckless is that interactive map? Everytown indicates that in its own report:

Over half of all gun dealers are located in residential communities […]. Residential license holders, some in private homes, do not need to notify neighbors or place signage indicating that they can sell or manufacture guns in their homes.

So Everytown knows very well that they are publishing private home addresses in their interactive map. And what else do they know about these FFLs?

There are roughly five incidents per day where firearms go missing from gun dealers through robbery, burglary, larceny, or other loss. Too often these guns are diverted to the illegal market.

So, they know that guns are stolen from gun dealers, that those stolen guns are diverted to the illegal market, that a lot of FFLs are ordinary people doing business out of their homes, and yet they created an interactive map.

It’s obvious that Everytown’s goal is intimidation and harassment. In the style of Saul Alinsky, they’re picking the target, freezing it, personalizing it, and polarizing it.

Everytown’s behavior is directly comparable to that of The Journal News.

The Journal News let their interactive map stay online for almost a month. As we all know, the Internet is Forever. That data was saved, replicated, and disseminated far and wide. There is a strong indication that The Journal News’ interactive map may have been used to target a gun owner for burglary. Will Everytown’s antics lead to similar burglaries?

In response to The Journal News’ drive-by journalism, the State of New York in its classic effete style, passed a law to let permit holders opt-out of public information disclosures, instead of a default privacy standard with opt-in for those who dare playing fast and loose with unethical journalists.

Other states have gone in a stronger direction and simply nuked carry permits. The very existence of a permit database makes it ripe for accidental disclosure, governmental abuse, theft and unlawful disclosure by hacktivists.

The response to Everytown’s thuggery should be a long-term goal to destroy the FFL regime in its entirety, as more than half the country has done with carry permits. It’s easier said than done, but as long as the FFL regime exists, abuses like this are inevitable.

BLUF
Zero tolerance doesn’t apply to stopping criminals. The Biden administration reserves that focus for the firearm industry.

ATF’S ‘ZERO-TOLERANCE’ UNRELENTING AND REVEALING

Don’t believe for a minute that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) ‘zero-tolerance’ policy isn’t real or some “right-wing conspiracy.” The first nine-months of statistics are in and the Biden administration is doing exactly what it said it would. President Joe Biden and his White House advisors are using the ATF as a blunt instrument to hobble the firearm industry.

So far in 2023, ATF has conducted 6,609 inspections of Federal Firearms Licensees – starting on Oct. 1, which is when the federal government’s fiscal calendar begins. That’s closing in on 2022’s annual total of 7,502 for the entire year. ATF inspectors are conducting an average of 647.33 inspections across the nation per month, topping 2022’s monthly average of 587.66.

At this pace, ATF is expected to complete 8,902 inspections before the end of its fiscal year. That’s a blistering pace. There are more sobering figures though.

Warning Conferences, or results of an inspection that warrant a meeting with ATF’s Industry Operations Inspectors, are at 111 for the first nine months. There were 136 for the entirety of FY 2022. Revocations of federal firearms licenses are already at 122. They were just 92 for all of FY 2022.

In fiscal year 2020 (ending on Sept. 30), the year President Biden was elected, there were 5,823 ATF inspections of FFL holders. That year, there were just 40 license revocations alone, with 96 FFL holders that went out of business or surrendered their licenses. The ATF inspections in FY 2020 resulted in 306 warning conferences and another 804 warning letters. Warning letters were routinely issued for minor clerical errors in record keeping, like misspelled names, dates recorded incorrectly or other administrative errors.

Continue reading “”

Not all enemies of the rights of the people are in goobermint.

BLACKROCK CEO THINKING TWICE ON DISCRIMINATORY ‘ESG’ STRATEGY? HARDLY

By Larry Keane

Call it putting lipstick on a pig, rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic or whatever else. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink isn’t concerned with the actual discriminatory investment strategy his firm executes. He’s upset the world’s largest investment asset manager is caught up in the growing anti-ESG pushback that’s impacting his bottom line now that Americans are paying more attention to the ruse.

Fink revealed at the Aspen Ideas Festival that he’s “ashamed” to be a part of the ESG “debate.” If you thought he might change direction with BlackRock’s investment strategies, think again. Fink would rather just change the verbiage.

‘Conscientious’ Wordsmithing

BlackRock manages more than $10 trillion in assets for investors. That’s a lot of money and with such a large piggybank under his control, Fink got hip with the ESG movement. That’s the Environmental, Social and Governance investment strategy that started popping up more frequently about 10 or 12 years ago where activist investment managers began sacrificing fiduciary responsibilities to maximize shareholder returns to instead abdicate that role in favor of forcing a left-wing social and political agenda that has failed to succeed legislatively.

Under the Obama administration, an initiative called “Operation Choke Point” was launched by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop financial institutions from offering services to some regulated industries in an attempt to throttle banking services. This operation, which represented an abuse of the agencies’ statutory authority, was first aimed at non-depository lenders (so-called payday lenders) but expanded to ammunition and firearm sales, tobacco sales and pharmaceutical sales, among other industries. President Donald Trump’s administration put an end to the practice, though today ESG strategies have been privatized.

Fast forward to today and BlackRock is guilty of ESG strategies, as are numerous major banks and investment institutions as well. Fink was questioned about his firm’s devotion to ESG strategies at the Aspen Ideas Festival and initially told the crowd, “I’m ashamed of being part of this conversation. I’m not going to use the word ESG because it’s been misused by the far left and the far right,” he said.

Fink was later pressed again on being ashamed of his firm’s position. When pushed on his statement, he reversed course. “I never said I was ashamed. I do believe in conscientious capitalism.”

Continue reading “”

Tell Me This Is Not Retribution!

Michael Cargill is the owner of Central Texas Gun Works in Austin. He is also the plaintiff in Cargill v. Garland which successfully challenged the BATFE’s ban on bump stocks. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found for Cargill in an en banc appeal in January. The US Justice Department appealed that decision to the Supreme Court and is seeking a writ of certiorari.

With that as a background, I find the following full blown audit of Central Texas Gun Works by BATFE inspectors as rather suspicious.

It would be hard to convince me that this is a normal routine inspection and not an effort at retribution by the Justice Department and their henchmen at BATFE. Given the Biden Administration’s new policy of “zero tolerance”, one is left to wonder if they are not seeking a way – anyway! – to put Cargill out of business. I don’t think two misspellings of the city name “Austin” are worthy of it but one never knows with the BATFE.

As with the IRS raid on a gun store in Montana, I think it is time for publicity by the representatives and senators from Texas. While the representative who covers the district where the store is located, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37), is an anti-gun tool in the pockets of the Demanding Moms, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX) need to step up and start asking questions.

If you are a Texan reading this, call Cruz and Cornyn and demand they get answers. Being an out-of-stater they don’t have to listen to me but they sure need to listen to a constituent.

 

Rare Win: ATF Fails to Revoke NJ Gun Dealer’s Federal License

By Lee Williams

SAF Investigative Journalism Project

Special to Liberty Park Press

Ira Levin could not be happier. He can continue to operate his gun shop, Legend Firearms, which is located in Monroe, New Jersey.

Levin has owned and operated the small gun shop since 2009, which is no small feat given the Garden State’s blatant antipathy toward guns and gun dealers.

Levin has sold more than 21,000 firearms and has been inspected dozens of times by both New Jersey State Police and ATF. They have never found a deficiency, at least not until Joe Biden declared war on gun dealers.

During an inspection in October 2022, an ATF Industry Operations Investigator, or IOI, found several deficiencies. A few customers wrote “USA” on the 4473 because they mistakenly thought the form asked for their country rather than their county. Levin’s staff did not catch the errors.

In addition, one of Levin’s part-time employees transferred firearms to three customers more than 30 days after they had signed the 4473. The ATF inspector said Levin’s employee should have had the customers fill out new 4473s before they took possession of the guns, because the form expires after 30 days. To be clear, all the customers passed background checks. None were prohibited persons.

Levin believed ATF would issue a warning or maybe a small fine for the clerical errors, until he received a letter stating that the ATF intended to revoke his federal firearm license. The revocation letter was signed by John Curtis, an industry operations director at ATF’s New York City Field Office.

Levin immediately tried to contest the revocation during a preliminary video call with Curtis and other ATF officials, which he hoped could save his license. They told him he could appeal their decision at an administrative hearing. Levin asked who would preside over the hearing and was told it would be Curtis.

“Curtis signed the revocation letter and now he is going to run the hearing. How is that right?” Levin told the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project last year. “Shouldn’t the person making the decision be objective?”

Levin was adamant that his revocation was part of a national trend orchestrated by the White House. Joe Biden first announced his zero-tolerance policy in June 2021. Part of his scheme included five criteria, which he claimed defined a rogue dealer: transferring a firearm to a prohibited person, failing to run a required background check, falsifying records, failing to respond to an ATF tracing request or refusing to allow ATF to conduct an inspection.

Levin violated none of these rules. However, the ATF is routinely revoking licenses for even the most minor of errors — errors not on Biden’s five-point list.

Continue reading “”

Pfizer Caught Funnelling $12 Million to Anderson Cooper To Promote mRNA Jabs to Americans

According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., very few people are aware of the fact that Cooper gets the majority of his CNN pay-check from Pfizer.

80 percent of Cooper’s $12 million annual salary, roughly $10 million, comes directly from Pfizer, according to RFK. Jr.

“Anderson Cooper has a $12 million a year annual salary,” Kennedy revealed during the segment. “Well, $10 million of that is coming from Pfizer.”

“So, his boss is not CNN. His boss is Pfizer. And they’re unashamed about it. They’re unabashed about it. They say on his program ‘brought to you by Pfizer.’ Of course, he’s not going to tell you the truth about Pfizer’s product. He’s going to try to sell it to you. He’s going to try to scare the hell out of you saying ‘if you don’t take this, you’re going to die.’”

Naturalnews.com reports: To be fair, Cooper is hardly the only mainstream media whore peddling drugs on his viewers in exchange for cash. Most of the corporate media are beholden to Big Pharma as a financial lifeline, hence why the bulk of media commercial breaks these days are advertisements promoting the latest drugs.

For many years, CNN competitor Fox News has been pushing the latest pharmaceutical drugs in between media segments. Even though Fox tends to lean more conservative ¬– or at least used to – it is still paid by the same people that run CNN to report the “news.”

What this means, of course, is that there really is no left versus right, or Republican versus conservative, when the likes of Pfizer is controlling what gets said. Whether right-leaning or left-leaning, all it really is behind the smokescreen is one single uniparty pushing dangerous drugs on viewers.

“The media in our country is an extension of the pharmaceutical industry,” Kennedy said. “Seventy-five percent of advertising revenues now on the mainstream media are now coming from pharma, and that ratio is even higher for the evening news because the evening news is where you see pharmaceuticals advertised.”

One of the reasons Tucker Carlson was kicked off of Fox News is because he started to break the script. Carlson started to raise suspicions about COVID injections, for instance, which is a big no-no when the companies that make COVID injections are paying your salary and keeping your network on the air.

The minute someone on a corporate news channel dares to start telling the truth, chances are that he or she will be encouraged to stop – or else get fired. Carlson learned this the hard way, but Cooper is still raking in the cash because he is nothing more than a Big Pharma puppet on the screen.

“Part of the other $2 million a year probably comes compliments of U.S. taxpayers via the FBI, CIA, and other slush funds,” one viewer of The Liberty Daily wrote about where, perhaps, the rest of Cooper’s salary is derived.

“RFK Jr. is a reminder of how far the Democrat Party has fallen,” wrote another about how the Democrats of yesteryear used to all be like Kennedy, especially when it came to calling out Big Pharma control over the media.

Arkansas man says he’ll sue after town denies permit for gun store

While we may like to think of infringements to our right to keep and bear arms largely as a blue-state problem, the truth is that even in conservative states like Arkansas you can find anti-gunners intent on enacting their own prohibitions. At least four of them sit on the city council in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, because they voted this week to keep the town gun-store free.
Keeling Grubb has been trying to sell firearms at his pawn shop for several months now, but as we recently reported, he’s run into opposition from many of his fellow residents in the tourist town, and the Eureka Springs Planning Commission deadlocked on his request for a conditional use permit that would allow him to do so. Grubb appealed that decision to the full city council, but this week they shot down his request by a vote of 4-2.

Eureka Springs is a tolerant town, the first in Arkansas to allow same-sex marriage. But gun shops are another matter.

The City Council voted 4-2 on Monday to reject a permit application for Eureka Gun & Pawn, which would have been the only gun or pawn shop in town. The owner, Keeling Grubb, said he’ll sue.

The council’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious” because city code indicates gun and pawn shops are legal in the tourist town, Will Kellstrom, Grubb’s attorney, told the council.

As of right now, Grubb says Eureka Gun and Pawn will remain open, though it won’t be selling firearms or accepting items for pawn, which also requires that conditional use permit. The NIMBYs have spoken (along with Grubb’s supporters), and the city council is siding with those who claim a gun store and pawn shop would ruin the small-town charm of the tourist destination.

Mayor Robert “Butch” Berry said guns are a “very emotional issue” for the people of Eureka Springs. Pat Matsukis told the council a lot of people move to Eureka Springs for a few years, then move away.

“But then there’s the rest of us that chose to be here because every morning is a blessing,” she said. “When I wake up in the morning and I open the door and I hear the birds singing, that’s a miracle. That’s what I want to hear. I don’t want to hear guns.”

Steve Killebrew told the council he moved to Eureka Springs from Texas, where he’d had guns pulled on him.

“I moved here because I do feel safe,” he said. “I don’t want to feel unsafe. I don’t want to have to pack my gun again like I did in Texas.”

I don’t know if either Matsukis or Killebrew are aware, but Arkansas is constitutional carry state, and I have no doubt that there are plenty of gun owners in Eureka Springs even without a local gun shop to serve them. The presence of a gun shop isn’t going to more crime or shots fired, and the absence of a gun store doesn’t mean that the city will be crime-free. Just look at San Francisco, where there are also no gun stores or ranges open to the public, and yet there are mass shootings and other acts of violence involving firearms happening on a regular basis.

If Eureka Springs is a nice quiet place it’s because the people who live and visit are generally nice people, though many of them are certainly not as tolerant as they’d like to think they are.

Alderman David Avanzino had a speech prepared for Monday’s meeting.

“I’m going to stand before you today and voice my strong opposition to the establishment of this pawn and gun shop within our town,” he said, while remaining seated. “Eureka Springs, with its tight-knit community and modest population of roughly 2,300, has long been a haven of tranquility and harmony. Allowing such a store to open its doors here would not only disrupt our way of life but also impose significant risk to the well-being and safety of our residents.”

I doubt that very much, but not allowing the store to open poses a significant risk to the financial bottom line of the town’s budget, given that Grubb plans to file suit over the denial. Comments like Avanzino’s make it clear that the objections aren’t to a particular location, but gun stores in general. That would appear to run afoul of the state’s firearm preemption law, which states that “A local unit of government shall not enact any ordinance or regulation pertaining to, or regulate in any other manner, the ownership, transfer, transportation, carrying, or possession of firearms, ammunition for firearms, or components of firearms, except as otherwise provided in state or federal law.”

The requirement for a special use permit for Grubb to facilitate the transfer and ownership of firearms is problematic enough, but when you add in the comments from city council members and the mayor, it’s clear that the zoning ordinance is being used to keep any and all gun stores from operating inside the city limits.

I hope that Grubb does pursue litigation here, and in the meantime I suggest that gun owners keep themselves and their tourism dollars away from Eureka Springs. There are plenty of other quaint small towns in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri to visit for a weekend getaway that aren’t trying to infringe on the rights of residents and would-be gun sellers like Grubb, and your money is much better spent in those communities than the intolerant and hoplophobic town of Eureka Springs.

Bank of America Turns Over Information on Gun Owners to the FBI

WASHINGTON, D.C. — FBI whistleblowers have come forward with damning allegations against Bank of America (BoA). According to Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the banking giant has been revealing information to the FBI about its customer’s gun purchases without a warrant. Now the pair has sent letters to other banks to see if they also violated the privacy rights of their customers.

After the protest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Bank of America provided the FBI with a list of customers who made transactions in or around Washington, D.C., purchased a flight to the Nation’s Capital, or booked a hotel room in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Most of Bank of America’s customers that attended the large rally never entered the Capitol Building, and the FBI did not have probable cause to allow the law enforcement agency to get a court order for the bank to surrender the documents.

When the FBI approached BoA about turning over the records, the bank complied without requesting a court order.

Continue reading “”

“These provisions no more endorse illegal activity than a ‘swim at your own risk’ sign placed at a hotel pool endorses using the pool to drown another.”

 

NSSF WELCOMES U.S. SEN. GRAHAM’S FFL PROTECTION ACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, welcomes the introduction of the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) Protection Act, introduced by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), along with 22 co-sponsors. The bill would strengthen and enhance criminal penalties for thefts of firearms from federally licensed firearm retailers. This legislation sends a strong message to those violent criminals engaging in these illicit activities and helps provide for safer communities, assists law enforcement and protects the livelihoods of firearm retailers.

“This is what true gun safety legislation looks like. Senator Graham’s FFL Protection Act sends an unequivocal message to criminals intent on burglarizing and robbing firearm retailers that the safety of America’s communities is nonnegotiable,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “This legislation sends a strong message to violent criminals engaging in these illicit activities that there will be accountability and consequences for their crimes. This legislation assigns the responsibility for the crime where it belongs – with the criminal. Senator Graham has been a staunch advocate of holding criminals accountable and protecting firearm retailers. This legislation does both. This legislation is a real solution that will make our communities safer.”

The Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) Protection Act builds on the efforts NSSF has taken to address robbery and burglary of firearms through the partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on Operation Secure Store®, one of several Real Solutions. Safer Communities.® firearm industry safety initiatives. As part of Operation Secure Store, NSSF matches ATF reward offers for information regarding these crimes that leads to the arrest and conviction of the criminals responsible and the recovery of the stolen firearms. Additionally, NSSF helps raise awareness among firearm retailers to educate them on steps they can take to reduce the chance guns will be stolen from them during a burglary or robbery. In cooperation with ATF, NSSF conducts retailer store security seminars, assists retailers with store security audits of their premises and endorses and promotes the use of security products like smash resistant display cases.

ATF Director Dettelbach testified before Congress on the Operation Secure Store partnership with NSSF. ATF data has shown Operation Secure Store is working. Firearm retailer burglaries in 2021 were 277, compared to 577 in 2017 and 2,936 firearms were stolen in 2021 from firearm retailers, a 65 percent drop from the 7,841 firearms stolen from retailers in 2017.

Congressmen John Rutherford (R-Fla.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) introduced the U.S. House of Representative’s FFL Protection Act as H.R. 2620.

OVER 1 MILLION GUNS SOLD NATIONWIDE LAST MONTH, NOW 46 MONTHS RUNNING

Americans reached for their wallets in support of Second Amendment rights last month, with federal background check data for May 2023 suggesting sales passed the same benchmark almost four years running.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation released the findings of the 46-month streak after crunching last month’s figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The unadjusted May 2023 FBI NICS total of 2,343,850 checks – a 3.2 percent jump from May 2022. After the data was analyzed by NSSF to remove checks and rechecks done for carry permits and other reasons to leave checks for likely gun sales, the figure remains at 1,174,142.

In the end, last month’s numbers continue the unbroken trend set in July 2019, with background checks for the over-the-counter sale of a firearm exceeding 1 million each calendar month.

NSSF experts point to the seven-figure benchmark as a temperature check on the public’s enduring view on the right to keep and bear arms.

“Sales of firearms at retail continue to remain robust, and this demonstrates that Americans continue to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms at a steady pace,” Mark Oliva, NSSF’s public affairs director, told Guns.com. “By any measure, Americans are telling their elected officials that this fundamental right is a cornerstone of freedom. By the millions, for over 46 months continuously, law-abiding citizens have taken ownership of their rights and responsibility for their safety even as some states and the Biden administration continue to work to diminish and eliminate the Constitutional right to lawfully own a firearm.”