Category: Politics

An Opportunity Second Amendment Supporters Must Not Waste

It’s time for Second Amendment supporters to channel Rahm Emanuel for a moment. In fact, there is a chance to hoist the one-time Obama Chief of Staff, who urged people to “never let a crisis go to waste,” on his own petard.

Right now, if you believe polling by the Wall Street Journal, Second Amendment supporters could deliver a metaphorical death blow to the hopes of anti-Second Amendment extremists over the next few years. However, it will take a lot of hard work to make that happen, and time may not be entirely on our side.

About 20 years ago, the political home of anti-Second Amendment extremism made a bet. They thought that there was a demographic doomsday coming for their opposition. However, that bet has not quite worked out for them over the long haul. Yes, Obama did win in a landslide in 2008, and won re-election solidly in 2012 (with an assist from the IRS targeting the Tea Party), but in the decade since 2012… how have things worked out?

We’ve discussed some of the signs that their bet on demographics isn’t working out the way they hoped. The lessons from last year’s Virginia gubernatorial election should give Second Amendment supporters and pro-Second Amendment organizations a blueprint for how to carry out the outreach.

This outreach is important. As things stand right now, for many of those who voted Youngkin in 2021 (and those of a similar mind across the country), support for the Second Amendment became a “non-dealbreaker” in the face of the current situation. While that might be sufficient for the short-term, would it not be better to make support for the Second Amendment a positive among those voters who currently consider it a “non-dealbreaker” in the face of a crisis?

Blowing the opportunity that Gun Culture 2.0 is presenting would be to repeat the very mistake that those in charge of the political home of anti-Second Amendment extremism made. We know that anti-Second Amendment extremist organizations like the Brady Campaign have had regrettable levels of success in dividing gun owners, often by hijacking the concept of “responsible” gun ownership. Reclaiming that term from anti-Second Amendment extremists is crucial to defeating their “divide and conquer” strategy.

Most important, though is to be willing to reach out to the new gun owners. Like any beginner in a new sport, they will need instruction and help from those who have more experience. The process of welcoming them should start from the moment they are at their first visit to an FFL and it should have no endpoint.

There are big tasks up ahead. Second Amendment supporters have to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local levels via the ballot box this November and in 2024. The process starts today by not wasting the opportunity that Biden’s blunders are giving us.

Below The Radar: Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act

Second Amendment supporters often have to make difficult decisions. Not in the sense of Glock vs. Colt vs. Springfield Armory, but more along the lines of how to address a given piece of anti-Second Amendment legislation.

Take for instance the Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act, known as S 3776 and HR 6997. The legislation purports to prohibit the importation, sale, or manufacture of firearms “by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises.”

On the face of it, this seems unobjectionable. Nobody wants to be sold a firearm on the basis of misrepresentation or a false promise, right? But there are red flags when Second Amendment supporters think things through some more.

For starters, the Senate bill is sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, a long-standing enemy of our Second Amendment rights. So that is a red flag right there. Her co-sponsors include Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, also committed opponents of the Second Amendment.

Aside from who sponsors it, there is one other question: Who decides what constitutes “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises?”

This is a big deal on multiple fronts. Remember how the CDC is getting back into the gun-control business? They worry that it will be used to justify censorship by Silicon Valley is big, but this legislation could add another threat.

Suppose some anti-Second Amendment extremist decides that those who advertise firearms for self-defense are making ““false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises?” That now becomes a new way to hit someone with a five-year jail term and a felony conviction.

This also is a way to “legalize” suits like the one brought against Remington over Sandy Hook. Never mind that the rifle used was stolen (after the shooter killed the rightful owner), the claim from the suit was centered around the advertising. In other words, prove there was “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises” in the advertising, and all of the sudden, it becomes easier to sue gun manufacturers.

This is a dangerous end run around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Again, we need to remember what Feinstein said so long ago on 60 Minutes. She wants an Australia-style ban, but if she can’t have it, she’ll figure out what she can get legislatively (see the Age 21 Act). Or she’ll enable other attacks outside the legislative process.

What makes it doubly hard is that this bill seems very reasonable, so Second Amendment supporters have to be very careful about the optics while opposing it. After all, nobody wants to support those who sell anything (including firearms) with “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises.”

Second Amendment supporters need to contact their Representative and Senators and politely urge them to oppose the Stopping the Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act. Then. They need to work to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box this November.

How do you know the numbers of Hispanic voters are increasingly seen as going Republican?
The lieberal media hauls out the broadest smear brush they can find.

The rise of white nationalist Hispanics.

Nick Fuentes, identified as a “white supremacist” in Justice Department filings, made headlines last week for hosting a white nationalist conference in Florida. His father is also half Mexican American.

Driving the news: Cuban American Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, a group the Anti-Defamation League calls an extremist group with a violent agenda, was arrested Tuesday and charged with conspiracy in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

What they’re saying: Experts tell Axios far-right extremism within the Latino community stems from three sources: Hispanic Americans who identify as white; the spread of online misinformation; and lingering anti-Black, antisemitic views among U.S. Latinos that are rarely openly discussed.

Blah, blah, blah, blah…………

The problem is that the Michigan Goobernor is still none other than DerGrëtchënFührer herslef, and I can’t see her signing a bill into law that would diminish goobermint power.

Michigan: House Passes Pro-Gun Bills

Yesterday, the House passed House Bills 5187 and 5188, to ensure that Second Amendment rights remain protected during a state of emergency, and House Bill 4003, to reduce the penalty for law-abiding citizens who forget to renew their Concealed Pistol License in certain instances. They will now go to the Senate for further consideration. Please contact your state senator and ask them to SUPPORT House Bills 5187, 5188, and 4003.

House Bill 5187 and House Bill 5188 passed by votes of 61-40 and 62-39 respectively. They prohibit the state government from restricting the lawful carrying of firearms and ammunition, seizing firearms or ammunition, restricting firearm businesses and shooting ranges, and restricting hunting and fishing activities during a declared state of emergency, or as an emergency response to an epidemic. Further, the legislation provides legal recourse for people who experience unjust infringements.

During the state of emergency in 2020 for COVID-19, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order for all nonessential businesses and activities to cease, which purposefully referenced an outdated list of such industries, rather than the most updated federal guidelines that designated firearm and ammunition retailers as essential. In addition, many anti-gun officials around the country, at both state and local levels of government, took the opportunity to unilaterally suspend Second Amendment rights by actively shutting down gun stores and ranges. HB 5187 and HB 5188 protect the exercise of a constitutional right from such politically motivated attacks and ensure that citizens have those rights when they need them most.

House Bill 4003 passed by a vote of 74-27. It reduces the offense of carrying a handgun on an expired CPL from a felony, under current law, to a civil fine of $330, as long as it’s within one year of expiration and the person is still legally eligible for a CPL. Permanently stripping Second Amendment rights from an otherwise law-abiding citizen who forgets to renew their CPL does not improve public safety.

[Michigan] State House Passes LaFave’s Firearms Transport Bill

The state House today passed Rep. Beau LaFave’s plan to expand the rights of gun owners to transport their firearm unmolested while on private property.

The bill would allow uncased firearms in any vehicle, including an ATV or UTV, on private land as long as they are accompanied by or have permission from the landowner or lessee.

“This is a huge win for Michiganders all over the state,” said LaFave, of Iron Mountain. “This will help keep individuals from being unnecessarily prosecuted. Right now, you can carry a loaded pistol in or upon a vehicle with a CPL, but getting caught with a .22 long rifle subjects you to three months in jail.”

“This common-sense reform does not impact public safety,” LaFave said. “The bill simply decriminalizes a statute that makes criminals out of law-abiding citizens.”

Similar legislation passed the House with the support of LaFave in 2018. That law, now Public Act 272 of 2018, allowed a bow or crossbow to be transported without a case.

LaFave said: “Michiganders are entitled to their right to bear arms, more so on their own property than anywhere else. I remain committed to protecting the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. But let’s not forget, this is also a private property issue. Nobody should face three months of jail time for transporting firearms on their own property. This is a DNR regulation that does not help public safety, and the government has no business telling you what you can or cannot do on your own land with firearms, so long as you aren’t endangering the public.”

House Bill 4078 now heads to the Senate for further consideration.

Democrat Spending Bill Contains ‘Serious Expansion of Federal Gun Control’: Gun Rights Group

Democrats’ $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package, unveiled early Wednesday, includes provisions that constitute “a serious expansion of federal gun control” according to the National Association for Gun Rights.

Specifically, the omnibus bill includes the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Though there is bipartisan consensus that violence against women is bad—more limited forms of the bill have passed through bipartisan votes since the first draft was introduced in 1994—more recent forms of the legislation have been controversial with Republicans for provisions relating to gun ownership.

Due to continued efforts by Democrats to include gun control measures in the legislation, the bill was last passed into law in 2013, and has faced steep opposition from pro-Second Amendment Republicans since then.

Currently, almost all firearm sales require a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Purchasers who are tagged as having a criminal background barring them from possessing a firearm are tagged in the system and are not allowed to carry out the purchase.

However, VAWA takes this system much further.

Under its provisions, the attorney general is required “to issue a notice to State, local, or Tribal law enforcement and prosecutors if an individual has attempted to purchase a firearm and been denied pursuant to the national instant criminal background check system.”

In other words, an attempt to buy a firearm while legally barred from owning one can be met with criminal investigation.

In a statement, the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) warned that this system is dangerous.

“Over 95 percent of all NICS denials are false positives, which means all local and state police would be required to investigate law-abiding citizens when they’re wrongly and unconstitutionally denied the right to purchase a firearm,” NAGR said.

“Make no mistake—the NICS denial reporting embedded inside the Violence Against Women Act constitutes a serious expansion of federal gun control,” said Dudley Brown, president of the NAGR. “Not only does it rapidly expand federal gun control policy, it would actually endanger women, not keep them safe.”

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New Hampshire: House Expected to Vote on Two Gun Bills Tomorrow

Tomorrow Today the New Hampshire House is scheduled to consider pro-gun House Bill 1636, and anti-gun House Bill 1151. NRA Members and Second Amendment supporters are encouraged to contact their State Representative and ask them to SUPPORT House Bill 1636 and to OPPOSE House Bill 1151.

Pro-Gun Bill:

House Bill 1636: “ATV-Carry” allows the carry of a loaded firearm on an Off-Highway Recreation Vehicle (OHRV) or snowmobile. This legislation also helps to clean up the law from when Permitless Carry was passed and a snowmobile prohibition remained. If you can carry a gun in your vehicle, or on your person, you shouldn’t have to surrender your right to self-defense simply because you’re operating a snowmobile.

Anti-Gun Bills:

House Bill 1151: imposes a ban on the open carry of firearms at various public demonstrations, including parades, marches, rallies, etc. This arbitrary ban is simply anti-gun virtue signaling that only affects law-abiding citizens, dictating how they must exercise a constitutional right, while doing nothing to improve public safety

Missouri House approves plan to allow guns on public transit

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House approved legislation Wednesday that would allow people who have concealed weapons permits to carry their guns on public transportation.

The measure, which has been debated several times in recent years but has not become law, also would lower the age requirement from 19 to 18 years of age or older for a concealed carry permit.

The proposal also would remove the prohibition on the carrying of firearms in churches and other places of worship by a person with a valid concealed carry permit.

It advanced to the Senate on 101-40 vote.

Republicans who control the Legislature have worked to loosen restrictions on guns for years, resulting in Missouri being ranked 47th in the nation by the Giffords Law Center for gun safety. [an honor, I assure you]

In 2007, for example, lawmakers dumped a universal background-check law. In 2016, the Legislature repealed a law so that Missourians could carry concealed firearms without a permit in most places.

In 2021, the GOP-led General Assembly approved the Second Amendment Preservation Act, prohibiting police in Missouri from enforcing any federal firearms laws that aren’t mirrored in state law.

That law has triggered a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice Department.

Opponents of the latest move said they are concerned it could open the door for extremists to attack worshipers.

“I am not anti-gun. I just don’t want to see more hate crimes,” said Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City.

The legislation also includes a provision known as Blair’s Law, which would criminalize “celebratory gunfire.” It is named for Blair Shanahan Lane, who was struck in the neck by a bullet fired from more than a half-mile away.

The legislation is House Bill 1462.

“Second Amendment Protection Act” Clears [Wyoming] House By 43 – 15 Margin

A bill aimed at prohibiting Wyoming law enforcement officers from enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on Second Amendment rights won final approval from the House on Wednesday.

Representatives voted 43-15 to approve Senate File 102, the “Second Amendment Protection Act” in its final House review

Defenders of the bill debated opponents who maintained the bill should be killed because it was weaker than one considered and rejected earlier in the session.

“I, for one, would like my constituents to have something rather than nothing,” said Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette. “When we say it’s a weak bill, but we’re willing to go with no protection at all, which is weaker?”

SF102 would prohibit any Wyoming law enforcement agent from enforcing unconstitutional federal restrictions on the Second Amendment. If an unconstitutional federal rule was enforced, the enforcing officer could face one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

The bill had been roundly criticized by backers of another gun rights bill, SF87, the “Second Amendment Preservation Act.” The bill, which failed to win introduction early in the session, would have allowed citizens to sue officials they felt were responsible for enforcing unconstitutional barriers to the Second Amendment, including increases in taxes and fees on ammunition.

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New York House Republicans take aim at Democratic state lawmakers’ push for bullet tax

Top New York Republicans are out to shoot down a first-of-its-kind measure now making its way through the state Senate that would place a new tax on ammunition.

The measure, introduced late last month by a pair of Democrats, would place a tax of up to a nickel on each round of ammunition measuring .22 caliber or less. Revenue from the bill would fund gun violence research being conducted through the state Department of Health and the State University of New York.

If passed, the tax would be the first state levy on bullets in the nation. The Empire State’s GOP delegation to the U.S. House is no fan of what state lawmakers from the other party are doing and believe it could violate the U.S. Constitution — which is their purview.

“Albany’s far-left tax on ammunition is a direct attack on every gun owner in upstate New York and the North Country,” House Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “In the face of Albany’s latest assault on our constitutional rights, I will always stand up for New Yorkers’ Second Amendment rights and against this outrageous tax proposal.”

GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney denounced the bill as “yet another attempt by far-left progressives in Albany to undermine the ability of upstate New Yorkers to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

“Downstate progressives are once again showing their disdain for our upstate values,” she added. “Instead of protecting our constitutional rights, New York Democrats want to legislate gun owners straight out of New York.”

Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican member of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, said Democrats are once again looking to punish law-abiding gun owners for violence committed by criminals.

“Rather than focusing on solving the root problem of gun violence, Democrats again want to focus on objects — once guns, now ammo,” Reed said. “Enough is enough.

“Let’s tackle issues of untreated mental illness, criminal propensities, and unchecked drug trafficking that are the true major drivers of gun violence,” he added.

Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who served in the state Assembly before being elected to the U.S. House, denounced the proposal as a “punitive measure” that would “unfairly target law-abiding gun owners.”

“It’s outrageous, and I would urge my former colleagues in the state Legislature to reject it out of hand,” he said.

Even though the tax would only add between 2-5 cents to the price of a round, Rep. Chris Jacobs said it was ill-advised.

“Ammo prices are already higher than they have been in years,” Jacobs, a Republican, said. “Adding an additional tax will only be an additional barrier to law-abiding citizens practicing their Second Amendment rights.”

The bill’s sponsors, state Democratic Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, meanwhile, have argued that their bill is forward-thinking and would serve to prevent gun violence at a time of alarming spikes in crime in the Empire State.

“By taxing ammunition, we are fairly funding research that will help us build smart and effective policies,” Gounardes said last week.

“When we talk about gun violence prevention and community-based policies that help to interrupt cycles of violence, resources matter,” Fahy added, arguing that the bill was directing such resources “where they’re most effectively used and protecting more New Yorkers from the scourge of gun violence.”

But there’s always next year for the gun grabbers

Oregon: Legislature Adjourns from Short 2022 Legislative Session

Last Friday, the Oregon Legislature gaveled out of their short 2022 Legislative Session.  While multiple anti-gun measures were proposed and introduced, nothing was able to gain any traction and pass.  Two of those measures, House Bill 4079 and Senate Bill 1577 were opposed by NRA and were defeated as the legislature adjourned.

House Bill 4079 is one of the biggest signs of how disconnected from reality the anti-gun elite is.  This measure would have placed a “Luxury Tax” on many retail goods for sale in Oregon, including firearms.  While the program aimed to assist low-income Oregonians, placing further taxes on the constitutional rights of ALL Oregonians is the exact opposite of the measure’s intent.  HB 4079 would invariably price-out low-income residents from their right to self-defense.

Senate Bill 1577 would ban 3-D printed guns, however the bill is so poorly written that it confuses “undetectable” firearms with 3D printed guns.  This bill is the ultimate solution in search of a problem.  Undetectable firearms have been banned under federal law for 30 years.  This is nothing more than political theater.  However, because of poor bill drafting, this bill could have serious unintended consequences for hobbyists who engage in the lawful home manufacture of firearms.

What’s going on in Joe Biden’s mind?

I know; I know – the jokes write themselves.

Biden’s mind? What’s that?

But I continue to think that Biden has more input into all of this than most people believe. And of course, whether he does or doesn’t, the same question can be asked about “Biden’s” mind – that is, the mind or collective minds of those behind-the-scenes people who actually may be running the show.

It was glaringly obvious even while Biden was running for president that his plan was to end our energy independence. To me, that alone should have been enough to ensure that virtually no one would be voting for him, but of course I knew that wasn’t the case. Whether you believe that Biden won because of fraud or whether you think he won fair and square, there isn’t any doubt that a lot of people did vote for him. I certainly know plenty who did.

Why were the Democrats so intent on this obviously destructive path that would weaken the US and its economy, give more power to Putin and Russia, and actually do nothing for the environment (only changing the source from which we get fossil fuels rather than usage)? I believe that, for some of them, weakening the US was a feature rather than a bug. Great Reset and all that.

But for others – and I tend to think Biden was among them – the motives were these:

(1) Whatever Trump did, do the opposite. This was in part reflexive and in part spiteful.
(2) Whatever Obama did, do more of it and go that extra mile.
(3) Virtue-signal to your leftist base and give them what they want, or you will lose them.

Even now, with this Russia invasion of Ukraine, they’re not going to reverse direction.

For Biden, almost everything is political. He’s been in politics nearly his entire adult life, which has been a very long time. I don’t think he has many principles except winning and self-aggrandizement, and though history may not be kind to him he mostly looks at short-term gains. His judgment over the years has proven abominable except in the political sense of landing on his feet.

But now that Biden’s finally achieved his lifelong ambition of becoming president, his actions have a lot more consequences than they did when he was a mere senator. Too bad we all have to suffer as a consequence.

In addition, we are presently poised on the brink of a reportedly disastrous Iran deal. Why is that happening? The short and probably too-simplified answer is that it fulfills all three of the criteria I listed above. An additional answer is that some people in the Biden administration seem to want to do their best to hurt the US and the western world and empower our enemies, and that this isn’t motivated by stupidity but rather by malevolence.

BLUF:
HB272 passed last month in the State House of Representatives. The bill passed as substituted in the Senate, and now moves back to its house of origin for concurrence. If agreed upon by the House, the bill will be sent to Governor Kay Ivey for signature.

State Senate clears constitutional carry

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The State Senate today approved legislation to enable Alabamians the right to carry a firearm without obtaining a concealed carry permit. The bill – HB272 sponsored by Representative Shane Stringer (R-Citronelle) – was carried by Senator Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) in the Senate.

 “The Second Amendment affords protection to an American individual’s right to possess a firearm and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes. As an elected official who swore to uphold the constitutions of this state and country, I will always do everything in my power to preserve the rights of Alabamians, especially those granted by the Second Amendment,” said Allen. “I appreciate Representative Stringer’s work on this issue in the House, and I am proud to have worked alongside him to move this critical bill in the Senate. I look forward to finally delivering constitutional carry to the people of Alabama.”

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Like most politicians, DeWine has his finger stuck up in the air to see which way the wind blows the strongest before he makes a decision.

Will DeWine sign permitless concealed carrying of handguns in Ohio?

Democrats have called on Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to veto permitless concealed carrying of handguns, but supporters of the legislation that’s now on the governor’s desk called it a historic Second Amendment victory.

DeWine is reviewing the bill, his spokesman said.

A bill to allow permitless concealed carry of handguns, Substitute Senate Bill 215 and also known as “constitutional carry,” passed the General Assembly on March 2 and has headed to DeWine to either sign or veto. It did not pass by a veto-proof majority.

On Friday, DeWine’s press secretary, Dan Tierney, did not answer questions on whether the governor still supported the list of gun reforms he promoted after the August 2019 mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon District. Asked what DeWine — whose campaign touts him as a supporter of law enforcement — would say to police groups that opposed SB 215, Tierney was likewise silent.

“I would note Governor DeWine has long supported the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms,” Tierney said.

Bill contents

The current bill, with state Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, as its lead sponsor, says anyone at least 21 years old who is otherwise legally allowed to have a gun can carry a concealed handgun without a permit, without the previously required eight hours of gun safety training, and potentially without a pre-purchase background check.

Those who already have concealed-carry permits would no longer have to carry that license with them.

And if a driver is stopped by police, that person would no longer be required to tell officers that they have a concealed weapon unless they’re specifically asked about it.

Concealed carry licenses will still be available for those who want them, Johnson has said.

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Proposed bill would make Kentucky a second amendment sanctuary

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) – A bill has been filed that would make Kentucky a “second amendment sanctuary”.

Rep. Josh Bray (R-Mt. Vernon) proposed House Bill 29, which would impede the enforcement of federal gun laws in the state.

Bray said 115 counties have enacted similar legislation, but his proposed bill would put it into law statewide.

The representative is concerned about current gun law rhetoric at the federal level and concludes that if the bill was passed it could not be enforced.

“If its any kind of assault weapons ban, if its any kind of magazine capacity ban, any ammunition ban, then absolutely, with this bill they could not cooperate with enforcing a ban on firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories,” said Bray.

The bill would not restrict any future state or federal law banning guns from being created.

Joe Can’t Change The Subject, So His SOTU Leaves Us Wishing To Change The President

It’s tradition in the State of the Union Address for the president to wrap himself in the flag. But usually it’s our flag.

Yet who can blame our feeble fake president for opening his big speech grasping desperately for the lifeline offered by the bravery of his inspiring Ukrainian counterpart?

After all, the contrast couldn’t be more stark: one rising from punch lines to wartime president, the other slumping from career politician into punch line.

And it’s another time-honored tradition, this of crisis communications, that when you can’t change the facts, you change the subject.

There’s one problem: the facts of Slumpy Joe’s failures loom so large that even larding 11 minutes of characteristically stumbling (Putin will “never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people”) dime-store Churchill at his oration’s opening could only delay the moment of reckoning.

Overall inflation headed for double-digits and oil prices for $150 a barrel. Violent crime leaping to heretofore unreached heights. Monthly illegal border crossings hitting hundreds of thousands. The damage of misguided COVID mandates mounting. And approval ratings plummeting to televangelist territory in a bitterly divided populace.

A whole troop of 800-pound gorillas in America’s communal living room left our Thief Executive no place to hide rhetorically.

So he plunged into those issues with the perspicacity expected of an intellect whose undergrad transcript blared more Cs and Ds than a Sesame Street episode, and whose resort to plagiarism didn’t save him from barely escaping the bottom 10% of his law-school class.

In fact, Landslide Joe could have used some plagiarism Tuesday night. Especially from somebody who, to channel Tom Cruise from “A Few Good Men,” didn’t miss the day they taught economics in economics class at the University of Delaware.

Take his inspired approach to achieving lower costs: demand lower costs.

For prescription drugs. Health care premiums. Energy. Child care. Long-term care. Housing. Shipping. Electric vehicles.

Darn. Why didn’t any other president think of that?

Oh, wait. One did: Richard Nixon in 1971. We all know how well that worked. According to economists Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, “Ranchers stopped shipping their cattle to the market, farmers drowned their chickens, and consumers emptied the shelves of supermarkets.”

Yep. Mandating lower costs is going to help working families already facing not just higher food prices but also shortages. Not to mention risking the other fruits of Tricky Dick’s policy misstep: the inflation rate of around 6% at the time leapt to double digits once a second round of controls was removed. And totally tanked the economy, ushering in an entire era of stagflation.

OK, we’re being unfair. There was much more to our Counterfeit Commander-in-Chief’s plan to “fight inflation.”

Like increasing the minimum wage. And hiking taxes on corporations and entrepreneurs and putting a massive thumb on the scale in favor of unions. Eureka! What better way to help companies cut prices than to bloat the costs of labor and capital?

Not to mention flooding an already overflowing money supply with trillions more in government spending on universal pre-K; “clean energy” subsidies; overpriced, underdelivering college degrees; more ineffective “free” COVID masks and tests; and a new round of aid to failing K-12 schools. Plus substituting pricey and unreliable renewables for cheap, abundant fossil fuels.

Face it: the panel deliberating the next Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel should stop right now.

Can’t change the subject on inflation? Maybe try to change his spots on other vulnerabilities. Now he’s going to free us from COVID by accelerating approval of jabs for under-5-year-olds demonstrated to be far more in danger from vaccines than viruses.  And take credit for the re-opening of schools and businesses whose extended shutdowns, in the face of contrary scientific evidence, the White House had previously demanded, in particular on behalf of its teacher-union patrons.

President Brandon wants to “fund the police. Fund them! Fund them! Fund them!” He was just funning us when he agreed during the 2020 campaign America should “redirect some of that funding.”

Who knew that the same posse that plopped down seven, count ‘em, seven executive orders on the very day of his artificial inaugural to reverse the Trump get-tough posture –and call “all-ee, all-ee in-free” to the world – were doing so much to “secure the border and fix the immigration system?”

And of course, Joe movingly called on all of us to “stop seeing each other as enemies, and start seeing each other for who we really are: Fellow Americans.” Especially those “Fellow Americans” he previously referred to as favoring “Jim Crow 2.0;” heirs to Bull Connor, George Wallace and Jefferson Davis; white supremacists; and, especially in the case of soccer moms putting a fright into woke school boards, “domestic terrorists.”

No, changing the subject to his courageous Ukrainian contemporary didn’t fly. Nor changing basic principles of economic theory, nor previous stances. Leaving America right where we started the evening, after 13 months of first-class flops: wishing we could change the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue 23 months early.

The 2nd Amendment isn’t about deer hunting, and everyone including SloJoe knows that, so what he did was simply insult everyone.

Biden calls for ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines in SOTU speech
Several called Biden out for ‘lying’ on guns

President Joe Biden renewed his call for the banning of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in his State of the Union address.

“I ask Congress to pass proven measures to reduce gun violence,” Biden said during his first official State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. “Pass universal background checks. Why should anyone on a terrorist list be able to purchase a weapon? Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

“You think the deer are wearing a kevlar vest?” Biden said, going off the pre-released transcript of the speech.

Biden added a call to “repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can’t be sued.”

“These laws don’t infringe on the Second Amendment,” Biden said. “They save lives.”

Biden’s comments immediately received criticism from conservatives on social media who have often accused his administration of attempting to infringe on the Second Amendment.

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His doctors have to keep him isolated for a extra long weekend, so they can take him all the way down and off his dementia meds for a few days. Then they can pump him full to the brim this afternoon, so he can manage getting through the State of the Union speech tonight.

NY gun proposal appears poised to adapt to Supreme Court decision
A Brooklyn lawmaker has proposed legislation that seeks to limit where firearms could be legally possessed, with a separate SCOTUS ruling upcoming.

NEW YORK — A Brooklyn lawmaker appears ready to adapt to a potential Supreme Court decision that could impact the process of getting a concealed carry license in New York.

Assembly Bill 8684 was introduced by Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (D) back in January. It suggests placing limits on where firearms can be possessed including most public transportation, food, and drink establishments and at gatherings of 15 people or more. The bill has no co-sponsors in either the State Senate or Assembly, which would be necessary to move it forward, but gun advocates and constitutional experts are already signaling the bill may not hold water.

“In most cases where individuals have a constitutional right officials are not allowed to have discretion whether you’re able to exercise that right,” explained 2 On Your Side Legal Analyst Barry Covert.

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Constitutional Carry in doubt after Indiana committee guts legislation

The good news for Indiana gun owners is that Constitutional Carry legislation passed out of a key Senate committee on Wednesday. The bad news is that it’s no longer a Constitutional Carry bill.

HB 1077 had already passed out of the House with an overwhelming majority, but its future is very much in doubt in the state Senate after an eight-hour hearing of the Judiciary Committe left the bill stripped of its original intent.

As amended, House Bill 1077 would keep the permit requirement in place to carry a handgun in Indiana. However, it would enable qualified candidates who have applied for a permit to carry a handgun without a license until they receive their permit. The idea is that this would end complaints about delays in the permitting process.

The amendment to gut the bill just narrowly passed by a 6-5 vote, splitting the Republicans on the committee. Every Democrat voted to gut the bill. Shortly after, the committee unanimously voted to advance the bill to the floor. Some were unhappy with the bill, but voted to keep it moving.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Constitutional Carry is officially dead in the Indiana legislature. It’s possible that the bill will be amended once again to restore the permitless carry provisions once the legislation comes up for debate on the Senate floor, though many law enforcement agencies and gun control groups are going to continue their efforts to kill the bill, even if many of their arguments don’t make much (gun)sense.

Critics say there should be a vetting process.

“We will have people walking on our street never vetted by law enforcement, never receiving a background check with loaded firearms around our children,” Jennifer Haan with Moms Demand Action in Indiana said last month.

There are already people doing that right now in Indiana, and if they’re not legally allowed to own a gun they’re not legally allowed to carry it. That wouldn’t change under the Constitutional Carry language in HB 1077. The only difference would be that those who can legally possess a gun in their home could also lawfully carry it in public without the need for a government-issued permission slip.

Gun control activists weren’t the only ones making some odd arguments in opposition to the bill.

Officers also said individuals would have to background check themselves if the permit requirement was nixed, and might not know they aren’t qualified to carry a handgun. Detective Matt Foote from the Fort Wayne Police Department, said 14% of those who applied for permits in his community in 2021 were denied.

That’s actually already an issue. If you don’t know that you’re a prohibited person and you fail a NICS check, you could be charged with a crime for attempting to purchase a firearm (though under federal law prosecutors must prove that you knowingly tried to purchase a gun you weren’t allowed to possess). The responsibility of ensuring that you can lawfully carry already lies with the gun owner, and that wouldn’t change if HB 1077 became law.

Constitutional Carry still has a chance in Indiana this year, but if it’s going to get across the finish line gun owners and Second Amendment activists need to contact their senators and urge them to restore HB 1077 to its original intent when it reaches the Senate floor.

More than 20 states have already adopted Constitutional Carry, and none of them have seen any cause to repeal the law and return to requiring a license to carry (though every Constitutional Carry state with the exception of Vermont still maintains a “shall issue” licensing system for gun owners who want to be able to legally carry in states with reciprocity agreements). Indianans are no less responsible than the residents of Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and the other states that have permitless carry laws already in place. The big question now is whether Indiana lawmakers are as supportive of the 2A rights of residents as their counterparts in nearly half of the states across the nation.