Category: Safety

BLUF
The study just says what Second Amendment advocates have long asserted: Law-abiding gun owners are not the problem when it comes to gun crimes.

Ohio Just Disproved a Gun-Control Talking Point

DAVE YOST is Ohio’s 51st attorney general.

Critics believed constitutional carry in the state would increase crime. They were wrong.

The mayor stood, frowning and grim, flanked by uniformed police officers. Another horrific gun crime had occurred — and it was all the fault of the state legislators who had recently repealed the law requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon, what proponents call “constitutional carry.”

“The Republican-led legislature in Columbus passed SB 215 and across this state from Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati, you see an uptick in shootings across our state. . . . It’s important that we hold them accountable for passing dangerous gun laws in our state,” the mayor said, his angry voice rising above the roar of nearby freeway traffic.

“The most reckless and . . . careless gun policy in the state’s history,” the mayor said.

“It’s creating an arms race where people don’t feel safe unless they have a gun. So guns beget more guns, which, unfortunately, makes us all unsafe,” the mayor said.

But which mayor? The first quote was from Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland. The second one is from Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus. The arms-race quote was from Aftab Pureval, mayor of Cincinnati, on National Public Radio.

Ohio’s three biggest cities — they all got in with the same message: It’s not our fault; it’s the new state law.

There was only one problem: It wasn’t true.

My office commissioned a study with Bowling Green State University to examine gun crime in Ohio’s eight largest cities the year before the law changed — June 13, 2022 — and the year afterward. The conclusion: Eliminating concealed-carry licenses had no impact on gun crimes, and in six of the eight cities, gun crimes actually declined.

I honestly did not know what the data would show, but a study seemingly would be useful for the ongoing debate either way. The numbers could have increased — gun crime, like any other crime, has multiple causes. And it wouldn’t have been surprising if the numbers had stayed the same, because a great deal of the action taken by government seems to have marginal impacts, if any.

But the numbers went down.

In Parma, gun crimes dropped by a whopping 22 percent after constitutional carry; Akron and Toledo both saw declines of 18 percent; and Columbus logged a 12 percent reduction. Canton and Cleveland had single-digit percentage decreases. Cincinnati and Dayton both had single-digit percentage increases.

Over the entire eight-city sample, gun crime dropped by 8 percent. Shot Spotter technology, which detects the sound of a gunshot in a city, produced data that was consistent with the reported crimes where it was available.

Continue reading “”

The Carjacking Dilemma: Keep yourself safe while you’re in your car.

I’m seeing reports that carjackings are on the rise in some cities. This form of robbery depends upon the criminal acting quickly and violently before the victim realizes what is going on or has a chance to respond. Still, carjacking can be defeated if the intended victims…that’s you & me…will study the problem and develop a plan of action.

Remember, I said “quickly and violently”, so let’s give some thought to taking “quickly” out of the mix, and the best way I know to do that is to make it a habit to always have the doors locked and the windows up. We know that window glass is not as sturdy as windshield glass. A window can be busted out much more easily. However, that takes a bit of time, and it is time that we can use to respond to the attack. The key is to make it a habit to roll up the windows and make sure the doors are locked each and every time we use our vehicle.

Another thing to realize is that the vehicle itself may be the best defensive tool at your disposal. The first thought may be to stomp the gas and try to drive off. But have you thought about making the escape by putting the car in reverse? How about driving on the sidewalk? Of course, with any quick, defensive maneuver we want to make every effort to avoid hurting innocents that might be near. I often tell students, “If your car is moving, it’s a defensive tool. If it is sitting still, it’s a coffin.” What can you do with your vehicle to defeat a carjacking? Give it some thought.

If you legally carry a defensive firearm in your car…and I hope that you do…you need to give some thought to how you carry it and how easily it is to get it into action. If you carry in such a way that you have to undo your seat belt to get at it, I would suggest you find another carry method. Crossdraw, shoulder holsters, even ankle holsters, might be worth experimenting with.

In addition, it would be a good idea to practice shooting with only one hand because your other hand may be busy with the steering wheel. Also practice shooting at odd angles because an armed attacker might be shooting at you from positions other than at your driver’s-side window.

And, as always, force yourself to stay alert. If you can see it coming, you have a far better chance of avoiding he trap. If you wait until they’ve got you pinned between two cars, you may have waited too late. In heavy traffic, bad neighborhoods, or when things just don’t feel right, turn off your radio, quit talking on the phone or texting and give your surroundings your full attention.

Carjackers can be defeated and you can get it done.

Christian school in heartland to arm, train staff amid concern with ‘threats’ coming ‘on a regular basis’
The superintendent of a private Iowa school said arming certain staffers was a ‘necessary step’ in light of tragedy unfolding in schools

“The staff who have been selected and trained will remain anonymous, and with God’s help this layer of protection will never need to be deployed. We expect no changes to the day to day experiences of students and staff,” the superintendent of Siouxland Christian School, located in Sioux City, Lindsay Laurich said in a letter to the school community last week, which was provided to Fox News Digital.

The school is not detailing how many staff members will be armed while on campus, or their identities, “in order to protect the staff who are taking this courageous responsibility,” Laurich told Fox News Digital. She added that the school had been considering the policy for a year before the official announcement last week.

“I would just add that we have been working on this plan for over a year. However, we felt that this was a necessary step that was needed for our school community,” Laurich said.

Continue reading “”

per @2aHistory

Updated 2021 data…because CDC still hasn’t even released 2022 data.
Constitutional Carry doesn’t correlate to high homicide rates.

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The 4 states with the lowest rates DO have permitless carry.
And 10 of the lowest 15 do.

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Updated information on Mass Public Shootings from 1998 through October 2023

Between January 1st, 1998, and October 25th, 2023, 52.5% of attacks used solely handguns, and 16.8% used only rifles of any type—thirty-five percent of attacks used solely rifles or rifles in conjunction with another type of gun. Given the debate over pistol-stabilizing braces, the Excel file we provide lists the guns used in each attack, and two of the attacks used AR-15-type handguns with a pistol-stabilizing brace.

Continue reading “”

Local business teams with NRA to present self-defense class

Local business teams with NRA to present self-defense class

No more victims.

That is the motto of Faith Sample, whose new business, She Shoots Back, is teaming up with National Rifle Association to host an event entitled “Refuse To Be A Victim.”

The self-defense class, which will be held Saturday, Jan. 13, was borne out of a desire to equip everyone with basic safety methods.

“‘Refuse To Be A Victim’ teaches methods to avoid dangerous situations and prevent criminal confrontations,” said Sample. “Seminar participants will be presented with a variety of common-sense crime prevention and personal safety strategies and devices that may be integrated into their personal, home, automobile, telephone, technological and travel safety.”

“Refuse To Be A Victim,” which has been a mainstay of self-defense prevention since 1993, focuses on basic habits and steps that can be taken to reduce being the victim of a crime.

The class will not contain or train on firearms, instead focusing on preventing situations rather than confronting them.

The class is open to both men and women, and there are sections dedicated to people of all ages, as well as parents.

Sample said that she teaches many similar techniques through She Shoots Back, which was established in 2023. “There have been times in my own life, and in the life of loved ones when either ignorance or inability has led to devastating results,” Sample said. “I have since spent many hours in training and research to be able to teach others what they can do to either prevent or deal with a victimizing situation.”

Part of learning to deal with such situations is being armed, which Sample includes as one of her many classes. “I learned how to shoot and carry a firearm after these initial experiences and after ten years have finally decided that continuing training and becoming an instructor was something I could do to make a difference,” she saId.

Sample stated that her gun classes are catered toward women in an effort to foster a comfortable environment. Some of the women she teaches come from unstable or violent backgrounds, and need a safe space to learn to protect themselves.

“Domestic violence is more prevalent than you think,” she said. “It can be fostered through generations, and it takes strong people to seek help and break such cycles. What every woman needs on hand to protect herself is, in my opinion, a determination to succeed and a listening ear to the inner voice that lets you know when something isn’t right.”

Sample, who also works as a teacher and has children of her own, said she hopes She Shoots Back will be part of solution to end cycles of violence.

“I think the most important thing we should take from this is that we should never just look the other way or accept abuse.  We should always recognize the worth of every human soul and that includes our own.  No one deserves to be a victim.”

Refuse To Be a Victim will take place at the Gene Moss Building on Jan. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are $40 and proceeds will be donated to the Saline County Safe Haven. Those who sign up by Wednesday, January 10 will receive a booklet with their training. For tickets and more information on She Shoots Back, please visit https://sheshootsback.com/nra-refuse-to-be-a-victim/.

When both Massad & Clint advise such, well……

The Primary Reason to Carry a Spare Magazine

There are several debates that endlessly rage in the firearms community, and one specific to concealed carry is whether or not to wear a spare magazine on your person when you are armed. A strong argument can be made that reloads virtually never happen in civilian self-defense, as the typical protocol seems to be people shoot until empty and then break contact. If the defender starts shooting, the criminal element most often becomes late for a different appointment. Therefore, in the vast majority of civilian defensive gun use, we don’t see reloads.

Still, this author leans towards having and not needing rather than needing and not having. I almost always carry a reload. I can confidently say that many people I know and respect who carry all the time do not carry a reload, while others do. Therefore, it is impossible to suggest the right thing to do here. The chance of needing the gun on any given day is slim, and the chance of needing to reload it in a fight is minuscule. However, concealed carriers opt to go prepared rather than just rely on statistical probabilities.

Historically, low-capacity handguns and no reloads on-person seem to have most often been all that is required to get the civilian self-defender out of trouble. This will probably continue to be the case most of the time. What about the minority of the time? With an undeniable increase in mob violence that involves multiple assailants, as well as an increase in active killer attacks, which have proven to demand distance shooting and a significant amount of rounds fired to neutralize the threat, carrying a reload makes more and more sense.

Even here, though, the most pressing reasons to carry a reload are seldom discussed. Consider the following more likely reasons that may warrant a second magazine:

The Magazine Can Go Missing
Yes, you read that correctly; a magazine can go missing. Especially during the stress and chaos of a fight. How does a magazine go missing? You inadvertently eject it out of the gun. If that happens, would you prefer to reload with the second magazine on your belt or in your pocket, or would you rather search around on the ground for the one you dropped while violence is occurring? According to my way of thinking, this is the primary reason to carry a reload.

Many will declare that they have never dropped a magazine unintentionally, so why discuss it? Those who say this have probably never shot beyond a flat range’s predictable comfort and casual atmosphere. I was at an IDPA match years ago when a competitor, who was a good shooter and an active duty cop, accidentally ejected his magazine from his Smith and Wesson M&P twice during a single stage. After the stage, he told me that he had fired thousands of rounds through that gun, and that had never happened before. I asked him how many matches he shot with the gun, to which he replied that this was his first. Thus, even the stress and faster pace of a match induced malfunctions that this shooter never before experienced. Do you suppose that in the stress of a fight, you might do something differently compared to what you have done only at the range?

Beyond just the always-present possibility of dumping the magazine due to stress-induced mishandling of the gun, environmental factors can come into play. I know of an instance in which a police officer experienced the base plate of the magazine in the gun getting ripped off by the seatbelt as he hastily exited the vehicle. This is less likely to happen to a gun under concealment, but there are other factors as well. I have seen people draw their guns at the range, and the magazine immediately hit the ground because it became unseated while in the holster because the release button got bumped. It can happen.

Contact Distance Fighting
Anyone who has done force-on-force training fighting with simmunitions guns knows how easily they can malfunction when in a contact distance fight. Admittedly, sims guns malfunction more easily than real guns of a quality make. Still, the magazine is often ejected during a struggle. In a real contact distance fight, this is of high likelihood. If you are in a fight and break free of the attacker, you now may be holding a gun with only a single round in it, if not empty. Being able to reload from the belt or pocket is a much better solution than searching around on the ground for a dropped magazine.

While a gun with no reload on body will likely do what is needed if you face violence, a reload may make all the difference, should the unlikely event become even more unlikely. Like the gun itself, the reload is something to have and not need rather than need and not have.

Ohio sees drop in gun crimes across major cities after permitless carry law, study shows

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Contrary to concerns from some local leaders, a new study shows a decrease in gun crimes across six of Ohio’s eight largest cities following the implementation of the state’s “constitutional carry” law.

The research, conducted by the Center for Justice Research (CJR) in partnership with Bowling Green State University, analyzed data from June 2021 to June 2023, covering a year before and after the law went into effect in June 2022.

It focused on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot-detection alerts, and the number of officers struck by gunfire.

The findings revealed:

  • Overall Decline: Across all eight cities, the rate of gun crimes decreased.
  • Significant Drops: Parma experienced the most significant decline (22%), followed by Akron and Toledo (both 18%).
  • Mixed Trends: Dayton and Cincinnati saw increases in gun crime rates (6% and 5%, respectively).

“This is not to downplay the very real problem of gun violence in our cities,” noted Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who commissioned the study. “But the key takeaway here is that we need to focus on criminals, not responsible gun owners.”

He acknowledged concerns expressed by several mayors before the study, stating, “I genuinely did not know what the study would find. I thought it would be useful either way.”

CJR Director Melissa Burek, a Doctor of Criminal Justice, led the research.

She emphasized the importance of examining the impact of policy changes: “This study helps us understand the complex picture of crime rates and policy implementation. It’s valuable data for informing future decisions.”

The findings add to the ongoing debate surrounding permitless carry laws, challenging concerns that such laws would lead to a surge in gun violence.

While proponents highlight responsible gun ownership and increased self-defense, critics argue it removes valuable safety measures like background checks and training.

Further research and analysis are needed to fully understand the long-term implications of Ohio’s permitless carry law and its impact on various factors influencing crime rates.

Continued Massacres of Christians in Nigeria Ensured by Citizen Disarmament

“A never-ending massacre of Christians being ‘killed for sport’ is reportedly happening in Nigeria, yet the world appears to be largely deaf to the matter,” Fox News reported Saturday. “More than 52,000 Christians ‘have been butchered or hacked to death for being Christians’ since 2009 in Nigeria, according to Intersociety, a civil society group based in Onitsha.”

“Christians are killed for sport, especially Christian children,” Rev. Johnnie Moore, a former commissioner for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and president of the Congress of Christian Leaders told Fox. “Entire villages are burnt and pillaged. Thousands of churches have been destroyed. Children and women are hunted.

Continue reading “”

Improve Your Shooting: The 50-Round Skill Sustainment Course of Fire

In case you didn’t already know it, if you don’t continue to shoot over time, you will slowly lose your shooting skills. Ammunition is more reasonable that it was a couple of years ago, but you still want to make the most of your training dome and dollars. How do you maintain your skill set without burning through a lot of ammunition? Simple: take your time and make every shot a count.

Dry fire practice at home is a great way to keep your skills sharp. If you add a Mantis X training system, that’s even better. Travis Pike gave the Mantis five stars and Jeremy gave it four. Yes, it runs over $200 or about the price of 250 rounds of 9mm ammo. I haven’t formally reviewed my own personally-owned unit, in part because I haven’t used it as much as I’d like yet. At the same time I’ve used it enough that I strongly recommend it for new and experienced shooters alike.

Even at that, though, no matter how much dry fire and Mantis X practice you complete, everyone needs real, live-fire handgun practice.

Here’s a suggested fifty-round course of fire to maintain keep the skill sets you’ve acquired through past training and practice sharp. You should use something small, like a 3×5 index card or a 3″ circle at three to five yards.

Remember, aim small miss small. If you keep all fifty rounds on the target, move back to ten or fifteen yards and repeat (if you have enough gun food). Continue reading “”

A Home Invasion That Failed: And it failed because the invadees had done their homework beforehand.

Here is a story that was recently shared with me. Dave and Susie (not their real names) were watching television in a room just off the main hallway near their front door. Suddenly, they heard a noise as if someone was trying to kick in their heavy wood front door accompanied with the shouts of “Police Officers…Open Up!”  At the same time, from the same direction, they could hear other people laughing. Feeling certain that this was a home invasion, Dave and Susie went into action.

First, they shoved the heavy couch they had been sitting on over to block the closed door of their room. Dave took a 9mm pistol (I don’t know what kind) off the side table and got next to a large wooden bookcase that gave him some cover and allowed him to keep an eye on the door. Susie got in a far corner, behind a heavy chair and began to call 9-1-1 on her cell phone. Neither one of them said a word, instead using hand signals to communicate.

Shortly after that, the criminals got the front door open and started down the hall. One of them tried the door to the TV room and, when he felt that it was blocked, gave it a shove, moving the couch slightly and allowing him to open the door about a foot. Dave said he could clearly see that the intruder was not a police officer and could also see that the thug had a pistol in his hand. Dave fired two shots and saw the thug drop the gun and collapse. They then heard sounds that indicated that the others had run back out the front door.

Dave and Susie then held their positions until the 9-1-1 dispatcher told Susie that a uniformed officer was at the front door. At which time, Dave put is pistol down on a table and the couple spoke up to the officer and moved the couch away from the door.

A short time later, two crooks in a stolen car were arrested nearby. It is thought that they were the partners to the deceased home invader.

I like the way Dave and Susie handled this attack. It appears that they must have discussed home invasions and developed a plan. Not responding verbally to the home invaders kept the crooks wondering where their victims might actually be located. And blocking the door with the couch caused their attacker to focus on that chore instead of keeping his full attention focused on looking for victims. Susie gets points for maintaining an open line of communications with the 9-1-1 dispatcher. And Dave was also very smart to put his gun down and meet the police officer with empty hands. Latest reports are that police investigators see no legal problems for Dave & Susie and, in addition, a series of other home invasions may be cleared by this shooting and the subsequent arrests.

Have a plan…keep your wits about you…and don’t give up.

Out partying on New Year’s Eve? Here’s a safety checklist.

Millions of revelers hit the road after New Year’s Eve celebrations and the inevitability of impaired drivers make the holiday one of the nation’s deadliest.

High blood-alcohol levels are a factor in more than 50% of crashes on New Year’s Day, the American Safety Council warns. Law enforcement officers will be on alert, with checkpoints and roadblocks in many places to check drivers for signs of driving while intoxicated or drugged.

If you’ll be ringing in 2024 away from home, the council offers these tips to stay safe:

Plan ahead: Arrange for a designated driver, shuttle service or hotel stay before you go out. Consider using public transportation or cabs to and from your destination so you don’t have to park in an unfamiliar place. SoberRides.org has a mobile site with options for a safe trip home.

Walk wise: New Year’s Day is also the year’s most hazardous for pedestrians. If you are walking, stay on pedestrian paths and try to remain in well-lit areas. Cross only at crosswalks. If you’re driving, watch carefully for those on foot.

Host safely: Consider having a designated driver ready to take guests home if needed. Offer guests non-alcoholic drinks and plenty of water. Serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in different colored cups, and dump those that are unattended so kids and pets don’t consume them. Provide food and snacks — but avoid salty ones, which encourage people to drink more. Stop serving alcohol hours before the party is to end. Be ready to offer guests a place to stay if needed — even a blanket on the floor will keep them safe.

The council also addressed other safety considerations:

Champagne: Chilling champagne to at least 45 degrees Fahrenheit will make the cork less likely to pop. Place a towel over the top of the bottle and hold the bottle at a 45 degree angle, pointing it away from yourself or others when it’s time to open.

Fireworks: Check local laws. Fireworks may be illegal. If they’re allowed, keep a bucket of water or hose nearby. Light fireworks one at a time and then move back. Never try to relight a dud; douse them and spent fireworks with water before discarding. Supervise kids and pets and never point or toss fireworks at another person.

Guns: It was once tradition in some cultures to shoot handguns into the air. This is not only illegal, but falling bullets can be deadly. Keep firearms safely locked at this time.

For more information, Washington & Lee University has tips for safe partying.

Something to take into real consideration in these times

Is There Strength in Numbers? Critical Considerations When Forming a Mutual Assistance Group

This is not an article on how to form a mutual assistance group. It’s a discussion of the things to consider before trying to form such a group.

When things are tough, it’s usually better to be a member of the pack than a lone wolf. That would seem to be true for a SHTF situation, but it may not be as straightforward as it sounds. Is organizing your neighborhood to work together in an emergency realistic or not? I am not referring to a short-term emergency like everyone being snowed in or the aftermath of a storm. I am talking about the kind of long-term TEOTWAWKI crisis that has long-lasting ramifications for survival.

Organizing people in your community or neighborhood into a mutual assistance survival group (MAG) with the intention of working together in a world-changing crisis is something that warrants a great deal of thought and consideration. Failure to do so could reduce your chances of survival rather than enhancing them.

Continue reading “”

Ohio Prosecutor: Robbers Should Expect to Get Shot

There are some DAs who are very tough on crime and there are others who are soft on crime. It doesn’t matter what city, county, or state you’re in. What matters is the DA in charge of prosecuting crimes in your neck of the woods.

In Ohio, though, there are a few mixed signals being sent by a prosecutor.

You see, she’s opted to prosecute a man who shot a robber trying to rob his store, but she’s also telling criminals that if they’re robbing a place, they should expect to get shot.

An Ohio prosecutor has indicted a smoke shop manager for allegedly shooting to death a 16-year-old boy during a robbery attempt — but warned that people “should expect to be shot” if they target stores.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers filed the charges against the manager, Tony Thacker, 29, for allegedly shooting at would-be robbers as they fled VIP Smoke Shop in Delhi Township on Oct. 20, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.…

“However, I want to make perfectly clear — these retail thefts will not be tolerated. If you try to rob a store, you should expect to be shot,” she added.

Mixed signals, right?

Not necessarily.

What’s omitted in that quote is that the person Thacker shot was, first of all, running away. That means he was no longer a threat. A lot of people think they can shoot someone fleeing, but you can’t do that. They’re no longer threatening you–unless, of course, they’re taking shots at you while running away or something similar–so your right to defend yourself isn’t applicable.

It also seems that Thacker was a prohibited person due to a felony conviction. That also changes the calculus a bit.

But Powers isn’t wrong to warn would-be robbers that if they’re going to commit an act like this, they should expect to be shot.

Robbery is an inherently violent crime in most instances. Law-abiding citizens who exercise their right to keep and bear arms have a right to protect themselves from violent criminals. In a state like Ohio where there are a fair number of gun owners, the risk to criminals becomes very real.

I want them to know that. I want them to understand that. I want them to recognize the very real probability that if they continue down this path, it’s only a matter of time before someone shoots them.

Almost no criminal thinks they’re going to get caught, but quite a few recognize that they’ll be face-to-face with their victim. That means a high likelihood that they’ll be shot.

What happened in Ohio may look like mixed signals, but it’s not because of some extenuating circumstances. Yet it also looks like Powers isn’t really interested in prosecuting armed citizens who act in self-defense, either.

If she were, I suspect she’d not have said what she did, especially knowing how a lot of people throughout the nation would react to it.

Of course, she also said the truth. It’s just a shame that in this day and age, that’s a revolutionary act.

Gun deaths rise along with gun control grade

Gun control advocates should have reason to celebrate. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence upgraded Colorado’s grade on the “annual gun law scorecard” from a C+ in 2021, to a B in 2022 and an A- this year.

As reported in Gazette sister publication Colorado Politics, Colorado earned its A- for imposing waiting periods, banning “ghost” guns, enacting legislation on victims’ legal access, increasing the minimum age to purchase firearms and investing $1 million in community violence intervention.

The grade would deserve accolades — if it correlated with a decrease in gun violence. It does not. The year Colorado moved from a C to a B was the year Colorado’s rate of gun deaths reached a 40-year high. It is also the year Colorado set a record for the most people injured in mass shootings in a single year.

Since the Columbine High School massacre of 1999, Colorado has understandably pursued more gun regulation. The state enacted background checks at gun shows in 2000. It later passed a 15-round limit on bullet magazines. In 2013, Colorado required universal background checks.

From there, the state passed a red flag law in 2019. The next year, it enacted mandatory reporting for lost or stolen firearms and a safe firearm storage law.

Despite a 23-year gun-control effort, gun sales and gun crimes have risen.

Colorado’s gun sales in 2022 were 26% higher than in 2019. Early indicators suggest this year’s Colorado holiday gun sales will set a record.

An A- for gun control — after a significant rise in gun crimes — amounts to accolades for policies that don’t work.

It frustrates Colorado’s political leaders. Gov. Jared Polis and state’s Attorney Gen. Phil Weiser want to spend $600,000 to hire outside lawyers. They would lend the attorneys to the federal government to prosecute gun crimes.

If federal enforcement saves lives, this proposal could pay off. Properly written and enforced, gun regulations should allow guns in the hands of stable, sober, law-abiding adults.

It should keep guns from substance abusers, criminals, domestic abusers, severe mental illness patients, and others given due process and deemed likely to misuse them.

If Colorado subsidizes enforcement of federal gun laws, Polis and Weiser should take similar action regarding federal drug laws.

Colorado has undermined federal drug laws and enforcement for years, even as fentanyl became the number 1 killer of young adults. We legalized recreational pot in 2012. More recently, our state decriminalized fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine and other deadly street drugs.

Likewise, Colorado has consistently undermined federal immigration laws. The combined chaos of immigration, rising crime, drug deaths, homelessness and needles in parks probably led to escalating gun ownership in Colorado and the rest of the country.

“There are many communities with sustained levels of crime that have not abated,” said National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesperson Mark Oliva, as quoted in Gazette sister publication The National Examiner.

“Those concerns, along with the punishing anti-gun measures by the Biden administration and threats of more gun control promised by the Biden-Harris reelection campaign, cannot be discounted as contributing factors (to rising gun sales).

“Americans have demonstrated month after month and year after year, (that) Second Amendment rights matter, and they are investing their hard-earned dollars to exercise their right to lawfully possess firearms before the right can be further infringed (upon).”

Reducing gun violence means more and better mental health care. It means restoring harsh penalties for crimes. It means controlling the border. It means enforcing drug laws and offering help for addiction. It means more looking out for those who suffer.

Sadly, it seems we don’t save lives by simply churning out gun laws — even if handed a medal for doing so.

The Gazette Editorial Board

The Wonderful Truth Behind Recent Concealed Carry Statistics

Across the United States, fewer US citizens applied for new concealed carry permits. That is what the numbers say, and it is true from a certain perspective. It is also true that more people are legally carrying concealed firearms than ever before. That may seem like a contradiction, but it is also very good news.

What the headline doesn’t say is that we’ve seen a considerable number of states recently adopt constitutional carry laws. Those laws typically state that you don’t need a license to carry a concealed firearm if as long as you would have qualified to get one. That means you don’t have a criminal record, so you don’t need to get a permission slip from the state to carry concealed in public. Even with Constitutional carry in your state, you’ll often want a carry permit if you often drive to another state and want to carry there.

Back to the report from John Lott, we now have a record number of people legally carrying a personal firearm, but fewer of them had to apply for and pay for a state license in order to do so. That might be good news, and in fact it is fantastic news.

People who don’t have a carry permit often worry that more people are carrying a gun but they don’t have the training that the state previously required. That sounds obvious, but let me show you one flaw in that thinking.

Continue reading “”

GIBBON, GUNS AND GOVERNMENT

In the course of writing Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon encountered Mohammed, who pursued the Jews with “implacable hatred” to the end of his life. The historian also called out Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogoth king who invaded Italy in 488 AD and “condescended to disarm the unwarlike natives of Italy, interdicting all weapons of offence, and excepting only a small knife for domestic use.” Call it an early display of the totalitarian mindset.

Wherever they hold sway, modern totalitarians disarm the people of firearms and ammunition. For details, see Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming Jews and “Enemies of the State,” by Stephen Halbrook. Hitler’s National Socialists used the registration records of the Weimar Republic to identify and disarm gun owners.

As Halbrook shows in Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France: Tyranny and Resistance, the Nazis confiscated all firearms, even antique hunting rifles. That left the people vulnerable to wholesale slaughter. On June 10, 1944, four days after D-Day, troops of the 4th SS Panzer Regiment surrounded the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in central France. The attackers killed 245 women and 207 children, including six below the age of six months.

The 196 men killed included seven Jewish refugees from other parts of France. Of the 648 people murdered in the village, only 50 could be identified. The Nazis locked the women and children in the village church, shot indiscriminately, and set the victims on fire. The rest of the village was then looted and set ablaze.

As the late P.J. O’Rourke explained, this is what happens when those with all the power have all the guns. And to paraphrase inspector Claude Lebel (Michael Lonsdale) in The Day of the Jackal, be in no doubt that this is what the Biden Junta wants.

At every mass shooting, the default government response is to blame guns and make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. This does not apply, however, to Muslim jihadists like “Soldier of Allah” Maj. Nidal Hasan. At Ford Hood in 2009 Hasan gunned down 13 unarmed American soldiers, including Pvt. Francheska Velez, who was pregnant. Hasan wounded more than 30 others, including Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who took seven bullets from the jihadist.

According to the composite character president David Garrow described in Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, this was “workplace violence,” not terrorism or even “gun violence,” and the mass murderer Hasan got better medical treatment than his victims. In 2014, Lunsford sought to explain his plight to the president, who declined to meet with him. The composite character did not proclaim Islamic terrorist attacks in 2015 at San Bernardino (14 dead) and Orlando in 2016, (49 dead) as cases of “gun violence.”

Of all the various forms of government in the world, wrote Gibbon, “an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.” The buffoonish Biden channels Obama, but the Delaware Democrat shapes up worse. On September 1, 2022, backdropped in red light with Marines at the ready, Biden targeted those who want the nation to be great as the primary threat to America. Biden’s FBI openly follows suit and in August the FBI killed Craig Robertson, a 75-year-old woodworker, for threats he had allegedly posted online.

Recall the Ruby Ridge siege of 1992, when the FBI deployed massive military force against a single family, and FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot dead Vicki Weaver as she held her infant daughter. That case prompted Senate hearings, but so far nothing on Robertson. Biden’s FBI shoots first and avoids questions later, so an escalation of deadly violence is not out of the question. Christmas 2023 may well be joyous, but 2024 shapes up as the year of living dangerously.

GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES WONDER WHY NEW YORKERS TURN TO THE SECOND AMENDMENT

More than half of New Yorkers now believe their state is in decline and won’t get better soon. Go figure, crime is listed as the Number 2 reason for the reported despair – behind only the cripplingly high cost of living. Recent events have led to a surge in crime leaving countless New Yorkers feeling susceptible to the violent wills of criminals.

The feelings aren’t political either, as according to a new Siena College poll there’s wide agreement among each party affiliation – Republican, Democrat and Independent – that violent crime remains a serious issue. At least 64 percent of each respective group says so.

“In assessing the severity of problems facing New York, there is, surprisingly, considerable agreement among Democrats, Republicans and independents,” Siena College poster Steven Greenberg said of the findings.

Unfortunately, there’s some bad news-good news, though, for residents of the Empire State who want to exercise their right to defend themselves with a firearm as things are likely getting a lot worse before they get any better.

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Fact Check — Hakeem Jeffries: Gun Violence the No. 1 Killer of Children

CLAIM: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) used a Thursday post on X to claim that gun violence is the number one killer of children in America.

VERDICT: False.

Jeffries is not the first Democrat to make this false claim, one based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) numbers focused on causes of death for people 0-19 years of age.

For example, during a June 2, 2022, prime-time speech, President Joe Biden reacted to the CDC figures by claiming: “Guns are the number one killer of children.” The “children” referenced by Biden include people of voting age, i.e., 18 and 19-year-olds. CDC figures show firearm-related deaths of people ages 0-19 totaled 4,368 in 2020, while motor vehicle deaths for the same age range totaled 4,036.

However, Breitbart News pointed out that if you do a custom search on the CDC website, adjusting the numbers so that you are limiting the category of “children” to the ages 0-17, i.e., individuals that are actually minors, then the data flips. The number of firearm-related deaths for children aged 0-17 was 2,281 in 2020, while the number of motor vehicle deaths for the same ages was 2,503.

Despite the demonstrable falsehood of Biden’s claim, Vice President Kamala Harris repeated it, as did actresses Allysa Milano and Jennifer Lawrence.

Jeffries is repeating it now, and it is still false.

Just in time for Christmas: terrorism is comin’ to town!

Just in time for Christmas, the FBI and Homeland Security are announcing a greatly elevated risk of “lone wolf” terrorism. Happy Holidays!

They’re a little late in contributing to the holiday spirit. Hapless FBI Director Christopher Wray has twice in the last month or so sheepishly told Congress with thousands, or tens of thousands of single, military-aged men from countries that want to kill every American, countries like China, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and more, streaming across the totally secure border, we might have a kinda, sorta, terrorist problem, maybe. They’re even kinda, sorta admitting some of these guys might be members of the Chinese Army.

That’s tens of thousands they know about because they’ve chatted briefly with them before letting them go wherever they please by taxpayer-funded bus or jet, or they’ve seen them trotting across the border and kindly waved “bye-bye.” No one knows how many “got-aways” got away, likely as many more.

Our security establishment has gone so far as to say they’re watching some 300 undocumented persons on the Terrorist Watch List. What they’re not saying is why they allowed 300+ undocumented, TWL nabobs into the country in the first place so they would have to “watch” them. Job security? One doesn’t need to watch them so much if they’re not in the country, but that makes sense, so our security establishment doesn’t do that.

Our guardians, brilliant analysts all, are also suggesting because many of these potential terrorists are Islamists—one has to read between the lines to get that–and not fond of Christianity in all its trappings, might want to “disrupt”—helpful translation: shoot up, blow up, generally slaughter—Christmas gatherings, like church services, parades, stores, malls, that sort of thing.

Incredibly for government work, they’re on to something. We probably don’t have to fear another 9-11 style attack or attacks, though such grand gestures can’t be ruled out. With thousands of terrorists already in country, a great many more, smaller, attacks are most likely. Terror states have cooperative arrangements with Mexican drug cartels, which not only help them cross the border, but provide them with all the weapons and support they need.

Most likely are numerous attacks all across the country at churches, schools, shopping malls, theaters, sports events, anywhere Americans gather. Those attacks require only a few terrorists with small arms. Grenades and other explosives are icing on the terrorist cake. Imagine at least one such terrorist attack in every state occurring on the same day at the same time. That’s the very definition of terrorism: making people fear, making them realize the government can’t, won’t, protect them. Imagine that kind of terrorism occurring over and over again. Even a single terrorist armed with an AK—an actual automatic weapon, not a fictional “assault weapon”—can do enormous damage in little time.

The worst part is terrorists don’t need high body counts, though they certainly prefer them.  They need only do many attacks, coordinated or random, to secure the goals of terrorism.  Americans afraid to leave their homes contribute to the economic collapse the Biden Meat Puppet Administration has so ardently pursued.

One of life’s ironies is terrorists will be most likely to strike in blue cities and states, places doing their best to keep their citizens disarmed, places—and here’s deadly irony for you—most supportive of the Palestinian terrorist cause. Terrorists, domestic and foreign, prefer gun free zones, knowing they’ll have the best chance to do the most damage before the police can arrive. That doesn’t mean red states are safe, just that there’s a greater chance of armed Americans who can end an attack long before the police can respond. Foreign terrorists are certainly learning the patterns and practices of the police in their assigned target areas.

Sophisticated actors, like visiting members of the Chinese military, are more likely to be stealthy. They’ll engage in sabotage, probing to see just how and where we’re most vulnerable, though they surely have good intelligence on those vulnerabilities already.  Wouldn’t widespread blackouts on Christmas Eve add to the festivities? Wouldn’t biological agents in water supplies spice up the Christmas punch bowl? Wouldn’t a universal Internet crash be a Christmas morning surprise?

That the FBI has been very busy pursuing domestic terrorists like soccer moms, any Normal American who happened to be anywhere near DC on January 6, or the worst of the worst—Catholics—is only evidence of their staunch defense of “our democracy.”  Unfortunately for us, we’re not a democracy; we’re a representative republic. They’re protecting the people and bureaucracies that want the republic dead, just like those folks on the TWL the FBI is “watching.”

When out and about this Christmas season, bundle up, and put on your most festive Glock.  You might need it.